A Partner's View of "Raw Pregnancy and Natural Childbirth"
by
Storm Talifero
Storm Talifero has been a live-foods vegan bodybuilder for over 30 years. He is the author of The Garden Diet and producer of
Breakthrough a raw vegan documentary. He currently lives in the Los Padres National forest north of Los Angeles where he is
working on his next film and still driving to Santa Barbara twice a week to shop at the farmer's market so he can keep his family
supplied with the best raw organic fresh fruits and vegetables....
I'm going to start off by saying that I hate the word Raw, but I cannot find another word that defines the subject
that I'm going to write about. I think that a title should be definitive.
We are now living in a time of catastrophic events and I believe that one of the main issues of our times is the
issue of nutrition. It seems that no two experts can agree on any one thing pertaining to facts about our food.
And no where is this more true or critical than in prenatal nutrition.
I'm going to try to communicate my experiences of doing the prenatal nutrition and freebirths for the four
children that we have delivered unassisted. I know that many of the viewpoints that I'm going to express in will
be controversial. Two of the births were with my partner Jinjee (the mother) being on all raw vegan food during
the gestation period. Two of the births were with Jinjee being a vegan eating some cooked foods.
But before I begin that let me state why I was so adamant on a home birth. I was born in the dark ages as far as
the way that doctors treated pregnancy and childbirth. You are suspended in the womb for nine months. While
in the womb you can see muted lights and hear muted sounds. But when you are born the first thing that
happens is that you see the bright overhead lights in the operating room. It sears the optic nerves. You can
hear the doctors talking to the nurses at what to us is normal volume, but to a new born baby must seem like
the Tower of Babel. Then they used to hold you upside down by your feet. I don't know if that is still the
practice, but it is my understanding that when you hold a newborn baby by his feet you rupture the tiny vessels
in the spine which is not strong enough to support the baby's weight either standing, sitting or hanging upside
down. Then they whack it on the butt to get it breathing, and that is not the end. If it is a boy child then they flip
him over on his back and whack the tip of his woody off. That is one hell of a welcome. There are some who say
that you never get over the pain and trauma of the delivery room.
Most of the time they have given the mother some kind of drugs either for pain or to induce labor. Sometimes
they give the mother drugs for pain and to help her relax and this stops the labor and then they have to give
her uppers to induce the labor again. All of these drugs penetrate the placental barrier and go directly into the
newborn baby's blood system. When I found out that I was going to be a father I started studying and I was both
appalled and shocked at many things that I believed would be unnecessary in a normal healthy childbirth. We
live in a paradoxical time. I never cease to be amazed at the level of miracles that modern medicine can
achieve. And I believe that some of the greatest minds of our times are in the medical industry.
I just wanted to approach the prenatal and actual childbirth as a natural occurrence instead of treating it like a
disease. But in the event that anything had gone wrong I was totally prepared to dash to the nearest hospital.
I have always loved reading medical books. At one time I wanted to be a doctor but decided to be an artist
instead. My choice of careers did not stop me from being fascinated by the most complicated machine in the
known universe - our body.
I was totally blown away by how our brains work. You have ten trillion cells that are suspended in fluid without
touching. They are able to communicate and I use the word communicate because that is in effect what they
are doing with each other. They are able to communicate via neurotransmitters not only within the brain but
also through out the body via a network of synapses and nerves. And even though I find the complexity
amazing it is nothing new in and of itself. What is new though is the concept of nourishing this structure with raw
living food.
The brain starts to develop in the womb and in order to do so correctly it needs certain building blocks. Not only
does the newly developing brain need certain nutrition it is essential that certain elements be present for the
brain and nervous system to form properly. Even though I had been on the raw diet for years I was still a little
nervous about starting a child out on raw food in the womb. I had never heard of anybody doing it and in fact I
didn't know of any raw food children. And even as I write this I personally don't know of any raw food children
who eat one hundred percent raw except for mine. As of this time I have read about other children who are raw
so I know that I'm not alone in this paradigm. But still it was a scary step and I think that it will be for any parent.
The child is created in the womb and the future health of that child is totally in your hands. I believe that the
health of a child in the womb is based upon two things. What you eat and what you don't eat. The food industry
has introduced so many chemicals into our food supply until they have turned our daily food into a virtual drug
store. And the sad truth is that many of these chemicals have not been tested for the effect on our brain
chemistry or the formation of the fetus in the womb. Many of these chemicals are so new until no long term test
results are available.
