5 False Assumptions About Natural Living

It seems like every time you turn your head, you hear confusing and misleading information from every corner of the natural health movement. First, you have mainstream “experts” who rely on outdated and inaccurate data to advise us on the subject. And then there’s the raw food or natural health movement itself, within which most people seem to disagree on what constitutes the healthiest diet.

From the mainstream, we hear the following…

“You have to make sure you eat enough protein”

Without a doubt, the issue of “getting enough protein” is the number one concern of anyone switching to any kind of diet for any reason. Even though decades of vegetarian and vegan traditions and extensive research have proven that our actual protein requirements are fairly low and easy to meet – as long as we eat enough food – most people who will advise you about diet will likely make a much bigger deal about protein than it actually is.

Bodybuilders go beyond all extremes known to humankind by consuming upwards to 350 grams of protein per day, an amount that is completely off the charts and only possible through the consumption of refined protein powders.

At the same time, most people on the planet get by on less than 60 grams of protein a day, and many people in these cultures possess wiry and explosive strength that would put most gym goers to shame.

In the end, the evidence is still conclusive: as long as you eat enough calories to meet your needs, you will at the same time consume enough protein, even if all you eat are fruits and vegetables.

There is no reason to make protein more important than it actually is.

“You need to eat a balanced diet”

According to our nutritionists, a “balanced” meal is composed of carbohydrates, protein and fat in the right proportions.

A meal of bread (carbohydrate), with cheese (protein), and a salad containing a dressing of olive oil (fat) and a desert (carbohydrate) would be, in their opinion, a balanced meal.

That meal might be a digestive disaster for most people, but that aside, we don’t find any evidence that our bodies need to receive nutrition in such a manner.

If we look all around the world, we see different cultures that have enjoyed excellent health eating far from “balanced” meals. In China, rice with vegetables is a meal. In the Great North, the Eskimos have lived on almost nothing but meat. The Hunzas regularly ate meals composed of vegetables and some chapati bread.

If we look at wild animals, we also see that they do not eat “balanced” meals. A meal for an orangutan might consist of nothing more than rambutan (a tropical fruit) or durian (another tropical fruit).

There is absolutely no need to worry about eating a very simple diet where most of our meals are composed of a few foods only. As long as we eat a large variety of food from week to week, it doesn’t matter if our meals are not composed of “carbohydrates, protein and fat”.

“You can’t sustain yourself on just raw foods”

Most nutritionists look at the raw food diet and claim that it’s “impossible” to sustain ourselves from only fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Letting alone the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are doing just that and are still alive to tell about it, there is no scientific reason to believe that we can’t live on raw foods.

Nutritionists will claim that it would be “very difficult” to eat enough fruits and vegetables to consume enough calories.

The problem is that they are still stuck with the view of cooked nutrition and its “balanced view” and can’t think outside the box and realize that it is actually possible to consume enough fruits and vegetables and get the calories you need. It just is a lot of food!

The truth is, eating a raw food diet will mean that you’ll be consuming more fruits and vegetables in a day than some people may consume in a week or even in a month. But as you learn to eat this way, you’ll find that this “huge” amount of fruits and vegetables is actually the “right” amount.

“You should never expose your skin to the sun”

Although we know that too much sun isn’t good for us, the advice we get from dermatologists these days defy all reason. Apparently, we should never expose our skin to the sun unless we are fully protected by chemical lotions.

Did you forget the important fact that sunlight is essential to our well-being, and that regular sun exposure at safe periods of the day are actually beneficial to your health, even in 2006?

You need the sun. The question is just how much!

“If it’s natural it’s good for you”

The word “natural” has been abused more than any other term in the food industry. We now have “natural potato chips”, “natural coffee” and “natural beer.”

The fact that these foods come from a factory should make it obvious that they are definitely not natural, nor healthy.

The truth is, even if a food were natural, it wouldn’t automatically make it healthy. There are plenty of plants and mushrooms that grow in the wild that are not only “perfectly natural,” but also deadly!

Let’s be clear: for a food to be healthy, it has to be a lot more than “natural.”

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If thou live according to nature, thou wilt never be poor;
if according to the opinions of the world, thou wilt never be rich.

(Seneca)

Baby It’s Cold Outside!

Those that live in the tropics are exposed to a plethora of fresh fruits and vegetables all year long. Unfortunately, not all of us live in those regions.

The Ideal Situation

How can you eat a natural raw diet if you live in cold regions where locally grown fruits and vegetables simply are not available most of the year? While you might really want to move to Hawaii, Florida or Costa Rica where you can get wonderful raw fruit and vegetables that are grown nearby all the time, you may have a job that means you must reside in Canada, Nebraska, or another cold area.

Air travel, thankfully, has made it possible for raw-foodists living in cold climates to obtain imported fresh, natural foods. When it is cold, the body uses more calories to stay warm, so you may find you think you should eat more. That isn’t necessarily true. Those extra calories may come from carbohydrate-rich fruit like bananas.

Must I Eat Only Locally Grown Foods?

Some philosophies, such as macrobiotics, believe that eating exotic or imported foods are unhealthy. This requires a little thought. Because the human diet is designed for humans – all over the world – and many fruits and vegetables that grow in your locale may, in fact, not be indigenous to that region, this idea simply doesn’t make sense.

For an example, let’s look at mangoes. These fruit are tasty, sweet, full of fiber and great for you. They taste grand! And it’s really nice if you can simply walk outside and pull a ripe one from your tree or purchase some from your neighborhood market that are locally grown and harvested ripe. The fruit has the most nutrition this way.

But, for those people that eat imported mangoes that have been stored during shipment, it is still a great food that is tasty, sweet, full of fiber and great for you. In fact, a mango purchased in Montreal could have been picked only a few days before because technology provides such great ways to distribute food to other locales.

In truth, much of the foods that are not healthy, are processed and have additives are much older than that exotic fruit you find in your grocer’s produce section. Of course, it costs energy to transport food, and if you wish to live truly green, you can always choose those fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds that are grown nearby as much as possible and choose to avoid some of the most exotic choices that are grown on the other side of the planet.

In some locations, especially in the long northern winters, local produce is almost nonexistent. Even lettuce is several weeks old. If you have a climate controlled greenhouse, you can grow some of your own food, but most people aren’t in this situation. You can, however, choose to grow fresh sunflower greens which are a fresh green vegetable. It’s simple and easy and very healthy to include these in your diet and you can cut the greens immediately before consumption so they are the freshest and tastiest of winter vegetables.

Handling Cold

There are some people, even raw-foodists that say eating spicy foods, such as those with garlic or cayenne pepper, is a good practice in the winter. However, adding spices to food means that the food is no longer natural, unprocessed and healthy.

In truth, eating these toxic foods does not make a person warmer; they produce the exact opposite. The feeling of “nice and warm” is the body activating your metabolism in order to rid itself of the poison!

Raw-foodists that complain of ‘freezing’ in the winter often eat their foods cold. When food that has been kept in refrigeration is eaten while cold, the body will feel cold. Simply let the food warm up before eating.

Since raw, natural foods do not become rancid like meats do, you can remove from the refrigerator all the food you plan to eat the next day and let it reach room temperature. If you need to eat something straight from the refrigerator, place it in warm water for about ten minutes.

When feeling chilly, exercise can generate warmth. An aerobic session can raise metabolism as much as 10% above the resting rate. This means that if it were possible to work out hard for one hour without dissipating any heat at all, you’d raise you body temperature to 140 degrees Fahrenheit! So, get up and exercise! You’ll feel better, be warmer, and enjoy better health.

Tropical or Temperate Fruits: Which is Better?

There are some people that say that one type of fruit is better than another based on the climate where it was grown. One theory is that tropical fruit is better than fruit grown in temperate areas because our bodies are mot genetically adapted to them. This belief would mean that papayas, mangoes, and bananas would be best while apples, pears and most berries would be less beneficial.

Because there is not any substantial proof that fruit grown in any particular region is better for the human body, I propose that they are all good. Enjoy as wide a variety of raw fruits as is available, depending on where you are and the season.

Some of the most delicious fruits, cherimoya, litchi, jackfruit, durian, and many others, are not well known but as people learn to eat more fruit, more varieties will become available to everyone.

The Bigger Picture.

Some former raw-foodists ate a healthy, natural raw diet for several years, but went back to the Standard American Diet (SAD) because they constantly experienced cravings or lack of satisfaction.

A diet isn’t right unless it is sustainable. So, the big picture means that healthy food choices must be made, consumed in the right combinations, and it must be satisfying without huge cravings. That is the raw food diet you want to achieve!

Does Raw Always Mean Unheated?

This is a big and important question! The dictionary defines raw as “uncooked” but it also includes “not processed, purified or refined” in the definition. This indicates that raw food is food that is in a natural state – whole fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds in their natural state.

If you think about the definition of “raw”, it is impossible to consider oils, dried fruit, dehydrated crackers and many other items as raw. Think about a can of nuts from the grocery store. First of all, the nuts are usually roasted using oil or coconut butter, and they have salt, and sometimes sugar or other spices, added before packaging.

If raw means unadulterated and natural, would you consider these nuts healthy and part of a raw-foodist regimen? Of course not. The same goes for most nut butters, dried spices, herbs, and frozen fruits or vegetables.

The secret is to avoid becoming a fanatic on the term ‘raw’ and, instead, ask some questions about every food choice:

• Is this really healthy for me?
• Do I feel great after eating this food?
• Is this a specific food for humans considering how humans are designed?
• Is this a fruit or vegetable?
• Is this food easy to digest?

You’ll find that a 100% raw food diet means that you’ll eat mostly raw food. You’ll avoid heating foods for the most part. While some have gone long periods of time eating a 100% unheated raw diet, most do not claim to eat 100% raw all the time, nor will they ever achieve that mark.

It’s pretty simple and easy for most people, especially in the summer, to eat only raw foods. They are plentiful and at their prime. But there are times that raw-foodists eat some steamed vegetables.

No one is perfect. The key is to stick closely to the raw-foodist regimen but also to realize that you are only human and not perfect. So, if you feel you simply must have some hot food once in a while or are placed in a situation where eating 100% raw simply isn’t possible that meal, choose some lightly steamed vegetables.

