The word is out that Michael Jackson may have been killed as a side effect of an anesthetic taken to help him sleep. This drug (diprivan) was reported to have
no groggy after effect, letting him do intense rehearsals all day.
According to the associated press, "The drug Diprivan (propofol) reduces
anxiety and promotes
sleep and is used to relax patients before and after surgery. After injection,
the patient falls asleep very quickly. According to the FDA, heart function,
blood pressure, and breathing should be monitored when someone is under
the effects of this drug. Risks associated with this drug include weak or
shallow breathing and/or fast or slow heart rate. The dosage
recommendations on this drug are critical as overdosage can lead to death."
As we get older, it is harder to get a good night's sleep.
Tips to sleep better include, of course, eating a raw
food diet! Your digestive system doesn't have to
work as hard, allowing for a better night's sleep. But
even raw foodists find that they sleep much better
if they do not eat after 6 PM. Many such as Tonya
Zavasta and Paul Nison even go on the "no dinner
diet," not eating anything--not even a snack!--
after 2:00 PM. The authors of The CR Way
(the calorie restricted diet noted for life expansion)
do not eat after 1:00 PM.
I myself sleep much more peacefully through the
night without waking up ever since I began not
eating anything after 6 PM. Eating before going
to bed is one of the worst prescriptions for a poor
night's sleep, raw or not. If you must eat something,
make it some juice which can be quickly digested.
But even for people who choose not to go on a high
raw diet, there is really no need for toxicdrugs to
help them sleep. The amino acid tryptophane is
now legal again. And if you don't want to take
the pill, a quarter to a half cup of pumpkin seeds
(full of tryptophane) is sure to knock you out!
(I used to eat those at work until I started nodding
off at staff meetings!)
Other natural remedies to have at your bedside for
a pinch are theanine serene, GABA, magnesium, and
quercitin (which is great if you ate something with corn,
wheat or something you are slightly allergic to).
Menopausal women might need some bioidentical
progesterone to help them with insomnia.
Whatever the case, if you can't sleep, get to the
root of the cause for your insomnia, whether it be
eating late, stress, menopause, etc. Drugs only
mask the symptoms and never heal the problem.
Sometimes the issue can be solved with something
minor. Even having a night light on can reduce the
amount of melatonin your body produces (necessary
hormone for sleep). Also having a clock near your
head can cause insomnia. Don't stimulate your mind
with TV or the Internet before sleeping--those can
keep your brain wired, whereas reading can induce sleep.
these healings, which includes one person that was left as "permanently brain
dead" by four MDs! (Yet he came out of the coma, made a full recovery, and
went on to graduate from a university!)
A raw food diet is anti-inflammatory, and thus minimizes any chronic pain. By
forgoing toxic drugs, you also allow the body to heal much faster and more
thoroughly.
I asked my chief editor (and raw food mentor) Bob Avery to write about how
he was hit by a van and healed without taking pain meds. He had broken ribs,
a concussion, and possibly liver damage, yet refused to even go to the
hospital!
Here is his story, in his own words:
In July, 2007, I was riding my bicycle home in Toledo, Ohio, down a busy street, 2 lanes in each direction, at rush hour. Because of the street traffic and the convenient curb cuts that city carved out of the sidewalk intersections for handicapped people, I was zipping down the sidewalk instead, parallel to the street.
As I approached a little side street instersection with no traffic light or stop sign on it for through traffic, I kept my eye out for vehicles in the curb lane that might be planning to turn right, but I didn't notice a white van coming down the other side of the busy street beginning a left turn onto that little street I was about to cross over.
Our paths collided at the intersection. I did see him coming at the last seconds and veered to the right as I crossed the street, but he didn't see me. In fact, he was accelerating as he broadsided me going maybe 15-20 mph.
I felt his bumper hit my left ankle and his hood grille my midsection. The next thing I knew, I was lying in the middle of the street looking up at his right front tire, not knowing how I had gotten there. Fortunately, he must have applied his brakes immediately upon impact, or I wouldn't be here today typing this. Even a 60-yr-old 14½-yr raw fooder in good shape isn't going to survive a crushed skull (no helmet)!
I was probably only out for 10 seconds or less because when I came to, the driver of the van was in the process of exiting his vehicle to attend to me.
Somehow, my bicycle was a few feet farther down the road than I was with a badly twisted front wheel. I have no idea how the bicycle and I disengaged, but it must have been painful. My right leg had to somehow go over that crossbar.
"Helpful" bystanders with cell phones were already calling 911. I knew that I was hurt, but I also knew I didn't want medical meddling.
I didn't want to be lying there when EMS arrived, but as I began trying to struggle to my feet, the "helpful" van driver was holding my shoulders down and telling me not to move. Fighting him was proving useless in my condition and posture, so I summoned up the most authoritative voice I could muster, and intoned, "Take your hands off me, sir!"
It worked. He backed off, and I made it to my feet. I just wanted to get home to where I was staying only about 5 blocks away, but I knew I would have to wait for the police to arrive. It seemed like forever, but it was probably less than 5 minutes before they showed, and so did EMS.
The EMS paramedics came all prepared to haul me off to the hospital. I had already determined that if anything was broken, it was only a rib or two, and there is nothing they can do to set rib bones. A person has to breathe after all! Therefore, there was nothing they could do for me period except cause trouble and interfere with the healing process. Yes, I had cuts, scrapes, and bruises but nothing that wasn't already scabbing over.
Besides, I didn't and don't have medical insurance, and I had no intention of paying for a $500 ambulance charge. I have better things to do with what little money I have. If I went to the hospital, they would order x-rays, which are carcinogenic and do nothing to heal the body. Who needs that?
I had to convince EMS I was OK so they'd leave me alone. They began poking and prodding and jiggling me in various places, mostly the midsection. Does this hurt? Does that hurt?
I answered no, no, and no. One time I had to lie. It really did hurt, but I wasn't going to admit it. So did my head.
Before I knew it, they had cuffed me and were taking my pulse/BP. I knew they weren't going to find a BP problem because my raw diet keeps it around 100/60. My resting pulse is normally in the 40s but not under these stressful circumstances.
"Sir, your pulse is elevated!" the meddler said with alarm in her voice. They didn't want to leave without a patient.
I replied disdainfully, "Yours would be too if you had just been hit by a truck!" She didn't have an answer for that.
They also asked a few questions to see if I knew who I was and where I was going, as did the police. Finally they were satisfied and left.
It still took another 20 minutes before I could leave because the police kept the van driver in their car asking him questions. Finally, they quizzed me too and left. They offered me a ride home, but I told them I could do it on my own, thank you. That proved a little optimistic.
Not only was the front wheel of the tire bent in half, the rear wheel had been thrown out of alignment so that I couldn't just lift the front wheel and pull the bike. I had to lift and carry the whole bike.
Somehow I got it to the curb, but every time I tried to lift it, I felt shooting pains in my midsection. The torso muscles had been badly injured. I could only carry the bike a few feet at a time and then rest.
I made it less than half a block before I had to stop and ponder whether to just abandon the bicycle. Fortunately, a bystander from across the street who was also a bike rider saw my dilemma and offered to help.
So he lugged the bike on his bike while I walked slowly home.
I arrived with a concussion headache that wouldn't stop. It was nonstop for 3 days and then off and on for the rest of a week. The body sets priorities when it heals, and nothing is higher priority than the brain except for stopping any bleeding, so it was no surprise to me that it became the first injury to heal.
It took me 2-3 months to fully recover from my many injuries. For several weeks, I couldn't roll over in bed. The back and rib pain was too great. In retrospect, I think I must have cracked a rib or two judging from the symptoms I experienced. There was only one comfortable lying position, my right side, which I had to gingerly and painstakingly get into and out of whenever I wanted to lie down/get up. Fortunately, that's the position I prefer to sleep in anyway.
The third night, I woke up with a nosebleed that wouldn't stop until I stuffed a tissue up my nose. That was the most scary incident in the aftermath. I wasn't expecting that and didn't know where it came from. All's well that ends well, however, and we must learn to trust in the healing wisdom of our bodies.
Besides back and rib injuries, I believe I also had liver damage (which was the next thing to heal after the head), a sprained left foot and Achilles heel where the van's bumper hit it, a bruise to the right thigh where the bike bar must have struck, injury to the right arm where it hit the pavement, and probably some other items I'm forgetting now.
I didn't discover these injuries all at once. I could feel the life force cycling from one thing to the next. Pain would appear where there hadn't been any when the body's attention was moved from one area to the next.
