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Eating for Beauty

I’m reading Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe right now and he talks about taking in beautifying agents such as Sulfur, Silicon, MSM, Zinc, Iron and/or Manganese. I was wondering for those of you who take these supplements:

Why are you taking them? How do they affect you? What brand do you use and is it Vegan/Organic friendly? Do you have a preference of pill form vs. liquid or powder?

Anyone use MSM lotion? I use Coconut Oil as lotion but that more of a detoxifying lotion.

Comments

  • i am reading the same book now as well! has anyone practised what he says and see results?

    i have been going raw and everyone around me says i look awful and scrawny (most are unaware about my change in diet. most just go ‘are you ill or something’?) has anyone here looked worse after going raw??

  • shawnieshawnie Raw Newbie

    I’m currently taking MSM and Biotin supplements. I was taking them before I read the book, mainly for faster hair growth. I did notice that my skin became softer, but it took about 3 months. Now I’m noticing that it is getting even better. I think it’s mainly because of the Raw eating though. I try to eat mostly the foods suggested in the book and have noticed quite the difference.

    For both I take pill form. MSM by Swiss, and Biotin by Now. I’m not sure if they are Vegan, I doubt it.

  • JDJD

    To be honest, the book is not what I expected. I thought it would be a little more “guidance” oriented, a little more “this is it now follow it with modification if necessary.” I know everyone responds differently to being raw and he stresses that but at the same time, for someone so committed, he almost comes off flaky in his writings. I guess he writes with an informative tone rather than a guiding one and it’s just not what I expected. I’m only on page 75 so maybe I just have to read more, who knows. All I can say for now is I find it difficult to practice what he preaches when really all I’m reading is information thus far and not an actual plan.

    Can’t say I look worse from being raw. Sounds like you might have a deficiency of some sort. Do you have enough variety in your diet? Do you take supplements? You definitely should not look ill.

    PS. Do you eat a lot of beans? I was shocked to read they are not beautifying :(

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    Pundee – I take MSM powder, but with everything else I take, I couldn’t say if it makes a difference, but it seems to be really valuable healthwise – there’s a youtube video of David Wolfe speaking about calcium (the bad kind) and he talks about MSM which sold me. He has lots of youtube videos you can watch and I think this is a better way of learning from him, his enthusiasm helps! Honeygal – I’m going to say that your body is cleaning house and dumping all the toxins, which might make you drop weight quickly and not look and feel as good as you might. I know I get bloated and puffy eyes when this happens to me. There will come a time, though, when you’re body will begin rebuilding and that’s when the glow really kicks in. I’ve even read that it can take 3 years for your body to completely rebuild to optimum health.

  • JDJD

    Thanks valeria and amysue. I will check out Davids videos.

    Honegal, amysue brings up an interesting point though when I detoxed and still do, I do not look ill. I may feel ill or feel tired, but that’s it. How long have you been raw?

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    pundee – I have had the book for a couple of years, and I like some of it a lot. I have just taken the lists of foods with the different nutrients and incorporated more of them into my diet. A comment about beans not being beautifying – I had a neighbor who complimented me on my complexion, and I told her I just eat really healthy & it naturally becomes that way. She said “But I eat really healthy, too.” she did eat really healthy, though not raw. Then, later I realized she eats a lot of beans! Interesting. Also, the reason I think David Wolfe sounds flaky in his writing is that he is not a nutritionist, or scientist, or anything that gives him authority in this subject. He bases his writings on what he thinks, what he has read from other people, or what works for him or other people he knows. Yet, one of his books says he is regarded as one of the world’s top authorities (or the top authority?) on nutrition. He presents some interesting things, but I have learned to be careful & just see what rings true for me when I read/hear anything he has to say.

    Honeygal – I hear of a lot of people that get too thin & look sick if they go raw quickly, but they balance out – like amysue said, it is the toxin dump and when that is out of the way, the body can rebuild & look & feel better than before. One of the things that really seemed to help me in the rebuilding was wheatgrass juice, as it is loaded with nutrients & seemed to fill in a lot of the minerals I was missing.

