March 13, 2007    Asthma

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS from Arnold's Way!

It is a Monday morning, and I am quietly excited, quietly proud, and quietly jealous of this week's featured customer. This newsletter has been a month in the making. It could have been about a hundred or a thousand other customers who have passed through my store with different ailments, changed their lifestyle, and whatever they had simply disappeared. This week's main focus is simply about that and even more. In my eight years of writing, I had never ever had such an extreme success story. In my eight years of writing, I generally write about one person not eight in one short squalish ( no such word) of a breath. This is such a story. This is about such a man. Even though he is barely twenty years old, barely out of his home, barely out of school, and barely trying to figure out what he is going to do when he graduates school, I have to relate this story. This is Francesco Barrone’s story. Francesco is one of those people who understand the very nature of life, the very essence of our soul, our heart and the purpose of life. He understands life on that level. He knows what causes sickness, what causes health, and what you have to do to correct that. It's that simple and that pure. He knew what to say to the young woman from the University of Penn, who came to me this morning to speak about cancer. She wanted answers on how to treat cancer other than the standard medical choices of medication, surgery, and chemotherapy. She wanted her mother and herself to change their ways. It was that important to her to learn the ways of going "raw." She even brought her chef and promised to bring her mother to my morning class this Sat . Frank understands the facts of what causes cancer and what to say. He would know what to say to a young woman who’s acne had gotten so bad that it was impairing her very life force and made her conscious of her every movement. It is with that understanding we begin this week newsletter about Francesco Barrone, one of my heroes. He not only understands what causes disease, he has made a difference so that no one, and I do means no one that he knows will ever have to worry about getting a serious disease again. Yes they will die, but of natural causes, which is very rare in today’s society. Frank understands on that level, and for those in Frank's immediate and extended circle will forever be grateful for sharing that wisdom and knowledge. It is on that somber and joyous occasion we begin Francesco victory against Asthma.

Frank came to one of my Saturday morning sessions about two years ago. He came to my session when he was eighteen years old and still in high school. Frank, at that time, had a really bad case of Asthma. Frank had to use the inhalers, lots of medication and knew what it was like to be rushed to the hospital. Frank knew deep within there had to be another option. Frank did not want to use inhalers for the rest of his life. Frank did not want to stay home three or four times a year because he couldn’t breathe. Frank wanted to be like everyone else. He wanted to live his life in joyous exhilaration. It is on this level he heard my words about meat, chicken, fish, dairy, and eggs. He heard about their deaths. He heard about the dyes that are given to them so that they don’t show their purple color on the plate. The chicken, the meat, the pig, and the fish industries understand that the consumers are a little squeamish about eating flesh foods that are purple. He heard that the industries use perfumes so we don’t eat smelly food. He heard about the uric acid which is found in all dead animals that we eat, because man is the only animal that doesn’t have the enzyme uricase which beaks it up. He heard about the China Study which is an extensive report on what eating meat can do to our bodies. Frank heard, according to the China Study, that every cancer and almost every disease according to the Rave diet is directly correlated to how much meat we eat. Frank heard, and what's more important, is that he listened. He listened from the depth of his soul, to the depth of his action, to the depth that never again will he suffer from Asthma. Frank, after class, made a promise to himself that he will stop eating anything that had eyes or related by-products. And believe it or not his Asthma simply disappeared. Frank became a Vegan, which in and of itself, was a major jump from his previous lifestyle dietary choice.

Frank's raw food success story began about three months ago. Frank no longer had to worry about Asthma, but he was ready for the next step. He wanted to take his health, his music, his whole life's essence to the next level. Frank began coming to our store in his normal unassuming way. I barely noticed him week after week and sometimes day after day. Frank knew there was a better way, and he knew that changing to a raw food lifestyle would deliver it. It was that simple and that pure. He began eating bananas. He began drinking the green smoothies. He began eliminating more cooked food from his diet, and replacing them with more fruit. What happened to everyone's surprise was that Frank, if at all possible, became stronger. He became happier. His mother, at first, was scared for him. Had her only son literally gone bananas? She was scared for him, and his new way of eating. She saw him eating all of those bananas. She saw him eating all of those fruit, and could not honestly believe that it was healthy, Frank explained. Frank shared, and Frank brought his mother to my store and to my classes. Over and over Frank's mother heard the stories of so many of our customers. She, too, became a Raw Foodist just like her son Francesco. Valerie, Frank's mother lost 50 pounds, and her vibrant youth that was once lost began to return. She became younger than spring time. She recaptured her youth just by eating more bananas, more fruit and more vegetables. Frank's sister began seeing the difference in Frank and in her mother, and also wanted d to experience their newly found vibrant health for her. She began eating the same way. She became a regular in my store. She began sharing her story somewhat reluctantly, somewhat proudly, and somewhat non assuming. She wanted d to share her words of how proud she was of Frank and her mother. She was watching a miracle unfolding Frank did not stop with inspiring his mother. He, in his unassuming, yet boldly confident way, began sharing his raw food success with his three best friends. They were what you would call your typical meat, chicken, pizzas, pass the French fries type eaters. They were watching him order organic produce being delivered to his college dorm. They were watching his mother lose 50 lbs. They, who originally vowed they would never ever give up their pizza, and their steaks began changing their lifestyle. Valerie, who became a totally different woman, began talking to their neighbors about her changes. They listened, and they began making slow changes. Their one neighbor who had colitis for years simply disappeared within 4 days Frank's father, who swore would never give up his meat, also began making small changes. So I write with a proud heart and my emotions almost pent up, so much so that the tears won’t flow about a young man named Francesco Barrone who made a difference, not only in his life, but to all those around him. I salute you, Francesco, for sharing your story. I thank you for your time.

Arnold