I run/jog daily to keep in shape, but I had to lay off completely for 3 weeks then gradually ease back into it. The back/side pain was too great. After that, I could only manage ½ a mile for a time, but gradually it became more and more until I was back to a few miles a day.
I didn't take a complete fast, which would have accelerated the healing even more, but I did eat very lightly during this period and lost 10 pounds from a weight that was already low by standard weight tables.
Nevertheless, I did eventually heal from my injuries and regain the lost weight. In my estimation I healed faster and better than I would have had I followed medical advice. They would have had me on painkillers, which only slow down and interfere with the healing process and probably would have desensitized me to observing the beauties of the healing process in action.
I'm thankful every day that I became a raw fooder around the end of 1992/beginning of 1993. I only wish I had discovered it earlier. It makes everything so much better, including healing from injuries, both serious and nonserious alike.
Veganism, bone mineral density, and body composition: a study in Buddhist nuns. Ho-Pham LT, Nguyen PL, Le TT, Doan TA, Tran NT, Le TA, Nguyen TV. Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
This cross-sectional study showed that, although vegans had lower dietary calcium and protein intakes than omnivores, veganism did not have adverse effect on bone mineral density and did not alter body composition.
INTRODUCTION: Whether a lifelong vegetarian diet has any negative effect on bone health is a contentious issue. We undertook this study to examine the association between lifelong vegetarian diet and bone mineral density and body composition in a group of postmenopausal women.
METHODS: One hundred and five Mahayana Buddhist nuns and 105 omnivorous women (average age = 62, range = 50-85) were randomly sampled from monasteries in Ho Chi Minh City and invited to participate in the study. By religious rule, the nuns do not eat meat or seafood (i.e., vegans). Bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine (LS), femoral neck (FN), and whole body (WB) was measured by DXA (Hologic QDR 4500). Lean mass, fat mass, and percent fat mass were also obtained from the DXA whole body scan. Dietary calcium and protein intakes were estimated from a validated food frequency questionnaire.
RESULTS: There was no significant difference between vegans and omnivores in LSBMD (0.74 +/- 0.14 vs. 0.77 +/- 0.14 g/ cm(2); mean +/- SD; P = 0.18), FNBMD (0.62 +/- 0.11 vs. 0.63 +/- 0.11 g/cm(2); P = 0.35), WBBMD (0.88 +/- 0.11 vs. 0.90 +/- 0.12 g/cm(2); P = 0.31), lean mass (32 +/- 5 vs. 33 +/- 4 kg; P = 0.47), and fat mass (19 +/- 5 vs. 19 +/- 5 kg; P = 0.77) either before or after adjusting for age. The prevalence of osteoporosis (T scores </= -2.5) at the femoral neck in vegans and omnivores was 17.1% and 14.3% (P = 0.57), respectively. The median intake of dietary calcium was lower in vegans compared to omnivores (330 +/- 205 vs. 682 +/- 417 mg/day, P < 0.001); however, there was no significant correlation between dietary calcium and BMD. Further analysis suggested that whole body BMD, but not lumbar spine or femoral neck BMD, was positively correlated with the ratio of animal protein to vegetable protein.
CONCLUSION: These results suggest that, although vegans have much lower intakes of dietary calcium and protein than omnivores, veganism does not have adverse effect on bone mineral density and does not alter body
composition.
Susan's Comments: Studies show that a diet which is very high in animal protein (Yes, that means dairy too!) actually contributes a lot to osteoporosis because the acidity from all that protein causes your bones to leach out calcium in order to neutralize the acid.
But vegans need to be aware that they may be lacking in Vitamin B-12 and DHA, both critical to the brain and nervous system. They may need to take supplements of B-12 and DHA.
Did you know that raw food diet is one of the best solutions for weight loss? Then find out in this article right here. Before man discovered fire, people ate nothing but uncooked and unprocessed foods. Similar to that ancient lifestyle, there are communities in the world, even today, which eat only raw food in the belief that uncooked food will help with the maintenance of healthy weight and prevention of chronic diseases. These communities believe that heat removes a lot of vitamins and minerals from the food that nature created for us.
What exactly is a raw food diet?
Imagine eating milk without boiling or pasteurizing it and fish without cooking it? Well, that is exactly what a raw food dieter does. They believe that the greater the amount of raw foods in their daily diet, the healthier they will be.
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Although some raw food dieters eat meat, most of them eat fresh fruits, raw vegetables, sprouted lentils, eggs, raw cheese, etc. Some raw food diets allow people to heat foods up to 46?C. There are many types of raw diets including but not limited to raw vegan diet, fruitarians, juicearians and sproutarians. Fruitarians, as the name indicates, eat only fruits and some nuts. Juicearians on the other hand juice everything they eat, including raw fruits and vegetables. Sprouts from most foods such as lentils and grains are the main food for the group of people who are called sproutarians.
Raw food dieters sometimes exclude meat from game (hunted) animals, fish and poultry while eating dairy products and eggs. Some of these raw food groups (vegan) refuse to eat honey. Raw food dieters believe that cooking food produces harmful toxins.
The difference between grass-based and grain-based diets for farmed animals
Many of us don’t have a clue as to whether the steak we ate came from an animal that was grain fed or grass fed. However, raw food dieters need to know that the meat they eat comes from grass-fed animals. This is because the meat of grass-fed animals has fewer E.coli bacteria in their system and we also seem to be able to fight off this level of infection with ease. Grass fed meat also contains richer nutrients including minerals, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids that are so crucial to our mental health.
Primal diet is another raw food plan in which the diet consists of organ meats, fatty meats, honey and diary along with a few juices (fruit and vegetable) and coconut cream.
So why consume a raw food diet?
Even though there are many scientists pooh-pooh the idea of raw diets, the benefits seem to outweigh the risks. In societies where people follow raw food diets, the following benefits have been observed:
Significant weight loss due to the increased fibre and fresh, nutritious and filling low GI food
Low LDL cholesterol and triglyceride counts that help lower heart disease and stroke
Low plasma lycopene concentration which reduces the risk of many diseases
Increased favourable beta-carotene levels that help boost the immune system
Significant benefits in the reduction of breast cancer and other cancers
Fibromyalgia symptoms were reduced
Blood pressure readings were lowered significantly for all ages
Advanced Glycation end products which AGEs can contribute to diabetes, renal failure, arthritis and eye degenerative problems were reduced on this diet
Critics of this diet point out that cooking actually increases certain deficiencies and eating uncooked seafood and meat may increase food borne illnesses. Also, women on this diet may lose so much weight that they may stop menstruating (dysmenorrhoea).
So there you have it.
To summarize, people who become aware of the increasing levels of pollution in our food and water are trying to find methods to regain our healthy lifestyles. Raw food diets are one solution to the endless factory processed and mass produced meat and vegetables that we currently consume everyday. These changes may one day help the next generation to have a better standard of living and peaceful existence for years to come.
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One advantage of eating raw is that it brings Nature’s intentions into focus. When I speak of eating raw I am referring to fruit, nuts, and vegetables, which taste good to the majority of humankind in their basic simplicity direct from tree, bush or vine.
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='http://www.bukisa.com/js//gads/gads_text2b.js?v=1.0011' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); google_ad_channel = '0147070309,4068880461,7796135649'; document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); window.google_render_ad()I realize it isn’t easy to simply abandon thousands of years of tradition and revert back to 100% raw food. Margaret Mead once said, “It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.” So to the point, there are 10 advantages to a diet of fresh, whole raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which may lead you to find a greater place for them in your diet. var rand_no = Math.random(); if (rand_no < 0.5) { var so = new SWFObject("http://img.bukisa.com//swf/340x160a.swf", "join_banner_a", "340", "160", "8", "#fff"); so.addVariable("clickTag", escape("http://www.bukisa.com/join?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=banner_A&utm_campaign=articles")); so.addParam('movie',escape('http://www.bukisa.com/join?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=banner_A&utm_campaign=articles')); } else { var so = new SWFObject("http://img.bukisa.com//swf/340x160b.swf", "join_banner_b", "340", "160", "8", "#fff"); so.addVariable("clickTag", escape("http://www.bukisa.com/join?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=banner_B&utm_campaign=articles")); so.addParam('movie',escape('http://www.bukisa.com/join?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=banner_B&utm_campaign=articles')); } so.addParam("quality", "high"); so.addParam("wmode", "transparent"); so.addParam("salign", "t"); so.write("splcontent_c");
1. Raw foods are better quality, therefore you eat less to satisfy your nutritional needs. The heat of cooking depletes vitamins, damages proteins and fats, and destroys enzymes which benefit digestion. As your percentage of raw foods increases you feel satisfied and have more energy on smaller meals because raw food has the best balance of water, nutrients, and fiber to meet your body’s needs.