If you simply must have some meat on rare occasions, or if the situation you are in means it isn’t possible to avoid all meat for that meal, select a very small serving eaten with raw vegetables that are non-fat.

When you can’t be 100% raw-foodist for one meal, avoid fat or foods with added fat, because it can be a trigger eating food choices that are much worse! Then, get right back on your regular eating pattern.

Raw is not the only Criterion

We simply must use some common sense and be aware of what food choices we make. It’s better to have some lightly steamed vegetables than to eat a large amount of nuts and seeds. Junk foods, like pizza, chips, anything fried, coffee, ice cream, pastries, and similar foods, are much worse for you than a small piece of meat. If you eat a piece of chicken with a salad, it is better than choosing pizza!

The ideal foods are fresh fruits and vegetables, including fresh nuts and seeds. However, we live in an artificial world. If you must deviate from the 100% unheated raw diet, make rational choices.

Common Mistakes Made by Raw-Foodists

I’ll list for you the most common ways that people sabotage their diets, resulting in cravings and lack of satisfaction with their raw, natural diet:

• Using salt, condiments, and/or spices
• Eating too many avocados or eating avocados every day
• Eating too many nuts or nut butter
• Worrying or thinking about food continually
• Drinking too much juice, especially fruit juice
• Eating concentrated sweets like honey or maple syrup
• Eating raw cacao – just because it is raw doesn’t mean it is less toxic
• Thinking that drinking coffee, tea or other caffeine drinks will not sabotage your diet
• Eating large amounts of sprouted beans and grains
• Not getting sufficient sleep or sleeping at irregular hours
• Failing to consider digestion, eating complex mixtures or mixing the wrong foods
• Eating a raw diet but failing to maintain dental hygiene, including regular check-ups
• Not getting enough exercise, even if eating a raw food diet
• Eating too much acid fruit, eating dried fruit; eating dates on a regular basis
• Using oil regularly
• Overeating greens by dulling the taste with gourmet salads
• Failing to pay attention to the body’s signals about hunger, even when eating a raw diet

You’ll find that avoiding these common mistakes will help you feel balanced and healthy. Eat a raw food diet, or one that is very close to 100% raw, natural whole food, but don’t think that this regimen will solve everything, in every case and situation. It is only one factor in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

A Word of Warning

While eating raw is something that almost anyone can achieve, there are those that have health, mental or physical constitutions not suited to making a sudden change of diet. For these people, as well-planned transition is required. Diets must be adapted to personal needs and no one should conform blindly to an idea without considering these factors. Any competent hygienic practitioner would never recommend a 100% raw diet to everyone immediately in every single case!

Recipes, Juicing and Blending.

Below are a couple of great sounding recipes for you to AVOID in order to give you some creative ideas about making meals with raw foods. We’ll also discuss blending and juicing and some of the great things you can do with this process which remains natural and raw.

Bad Recipes

The term “combo-abombo” was first used by R.C. Dini, author of Raw Courage World, who defined the term as a combination that is an abomination! It’s a poorly combined recipe, in other words.

Now, raw foods are supposed the best food choices but, because they are not cooked leave a lot to the imagination. And combining the wrong foods can result in gas, stomach upsets and even acid problems.

Not all raw food recipes are healthy. The problem is that many include too many nuts, lots of seeds or avocados and added oils. They may be tasty, but they aren’t what fits into the raw-foodist’s diet is success is to be achieved.

Here’s a recipe that may taste great but is NOT suitable for you. It’s called “Nut Loaf” and imitates meat loaf for dinner. Here’s the recipe and, with what you’ve already learned, you soon see how unhealthy it really is for you:

1 1/3 cups cashews
1 1/3 cups sunflower seeds
1 1/3 cups almonds
½ cup of oil

This creation serves two. Now let’s analyze the content of the nuts and oil used in this recipe. It will make it even clearer why you should avoid using this recipe:

1 1/3 cups cashews or about 150 grams =	69.5 grams of fat
1 1/3 cuts sunflower seeds, about 190 grams =	94.2 grams of fat
1 1/3 cups almonds or about 200 grams =	104.4 grams of fat
½ cup of olive oil which is about 125 grams =	125.0 grams of fat
Total Fat:	393.1
Divided by 2 for two people:	196.55 grams of fat for each person!!

In other words, the entire dish is 100% fat! Totally what the raw-foodist wants to avoid. Low-fat is what is optimal with only about 5% or at most 6% of the dietary calories coming from fat.

If you add salt, spice, soy sauce, miso, onion, garlic, and other oils that taste good to the palate that is not accustomed to eating raw, natural foods, the situation worsens. You’ll only overeat and fail to obtain health and energy.

Good Recipes

Combine a few ingredients that are raw, natural and unseasoned and you can create a great cuisine. The general rules is 5-5-5 which means the dish should require:

• 5 or less ingredients
• 5 or fewer minutes to prepare
• cost less than $5.

What a great deal in time, purchases, and cost.

What about Juicing or Blending?

Juicing, simply squeezing the juice from fruits or watery vegetables, takes almost all the important fiber from the food making it less whole and more refined, therefore it isn’t as good for the body.

Raw-foodists should consume foods as close to nature as possible. This doesn’t mean that you should never juice any food. Blending rather than juicing is much better and creates a similar serving.

There’s a big problem with fruit juice that you should know about. The sugar in fruit juice is absorbed too quickly when separated from the fiber. Blending vegetables into a drinkable food source is much, much better.

Do not drink huge amount of blended green vegetables – a glass or two per day is plenty if you enjoy this way of getting nutrition. Eat the remainder of your food. If the juice has a strong flavor, such as parsley or kale, you can blend some mildly flavored vegetables, such as celery or fennel, into the mixture to dilute the stronger vegetable. You can add some carrot, beet or apple to create a good flavor.

One way to make juice better, if you do wish to juice something, is to add the pulp back into the final product. Drink about 70% of the product as juice, then add the remainder to the pulp and eat this mixture. You can add some chopped vegetables to the mixture and turn it into a tasty creation that is good for you and fits well in your raw-foodist diet.

Smoothies and Blended Food

Green smoothies created in your blender are great for you! You can prepare these in just a minute and create a tasty meal or snack. You’ll quickly learn what combination of vegetables, and perhaps a little fruit, tastes the best to you.

Carrot Juice

Some folks say carrot juice raises blood sugar and has other bad effects. There is no firm evidence of this that I have seen and carrots are a great, nutritious root vegetable. Of course, consuming huge amounts of carrot juice would be detrimental, but so would huge amount of any single food. A mixture of raw foods is needed to obtain the right balance of enzymes, vitamins and minerals.

If you like carrot juice or carrot smoothies, by all means have a glass! But don’t drink a quart, replacing other valuable raw foods by filling up on just carrots.

Quote [28]

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”

(Chinese Proverb)

Pizza Bread- Raw!

Barley Pizza Crust
2 Cups Sprouted Barley
1 1/4 Cup ground Flax Seeds
1/2 Cup Leek (Onion would work too)
2 Celery Stalks
1 Carrot
1 Large Tomato
2 Large Cloves of Garlic
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Water

I mixed the ingredients in the food processor and spread the batter in small circles on teflex sheets. (If you prefer, you could make a couple of large pizza crusts instead.) I dehydrated at 115 for a couple of hours, turned the crusts onto the mesh, then dehydrated at 105 for another 6 hours or so. Yummo!

Carmella’s Notes:
Alissa suggests that you soak the barley (unhulled as pearled barley won’t sprout!) for 6 hours, then let it sprout for a day or so, rinsing often, until the tail is just starting to peek out. For more info on how to sprout barley, go to this site.

For a delicious variation, you can also substitute barley for sprouted buckwheat.

Ravioli- Raw!

This raw version by Alissa Cohen should stick to your ribs. “This is one of my favorite raw recipes,” explains Cohen. “I often make these at seminars and events and people go wild over them! There is always one person who continues to ask me through the whole event, ‘What kind of pasta is this made from” even after I tell them numerous times that it’s turnip not pasta. It’s hard to believe these are raw!’” AlissaCohen.com

ALISSA COHEN’S RAW RAVIOLI

Wrappers (these replace the pasta dough):

• 4 turnips

Peal the turnips. Slice the turnips into very thin slices, by cutting them in half and then using a spiral slicer, mandolin or other vegetable slicer to make thin round disks.

Cheese filling:

• 1 cup pine nuts
• 1 cup macadamia nuts
• 1 cup walnuts
• 6 t braggs
• 8 t lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup parsley

Blend the pine nuts, macadamia nuts and walnuts in a food processor until ground. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well, until creamy.

Tomato Sauce:

• 2 large tomatoes
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 1/4 fresh basil
• 1 clove garlic
• 6 dates
• dash of olive oil (optional)

Soak the sun dried tomatoes until soft. In the food processor, blend the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and garlic – until well blended . Add the dates and olive oil and blend until smooth. This sauce should be thick.

Directions for Assembling the Ravioli:

1. Remove a single turnip slice from the batch.
2. Place a teaspoon full of cheese filling in the turnip slice and fold the turnip over until all the sides meet.
3. Squeeze the edges together. Some of the filling will ooze out, but this is what will hold the edges together. Just put the excess back into the bowl to reuse. If you don’t have enough filling in them they will not stick together.
4. Place them in a single layer on a large plate and drizzle the tomato sauce on top, allow to sit for a few hours. The turnip will become soft from the tomato sauce.
5. To serve, scoop us the raviolis with a spatula.

Double Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake- Raw!

Yield one 9-inch cake

Crust:
1 ¾ cups nuts (I used raw almonds)
½ cup raw cacao nibs
1/8 teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt
¾ teaspoon cherry extract
1 tablespoon raw chocolate powder
¾ cup raisins

Filling:
3 cups cashews, soaked 1-2 hours, drained
1/3 cup raw agave
6 dates, pitted
½ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup water
2 teaspoons cherry extract
1 cup coconut oil
¾ cup raw chocolate powder

Coulis:
1 bag frozen berries (cherries would be optimal but any will do!)
¼ cup raw agave
dash fresh lemon juice
pinch cinnamon

Crust directions: Grind the nuts, cacao nibs and salt in a food processor, fitted with the “S” blade, until coarsely ground. Add the cherry extract and chocolate powder and pulse to thoroughly combine. Add the raisins and process until the mixture sticks together when gently pressed between your fingers. Press into the bottom of an 8 or 9-inch round spring form pan. Place in the freezer while you make the filling.

