This section was pulled straight from my book “Raw Success“. It is a special reference section in the middle of the book.
Acknowledgment
What I am about to share was inspired by my mentor, Dr. Fred Bisci. Fred started planting seeds in my head over seven years ago. Today I still repeatedly have new invigorating realizations about these concepts. The harvest of their fruit, I share with you. Take what you can use and leave the rest for another day.
The Gas Mystery Unveiled
Many people, especially Raw Foodists, are often befuddled about what gas is and why it can sometimes seem never ending. Flatulence or raucous belching is not necessarily part of our “Garden of Eden” fairytale. The answer to this mysterious gas lies within our cells. The well-kept secret has eluded so many because cells are small and mysterious, not to mention completely hidden within and beneath our wonderful skin.
What is actually happening inside us on a cellular level?
Our cells are full of gas.
Gas is a result of fermentation. Normal digestion always results in a certain amount of fermentation; it is a natural and inevitable byproduct of digestion. With that being said however, we do have control over the amount of gas produced. The quality, quantity, and combinations of foods we eat determine the amount of fermentative gas released into our system. When this gas is released, our cells absorb it into their structure and it gets “locked in”, through the process of something called: diffusion.
Gas diffusion – Cell membranes are the boundaries between the internal and external environments of a cell. Diffusion across this cellular membrane is the movement of gas molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration.
The cells must enlarge to accommodate excessive amounts of incoming gas pressure. The poorer our eating habits, the more fermentative gases are released in our system, and the more abnormally enlarged our cells become.
The cells are continually working to rid themselves of this gaseous waste. However, with non-stop cooked and junky foods, our inflated cells are constantly subjected to elevated levels of fermentative gas, which keep the cells distended.
When someone improves his or her diet, the fermentation decreases considerably.
“Because they are alive and vital,
raw foods do not ferment as readily as cooked foods.”
(Dr. St. Louis Estes, Raw Food and Health, pg. 114)
With a diet of Raw Food, there is literally less (gas) pressure on the cell and, through the same process of gas diffusion, the cell is finally free to contract and release any accumulated toxins and gaseous waste.
You just learned what is actually happening inside the body when someone says they are detoxing!!!
{As you study and gain a deep understanding of this process, you will soon understand the power behind Colon Hydrotherapy.}
Our level of cellular gas has a massive effect on our health and well-being. Perhaps you are saying to yourself, “It’s just a tiny cell, what is the big deal if it’s a little gasey?” The body is made up of an incredible, mind-boggling number of cells; every bit of us consists of cells – our blood, organs, skin, nails, all matter in the body. Yes cells are small, but en masse, a little bit of gaseous waste pouring from thousands of trillions of troopers simultaneously is a big deal.
The process of detoxification (cells contracting to rid themselves of stored gaseous waste) continues for life, especially if one is consistent with an improved diet. Over time, the cells contract more and more, continuing to give off greater quantities of gaseous waste.
Here is a visual comparison:
Cells on a SAD diet are the size of a large yoga ball
Cells on a vegetarian diet for 5 years are the size of a basketball
Cells on a vegan diet for 5 years contract to the size of a soccer ball
Cells on a 100% Raw Vegan Diet for 1 year (consistently) shrink to baseball size
Cells on a 100% Raw Vegan Diet for 10 years detox to the size of a ping-pong ball
Cells on a 100% Raw Vegan Diet for 40 years reduce to the size of a marble
Cells on a 100% liquid diet for 40 years are the size of a microscopic dot or pin prick
Yo-Yo Dangers
This next section explains why it is so harmful to yo-yo between eating styles or try to move out of the “rabbit hole” too quickly. {The “rabbit hole” concept is explained in Chapter 11}
Our body adjusts to what we do consistently, over time. It took years for our cells to gradually expand so that they could accommodate the tremendous amount of fermentative gas pressures from the foods we were eating. Because of the adaptation abilities of our body, we could scarf down more dangerous selections and quantities of food in our twenties than we could as young children.