2. Raw foods have more flavor than cooked foods so there is no need to add salt, sugar, spices, or other condiments that can irritate your digestion system or over stimulate other organs.
3. Raw foods take very little preparation so you spend less time in the kitchen. Even a child of 5 or 6 can prepare most items for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This gives children a sense of self-esteem and independence, not to mention the break it gives Mom or Dad.
4. When you are eating raw there’s little chance of burns, unless you’re in the middle of a forest fire or out in the sun too long. Just think! No burns to tongues, the roof of your mouth, or fingers, and many fewer house fires.
5. Cleaning up after a raw meal is a snap. No baked-on oils or crusty messes. And any inedible parts go directly to the compost pile.
6. Eating a diet of raw foods can reverse or stop the advance of many chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Remember, cooking creates free radicals, which are the major cause of cancer. When you lower the number of free radicals your cells are bombarded with, you lower your risk of cancer.
7. A raw food diet can protect you from acute diseases such as colds, flu, measles, etc. Raw foods maintain a healthy body and a healthy body will not become diseased.
8. As long as you combine raw food properly according to the rules of Natural Hygiene, you will soon reach a level where you no longer suffer from heartburn, gas, indigestion or constipation.
9. It is environmentally sound. With humanity on a diet of raw foods, the food industry would close up shop and take up organic gardening. This would save us enormous amounts of natural resources used to produce power for these industries. Nuclear power would be clearly unnecessary. And think of how many trees and oil reserves could be saved without the need for the paper and plastics used in packaging our processed foods. There would also be less carbon dioxide released in to the atmosphere when all the cooking stopped and more oxygen produced from all the new orchards and gardens, thus helping to reverse the Greenhouse Effect.
10. Eating raw saves you money on food, vitamins, pots and pans, appliances, doctor bills, drugs, and health insurance.
So don’t waste your food, yourself, and our planet by cooking what you eat. Fruits, nuts, and vegetables which are whole, fresh and raw are brimming with life and have the ability to transmit their life force directly to you.
“You are a raw food hippie that is living in a dream land.” That is the exact line that someone said to me a couple days ago on a forum when we were discussing raw foods vs cooked foods. Its funny because I have never really identified myself with the raw food movement as some people call it, but a few days ago I found myself defending their principles and ideas. It is strange really because this argument really made me look at my diet in terms of how much cooked food I eat and how much raw food I eat. I noticed that I eat somewhere between 70-80% raw foods. It is weird how their is very distinct line between people who follow a raw food diet and a people who do not, but when it all boils down both sides want the exact same thing. That thing is optimal health and a great looking body. What you often hear in a debate about cooked food vs raw food is really a debate between vegans and meat eaters. Very seldom can you get a debate that ignores meat. So lets take a real hard look at some of the raw food die theories.
Our Ancestors
It’s strange because I have used this ancestor heading in the lat three posts, but it has an extremely important point to make here. In the last two posts or whenever people refer to our ancestors as hunter gatherers it is referring to much more modern humans. You might be thinking I lost my mind referring to hunter gatherers as modern, but the truth is humans have existed for a very long time. When we were first on this planet we did not have spears, we did not have fire, and we did not have tools of any sort. What we did have was a brain and our bare hands. So most likely the first human beings ate plant products to start. It is undeniable. I would like to see you kill a cow with your bare hands, or catch a rabbit with no trap. The truth is it is a lot easier to sneak up on lettuce then it is a rabbit.
Here is an important thing to note. As we evolved and learned we could make spears and could make tools to cut animal muscle we probable began to eat it. When we moved away from the center of the earth, plant life slowly became more and more rare. Eventually you get the Eskimo tribes which predominantly live on a meat only diet.
But what about cooking? Why did we start cooking our food? Its a strange question. Think about it. If we killed a rabbit to eat, it would be ate right away in its entirety. Their is no fridge to save the left overs for tomorrow’s lunch. My best reasoning for why we cook food comes from Dr. Richard Wrangham’s article which basically says we cooked food because it made it more caloric dense. He also mentions that cooked food is easier to digest, and denatures the protein.
My Take
The theory that humans got to where we are today by cooking foods is definitely an interesting theory, and in my opinion it is true. Humans in the past would not have had as much food as we have had today, and cooking food made it easier to increase calorie levels without having more food .Here is where a lot of confusion begins. Have we adapted to eating a cooked food diet, or are we still made for eating raw foods. This is were the line seems to be drawn, and were people get into calling each other raw food hippies.
I believe that eating some raw food is best. Actually I recommend eating as much raw food as you possibly can. The reason for this is not the enzyme approach. That theory has been shot down, and the truth is enzymes really do not get passed our stomach acid. Basically the enzymes are just their to make the fruit ripen, nothing more nothing less. Raw food does have more nutrients. This is a big one for me. Their are a lot of chemicals that are in plants that are put their by nature. We do not know if they are important to us or not. We are still infants when it comes to researching everything in plants, and we do not know their synergistic effect. We do know vitamin C is destroyed by heat easily. This is my point. What if their are essential compounds in plant foods that are destroyed by heat like vitamin C, but we do not know about them.
I know that is a big what if statement, but it is backed up by me feeling a lot better eating raw plants instead of cooked plants. I feel that their is some difference their. People get so focused on the macronutrients that we have discovered, but we have not even begun to make any deep impact in research into all of the plant compounds. Michael Pollan refers to the term “Nutritionism” in his book called “In Defense of Food.” What he means by that term is basically the study of looking at one substance in a food like the vitamin c in citrus fruit, but ignoring how things act synergistic with each other. This is the fault of modern science, and the research of nutrition. This is were vitamins fail miserably. Their is no way possible to put everything found in fruit and vegetables in to a pill.
Remember this is just my theory. We Know their are many undiscovered compounds in plants. We do not know if they are essential or not. We do not know if they are required for a synergistic effect. We do not know if they are destroyed by cooking in the way vitamin c is. All I know is their is a lot of people that have more energy and feel better eating raw whole foods. Is their something in raw foods that we do not know about? I think so, and this is why I eat a predominantly raw food diet, and why I encourage others to eat more raw vegetables and fruit.
Everyone has a body covered in skin and some of us even try to look after it. We use special bathing gels and scrubs as well as creams to improve the look and condition of our skin. Your skin health is actually a very reliable indicator of how the rest of your body is health wise. One of the largest damaging factors to your skin health is eating too much processed and manufactured food.
Raw food on the other hand will contribute to your health in general as well as giving you great looking and healthy skin. You will notice a change in your skin’s condition within a week and after a month the transformation will be amazing.
Moisturizers And A Raw Food Diet
Dry skin is one of the problems that can be caused by poor diet. Eating raw food will naturally moisturize your body from the inside out. This is mainly because raw foods have a higher moisture level than cooked and processed food. Cooking food causes a lot of damage to food and removes much of the natural moisture content.
The Look Of Your Skin
Because raw food helps all your organs perform better your circulation works more efficiently and your skin takes on that familiar healthy glow. When you eat more than about 50% of your diet as raw food your body will start to look and feel great and people around you will start to notice.
The Cumulative Effect Of Raw Food Diet On Your Skin Health
If you notice a change after the first week of eating a raw food diet you will be delighted with the effect after 2 or 3 months. The natural goodness in raw food adds and adds to the body and there is a lot of medical evidence showing that you will have reduced skin problems by maintaining a healthy diet with a large proportion of your diet as raw.#
You can download a FREE 7 day raw food diet by visiting the raw food diets ideas web site. It will show you exactly how to plan your menus and increase your skin health. Download it at www.rawfooddietideas.com
Susan Schenck is the author of the award-winning book, The Live Food Factor. The book has gained the reputation as the raw foods bible, and we are giving away a copy of her book here at Blisstree. We also talked recently via email with Susan about how she became involved with the raw foods movement, and what it means for people. Following is Part 1 of our 3-part interview.
Tell me how you first became interested in the raw food movement? I had been a health seeker since the age of 16 when I developed asthma and an eating disorder. Doctors could do nothing for me so I sought to heal myself, which I did. Constantly looking for ways to maintain my health, I experimented with dozens of healing modalities and even got a master’s degree in acupuncture and herbs. But by far the greatest health secret I discovered was the raw food diet! Someone I met on the internet challenged me to try the diet. After a few weeks I was hooked. My energy at the age of 46 was like that of a 20-year-old. My husband, kicking and screaming at first, was ecstatic when he experienced the same thing.
