SOURCE: FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo (The Philippine Star) Updated June 04, 2010 12:00 AM
As promised (and as per her request), we showed up with “empty stomachs” early Wednesday night at Chef Cheloy Ignacio’s newly-opened (only last May 8) Living On Live Food resto on Kamuning Road, Quezon City. “We” included Ronald Constantino (Tempo columnist), Nestor Cuartero (Tempo entertainment editor and Bulletin assistant entertainment editor), freelance-writer Mario Labad and yours truly.
As most people must know by now, Cheloy (ex-wife of a semi-retired actor’s father) is the Rawfood VEGAN Chef/Health Coach, graduate of a health-oriented school in California, who has started what she called a “RawVolution” dedicated to the proposition that eating raw food is good not only for one’s health but may also cure a lot of illnesses.
“I am a living proof,” said Cheloy who, at her prime, was one of the endorsers (called Super Angels) of a men’s drink.
We have heard her tell her story which won’t sound stale with one more retelling, a success health story Cheloy has printed for posterity at the back of her resto’s flyer. A summary:
At 19, I was pregnant and diagnosed to have pre-eclampsia. My sugar level was way beyond border line and blood pressure shot up to 280/110. My baby died two days before due date.
At 23, I suffered a mild stroke. For decades after that, I was regularly visiting hospitals and a walking drugstore, with my travelling bag packed full with all sorts of medicines for my kidney ailment, migraine, arthritis, pharyngitis, gastroenteritis — name the ailment, I had it.
Then, I read somewhere about the raw-food diet. I also started reading books about it and doing research.
Since 2006, I’ve been on a raw-food diet and I’ve been healthy since then, my ailments gone, my blood-sugar level and my blood pressure back to normal. From a sickly person, I became a healthy and forward-looking. And, I bade my bagful of medications goodbye.
Ask Cheloy about the rest of the story if you cross paths with her, or if you attend one of her regular lectures with Dr. Sam Dizon, M.D. (a natural-medicine advocate).
Nestor and I have tried Cheloy’s diet before. In fact, since then, I’ve been taking a variation of her raw-fruit drink. Mine consists of five greens (green apple, ampalaya, cucumber, green pepper and celery) blended and taken with breakfast. No, it’s not an herbal supplement, but just a simple “veggie shake.” (Many people I know, Susan Joven and lawyer/TV host Joji Alonzo-Antonio, have been taking it with satisfactory effects.)
That “raw” Wednesday night, Cheloy first served us Seaweed Salad (a.k.a. Smokers’ Delight, consisting of cinnamon, coconut, almond milk, camote, banana, etc.), one plateful each, followed by a serving each of Pad Thai (consisting of, among other mixes, singkamas and red pepper) and capped with Mango & Banana Ice Cream (with red pepper). Cheloy wanted to serve us more but we begged off.
“My clients come from all levels of society,” said Cheloy who used to conduct how-to-prepare-a-raw-diet seminars at her condo unit in Ortigas Center, until her clientele grew too big to be accommodated in that small place. So she decided to open an outlet, the one on Kamuning Road. “Most of them are just like me before, maraming sakit. Just a few weeks of taking my raw-food diet, they come back feeling well. They hug me and thank me dahil gumaling daw ang mga karamdaman nila.”
No harm in trying.
Tomorrow, June 5, and on Sunday, June 6, Cheloy and Dr. Sam will conduct seminars on The Healing Wonders of Foods starting at 9 a.m. Topics to be discussed (along with actual raw-food preparation) include Rejunevation, Longevity, Weight Management, Virility in Men, Age Reversal, and Disease and Prevention.
“Those interested should come with an empty stomach,” said Cheloy. “The seminars include breakfast and lunch, all for P1,000.”
(Note: The Natural Health [RawVolution]-Institute of the Philippines is located at 113 Doña Julita Building, Kamuning Road corner K-E Strret, Quezon City. For inquiries, call landlines 355-0619, 687-1121 and 546-4181; or celfone numbers 0917-386-8277, 0927-950-5590 0r 0920-550-9819