Naked Food: Plant-Based Nutrition for Reversing Disease

Additional Info

• Segment Number: 1
• Audio File: wellness_for_life/1508wl5a.mp3
• Featured Speaker: Margarita Restrepo, Founder of Naked Food Magazine
• Guest Website: Naked Food Magazine
• Guest Twitter Account: @NakedMargarita
• Guest Bio: Songwriter/Producer Margarita Restrepo stays busy as a Designer and as the Founder and editor-in-chief of Naked Food Magazine. She is certified in plant-based nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Foundation and Cornell University, and holds a double major degree in Graphic Arts and Marketing.
  
  She is an advocate for educating the world about the whole food, plant-based diet and the naked way of life. After losing her boyfriend and music partner to a stage IV brain cancer (GBM) in January 2012, she felt the responsibility to help as many people as possible, including herself, understand the importance of nutrition in the development or reversal of diseases. Following a plant-based diet helped decrease the size of her boyfriend’s tumors by 25 percent. She had been diagnosed as well with anxiety attacks, and a severe iodine deficiency, which have disappeared since following her Naked Diet.
  
  Naked Food Magazine is an initiative focused on preventing and reversing chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Lower Respiratory Diseases, Nephritis, and Multiple Sclerosis among others. It also addresses other non-deadly conditions that are affecting the current state of health such as obesity, osteoporosis, chronic pain, digestive health, and hypertension, also linked to nutritional factors.
• Transcription: RadioMD Presents: Wellness for Life Radio | Original Air Date: February 20, 2015
  Host: Susanne Bennett, DC
  Guest: Margarita Restrepo
  
  
  DR. SUSANNE: Have you heard of Naked Food Magazine? Now, Naked Food Magazine is the leading whole food plant-based nutrition consumer publication with a big mission to promote a plant-based nutritional approach to reverse and prevent disease. The magazine covers areas such as nutrition, prevention and healing of disease, wellness, fitness, recipes, lifestyle features and tips.
  
  I am so thrilled to welcome the founder and editor in chief, Margarita Restrepo, to Wellness for Life to discuss all of the fun nakedness that she has been promoting.
  
  Welcome, Margarita!
  
  MARGARITA: Oh, thank you so much I’m delighted to be here. Thank you.
  
  DR. SUSANNE: Margarita, what do you mean by “naked food” and I know it has nothing to do with being buck naked and eating good food. What do you mean by naked food?
  
  MARGARITA: Yes. You know, that’s a great question. Actually, naked stands for the “New American Kind and Enlightened Diet”. That’s exactly what it means and naked really refers to food that loves you back. It’s food that does not have any type of additives, toxins, colorants. In other words, it’s food that is really true food in its prime state. You know? Nothing added; nothing toxic to our health. So, it’s completely naked.
  
  DR. SUSANNE: Got it. So, what you’re saying is, you want pure food. Pure food like from earth to mouth directly.
  
  MARGARITA: Correct.
  
  DR. SUSANNE: Something that is so natural without it be adulterated with toxins and GMO and fertilizers and everything else that we deal with here in America and a lot of other countries.
  
  MARGARITA: Exactly.
  
  DR. SUSANNE: But, of course, that’s specifically what I promote also because I know there are so many allergies, so many diseases out there these days and a lot has to do with what you put into your body.
  
  So, can you tell us what spurred you to make this magazine, Naked Food Magazine?
  
  MARGARITA: Yes, sure. Absolutely. You know, the inspiration for the magazine actually came from a personal tragedy, unfortunately. My boyfriend passed away in 2012 from brain cancer. This type of cancer is called a glioblastoma multiforme. It’s a type of cancer that is primarily located in the brain and it’s very fast, very bad. One of the amazing things that I discovered through this painful experience is that when he got diagnosed with cancer, we both started a plant-based diet. This was because he did not believe in other kinds of therapy. You know, he did not want to chemotherapy; he did not want to do radiation, which are the things that doctors really advise you to do in this kind of case. There was really no cure for this cancer, so he decided to do a more holistic approach and we decided to start a plant-based diet.
  
  Just to tell you briefly, this cancer does not stop. In other words, there was no way for the cancer to really stop growing or stop developing. After we started the diet, about 3 months later, he had another MRI--another scan of his brain--and the doctors were astounded. I mean, they didn’t even know what was happening because they discovered that the cancer had actually had a reduction of 25% in its growth. And, I mean, unfortunately, by the time we started the diet, it was a little bit too late for complete reversal of the disease. It was just too late, but it was an amazing result, after 3 months for this kind of cancer. So, he passed away 8 months later and I decided to, after really learning so much, not only about diet and our health system and what it means when somebody gets cancer. The fact that it has become a complete business. It’s a cash cow, unfortunately, for the insurance companies, for a lot of these so-called medicines that they prescribe to people with cancer and this applies to every other disease. So, after learning and opening my eyes to this, which I really was not aware, I decided to start something that was an informational matrix, really. Something that could inspire people to change—not because of fear—but because actually, knowledge is power. When you know these things and you can apply them to your life, then the power is yours and you have the choice to really choose what you want.
  
  DR. SUSANNE: That’s right. What an inspirational story. I mean, absolutely, for you it was an experience that made you look at life completely different and you are helping now millions and millions of people, giving them valuable content and from your experience, you’re really helping the world in feeling better. Prevention is key. You know, I truly believe that there are three different reasons that can cause illness in your body or problems. Number one is what you eat. Thirty percent--a third of your diet--has something to do with why you’re ill. The second is the environment is that you live in and the third is genetics.
  
  MARGARITA: Sure.
  
  DR. SUSANNE: But, we have the control of the first two: environment as well as the food that you eat. I see that on your website with NakedFoodMagazine.com that you do just that and I see that that’s what you’re striving for.
  
  MARGARITA: Sure. When you explain to people that our bodies have a relationship with what’s outside of ourselves—meaning our environment—and really the one thing that enters our body is the food. You know, besides the environment, that’s the one thing that we put in our bodies. Even when, as you were saying—which is completely correct—even if you are genetically predisposed to something, it is your lifestyle that can determine the future of those genes either developing or promoting some kind of disease. It’s really in your hands to make this choice and that’s something that people don’t know.
  
  DR. SUSANNE: That’s right.
  
  MARGARITA: It something that, when they get cancer, or they get Alzheimer’s or some bad disease, they feel like, “Oh, well. You know, that’s my fate. I guess, you know, I’m older.” Actually, it happen at any age, but it’s really not like that. It’s something that we can at least try to do it, because I mean if you do it, it’s not a completely 100% guarantee, but it’s a great chance that you will not develop any of these things.
  
  DR. SUSANNE: Yes. That’s so true. Absolutely, Margarita. What you’re saying is that, although we have these genes—the genotypes of who we are—we actually can prevent the expression of these genes which is called the “phenotype”—the way it is expressed. That’s such a great point to be made. I so appreciate that. Everyone, you’ve got to go to NakedFoodMagazine.com.
  
  Also one of my favorite spots is the Naked Friday. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Margarita.
  
  To learn more, please go to my Wellness for Life radio page on RadioMD and you’ll be able to get more information about Margarita.
  
  I’m Dr. Susanne sharing my natural strategies for ultimate health and wellness right here on RadioMD.
  
  Stay well!
• Length (mins): 10
• Waiver Received: No
• Host: Susanne Bennett, DC