What can readers learn from your book, The Live Food Factor? The first section is pure inspiration: 10 reasons to go raw and 20 testimonials (which includes an entire chapter on mine). Without inspiration, no action will be taken.
The second section is the science to back up why it works, which includes 66 studies (some in Appendix D) to support the superiority of eating a diet of 80-100% raw foods. It also explains how cooked food is toxic and keeps us from living our potential.
The third section is a history of the raw food movement and current day leaders. Section four is a complete how-to guide with all kinds of tips on how to transition, stay raw, avoid pitfalls, detoxify, learn about nutritional controversies, raise children to eat raw, and recipes.
At the end is a complete resource guide (where to shop, books to read, raw restaurants, etc.)
Please check back tomorrow for Part 2 of our interview.
We are continuing our interview with Susan Schenck, author of The Live Food Factor. Don’t forget to read Part 1 of our interview and enter our giveaway for Susan’s book.
What’s the number one thing people are surprised about when they learn more about a raw food diet? People find it incomprehensible that cooked food is toxic. Not just processed food. (Most people know that is bad.) But even your standard baked potato has been found to have 400 toxic byproducts that result from cooking.
Research by Dr. Paul Kouchakoff (and later Dr. Howard Loomis) has proven that when you eat cooked food, your white blood cells increase. This means your body is trying to fight off an invasion. But if you eat the food raw, this phenomenon doesn’t occur.
In 1916, Louis Maillard proved that cooking creates an endless chain of toxic molecules now called “Maillard molecules.”
In the spring of 2002, Swedish officials were so alarmed by their research findings that they decided to inform the public immediately rather than wait for them to be published in a scientific journal. Shortly afterwards, the World Health Organization held a three-week emergency meeting to evaluate the Swedish scientists’ recent discovery. They learned that starchy foods, such as potato chips, French fries, baked potatoes, biscuits and bread, contain very high levels of acrylamides, chemicals that have been shown to result in genetic mutations leading to a range of cancers in rate.
When proteins are cooked, up to 50% will not be assimilated. When cooked at high temperatures, cancer-forming mutagens begin to form at 154 F. Cooking meat forms heterocyclic amines. Cooking most kinds of fats forms toxic lipid peroxides. (If you must cook, use coconut oil.)
All of these age you faster, tie up a large chunk of your immune system, and put you on the path to un-wellness. This explains why people who eat a large percentage of their diet as raw foods are more youthful, energetic, and healthy than cooked fooders. They are also more cheerful!
Indulge me with a second surprise: People are really amazed at how GREAT the raw gourmet food tastes and how they soon do not feel the least bit deprived!
Please check back tomorrow for the final part of our interview.
Depending on the source, a raw food diet is either a path to perfect health or to serious undernourishment. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Devotees insist that a diet consisting mainly of uncooked, unprocessed plant foods leads to a leaner body, clearer skin, and higher energy. They also believe it cuts the risk of disease.
But what exactly is a raw food diet? Is following a raw food diet healthy? Can anyone become a raw foodist? Read on for some answers.
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The fundamental principle behind raw foodism, also sometimes called rawism, is that plant foods in their most natural state – uncooked and unprocessed – are also the most wholesome for the body. The raw food diet is a lifestyle choice. It is not a weight loss plan.
Sticking to a raw food diet isn’t easy. Most raw foodists spend a lot of time in the kitchen peeling, chopping, straining, blending, and dehydrating. That's because the diet is typically made up of 75% fruits and vegetables. Staples of the raw food diet include:
seaweed
sprouts
sprouted seeds
whole grains
beans
dried fruits
nuts
Alcohol, refined sugars, and caffeine are taboo.
Most raw foodists are raw food vegans, who eat no animal products, but some do eat raw eggs and cheese made from raw or unpasteurized milk.
How Do Raw Foodists Prepare Meals?
Raw foodists do not cook using a traditional stove or oven. They use food dehydrators that lend crunch to vegetables and cookies. Food dehydrators also dry out fruits for fruit leather and other raw food recipes.
Try surfing the Internet for raw food recipe ideas. Web sites, including recipezaar.com, welikeitraw.com, and living-foods.com, all have collections of raw food recipes.
The dehydrator works with heat, but temperatures cannot be higher than 115 to 118 degrees. Raw foodists believe high heat leaches enzymes and vitamins critical for proper digestion. The American Dietetic Association challenges this assertion. It says the body -- not what goes in it -- produces the enzymes necessary for digestion. The ADA also says cooking food below 118 degrees may not kill harmful, food-borne bacteria.
Raw vs. Cooked
Medical literature on the raw food diet is scant. Research tends to focus vegetarianism and veganism and the health benefits of a plant-based diet, among them lower cholesterol and better glucose levels.
A few studies do appear to back up the belief that cooking vegetables tends to kill important nutrients.
One showed that eating raw, cruciferous vegetables (such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale) may reduce the risk of bladder cancer. Researchers noted that cooking cruciferous vegetables robs them of their isothiocyanates, agents that alter proteins in cancer cells. They found that even a few helpings a month of raw crucifers seems to lower the risk.
Another study that reviewed findings of about 50 medical studies on the raw versus cooked debate showed that eating raw vegetables helps reduce the risk of oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, esophageal, and gastric cancers.
Is the Raw Food Diet Healthy?
The verdict on whether raw food diets are healthy is mixed.
Researchers who studied the impact of a raw food diet found that participants had low cholesterol and triglycerides. They also had a vitamin B12 deficiency. This finding is consistent with another study of raw foodists in Finland. B12 is found naturally only in animal products. It is critical to nerve and red blood cell development. Deficiencies can lead to anemia and neurological impairment.
A German study of long-term raw foodists showed that they had healthy levels of vitamin A and dietary carotenoids, which comes from vegetables, fruits and nuts and protect against chronic disease. Yet the study participants had lower than average plasma lycopene levels, which are thought to play a role in disease prevention. They are found in deep-red fruits like tomatoes. Lycopene content is highest, however, when tomatoes are cooked.
Low bone mass in the lumbar spine and hip may be another risk for raw foodists, who tend to be slim. Researchers concluded, however, that the raw foodists studied had “good bone quality.” That's because rapid weight loss at the beginning of the diet may have caused the decrease in bone mass.
Finally, another study showed that a raw food diet can interrupt the menstrual cycle, again because of drastic weight loss.
Raw Foodism and Nutrition
The raw food diet is rich in nutrients. It’s full of fiber and it’s low in fat and sugars.
But raw foodists, along with vegans, need to make sure they’re getting enough vitamin B12, calcium, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids, most of which are found naturally in animal products.
The American Dietetic Association offers these guidelines:
Eat almost twice the iron as nonvegetarians. Good sources of iron are tofu, legumes, almonds and cashews.
Eat at least eight servings a day of calcium-rich foods like bok choy, cabbage, soybeans, tempeh, and figs.
Eat fortified breakfast cereals, nutritional yeast, and fortified soy milk for B12. Supplements are a good idea.
Eat flaxseed and walnuts. Use canola, flaxseed, walnut, and soybean oil. These are all sources of omega-3 fatty acids. You may also want to take an omega-3 supplement.
Raw foodists typically get the same amount of protein as nonvegetarians through plant foods eaten throughout the day. But because plant protein is less digestible, the ADA also recommends eating plenty of soy and bean products.
Nutritionists at the ADA also recommend that raw foods and vegans increase their calcium intake. That's because their diets are high in sulfur-containing amino acids – nuts and grains, for example -- which can increase bone calcium loss.
Zinc is better absorbed by the body through meat. The ADA recommends soaking and sprouting beans, grains, and seeds. Doing this may help the body better absorb the nutrients from these foods.
Finally, people who do not eat meat or dairy products should be vigilant about their vitamin D intake -- especially for people who live in northern climates. Low levels of vitamin D can lead to weaker bones. The ADA recommends vitamin-D fortified foods, including some brands of soy milk and rice milk, some breakfast cereals and margarines. You also may want to take a vitamin D supplement.
Should You Become a Raw Foodist?
If you're a healthy adult who likes to cook and you have no problem giving up meat or dairy, the raw food diet might be for you. Here are some things to consider before adopting a raw food diet.