Digesting cooked meat or processed starches generates considerably more fermentation than digesting Raw Food. This fermentative gas can damage cells if they are not large enough and don’t have the open space to withstand the pressure.
It is the size of your cells that determines the amount of shock the body experiences. Depending on the cleanliness of your cells, a cheeseburger or slice of cooked apple pie could either mean a nice full belly, an upset tummy and headache, or a one-way trip to the hospital.
To really illustrate the effects, let me break it down again.
The fermentation from a cooked starch/meat meal would result in:
No effect on the SAD dieter. There is plenty of space in the cell for gas pressure. Bring it on!
A bit of fatigue perhaps for the “basketball” vegetarian, still far from any danger zone.
Headache or nausea for the soccer ball vegan; the gases would fit very snugly and the cell may have to expand a bit to make room.
Varying levels of illness for the baseball 1-yr Raw Vegan and the ping pong 10-yr Raw Vegan as the gas pressure shocks and pushes past the cells’ capacity.
Massive disaster for the marble 40-yr Raw Vegan and pin-prick Liquidarian. There is no feasible room inside the cell to accommodate the onslaught of gases and the result is detrimental shock.
Becoming “too sensitive” can become an issue in the long run. That is the main reason why I don’t encourage people to go beyond the Optimal Raw Diet outlined in Chapters 9 & 10. The smaller our cells, the more sensitive we are to damaging environmental toxins and inconsistencies in diet. When someone goes beyond a Liquidarian diet and is practically living on air alone, it’s almost impossible to fathom how sensitive and refined that being becomes. In the long run, their cells would become so extremely small that the gas pressure caused by adverse environmental conditions could have a detrimental effect on their health.
Feeling the Pressure
Do not think that the “basketball-sized” cells of a typical American dieter are immune to consequences. They may be able to endure adverse conditions with little noticeable reaction, but as evidenced by all the illness in today’s world, they are clearly suffering from gradual autointoxication. Poor diet combined with less-than-ideal eating habits – junky foods, harmful substances, eating all day without breaks, meals late at night – make degenerative disease inevitable in the long-run.
Massive quantities of fermentation plague the system from poor food and eating habits. Even with three bowel movements a day, and release from belching and flatulence, gas is being packed away. The gas pressure builds in the bloodstream to the point where the cells clog, and are unable to release their carbonic acid gaseous waste due to the principle of gas diffusion explained above. The body is storing more gas than it’s releasing. Think of the individuals walking around with enlarged abdomens, like balloons ready to pop. This type of person may be moving their bowels three times a day, yet they are chronically constipated on a cellular level. Detoxification – getting rid of gaseous cellular waste – is crucial for a healthy disease-free life.
Lifesaving Detox
You’ve already learned that the digestive system breaks down food so that nutrients can enter the bloodstream. The bloodstream carries these nutrients to the trillions of hungry cells throughout our body. Looking a bit closer, science has shown that through the process of *cellular respiration, the cells convert this fuel (sugar) to useable energy (ATP).
In a healthy body, this is generally done in the presence of oxygen. When oxygen is not available, the cells must use a back-up system that involves anaerobic (absence of oxygen) pathways for converting sugar into energy. This back up system is fermentation. Knowing what we know about the damaging effects of fermentation, you can probably see the disastrous direction this is heading.
*Cellular Respiration: This is how cells obtain energy from nutritious molecules. During cellular respiration, energy (ATP) is released and carbon dioxide is produced and absorbed by the blood, to be transported to the lungs.
Why are we forced to use a back-up system; why wouldn’t oxygen be available to convert sugar to energy?
Detoxification – getting rid of gaseous cellular waste – is crucial for a healthy, disease-free life. If a person is chronically constipated on a cellular level, the cells can’t release their gaseous waste (Remember diffusion – if the pressure on the outside of the cell is the same or greater then the pressure on the inside of the cell, all movement STOPS flowing towards the area of greater pressure). If a cell cannot release this toxic gas, it will expand beyond its natural point of suppleness.
