Sunday, December 12, 2010

10 Advantages of Eating Raw

Ten advantages of eating raw
by Susan Jorg, Estacada, OR

The human race learned long ago that cooking meat before eating it would protect them from certain diseases. Since then, this practice of cooking has grown to include all types of foods and is now considered an art. Very few meals are eaten which include raw elements, except for the leafy green salad.

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.

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.

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 of the items for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This gives children a sense of self-esteem and independence, not to mention the break it gives Mom and 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. 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 into 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.


Please read more articles about the raw food diet on their site:
http://rawlivingfoods.typepad.com/1/2009/04/ten_advantages_.html

A beautiful & important story to remind us about our relationships with animals




Not many people get a picture of this proud bird snuggled up next to them.



Freedom and Jeff
Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places . She's my baby.

When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vets office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.

This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being etherized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.

We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington . We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV . Miracle Pets even did a show about us.

In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone



So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill.. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my yes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.

On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power course through his body.. I have so many stories like that.

I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom's.

Hope you enjoyed this.


Matthew Armstrong - Raw Vegan Power



Sunday, December 5, 2010

Government Takeover of Your Garden? What the Food Safety Bill Really Means

Government Takeover of Your Garden? What the Food Safety Bill Really Means
The Senate's recently passed food-safety bill intends to make our food system safer, but it's also raised a lot of fears. We separate myth from reality.
By Leah Zerbe and Emily Main

Don't panic over Internet rumors; continue to support local farmers who produce safe, sustainable food.


RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—On Tuesday, the Senate passed the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) and finally instituted provisions that will, hopefully, make Salmonella-tainted spinach and poisonous peanut butter things of the past. Though it's intended to make our food system safer, the bill has heightened fears among some that it could do everything from abolishing farmer's markets to making backyard gardens illegal. So let's take a closer look at some of the most widely disseminated myths about the bill.

Myth: The food-safety bill is now law.

Truth: Not yet. The bill won't become law until the House of Representatives either passes S. 510 or reconciles it with the version they passed last year, H.R. 2749. "We will now push hard for the House to pass this version of the bill," says Ferd Hoefner, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Otherwise, he adds, small-farm and organic advocates may lose ground on some hard-fought battles that went into shaping the Senate bill.
For a live discussion about the Food safety Act, join Rodale.com on Friday via Twitter. Ask questions, share your concerns, and see what the experts have to say.

Myth: The bill will eliminate roadside farm stands, farmer's markets, and community-supported agriculture programs (CSAs).

Truth: Not likely. "Of all the stuff floating around the Internet about this bill, this argument probably had the most validity to it," says Judith McGeary, Esq., founder of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, a group that represents small, independent farmers and ranchers. McGeary explains that the language of the original Senate bill would have required any food "facility" to comply with burdensome paperwork requirements and produce safety inspections that would have made it nearly impossible for small farms and farmer's markets to do business. Because "facility" was defined so vaguely, it technically could have included farmer's markets, CSAs, and any farmer who turns extra fruit into jams or pies. "As written, it did pose a serious threat," she says. But thanks to the Tester-Hagan Amendment, which was passed with the Senate bill, that's not the case. The amendment protects small farmers and producers who sell directly to consumers, either on their
farms or at farmer's markets in their home states or within 275 miles of their farm, and who make under $500,000 in yearly profits from those paperwork and inspection requirements. As a result, CSAs and farmer's markets are no longer threatened. (Be sure to encourage your House representatives to include this protection by voting for the Senate's version or to otherwise maintain it as part of the final House legislation.)

Myth: The bill serves the interests of Monsanto.

Truth: Not exactly, but agribusiness did influence the result. This myth started when Internet bloggers found out that the husband of the congresswoman who initially got the ball rolling on food-safety legislation did contract work for Monsanto. The agribusiness giant responded to that rumor by saying that he no longer had ties to the company, and that Monsanto had no opinions on food-safety legislation(!).

Still, says McGeary, there is a small kernel of truth to this myth. "I don't think this bill was Monsanto-driven, but I do think it was agribusiness-driven." Politicians were under such pressure from consumers to do something about foodborne illnesses that Big Ag companies knew that they would have to deal with some sort of new legislation, she says. So, the industry worked with politicians to get a food-safety bill "that doesn't cause them too many headaches," McGeary says. "The things that are in this bill are things that agribusiness can deal with." Because of that, some serious food-safety problems aren't being addressed, most notably, the concentrated animal-feeding operations that are the primary source of E. coli outbreaks. "Agribusiness didn't want to deal with that, so the bill doesn't deal with that."