The ADA wholly supports diets that are plant-based, but it takes issue with one that is mostly raw: Cooking makes some foods, like eggs and tomatoes, makes them more bioavailable. That means their nutrients are better absorbed by the body.
The raw food diet also requires a lot of processing that can strip foods of their nutrients. Straining pulp from cashews to make cashew milk, for example, removes healthy fiber. Dehydrating and chopping can destroy valuable nutrients, too, as can exposure to air.
Because raw foodists do not eat fish, they may not get enough essential fatty acids, like omega-3s. Other vitamins and nutrients, such as vitamin B12, are also often lacking. As a safeguard, the ADA recommends raw foodists take supplements.
The ADA does not recommend a raw food diet for infants and children.
SUSAN'S COMMENTS:
This doesn't make sense:
"If you're a healthy adult who likes to cook and you have no problem giving up meat or dairy, the raw food diet might be for you."
(Hello? If you LIKE to COOK the raw diet might be for you)
"The ADA does not recommend a raw food diet for infants and children."
(I disagree...raw children thrive! However, there is some evidence that not everyone can thrive as a vegan, and if I were raising my child raw, I would include at least a bit of nonvegan food in case your child is one of the rare people whose brain doesn't develop to their full potential on a 100% vegan diet...)
CHICAGO – The largest study of its kind finds that older Americans who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer. The federal study of more than half a million men and women bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.
Calling the increased risk modest, lead author Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute said the findings support the advice of several health groups to limit red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer risk.
The findings appear in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.
Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease. That's compared to those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces per week.
Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less.
For processed meats, the increased risks for large quantities were slightly lower overall than for red meat. The researchers compared deaths in the people with the highest intakes to deaths in people with the lowest to calculate the increased risk.
People whose diets contained more white meat like chicken and fish had lower risks of death.
The researchers surveyed more than 545,000 people, ages 50 to 71 years old, on their eating habits, then followed them for 10 years. There were more than 70,000 deaths during that time.
Study subjects were recruited from AARP members, a group that's healthier than other similarly aged Americans. That means the findings may not apply to all groups, Sinha said. The study relied on people's memory of what they ate, which can be faulty.
In the analysis, the researchers took into account other risk factors such as smoking, family history of cancer and high body mass index.
In an accompanying editorial, Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote that reducing meat intake would have benefits beyond improved health.
Livestock increase greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming, he wrote, and nations should reevaluate farm subsidies that distort prices and encourage meat-based diets.
"We've promoted a diet that has added excessively to global warming," Popkin said in an interview.
Successfully shifting away from red meat can be as easy as increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet, said Elisabetta Politi of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C.
"I'm not saying everybody should turn into vegetarians," Politi said. "Meat should be a supporting actor on the plate, not the main character."
The National Pork Board and National Cattlemen's Beef Association questioned the findings.
Dietitian Ceci Snyder said in a statement for the pork board that the study "attempts to indict all red meat consumption by looking at extremes in meat consumption, as opposed to what most Americans eat."
Lean meat as part of a balanced diet can prevent chronic disease, along with exercise and avoiding smoking, said Shalene McNeill, dietitian for the beef group.
Last update: 23-03-2009 23:41
Eat Your Food Uncooked? Here’s the Really Raw Truth
Unfortunately, as you may be aware, over 90 percent of the food purchased by Americans are processed foods. And when you’re consuming these kinds of denatured and chemically altered foods, it’s no surprise we have an epidemic of chronic and degenerative diseases.
But the challenge is, even when you chose the best foods available you can destroy most of the nutrition if you cook them.
I believe it’s really wise to strive to get as much raw food in your diet as possible. I personally try to eat about 85 percent of my food raw, including raw eggs and meats. And there are a number of reasons for this.
Raw Food is Alive!
The primary reason for making sure you get plenty of raw food in your diet is due to what’s called ‘biophotons.’ It’s a term you may not have heard of before, but in Europe, Germany in particular, there’s a lot of research in this area. Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt has also discussed it in some detail in one of his expert interviews for my Inner Circle program.
Biophotons are the smallest physical units of light, which are stored in, and used by all biological organisms – including your body. Vital sun energy finds its way into your cells via the food you eat, in the form of these biophotons.
They contain important bio-information, which controls complex vital processes in your body. The biophotons have the power to order and regulate, and, in doing so, to elevate the organism – in this case, your physical body -- to a higher oscillation or order.
This is manifested as a feeling of vitality and well-being.
Every living organism emits biophotons or low-level luminescence (light with a wavelength between 200 and 800 nanometers). It is thought that the higher the level of light energy a cell emits, the greater its vitality and the potential for the transfer of that energy to the individual which consumes it.
The more light a food is able to store, the more nutritious it is.Naturally grown fresh vegetables, for example, and sun-ripened fruits, are rich in light energy. The capacity to store biophotons is therefore a measure of the quality of your food.
Now, the DNA inside each of your body’s cells vibrates at a frequency of several billion hertz (which is unfortunately the same range at which modern cell phone communication systems also work). The vibration is created through the coil-like contraction and extension of your DNA -- which occurs several billion times per second -- and each time it contracts, it squeezes out one single biophoton; a light particle.
All the biophotons emitted from your body communicate with each other in a highly structured light field that surrounds your body. This light field also regulates the activity of your metabolic enzymes. For more in-depth information about how this works, I recommend you view the video clip of my interview with Dr. Klinghardt.
But that brings me to my second point for eating raw.
Cooking Destroys Valuable Enzymes
Enzymes are proteins; catalysts to speed up and facilitate reactions in your body. In fact, some biochemical reactions will not even occur without these enzymes (you have about 1,300 of them).
Cooking your food, especially at high temperatures, destroys these naturally occurring enzymes.
In addition to getting enzymes from fresh, raw food, you can also help stimulate the production of enzymes in your body simply by chewing. When you chew your food, a signal is transmitted from your brain to your stomach that tells your stomach to increase the production of enzymes.
Interestingly, as a side note, that’s why you don’t want to chew gum that much. When you chew gum, you’re actually sending a false signal to your body to create enzymes when you don’t need them. You’re essentially wasting your enzyme production. This is a challenge because as you age -- especially in a culture that focuses on processed foods -- about one-third of your body’s ability to produce enzymes is lost by the age of 40!
This is why many people find they benefit from enzyme supplementation as they get older, and we’ve found this to be true for a large number of patients in my clinic as well.
You May Need an Enzyme Supplement as You Get Older
There are many different options to choose from when selecting an enzyme supplement, so I decided to produce what I believe to be one of the highest quality enzyme products on the market today. My formula contains a number of combinations of enzymes that are just not present in most other products, including:
Papain and bromelain (from papaya and pineapple) to help digest proteins
Amylase, to aid in digestion of carbohydrates like starches and sugars
Alpha galactosidase, to help digest beans and prevent gas
Ox bile, which is particularly useful for digesting fats. It’s especially helpful if you have problems with your gallbladder, or had your gallbladder removed
The Bottom Line
Ideally, your best bet is to consume raw foods as much as possible. If you aren’t doing that already, you’ll want to gradually increase the amount of raw food in your diet as it will help your body produce more enzymes, and supply you with vital, live nutrients. Then, if still necessary, take a high quality enzyme supplement.
Lastly, make sure you’re chewing your food – take your time; savor it! (But avoid chewing gum.)
These are some very simple strategies that you and your family can adopt to help yourselves take control of your health!
Last update: 21-03-2009 05:11
Cooking Broccoli Destroys 90+ Percent of Anti-Cancer Compound Sulforaphane
Originally published March 20 2009 window.google_render_ad();
Cooking Broccoli Destroys 90+ Percent of Anti-Cancer Compound Sulforaphane
by David Gutierrez, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Levels of the beneficial, cancer-fighting compound sulforaphane in broccoli are reduced by 90 percent when the vegetable is cooked, according to a study conducted by researchers from TNO Quality of Life in the Netherlands, and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
"Consumption of raw broccoli resulted in faster absorption, higher bioavailability, and higher peak plasma amounts of sulforaphane, compared to cooked broccoli," the researchers wrote.
Eight male participants were fed 200 grams of crushed raw or crushed cooked broccoli as part of a warm meal; researchers then measured the men's blood and urine levels of sulforaphane. Based on these measurements, the researchers calculated that while the sulforaphane in raw broccoli had a bioavailability of 37 percent, this dropped to only 3.4 percent when the vegetable was cooked.