Whether there is an absolute maximum capacity to which the cell can expand from excess gas is a mystery. However, when there is constant excess gas pressure in the bloodstream and inside the cell, that cell can get cut off from oxygen. The oxygen can’t make its way to the cell through the elevated levels of gas pressure.
So now the cells have to use anaerobic (absence of oxygen) pathways to convert fuel into energy (ATP). Instead of using oxygen to create energy, the anaerobic process generates alcohol fermentation and lactic acid fermentation to produce energy. If this process continues for extended periods of time, it is destructive to tissue and can result in inflammation, which later develops into the host of degenerative diseases all too common in today’s world.
The Cause of Cancer – Explained
In 1931 Otto Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology. Otto Warburg is known for discovering the cause of cancer. He stated, “The prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen (oxidation of sugar) in normal body cells by fermentation of sugar.” He is saying that the prime cause of cancer is when the body is forced to use anaerobic pathways to convert fuel (sugar/glucose) to energy. Ding! Ding!
An article entitled “The Scientific Basis Behind Alternative Cancer Treatments”, by Tanya Harter Pierce, MA, MFCC states:
Otto Warburg demonstrated that all cancer cells share the important trait of being primarily anaerobic. Whereas all healthy cells in our bodies require an oxygen-rich environment. Warburg was able to show that cancer cells actually thrive in an oxygen-depleted environment. He further proved that, rather than using oxygen, cancer cells use glucose fermentation for their energy needs. The reason that healthy cells sometimes change from aerobic respiration to anaerobic respiration – and then may turn into cancer cells – is not entirely understood.
The theory I propose above explains what “is not entirely understood”. The article goes on to theorize:
However, it is known that under stress, the tissues of the body have a tendency to become more acidic then they would otherwise be. It is also known that oxygen is less able to be assimilated by the body as the cellular environment becomes more acidic. Therefore as the body is stressed by any number of means, such as poor nutrition, toxins, physical stress, or dehydration, the cells of the body may adopt anaerobic respiration as a survival mechanism.
In actuality, poor nutrition, toxins and physical stress create the gas pressure which puts the tissue of the body under stress causing a more acidic condition. At this point, the oxygen is less able to be assimilated by the body.
Once in the more primitive anaerobic state, these cells no longer function efficiently and many of the natural mechanisms that control cell division break down, sometimes resulting in cancer.
Based on these scientific facts, some of the most effective alternative cancer therapies exploit the cancer cell’s dependency on anaerobic functioning. High pH Therapy and some Nutritional/Dietary Therapies seek to reduce the acidity of the cancer cell and surrounding environment to remove the conditions in which the cancer thrives.
The goal is not to reduce the acidity of the body. It is to relieve the body of this gas pressure which will result in a less acidic condition. The two most effective ways to accomplish this task are adhering to a healthier diet, while undertaking Colon Hydrotherapy. When you eat a healthier diet less fermentative gas is produced in your bloodstream during digestion. This lowers the gas pressure on the outside of the cells. Through the process of diffusion, these gases exit the cells and rapidly discharge into the bloodstream. Colon Hydrotherapy removes this heavy outpour of gaseous waste from the bloodstream, which keeps the gas pressure levels in the bloodstream down, allowing even more cellular detoxification. The release of this backed-up gas pressure will allow oxygen to once again exist within the cells’ environment. With more oxygen, the body is not forced to resort to anaerobic, acid-producing fermentation for energy production.
*Two other powerful components to aid in cellular detoxification are vegetable juicing and enzyme therapy.
*Juicing will help to alkalinize the acidic toxins entering into the bloodstream, making the experience much more pleasant while also exceedingly nourishing for you (See Chapter 8). Enzymes will help remove toxins and disease, while repairing damage done to the body (See Chapter 11).