Myth: The bill won't do anything about egg contamination.

Truth: Yes it will. Shortly after the bill passed, a few news agencies were reporting that the food-safety bill leaves out eggs. And therefore egg recalls like the massive Wright County egg recall that occurred earlier this year (and added urgency to the bill's passage) could continue to be a problem. But that's not the case. The U.S. food system is regulated by a dozen agencies, as diverse as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Homeland Security, and each agency oversees specific elements of the food supply. The FDA does have authority to regulate and inspect egg producers, like Wright County, as long as those eggs remain in their shells (like the kinds you buy by the dozen at the grocery store). Once those eggs are taken out of their shells and put into other foods, such as a quiche, they do fall under the purview of the USDA. But as long as the FDA does its job, contaminated eggs will never make it into processed foods.

Myth: The bill makes it illegal to grow your own garden.

Truth: Really? Come on now. When all this talk of a food-safety bill surfaced last year, vague language in the House version of the bill (HR. 875, which never passed) caused full-blown hysteria on the Internet, with some email campaigns claiming the bill, if passed, would ban home gardening. "There were some well-taken concerns, but many were blown out of proportion," says Mark Kastel, cofounder of The Cornucopia Institute, an advocacy group working to protect family farmers. "There is nothing in the current bill that would impact home gardening, whatsoever. This was started by people panicking over broad language in the legislation originally being debated that gives the FDA purview over food safety in general," explains Kastel. "Since no sale is taking place there is nothing to oversee in terms of home gardening."

Patty Lovera, assistant director of Food and Water Watch, a consumer-advocacy group, reiterates the point that the bill would not ban homegrown food, but rather kicks into effect for operations that sell some kind of food. (And, as mentioned, there are provisions in the bill that exempt small-scale farms or processors that sell direct to consumers at farm stands or from the farm.)

"There has been a lot of uproar about food-safety legislation for the last two years, and a lot of the rumors about various pieces of legislation seem to be rooted in bad information that was put out originally about a House bill (H.R. 875) that never even got a hearing.," explains Lovera. "The bill that passed the House last year (H.R. 2749) and the bill that passed the Senate (S. 510) are different from H.R. 875. And most of what circulated about H.R. 875 was not accurate—it even reached the point of getting a Snopes page."

So go ahead and order from winter seed catalogs with full confidence.

Myth: The bill makes it illegal to own or store seeds.

Truth: Keep saving those seeds. If you've seen documentaries like Food, Inc., it's easy to understand how people become uneasy when restrictions are put on seed cleaning and seed saving, something farmers have relied on for centuries. Although the current state of patented genetically engineered seed is putting seed companies out of business and limiting farmers' choices, this particular issue is not addressed in this bill, as far as sustainable farm groups are concerned. "There is no basis in this whatsoever," says Kastel, who notes that one of the original bills debated in the House included a seed cleaning provision, but it never passed.

Please read the full article:
http://www.rodale.com/food-safety-bill?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2010_12_02-_-Top5-_-NA

McDonald's got hundreds of millions in bail out money

McDonald's got hundreds of millions in bail out money
12/02/10

McDonald's got hundreds of millions in bail out money

A Fed-bailed out burger joint.

I'm not lovin' it.

Yesterday the long-awaited Fed bailout data was released. For those interested in perusing it, you can find it here in all of its .xls- and .csv-formatted glory.

Since 2007, Bernake has been working overtime handing out US taxpayer dollars to banks, corporations -- and many foreign entities and even the Republic of Korea. He gave away $3 TRILLION! Goldman Sachs would have gone bankrupt without the help.

What you may not have heard is that even McDonald's was bailed out -- to the tune of $203 million. The Fed bought up some toxic debt of the food giant because hey, we all know that McDonald's bottom line is crucial to the American economy.

Meanwhile, all those homeowners who were the subject of predatory loans, and whose paperwork the banks failed to handle per the law -- they're out of luck and won't get a dime.


Please read the full article: http://www.vegsource.com/news/2010/12/mcdonalds-got-millions-in-bail-out-money.html

If You Knew How Dangerous Green Cleaning Products Were, You'd Probably Go Back to Soap and Water

If You Knew How Dangerous Green Cleaning Products Were, You'd Probably Go Back to Soap and Water
By Monona Rossol, AlterNet
November 23, 2010

They're hiding under your sink, deep in the basement and out in your garage. They seem to be multiplying and most of them are green, for gosh sakes!