Filling directions: Using a food processor, fitted with the “S” blade, process the cashews, agave, dates, lemon juice, and water until it’s creamy. This could take 3-5 minutes. You might need to stop and scrape down the sides a couple of times. Add the cherry extract, coconut oil, and chocolate powder and process until creamy. Pour the filling into the spring form pan and freeze the cheesecake so it sets. Let thaw for up to an hour or more before eating.

Coulis directions: Blend all of the ingredients together.

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“It’s bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children’s health than the pediatrician.”

(Meryl Streep)

33 Of The Healthiest Fruits And Vegetables On Earth.

Pineapple	Speeds post-surgery	Promotes joint health	Reduces asthma inflammation
Blueberries	Restore antioxidant levels	Reverse age-related brain decline	Prevent urinary tract infection
Spinach	Helps maintain mental sharpness	Reduces the risk of cancers of the liver, ovaries, colon and prostate	Top nutrient density
Red Bell Pepper	Reduces risk of lung, prostate, ovarian and cervical cancer	Protects against sunburn	Promotes heart health
Broccoli	Reduces diabetic damage	Lowers risk of prostate, bladder, colon, pancreatic, gastric and breast cancer	Protects the brain in event of injury
Tomato	Reduces inflammation	Lowers risk of developing esophageal, stomach, colorectal, lung and pancreatic cancer	Reduces cardiovascular disease risk
Apple	Supports immunity	Fights lung and prostate cancer	Lowers Alzheimer’s risk
Artichoke	Helps blood clotting	Antioxidant Superfood	Lowers “bad” cholesterol
Arugula	Lowers birth defect risk	Reduces fracture risk	Protects eye health
Asparagus	Nourishes good gut bacteria	Protects against birth defects	Promotes heart health
Avocado	Limits liver damage	Reduces oral cancer risk	Lowers cholesterol levels
Blackberries	Build bone density	Suppress appetite	Enhance fat burning
Butternut Squash	Supports night vision	Combats wrinkles	Promotes heart health
Cantaloupe	Bolsters immunity	Protects skin against sunburn	Reduces inflammation
Carrot	Antioxidants defend DNA	Fights cataracts	Protects against some cancers
Cauliflower	Stimulates detoxification	Suppresses breast cancer cell growth	Defends against prostate cancer
Cherries	Alleviate arthritic pain and gout	Lower “bad” cholesterol	Reduce inflammation
Cranberries	Alleviate prostate pain	Fight lung, colon and leukemia cancer cells	Prevent urinary tract infection
Green Cabbage	Promotes healthy blood clotting	Reduces risk of prostate, colon, breast and ovarian cancers	Activates the body’s natural detoxification systems
Kale	Counters harmful estrogens that can feed cancer	Protects eyes against sun damage and cataracts	Increases bone density
Kiwi	Combats wrinkles	Lowers blood clot risk and reduces blood lipids	Counters constipation
Mango	Supports immunity	Lowers “bad” cholesterol	Regulates homocysteine to protect arteries
Mushrooms	Promote natural detoxification	Reduce the risk of colon and prostate cancer	Lower blood pressure
Orange	Reduces levels of “bad” cholesterol	Lowers risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, breast and stomach, and childhood leukemia	Pectin suppresses appetite
Papaya	Enzymes aid digestion	Reduces risk of lung cancer	Enhances fat burning
Plums & Prunes	Counter constipation	Antioxidants defend against DNA damage	Protects against post-menopausal bone loss
Pomegranate	Enhances sunscreen protection	Lowers “bad” cholesterol	Fights prostate cancer
Pumpkin	Protects joints against polyarthritis	Lowers lung and prostate cancer risk	Reduces inflammation
Raspberries	Inhibit growth of oral, breast, colon and prostate cancers	Antioxidant DNA defense	Lower “bad” cholesterol levels
Strawberries	Protect against Alzheimer’s	Reduce “bad” cholesterol	Suppress growth of colon, prostate and oral cancer
Sweet Potato	Reduces stroke risk	Lowers cancer risk	Protect against blindness
Watermelon	Supports male fertility	Reduces risk of several cancers: prostate, ovarian, cervical, oral and pharyngeal	Protects skin against sunburn
Banana	Increases Fat Burning	Lowers risk of colorectal and kidney cancer, leukemia	Reduces asthmas symptoms in children

Top 5 Super Herbs You Should Be Using!

1) Pau d’Arco
Pau D’Arco (Avellanedae or Tabebuia Impetiginosa) is the inner bark of a majestic flowering Amazonian tree. The pau d’arco tree grows up to 30 meters in height and the base of the tree can measure up to 3 meters in diameter.

Indigenous people noticed that the pau d’arco tree does not rot, even when it is dead. Pau d’arco bark contains intrinsic chemical factors that fight fungus and mold, even in some of the wettest environments on Earth. This was likely how and why indigenous people started using the bark medicinally to fight fungal conditions.

Pau d’Arco is a wonderful herb with many documented properties and may help provide the following benefits:
• Improves toxic-blood related conditions, such as acne, hepatitis, environmentally produced allergies and asthma, and poisons attacking the liver.
•    Stimulates the immune system to such a positive degree that it has been traditionally used as a primary treatment for viruses, such as flu, herpes or hepatitis.
•    Eliminates Candida, and Candida-type problems from the body as a systemic anti-fungal, by stimulating the body’s own Candida scavengers.
•    Inhibits free-radical induced cell-mutation, especially those within the blood or skin. May also decrease in the spreading of mutated cells and the formation of new malignant growths.
•    Balances blood sugar levels, and reduce the amount of insulin needed by diabetics.

Pau d’Arco teas make a fantastic base to cacao drinks. Simply add cacao beans or nibs and blend. Also adding some form of sweetener (such as raw yacon root syrup, agave cactus nectar, stevia, honey, fruit, etc.) makes a wonderful tasting beverage; yet take note that the more sweetener that is used, the less effective is the pau d’arco.

Pau d’Arco tea possesses a wonderful flavor and has a naturally sweet taste, yet contains no sugar. Pau d’Arco is a great herbal base for all teas. Experiment with mixing it with other herbs.
Dosage: 10 grams makes 1-2 liters of tea. One may add 3.5 grams of the herb cat’s claw to the pau d’arco tea to make a traditional Shipibo Peruvian tea.

NOTE: As with many herbs, an excessive amount of Pau d’Arco tea, may cause cramping, nausea, or intestinal upset. However, there have been no reports in the scientific literature of any danger of ingesting Pau d’Arco tea. Pau d’Arco tea has been in human use for thousands of years.

Pau d’Arco tea recipe:
Pau D’Arco (10 grams)
Cat’s Claw (3.5 grams)
Goji Berries (20 grams)
Chancapiedra (3 grams)
1 raw vanilla bean
(This makes 2 liters of healing tea and is extraordinary when chilled)

2) Vanilla Bean

From the exquisite blooms of the vanilla orchid come the pods that yield one of the world’s greatest flavors. Vanilla beans (pods) are the cured dried fruit of the only fruit-bearing orchid. Although there are about 150 species of vanilla orchids, only a few are used commercially.

Vanilla is one of the oldest and most expensive spices as well as one of the most familiar that is best known for its flavor enhancing qualities as well as its aromatic uses.

Among the purported health benefits of vanilla by ancient peoples was that it could act as an aphrodisiac. In the 1700’s it was recommended by physicians to be drunk as an infusion or tincture to increase male potency.

Studies have shown that vanilla can help people fall asleep faster and enter into deep REM sleep or dream state.

When purchasing vanilla, look for beans that are hand-cultivated and hand-picked without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, and cured only in the sun. Also, many vanilla beans are blanched in hot water to start the curing process, this is other-than-the-best-ever. Stay away from vanilla extracts, especially artificial vanilla extracts, for when vanilla is processed into this form, it losses it’s health-enhancing herbal properties. Nothing compares to using whole, raw vanilla beans when you want real vanilla flavor!

Suggested use: Use in all your favorite raw creations, including chocolate drinks, smoothies and desserts. If you have a Vita Mix or other powerful blender, you can snip (with kitchen scissors) small pieces of the whole bean right into your blended creations (the beans, flavor and nutrition go further this way). You can also add half of a vanilla bean into any tea recipe along with the other herbs for a delicious and smooth taste. Another way to use vanilla is to split the bean open lengthwise, scrape out the thousands of tiny black seeds and add them to your cuisine.

3) Chanca Piedra

Chancapiedra (Phyllanthus niruri) is one of the most important superherbs discovered in the entire history of herbalism due to its effect on directly fighting calcium-forming organisms called nanobacteria. Nanobacteria have been linked to inflammation and the production of “bad calcium” in the human body. Nearly every disease condition known to humans, mammals, reptiles, and birds involves calcification. Calcification is the overproduction of “bad calcium” due to the growth of nanobacteria.

Chancapiedra’s name means “stone breaker” due to its ability to break up calcium phosphate crystals (bad calcium). This superherb’s historical use in achieving excellent gall bladder and kidney health is well-studied. In South America, Chancapiedra is also known for many other healing properties including helping: malaria symptoms, fever, flu, alleviating liver stagnation, improving digestion, and even as a mild laxative and pain reliever.

Precautions: People with heart conditions or taking prescription heart medications should consult their healthcare practitioner before taking this superherb. This superherb is generally not recommended for those with hypoglycemia symptoms.

4) Chaparral

Chaparral is a desert-growing plant that contains a powerful substance known as NDGA (nordihydroguararetic acid). The active ingredients are found in the leaves which can be soaked in water for an hour; this cold chaparral tea water is then taken internally or applied topically to the skin or hair. Chaparral has also been noted for its ability to ease arthritic pain, and contains potent antioxidants which may act throughout the body to help reduce inflammation.

Suggested Uses for Chaparral:
Make a cold infusion of Noni Leaf Tea and Chaparral. Both Noni Leaf and Chaparral contain a wide range of antioxidants, and work in combination to help protect our cells from free-radical damage. To make an even higher antioxidant drink, use this cold tea as a base for a smoothie or sauce made with Raw Cacao.
Both Chuchuhuasi and Chaparral hold the potential to relieve arthritic pain. Bring 3 cups of water with 2 teaspoons of Chuchuhuasi to a gentle simmer, and let simmer for one hour. At the end of the hour, steep 2 teaspoons of Chaparral in this tea. Let cool to room temperature, strain, and drink slowly throughout the day.