Colon Hydrotherapy
I think you would agree that there are many big-bellied people who have spent decades eating a Standard American Diet. Many of these individuals seek out the 100% Raw Food Diet. At first, their results are fantastic. They lose 50 pounds and have incredible energy. As time goes by and the detox goes deeper, however, these same individuals lose energy, don’t feel well, get a runny nose, and their face starts to look older. They are bathing in their own waste, even if their bowels are emptying three times a day. This is the type of person who is chronically constipated on a cellular level, due to this overwhelming gas pressure. They need Colon Hydrotherapy to keep up with all that is being excreted by the cells. If not willing to do Colon Hydrotherapy, I would highly suggest they get off the CLEANSING 100% Raw Food Diet and instead adopt a healthy transition diet.
It is true that Colonics remove the build up of solid waste from our colon. What most people are not aware of, however, is that solid waste removal is not the main objective! Many colon machines have a viewing window where you can look at what is coming out of your colon during the session. In addition to solid waste, you can also see many tiny bubbles leaving the body. The bubbles are carbonic acid gaseous waste! That is what we are most interested in releasing.
There have been many examples of people’s rings falling off their fingers during a Colonic. Why does this happen? That solid matter, our finger, is like a jigsaw puzzle, comprised of thousands of miniature puzzle-piece cells. Over the years, our cells have expanded and become bigger to accommodate a certain amount of carbonic acid gaseous waste. When these clogged people did a Colonic, they “unclogged the sink” and that gaseous waste was free to leave their cells through the process of diffusion. This outpouring of carbonic acid gas allowed the cells to contract and become smaller, which literally shrunk their fingers, causing rings to fall off. They deflated! Can’t you sometimes see when people are kind of inflated in their face, fingers, or ankles and could benefit enormously from getting this done?
Colon Hydrotherapy is an invaluable tool for all people, regardless of their lifestyle and eating habits, particularly because it allows for our cells to return to the “lean” state that is in alignment with the way our bodies were designed to thrive.
Dr. St. Louis Estes, author of Raw Food and Health, is the only other author I know of who seemed to have an understanding of these blood gas concepts. His book is available in the Resource Guide. I highly recommend reading the chapter entitled “Gases”. He writes:
Gas in the stomach and in the bowels is a chronic disorder characteristic of the reaction of cooked foods. The organs of the body are thwarted in their functions, displaced, prolapsed and diseased through accumulations of gas, which are generated by putrefying foods.
If you read in-between the lines, you will come to understand that all the organs of the body are overwhelmed and compromised by gas pressure inside and outside the cells. He is also saying it is a result of eating cooked food, which causes more putrefying fermentative gas in the system than Raw Food.
He goes on to write:
People eat a hearty meal and perhaps immediately, or several hours afterward, are annoyed with eructations of gas. They accept this condition as a matter of course and go on from day to day, not realizing that the constant accumulations of gas are pursuing their course back and forth through the body, are greatly increased with every meal, crowd the organs, distend and dislodge them from their normal positions and cause innumerable diseases and disorders and much misery.
The body is consumed with gas pressure inside and outside the cells, organs, and all throughout the body. The gases are actually traveling throughout our blood and are causing the majority of diseases today! Read below:
These gases, though they are indifferently regarded, have a very definite power in undermining the health, depleting the nervous system to such an extent that weakness, loss of memory, vertigo, eye troubles, depression, hysteria and even paralysis, where the pressure is so intense that a large blood vessel gives way.
Even Heart Attacks!:
Palpitation of the heart is very often caused by intestinal gases. I have seen cases suffering from gas pains to such an extent they were forced to go to a hospital for treatment. Every morsel of food or drink which they took into their body was seemingly converted into gas, and the misery which they suffered was intense. Severe contraction of the muscles around the heart and sharp, stubborn pains through the heart areas, which actually shut off the breath for a few seconds, frightened these patients into believing that death was imminent. The natural result of this condition, if neglected, would be a diseased condition of the heart, for the pressure of the gas on the nerves causes surcharging and congestion of the blood vessels and a persistent irritation to the regions afflicted. The great strain on the heart under these circumstances lowers its vitality and changes the heartbeat, making it slower and irregular, or quickened with frequent rapid flutterings and racing throb. Fainting fits are not uncommon to these conditions, for the sudden congestions due to gas around the heart draws the blood from the brain.