What is even worse is that many facts are known about some of the chemicals such as MSG and the fact that it
does penetrate the placental barrier and enter into the blood stream of the fetus. The industry then hides the
test results and puts up a smoke screen because millions and millions of dollars are at stake.
The main goal of the raw diet that we designed while Jinjee was pregnant was based upon just what did the
body need. Just what were the essential building blocks and was it possible to obtain them from simple raw
foods. And was it possible at the same time to eliminate all of the chemicals from processed and inorganic
foods. The answers we found were amazing. The simplest foods such as oranges and apples contained an
abundance of nutrients that the body craved. While foods such as milk and meats contain very little in the way
of building blocks and nutrients. We had to overcome huge myths such as the need for proteins and vitamin
B-12 from artificial sources and the part that it plays on the development of newborn babies.
When you think of nutrition you must take into consideration the anatomy of a single cell. A cell is surrounded
by fluid. A cell receives nutrients and discharges waste through the cell wall. A cell does not care what your
food tastes like; it is only concerned with getting the building blocks that it needs to function. When you eat
heated oils for instance these bring nothing to the cell that it can use. These are very hard to break down and
clog the system slowing down all of the cellular processes. Or when you eat processed foods that have Trans
Fatty Acids in them the Trans Fatty Acids actually surround the cell wall preventing the cell from either receiving
nutrients or discharging waste material. It does not matter how much food you eat if in the end the cell cannot
use the food. If the cell is in fact prevented from operating at its maximum capacity then you are in fact suffering
from malnutrition. And nowhere is this more of a paradigm than in our modern diet. So to make up for this they
say we have to take supplements. But when we eat organic fruits and vegetables even though we do not feel
that we have eaten a full meal the cells are nourished on a cellular level and we are no longer starving with a
full stomach. I believe that this is the main reason that Jinjee was able to bring forth a perfectly healthy child on
just organic fruits and vegetables.
Here are some facts that I would like to share with you. During all of Jinjee's four pregnancies she avoided
these food groups. Meat and dairy. During two of her pregnancies she avoided all cooked foods, meat and
dairy. The two pregnancies in which she was all raw the hard labor was under one hour. Jome and Adagio just
slipped into the world. The other two pregnancies were both over 30 hours of labor. Even though all of my
children are raw now, Shale who has been raw since birth has shown an incredible amount of development in
areas that I never would have thought would be affected by the food you eat. Jome who is 7 and was raw in the
womb and who has been 100% raw for most of his life has also shown incredible ability in the area of attention
span, pattern recognition, and art and music. Raven who is ten and who has been raw most of her life has also
shown a very high level of achievement. She recently scored 100 on an internet IQ test that was designed for
18 year olds and older. Her mother scored 135 and we won't talk about my test scores. The main point that I'm
trying to make is that over a period of 10 years I have observed the growth and development of these four
children who up to this point seem very normal if not somewhat advanced for their ages. Out of the six
people in our family none of us are obese, none of us wear glasses and none of us are
under a doctor's care or on medication of any kind.
At this point I would like to touch a little bit on the actual diet. Jinjee, Shale and myself eat about 80% fruit. We
do enjoy salads. Jome and Raven will not eat many salads or drink any green juice so they are about 95% fruit
bats. We all enjoy sprouted nut milks and other nut dishes so that is a source of rich protein for all of us. Jinjee
and I are the only ones who will drink green juice. Of all of the kids Shale is the most muscular. I attribute this to
the fact that she eats salads and avocados on a level that the others don't. She has the best appetite and the
most positive spirit. This may have nothing at all to do with the fact that she has never had any cooked food
while the other two have, it may just be who she is as a person.
The main point of this article is not to teach people how to have unassisted childbirth at home. Most people will
have their babies with either a doctor or a midwife in attendance, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with
that. The point that I'm trying to stress is that there are many myths surrounding the prenatal care and actual
delivery that I feel we need to look at in a much closer light.
One is the use of supplements. I feel that if you have a totally balanced diet then it is possible to obtain all of
the necessary nutrients that you need to build a strong baby from raw living foods. I feel that a lot of the
supplements can not be absorbed by the body, and may even do more harm than good. The reason for this
being; when we get calcium from a natural source then it is in a format that is easily absorbed by the body. But
when we rely on an artificial source then it might not be so readily absorbed by the body. Vitamins that may not
be absorbed or eliminated are sometimes stored in the body where they can turn into deposits such as kidney
stones or gall stones.
