This Woman Doesn't Put Anything on Her Skin That She Wouldn't Eat

For Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram, who vlogs regularly from her channel, Fully Raw Kristina, going raw vegan wasn't just a choice - it was a necessity. "I used to be a type 2 diabetic, which is essentially hyperglycemic, which is basically someone who is very sick. I used to be extremely underweight," said Kristina.
The daughter of Lebanese and Ecuadorian parents, she grew up eating a high-fat diet. "I basically drank olive oil as a child," Kristina joked. What she wasn't kidding about was the affect it had on her health. "When I was diagnosed at 16, I looked normal, but at 18 I had lost 40 pounds."
That's why Kristina says changing her diet changed her life. "Most people don't realize that food can be medicine, for you mentally, spiritually, physically," Kristina said. For the past decade, Kristina has been a raw vegan - which inspired her YouTube channel - and according to her, it means she consumes a diet made of fresh, whole, unrefined, living, plant-based foods, like fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, nuts, and seeds, which are consumed in their natural state, without cooking or steaming. For her, changing how she consumed food was like medicine.
Kristina has been a raw vegan for 10 years now, which led her to establish a raw organic co-op in Houston and then to her YouTube channel. She's focused on putting food in her body that will cleanse and take care of it, but she's equally as diligent about what she puts on her skin, too. "I don't put anything on my skin that I wouldn't eat," Kristina said. "Your skin is your largest, most absorbable organ on your body. If you're constantly putting a ton of chemicals on your skin, it may affect how you feel."
Check out the full interview to learn more about Kristina and her lifestyle, plus get a supereasy DIY shampoo recipe. You can also pick up Kristina's book, The Fully Raw Diet, out now.