And Hair Loss:
Continuous recurrence of this reaction to gas deprives the scalp of its nourishment, and the hair dies and falls out.
(Raw Food and Health, by Dr. St. Louis Estes, pgs 112- 113)
Extra care is advisable here for those who adhere to the cleansing, 100% Raw Food Diet (See the section, “The 100% Raw Food Diet Is a Life-Long Fast!” in Chapter 7). As the years go on, the cells will continually outpour their gaseous waste into the bloodstream. Repeatedly, people who adhere to a 100% Raw Lifestyle confide in me. Many of these people express to me that their hair is falling out. This is a particularly common trait amongst heavy fruit eaters, who develop excess gas from all the fermentation in their system.
Feeling Gasey?
You can now see why gas is continually present in the body of a 100% Raw Food Eater. Aside from the environmental toxins, stress, and poor eating habits, we will forever have a certain amount of gas from the ongoing detoxification (life-long fast), which will continue until we die.
Thankfully, there are ways to minimize the amount of gas in our cells. Cleansing, exercising, keeping stress-free, avoiding environmental toxins, and the most important contributing factor in our control: improving our eating habits. Food combining is one improvement we can make. Even more effective however is not eating late at night, overeating, overlapping meals, or eating all day long. Furthermore, lack of chewing is the probably the leading cause of gas in the body of a Raw Foodist.
Chewing Our Food
For those of you just starting a 100% Raw Lifestyle, the practice of Fletcherizing (chewing to a liquid or creamy consistency) each bite of food could take years to perfect and that is absolutely OK. It is a goal to work towards. Expect some possible challenges. One is forced to minimize food intake when Fletcherizing. Not only will you be the last one sitting at the table with a smaller meal, but it will generally take you five times longer than it did before to finish a meal. Your loved ones will have finished eating, washed their dishes and accomplished ten other things, in the time it takes you just to eat.
Dr. St. Louis Estes writes:
ALL FOODS will cause gas unless they are thoroughly masticated. If the food is swallowed in chunks, the stomach is absolutely incapable of dissolving that food so that more than a meager percentage of it can be absorbed. The result is that the undigested chunks of food lie inert and heavy, and fermentation shortly begins, followed thereafter by flatulence and discomfort and frequently intense pain.
The GREATEST CARE should be exercised by those living or contemplating living on a diet of RAW FOODS. Because of their highly nutritious properties and the fact that they are eaten in their natural state, with none of the minerals lost, the raw foods have enormous power and are capable of causing great digestive disturbance unless they are thoroughly ground to a creamy consistency with the teeth.
(Raw Food and Health, by Dr. St. Louis Estes, pgs 114- 115)
For 95% of the Raw Foodists reading this book, Fletcherizing will be an improvement in diet. Eating your exact same meals, Fletcherized, will produce less fermentative gas. With less gas pressure in the body, the cells now have a chance to excrete more of their stored gaseous waste, through the process of diffusion.
Initially, this move forward may result in excessive gas and feelings of detox, until your body stabilizes at its new level of health and vitality.
Science and Spiritual Energy
When you consistently eat a 100% Raw Diet, you are automatically thrown into the more “subtle” realms of life. The body vibrates with increased spiritual energy. This heightened state seems to be in direct proportion to the size of our cells! The smaller our cells, the more receptive we become. Cell “shrinkage” is determined by our cleanliness on a cellular level as well as the cleanliness of our bloodstream.
There are two areas of cleanliness to consider and both are needed for ultimate spiritual receptivity:
1. Cellular Cleanliness
2. Bloodstream Cleanliness
Cellular Cleanliness
The 100% Raw Diet is a Life-Long Fast. As the years go by, our cells continually detox, shrinking the cells more and more. The longer one is Raw, the more purified the cells become and the more the body vibrates with increased spiritual energy.
