Photography by Sasha Israel

FOR NATALIA ROSE, DETOXING IS NOT A FAD, IT’S A WAY OF LIFE. With eight publications including lifestyle books, e-books and cookbooks under her (very taut and toned) waist, not to mention her ever-growing site and social media platform detoxtheworld.com, Rose could be considered the reigning queen of detox. “We as humans have all the power of the universe to regenerate,” said the author of Forever Beautiful: The Age-Defying Detox Plan, her latest publication, which hit stores earlier this month. “But we can’t do the regenerating if our body is blocked. It has to be released to do its thing.” The body “doing its thing” has become Rose’s raison d’etre where in her books and website, she instructs how humans should be eating, releasing, and includes holistic lifestyle practices that promise more energy, weight loss and improvement of quality of life. In fact, Rose is so prolific, we’ve broken down her interview into two parts. For the first installment, Rose shared with us her philosophy on true detoxification and covered everything from why the sun is our friend (just slather on the coconut oil) to what she packs in Ziploc bags when dining out.


What is the basic principle of Forever Beautiful? Have you discovered the fountain of youth??
Thou shall not resist life. Be in the flow of life. Flow with nature. Don’t allow obstruction to interfere with your ability to flow with nature. It’s all about the inside out. We really do have all the power of the universe inside of us. We just need to use that to regenerate. We can’t do the regenerating if our body is blocked. It has to be released to do its thing.

Ok, but how do you stay within the flow?
You want to make sure your pathways are open and clear. So your vascular system, your elimination system, all of your organs. Nothing should be held up. The assembly line should be constantly in motion and flow. Anywhere there’s obstruction to flow, there’s going to be symptoms. If we’re talking purely physiologically it’s about open, clear pathways and clean cells.

“Your body gets snobbier. There are things you can get away a few years ago that you could never do now. But that’s not a bad thing, it means you’re more sensitized. It means your antennae is sharpened. ”

Is there a specific method of getting to that level of cellular cleanliness?
You want to awaken and release. You want to basically remove that which has accumulated through diet and colonics. Basically magnetizing and hydrating the acidic waste accumulated up and out of the cells and tissues, prepping them, teeing them up for release and then we trust the body’s ability to eliminate what it can. What it can’t, we want to support it with colonics, enemas and infrared saunas.

“As our world becomes more acidic, that which springs from our world is more acidic because it’s saturated in acid rain and acidic earth. ”

What things should we eat to magnetize the waste?
The more alkaline the food, the more magnetizing effect the food will have.

Which foods are most alkaline?
Basically there’s a hierarchy of alkalinity. At the top of the food chart is green juice, the greenest juice being wheatgrass juice. Wheatgrass and then medicinal greens such as dandelion, watercress, those are all super alkaline. Then you have your dark leafy greens and then green vegetables like romaine, celery, and cucumber.

Why shouldn’t people just drink a huge glass of medicinal greens like pure kale?
If you were totally clean and it wasn’t going to hit any obstruction, you could do it without throwing up but it would still be like, “Whoa.” If you have obstruction and a pure medicinal green juice hits that obstruction, you will feel terrible. Because it’s just so kinetic and so alkaline and it’s going to have a chemical reaction with whatever is sitting in between. But you want to get the benefits of it. So it’s no reason not to do it, but it’s about doing it by diluting it with the other stuff too.

What comes after raw vegetables?
If we lived in an indigenous place with wild fruits and vegetables then fruits, in terms of kinetic energy life force and alkalinity would fall right after green vegetables. But fruits today are hybridized there is so much sugar in them, they are picked prematurely, they are in trucks to get here and they’re full of fungus. As our world becomes more acidic, that which springs from our world is more acidic because it’s saturated in acid rain and acidic earth. We talk about in Detox for Women how a woman is becoming so much more of a home for yeast and fungus, well the same things have happened with the fruits. You’ll notice that with every generation of fruits, every season, you’ll find that they are of a lesser quality. It’s the frog in the simmering pot. You don’t notice it but if we were to flashback to the early eighties and go to a fruit market and taste that fruit, it would be totally different.

So you don’t eat fruit at all?
I do fruit in a specific way. For example, right now I’m juice fasting. I always juice fast this time of year. I only do one juice fast a year. I do it between 7 and 15 days. I’ve done a few much longer like 25 days but I don’t need to do that anymore, it’s pointless for me. I don’t even like to go beyond 8 days because there’s no purpose to that. To me, the purpose for fasting now is to bring my organs to the most youthful state of being because they get that much of a rest. It’s like a deep sleep and they can wake up feeling so recharged. I love that. But you don’t want to get too tiny. It’s just not necessary for me at this stage.

I will only do fruit if my system is clean because you don’t want fruit to hit anything. Your body gets snobbier. There are things you can get away a few years ago that you could never do now. But that’s not a bad thing, it means you’re more sensitized. It means your antennae is sharpened. So I’ll break my fast with fruit. But that’s not something everyone should do.