They are cleaning products. We have one for every conceivable job: floors, walls, dishes, laundry, windows, bathroom porcelain and ceramic tiles, wooden decks, cement surfaces, silverware, one for car paint and another for the chrome, and on and on.

Whatever happened to just plain soap? Well, it seems it wasn't fast enough for our busy lives. And these new cleaners certainly are fast. Just spray and wipe or swish with a mop and the job is done.

If you want really fast general cleaning products, commercial ones like Formula 409, Simple Green and Windex clean faster than any soap and water could. This is because they contain small amounts, usually in the range of 2-6 percent, of some members of the most powerful grease-cutting class of chemicals known: the "glycol ethers."

Many people have heard of glycols, a class of chemicals used in antifreeze solutions in your car's radiator. Others may remember that ethers were used as anesthetics in the early 1900s. But the glycol ethers we will discuss are not at all like either glycols or ethers. Glycol ethers are in a class of their own.

Everyone has been exposed to the glycol ethers. You can't possibly have escaped. They are in paints, varnishes, stains, inks, brake fluids, perfumes, cosmetics, and, of course, a vast number of cleaning products. They mix with water and many water-based cleaners and paints contain them.

Heavy overexposure to the glycol ethers can cause anemia, intoxication (like alcohol), and irritation of the eyes and nose. In laboratory animals, low-level exposure to some of the glycol ethers has been shown to cause birth defects and can damage a male's sperm and testicles. Some of the common glycol ethers haven't been studied for reproductive hazards or cancer. But there is enough data for the New Jersey Department of health to state on its fact sheet that the most commonly used glycol ether (2-butoxyethanol) "may be a carcinogen in humans since it has been shown to cause liver cancer in animals." I agree.

You are exposed to the glycol ethers when you inhale them as the cleaner is used.


Please read the full article: http://www.alternet.org/story/148963/

Trans Fat's Strong Link to Cancer, Diabetes & Heart Disease, and How to Avoid It

Trans Fat's Strong Link to Cancer, Diabetes & Heart Disease, and How to Avoid It
by www.SixWise.com

Trans fatty acid, also known as trans fat, is an artery-clogging fat formed when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, a process called hydrogenation. Many manufacturers use this process of hydrogenation because it reduces cost and increases the shelf life and flavor stability of their food.

Hundreds of household food items such as commercially prepared baked goods and margarine, and commercially prepared fried foods like onion rings, contain significant amounts of trans fatty acids. Astoundingly, typical French fries contain about 40% trans fatty acids, many popular cookies and crackers have from 30 to 50%, and doughnuts include some 35 to 40% trans fat.

The healthiest choice for your family is to eat food as close to its natural state as possible.
Dangers of Trans Fat

Trans fat poses various serious health risks. It raises your body's level of bad cholesterol (LDL) while scrubbing away the good cholesterol (HDL) that keeps your arteries clean. Your arteries can become clogged, making them inflexible, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks.

Trans fat can also increase triglycerides and inflammation, a direct link to an increased risk of diabetes.

Your best strategy is to get as close to a near-zero intake of trans fats as possible. Some Americans, without even realizing it, eat 30 to 40 grams of trans fat daily.

The FDA predicts that by just removing trans fat from all margarines -- currently 70% are high in trans fats -- 6,300 heart attacks would be prevented each year. They also state that the elimination of trans fat in just 3% of breads and cakes and 15% of cookies and crackers would save an astronomical $59-billion in health care costs in the next 20 years.

O-R-E-O Spells National Attention to Trans Fat

On May 1, 2003, Stephen Joseph, a public interest lawyer, filed suit against Nabisco to stop the sale of Oreo cookies in California due to their high, but unlisted, level of trans fat. Within a week, he dropped the suit before Kraft, the parent company of Nabisco, was even served.

Please read the full article: http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/12/21/trans-fats-strong-link-to-cancer-diabetes--amp-heart-disease-and-how-to-avoid-it.htm


The Best Form of Exercise to Improve Your Mood?

The Best Form of Exercise to Improve Your Mood?
by www.SixWise.com

Exercise is a well-known natural mood booster. You’ve heard of a “runner’s high”? This refers to the euphoric feeling many people get after a challenging run … and research has confirmed that, indeed, endorphins -- your brain’s feel-good, pain-relieving chemicals -- are produced during running.

