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.

Nomi Shannon: What Should I Eat? (from her e-newsletter)

High Raw Diet: What Should I Eat?

Written by Nomi Shannon, The Raw Gourmet

There are as many ways to eat an all raw or high raw diet as there are people. The simplest approach is the Natural Hygiene way. There are no recipes, or even any machinery. You just eat food as it comes from nature. There is a lot to be said about this easy to understand approach, and most of the time it is how I live.

How much easier can it get than to have a large bowl of fruit on the counter waiting for you and a refrigerator filled with vegetables for you to grab. Add in some coconuts, nuts, seeds and oil (Natural Hygienists tend not to eat any oil but get the small amount of fat that they eat directly from their food) and you have everything that you need.

In a few moments, you can pack up a lunch of cut up veggies, greens, whatever fruits you can find depending on the season and some nuts for protein. For those times that you want to make recipes add a few items to your pantry like almond butter, tahini, seasonings like garlic, sea weeds, basil, sea salt, and go from there.

It is difficult to describe a 'typical' raw day as there is so much variation between people, but here are some examples taken from real life.

Sample Breakfasts:

1. A pint of blueberries, or more

2. A banana, or more, sometimes many more

3. Half an avocado and a banana, blended and topped with berries

4. A fruit smoothie, with some greens blended in

Sample Snacks:

1. Several pieces of fruit during the morning

2. Some cut up veggies

3. An avocado

4. A smoothie

Sample Lunches:

1. A large salad of assorted greens, sprouts, red pepper, celery, cabbage with a large handful of soaked almonds or sunflower seeds

2. Sunflower pate rolled up in a sheet of Nori and topped with greens and sprouts

3. A blended soup consisting of greens, sprouts, avocado, yellow squash, garlic or ginger

4. A blended soup of avocado, parsnip and celery

5. A cabbage leaf with pate rolled up in it

6. A cabbage leaf with cut up veggies and some almonds on the side

7. A bag of green beans, or Peas in the pod

8. 2 avocados

9. Several pieces of celery and carrot dipped in hummus, or almond butter, or sunflower pate

Sample Dinners:

1. Spiralized yams or sweet potatoes topped with lemon and oil

2. Spiralized zucchini with pesto sauce (pine nuts, basil, garlic, olive oil, parsley) and tomato sauce (pureed tomatoes with spices or herbs that you like)

3. Raw corn chowder with sprouts and greens

4. Yam soup or beet borscht

While there are no set rules to follow, if often works out best if you eat some protein at lunch as it takes longer than other foods to digest, and complex carbohydrates at night so you can wind down, relax, and prepare for your nights rest without a lot of digestive activity going on after you retire for the night.

As for protein, many people still have the misconception that they need far more protein than they really do. If you think about mother's milk, which only contains 1.5 - 2.5 % protein perhaps you can relax a bit about your protein consumption. Growing children and athletes need the most protein. There's way more protein in dark leafy greens than most people realize. Tahini, almond butter, almonds and sunflower seeds are all quick and easy sources of protein.

If you eat large salads and fruit every day or green smoothies you are probably getting enough fiber. There aren't any raw fooders that have constipation problems. Your high raw or all raw diet should be resulting in 2-3 healthy bowel movements a day. Constipation, hemorrhoids and less than daily bowel movements are most likely an indication that you need more fiber.

Healthy fats react in your body far differently than cooked, processed, rancid unhealthy fats. All cooked oils-(French fries, doughnuts) and fats are very bad for you. When you are consuming avocados, nuts, seeds, raw nut butters, unheated flax seed oil, olive oil, hemp oil, coconuts all in the raw state they are good for you. Most likely you need some of these fats to keep your weight up also.

Great problems in health and well-being occur in the absence of the Omega 3's and 6's-the essential fatty acids that are obtainable only through food. Flax seeds and salmon both contain high amounts of the Omega 3's, followed by sunflower seeds. I prefer my Omega 3's in the form of flax seeds or oil, as I have a personal aversion to consuming mercury that is found in one level or another in all fish. It is far more common to be deficient in Omega 3's than other good fats and when first starting out I recommend concentrating on consuming high Omega 3 rich foods for the first year you are raw. An excellent resource to learn what you need to know about fats is: Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill, by Udo Erasmus.