5) Sacha Jergón

Sacha Jergon is one of the main herbs in traditional Amazonian herbalism. Sacha Jergón helps improve the effectiveness of herbs that it is used with and is perhaps one of the best herbs in the world for liver support and rejuvination. This perennial herb grows wild in the Amazon basin up to the lower elevations of the Andes Mountains. The active elements of this herb are found in the tuberous off-white colored root. In its native habitat the root is pulverized in cold water and then drunk immediately for the highest level of therapeutic benefit. This herb earned its name due to its effectiveness in combating snake venom.

Sacha Jergón is as an activator of other herbs as well as a liver rejuvenator. Sacha Jergón provides the key that unlocks the potential of many of the extraordinarily rich herbs of Amazonia. Sacha Jergón can be used in conjunction with any combination of herbs to help improve immunity, cleanse the body, and restore optimal health and well-being.

NOTE: When choosing Sacha Jergon, look for sustainably harvested and wildcrafted products.
Raw Sacha Jergón powder is in a form which may be easily mixed into any juice, smoothie, or beverage. This herb has traditionally been used in cold water infusions, therefore no special preparation is required. Sacha Jergón mixes easily into cold water and has a mildly sweet taste. Sacha Jergón may even be mixed into a smoothie with Raw Cacao Beans to increase the antioxidant and heart-opening effects of the raw chocolate.

Veggie Pizza…Raw!

Crust

• 2 cups raw, finely ground almonds (grind prior to use)
• 3 cups diced, crimini mushrooms
• 1 cup spinach leaves, chopped
• ¾ cup diced, broccoli crowns
• ½ small, red bell pepper chopped
• ¾ cup diced, white and green onions (combo of both)
• 5 pieces, softened sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• ¼ cup tahini (or a little less)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• ½ tsp. dried thyme
• ½ tsp. dried tarragon
• 1 TB Bragg Liquid Aminos
• 1 TB lemon juice
• ½ cup water (to help blend)

In food processor, combine all of the crust ingredients. Process until it forms a ball. Spread out on parchment paper lined dehydrator screen. Dehydrate until firm.

Spicy Red Pepper Spread

• 1 small red bell pepper
• 6-9 (depending on size) softened sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• ½ small white onion, chopped
• sea salt
• ground cayenne pepper

Blend until thick and creamy.

For this pizza I topped it with zucchini that marinated in a small amount of Nama Shoyu, paprika, and just a pinch of ground chipotle chili pepper. Sliced onions, fresh parsley, and raw pine nuts helped finish the toppings list. You can put on whatever you like.

After pizza crust is firm spoon the red pepper spread on thick.
Top with zucchini, onions, pine nuts and parsley.

Quote [26]

“The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.  “

(G.K. Chesterton)

Exposing Detox Myths.

When you begin a raw food diet, you have to break those old habits of high-fat, cooked complex carbs and eating all that huge amount of meat and animal products.

Get Those Toxins OUT!

All the toxins from your old diet are stored in your body. Very few of these are eliminated in wastes and certainly those from the days before you begin the frugivore regimen are still in the body.

We know that habits are difficult to break. If you have ever had a bad habit such as being perpetually late or clicking your tongue and then decided to stop, you know it can be difficult. If you have ever had a really bad habit like smoking or drinking alcohol, then you know it is really, really difficult to stop. It seems the worse the habit, the more difficult to quit. But any habit can be broken.

The body loves habits and doesn’t often approve of change right away. Subsequently, we sometimes feel cravings or urges when we stop a bad habit. Or we may do the action or behavior unconsciously.

When you begin your diet, you might well find you have some cravings for those dense, high-fat, highly processed, cooked and seasons foods. You might find something you shouldn’t be eating in your hand before you even realize what you are doing!

Don’t beat yourself up about these cravings, urges or even a small set-back. You are, after all, human and only human. However, there are simple ways to help your body detox encouraging yourself consciously or unconsciously to slip.

Practical Guidelines

First of all, get enough sleep and some exercise but avoid really hard physical exercise and mental stress until your energy level recovers from the changes in diet. You’ll probably want to change your exercise practices, one you return to hard physical exercise, to muscle building rather than weight loss because the proper, natural raw food diet will maintain your ideal weight quite effectively given time.

Periods of detoxification, tissue repair, growth and healing will occur in the body. Some days you will have tons of energy and others you may have less as the body uses its energy to dispose of toxins.

The myth that this purification process goes on forever is totally false. It really only takes a short time to get all the toxins out of your body after you begin a natural, uncooked, unseasoned food diet that is low in fat.

Of course, if you fail to heed the program and eat all the wrong things, making your diet high fat, even though it may be raw, or if you mix the wrong foods, you may be problems and fail to reach that wonderful goal of great health, abundant energy and a good life.

Lack of Energy

A common complaint by people beginning the raw foods diet is that they lack energy. After only days, your body should have MORE energy; not less. Here are the most common causes of lack of energy when attempting to change to a frugivore diet:

• Failure to get enough good, sound sleep
• Using oil in your diet which slows digestion significantly – up to two hours per drop!
• Eating too many fatty foods such as avocados, nuts or seeds
• Failure to exercise at all, or to exercise very little. Everyone needs exercise. Of course, heed the warnings that the very first few days, you should avoid too much strenuous exercise. But that doesn’t mean sit in front of the TV 24/7! But over training in the first days is not good for you.
• Depression, negative thinking or other negative emotional states including high stress situations. Chronic loneliness or anxiety can contribute to this problem.
• Failure to get fresh air and some exercise. Here we go back to the negative affects to too much TV or sedentary lifestyle.
• Failure to hydrate with water, fruit juices and healthy liquids.
• Mixing the wrong raw foods causing indigestion and acid stomach. Anytime you feel bad, you don’t have energy. Eat fatty foods without combining sugary foods. For example, don’t sit down and eat ½ an avocado along with a banana.
• Using spices, salt or other condiments that are not really raw, natural foods eaten by primates in the animal kingdom.
• Eating when you are not hungry. This often results, even on a raw food diet, in eating the wrong things or eating too much.
• Smoking or second-hand smoke.

Because these activities elevate the hormone that results in internal toxemia, you simply won’t feel your best. Listen to the messages your body sends to you!

Prevention

When you don’t feel your best on a raw-foodist diet, analyze recent choices and activities. Identify if any of the risk factors are present. Then, eliminate the cause and rest a little extra for a day or two. But don’t remain sedentary.

What REALLY Isn’t Normal

If you follow the raw-foodist diet for a year or longer and still experience any of the following, you probably should contact a doctor to ensure you aren’t developing a medical condition. Anyone can catch a virus or become ill; it has nothing to do with the raw-food diet. In fact, you’ll experience LESS illness if you follow the techniques outlined in these lessons accurately.

However, if you started your regimen with no serious health issues, yet you either experience the onset of symptoms which last longer than a few days OR you have these symptoms continually, seek medical consultations.

It’s just not normal to continually feel:

• Tired in the afternoon even though you got enough sound sleep the night before
• You have little or no energy and don’t feel you are capable of moderate to strenuous exercise on a regular basis (3-5 times per week).
• You have many ups and downs in energy frequently.
• You feel worse than before you changed your diet yet you have followed the diet carefully including not eating too much fat or mixing the wrong foods. This applies after the first month or few months of allowing your body to get the toxins from your years of bad diet out of your body.
• You experience a lot of itching. This could possibly indicate an allergy, existing or new.
• Your body odor is very strong or changes dramatically.
• You have frequent headaches or your headaches are especially severe.
• You have dental problems that didn’t exist previously. If you eat a raw food diet and practice good dental hygiene, your dental exams should be improved, not worse than before!

It’s not abnormal to have a minor headache once in a while or to have a body odor when you exercise and get seriously sweaty. However, when symptoms persist or are extremely severe, please consult a medical practitioner immediately.

Get Your Greens With Blended Salads.

“it’s hard for me to get more greens in my diet, how can I do it?”

The short answer is, it couldn’t be easier… if you want to. Making your salad the main dish for dinner is a great start… and then start experimenting with different greens. There’s an abundance of green leafy vegetables that you can make into dozens of salads, burritos, wraps and many more.

Here’s a favorite that’s quick, easy and a great way to increase greens in your diet.

Blended Salad

One of the benefits of blended salads is that you can get a large amount of greens into a meal.. and you can be creative with what you add to the mix. Here’s one of my favorite recipes:

(serves 1-2 … adjust accordingly)

• 3-4 Kale leaves
• 5-6 Romaine Lettuce leaves
• 2 Roma Tomatoes
• 1/4-1/2 Cucumber
• 2-3 Green Onions
• Handful of fresh Cilantro
• 1/2 Avocado
• Handful Sun Dried Tomatoes
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 Red Pepper
• Sprouts (alfalfa, brocolli, etc)
• Sprouted Pumkin Seeds

Add all ingredients except green onions, red peppers, sun dried tomatoes and avocado into a blender or food processor and blend until you get a smooth consistency. I recommend adding a little at a time and saving the sun dried tomatoes until the end and blend partially to leave small chunks. Top with chopped avocado, green onions, pumpkin seeds, and sprouts and you have a super green meal! You can be creative and make any combination you’d like… toppings, different greens, vegetables, seeds… make a different one every time and have fun!

Enjoy!

By: Mark Idzik

Is It Raw or Not?

Lets break this down into three categories:  foods to maximize, foods to include some, and foods to minimize or exclude.

On a raw foods diet, you want to 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.

• Young Coconuts - Young coconuts are a excellent source of electrolytes, the best purified water and a good source of fat and calcium.

• Dried Fruits- Most dried fruits in the natrual food store are cooked!

• 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 good sources.

• 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 – 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 - 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.  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 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. 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 research, all maple syrup is cooked, so it is not raw..  Use fresh barhi dates (which do 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.

• 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. 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 – Confirmation from several major manufacturers of frozen vegetables, frozen veggies are blanched before they are quick frozen, so these would not qualify as raw.

