Coming to the R.A.T Gallery in Gardenville, PA…

Freedom and Vibrant Health Through Nature

With Matthew Warner

What does freedom mean to you? To me freedom is independence of anything outside the domain of one’s self.  In a spiritual or an emotional sense this would mean that everything we need to satisfy our desires must be sought from within. In a more gross physical sense, the domain of one’s self would extend to the entirety of the physical body and include the elements of the earth and all other beings with which we share our existence. This is the domain that I will refer to as “Nature”. Nature provides us with air, water, food, sunlight, love, affection, touch, along with all the tools and intuitive knowledge we need to enjoy the pinnacle of healthful joy. Anything created outside of this “Nature”, often through manipulation and manufacturing, creates a void between ourselves and our inherent opportunity for total freedom and sustainability. When there is an apparent necessity for something outside of nature, i.e. medicine, supplements, refined micronutrients, drugs, alcohol, stimulants, etc., it is merely an indication that the principles of nature are being ignored in some other aspect(s) of one’s lifestyle. Our bodies are fully capable of every task necessary for vibrant health provided we maintain enough awareness to remove all obstacles that arise due to the self destructive lifestyles that have become convention.

Learn how to remove all of these obstacles and more importantly how to avoid allowing new obstacles to crowd your path to total freedom. We will explore and discuss practical lifestyle aspects from an anatomical, physiological, biological, mental, emotional, ecological, and philosophical/spiritual perspective. Of course not everyone is ready, willing, and/or able to make such a total reform, but gaining an understanding of this perspective is sure to provide a beneficial shift to some part or parts of your lifestyle and outlook.

Our philosophies tend to be geared toward an honor and reverence for nature because we can intuitively identify with the power and peace found in the miraculous natural world. The more you align your actions with that philosophy the more of that power and peace becomes accessible to us as individuals. When we are able to fully embrace a truly natural lifestyle we may find that all of our greatest desires are fulfilled without any boxed, packaged, bottled, electrified, digital, or destructive outside influences. We are able to joyfully experience and appreciate all that already is and break our attachment to fleeting material distractions. Optimum health and infinite joy is the natural state of being. Open your mind to the possibilities of a return to nature and the natural state of Freedom. (more…)

What is a Cleanse/Detox Diet? It seems to be a euphemism of sorts. A more direct way to phrase such a diet would be to refer to it as a temporary cessation of poison consumption.  Our bodies are naturally designed and equipped to break down and eliminate toxins on a regular basis. The fact that these faculties exist does not mean that we are designed to purposely consume toxic and poisonous substances. These methods are in place to handle the toxic debris that are a byproduct of everyday metabolic function. In every moment our body is cleaning up after itself and it has all the right tools for the job. There is nothing that can be consumed or supplemented that will make this process any more efficient or effective. The key is simply too reduce the amount of toxins consumed to as little as possible in order to lighten the load of the bodies eliminative faculties. Furthermore, it is not only the digestion of toxins that impedes the perpetual detoxification process. Digestion itself is a strain on the bodies energy supply and as a metabolic process inevitably produces byproducts to a degree that is proportionate to the complexity of the foods eaten. Therefore, the practice of cleansing or detoxification through the ingestion of ANY substance is completely illogical. Foods, Herbs, tonics, and tinctures that are used for this purpose are simply a counterproductive manipulation of the bodies eliminative facilities.  The evidence to support these theories is made abundantly clear in the process of Fasting. When we stop eating altogether for a set period of time we are not only avoiding the consumption of toxic substances, but we are also allowing our bodies to take a break from the potentially taxing process of digestion and distributing that energy to the rest of our bodies systems, especially the eliminative organs. During this period of time your body is given the opportunity to leave the frontline unguarded and attend to some serious deep cleaning in areas that have been otherwise neglected due to lack of energy. (more…)

As a person who rides their bike everywhere they go I am often asked many questions about cycling. The most common and frequent questions are regarding some form of safety issues. Chief among them would be “Why don’t you wear a helmet?”. In fact I often get strange looks from other cyclists on the road who seem to be agitated with my apparent disregard for personal safety. What is my answer? Usually my reply is a big smile and a simple shrug; perhaps an incoherent muttering of sorts as I sidestep the question and change the subject. This is because my truthful feelings on the matter have proven quite volatile and alienating when revealed to the average person. However to the open minded individuals who consider my philosophy within the context of my whole manner of living would realize that it actually makes a great deal of sense, for me. So here goes… (more…)

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Now that it is becoming Autumn in New Jersey, the cool weather is dissuading many from a raw natural food diet. In the summer, many people have very little trouble living on fresh juicy fruits and vegetables. When it is eighty degrees outside there is nothing better than some ripe juicy melon or a nice cool cucumber salad.

There are even some who would argue that people living in temperate regions should adapt their diets to the low temperatures of the winter months. For this reason we tend to justify eating hot , spicy, rich, and heavy foods to “stay warm”.

But should we adjust our diet to our climate, or should we adjust our climate to suit our diet?

The answer to this question lies in a different question. “What is our natural climate?”

Before we get into an anthropological debate about primitive man, lets simply consider the reality of the present. Are we physiologically designed to survive in a cold weather climate? No, we are not. Although we may live under the illusion that we can survive in these cold climates, the reality is that, no matter where we live, we are always in a subtropical climate.

With clothing, heating, blankets, and shelter, we are keeping our body in an average temperature of 68 degrees. If we are exposed to lower temperatures for extended periods of time we will inevitably experience gradual discomfort and eventually serious health problems. Our ability to live in these cold climates is not evolution, it is unnatural adaptation.

No matter what climate people live in, they all must regulate their body temperatures in the same way. Therefore, diet has very little to do with the climate in which you live. If we all need the same climate, we all need the same food.