I have found that most beginners and even more experienced raw fooders are afraid to consume fats. Just today I received a note from someone who wants to try raw food, but wants to keep their fats to 10% and to be sure to have 'enough protein'. What they are trying to do is follow their cooked food approach (in this case the Dr. Dean Ornish program) while doing raw. Well, many people have much improved health while following the cooked food Dr. Dean Ornish program-and it is pretty obvious why-if cooked fat kills, then only 10% of it in your diet harms less. There are lower calories in the program, smaller portions. But it is just about impossible to take any current program and apply it to a raw program. Everything changes when you take the raw food approach. What used to harm is now good for you in the uncooked state. So, don't fear the fat! Just keep all your fat consumption the healthy kind-if you eat any cooked food, be sure it is not cooked fat. Isn't that simple?

As for calories-if you are too thin, you aren't getting enough. If two salads a day don't provide enough calories for you, then condense your food into a soup or a smoothie, adding in tahini or other high calorie yummies. You athletes out there already know how to make Vanilla Bliss out of water, frozen banana and tahini-up to four tablespoons in a shake, to keep the calories up. You can make avocado or tahini based soups, or drink almond milk-there's many ways to meet your calorie needs consistently with an all raw diet.

Before I move on to a fun cracker recipe, there's one more important item I want to mention. You need variety in your diet. Making the same thing every day out of habit or convenience is a very unhealthy habit. Think of the rainbow when you make your foods; be sure that on a daily basis you are eating from many of the colors of the rainbow: purple, red, orange, green and yellow. Each food contains its own gift for you, packaged by the Creator in just the right way to be sure you are taking in all the necessary nutrients. It's hard to go wrong if you choose from a very wide assortment of foods.

Following is a recipe that will help to round out your meals and snacks.

If you own a dehydrator or have enough warm sun here is a tasty flax seed cracker recipe. I like these crackers because they travel well and also because of the great crunch they provide. Flax seeds provide wonderful fiber and important Omega 3 oils. Soak 5 or 6 cups of organic brown or golden flax seeds in 5 or 6 cups of water for about 4-5 hours. This will turn into a solid mass.

Puree any or all of the following in a blender: 6 or 7 tomatoes, one or two onions, garlic, 2-6 tablespoons lemon juice, sea salt, soaked sun dried tomatoes, spices and herbs that you like. Fill the blender to the top-about 7-8 cups. Mix the blended mixture into the flax seed mixture. (Do not blend; you want to leave the flax seeds whole.) Add caraway seeds or fennel seeds or dried onion bits if you like.

Pour onto the liners in your dehydrator trays, and spread with your hand until even, this will be about ź inch thick. Dehydrate, turning over when dry on top, and remove the liners when you can. Score the crackers (cut almost all the way through) when almost dehydrated on both sides. Or allow to completely dehydrate then break into bite size crackers. Store in a tightly closed jar or cookie tin. These will keep indefinitely. Makes about 100 crackers.

Each time you make them experiment with the flavors until you find your personal favorite. Be generous with your seasoning as the flax seeds make everything very bland. Besides just having on hand for munching and to add some texture and fun to your meals, you can break up one or two and toss in your salad as croutons, or you can top a cracker with slices of cucumber, tomato and onion bits for a tasty meal or snack.

Note: start your dehydrator at 120 or 125; turn it down to 115 once you feel the crackers are getting warm. The food never reaches the temperature the thermostat is set at, it is dangerous to dehydrate food at too low a temperature, like 90, it takes too long, allowing mold to form in the food.

The Raw Gourmet
PO Box 160
Bonsall CA 92003

Healthy snacks when you are transitioning to a raw foods diet

Transition Snacks are not all raw living foods, but are compromise recipes for when you're tempted to eat outside of the Raw and Living Foods Lifestyle. From chiDiet.com Handbook to Going Raw.

Banana and Raw Nut Butter- Grab a banana, a jar of your favorite nut butter, a spoon, and spread. Devine!

Ambrosia - Almond mylk, chopped avocado, berries, chopped apple, chopped orange, pumpkin seeds, raw honey, and shredded coconut. Mix in a bowl and enjoy.

Avocado and Honey - Cut an avocado in half, skin it, and pour honey over it. Yum, yum, yum…

Thick Shake - Cup of Almond mylk, half of an avocado, and banana. Wow!

Figs and Olives - 5 dried figs, and small bowl of Greek olives. Molto bene!