What’s more, those endorphins attach to areas of your brain associated with emotions, including the intense, positive emotions experienced during love affairs. So the runner’s high is not just a myth … it’s a very real mood boost that runners and other active exercisers get to experience.

But as intense as a runner’s high can be, it may pale in comparison to the mood boost offered by another type of exercise … yoga.

Yoga May Boost Your Mood Better Than Any Other Type of Exercise

A new study has revealed that yoga increases the levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in your brain. GABA helps to regulate nerve activity and lower levels are linked to mood and anxiety disorders. Drugs that increase GABA activity are used to treat anxiety and improve mood … and it appears yoga may help to increase GABA activity, offering potential antidepressant benefits, naturally.

In fact, yoga was found to boost mood better than walking and other forms of exercise,

"This is important work that establishes some objective bases for the effects that highly trained practitioners of yoga therapy throughout the world see on a daily basis …,” Kim A. Jobst, editor-in-chief of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, told Science Daily.

Please read the full article:
http://www.sixwise.com/Newsletters/2010/December/01/The-Best-Form-of-Exercise-to-Improve-Your-Mood.htm

Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Top Ten Superfoods

Top Ten Superfoods:
  • Goji berries
  • Cacao
  • Maca
  • Bee Products (Honey, Bee Pollen, Royal Jelly, Propolis)
  • Spirulina
  • AFA Blue-Green Algae
  • Marine Phytoplankton
  • Aloe Vera
  • Hempseed
  • Coconuts
This list is from David Wolfe's Superfoods book.


Rethinking the Food Pyramid: Mindfulness - the Missing Ingredient

Rethinking the Food Pyramid: Mindfulness - the Missing Ingredient

Eating changes both body and mind, the total of who we are. What we eat and how much we eat changes who we are physiologically. Why we eat and how we eat changes who we are psychologically.

Mindlessness is Blindness

When we eat mindlessly, the body expands (to the extent to which mindless eating leads to overeating) and the mind shrinks (to the extent to which mindless eating denies us the experience of eating). After all being mindless means just that: being of less mind. Mindlessness hides the reality and robs us of the experience.

I am sure you are familiar with this experience of having no experience: you get into the car, you start driving, half an hour later you are at your destination, but as you look back you don't remember the actual experience of driving. We've learned not to be puzzled by that. "Highway hypnosis," we think and move on. It's the same with eating, a kitchen-table hypnosis of sorts. You shop, you cook, you set up the meal, you turn the TV on and several mindless minutes later, you are done: your stomach is full but your mind is empty, and you are craving seconds just to have the very experience of eating you missed in the first place.

Mindfulness is Vision

When we eat mindfully, the body shrinks (to the extent to which mindful eating reduces mindless overeating), and the mind expands. After all being mindful means just that: having a full mind. Mindfulness is vision. Mindfulness reveals the reality of what is, in all its nuanced, complex and unique such-ness. The traditions of saying grace (to infuse a moment of spiritual gratitude into a meal), the Zen tradition of Oryoki (a form of meditative eating designed to facilitate here-and-now presence), the veganism movement (with its attempt to manifest one's ethics of compassion through eating) -- these and many other traditions have all recognized that eating can serve as an invaluable existential platform for awakening the zombie in us. Whereas mindless eating robs us of the experience, mindful eating allows us to reclaim the eating moments of our lives.

According to the Center for Mindful Eating, a multidisciplinary forum for "developing, deepening and understanding the value and importance of mindful eating," "mindful eating has the powerful potential to transform people's relationship to food and eating, to improve overall health, body image, relationships and self-esteem." The recent years have witnessed an emerging self-help and clinical literature on mindfulness-based counseling for overeating and binge-eating.

Therefore, it would appear that mindful eating is, indeed, the missing ingredient of the USDA Food Pyramid. The addition of an eye atop the food pyramid would cue the public to the importance of eating with both short- and long-term vision, with here-and-now tactical awareness of the process of eating and with the strategic vision of how the behavior of eating fits with their overall living philosophy.

The symbol of the all-seeing-eye-at-the-top-of-a-pyramid traces its origin back to ancient Egypt and indicates "that the dead god is entombed in the underworld but is still watchful," and "the open eye is his soul that is still alive, so he knows what is happening in the world" (Sandra Forty, Symbols, p. 11). The symbol, however, has been sufficiently secularized by the fact that it appears on the $1 bill and has become largely accepted as a legitimate part of American iconography.