Furthermore, it took longer for the sulforaphane from cooked broccoli to be absorbed by the body. Optimal levels of sulforaphane were observed in the blood and urine of participants 1.6 hours after eating raw broccoli, but these levels were not reached among consumers of cooked broccoli for six hours.
The cruciferous vegetables, also known as Brassicaceae, include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, arugula, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, daikon, garden cress, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, radish, rape (canola), rapini, rutabaga , tatsoi, turnip, wasabi and watercress. Numerous studies have linked higher intake of these vegetables to lower rates of cancer and other health problems, particularly when the vegetables are consumed raw.
One of the plant compounds identified as partially responsible for this protective effect is sulforaphane, the main member of the isothiocyanate family that is found in broccoli. All cruciferous vegetables contain plant compounds known as glucosinolates, which are metabolized by the body into cancer-fighting isothiocyanates.
Studies have suggested that sulforaphane may help activate genes that produce antioxidants to clear dangerous free radicals from the body. This effect is believed to be partially responsible for the observed lower rates in breast, bladder, cervix, colon, endometrium, liver and lung cancers among those who eat large quantities of cruciferous vegetables. It is also believed to help protect the immune and other bodily systems from age-related decline.
Sulforaphane is also believed to reduce inflammation, which can transform precancerous cells into tumors and has also been linked other chronic health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. At least one study has suggested that the chemical can even prevent the blood vessels of diabetics against the damage caused by high blood sugar.
The current study is not the first to suggest that most of broccoli's health benefits are destroyed by cooking. Recent research from the International Agency for Cancer Research found lower cancer rates among those who consumed at least three servings of raw cruciferous vegetables per month. This mirrors the results of an earlier study by researchers from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., who found a 40 percent lower risk of bladder cancer among those who ate that many raw cruciferous vegetables.
There was no protective effect observed, however, among those who ate cooked vegetables.
The researchers in the current study noted that other forms of processing besides cooking might also lead to the degradation of sulforaphane or its chemical precursors.
"The sulforaphane content of raw broccoli was lower than the glucoraphanin content of cooked broccoli, 9.92 and 61.4 micromoles, respectively," the researchers noted. "It seems that the conversion from glucosinolate to isothiocyanate was incomplete or that another reaction occurred."
Glucoraphanin (a glucosinolate) is the chemical precursor to sulforaphane (an isothiocyanate).
"In future research," they said, "care should be taken that glucoraphanin is not hydrolyzed into other metabolites when broccoli is crushed."
After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.
Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.
Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.
Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.
Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.
Hangovers: One of the quickest
ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.
Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness
Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.
Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.
Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work . leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high- pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.
Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over- chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.
Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.
Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%.
Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape.
So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"
PS: I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe...polish with dry cloth. Amazing fruit!
PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time!
Common Mistakes that Occur on Raw Foods - by Victoria Boutenko (www.RawFamily.com)
1. Many raw fooders do not eat enough greens. Solution: Regularly consume energy soup or green smoothies to guarantee the proper amount of greens.
2. Many raw fooders do not consume enough fiber, soluble and insoluble. Solution: Drink more smoothies or energy soups instead of juices.
3. People on a raw food diet often consume too many fats. When they try to imitate cooked dishes they substitute starches with nuts. Solution: Use nut pulp left over from making nut mylks, use more seeds and less nuts, and use more fruit and vegetable pulp from juices in your mixtures, to minimize the consumption of nuts.
4. Raw fooders commonly try to become too perfect too fast. They don't give their bodies a chance to adjust to such a radical dietary change. Solution: Gradually adjust and purify your own individual diet to help you ease into the healthiest diet for you.
5. When people change their diets they usually decide the other components that make up health are no longer important, such as sunbathing, exercising, proper rest, fresh air, etc. Solution: Practice a well-rounded healthy lifestyle.
6. People on the raw foods diet often over-indulge in some particular foods and neglect the variety of other fruits and vegetables. Solution: Eat foods in reasonable quantities.
7. The biggest mistake raw fooders make is that they listen to the raw food authorities and don't trust the invaluable messages their own bodies communicate. Solution: Keep a diary of your daily food consumption and how it affects your well-being.
To add #8: Dietary Variety - perhaps just an emphasis of #6 - At Creative Health we often found that after a year on Raw Living Foods many people we experiencing imbalances because they had settled into a routine of only 6 or 7 foods they were eating. Dietary variety is very important! Try everything in the veggie aisle. Experiment with the unfamiliar in the fruit aisle. Try different grains and seeds. Even if you just toss a bit of this and that into the blender, you'll still gain the benefits that each food gives us.
Last update: 15-03-2009 18:13
Become Cancer Free Through Raw Food Diet Nutrition
Did you know that eating some raw foods is much better than eating cooked foods for anti-cancer diet? Yes, actually eating raw vegetables is better than eating its cooked counterpart. What is the reason behind this fact? Vegetables actually have higher vitamins and enzymes content when they are not subjected to heat. When you cook the vegetables, the vitamins and enzymes content diminish easily.
Don’t you ever wonder why early settlers on earth, as mentioned in the Bible’s Old Testament, live up to several hundred years? They have been eating all natural foods such as fruits and vegetables during their time. They may have cooked some of their food but certainly, the vegetables and fruits weren’t cooked.
With numerous researches about the goodness of eating raw foods, they all found the same result. People who are fond of eating fruits and vegetables regularly have minimal risk of developing cancer as compared to people who do not eat fruits and veggies everyday.
When you think about raw food, whats the first thing that comes to your mind? I bet it is Japanese food, right? Yes, Japanese people are fond of eating raw food, just like sushi, sashimi, and other uncooked fish foods they are famous for. Fishes are good sources of omega 3 acids, a kind of antioxidant that is beneficial to everyone’s health. This may be the reason why a lot of Japanese old people live up to more than a hundred years. There are some cancer cases recorded in Japan however, most people affected by this dreadful disease are those who are not practicing a healthy lifestyle.
As already mentioned raw food diet contains more essential antioxidants than cooked food. Most cancer diets nowadays are modifications of the raw food diet. If you are tired on munching on the fruits and vegetables, you can juice them up and drink them instead. This will give you a fun and easy way of consuming your daily dose of nutrients from fruits and vegetables.
About the Author:
If you have been diagnosed with cancer or have a reoccurring cancer visit us at www.thewordisHOPE.com and find the hope for healing. Make a leap of faith from Cancer victim to Cancer Survivor by reading the stories of Hope and Encouragement from simple people like you that fought and believed and recovered. If you are a cancer survivor, we need your story with all the details you are willing to provide.
A raw food diet may not only be good for yeast infection, but many other things that ail you! I know that it sounds hard, but I will try to make it easy on you with some tips. To get the benefits you do not have to be 100% raw, but as much as you can. I feel that after you start feeling the relief from the yeast infection, and any other health problems that you may have, it will get a whole lot easier!
This is in fact a huge change in lifestyle, but if you do it gradually, it will be much easier. You have been eating cooked food for quite a long time. But if you are suffering from recurring yeast infection, you will probably be desperate enough to try anything. Switching over to a raw food diet is going to be more about adding food to your diet rather than taking it away. If you start adding a little raw food to your diet at each meal you will actually be crowding out the cooked foods.
You may already know that a yeast infection is your body sending you a message that it is out of balance. And most yeast infections occur because of a lack of good bateria in the body. The raw food diet will actually bring the body back in balance. This will help cure that yeast infection from the inside out. It will help balance the pH levels which will keep the yeast infection from growing.
And like I said, even if you don’t go to a 100% raw diet, you will still see the benefits. And I think that it will get much easier as you start to feel them!
I actually did a review on a raw food diet course by Michael Snyder. It is called “The Health Evolution”. It is one of the best that I have seen. It is a big value for anyone who is considering a raw diet not only for yeast infection, but for general health. You really should take a few minutes to check it out if you have any interest in a raw food diet. Here is the link to my review: “Michael Snyder’s Health Evolution Review“.
Vaccines asBiological Weapons? LiveAvian Flu VirusPlaced in Baxter Vaccine Materials Sent to 18 Countries
Tuesday, March 03, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) There's a popular medical thriller novel in which a global pandemic is intentionally set off by an evil plot designed to reduce the human population. In the book, a nefarious drug company inserts liveavian flu virusesinto vaccine materials that are distributed to countries around the world to be injected into patients as "flu shots." Those patients then become carriers for these highly-virulent strains ofavian fluwhich go on to infect theworld populationand cause widespread death.