Chocolate Pudding - 1 Avocado, 2 Tbs. raw carob powder, and a big scoop of raw honey. Whip it up and enjoy each creamy mouth full!

Ahhhhh-Almond - Jar of raw almond butter and a spoon. It's that simple.

Cherimoya Blues - If you're feeling down, eat one of these. If you don't know what a cherimoya is, find out. Also try it whipped in a blender with an avocado.

Date Crunch - Pitted Dates and Almonds. Stuff the date with the almonds and munchidy, crunch, crunch.

Banana Creme - Mash a banana and avocado together, or put it in a blender.

Melon Deluxe - 1/2 of a cantaloupe, one avocado. Blend!!!

Just Eat An Apple - When all else fails one of the best things one can do is eat an apple.

Ice Cream - One avocado, two frozen bananas, and a blender. Cut the bananas into small pieces before placing them in the blender

Creamy Crunch - Two stalks of celery and your favorite raw nut butter. Spread it in the valley

Fudge - 1 avocado, 2 Tbs. of coconut butter, 1 cup of blueberries, 1 Tbs. of raw honey, and 3 Tbs. of Carob powder. Blend! Refrigerate for 3 hours for hard fudge.

Three-Minute Burrito - One avocado, Romaine lettuce leaves, chopped tomato, juice of one lemon, chopped onion, chopped garlic, dash of cumin, dash chili powder, and pinch of cayenne and salt. Mash avocado in a bowl and mix in lemon juice, garlic, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, and salt. Wrap avocado mixture with tomatoes and onions in the romaine lettuce leaves.

Two-Minute Guacamole - One avocado, one clove of garlic chopped, half a red onion chopped, the juice of one lemon, one tsp cumin, one tsp coriander, pinch of cayenne, and salt. Mash in a bowl with a fork. - Use the Two minute guacamole to stuff tomatoes, peppers, portabello mushrooms, add it to salads, or just use it as a dip.

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WHY ALL SHOULD EAT ONLY RAW FOODS ALWAYS

Please visit his site...It is EXCELLENT: www.healself.org

DIET-WE SHOULD ALWAYS EAT A CONSTRUCTIVE & BENEFICIAL UNPROCESSED, RAW FOOD DIET TO HELP PREVENT OUR EVER BECOMING SICK & TO HELP HEAL OURSELVES FROM ANY DISEASE

WHY ALL SHOULD EAT ONLY RAW FOODS ALWAYS

Our inherent intelligence, our God within, is always talking to us. If we "feelingly meditate" and pay attention to our inherent intelligence, we will always know homeostatically, the best foods to eat, when and how much to eat. If we depend on our "civilized" ideas of how to eat, we will become sick. We should eat as constructive and beneficial a diet as is possible. We should eat only natural foods, that we would eat in the wild. We should eat only fresh, natural, unprocessed, raw foods that are palatable to us and that agree with us, with all the essential minerals and essential nutrients. Every bit of agricultural exploitative commercialization and soil depletion, bioengineering, experimental breeding, processing, cooking, hybridizing, mutation and pollution, destroys vitamins, enzymes, minerals, nucleic acids, chlorophyl, damages fats and makes the fatty matter a local irritant. This agricultural exploitative commercialization and soil depletion, bioengineering, experimental breeding, processing, cooking, hybridizing, mutation and pollution, excessively stresses every cell of our bodies, results in our impaired nutrition and results in our impaired health.

WHAT IS COOKED FOOD NUTRITION?

What is nutrition? Nutrition means all the processes and functions that are necessary for the assimilation of our foods we eat. Nutrition is the physiological process our inherent intelligence conducts, as our inherent intelligence transforms foods we eat, into material for our bodies own growth and maintenance. Nutrition means that every part of the human body, renews and repairs itself, by its own intrinsic power to absorb nutritive material from the surrounding medium and assimilate, organize, and transform it into material identical with its own, and endow it with vital properties, if it is supplied with appropriate food. Nutritional deficiencies create imbalances in our bodies chemistry.

WHAT IS COOKED FOOD DETOXIFICATION?

Detoxification is the final expulsion of waste materials through the various excretory organs. Detoxification takes place in the human body continually from birth throughout life. Detoxification stops at time of death of the human body.

