Natural Hygiene Living

 Natural Living with Mamiko Matsuda, PhD



  

   One of the beautiful things about living is getting to eat food. I don’t know about you, but I get happy when I get to eat. I am one of the lucky people who has never been without food; and yet I still deeply appreciate its abundance in my life. The day I arrived in southern USA and went to the grocery store and saw the rainbow of fruit and vegetables, I was astounded. To this day, I never tire of going to the produce department and beholding the fine varieties of produce found there. I love that I don’t have any idea what some of that stuff is and where it comes from. I make it my business to be around people from different cultures so they will teach me their dishes and will show me new foods and how to prepare them. One such woman happens to be my health Guru: Mamiko Matsuda, PhD.



   Over the years I had gotten off track and left the colorful array of beautiful produce and switched to processed, sugary, salty, fatty manufactured foods. These were quick to prepare and inexpensive to buy. My cupboards were filled with boxes and cans.  My freezer was stuffed with microwavable foods. I had lots of restaurant leftovers in Styrofoam in my fridge. It took a medical crisis to get me to pay attention to what I was eating and then for another reason, I went vegan. I think this happens to a lot of people. Something happens and we wake up. Health and compassionate living has now become my raison d'être. I woke up and started to say “Yes” to life, inspiration and joy. In the midst of becoming vegan I decided to read that old book:  Fit for Life by Harvey Diamond.  Diamond talked a good bit about Natural Hygiene and I liked that concept. I wanted to get involved and as luck would have it, I soon met Mamiko Matsuda, who happens to be famous in Japan for translating Fit for Life and who runs a Natural Hygiene group in Houston.  There truly are no coincidences!

   I met my dear Mamiko at a vegan yoga retreat. Just like the saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Mamiko turned out to be one of the speakers at this retreat. Since meeting her, I have been to almost every one of her monthly Natural Hygiene meetings. Recently, Mamiko shared some pictures of her food adventures. She had just come back from Dr. Alan Goldhammer’s True North Health Center in Santa Rosa California. Included in this post are pictures of some of Mamiko's meals. They were so pretty, I had to share them. 

 

   Let me add here that Mamiko Matsuda is a big deal in her native Japan for not only the translation of Fit for Life but also for Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn and The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. She lectures all over Japan. She writes for the Japan Natural Hygiene Network and countless other newsletters and publications. She is also an author in her own right. Her books are available in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Her passion is to have humankind return to health, their birthright. We seem to have forgotten our true nature and this is evident by just going into a grocery store today.  My friend from the International Hygiene Society, Janis Hopper says that "the grocery store is one big illusion.  It's amazing to behold all the unnecessary items there, so many useless products!" We are not meant to eat food out of cans, jars, packages and bags.  We were born to enjoy a colorful rainbow of fresh, unspoiled whole foods. Mamiko and all of the wonderful people in the Natural Hygiene Society help us to remember this.  Mamiko herself has personally turned hundreds of people all over Japan and the USA back to good and healthful living including me.

   In the USA, Mamiko frequently attends lectures on plant-based diets and Natural Hygiene.  Mamiko is unendingly generous with all whom she meets. She is true example of kindness and compassion and it shows on her beautiful face. She is always radiant. You can’t miss her in a crowd. Anywhere she goes she brings love and happiness with her. I feel very fortunate to have become one of her friends.

 

 More food pictures by Mamiko Matsuda ~ Eat the Rainbow and eat something Raw at every meal:



How to make a yummy salad:

CCC Office Lunch Salad

Makes a giant salad for multiple people!


½ - 1 head Green Leaf Lettuce (depends on how many people are eating)
1 Honeycrisp Apple, chopped
1 Granny Smith Apple, chopped
1 Bartlett Pear, chopped
1 Pomegranate, knock the seeds out to use
1-2 Avocados (depends how many are eating and how much you like avocados), mash ½ and cube 1/2 of the avocados
1 Lemon, zest and juice

Instructions:


Clean and prepare all veg. Tear bite sized pieces of lettuce for salad and place in large bowl. In a separate bowl add apples, pear, pom seeds and zest of lemon. Add mashed avocado and stir the mixture so the avo gets distributed evenly. Toss the fruit mixture into the lettuce bowl, add the cubed avocado and lemon juice. Gently toss the salad and add salt and pepper to taste.