There's only one problem with this story: It's not fiction. Or, at least, the part about live avian flu viruses being inserted into vaccine materials isn't fiction. It's happening right now.
Deerfield, Illinois-basedpharmaceutical companyBaxter International Inc. has just been caught shipping live avian flu viruses mixed with vaccine material to medical distributors in 18 countries. The "mistake" (if you can call it that, see below...) was discovered by theNational Microbiology Laboratoryin Canada.The World Health Organizationwas alerted and panic spread throughout the vaccine community as health experts asked the obvious question: How could this have happened?
"Baxter International Inc. inAustria'unintentionally contaminated samples with thebird flu virusthat were used in laboratories in 3 neighbouring countries, raising concern about the potential spread of the deadly disease'. Austria, Germany, Slowenia and theCzech Republic- these are the countries in which labs were hit with dangerous viruses. Not by bioterrorist commandos, but by Baxter. In other words: One of the major global pharmaceutical players seems to have lost control over a virus which is considered by many virologists to be one of the components leading some day to a new pandemic."
Or, put another way, Baxter is acting a whole lot like a biological terrorism organization these days, sending deadly viral samples around the world. If you mail an envelope full of anthrax to your Senator, you get arrested as a terrorist. So why is Baxter -- which mailed samples of a far more deadly viral strain to labs around the world -- getting away with saying, essentially, "Oops?"
But there's a bigger question in all this: How could this company have accidentally mixed LIVE avian flu viruses (both H5N1 and H3N2, the human form) in this vaccine material?
Was the viral contamination intentional? The shocking answer is that this couldn't have been an accident. Why? BecauseBaxter Internationaladheres to something called BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3) - a set of laboratory safety protocols that prevent the cross-contamination of materials.
"Laboratorypersonnel have specific training in handling pathogenic and potentially lethal agents, and are supervised by competent scientists who are experienced in working with these agents. This is considered a neutral or warm zone. All procedures involving the manipulation of infectious materials are conducted within biological safety cabinets or other physical containment devices, or by personnel wearing appropriate personal protective clothing and equipment. The laboratory has special engineering and design features."
Issue 2 Copyright (c) 1997 by Thomas E. Billings, all rights reserved.
Issue 3 Copyright (c) 1998 by Thomas E. Billings, all rights reserved.
1.0 Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to present information on how nuts are processed, so raw-fooders can make informed decisions regarding the purchase and consumption of nuts. Each major nut has a section, and a section may have up to 3 parts. The first part describes standard commercial processing practices for that nut. Much of that information comes from Rosengarten (see reference list at end), with additional material from other sources. The next part, labelled "Remarks:", gives information from this writer's experience. The last part, labelled "Recommendations:", provides the opinions of this writer concerning the nut.
Given the above structure, some disclaimers must be made, as follows. 1. Most, but not all, of the published information that this paper is based on, is dated 1984 or earlier. Changes in practices since then are not necessarily reflected here. 2. Organic nuts, in some cases, may be processed differently. Contact your supplier (distributor or farmer) for details.
2.0 Viability versus Sproutability
The ultimate test of whether a seed is alive or not, is its viability, i.e. whether it will sprout and grow into a new plant. However, nuts sprout according to nature's timetable, which means that some perfectly viable nuts are not sproutable (in practical terms) from the raw-fooder perspective. For example, macadamia nuts require 30-60+ days to sprout. Even if you could succeed in sprouting in-shell macadamias, the nut might be rancid/rotten by the time the root sprout appeared.
A fresh, whole, truly raw nut will be viable after harvest for a certain period of time. The nut can lose viability due to old age (rancid), excessive heating/cooking, or physical damage. It is not clear just how much heat a nut can withstand before being devitalized - this is a point of controversy among raw fooders. It is clear that boiling, roasting, or frying a nut will devitalize it. What is controversial is the use of temperatures above 118 degrees F, but well below the boiling point of water. These temperatures degrade and/or destroy enzymes, yet some nuts exposed to such temperatures can and do sprout and grow. (Whether such nuts are "damaged" in some sense is the controversy).
3.0 How important is it that the nuts I eat are raw?
This is an important question to consider, as quite frankly, some raw fooders are excessively concerned with being "100% raw", i.e., with dietary purity and the quality of the food they eat. Note that nuts are a concentrated food, and the standard recommendation is to eat nuts in small or modest quantities.
If you follow the preceding recommendation, and nuts are a very small part of your diet, then it is probably not critically important that some of the nuts you eat are heated or devitalized. However, it may be important when: * you are on a (nearly) 100% raw diet for healing, and/or * you are eating large amounts of nuts for a health condition, e.g. trying to regain weight lost on a raw diet. The point here is that most of us do not need to obsess on the temperature the nuts we eat were dried at, or other details. Most of us can eat "raw" nuts (even if they are not truly raw) in small quantities with little or no apparent harm.
4.0 Almonds
Most raw-fooders are aware that raw, whole almonds will sprout. Indeed, sprouted almonds are very delicious, and have much better flavor than dry, unsprouted almonds. Blanched almonds may be treated with heat and/or chemicals, and probably won't sprout: use only whole, unblanched almonds.
Remarks: Don't sprout almonds longer than 2 days (1 day suggested), else the sprouts may turn rancid. As for eating the sprouts, there are 2 approaches: 1) almond sprout is a "whole food"; eat the whole thing, including skin 2) almond skins are high in tannins, hard to digest, and very astringent: peel the sprouts (discarding skins) before eating. Peeling almond sprouts requires some effort, which can be reduced by blanching almonds by running hot water from the faucet (around 140 degrees F) over them for 30 seconds or so, before peeling. Use of boiling water is not necessary. Peeled almond sprouts really taste wonderful: try them and decide for yourself!
Brazil nuts are harvested from wild trees growing in the Amazon River basin. Due to plant culture difficulties, there are very few brazil nut plantations.
The brazil nuts sold for export to the U.S. and other countries are brought to packing houses in Brazil. There the in-shell nuts are dried in automatic dryers to produce a moisture content of 11% (in-shell) or 6% (shelled), for shipment.
Nuts are shelled by soaking in water (salt water, probably) for 24 hours, then the nuts are boiled for 5 minutes. The boiling softens the shell, and makes cracking (by hand or machine) much easier. Nuts that are to be sold as blanched or sliced nuts, may be boiled again, before blanching and/or slicing.
Remarks: The heat from boiling will kill the nut and remove its viability. Shelled nuts are not sproutable.
Recommendations: shelled nuts are devitalized. Buy only in-shell, and shell manually (a tedious and difficult process) as needed.
4.2 Cashews
The cashew nut tree is a tropical tree in the plant family Anacardiacae. Other plants in the same family include the mango, the pistachio, and some less pleasant plants: poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac.
The raw cashew nut is enclosed in a tough, leathery shell that contains caustic, toxic substances including cardol and anacardic acid (similar to the active ingredients of poison ivy). Despite their caustic nature, these compounds have economic value and are used in industry. Together they are extracted in processing, as cashew nut shell liquid, referred to as CNSL.
Thus the challenge in cashew processing is to separate the edible nut from the toxic CNSL. Because of this, cashews require more extensive processing than other nuts. From the raw-fooder perspective, the important points in processing are as follows. 1) Pre-conditioning: the in-shell nuts are piled in heaps and kept wet with water for 1-2 days, -or- the in-shell nuts are steamed for 8-10 minutes. 2) Pre-treatment: the in-shell nuts are then immersed in a hot oil bath, kept at 170-200 deg C, for about 90 seconds. The oil bath removes some of the CNSL, and conditions the nut for shelling. Following the oil bath, the nuts may be placed in a heated centrifuge for further CNSL extraction. 3) Shelling: mechanical or manual (Indian factories use mostly manual labor) 4) Drying: the kernels are dried to a moisture content of 3%, in special chambers, at 70 degrees C, for about 6 hours. 5) Peeling - manual (as needed), or other process. One process calls for freezing the kernels, then peeling them automatically in a revolving drum.
Note that Orkos, the well-known supplier for instinctive eaters in France, sells shelled cashews that are apparently truly raw. Also, if you live in or visit certain tropical countries, you may be able to obtain raw, in-shell cashews (but then you face the difficult, potentially dangerous, problem of how to shell them, yourself).
Remarks: not sproutable; cashews ferment quickly if you try to sprout them.
Recommendations: the "raw" cashew may be steamed, deep-fried, and partially baked. They are devitalized.