COOKING FOODS DESTROYS ENZYMES, IS ENERVATING & SHORTENS LIFESPAN

Please read this entire article as it is excellent: http://healself.org/Diet.html

Web Site: http://www.healself.org E-mail: drbernarr@aol.com

Menu Planning for Raw Food Beginners Made Easy

Menu Planning for Raw Food Beginners Made Easy by Alina Vladimirova
May you enjoy her site: Radiantonraw.com

If you have been on a diet before, you must be quite familiar with the concept of menu planning. It is a great tool that helps you keep on track, allows you to make sure you are getting all the nutrients that you need and enough calories to get you through the day, and also makes sure you get a good variety into your raw food diet.

Having a menu can help you make sure that you are always prepared and will never find yourself in a situation where you open your refrigerator and see empty shelves; it helps you see at a glance if all your nutritional needs are being met; it makes the whole process of eating raw foods easy and straightforward.

But first, let's cover the basics on a truly healthy raw and living foods diet:

1. 75% of what you eat must be fresh fruit, vegetables, and greens. Many people fall into the trap of eating lots of dehydrated, nut-rich, "gourmet" recipes and end up failing because they are not getting the results they desire and actually get the opposite results: feeling tired, sleepy, gaining weight, and overeating.
2. Eat as many greens a day as you can - that can be easily achieved through making green smoothies, green vegetable juices, and eating at least one big salad every day. And don't forget sprouts, the most nutrient rich foods on earth!
3. Drink plenty of clean, preferably alkaline water - 6-8 glasses at least: hydration is the key to good health!
4. Your last meal should be no later than 3 hours before your bedtime or 7 pm if you tend to stay up late (remember, even though your mind is up and running, your body still follows its natural rhythms).
5. Eat only when hungry - that is the most important advice I can give you to avoid overeating.
6. Keep your diet interesting - try new recipes, discover new fruits and vegetables, bring as many raw food groups into your diet as possible (I cover at least 20 of them in my Raw Food for Beginners Class).
7. Remember, raw and living foods are about pleasure, not deprivation or forcing yourself. If you don't like something? Don't eat it! Find some other food that will bring you the same kind of benefits but you will also enjoy eating it.

Now, keeping these basic guidelines in mind, let's dive into menu planning.

Here is your easy and simple step-by-step guide to creating a menu that will work for YOU:

1) Take a sheet of paper, and list down all of your favorite drinks and meals - cooked or raw, anything allowed - just write them down without any judgment.

2) Now take a look at your list and cross out any food and drink that you definitely no longer want in your life. Be very honest with yourself here! In the case of comforts such as coffee, bread, alcohol, chocolate or whatever, be realistic: these things may take weeks or months to let go off, however, they will fall away in good time, when you are ready.

3) Now, make a list of foods that you would like to bring INTO your diet (or know you should, such as greens, sprouts, sea veggies, etc), things you want to try or eat on a regular basis.

4) Looking at the lists you have created, come up with a new list of recipes that will incorporate all those foods and drinks that you love and enjoy. If your list of recipes is not very big, go explore the world of Internet - there are thousands of raw food recipes now available online and you can definitely find easy ones to make that will include your foods of choice.

5) Now take a page out of your weekly planner (or just make a table on a blank piece of paper, which will outline every day of the week, with three main meals and two snacks on it). Start filling out the grid with the recipes you have chosen.

A good rule of thumb for breakfast is fruit (unless you have candida) - however much you want, whatever type/s appeal, until satisfied. If you have high metabolism and process fruit really quickly, then try a green smoothie smoothie or nut mylk. A green smoothie is a particularly great way to start your day since it meets your "consume lots of greens" criteria as well as tasting delicious and being easy on your body.

For lunch, your choice will depend on whether you are going high raw or 100% raw. In any case, make sure most of your plate is a big green salad with lots of vegetables, the rest call be a healthy cooked food or a raw dish such as nut pate, sun burger, crackers, zucchini pasta, or whatever else you chose for your list.

For dinner, again, same rule applies. You can also bring a desert on your menu, however, keep in mind that fruit should be eaten before a meal or at least an hour afterwards.

6) When you're done, make sure that your menu meets the following criteria:

Inspiring - you should be getting excited just by looking at it!

Easy and doable - you know you won't follow your plan if it means hours of soaking, sprouting and dehydrating are required, so choose recipes that are quick to make and/ or that will last for days in the fridge. Leave those complicated recipes that take days to prepare for special occasions.