The truth is that we are just now starting to realize that there are many subtle side effects from many of the
drugs and various supplemental products that we use. When this happens you can not always rely on the
company to tell you this. There have been many cases of non or incomplete disclosures from both the
pharmaceutical and supplemental industries, not to mention the processed food industry. So in light of that I
totally recommend eating a diet of raw organic foods as much as possible. Now of course there are some
exceptions to every rule and sometimes it is just not possible to obtain a steady supply of organic fruits and
vegetables. I think in those cases careful research should be done to find the type of supplements that will give
you the most benefits. If you feel the need to take supplements be sure they contain no animal products, that
the ingredients are organic, and that they use chelation, the process of extracting nutrient molecules in their
complete form for absorption.
I think that there is a huge difference in carrying and delivering a baby that is gestated by a mother who is
eating mostly fruits and vegetables from one who is being gestated by a mother who is eating mostly dairy,
meat and processed foods products. The mother who is on a heavy protein diet is going to produce a much
bigger baby, but bigger does not necessarily translate into healthier. The reason that they used to hold babies
upside down by their feet and slap them was to get them breathing because the air passages were so clogged
with mucus that this was necessary. All of my kids came out breathing on their own with no clogged airways.
The need for protein is one of the biggest questions in the world of nutrition today. I'm from the school of
thought that we eat way too much of the wrong kind of protein and it does us more harm than good. Fruit is
made up of protein that is very easy for our bodies to absorb. Most fruit is about 2.4 percent protein; the same
percentage as mother's milk and we have found that we can maintain very high levels of energy and vitality on
a diet mostly based on fresh organic fruit. Fruit, oranges to be exact, was the main staple of Jinjee's diet with
her last pregnancy. Our son weighed 7 pounds which is normal and she now has a copious supply of milk with
oranges still being her main source of nutrients. Greens and green juice are also excellent sources of nutrients
but for us it is a little harder to get down, and the kids refuse to eat greens so when I shop I mostly buy fruit. But
I do try to balance the fruit with green salads and juices whenever possible.
Another very important food group that is essential for normal growth is omega fatty acids. Without this vital
food group the brain cannot function or grow in a normal fashion. We obtain most of our omega fatty acids from
olive oil and flax seed oil. We just mix it into the nut milks and other different recipes. A hundred years ago our
food contained much higher levels of fats, but the people themselves were not obese. Now with the advent of
processed foods people are really becoming obese while at the same time the food does not contain the same
level of healthy fat that it did a hundred years ago. The reason for this is that a century ago food was much
more natural. A lot of the processed foods contain trans fatty acids which are very harmful to our bodies on the
cellular level. So the Processed Food industry's answer to the current Obesity Epidemic is to reduce the level of
fat or market what they call low-fat foods to us. We are still way overweight because our obesity is not caused
by our consumption of fats but more by our consumption of refined sugars and MSG. So not only are we still fat
but we are now also starving. When these conditions exist in a pregnant mother then it can result in a whole
host of ailments in the newborn baby including ear and sinus infections, colic, lethargy, chemical imbalances,
ADD, ADHD, hyperactivity, and autism.
We have gotten so far off track regarding what we actually need to sustain our bodies on natural food as it was
designed for us until there is serious scientific doubt that we can even be healthy on raw organic fruit, nuts,
seeds, and vegetables. And this is the one of the whole underlying themes of this article. Yes, it is totally
possible with a well balanced diet to produce a perfectly healthy baby on all raw foods.
The birth of Adagio was different from the others in that Jinjee walked about five miles every morning in the
mountains. This means that at least 2.5 miles was up hill. In short she was in excellent condition. Even on the
morning of the birth she walked two miles. Another thing that was different was that during actual labor she
moved around to the dictates her own rhythm. The room was lighted with candles. She moved from squatting to
kneeling positions as well as various yoga positions to help open up the birthing canal. I can't imagine a
hospital letting her dance around like she was doing. What it kind of boils down to is men telling women how to
have babies instead of letting them find their own natural flow. So except for a few times when I felt that she
really needed me I stayed out of the picture and at no time did I try to direct the process. The results were
amazing.
