Interview with Rhio
Question
#1: What are some rawfood staples in your current diet? B) Are
you 100% raw? C) How did you start?
My
intention is 100% raw, 100% of the time, and when I'm making the
food and feeding myself, that's the way it is. But I'm practical
enough to realize that sometimes I may not be getting 100%, like
when I'm dining out at a raw restaurant. Can I really know that
the chefs have followed through and meet all of my standards?
At those times, I may ask a few questions like what are the dishes
without agave syrup, maple syrup, etc. but beyond that, I choose
not to interrogate the waiter and I just make the best choices
possible. I don't like to
make scenes or draw attention to myself, it's not conducive to
good digestion.
Also,
since I aim for 100%, I am now cracking my own nuts because some
nuts that come already out of the shell may be heated in some
way or are sometimes rancid. It is tedious to shell nuts, and
so I am searching for a good electric nutcracker, but without
much success so far.
I
love greens like kale, collards and swiss chard, especially when
I grow them myself. I find them to be so incredibly delicious.
And also at the top of my list are the edible weeds. In my garden
I'm like a deer grazing. I eat and advocate eating a wide variety
of fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables, some fermented foods, sprouted
nuts, seeds, legumes and some grains. And I place a special emphasis
on growing my own as much as is possible.
My
first summer job as a teenager was in a fresh raw juice bar in
downtown Los Angeles. As I worked at the bar, serving fresh juices
and smoothies, I got to talk to the people that came in and I
realized that there existed a whole world of information that
I hadn't previously understood. I started making a connection
between the food that we put into our bodies and the profound
effect that it could have upon us. People with ulcers came in
for the cabbage juice. Others with kidney disease were taking
home watermelon juice, and still others depended on a combination
high in potassium, which consisted of carrot, celery, cucumber,
spinach and parsley juices.
Directly
across from the juice bar, on the opposite side, was a small health
food store. All day long I would serve juices and smoothies, and
between customers, I would look across at this fascinating store
with intriguing books and strange products. Every week, when I
collected my check, I strolled across to the other side and bought
books. Some of the books were by Dr. Ann Wigmore. That is how
I was introduced to the raw food diet.
Question
#2: How did you begin your raw radio show? How can we listen?
My
partner, Leigh, is in the process of building two internet radio
stations which will be launched next year. When we were in California
earlier this year, we met with the owner of healthylife.net and
she offered me a radio show on her network. Leigh thought it would
be a good idea for me to start getting the experience I need and
so we started. It's been quite an experience for me. I'm usually
good with words on a page, but speaking on the radio is quite
another thing.
You
can access the show from anywhere in the world by going to: www.healthylife.net
Look for Hooked on Raw with Rhio on Thursdays at 1 PM Pacific
Time and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time. Calculate time for anywhere
by basing it on 1 PM Pacific Time. The show repeats 12 hours later
and also on the weekends. There are also some shows archived.
In
January 2006, however, the show will relocate to Leigh's station:
www.tribecaradio.net and there it will be heard twice daily at
4 PM and 8 PM Eastern Standard Time. You can calculate the time
for anywhere in the world by basing it on 4 PM Eastern Standard
Time.
Question
#3: What was like appearing in the American Journal and CNN?
Both
American Journal and CNN did stories on the raw food diet and
featured me as a part of those stories.
American
Journal had asked me to get them some people who had healed themselves
of serious diseases with the raw food diet and I gave them two
names. One was Ron Diamond who had healed himself of bone cancer
4th stage (he had been told by the doctors at Sloan-Kettering
that he had about 6 months to live). American Journal interviewed
Ron Diamond for the story. But when the show came out, the most
important part of the story - the part where Ron had healed his
bone cancer - was left out. Instead they edited it so that the
only part that was presented was Ron's weight loss. You see, in
the process of healing his bone cancer, Ron also lost more than
100 lbs. I was very disappointed that AJ edited Ron's interview
in such a way, and so subsequently we did an audio tape with Ron
to present the whole story, which I now offer on my website's
shopping mall. The experience with American Journal and other
media opportunities that I've had showed me how the media manipulates
information to suit themselves or their corporate bosses. This
is one of the reasons that my partner, Leigh Crizoe, is developing
his two internet radio stations. We are now fortunate that
through internet radio and through Sirius, XM and other outlets,
wider views of life, health and other issues can be presented
to the public. Mainstream media has a very narrow focus and view,
and people will not find the information they need to become healthy
there - at least not at this time. Ron Diamond, by the way, is
now a 16 year survivor of bone cancer.
