Eating Your Way to Better Health

By Erin J. Shea

Photo: Beth Berry

In March 2008, Beth Berry was very sick. Her body was wracked with pain so severe she spent most days in bed. She suffered from a herniated disc, but more troubling, Berry’s doctor diagnosed her with fibromyalgia, an autoimmune disorder characterized by widespread joint and muscle pain.

“I was given a 90-count bottle of Vicodin,” Berry says. “I got mad. I was pissed, and kept saying: ‘That’s it? Just take narcotics for the rest of my life? I’m only 38 years old!'”

Instead of filling the prescription, Berry pored over the latest research on the benefits of diet and nutrition on autoimmune disorders and learned about the successes people suffering from symptoms similar to hers were having with raw food diets. “That’s when the real journey began,” she says. “Within three days of being on raw food, almost all of my symptoms had gone away.”

In an era of ever-rising healthcare costs and increased attention to holistic, organic living practices, using diet and nutrition to treat disease and illness has become more popular than ever. Raw foods, probiotics and macrobiotics are just some of the diets people are following on the path to better health.

What Is a Raw Food Diet?

According to Berry, a raw food diet consists of removing all processed foods from the diet; eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, avocado and young coconuts; and avoiding any foods that have been cooked at higher than 105 degrees. The idea is that raw food is easier to digest and expends less energy in digesting and more in cleansing and healing the body.

Click here for full article: Raw Food, Probiotic and Macrobiotic Diets – Oprah.com.