Nutritionally sound - you don't have to have a degree in nutrition, but do check that you have a good variety of foods that will meet your needs for cabs, protein, and fats, as well as all essential vitamins and minerals. Also think in terms of different colors as well as different food groups - try to eat all the colors of the rainbow, ideally every day - this is a classic guideline to go by for ensuring variety in any diet. Also make sure you eat greens every day and don't forget plenty of clean water.

If you are trying to lose weight, make sure to concentrate more on greens and veggies since they are low in calories; fruit and nuts are calorie-dense foods so keep a healthy balance here. If you want to make sure you are getting enough calories but not overeating, you can use an online food journal FitDay.

7) The last step now is to check in with yourself about "life happens" stuff - eating on the run, in the car, while traveling, when hungry and in the middle of nowhere - that kind of thing. What can you make or pack that will help you out in those kinds of situations? Consider making or buying flax crackers or raw snack bars. These travel well and are more calorie dense than fruits and veggies so will keep you going longer. As time goes by you'll soon discover where and when your vulnerable moments are and in time you can become better and better prepared for them.

When you have your menu all filled in and are 100% happy with it, all that remains to be done is to go shopping and have your kitchen stocked and ready for the week ahead!

Have fun!

© 2009 Radiant on Raw

WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Alina Vladimirova, Raw Food and Lifestyle Coach, publishes "Radiant on Raw" - a free bi-weekly eZine for anyone who is ready to look great, feel amazing, and rediscover passion for living. Interested? Then sign up at Radiantonraw.com".

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Raw Food Rocks!!

RAW Lifestyle Changes - Beyond just the food

RAW Lifestyle Changes - Beyond just the food
by John Kohler
Earth Day 2001

http://www.rawfoods.com/articles/beyondraw.html

I have become aware of many things on my "Raw Path".. This article is
here to share with you some of the non-food related changes I have made
in my lifestyle that complement my diet related path to optimize my
health, energy and well-being.

When I first went raw, I used all the "standard" products- i.e.:
toiletries (aquafresh toothpaste, paul mitchell shampoo, ivory soap,
edge shaving gel, etc.). I had no idea how bad these products were for
my health!

When becoming raw, and started to detox my body, I found that many of
these products contain some "nasty" ingredients, that I believe were not
good for my system.. After all I was suppose to be "de-toxifying".. and
without other lifestyle changes, I would "re-toxify" myself....
So why would I want to put all these toxins back into my body? Some of
the primary ingredients that I am now weary of: anything with alcohol,
sodium laurel sulfate, or any other "big words" I can't pronounce or
don't know what they are... I mean-- what is raw foods about anyway? Its
about getting back to nature, and eating simply- whole, uncooked and
minimally processed foods.

I believe that in life, we should reduce toxins in our environment such
as we do with our diet. (Minimally processed, and natural as possible
products.)

To read the full article: http://www.rawfoods.com/articles/beyondraw.html

The Future of Food - excellent Video

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8098965482866581381&hl=en

10 Steps to Going and Staying Raw

10 Steps to Going and Staying Raw

http://rawlivingfoods.typepad.com/1/2009/01/10-steps-to-going-and-staying-raw.html

As always, the New Year is a great time to change behavior patterns and to begin new lives. If you're reading this it's because you're already raw, at least partially, or you're raw-curious.

Whether you're looking at the raw diet because of your health challenges, or because you're looking to take your healthy diet to a new level, this is the time of the year to start!

Studies have shown that it's best to change multiple behavior patterns at the same time. In other words, if you decide to quit smoking, get more exercise, and begin a raw foods lifestyle - all at the same time - you'll be more successful than if you try to accomplish them individually or sequentially.

However - "the secret to success is having a plan."

It's not enough just to say to yourself, "I'm going raw." That will work for a while - a few days, perhaps a few weeks - but unless you have tons of willpower, very shortly you'll find yourself going back to your old habit patterns and comfort foods.

That's why a plan is important. Let's consider a plan for going raw:

10 Steps to Going and Staying Raw

1. Assemble the tools you need. A blender - any blender - an expensive dehydrator, some jars for sprouting, and a variety of raw recipes are the minimum requirements.