Question
#4: How do you come up with a recipe?
This
is going to sound a little crazy, but my best recipes come when
I'm fasting and I can't even taste them at that time. Somehow
when I'm fasting, I get very creative and good ideas come to me.
Then days later, when I finish my fast, I make the recipe again
and then I can taste it. But fortunately, my partner Leigh is
always around as a taster.
I
also come up with good recipes by looking at the ingredients in
a cooked food recipe and then trying to convert the whole thing
to raw. This will only work when cooked food recipes have real
food in them. If a recipe has white flour, white sugar, baking
soda, eggs, butter and cream - well - there's nothing there to
start with, so nothing to convert.
Question
#5: Can you share a favorite raw food recipe?
CREAM OF CILANTRO SOUP
by Rhio
Cilantro is Reputed to be a Heavy Metal Detoxer
3 cups of cilantro
3 cups of filtered water
1 avocado
4 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2-1 tsp. Celtic sea salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder or granules
1) Put all ingredients into a blender
and blend well.
Serves 2.
Question #6: What are some quick tips or hints for raw
newbies?
Read
as much as you can, go to lectures and educate yourself about
the raw food diet and health in general. In the raw community
there are many different versions of the raw food diet. Sometimes
it can be confusing. Who are you to believe? I say, begin, where
you are, keep adding more raw into your diet, and at some point,
your own body will become your teacher and your guide. Know that
there will be a necessary period of transition and that there
will be some detoxing symptoms to go through. Pass all information
you receive through the sieve of your own intelligence.
Question
#7: Do you have any dental problems on the raw diet?
I
have not had any dental problems on the raw diet. Prior to becoming
a raw food enthusiast I had a couple of deep cavities and one
tiny one. The 2 teeth with the deep cavities were lost. After
becoming raw, my teeth stabilized and I have not developed any
more cavities.
Question
#8: Do you take any raw supplements or super foods?
On
an on again, off again basis, I take some raw food supplements.
(Usually two weeks on, two weeks off). I also rotate supplements,
so I'm not always taking the same ones. Among the supplements
I might take are fresh wheatgrass juice, VitaMineral
Green, Greener Grasses (from HealthForce Nutritionals),
bee
pollen, propolis, royal
jelly, Thyrocare (an herbal support for the thyroid gland),
and colloidal trace minerals.
Question
#9: Where do you see the raw food movement heading?
The
raw/live food movement will explode into the mainstream consciousness
within the next 5-10 years. We can see signs of that happening
now. A societal structure will arise to give the movement credibility.
That structure will strengthen over the years to the point that
people will generally accept that there are two models in effect
and available in the United States. One model is the cooked food,
allopathic, drug system and the other model is the raw/live food,
wholistic and drugless system.
Question
#10: Can you please tell us about some of your current projects
you're working on and/or developing?
I
have too many projects going but I'm very happy and elated that
some of them are coming to fruition. By Summer of next year I
will have a set of 3 videos/DVDs on raw food preparation available
for purchase. At the same time a TV pilot will be produced entitled
"Rhio's Place". I am also working on two song albums
that will come out at about the same time. One is called: Time
to Start Believing Again with environmental and raw food themes.
Leigh
and I are also developing a farm using Nature's methods as a guide.
Of course it will be organic, although we may not be able to certify
organic because in order to do so, the USDA requires an enormous
amount of paperwork and for a tiny operation it is not feasible.
So we might opt to go with a private certification label rather
than through the USDA program. Unfortunately the USDA program
looks like it might be weakening the organic standards anyway,
so a private certification will probably mean more in the future.
Last
Spring on our farm we planted 112 fruit and nut trees and bushes,
and this Spring we hope to plant twice as many. We are especially
looking into producing the hard to get items like mulberries,
unusual fruits, open pollinated and heirloom vegetables and edible
weeds.
Alex,
thank you for the opportunity to share some information with your
readers. God bless you and your work.
Rhio's Raw Energy
www.rawfoodinfo.com
»Click
here to buy the Hooked on Raw book by Rhio!