  • heathermarsbombheathermarsbomb Raw Newbie

    why are beans not beautifying? due to farting? lol

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    pundee -

    I have the book too. I have followed some of the advice. I think the key is to take what you need from it. Are you trying to improve your skin or your hair? Certain foods are great for hair and some for skin.

    I was taking the MSM in powder form and it takes a while to see the results (it won’t happen overnight) – you have to give it a few months. I can’t remember if it says so in the book or not but MSM only stays in the body for 12 hour periods. So you need to take it twice a day for optimal results – the higher the dosage the better your results too. (BTW, MSM is sulfur). I haven’t been using it lately because I can’t afford it right now but my skin was looking better and my hair was doing better too. It is also great for nails and joints. If you have aching joints or arthritis, you definatley need it. MSM is getting destroyed very easily so pretty much everyone is deficient in it. So, just eating your raw veggies isn’t going to get you enough (usless you grow your own in soil that hasn’t been depleted). They say that MSM deficiency is the reason people scar – meaning that if you had enough MSM in your body you wouldn’t scar in the first place. I have been using MSM lotion (the stuff David sells) on my acne scars and they have smoothed and diminished so much!

    I find coconut oil invaluable for several things – moisturizing skin and hair and personal use as well as internally in smoothies and such.

    It is best to get the mineral and vitamins in your foods (MSM is probably one of the exceptions – to get the extra MSM you need in todays modern world you need to either water your own veggies in the ground with MSM water to get it in your food or take the supplement – I have also been reading that MSM can be found in pine needles).

    Silica is very abundant in cucumbers. Iron in spinach…etc…David lists all these things. Supplements and vitamins aren’t the best way to try to get these things – some say they don’t even work.

    Just remember that often times you need several things to help a deficiency and many months to see the results. Just being you don’t see results the next day doesn’t mean it is not going to work – the body is not that fast to correct a deficiency.

  • JDJD

    Thanks queenfluff. I was mostly wondering about MSM. Yes I want to use it for my skin (I too have small acne scars), hair, sore muscles after workout, etc. I was curious about it though because I am definitely one to eat foods in place of taking supplements. I do take a multi everyday but that’s it so when I was reading the book I figured I would ask around. I’m glad to hear from a couple of respondants that MSM does really work and it is just a matter of time. I did not know however that it only stayed in your system for 12 hours. Thanks for that info.

    heathermarsbomb, according to David Wolfe beans are unfavorable to beauty because they contain coarse, irritating proteins that cause inflammation and contain a host of alkaloid toxins. These protect the beans from animals that would eat them in the wild. Several of these compounds are toxic cyanogens, such as cyanide (in wild lima beans). Raw beans and peas also contain hemagglutins which cause the blood to clump up as well as substances that inhibit the digestion of protein.

  • i wasn’t all that impressed with the book. actually, i think david wolfe is a little crazy. i mean, i think he has some good info, but he feels like a salesman to me. does anyone else feel that way? i mean, just go to http://www.thebestdayever.com/ and tell me that dosen’t look like a sales pitch pop up window that you would stay the heck away from?

    i’ve watched him in lots of videos, and again, although i would agree he looks healthy, he seems like an absolute nut job, and i would never ever send someone who doesn’t know much about raw foods to anything by him as an intro.

    i don’t understand why he is considred to be at the forefront of the movement.

  • MarichiesaMarichiesa Raw Newbie

    Yeah I know what you mean. Honestly I think he is well intentioned but sometimes he comes across as a bit of a zealot. I love raw food and all but the cultism a la David Wolfe weirds me out.

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    ...and then there’s the whole plagurism issue with Wolfe… but I think he is OK actually, there are worse, I mean he’s no George W Bush is he?

    I tried msm but I never got used to the taste and it made me itch in an embarrasing place. I bought the best on sale, or so I thought. Don’t know why it made that happen!