Bloodstream Cleanliness
The cells of anyone in detox are continually purging and dumping gas into the bloodstream. This cellular dumping affects the second factor: bloodstream cleanliness. If our cellular garbage is not continually being eliminated from the bloodstream (via cleansing such as Colon Hydrotherapy), our cells will not be able to dump as much. If the trashcan is full, the garbage starts to collect in the house. If we continue to neglect our bloodstream, at some point the cells will be forced to reabsorb their discarded waste, plus whatever new obstructions have accumulated in the body. The cells grow larger, to house the increased toxicity, and this cellular expansion compromises spiritual receptivity.
Additionally, toxic obstructions that are not eliminated cause a loss of vitality and the body’s vibrational spiritual energy lessens. When the bloodstream is free of obstruction, our minds are sharper, the body’s bloodstream is purified, and we are brought closer to those cosmic forces.
Obstructions
Arnold Ehret writes in detail about these Obstructions while describing his renowned Formula of Life:
“V” = “P” – “O”
Vitality = Power – Obstruction
“O” means OBSTRUCTION, encumbrance, foreign matters, toxemias, mucus; in short, all internal impurities which obstruct the circulation, the function of internal organs especially, and the human engine in its entire functioning system.
(Mucusless Diet Healing System, by Arnold Ehret, pg 53)
Obstruction is a major deciding factor in both cellular cleanliness and bloodstream cleanliness. In terms of cellular cleanliness, the longer you have been on a 100% Raw Vegan Diet, the more your cells detox, shrink and eliminate obstructions within their structure. The majority of cellular obstruction is trapped gaseous waste.
In the case of bloodstream cleanliness, during a cell’s purification process, it dumps any waste into the bloodstream. Thus, the blood must be regularly cleared of obstructions, such as little dumpings from our trillions of cells. There are many effective cleansing habits to purify the blood – Colon Hydrotherapy, skin brushing, exercising, infrared sauna, etc.
The cleanliness of our bloodstream is also affected by:
- Quantity of foods – meal size, meal frequency, raw or dense cooked, etc.
- Eating habits – Fletcherizing, overlapping, overeating, etc.
- Stress & Environment
All these points mentioned above can produce excessive gas if they are out of balance. The less we eat and the more optimal our lifestyle, the less fermentative gas we have. Less fermentative gas means reduced obstructions in our bloodstream. Conversely, a clogged bloodstream slows down cellular detox because the tremendous gas pressure against the cells is too great. As explained above by the gas diffusion principle, the lower the gas pressure outside a cell, the more the cell can purge its waste, enabling it to then purify and shrink. Ultimately, smaller cells result in heightened divine connectivity.
Taking Out The Trash
Cleansing the colon is the #1 way to ensure bloodstream cleanliness and cellular cleanliness. Remember that the colon is the central waste station of the body, the trashcan for all our junk. Colon Hydrotherapy is like taking out the trash. Cleansing the colon empties any gas and waste that may be present and creates a now-empty five-foot long receptacle for the toxins of the body to pour into.
Removing these obstructions from the body allows for increased purification of the bloodstream and thus, heightened spiritual receptivity. Additionally, due to the process of gas diffusion, Colon Hydrotherapy lessens the gas pressure and enables our cells to continually purify – further increasing our spiritual receptivity.
Here is my Formula for Life:
Less Obstruction = Higher Spiritual Receptivity
How does Heaven on Earth sound?
Final Words
This planet is full of good people with good hearts… this book is an attempt to end needless feeling of suffering for those attempting to make it in this world of confusing “do”s and “don’t”s. Well, here is another Don’t: Do not take my word for any of this! Improve your own diet and experience the results for yourself.
For more articles like this from Matt, click HERE.
To read more of Angela's thoughts on how to go raw successfully, happily and for the long-term, see her books HERE.