This was the sixth baby that I had caught, and over the years I had learned to let go and flow with the process.
There were also a lot of things that were incorporated in the process that were not obvious. One being that we
both agreed that the final position should be one that let the tail bone swing freely so that the birth canal was
not restricted. When women lie on their backs to deliver then the tail bone hinge cannot swing back freely which
results in a tearing which could have been prevented in a squatting or kneeling position. Another thing that we
agreed on was not to push when the cervix had opened. In a kneeling or squatting position when the time is
right the baby will just slip out which is just what happened. The pushing was a totally natural reaction that was
not in the least bit forced.
One of the things that Jinjee had discovered was that mammals will stop labor naturally if they are interfered
with during labor and then when they are at peace they will give birth. This is a huge discovery because a lot of
medical personnel can be very pushy and invasive, which triggers a natural shutting down of the labor process.
And of course drugs are very invasive, and C-sections which are at an all time high are the height of an
invasive birth. Jinjee also found out that hospitals have a much higher mortality rate than home births.
One other thing that I would like to mention is that the first thing that I noticed on Adagio is that he was wiggling
all of his fingers and all of his toes. This to me was huge because it shows that he has fully developed nerve
pathways. He was covered with a kind of thick yellow paste which we rubbed into his skin. This is a natural
protection against the air for skin which has been in water for nine months. We also waited about 20 minutes for
the cord to stop pulsating. This means that there is still blood being passed back and forth between the mother
and the baby. And the last thing that I want to mention is that as soon as the baby is born we put him on the
breast, because there is a clear type of fluid that helps to clear the baby's digestive tract and prepare him for
the milk that is to come later. It also helps to bring on the contractions which deliver the placenta. To me the
delivery of the placenta has always been the most dangerous part because if it breaks up or comes out in
pieces then the mother can hemorrhage. Of all the births this one was the easiest and the most natural. The
next morning I planted a tree over the placenta in the forest as is our custom.
Recommended Reading:
Frederic LeBoyer, Birth Without Violence
Hygeia Halfmoon, Ph.D., Primal Mothering in a Modern World
Lynn M. Griesemer, Unassisted Homebirth, An Act of Love
Marilyn A. Moran, Pleasurable Husband/Wife Childbirth
by
Storm Talifero
Storm Talifero has been a live-foods vegan bodybuilder for over 30 years. He is the author of The Garden Diet and producer of
Breakthrough a raw vegan documentary. He currently lives in the Los Padres National forest north of Los Angeles where he is
working on his next film and still driving to Santa Barbara twice a week to shop at the farmer's market so he can keep his family
supplied with the best raw organic fresh fruits and vegetables....
I'm going to start off by saying that I hate the word Raw, but I cannot find another word that defines the subject
that I'm going to write about. I think that a title should be definitive.
We are now living in a time of catastrophic events and I believe that one of the main issues of our times is the
issue of nutrition. It seems that no two experts can agree on any one thing pertaining to facts about our food.
And no where is this more true or critical than in prenatal nutrition.
I'm going to try to communicate my experiences of doing the prenatal nutrition and freebirths for the four
children that we have delivered unassisted. I know that many of the viewpoints that I'm going to express in will
be controversial. Two of the births were with my partner Jinjee (the mother) being on all raw vegan food during
the gestation period. Two of the births were with Jinjee being a vegan eating some cooked foods.
But before I begin that let me state why I was so adamant on a home birth. I was born in the dark ages as far as
the way that doctors treated pregnancy and childbirth. You are suspended in the womb for nine months. While
in the womb you can see muted lights and hear muted sounds. But when you are born the first thing that
happens is that you see the bright overhead lights in the operating room. It sears the optic nerves. You can
hear the doctors talking to the nurses at what to us is normal volume, but to a new born baby must seem like
the Tower of Babel. Then they used to hold you upside down by your feet. I don't know if that is still the
practice, but it is my understanding that when you hold a newborn baby by his feet you rupture the tiny vessels
in the spine which is not strong enough to support the baby's weight either standing, sitting or hanging upside
down. Then they whack it on the butt to get it breathing, and that is not the end. If it is a boy child then they flip
him over on his back and whack the tip of his woody off. That is one hell of a welcome. There are some who say
that you never get over the pain and trauma of the delivery room.