Quote [25]

“People either pay the price for health or pay the price for sickness”

(Dr Doug Graham)

Mistakes Made On a Raw Food Diet.

Here are some of the biggest mistakes people make on a raw-food diet:

1. Overeating Acid Fruits

Acid fruits are excellent for health, however, there’s a limit to the acidity that your body can handle. When acid fruits are consumed in excess, the acidity can eat away the enamel of your teeth, or cause other problems.

Many people go on “grapefruit cures” and in just 7 days softened the enamel of their teeth, to the point that they chipped a tooth!

So what is “excess”? It will depend on each person, but usually it’s fairly easy to consume too many acid fruits. So it would be best, on average, to have only a maximum of 2 big oranges per day, or 1 grapefruit, or half a pineapple, or the equivalent.

The fruits to beware are: oranges, pineapple, lemons, and most citrus.

A way to “by-pass” this would be to drink freshly-squeezed orange juice or an orange smoothie, and making sure the acid doesn’t touch your teeth too much (don’t swirl the juice in your mouth). Tip: Using a straw can help you avoid this.

You can also make great smoothies by mixing acid fruits with non-acidic fruits, which is good because the acidity is “tampered” by the other fruits.

2. Eating Dried Fruits

Dried fruits eaten on a regular basis tend to cause two main problems: digestive problems and dental problems.

People who eat dried fruits tend to get a lot of gas, but they also tend to have strong cravings for foods they try to avoid. That’s because dried fruits disturb digestion so much you end up wanting to eat *anything*.

As for dental health, dried fruits won’t do anything to your enamel, but they will stick to your teeth and provide perfect nourishment to the bacteria that cause cavities.

Unfortunately, raw-foodists often rely on dried fruits heavily. These include raisins, dried figs, apricots, and even fresh dates.

It is reccomended to avoid eating dried fruit on a regular basis. Replace these with fresh fruit. Dried fruit should only be eaten occasionally when nothing else is available instead, such as when going on a long trip.

3. Overeating Nuts

When a person goes on a raw-food diet, they tend to eat a lot more fat than what would be optimal. That means a lot of avocados, oils, and nuts.

Problems will show up fast if you decide to eat a lot of nuts. People don’t realize the fact that nuts are not only high in fat, but they are also difficult to digest for most people.

Overeating nuts will leave you tired and fatigued, but there’s also something else. Even though they are rich and filling, when you overeat on nuts you tend to crave all sorts of food and never find balance in your diet!

As a general rule that can be modified depending on the individual,  have a maximum of about 2 ounces of nuts per day, or 3-4 tablespoons of nut butter.

4. Listening to Misleading Advice

A lot of people label themselves “experts” and send out misleading advice to the masses. Usually, the general advice given by most authors is, “Eat anything you want, as long as it’s raw.”

Obviously, this is not a great plan for success.

Recently, the advice is modified to: “Try to figure out what works for you.”

In that case, the “experts” left it to their poor confused readers to go through the hurdles of learning and experimenting…

This is completely unnecessary!

Eating raw is great, and the truth is you don’t have to eat 100% raw or even 90% raw to get some great results! But what you do need is to get the right information.

Avoid the misleading advice of those who are just interested in selling you their new line of supplements. Instead, learn how to tap into the power of raw foods by getting the right information, and you’ll see, it’s much easier than you think, and the rewards will just keep on coming!

A Raw Foodist’s Mistake- Dry Fruit.

Did you know that most dried fruits in the natural food store are COOKED?

Yes!! They are.   Manufacturers and distributors of dried fruits and even “dried tomatoes” were asked 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.

Usually only “sun dried” foods would be considered “raw” since they are dried by the sun. So why not dry your own?

How to Dry Fruits and Vegetables

Food dehydration is safe because water is removed from the food. Because water is removed from the food, mold and bacteria cannot grow on it;thus it will not spoil. There is, however, a loss of vitamin A and C in dried foods due to heat and air. It usually takes vegetables 6-16 hours to dry, and fruit 12-48 hours. One can dry fruit and vegetables, and make jerky and fruit leather.

Choose Which Drying Method is Right For You

• Sun Drying. This is rather difficult because you need three to four sunny days of at least 100 degrees in a row.

• Oven Drying. Oven drying is an acceptable method of drying food, but it isn’t very energy efficient, and foods aren’t very flavorful in the end. If your oven cannot obtain temperatures below 200 degrees farenheit, use another method for food dehydration. You will need to prop open the oven door to maintain air circulation during the drying process.

• Electric Dehydrating. This is the best method of dehydrating food. An electric dehydrator is energy efficient and can be operated at low temperatures needed to maintain nutritive values in the food. Your electric food dehydrator should have some sort of heat control and a fan to maintain air circulation during the drying process.

The Drying Process

When drying food, don’t keep temperatures too low or too high. Temperatures too low may result in the groth of bacteria on the food. Temperatures too high will result in the food being cooked instead of dried. Food that is underdried will spoil, and food that is overdried will lose its flavor and nutritive value.

Food should be dehydrated between 120 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. You can begin drying your food at higher temperatures, but turn the temperature down after the first hour or so. The last hour or so of drying time should be turned down on a lower setting. You must turn the food and rotate the trays while the food is drying.

You will know your food is dried when when you touch it, and it is leathery with no pockets of moisture. If you are testing fruit, you can tear a piece in half. If you see moisture beads along the tear, it is not dry enough. Vegetables should also be tough but can also be crisp.

When storing your dried product, keep in mind that no moisture should be allowed to enter the container…ever. Dried food absorbs moisture from the air, so the storage container must be airtight. Some acceptable storage containers are jars and plastic freezer bags. If storing fruit leather, wrap in plastic wrap and store in a another airtight container. Store your containers of dried food in a cool, dark, dry place. 60 degrees Fahrenheit or below is best.

Vegetable Drying Guide

All vegetables except onions and peppers,and mushrooms should be washed, sliced, and blanched. Dry vegetables in single layers on trays. Depending of drying conditions, drying times make take longer. Dry vegetables at 130-degrees Fahrenheit.

• Beans, green: Stem and break beans into 1-inch pieces.Blanch. Dry 6-12 hours until brittle.

• Beets: Cook and peel beets. Cut into 1/4-inch pieces. Dry 3-10 hours until leathery.

• Broccoli: Cut and dry 4-10 hours.

• Carrots: Peel, slice or shred. Dry 6-12 hours until almost brittle.

• Cauliflower: Cut and dry 6-14 hours.

• Corn: Cut corn off cob after blanching and dry 6-12 hours until brittle.

• Mushrooms: Brush off, don’t wash. Dry at 90 degrees for 3 hours, and then 125 degrees for the remaining drying time. Dry 4-10 hours until brittle.

• Onions: Slice 1/4-inch thick. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.

• Peas: Dry 5-14 hours until brittle.

• Peppers, sweet: Remove seeds and chop. Dry 5-12 hours until leathery.

• Potatoes: Slice 1/8-inch thick. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.

• Tomatoes: Dip in boiling water to loosen skins, peel,slice or quarter. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.

• Zucchini: Slice 1/8-inch thick and dry 5-10 hours until brittle.

Fruit Drying Guide

All fruit should be washed,pitted and sliced. Arrange in single layers on trays. Dry fruit at 135 degrees Fahrenheit. You may wish to pretreat your fruit with lemon juice or ascorbic acid or it won’t darken while you are preparing it for drying. Just slice the fruit into the solution and soak for 5 minutes.

• Apples: Peel, core and slice into 3/8-inch rings, or cut into 1/4-inch slices. Pretreat and dry 6-12 hours until pliable.

• Apricots: Cut in half and turn inside out to dry. Pretreat and dry 8-20 hours until pliable.

• Bananas: Peel, cut into 1/4-inch slices and pretreat. Dry 8-16 hours until plialbe or almost crisp.

• Blueberries: Dry 10-20 hours until leathery.

• Cherries: Cut in half and dry 18-26 hours until leathery and slightly sticky.

• Peaches: Peel, halve or quarter. Pretreat and dry 6-20 hours until pliable.

• Pears: Peel, cut into 1/4-inch slices, and pretreat. Dry 6-20 hours until leathery.

• Pineapple: Core and slice 1/4-inch thick. Dry 6-16 hours until leathery and not sticky.

• Strawberries: Halve or cut into 1/4-inch thick slices. Dry 6-16 hours until pliable and almost crisp.

Sugar Substitutes III: Honey- Raw Organic vs. Refined Pasteurized

Refined and Pasteurized Honey

The vast majority of brands of honey in most grocery stores are refined and pasteurized – these brands provide little more than liquid sugar.

Nectar commonly contains about 20 to 40 percent sugar. The bees in the hive concentrate the honey in the honeycomb to about 83% solids. Bees add the enzyme invertase to convert sucrose to the simple sugars glucose and fructose. After collection, most honey is heat treated. Honey is also filtered to remove air bubbles, solids and pollen grains.

Raw, Organic Honey

Honey that’s truly raw - not exposed to more than 118 degrees Fahrenheit – contains the following nutrients that can nourish your cells and keep you healthy:

• A number of flavonoids, which are antioxidants that can help keep your cardiovascular system healthy and help prevent damage caused by excessive amounts of free radicals
• Amino acids (building blocks of protein in your body)
• Enzymes
• Trace amounts of calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, potassium, and a number of other minerals
• Healthy, natural sugars (fructose and glucose) that can help create glycogen stores in your liver and muscles, and provide a source of energy to your cells

What follows are some health benefits that are associated with raw, organic honey:

• Raw honey contains phytonutrients – caffeic acid methyl caffeate, phenylethyl caffeate, and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate – that may have anti-tumor and cancer-preventing properties. When raw honey is heavily processed and heated, these phytonutrients lose most or all of their effectiveness.

• Research carried out in several Israeli hospitals indicates that honey may improve the strength of your immune system by supporting your red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

• Honey may help promote optimal build-up of glycogen stores in your liver, which can help your liver optimally supply your brain with glucose while you sleep and exercise for long periods of time.

• When compared to other sweeteners, honey may improve your ability to regulate your blood sugar and insulin levels, though you still want to use raw, organic honey sparingly, as consumption of all sweeteners, even natural ones, can increase your blood sugar and insulin levels in the short and long term. Because raw, organic honey is rich in antioxidants, eating high quality honey may help support the health of your blood vessels.