When it is very cold outside, you may think it would be wise to eat something warm, spicy, or heavy to help you adjust. Instead simply find an external method of warming you and continue to eat what is natural and fresh. If we alter a natural diet to suit an unnatural climate, we are not going to be able to experience natural health.

If you want to eat a raw natural diet, but you feel that it does not suit the climate of where you live, you can either move to a warmer climate, or simply bundle up.

Anyone who becomes “addicted” to something is trying to fill a void within themselves. We feel incomplete and we are provided with very few options to become whole. If we use only will and logic to quit something then we are not filling that void and the addiction will resurface in new ways until eventually we find what we were looking for.

There is no sense in trying to “beat addiction”. Addiction means that we know what we want and we will do whatever we can to have it. Anyone who has ever tried to beat an addiction has experienced the incredible power of the forces of addiction. I call this force the “addiction energy”. If we honor the purpose of our “addiction energy”, and find out what we are truly missing or craving, than we can harness that power and use it to achieve personal health, happiness, and abundance. The key is to be very clear about what we are truly searching for physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. If we address all 4 of those aspects we are sure to find exactly what we are craving.

My point is that if we find out what we are truly addicted to we can find out how to get what we crave naturally without hurting ourselves or anyone else. Addictions and craving are just indications that we are lacking something that, deep inside, we know we need. It only becomes dangerous when we seek to fulfill such cravings in spite of our health/safety, our planet’s health/safety, or the health/safety of those around us. Due to the fact that we have been taken so far from our nature, often times there are cravings that we do not understand and so there seems to be no safe natural way to fulfill those desires. (more…)

In our society we place a great deal of focus on our appearance. We spend as much money trying to make ourselves beautiful as we do trying to become healthy. In truth, beauty is as natural as the state of health. This is why we collectively share the same basic model of beauty. We are attracted to the beauty in others, and we strive to cultivate beauty in ourselves. Some would say that judging such beauty is wrong. I would say that to not do so would be unnatural.

Beauty is a indication of favor in all aspects of life. What we inherently see as beautiful will teach us to cultivate that beauty in ourselves. What we perceive as physical beauty is a visual indication of health. Bright clear skin, lean fit build, muscular tone, straight white teeth, and bright white eyes, are all characteristics of a healthy efficient human being. Of course these characteristics can be attained unnaturally and therefore hold no bearing on health. Through starvation diets, cosmetic surgery, and makeup some would attempt to fool our intuition into perceiving natural beauty. Such attempts would be futile however to anyone who truly understands the essence of beauty. (more…)

Although every person is unique, the chemical composition and anatomical structure of the human species is the same. Therefore, all human beings, sharing the same physiology also share the same ideal source of fuel. There is no animal species in nature who’s diet varies from individual to individual and we are no exception.

However, we have removed ourselves far from nature and a natural diet. We have based our diets mostly on unnatural climates, industrial practice, the medical model, and corporate influence. We have been eating this unnatural malnourished diet for generations upon generations with each new generation straying even further from the truth. Over the years we have been rationalizing our behavior and heavily compensating for our poor diets with pharmaceutical aids and dietary supplementation.

In recent years, with degenerative disease, obesity, and cancer on the dramatic rise, more and more people are beginning to see the reality and are seeking alternatives. The problem is that even when we find a great alternative diet we find that we have been physically, mentally, and emotional attached to our dietary habits. We find that we must transition ourselves back to a healthy natural diet. (more…)

Does a raw food diet create Health?

Raw food does not so much create health as it allows for the Natural State of Health to occur. The Natural state of Health is the condition that we are meant to experience at all times. The Natural state of health is not static. It has infinite potential that is realized more and more as we grow and evolve ourselves.

The foods we eat, the environment we live in, the activities we participate in, and even the thoughts we think can either impede the natural state of health or allow it to flourish and bloom. Obesity, disease, and deficiency only exist as symptoms of poor health. These symptoms are manifestations of our lack of attention to the natural way of life. When we do nothing more than treat these symptoms we are ignoring the messages being sent by our bodies.

Most often we think of this system of symptom treatment as being an exclusive trait of the medical model. This is false. Herbalists suppress symptoms with herbs, homeopaths suppress symptoms with tinctures, and raw foodists suppress symptoms with supplementation. In some severe cases the afore mentioned practices can be used as a means to temporarily provide comfort for a person who is working towards correcting the root issue of health. However, by and large, these methods of symptom suppression are used to ignore the messages of the body so that one can continue an unnatural lifestyle under the illusion of health. (more…)

A “Raw Food Diet” should be synonymous with a “Natural Diet”. The idea behind a raw food diet is that all food was created perfectly for our bodies and that to alter it in any way would be invariably harmful to our health and our environment.

The term “Raw” is not an ideal description, however. Just being raw does not make something an ideal food for our consumption. We must realize that we are only one of countless species of herbivores/frugivores, and many raw plant foods, although, high in certain nutrients and seemingly convenient in unnatural circumstances, are far from the best choice for our physiology.

The term “Natural” implies that the food is in its original, unaltered (RAW) state and further defines that they are foods that are most compatible with our digestion and performance.

The raw food movement really began at the dawn of creation. Human beings as well as every single other species were designed to consume all of their food in a raw natural state for ideal performance and growth. Somewhere along the way humans turned their back on this natural truth. No one can say for certain why it happened, but as humans began to migrate away from their original sub-tropical habitats, fire became a necessity for survival. Being removed from the fertile soils of their natural foods, humans were forced to hunt animals, and store their food for survival. Cooking their food then became crucial as a means of preservation and sterilization. From this point on the nature of food had been lost and the idea of cooking and eating animals became widely accepted as man set out to dominate all areas of the globe.

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