Most of the time they have given the mother some kind of drugs either for pain or to induce labor. Sometimes
they give the mother drugs for pain and to help her relax and this stops the labor and then they have to give
her uppers to induce the labor again. All of these drugs penetrate the placental barrier and go directly into the
newborn baby's blood system. When I found out that I was going to be a father I started studying and I was both
appalled and shocked at many things that I believed would be unnecessary in a normal healthy childbirth. We
live in a paradoxical time. I never cease to be amazed at the level of miracles that modern medicine can
achieve. And I believe that some of the greatest minds of our times are in the medical industry.
I just wanted to approach the prenatal and actual childbirth as a natural occurrence instead of treating it like a
disease. But in the event that anything had gone wrong I was totally prepared to dash to the nearest hospital.
I have always loved reading medical books. At one time I wanted to be a doctor but decided to be an artist
instead. My choice of careers did not stop me from being fascinated by the most complicated machine in the
known universe - our body.
I was totally blown away by how our brains work. You have ten trillion cells that are suspended in fluid without
touching. They are able to communicate and I use the word communicate because that is in effect what they
are doing with each other. They are able to communicate via neurotransmitters not only within the brain but
also through out the body via a network of synapses and nerves. And even though I find the complexity
amazing it is nothing new in and of itself. What is new though is the concept of nourishing this structure with raw
living food.
The brain starts to develop in the womb and in order to do so correctly it needs certain building blocks. Not only
does the newly developing brain need certain nutrition it is essential that certain elements be present for the
brain and nervous system to form properly. Even though I had been on the raw diet for years I was still a little
nervous about starting a child out on raw food in the womb. I had never heard of anybody doing it and in fact I
didn't know of any raw food children. And even as I write this I personally don't know of any raw food children
who eat one hundred percent raw except for mine. As of this time I have read about other children who are raw
so I know that I'm not alone in this paradigm. But still it was a scary step and I think that it will be for any parent.
The child is created in the womb and the future health of that child is totally in your hands. I believe that the
health of a child in the womb is based upon two things. What you eat and what you don't eat. The food industry
has introduced so many chemicals into our food supply until they have turned our daily food into a virtual drug
store. And the sad truth is that many of these chemicals have not been tested for the effect on our brain
chemistry or the formation of the fetus in the womb. Many of these chemicals are so new until no long term test
results are available.
What is even worse is that many facts are known about some of the chemicals such as MSG and the fact that it
does penetrate the placental barrier and enter into the blood stream of the fetus. The industry then hides the
test results and puts up a smoke screen because millions and millions of dollars are at stake.
The main goal of the raw diet that we designed while Jinjee was pregnant was based upon just what did the
body need. Just what were the essential building blocks and was it possible to obtain them from simple raw
foods. And was it possible at the same time to eliminate all of the chemicals from processed and inorganic
foods. The answers we found were amazing. The simplest foods such as oranges and apples contained an
abundance of nutrients that the body craved. While foods such as milk and meats contain very little in the way
of building blocks and nutrients. We had to overcome huge myths such as the need for proteins and vitamin
B-12 from artificial sources and the part that it plays on the development of newborn babies.
When you think of nutrition you must take into consideration the anatomy of a single cell. A cell is surrounded
by fluid. A cell receives nutrients and discharges waste through the cell wall. A cell does not care what your
food tastes like; it is only concerned with getting the building blocks that it needs to function. When you eat
heated oils for instance these bring nothing to the cell that it can use. These are very hard to break down and
clog the system slowing down all of the cellular processes. Or when you eat processed foods that have Trans
Fatty Acids in them the Trans Fatty Acids actually surround the cell wall preventing the cell from either receiving
nutrients or discharging waste material. It does not matter how much food you eat if in the end the cell cannot
use the food. If the cell is in fact prevented from operating at its maximum capacity then you are in fact suffering
from malnutrition. And nowhere is this more of a paradigm than in our modern diet. So to make up for this they
say we have to take supplements. But when we eat organic fruits and vegetables even though we do not feel
that we have eaten a full meal the cells are nourished on a cellular level and we are no longer starving with a
full stomach. I believe that this is the main reason that Jinjee was able to bring forth a perfectly healthy child on
just organic fruits and vegetables.