How should most people break a juice fast?
Most people should break their fast with vegetables because if there is any waste in the system, if your system isn’t completely clear, the fruit can create serious blood gas issues. If you’re relatively healthy and you have had your colonics, you can break with fruit. The cleaner you are it’s actually better to break with fruit. If you’re not sure and you think you may have awakened something in the fast that didn’t come out, just have an avocado salad, you’ll be much better off, you’ll have that movement, it’ll pass whatever needs to be passed and if you want to do fruit, you can do fruit.

How often do you eat fruit after a juice fast?
I like to do five days of fruit after a juice fast. I don’t do super high sugar fruits, although when I go to South Africa the fruits there are so different. They’re just so much cleaner. The pineapple! Literally the fibers of the fruit are different.

Would you ever recommend someone juice cleanse without the aid of colonics?
No. They won’t feel well. Gil Jacobs calls this the hypothetical cleanse. In theory, you’re teeing something up but if it doesn’t leave your body, you haven’t cleansed. It’s not a complete equation.

“It’s about little changes you make in your day as opposed to doing something dramatic for a couple days. Take baby steps that are really meaningful. Make it a regular thing to have your juice every single day. And maybe you want to be raw until lunch and then eventually raw until dinner.”

What other ways should people be releasing besides colonics?
The major ways to release are through the bowel. The bowel is the largest eliminative organ. The skin is the largest organ so the skin is a huge way to release. If you see unfavorable issues coming through the skin, it’s because the bowel is overburdened. So if you’re seeing acne or getting a boil inside your mouth, it’s because , you’re trying to juice fast without colonics. The mouth is huge cleansing orifice. Each of our orifices is pretty good at doing its job. This is how we know it’s never done releasing, because it just keeps on coming. And why do you want to share real estate with the septic system? Arnold Ehret talks about the tongue as the magic mirror. When you’re fasting, it gets coated because the mouth is an exit. The teeth have these little channels and they go straight into the organs, there’s a communication system that goes on between the organs and the teeth. So what’s wrong with the organs or what’s happening in the body will come through and express itself in the teeth and likewise what’s happening in the mouth, will go into the organs so there’s this complete interchange, which is why you want to keep your mouth really clean. Tongue scraping and rinsing with peroxide is great. There are peroxide mouth washes in health food stores. It can be MMS, tea tree oil. Just acknowledge that we need colonics and to keep our mouth clean because there is so much coming through. Also, sweating in any possible way and sunbathing.

What is your take on avoiding the sun? The sun has a lot of stigma these days!
I’m such a huge sunbather. We have to stop fearing the sun. We have to acknowledge that the more we’re affected by the sun, the more it’s offensive to us, whether we get sunburned or lightheaded or weak, that’s the extent to which we’re not clear. I come from a Russian/Irish heritage and I used to burn badly. Now I have no problem with the sun. The sun is pure life force. I believe the source creates the energy of the sun. There is something super powerful behind the sun. If you don’t make it about the sun itself, you are there receiving deep cosmic rays. They are affecting you on so many levels that we’re not even aware of. I believe that it’s an intelligence exchange that’s happening. We are able to receive the cosmic intelligence through the sun.

What’s the biggest mistake people make when cleansing?
Too much fruits in their juices. The sweet is going to feed the pathogens. Secondly, they don’t consider colonics. So they’ll get really into a 3 day juice fast but what will happen on the other side of that. They’ll go back to drinking and eating their bagels and cream cheese and whatever else. It’s about little changes you make in your day as opposed to doing something dramatic for a couple days. Take baby steps that are really meaningful. Make it a regular thing to have your juice every single day. Maybe you want to be raw until lunch and then eventually raw until dinner.

What role does fitness have in detoxing?
It’s essential. Humans are meant to move. We should be playing, climbing trees, frolicking in ponds and swimming in oceans. That should be what we do everyday, that should be how we live. I like to bike a lot. All summer I bike. We go to Sag Harbor in the summer and I just ride all over there. Out of convenience, I just hop on the treadmill now or then usually for 30 minutes, sometimes longer. I also rebound in the morning.

As far as your own regimen, are you mostly raw?

From April until December, I’m 100% raw but I don’t like to talk about it in those terms because everyone’s a little different. It’s really just what works well for me, but it’s not for everyone. Usually in the winter I’ll do cooked vegetables. I’ll have lots of baked beets. My favorite thing is to make steamed spinach and broccoli and put it into the salad with goat cheese. It’s really nurturing. Or maybe make a hot marinara sauce to put inside the salad, which is delicious. Just peppering raw foods with cooked food but really clean simple vegetables, nothing ornate, which is so much easier to digest than a lot of the ornate raw food things. And really water containing food. The only nut seed things I do is like a nut or seed butter for a dressing, otherwise I really don’t do much of that stuff.