  • JDJD

    mandelicious, I was thinking the same thing…total salesman and not impressed with the book thus far.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I think he is at the forefront of the movement because he says he is – he is a good enough salesman to put himself there. I just try to get truth from wherever I can find it, but I agree about not sending a newbie to him :)

  • I was a little disappointed with this book too. I expected a little more definitive guidance too, and more recipes. I think David Wolfe is fairly knowledgeable but a bit over-rated. Didn’t know anything about the plagiarism issue.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    Yes, David can be a bit much but he was the first raw foodist to bring raw cacao to the attention of the masses so if you like raw cacao, you have him to thank. :)

    I met him once. You can tell he was a “partier” in his previous life. :)

  • pundee, amysue, angie, thanks for your comments. as a supplement, i take chlorella & pure synery superfood daily. i must add that one reason why i look worse than before is because i am by nature slim – 94 pounds before going raw, and now a mere 88 pounds after going raw. i wonder if it is wise at all to continue going raw?

    and yes, i agree with most of the views here. i wasn’t at all impressed by the book.

  • coconuttycoconutty Raw Newbie

    I guess I would have to agree that I expected way more from the book. In certain areas I felt like he was being way too general and I didn’t like the tone. I remember coming across a couple things he mentioned that you could do to benefit this or that but then he didn’t elaborate. Kinda left the reader hangin! BUT besides that I really do love the book. Even with it being so general, I incorportated a lot more of the beautifying foods into my diet as well as a couple of the supplements mentioned. Wow, what a difference! Especially with the MSM. Love that stuff!

  • Honeygal definitely!!! It IS possible to gain weight with this diet. I know because i had a very very low weight too and I managed to up it to a normal weight with a high raw diet. You should eat a lot of fruits for breakfast, Banana is the highest in calories. then you could snack on nuts and dried or dehydrated fruits. For lunch or dinner you can choose from the many great recipes from this site, nut and seed pates, tahini, guacamole, etc. If you include exercise in your daily routine you will build muscles. The best for muscle building is weight lifting, but swimming is good too because it moves all your muscles in your body.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    honeygal – I have heard the same things as flybaby just mentioned. Weight lifting being the best and thin people getting stronger on a raw food diet. Swimming! That’s funny; I am feeling like I want to build some muscle & I also just decided that I am going to buy a summer pass to the pool this year. I was just thinking of sunshine, but it is amazing that my body seems to be telling me what it needs – I also just realized that the pass is for the whole rec. center, which includes weights! I thought I wouldn’t have access to weights. :) Thanks, flybaby!

  • JDJD

    honeygal, I would stick with it and and add more high calorie/fat foods to your diet. I wouldn’t overload though…you do not want to over-do it and feel sluggish. Besides, too much of a good thing can turn into something bad. Weight doesn’t come off in a day so try not to put it on in one. As mentioned by flybaby, I am all for weight training and exercise. Love it, do it everyday and getting stronger all the time. A big part of raw is being able to make adjustments and find what’s right for you. Hang in there, you’ll figure it out.

  • I can testify to the benefits of using MSM. About 5 years ago I had dry, itchy crimson-red patches that would appear on either side of my nose seemingly at random. They’d be gone for three weeks then boom suddenly appear. I went to three dermatologists, tried expensive (prescribed) mositurizers, had skin peels, derma-brasion etc. and none of it worked! Just through sheer LUCK I happened upon an article about the healing properties of sulphur, and the use of sulphur springs in ancient Greece and Rome. An hour later I had ordered a bar of sulphur soap of off the internet. Four days later I received the package and washed my face with sulphur for the first time. Three days later the itchy, irritated red patches that I had been randomly plagued with dissapeared. I’ve never had them since. Sulphur soap is absolutley GREAT for oil skin and acne. I would argue that it is more effective then any of the over-the-counter Oxy crap you can buy at the drug store (it can be very drying though, so use sparingly!). I had a naturalist tell me once that the sulphur probably worked for my skin condition because most skin conditions are the result of bacteria and sulphur kills bacteria. I guess the Romans weren;t so dumb after all.

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