Here are some facts that I would like to share with you. During all of Jinjee's four pregnancies she avoided
these food groups. Meat and dairy. During two of her pregnancies she avoided all cooked foods, meat and
dairy. The two pregnancies in which she was all raw the hard labor was under one hour. Jome and Adagio just
slipped into the world. The other two pregnancies were both over 30 hours of labor. Even though all of my
children are raw now, Shale who has been raw since birth has shown an incredible amount of development in
areas that I never would have thought would be affected by the food you eat. Jome who is 7 and was raw in the
womb and who has been 100% raw for most of his life has also shown incredible ability in the area of attention
span, pattern recognition, and art and music. Raven who is ten and who has been raw most of her life has also
shown a very high level of achievement. She recently scored 100 on an internet IQ test that was designed for
18 year olds and older. Her mother scored 135 and we won't talk about my test scores. The main point that I'm
trying to make is that over a period of 10 years I have observed the growth and development of these four
children who up to this point seem very normal if not somewhat advanced for their ages. Out of the six
people in our family none of us are obese, none of us wear glasses and none of us are
under a doctor's care or on medication of any kind.
At this point I would like to touch a little bit on the actual diet. Jinjee, Shale and myself eat about 80% fruit. We
do enjoy salads. Jome and Raven will not eat many salads or drink any green juice so they are about 95% fruit
bats. We all enjoy sprouted nut milks and other nut dishes so that is a source of rich protein for all of us. Jinjee
and I are the only ones who will drink green juice. Of all of the kids Shale is the most muscular. I attribute this to
the fact that she eats salads and avocados on a level that the others don't. She has the best appetite and the
most positive spirit. This may have nothing at all to do with the fact that she has never had any cooked food
while the other two have, it may just be who she is as a person.
The main point of this article is not to teach people how to have unassisted childbirth at home. Most people will
have their babies with either a doctor or a midwife in attendance, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with
that. The point that I'm trying to stress is that there are many myths surrounding the prenatal care and actual
delivery that I feel we need to look at in a much closer light.
One is the use of supplements. I feel that if you have a totally balanced diet then it is possible to obtain all of
the necessary nutrients that you need to build a strong baby from raw living foods. I feel that a lot of the
supplements can not be absorbed by the body, and may even do more harm than good. The reason for this
being; when we get calcium from a natural source then it is in a format that is easily absorbed by the body. But
when we rely on an artificial source then it might not be so readily absorbed by the body. Vitamins that may not
be absorbed or eliminated are sometimes stored in the body where they can turn into deposits such as kidney
stones or gall stones.
The truth is that we are just now starting to realize that there are many subtle side effects from many of the
drugs and various supplemental products that we use. When this happens you can not always rely on the
company to tell you this. There have been many cases of non or incomplete disclosures from both the
pharmaceutical and supplemental industries, not to mention the processed food industry. So in light of that I
totally recommend eating a diet of raw organic foods as much as possible. Now of course there are some
exceptions to every rule and sometimes it is just not possible to obtain a steady supply of organic fruits and
vegetables. I think in those cases careful research should be done to find the type of supplements that will give
you the most benefits. If you feel the need to take supplements be sure they contain no animal products, that
the ingredients are organic, and that they use chelation, the process of extracting nutrient molecules in their
complete form for absorption.
I think that there is a huge difference in carrying and delivering a baby that is gestated by a mother who is
eating mostly fruits and vegetables from one who is being gestated by a mother who is eating mostly dairy,
meat and processed foods products. The mother who is on a heavy protein diet is going to produce a much
bigger baby, but bigger does not necessarily translate into healthier. The reason that they used to hold babies
upside down by their feet and slap them was to get them breathing because the air passages were so clogged
with mucus that this was necessary. All of my kids came out breathing on their own with no clogged airways.
The need for protein is one of the biggest questions in the world of nutrition today. I'm from the school of
thought that we eat way too much of the wrong kind of protein and it does us more harm than good. Fruit is
made up of protein that is very easy for our bodies to absorb. Most fruit is about 2.4 percent protein; the same
percentage as mother's milk and we have found that we can maintain very high levels of energy and vitality on
a diet mostly based on fresh organic fruit. Fruit, oranges to be exact, was the main staple of Jinjee's diet with
her last pregnancy. Our son weighed 7 pounds which is normal and she now has a copious supply of milk with
oranges still being her main source of nutrients. Greens and green juice are also excellent sources of nutrients
but for us it is a little harder to get down, and the kids refuse to eat greens so when I shop I mostly buy fruit. But
I do try to balance the fruit with green salads and juices whenever possible.