What does a day in the life look like for you?
I get my kids off to school around 7:30am and when the nanny arrives, I’ll start my exercise routine and I’ll have a sauna between 25 and 45 minutes. Typically about 35-40 minutes. Really deep drench, that’s what I like. Then I jump in the shower. Then I’ll do my meditation. So the first part of my day is taking care of myself, the second part of the day, I’m in work mode. I only have a couple hours for me, a few hours for work and then my son comes home and I’m back on as mom.

What do you eat during the day?
I basically dry fast. For me, 4pm this is very early to have a juice. Because I’ve been doing this for so many years, it’s what works best for me. If you speak to a real yogi, they’ll never do yoga even on water, they’ll do it totally empty. I like to do all my activity in the day and as I need it I’ll have a juice. In the winter, maybe it’s some herbal tea, because I tend to want that in the winter and juice around 4pm at the earliest. I go to Health Nuts to get my juice, I’ll do my shopping for the groceries at the same time. I’ll come home and make raw sweet potato slices and olives and then a big yummy amazing dinner.

What is your favorite thing to make for dinner? 
I’ll make a big bowl of the most delicious olives and that would include Castelvatranos and Bohitos. I get my olives on Amazon. I’m a busy mom. I gotta be with my kids. The botijo olives are amazing. They’re herbed and pitted. The green cerignola olives are good too if they’re crisp. If they’re soggy they’re terrible. I like to do an antipasto thing of olives, sliced up raw yams and sun-dried tomatoes. Then I have a big arugula salad with a seed-based dressing. I’m happy with arugula and a great dressing. I love the kelp curry noodles from Juice Press. I just squeeze a ton of lemon on that and throw out their dressing. To me that’s just a heavenly dinner and I’ll have some mature coconut for dessert. The big white chunks. I love that.

You mentioned raw yams, you can eat those uncooked?
Raw yams are the best. They have to be good yams though. Garnet yams or jewel yams. They can’t be dried, icky ones. You just peel and slice them. Don’t slice them too thin. You want them to be kind of hearty. Not too thick, not too thin. The problem is the carrots don’t taste good anymore, they taste like cardboard. These have more flavor, more depth. The simpler you eat, the more you can taste the difference.

What is your take on oil? How healthy are “healthy fats”? 
I never use oil. I think it clogs up the machine. First of all it’s highly processed and why would one thing that’s oily in texture be good when another thing that’s oily in texture not be good? Sugar is sugar, oil is oil. I’ve never seen oil do anybody any good. People say you need it for the brain. The fact is, if your body is clean and clear and you’re receiving life force rich substances, the body will actually synthesize the life force into what it needs. I’ve seen plenty of people who take tons of fish oil basically lose their mental clarity in the their old age or even before that and I’ve seen people who don’t take any of that but live this way and be sharp as a tack in their later years.

Do you have any indulgences?
Mount Sterling and Shiloh Farms raw goat cheese, good wine and dark chocolate. My favorite chocolate is the Rose Bar and I really like Endangered Species 88%. I haven’t had anything to drink in almost a year. I’m dreaming of organic, sulfate-free wine. I don’t think wine or cheese or chocolate are good for us. This whole business about chocolate being good for us is a lot of nonsense but I do enjoy some of these pleasures. I used to drink just good quality wine fairly frequently, a glass twice of week at dinner.

Herbal Tea?
I do multiple tea bags in a mug. I want tea to be like a soup. Like a hearthy kind of thing. So I’ll do usually fresh or tea bag ginger. I love Mandarin Orange and Wild Cherry from Celestial Seasonings. I’ll blend all of those with a ton of lemon juice and a little stevia. I like Stevita because it has grapefruit seed extract.

What about things like syrup and honey?
Maple syrup and honey affect the blood sugar and feed yeast way too much. In a perfect world, if we were nice clean celled humans raw honey would be the best. But if it’s hitting yeast any good will be undermined.

What do you avoid?
Nutritional Yeast is yeast, it feeds yeast. I don’t use any vinegar. It’s not life generating, it’s not alkaline, it’s acid. If you want to use the least offensive vinegar, use apple cider vinegar, it’s mildly acidic but it’s not a healer.

What do you do when you eat out?
If I’m going somewhere I know I’m not eating anything good, I’ll have my own bag of organic greens. For example, for my daughter’s birthday we went to Jekyll and Hyde because she loves that. So I just asked for a plate. I got my bag and suddenly I’ve got this gorgeous meal. But I don’t draw attention to myself and I tell the waiters, “I’ll give you a really big tip. I’m going to be your toughest case tonight.” As long as they get compensated then they don’t care.

Do you choose to go to raw foodie restaurants instead?
I don’t go to the raw restaurants, all dishes are dense and have nuts. I’d rather have steamed vegetables and a big raw salad with goat cheese at a good European restaurant. Usually I bring my yams, olives and carrots and I’m fine. It’s about the vibe and the people you’re with.


FOR NATALIA’S SUNFLOWER SEED DRESSING RECIPE…

 

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