Beauty, from the inside-out!

Eating for Beauty For Men and Women: Introducing a Whole New Concept of Beauty, What It Is, and How You Can Achieve It. / David Wolfe. Published by North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, Calif., 2009, c2002. 190 pages, including Index and Resources, Appendices.

Inside the covers of this eminently readable book are photographs of natural geometric shapes lit with intriguing bursts of light. Actually sliced raw and organic vegetables and fruits, these Kirlian* images depict the energetic quality that shows up as glittering edges where light and mass meet: it’s electromagnetic and, according to author Wolfe, a hallmark of beauty foods.

Eating for Beauty is created on the principles of a textbook: its chapters are entitled Lessons, there are 13, in which you can learn about raw food, the basics of nutrition, and why it is more beneficial to ingest raw rather than cooked. Also you’ll see why certain foods are contraindicated for beauty—they simply sabotage the process.

David Wolfe’s books look like and read like textbooks, because they are about nutrition and the science behind it, yet there is a personal side to the story. Wolfe’s words of advice are backed up by accounts of his own experience and lifestyle choice,s and how he reacted to ingesting the foods and supplements he proposes. Information about the author’s credentials and his wide array of projects attend the end of the text. He makes convincing arguments, especially concerning cooked oils, which have an extremely deleterious effect on the human body. Did you know, for example that cooked oils are responsible for the acne, liver stress and the all too commonly experienced excess fat accumulation?

However it’s not only cooked oils, but also the combinations of foods which wreak havoc with health and morphology, and that shows on the outside of you. Our body shapes and relative health are a “work of art”. Starting with your basic materials—your inherited characteristics—and building upon them with intention, you have every chance to realize beauty. Wolfe emphasizes that health and beauty are partners, that if you are really healthy, chances are that you are also beautiful. In other words, from the inside to the outside of you are many factors that defend your natural and physiological inclination to become all that you are capable of, an alive being.

I like these words, as one small part of the poem, “What Is Beauty?”, page 151-155. They point to beauty as a freely available gift but one that needs to be encouraged over our usual random decisions about what we consume:

“…
What is beauty?
…”

“It’s the way we’re designed,
Beauty feeds the mind.”

“Thoughts of the ideal
Create an energy field.
Form an attraction
And each proper action.
…”

It’s all about creating the conditions for the body’s flow—and trying not to impede or block the way the body does its work of assimilating nutrition from food. And that all comes down to intelligent communication. Knowing that the body functions best with cooperative input, sustaining instead of blocking the way, by choosing the best nutrition and a physically and emotionally active life, we’re set to embrace and welcome beauty both within and without. As Wolfe proposes, a preference for beauty is a conscious, rather than haphazard, choice. And being blessed with a physically attractive outer body makes your active participation in how your body develops and ages all the more in your court to do your best.

Foods that support beauty (inner and outer growth) are found in raw vegetables and fruits, with certain substances found in these whole foods also available as supplements. Supplements reinforce existing bodily processes and work synergistically to improve them. So there is a bit of alchemy in the process. Lesson 7, Alchemical Beauty Secrets, begins your instruction in mineralizing your body, taken from the idea that the most beautiful, the most realized people on earth live near natural sources of minerals such as silicon, sulfur, zinc and iron in their natural states.

Minerals are prized for the substitutions they have the ability to generate, i.e. silicon is useful when calcium isn’t available or isn’t absorbed well. Silicon is found in food eaten daily, such as radishes, romaine lettuce, and steel cut oats. Sulfurous substances are familiar from the odors of garlic and onions, and in brocoli, arugula and mustard. “Zinc… a vital component of more than two hundred enzymes…” (p. 70) of the lymph, the liver, fertility, night vision and more, makes it so important for bodily health, and it can be safely acquired from foods such as seeds and nuts, coconuts, spinach and seaweeds. And for the fourth most critical mineral, iron, a few of the iron-rich foods to consume are Jerusalem artichokes (sun-chokes), cherries, blackberries, collards, and parsley.

Real change occurs through years of ingesting these substances as cells constantly regenerate themselves, and as Wolfe states, it’s commonly understood that we get a new body every seven years. If you start building your new body today, shortly it will become second-nature, your most resolute habit, and could become your mainstay in life. Your outermost organ and your most life-sustaining one are supported by eating foods high in vitamin A, C, and E, beneficial especially for the skin and the circulation system. Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, alkaline-forming, and anti-parasite foods are key to health and beauty. In raw rather than cooked forms, foods have the highest concentrations of these properties, and our bodies can thus take advantage of them.

Lesson 8, “Beautifying Foods” contains detailed descriptions of nineteen foods, from commonly known to somewhat unusual: vegetables and fruits such as onions, figs, olives, papaya and radishes or lesser-known burdock root, durian and nettles are just a few examples. It’s not just that onions are papery-skinned, multi-layered bulbous roots. They’ve been quite popular throughout history, not only for taste but the sulfur and quercetin in onions positively impact our health by providing anti-cancer and infection-fighting compounds. Onions are known to be eaten by people enjoying longevity.

Recipes for beauty involve a collection of vegetables, oils, herbs and spices for each dish. For the “Hair-Building Salad” you’ll have about ½ pound of raw greens per serving: mix arugula, watercress, and dress with pumpkin seeds and lemon juice. (Not the complete recipe.) For the “Antioxidant Soup” 15 vegetables and herbs make the recipe, including lemons and avocado, miso and seaweed; but you can blend together a soft ice cream from just 4 ingredients. A raw chef’s creations include a raw vegan cheese, yogurt, salad and pudding (dessert).

Once you are convinced that the raw food diet is for you, the only way to begin is by incorporating raw foods into your breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners. Wolfe supplies “menu ideas” that consist of highly practical suggestions, such as individual food choices per meal. His suggestions are not only for raw food, but also for some cooked items, as many people are not able to go entirely, 100% raw. The main contraindicated foods are meat and dairy, with warnings about ingesting raw beans, potatoes, and cereal grains that are difficult to digest and thus have a harmful effect on health and beauty.

There is much, between facts about the food itself and our bodies’ needs to support beauty, contained in this slim volume, even suggestions about detoxification and losing weight. Author David Wolfe also covers yoga and suggestions for cleansing skin, hair and nails, and sleep.

*Information on Kirlian photography can be found on Wikipedia.

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