Another very important food group that is essential for normal growth is omega fatty acids. Without this vital
food group the brain cannot function or grow in a normal fashion. We obtain most of our omega fatty acids from
olive oil and flax seed oil. We just mix it into the nut milks and other different recipes. A hundred years ago our
food contained much higher levels of fats, but the people themselves were not obese. Now with the advent of
processed foods people are really becoming obese while at the same time the food does not contain the same
level of healthy fat that it did a hundred years ago. The reason for this is that a century ago food was much
more natural. A lot of the processed foods contain trans fatty acids which are very harmful to our bodies on the
cellular level. So the Processed Food industry's answer to the current Obesity Epidemic is to reduce the level of
fat or market what they call low-fat foods to us. We are still way overweight because our obesity is not caused
by our consumption of fats but more by our consumption of refined sugars and MSG. So not only are we still fat
but we are now also starving. When these conditions exist in a pregnant mother then it can result in a whole
host of ailments in the newborn baby including ear and sinus infections, colic, lethargy, chemical imbalances,
ADD, ADHD, hyperactivity, and autism.
We have gotten so far off track regarding what we actually need to sustain our bodies on natural food as it was
designed for us until there is serious scientific doubt that we can even be healthy on raw organic fruit, nuts,
seeds, and vegetables. And this is the one of the whole underlying themes of this article. Yes, it is totally
possible with a well balanced diet to produce a perfectly healthy baby on all raw foods.
The birth of Adagio was different from the others in that Jinjee walked about five miles every morning in the
mountains. This means that at least 2.5 miles was up hill. In short she was in excellent condition. Even on the
morning of the birth she walked two miles. Another thing that was different was that during actual labor she
moved around to the dictates her own rhythm. The room was lighted with candles. She moved from squatting to
kneeling positions as well as various yoga positions to help open up the birthing canal. I can't imagine a
hospital letting her dance around like she was doing. What it kind of boils down to is men telling women how to
have babies instead of letting them find their own natural flow. So except for a few times when I felt that she
really needed me I stayed out of the picture and at no time did I try to direct the process. The results were
amazing.
This was the sixth baby that I had caught, and over the years I had learned to let go and flow with the process.
There were also a lot of things that were incorporated in the process that were not obvious. One being that we
both agreed that the final position should be one that let the tail bone swing freely so that the birth canal was
not restricted. When women lie on their backs to deliver then the tail bone hinge cannot swing back freely which
results in a tearing which could have been prevented in a squatting or kneeling position. Another thing that we
agreed on was not to push when the cervix had opened. In a kneeling or squatting position when the time is
right the baby will just slip out which is just what happened. The pushing was a totally natural reaction that was
not in the least bit forced.
One of the things that Jinjee had discovered was that mammals will stop labor naturally if they are interfered
with during labor and then when they are at peace they will give birth. This is a huge discovery because a lot of
medical personnel can be very pushy and invasive, which triggers a natural shutting down of the labor process.
And of course drugs are very invasive, and C-sections which are at an all time high are the height of an
invasive birth. Jinjee also found out that hospitals have a much higher mortality rate than home births.
One other thing that I would like to mention is that the first thing that I noticed on Adagio is that he was wiggling
all of his fingers and all of his toes. This to me was huge because it shows that he has fully developed nerve
pathways. He was covered with a kind of thick yellow paste which we rubbed into his skin. This is a natural
protection against the air for skin which has been in water for nine months. We also waited about 20 minutes for
the cord to stop pulsating. This means that there is still blood being passed back and forth between the mother
and the baby. And the last thing that I want to mention is that as soon as the baby is born we put him on the
breast, because there is a clear type of fluid that helps to clear the baby's digestive tract and prepare him for
the milk that is to come later. It also helps to bring on the contractions which deliver the placenta. To me the
delivery of the placenta has always been the most dangerous part because if it breaks up or comes out in
pieces then the mother can hemorrhage. Of all the births this one was the easiest and the most natural. The
next morning I planted a tree over the placenta in the forest as is our custom.
Recommended Reading:
Frederic LeBoyer, Birth Without Violence
Hygeia Halfmoon, Ph.D., Primal Mothering in a Modern World
Lynn M. Griesemer, Unassisted Homebirth, An Act of Love
Marilyn A. Moran, Pleasurable Husband/Wife Childbirth
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