2. Assemble your list of suppliers. Where are you going to buy your food? Are you going be mostly organic? You'll also need to find a supply of sprouting seeds - at least some alfalfa, clover, sunflower and wheatgrass (hard red winter wheat). The wider the variety the better.

3. Read your instructions. Do you know how to sprout, and how to run a dehydrator?

4. Pan out what you're going to do. If you decide you'd like to make angel-hair pasta from zucchini, for example, you might find having a spiral slicing machine handy. This might put you back to step 1.

5. Set a starting date and create your support mechanism. Having a support group is the greatest. Check meetup.com for raw groups in your area. If you don't know any rawbies in your area, find a raw chat group or two for support. A professional Raw Coach is idea, if available.

Share with them what you plan to do, and the date you're going to start. You'll find yourself more successful this way, than if you "go raw secretly."

While I'm constantly reminding people that we don't have to justify our lifestyle choices to anyone, sometimes we can't avoid it. This video I made about Dispelling the Raw Food Myths will help you deal with the standard objections you're going to hear: http://www.chidiet.com/blog/free-stuff/dispelling-raw-food-myths.htm

6. Don't forget that you're going to need to stay inspired as you go raw. Build a collection of books, videos, and CDs before you start so that you'll have lots of material when you go raw. This will help maintain your momentum. Otherwise you might find yourself running out of steam before you get to the top of the hill.

I find that videos motivate me the most. Instead of watching the news or a movie at night, I'll pop in a video on raw foods and watch it, instead. chiDietVideos.com is a good source for these, and if you have high-speed internet you can watch raw videos online at websites like RawDoctors.com and YouTube.

7. Research shows that it takes 21 days for a new behavior to become a habit; if we move to a new house and now have to turn right instead of left when we leave work, it'll be 21 days before it seems natural to turn right when head for home.

In dealing with addictions the transitional period is longer. Yes, cooked foods are an addiction. Thus, we need to deal with them as such.

Victoria Boutenko has a good book on this subject - 12 Steps to Raw Foods. Her website is RawFamily.com and the book is on Amazon.com, too. Her book covers the subject in detail, but here are her 12 Steps to Raw Food:

Step 1 - I admit that I have lost control of my addiction to cooked
food and my eating is becoming unmanageable.

Step 2 - I believe that live vegan food is the most natural diet for a
human being.

Step 3 - I shall gain necessary skills, learn basic raw recipes and
obtain equipment to prepare live food.

Step 4 - I shall live in harmony with people who eat cooked food.

Step 5 - I shall stay away from temptations.

Step 6 - I shall create a support group.

Step 7 - I shall find alternative activities or hobbies.

Step 8 - I shall let my higher self lead my life.

Step 9 - I shall make a searching and fearless inventory of the real
reasons for seeking comfort and pleasure from cooked
foods.

Step 10 - I shall let my intuition help me.

Step 11 - Through clarity I will gain happiness.

Step 12 - I shall provide support to other raw fooders.

8. Part of changing your diet and lifestyle is detoxifying the body. Not as a one-time detox, but instead, we should be constantly detoxing. That's where Dr. Ann Wigmore's program comes in. She taught much more than a diet. In her books and videos she lays out the procedures for a continuous healthy detox, including the foods we eat, how we combine them, the usage of colonics or enemas, the uses of wheatgrass juice, and more.

The basics are laid out in her book, Why Suffer? How I Overcame Illness and Pain Naturally, which you can download for free at http://chidiet.com/books/whysuffer.pdf. If the book won't open for you, you might need a free copy of Acrobat Reader from adobe.com.

Other great books of Dr. Ann's are Be Your Own Doctor and Rebuild Your Health, both available at Amazon.com. They're also available as audio books on CD at http://chidietvideos.com/index.php/videos/cds.html.

9. Be aware, not discouraged. You're going to backslide at times, and it's normal. Don't feel like you've "failed" if you happen to go out for pizza or a hamburger. Instead, think about how well you've been doing, how much better you're eating than you used to, and how much better you're feeling since you started going raw.

10. Experiment, experiment, experiment. Knowing that I have addictions to comfort foods, I found new comfort foods. For me that's fresh blueberries, raspberries, and raw vegan pizza, made with flax crust in the dehydrator. It's a recipe I've included in my book. Victoria's Step 9, above, has helped me a lot, too.