• From batch to batch, raw, organic honey may contain some friendly bacteria, which may help you experience optimal digestive tract health and a strong immune system.

• When applied topically, raw, organic honey may accelerate healing of wounds, including burns and ulcers. The wound-healing properties of honey may be partly due to glucose oxidase, an enzyme that naturally occurs in honey. When glucose oxidase combines with water, the result is hydrogen peroxide, which is a mild antiseptic. Another possible reason why honey is an effective ointment for wounds is that the fructose and glucose in honey attracts water, and by keeping a wound dry, honey can help prevent growth of undesirable microorganisms.

Quote [24]

“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

(Epictetus)

Nut Overdose?

Don’t Eat Too Many Nuts

Nuts are protein-rich foods. However, protein is not desirable in large amounts. Nuts are actually concentrated with fat rather than extremely high in protein anyway and too much fat is really bad.

Blending nuts with the wrong foods, because of the fact that fat slows digestion, allowing fruits to ferment and cause acid problems, should be avoided.

The Place for Nuts in Our Diets

If you think about it, nuts are seasonal foods. They are only available naturally during specific times of the year. Fresh nuts are only available for a few months out of the year and dried nuts are much higher in fat and protein because they’ve lost their water content.

If you have ever eaten nuts fresh from the tree, you’ll know how much better they taste, how much more satisfying their texture, and how smoothly they grind between our frugivore teeth.

By all means, enjoy a few fresh nuts when they are available. However, limit your consumption to a small quantity and avoid eating them on the same day that you partake in avocado, which is also high in fat.

Children and Pregnant Women

Children have slightly different needs than adults. Children can have some nut products in their diets, but nut milks are the best choice. However, this should be provided to children that are age three or older because nut milk simply doesn’t contain the needed calcium for proper bone growth.

Until three years of age, infants and children thrive on mother’s milk. This is the truly perfect food, designed by nature. Of course, not every mother has the choice of nursing for one reason or another and in that case, animal milk can be used but raw goat’s milk is preferred over other milks.

One of the problems with giving children nuts is ensuring they chew them well. Raw nut butters solve that problem very well. BUT, children should still have most of their energy needs met through fruits and green leafy vegetables so that they obtain all the vitamins and minerals needed for health and rapid growth.

Similar dietary requirements apply to pregnant women because the baby in the womb is growing rapidly.

Almond Butter vs. Peanut Butter

This chart compares creamy unsalted versions of each nutty spread, and the percentages are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

	2 tbsp. peanut butter	2 tbsp. almond butter
Calories	190	190
Total Fat (g)	16	16
Saturated Fat (g)	2	1.5
Carbs (g)	7	6
Fiber (g)	3	4
Protein (g)	8	7
Calcium	1%	8%
Iron	3%	6%
Vitamin E	14%	40%
Folate	6%	6%

Nutrition-wise, it looks like almond butter offers a bit more, especially in terms of vitamin E. Remember, a serving of each is only two tablespoons, so watch those portions.

Sprouting II

Sprouting at home is an easy and cost-effective way to add enzymatically-active, highly alkalizing food to your daily routine.

What should you sprout?

• Amaranth
• Buckwheat
• Beans (all kinds)
• Chickpeas
• Lentils
• Quinoa
• Sunflower seeds (and more!)

How to sprout in 10 easy steps:

You can buy sprouting kits in most health food stores, but it’s just as easy to sprout at home using three readily-available household objects: a jar, cheesecloth and a rubber band. Here are the ten steps to sprouting:

1. Rinse the seeds you intend to sprout well and pour into the jar (fill to 1/4 mark)
2. Fill the jar at least 3/4 full of water
3. Soak overnight at room temperature
4. Pour out the water and seeds and rinse with fresh water
5. Return the seeds to the jar
6. Cover the jar with cheesecloth and secure the cloth with the rubber band
7. Briefly turn the jar upside down to drain the remaining water
8. Sprouts will begin to appear within 24 hours (give or take)
9. Make sure the sprouts stay moist so they sprout fully by rinsing and draining them (as in step #7)
10. Rinse your sprouts before eating.

Sprouts can be stored in the fridge uncovered for up to one week

Happy sprouting!

Quote [23]

Smooth seas do not create skillful sailors….

(Anonymous)

7 Day Vegan Meal Plan.

Day 1

Breakfast: ¾ cup whole grain cereal and soy or rice milk with ¾ cup of fruit of your choice or 1 cup of Toasted Apple cinnamon cereal and almond milk (recipes in Thrive) with ½ cup fruit of your choice.

Lunch: Vega fruit dip (slices of apple, banana, orange) 1/3 serving Natural Vega, 1/3 serving Chocolate Vega, ½ tbsp hemp seeds. Mix Vega and hemp seeds together, dip fruit in and eat.

Snack: 3 fresh dates with hemp butter or 1 65 gram Rejuvenator Brownie (recipe in Thrive).

Dinner: 3 cup mixed greens, with ½ cup broccoli, ¼ chick peas, ¼ avocado and ½ tbsp hemp oil mixed with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or ginger papaya salad dressing, recipe in Thrive).and dulse strips.

Snack: 1 apple, 1/3 serving of Vega with ½ cup cold water.

Total calories: 1450 – 1550

Carb/Protein/Fat % – 43/28/29

Day 2

Breakfast: ½ serving Chocolate Vega blended with ½ a pear, ½ a banana and ¼ cup soaked almonds. Blend with about 450 ml of cold water.

Lunch: 3 cup mixed greens, with ½ a grated carrot, ¼ cup soaked green lentils, ¼ avocado and ½ tbsp hemp oil mixed with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or ginger papaya salad dressing, recipe in Thrive).

Snack: 1 apple and ¼ cup walnuts or 1 Vega Bar.

Dinner: Stir Fry: ½ cup extra firm tofu, ¼ cup bean sprouts, ½ cup cauliflower, 1/4c snow peas, ¼ cup water for stir frying with ½ tsp cumin and ½ tsp curry powder, 2tsp hemp oil (to be added after) 1/2c brown rice or soaked quinoa. For best results stir-fry with coconut oil.

Snack: ½ serving of Vega with roughly 190ml of water.

Total calories: 1350 – 1450

Carb/Protein/Fat % – 40/30/30

Day 3

Breakfast: ½ serving Natural Vega blended with ½ pear, ½ banana, 1 tbsp fresh ginger root. Blend with about 450 ml of cold water.

Lunch: spinach with other mixed greens, ¼ cup soaked almonds, hemp oil and balsamic vinegar.

Snack: 1 Mango ¼ pecans or 1 65 gram Rejuvenator Brownie (recipe in Thrive).

Dinner: ½ sweat potato (steamed),1 cup mixed greens and 1 ½ cup stir fried extra firm tofu. or 2 cups of Coconut Lime Curry (recipe in Thrive).

Snack: ½ serving of Vega with roughly 190ml cold water.

Total calories: 1250 ““ 1300

Carb/Protein/Fat % – 42/29/29

Day 4

Breakfast: 1 serving of Vega with 375ml cold water

Lunch: 3 cup mixed greens, with ½ a grated carrot, ¼ cup soaked green lentils, ¼ avocado and ½ tbsp hemp oil mixed with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar or ginger papaya salad dressing (recipe in Thrive).

Snack: 1 papaya, ¼ cup walnuts or 1 Vega bar and yerba mate tea.

Dinner: Avocado and tomato sandwich – 2 slices of sprouted bread, ½ avocado 1 tomato sliced, ½ cup mixed greens, ¼ tsp chilly powder, 1 tsp salad dressing.

Snack: 1 Apple with ¼ cup soaked almonds.

Total calories: 1450 – 1550

Carb/Protein/Fat % – 44/28/28

Day 5

Breakfast: ¾ cup whole grain cereal and soy or rice milk with ¾ cup of fruit of your choice or 1 ¼ cups Toasted Ginger Pear cereal with almond milk, soy milk, rice milk or slightly watered down Natural Vega (recipe in Thrive).

Lunch: ¼ cup soaked lentils, 1 whole wheat pita ,1 Romaine lettuce leaf, 2 slices tomato,1/4cup alfalfa sprouts, 10 medium baby carrots, 1 tsp oil & vinegar salad dressing, 250ml yerba mate tea or Sesame miso soup and yerba mate tea (recipe in Thrive).

Snack: 1 serving of Vega with 375ml cold water or 1 large Fuji apple and ¼ cup walnuts or 1 cup of Vega energy pudding (recipe in Thrive).

Dinner: 3 cup mixed greens, ½ a grated beet, ¼ cup soaked red lentils, ¼ cup soaked almonds and ½ tbsp hemp oil mixed with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar or yerba mate salad dressing (recipe in Thrive). Add 1 tsp of hulled hemp seed if desired.

Snack: 1 Orange and ¼ cup soaked pumpkin seeds. (Pumpkin seeds are high in iron; it will be better absorbed when combined with the vitamin “˜C’ from the orange).

Total calories: 1450 – 1550

Carb/Protein/Fat % – 43/28/29

Day 6

Breakfast: 1 serving of Vega with 375ml of water or Vega Stamina Cereal (Recipe in Thrive).

Lunch: 3 cups mixed greens, with grated carrot root, ¼ cup soaked green lentils and ginger papaya salad dressing.

Snack: 3 dates with hemp seed butter or 1 65 gram Rejuvenator Brownie (recipe in Thrive).

Dinner: ½ sweet potato (steamed), 1 cup mixed greens and 1 ½ cup stir fried extra firm tofu or 2 cups of Coconut Lime Curry (recipe in Thrive).

Snack: 1 banana or 1 Vega bar.

Total calories: 1250 – 1350

Carb/Protein/Fat % - 42/30/28

Day 7

Breakfast: ½ serving of Natural Vega with ½ an orange, ½ a banana, spice, and soaked pumpkin seeds. Blend with cold water, about 400ml.

Lunch: 3 cups mixed greens, with grated carrot, ¼ cup soaked green lentils, ½ cup bean sprouts and ginger papaya salad dressing.

Snack: 1 banana ¼ cup soaked almonds or 1 cup of Chocolate Recovery Pudding (recipe in Thrive).