Eating is physiologically inevitable, but mindfulness isn't. Associating eating with mindfulness, one meal at a time, can help us not only manage weight (by reducing mindless overeating) but also to nourish and enrich the mind.

Pavel Somov, Ph.D. is the author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, 2008).



The Root Causes of Disease, according to Dr Ann Wigmore

Dr. Ann Wigmore taught that toxemia and deficiency are the root causes of all disease.

Deficiency that means that our bodies are undernourished and are not receiving the proper types and amount of food the body needs. The digestive tract is being overloaded and allergies have developed. Dr. Ann Wigmore believed that about eighty per cent of the population has deficiency disorders because of the body’s inability to digest food. This is why she developed methods for blending, sprouting, and fermenting. Living Food is supremely efficient nourishment that returns the body to health and productive self-healing.

Toxemia is a term used to describe poisons that are stored in the body. Toxins are formed from eating impure or unnatural, processed and chemicalized foods. Dr. Ann taught that the body can release these stored poisons by feeding it with Living Food in easy-to-digest form. Once the body eliminates stored poisons that have accumulated in the bloodstream the cells are able to receive nourishment, thus enabling the immune system to strengthen and rebuild.



Some excellent sources to buy seeds

www.fedcoseeds.com
www.seedsavers.org
www.groworganic.com
www.seedsofchange.com

What to eat, what not to eat

Maximize your intake of the following raw food:
  • FRESH FRUITS and FRESH VEGETABLES. - Any fresh fruits or vegetables. The fresher the better. If you can pick the produce yourself, that's the best. The next best would be direct from a farmer or farmers market, next best from a health food store, and last from a "chain store". here is why- once the food is picked, the vitality starts to lessen. If the produce is refrigerated, the vitality is lessened even further.
  • FRESH SPROUTS - you can sprout your own seeds yourself, and eat these life-force rich foods while they are still living and growing!

Next as a raw foodist you may want to consume some of the following: (concentration should be on FRESH fruits and vegetables)

  • Nuts and Seeds - Many nuts are raw and go through no heat processing. Always purchase nuts in the shell whenever possible, since once nuts are out of the shell, they start to oxidize, and can go rancid. Some nuts are heat processed in the process of getting the nut out of the shell. There is an excellent article, "What every raw fooder should know about nuts" in the article section that I suggest you read. Most "raw" cashew nuts are not really raw.
  • Young Coconuts - Young coconuts are a excellent source of electrolytes, the best purified water and a good source of fat and calcium.
  • Dried Fruits- did you know that most dried fruits in the natural food store are COOKED? Yes!! They are. I have spoken with many manufacturers and distributors of dried fruits and even "dried tomatoes" and asked them the temperature at which their product is dried. Usually it is well over 200 degrees. They say this proudly, because its not too feasible to dry products at an acceptable temperature to a raw foodist (around 118 degrees or less) because there would be an inconsistent and "ugly" looking product. So cut down on the dried foods! Usually only "sun dried" foods would be considered "raw" since they are dried by the sun.
  • Dates - Dates are generally sun dried, if good organic dates are purchased. Many "conventional" dates can be dried and then steamed to make them look "plump" and moist. The Date People and Flying Disc Ranch are my two favorite sources of dates.
  • Sea Weeds - Sea weeds such as nori, dulse, Laver, sea lettuce, kombu purchased from a "family" business are usually sundried. Seaweeds from "asia or china" may or may not be sun dried. Sometimes they are roasted, and it may not be mentioned on the package. This should be eaten minimally
  • Dried vegetables, herbs and spices for flavoring - I have not checked to see if these are in fact considered "raw" or if they have been heat treated in the drying process. Whenever possible dry your own herbs and spices, and use as sparingly as possible.
  • Olives - You may want to consume some raw olives. Raw olives are hard to find. The best raw olives are sun dried raw olives, that have not been preserved with salt. Most olives are preserved with salt. Most canned olives are cooked in the canning process. Most olives are packed in a vinegar or lactic acid brine, which I do not recommend.
  • Green Powders - I believe a good green food powder can be helpful as long as it is not heat processed, considered "raw" and dried at a low temperature, and do not include toxic additives. Some examples would be dried wheatgrass, blue green algae, barleygreen, etc.
  • Raw Honey - I do agree that raw honey is probably the best concentrated sweetener to use, I still reccomend minimizing concentrated sweeteners such as honey. Get a honey that includes the pollen and propolis, a more "whole" food.
  • Frozen Fruits - From the manufacturers I have talked to, it seems that most frozen fruits are not blanched before freezing, so they could be considered "raw". Although its best to eat FRESH FRUITS instead, or freeze fruits yourself.