God's pharmacy

God's Pharmacy

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrum and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neocortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one Avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an Avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 proteolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions, look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

5 Ways to Get Faster Results From Your Raw Food Diet

by Frederic Patenaude
When I first learned about the raw food diet, it took me years to figure out how to do it properly. Then it took me even more years - making mistakes and compromising my health - until I started experiencing the benefits I was looking for from the start!

Let's face it, if you're going to bother changing your diet at all, there's got to be a reason for doing it. I would bet you want to improve your health and energy, right?

But why take years to get those results, when you can get them in months or even weeks? Here are some of the things that I've found can help you get faster results from your raw food diet.

1. Incorporate Fitness

It's interesting to note that even though a person may be fit but unhealthy (think of all the athletes who died of a heart attack!), it's *not* possible to be healthy without being fit.

Until you reach the point where your body fat is at an optimal level and your fitness “above average”, you probably won't get all the results you're looking for even with an ideal diet.

Fit people not only digest better, the entire process of nutrition is improved with improved fitness. This means assimilation will be better, blood sugar will be more under control, and much more besides.

To start improving your fitness, you have to identify your areas of weakness and work on improving these first. We explain how to do this in the Perfect Health Program and we put it into action in our 30-Day Body Enlightenment System.

2. Address Emotional Issues

Just like fitness, your emotions are an integral part of your nutrition. You've probably had the experience of hearing a piece of bad news and suddenly losing your appetite. This shows that emotions are an integral part of how your body processes food. It's an essential part of your health.

Often people jump into a raw-food diet, hoping that it will help them “clear emotional problems”, when in fact it puts these problems right in their face and they can't deal with it!

Let's face the fact that most people eat for emotional reasons, most of the time. It's really easy to do so with heavily processed or fatty foods, because these foods literally “drug” us and “numb” our feelings.

With raw foods, it's harder to eat emotionally. That's why you don't see lonely overweight people eating buckets of apples to “comfort” their feelings. Instead, they do it with a pint of ice-cream!

Be aware and ready to feel and face your emotions. Equip yourself with whatever tools are necessary to get over emotional baggage - including self-improvement seminars, tapes, and group support.

3. Cleanse

One of the best ways to accelerate your health success is to go on some sort of cleanse, such as the Green Cleanse or the one included in the Body Enlightenment System.

A cleanse should be easy to do, while giving you results in terms of increased energy, weight *release* (if necessary), and increased vitality and health.

My favorite cleanses are:

- Green Cleanse: consuming only green smoothies and fruit for 5 to 10 days or longer.
- Fruit Cleanse: consuming only mono meals of fruit for 3 to 7 days or longer.
- Low Fat Cleanse: consuming only fruits and vegetables without any fat (avocados, oils, etc.) for 3 to 7 days or longer.

While it's possible to do a cleanse on your own, it's best if you have someone to coach and support you in the process.

4. Find Raw Friends

Feeling alone and isolated can kill your success with the raw diet! It's very important to find at least one “buddy” who can support and encourage you on this path.

Now with the Internet, it's possible to connect with more people than ever. In our different programs (such as the Body Enlightenment System), we have seen the value of offering phone coaching and support, as well as discussion forum support.

Connect with other raw-food enthusiasts using available resources, such as local potlucks, teleseminars and phone coaching, coaching programs and discussion forums.

5. Get a Coach and a System

Besides lack of social support, the reason why most people don't succeed with a raw-food program is that they don't have anybody coaching them personally and showing them a system that works for incorporating all of the different elements of a healthy lifestyle.

Unless you think you can do it on your own, you need someone to show you a system that works!

No matter what the coach and system you choose for yourself, you have to make sure that:

- You find a supportive and non-judgmental coaching environment, yet one that challenges you enough to keep improving.
- You have enough quality tools and easy-to-use systems to make progress with your health, fitness and diet.
- The support you get is *constant* or *daily*, not just occasional.
- The program or coach you choose has a track record of success and lots of experience in the field.

Make no mistake about it, you can either take 2 months to put all of the pieces of a healthy raw lifestyle together, or you can take 2 years or 20 years! Do yourself a favor and choose the shortest route to success.

“Frederic Patenaude, is the author of the best-selling e-book "The Raw Secrets". He is currently giving away free access to his private library of over 100 exclusive articles along with a subscription to his newsletter Pure Health & Nutrition. Visit http://www.fredericpatenaude.com while charter subscriptions last.”