Dinner: 3 cup mixed greens, with ½ a grated carrot, ¼ cup soaked green lentils, ¼ avocado and ½ tbsp hemp oil mixed with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar or ginger papaya salad dressing (recipe in Thrive).

Snack: 1/3 serving of Chocolate Vega (dry powder), ½ tbsp dried coconut and a banana. Mix the Vega and the coconut together, dip the banana in and eat!

Total calories: 1150 – 1250

Carb/Protein/Fat % – 39/32/29

Best Foods for Recovery.

What foods are best to eat after exercise to promote recovery? Simply put, stress (training) combined with adequate rest and proper nutrition is the recipe for improved performance. Interesting to note, the better the nutrition, the less rest needed, therefore the faster performance improves.

Recovery from a workout actually begins before the workout has begun. What I’m suggesting is that it is not in the athlete’s best interest to break down his/her body in a way that will not result in improved performance. For example, if an athlete embarks on a run without being adequately hydrated, an unnecessary stress is being placed on the body. The athlete will experience a higher heart rate due to inadequate hydration, fitness will not improve as a result and fatigue will occur sooner. As a consequence, recovery will take longer, yet there will be no pay off in terms of improved fitness. This can be referred to as uncomplimentary stress””avoidable stress with no pay off. For recovery time to be minimized it’s important to make sure the body is properly prepared to take on the stress of exercise.

Immediately following a workout, once hydration has been achieved, the best foods to consume are fresh fruit with a small amount of protein. Fresh fruit is easy to digest and the naturally occurring sugar it contains helps to quickly restock depleted muscle glycogen stores. The protein further speeds the up-take of sugar into the system. However, the amount of protein must be small at this meal, comprising of 25% or less of the total number of carbohydrate grams. This is usually referred to as a 4:1 ratio, meaning that for every 4 grams of carbohydrate, there is 1 gram of protein. Another requirement of the protein is that it be easily digestible, ideally in liquid or pudding type consistency. Medium firm tofu is a good option for a post-workout protein source. It is certainly easy to digest and contains magnesium and calcium, two important minerals necessary for smooth muscle contraction. The body needs to restore calcium and magnesium after exercise because they are both excreted in sweat.

This snack should be consumed within 45 minutes from the time the workout has ended. If the body is made to wait longer, recovery will be impaired.

The following is an example of a post workout snack.

Chocolate recovery pudding

¼ pound medium firm tofu ““ protein, calcium
1 banana ““ electrolytes
½ pear ““ natural sugar
½ tbsp hemp oil ““ essential fatty acids (3-6)
½ tbsp cocoa powder ““ natural flavour
sprinkle sea salt ““ sodium (lost in sweat)

Blend all ingredients together until reaching a consistent texture. I recommend a food processor.

*The riper the pear and banana the sweeter the pudding

Once about an hour and a half has passed since finishing the recovery snack, a balanced, nutrient rich, easily digestible meal is optimal. I recommend a nutritious blender drink containing all the components of a complete meal. The reason I recommend a liquid meal is to further reduce the strain on the digestive system during the recovery period. When the body is pooling all its resources to help repair damage done by training, it needs all the help it can get.

The best sources of protein are hemp, pea and rice in powder form, mixed with water. Hemp is very high in vitamin E, a powerful anti-oxidant that helps further speed recovery. Hemp also contains anti-inflammation properties that help soft tissue repair, important after exercise. pH is also an important factor to be aware of when making a recovery formula as lactic acid is a by-product of exercise. The consumption of alkaline producing foods will help to neutralize the typically acidic pH of a fatigued body, thereby speeding recovery.

The most alkaline foods are those with the highest chlorophyll levels ““ dark, leafy greens. I recommend a daily salad for this, among other, reasons. However since dark, leafy green vegetables aren’t great for making blender drinks, you can use chlorella. Chlorella is a fresh water algae from Japan. It possesses the highest amount of chlorophyll in nature, is rich in vitamin B-12 and contains almost 70% protein. An excellent addition for anyone, especially a vegan athlete, I recommend 1-2 teaspoons of chlorella in each blender drink.

Maca is also an excellent food to help speed recovery and promote energy without stimulation. Grown in the Peruvian highlands, maca is a turnip-like root vegetable. Available at many health food stores in powdered form, maca helps to nourish and rejuvenate the adrenal glands. After training or any other type of stress the adrenals become fatigued. If the stress becomes chronic and not enough time is allowed for recovery, common symptoms of stress become apparent. As with chlorella, I recommend adding 1-2 teaspoons of maca in each blender drink.

Here is an example of a blender shake with all the nutrients you need to optimize recovery, and therefore performance:

Nutrient-rich shake

3 cups water (or 2 cups water and 1½ cups ice)
1 banana ““ electrolytes
½ cup blueberries ““ antioxidants
½ pear ““ natural sugar, fibre
1 tbsp hemp oil ““ essential fatty acids (3-6)
1 tbsp ground flax seeds ““ omega 3, fibre
2 tbsp hemp protein ““ complete protein
1 tsp (2.5 grams) maca, powdered form ““ sterols, alkaloids glucosinolates
1 tsp (2.5 grams) chlorella, powdered form ““ vitamin b12, chlorophyll, nucleic acids

Blend together until smooth.

For variety, add either a tablespoon of raw pumpkin or sunflower seeds. Raw carob powder is also a good addition.

The ease of digestibility, the high pH (more alkaline), the raw protein source, and the nutrient density are all major advantages that post workout vegan food sources have over animal based ones. Vegan or not, for the first few hours after a workout, abstaining from animal products can facilitate a quicker recovery.

Plant Oils vs. Fish Oils

It’s been surmised for a long time that people whose diet is based largely on fish and is rich in Omega-3 EFAs have lower rates of heart disease. This led researchers to investigate whether giving fish to people who had already suffered a heart attack would prevent them from having another attack.

The two largest studies conducted were the DART(1) and GISSI(2) trials, which both used fish-based Omega-3 fats. The results were positive, both studies showing a reduced risk. However, a much less publicized study was the LYON(3) trial, which used plant oils as a source of Omega-3 fats. The results showed that plant oils reduced the risk of a secondary heart attack by at least twice that of fish oils!

Comparing these three main trials shows that:

• plant oils are far more effective than fish oils in reducing the chance of cardiac death in high-risk patients;
• plant oils reduce the risk of dying from secondary heart attack by more than double that of fish oils;
• plant oils reduce the number of painful, non-fatal heart attacks;
• there are long-term survival benefits from consuming plant oils.

In addition, we have been so successful at spreading pollution that environmental contamination is widespread and all oceans now contain toxic chemicals. Mercury, organophosphates, PCBs, dioxins, and radioactive pollution are all highly toxic to life. Fatty foods have a tendency to “soak” up toxins and so oily fish are particularly prone to absorbing them.

In summary, plant oils are a far healthier source of the essential fats we need, halve the risk of heart disease compared with fish oils and are much less likely to be contaminated with harmful chemicals or turn rancid, making them the ideal choice for “good fats” to consume for optimal health.

Quote [22]

“It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.”

(Margaret Mead)

Bananas.

Bananas. Containing 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 the 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: 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!

Rose Bushes: Blend one skin (soft Part) with blender full of water and pour on base of Rose Bush. Promotes healthy roots and new growth.

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!

Source:http://www.karinya.com/bananas.htm

Bread.

Important Warning for those who have been drawn unsuspectingly into the use of bread:

• More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.

• Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.

• In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.

• More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.

• Bread is made from a substance called “dough.” It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!

• Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and osteoporosis.

• Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.

• Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.

• Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.

• Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.

• Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

Top 10 Raw Protein Foods.

Below is a list of some of the most highest concentrated raw foods in assimiable proteins!

1. Hemp Seeds
2. Goji Berries
3. Sprouts
4. Spirulian/Blue Green Algae
5. Pure Synergy
6. Maca
7. Avocado
8. Figs
9. Greens and veggies
10. Sprouted Nuts and Seeds

1. Hemp seeds contain all 8 essential amino acids for adults, plus three other amino acids that are considered essential for children and infants. Almost two-thirds of hemp protein is made up of edestin, a globulin protein found only in hemp seeds. This makes hemp the superior source for this protein in the plant kingdom. Edestin is a type of plant protein that is similar to protein found in the human body, and thus is perfectly suited to aid in meeting the body’s cellular needs such as DNA repair.

Did you know? Hemp Protein Powder is produced when whole hemp seeds are cold-pressed to expel the oil, leaving behind a dry “cake.” This cake is then milled at low temperatures to remove some of the fiber and produce a concentrated form of protein. Cool, huh?

2. Goji berries, sometimes called wolfberries, are perhaps the most nutritionally rich fruit on the planet. Goji berries contain 18 kinds of amino acids (six times higher than bee pollen) and contain all 8 essential amino acids (such as isoleucine and tryptophan). Goji berries also contain up to 21 trace minerals (the main ones being zinc, iron, copper, calcium, germanium, selenium, and phosphorus). Read more…

3. Sprouts are living foods, easy to digest and filled with enzymes, proteins, complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Everything your body needs in a form that your body can use! Sprouts are economical, easy to make and nutritious. Sunflower, kamut, hemp, quinoa, and bean sprouts are some of highest in protein.

4. Spirulina is a blue-green algae containing complete, balanced protein and a wide range of valuable nutrients. Spirulina is approximately 70% easily digestible protein. It contains 18 out of 22 amino acids and all of the essential amino acids, making it a unique vegetarian source of complete protein. Better yet, Spirulina protein is 95% digestible compared to meat sources, which are often difficult for the body to break down. In fact, beef protein is estimated to be only 20% digestible. Spirulina is a wonderful way to consume high quality protein that’s easy on the body. It contains enzymes, which naturally assist in the digestion process.

5. Pure Synergy is a remarkable nutritional supplement for your vitality, health, and total well-being blending Nature’s finest and most potent superfoods — algaes and organic green juices, freeze dried herbs, oriental therapeutic mushrooms, plant enzymes and phytonutrients, and natural antioxidants. Very high in protein!

Did you know? Pure Synergy ingredients are organically grown or wild crafted, seasonally harvested, fresh freeze-dried/ cold dried or cold ground, tested over 200 times for purity and packaged in recyclable glass.