Things to minimize or cut out completely. The items listed below are many times included in a raw food diet. I believe they can be helpful while transitioning to a raw food diet, but have no place in a long term health building raw food diet.

  • Table salt and celtic sea salt- While table salt is much worse than celtic sea salt, many raw foodists believe that celtic salt is good for them. I believe it is not. This is primarily due to my research on the potassium/sodium balance. Each cell in our body needs to maintain a ratio of sodium to potassium and in the "standard American diet" has the sodium ratio way too high. I also have ill effects when I eat any salt. I believe we get enough sodium from fruits, vegetables and seaweed. (Use seaweed instead)
  • Nama Shoyu and Braggs Liquid Aminos - Once again these items show up often in raw food recipes, and many people think them "healthy". Try drinking a bottle of the stuff, and tell me how you feel. I bet you will feel sick to your stomach! These are highly processed foods that do not occur naturally in nature. (try using seaweed instead)
  • Maple Syrup - Maple syrup is another ingredient considered as "raw" by many. Based on my research all maple syrup is cooked, so it is not raw. I have not sucked on a maple tree to determine if FRESH maple syrup is a viable food source at this point. Use fresh barhi dates (which to me taste like maple syrup - there are many different varieties of dates to try!)
  • Agave Nectar - While this "concentrated sweetner" is very popular in raw cuisine, I believe it has no place in a truly "raw" diet. This is primarily due to the fact that it is a concentrated sweetner. The "nectar" is collected or "cooked" out of the agave plant, then must be "cooked" or dehydrated down, much like "boiling down" maply syrup. There is even some rumors about "corn syrup" and other sweeteners being added to "raw" agave nectar to give it the sweet taste. In any case, it is a processed, product, and not a raw, whole food in my opinion.
  • Wine - Wine can be raw, but while it may have some health benefits - I say drink FRESH made grape juice instead. Exclude wine from the raw food diet. Alcohol does kill brain cells.
  • Apple Cider Vinegar - Vinegar contains acetic acid. Acetic acid is a toxic chemical. If you drink a whole bottle of vinegar, I bet you wont feel too good. Did you know acetic acid is used as a pesticide?
  • Bottled oils - Many raw foodists include oils in their diet. I believe this should be minimized for a few reasons. Oil does not occur naturally in nature. Once oil is extracted, it generally goes bad (rancid) very quickly. It is super concentrated and hard for your body to break down. Try drinking a bottle of oil, and tell me how you feel. Probably like you want to sleep - its your body having to work overtime to digest the oil. Yes, even if its cold pressed an organic. Eat the food instead- i.e.: eat olives instead of olive oil. Eat coconuts instead of coconut oil. Eat ground flax seeds instead of flax oil.
  • Frozen Vegetables - I have confirmed with several major manufacturers of frozen vegetables, that they are blanched before they are quick frozen, so these would not qualify as raw.


Why it is important to grow or buy - and eat - locally grown food!

Why it is important to grow or buy - and eat - locally grown food!

I couldn't find labels on all of my produce, but let's take a look at what I did find. Here's a list of fresh (and I use that term loosely) produce I ate for breakfast and lunch, where it originated from, and the number of miles it traveled to get to me. It should be noted that the mileage I list is direct from point A to point B. In all likelihood, my produce traveled considerably farther before gracing my table.

Bananas – Ecuador – 2,886 miles
Blueberries – Chile – 5,177 miles
Apples – Washington – 2,024 miles
Oranges – Florida – 817 miles
Avocado – Florida – 817 miles
Kale – California – 2,088 miles
Collards – California – 2,088 miles
Cucumbers – Mexico – 1,917 miles
Tomatoes – Florida – 817 miles
Peppers – Mexico – 1,917 miles
Onion – Washington – 2,024 miles

So by the time I had finished lunch, my food had traveled 22,572 miles. That's almost one full trip around the globe! Anyone else see the absurdity in this?


Funny Questions People Ask Vegetarians

Q."What would you eat if you were stranded on a desert with no food in sight but a cow?"
A.I would find out what the cow was eating and join it.

Q."But god meant for us to eat animals."
A.You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit.If it eats the rabbit,I'll buy you a new car.

Me: I'm a vegetarian because animals don't want to be killed for food.
Nonveggie: But how do you know what animals want?

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