4.3 Chestnuts
Most of the chestnuts sold in the U.S. are imported from Europe (the European chestnut), however there are commercial Chinese chestnut orchards in the U.S. The American chestnut is no longer of commercial importance. The chestnut has the lowest fat content of all major nuts (4-6%), and contains substantial amounts of carbohydrates (starch and sugar). They may spoil quickly after harvest, so should be refrigerated or frozen for storage. Chestnuts are usually sold in-shell.
Processing varies somewhat by variety. Chinese chestnuts are cured by spreading them on a floor, stirring frequently, and waiting 5-10 days. European chestnuts receive similar treatment, but they are cured or allowed to "sweat" for only 2 days. American chestnuts are prone to weevil infestation, for which they are dipped in hot water (49 degrees C) for 30-45 minutes. They are then cured for 1-2 days in a manner similar to Chinese chestnuts.
Remarks: soaking chestnuts in water prior to eating is not a good idea. If the nut shell is watertight, the water will not be absorbed. Slitting the nut shell allows water to get in, but the most noticeable effect is to sharpen the astringent flavor of the skin of the nut, making peeling absolutely mandatory. Note that unsoaked, raw peeled nuts have a very sweet, agreeable flavor.
Recommendations: buy in-shell, refrigerate for storage. Remove skin for best flavor.
4.4 Coconuts
Coconuts require 4 or more months to sprout, and supermarket coconuts probably won't sprout. If you really want to sprout a coconut, you will need a fresh, mature raw nut with its husk intact. Sprouting coconuts are edible, and are considered a delicacy in some tropical countries.
The best way to eat coconuts is when they are immature/green. As they grow, the coconut flesh changes from liquid to a soft jelly, then to a chewy consistency, and finally to hard flesh. Green coconuts are available in some tropical countries, in parts of Florida, and in some U.S. produce markets (where they are imported from Mexico). Get them at the chewy stage - a wonderful food!
4.5 Filberts (Hazelnuts) Harvested nuts are washed, then dried to a final 8-10% moisture content for shipping. Rosengarten suggests (but does not explicitly state) that drying temperatures do not exceed 100 degrees F. The shells of non-organic filberts may be bleached using sulfur dioxide - buying organic is recommended.
Remark: not sproutable. Soaking in water has little effect on raw, shelled nuts.
Recommendations: viable but not sproutable. Buy in-shell or raw, shelled.
4.6 Macadamias
Macadamia nuts, at time of harvest, have a very high moisture content (up to 30% in outer husk, 25% in rest of nut). The nuts are mechanically husked, and the in-shell nuts are dried in ovens to yield a moisture content of 1.5%.
The nuts are shelled mechanically, then graded. One grading method that is used involves immersing the shelled nuts in brine, which requires additional rinses and further oven drying afterwards.
Note that Macadamias grow in Australia, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Florida, and even parts of Southern California. You might be able to obtain unprocessed, raw macadamias from small growers in those areas.
Remarks: not sproutable. Viable, in-shell macadamias require 30-60+ days to sprout.
Recommendations: suggest in-shell, cracking manually in small quantities to insure freshness. An easy way to crack macadamias: place a layer of in-shell nuts between two layers of an old towel, on the floor. Use hammer - tap lightly. The towel will hold the nuts in place, while you crack them.
4.7 Peanuts Peanuts are technically a legume, but are included here as many consider them to be a nut. Most raw-fooders are aware that raw, unblanched peanuts are sproutable. The situation is analogous to almonds: sprouted nuts taste better than dry, unsprouted; blanched nuts are treated with heat and/or chemicals, and don't sprout reliably.
Remarks: as with almonds, some raw fooders prefer to peel (remove skins) from the peanut sprouts before eating. Some peels can be removed when the nuts are dry. The rest come off relatively easily after the peanuts have been soaking in water for 1-2 hours. Again, the reader is encouraged to try them peeled, and compare flavor. Note also that peanuts can harbor toxic molds (aflatoxin). If your peanuts mold, throw them out! Don't take chances with mold toxins. Unfortunately, my experience is that yellow mold is common on (sprouting) peanuts - whether organic or commercial.
Recommendations: buy raw, shelled, unblanched peanuts -or- raw, in-shell. Eat sprouted, peeled for best taste.
4.8 Pecans
Mechanically harvested pecans have a relatively high moisture content, and are dried, using warm air (below 100 degrees F) to a moisture content of 4.5%. Rosengarten recommends storing the shelled nuts at 32 degrees F, 65% relative humidity. (The "meat tray" of some refrigerators approximates these storage conditions.)
The surprise in pecan processing comes in the shelling stage. The nut shells are pre-conditioned by soaking in hot (near boiling) water or steaming. U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulations require that heat be applied in the pre-conditioning stage to kill E. coli bacteria. The nuts are then shelled, the kernels separated out, and dried again in warm air.
Remark: not sproutable.
Recommendations: buy in-shell only; shelled nuts are devitalized.
4.9 Pistachios
Pistachios are hulled and dried within 24 hours of harvest. Rosengarten reports that the nuts are dried using heated air, at 150-160 degrees F.
Remarks: my own limited experiments with pistachios indicates that they are not sproutable (at least the U.S. grown nuts I tried were not sproutable). The nuts I tried to sprout turned mushy/slimy. The pistachio has a thick skin, which absorbs much water. If you can somehow obtain sun-dried pistachios, and you peel the nuts to remove the thick skin, they might sprout for you.
Recommendations: drying temps of 150-160 deg F might be high enough to devitalize the nut: viability is questionable.
4.10 Pine Nuts (Pignolia/Pinon)
Pine nuts are dried and milled to remove their outer (brown) skin. The milling process removes the germ from some nuts, reducing viability. Unmilled pine nuts - in their brown skin, are available in some areas.
Remarks: attempts at sprouting milled pine nuts yielded a bland, slimy result. Milled nuts are not sproutable. Unmilled nuts will sprout, similar to almonds. However, the skin prevents you from detecting spoiled nuts. Try and see if you like them.
Recommendation: if available, try the unmilled nuts. Sprout only 1 day.
4.11 Walnuts
Walnuts are dried to a maximum moisture content of 8% to prevent mold and allow the shell to be bleached (improves appearance). Walnuts selected for in-shell sale are fumigated or heat treated to kill insects in storage. The in-shell nuts are then bleached using a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite (ordinary household bleach).
Shelled walnuts are not bleached. However they may be treated with an anti- oxidant to preserve them in storage.
Remarks: not sproutable. Walnuts can be soaked instead of sprouted; however the flavor can change in a negative way - try both ways (soaked and unsoaked), and decide which you prefer.
Recommendations: buy organic, in-shell (hoping that organic nuts are not bleached), or organic, shelled.
5.0 Summary: Evaluation of (Standard Commercial) Raw Nuts
In the evaluation column below, the following code is used:
A = viable and sproutable (alive and active)
B = viable but not sproutable, in practical terms (alive but dormant/passive)
“You are a raw food hippie that is living in a dream land.” That is the exact line that someone said to me a couple days ago on a forum when we were discussing raw foods vs cooked foods. Its funny because I have never really identified myself with the raw food movement as some people call it, but a few days ago I found myself defending their principles and ideas. It is strange really because this argument really made me look at my diet in terms of how much cooked food I eat and how much raw food I eat. I noticed that I eat somewhere between 70-80% raw foods. It is weird how their is very distinct line between people who follow a raw food diet and a people who do not, but when it all boils down both sides want the exact same thing. That thing is optimal health and a great looking body. What you often hear in a debate about cooked food vs raw food is really a debate between vegans and meat eaters. Very seldom can you get a debate that ignores meat. So lets take a real hard look at some of the raw food die theories. 
But what about cooking? Why did we start cooking our food? Its a strange question. Think about it. If we killed a rabbit to eat, it would be ate right away in its entirety. Their is no fridge to save the left overs for tomorrow’s lunch. My best reasoning for why we cook food comes from 
I know that is a big what if statement, but it is backed up by me feeling a lot better eating raw plants instead of cooked plants. I feel that their is some difference their. People get so focused on the macronutrients that we have discovered, but we have not even begun to make any deep impact in research into all of the plant compounds. Michael Pollan refers to the term “Nutritionism” in his book called “In Defense of Food.” What he means by that term is basically the study of looking at one substance in a food like the vitamin c in citrus fruit, but ignoring how things act synergistic with each other. This is the fault of modern science, and the research of nutrition. This is were vitamins fail miserably. Their is no way possible to put everything found in fruit and vegetables in to a pill. 
Fri, Apr 17, 2009
HEALTH