6. Maca has an amazing nutritional value. Its high protein content excels those from other plants. For example it has 5 times more proteins and 4 times more fibre than the potato, having less fat. It has an excellent 0.76 ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat (40.1% saturated fats, 52.7% unsaturated fat). Maca contains two of three essential fatty acids (oleic and linoleic). It also has a surprising amino acids profile, a total of 18 amino acids, including 7 of the 9 essential amino acids. Vitamin and mineral levels are considerable and in some cases they represent 100% of the recommended daily value.

7. Avocados are bursting with nutrients–vitamins, A, B-complex, C, E, H, K, and folic acid, plus the minerals magnesium, copper, iron, calcium, potassium and many other trace elements. Avocados provide all of the essential amino acids (those that must be provided by our diet), with 18 amino acids in all, plus 7 fatty acids, including Omega 3 and 6. Avocados contain more protein than cow’s milk, about 2% per edible portion. Since rapidly growing nursing infants obtain no more than 2% protein from mother’s milk, we can safely assume that children and adults do not regularly require foods richer in protein than avocado. Our bodies recycle approximately 80% of our protein; cooked protein is denatured and largely unusable, thus our protein need is far lower than what is taught by conventional dietetics. A small avocado will provide more usable protein then a huge steak because cooked protein in meat is deranged and mostly unavailable to our liver, the organ which makes all of our body’s protein.
From Living Nutrition Magazine vol. 11 http://www.livingnutrition.com © Living Nutrition Publications.

8. Figs are loaded with nutritious protein, carbohydrates, essential minerals and vitamins.

Did you know? The actual edible “fruit” of a fig tree is called a syconium–a hollow structure lined on the inside with hundreds of tiny unisexual flowers.

9. Greens are high in protein, especially wild greens. Eating blending salads and juicing green veggies makes amino acids and other nutrients more assimiable.

10. Most nuts contain complete and high-grade proteins. They rank and even surpass, flesh foods in the quantity of their proteins. Nut proteins are also free from pathogenic bacterial or parasitical contamination. Almonds – their proteins have a high biological value and some nutritionists say they are an excellent substitute for meat; Almonds have 19% of protein. Coconut – is an excellent and complete food; Coconut has 6% of protein.

[by Alex Malinsky]

ex Malinsky]

Quote [21]

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

(Albert Einstein)

Eliminating The Cause.

Do you want me to reveal to you the greatest health secret of all time?

“The only sustainable way to get healthier is to remove the causes of disease and apply the causes of health.”

Or, put in an another way:

“Health cannot be maintained or regained by using the causes of disease.”

Let’s try to look at it in another way. We know that coffee causes headaches. Someone who is not a habitual coffee drinker might experience headaches from drinking coffee. Someone who gives up coffee often experiences head-splitting headaches. Yet, do you know what is the best “natural” remedy for a bad headache? Coffee. Yep.

Dr. Andrew Weil, a well-known naturopath, says that for migraine headaches, coffee should be eliminated. However, he also says “Once you’re off caffeine, you can use coffee as a treatment for headaches. Drink one or two cups at the first sign of an attack, and lie down in a dark room.”

Wait a minute; he says that coffee CAUSES headaches, but yet, he recommends it as a TREATMENT for headaches? How can that be?

Does that mean that coffee is good for you? No! All it did was alleviate the symptoms. Yet, coffee was at the root of those symptoms.

Now, if someone tells me that they take cayenne pepper and that it helps their digestion, I’ll use the same reasoning. Cayenne pepper is an irritant. How can an irritant be good for digestion? If something alleviates your symptoms, it doesn’t mean that it’s natural or that it’s good for you.

If you want health, you have to eliminate the cause. Just alleviating the symptoms is what everybody else does and it is the reason why our “health system” is really a “disease system.”

Weight Loss or Gain by Blood Type.

“O” Blood Type

Weight Gain factors:

• WHEAT GLUTEN  & CORN: interferes with insulin efficiency and slows metabolic rate
• KIDNEY BEANS & NAVY BEANS: impairs calorie utilization
• LENTILS: impairs proper nutrient metabolism
• CABBAGE, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, CAULIFLOWER: inhibits thyroid hormone
• MUSTARD GREENS: inhibits thyroid hormone

Weight Loss Factors:

• KELP, SEAFOOD, IODIZED SALT: increase thyroid hormone production through iodine food
• LIVER” B-vitimin source and aids in efficient metabolism
• RED MEAT, KALE, SPINACH, BROCCOLI – aids efficient metabolism

“A” Blood Type

Weight Gain factors:

• MEAT – poorly digested and stored as fat, increase digestive toxins
• DAIRY FOODS – inhibit nutrient metabolism, increases mucous secretions
• KIDNEY BEANS, LIMA BEANS –interfere with digestive enzymes and slows metabolism
• WHEAT (IN EXCESS) – inhibits insulin efficiency, impairs calorie utilization

Weight Loss Factors:

• VEGETABLE OILS – aid digestion, prevent fluid retention
• SOY FOODS – Aid digestion, metabolize quickly, optimize immune function
• VEGETABLES- aid efficient metabolism and increase intestinal mobility
• PINEAPPLE – increase calorie utilization and intestinal mobility

“B” Blood Type

Weight Gain Factors:

• CORN, LENTILS, PEANUTS, SESAME SEEDS, BUCKWHEAT – hamper metabolic efficiency and cause hypoglycemia
• CORN – also inhibits insulin efficiency
• LENTILS – also inhibit proper nutrient uptake
• PEANUTS – inhibit liver function
• BUCKWHEAT – inhibits digestion
• WHEAT – slows down digestion and metabolism, causes food to be stored as fat, not burned as energy and inhibits insulin efficiency.

Weight Loss Factors:

• GREEN VEGETABLES, MEAT, LIVER, EGGS/ LOW FAT Dairy – aids efficient metabolism
• Licorice Tea – counters hypoglycemia

AB” Blood Type

Weight Gain Factors:

• RED MEAT – poorly digested, stored as fat, toxifies intestinal tract
• KIDNEY BEANS. LIMA BEANS – inhibit insulin efficiency, cause hypoglycemia, slows metabolism
• SEEDS, BUCKWHEAT – cause hypoglycemia
• CORN –inhibits insulin efficiency
• WHEAT – decreases metabolism, inhibits insulin efficiency, slows caloric burn

Weight Loss Factors:

• TOFU, SEAFOOD, GREEN VEGETABLES – improve metabolic efficiency
• DAIRY, KELP – improves insulin production
• PINEAPPLE – aids digestion, stimulates intestinal mobility

Sugar Substitutes II: Stevia.

Stevia, known as “sweet herb”, this plant is 25 times sweeter than sugar when made as an infusion with 1 teaspoon stevia leaves to 1 cup of water. Two drops of this infusion equal 1 teaspoon of sugar in sweetness.

It is safe for a diabetic as it is does not change blood glucose levels. It does have a bit of an aftertaste you need to get used to. In South America and the Orient a product derived of Stevia called Stevioside has a 41% share of the food sweetener market.

There are some healing benefits of stevia as well.

• Stevia is known to help regulate blood sugar,
• helps to lower high blood pressure,
• aids in weight loss by decreasing the desire for sugary foods.
• Some people even report that it reduces their desire for tobacco and alcoholic beverages.
• Stevia is also used in facemasks to smooth out wrinkles and heal skin blemishes and acne.

So why don’t we see more of it? Apparently the import of stevia was heavily influenced by Nutrasweet politics.

You can actually buyt a Stevia plant from Wal-Mart. It’s and annual plant and grows quite well. You harvest the leaves just as the flowers bloom, dry them, and then use them in teas, or crumble them up and use them in cooking.

You can get Stevia drops or packets in your local health food store. It can also be purchased in bulk form.

Quote [20]

“There is one who, though not having eaten rice in a long time, feels no hunger. There is another who, though eating all the day long, is never satisfied.”

(Zen Saying)

Sugar Substitutes I: Splenda.

Splenda is similar to a chlorinated pesticide. It is 600 times sweeter than table sugar. Although it has no calories some research indicates that it may actually stimulate the appetite. Splenda is a tri-chlorinated sugar, which releases chlorine into our bodies and is made with acetic acid and toluene (a carcinogenic substance). Chlorine destroys the immune system and can cause many autoimmune diseases and disturb vital functions.

One small study of diabetic patients using the sweetener showed a statistically significant increase in glycosylated hemoglobin (Hba1C), which is a marker of long-term blood glucose levels and is used to assess glycemic control in diabetic patients. According to the FDA, “increases in glycosylation in hemoglobin imply lessening of control of diabetes.

Research in animals has shown that sucralose can cause many problems in rats, mice, and rabbits, such as:

·        Abortion of fetus

·        Atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus

·        Decreased red blood cell count (anemia)

·        Decreased weight of fetus and placenta

·        Diarrhea

·        Enlarged liver and kidneys

·        Extended pregnancies

·        Increased cecal weight

·        Pelvic hyperplasia

·        Reduced growth rate

·        Shrunken thymus gland up to 40% shrinkage (the thymus is responsible for our immunity)

There have been no long-term studies thus far on the use and challenges from using Sucrulose (Splenda). Two studies show that 11-40% of the Splenda consumed is absorbed while the rest is excreted in through the feces. They don’t exactly know where this buildup is going but it seems to sequester in the liver, kidneys and gastrointestinal tract.

Some testimonies from humans taking Splenda include symptoms such as:

• ·        Bloating, severe
• ·        Bright red rash and welts
• ·        Chest pain
• ·        Decreased coordination
• ·        Diminished driving skills
• ·        Dry heaves
• ·        Dulled senses
• ·        Excessive crying (emotional wreck)
• ·        Food poisoning symptoms (lasting for days)
• ·        Forgetful
• ·        Generalized body pain
• ·        Headaches
• ·        Hypersensitive to noise
• ·        Hypertension
• ·        Insomnia
• ·        Irregular heartbeat
• ·        Irritability
• ·        Itching
• ·        Knee and leg pains (shooting pain) Act III popcorn testimonial
• ·        Lack of focus
• ·        Moody
• ·        Panic attacks
• ·        Stomach cramps (severe)
• ·        Withdrawn and disinterested from life
• ·        Zoned out

The FDA acknowledges that sucralose is 98% pure. The other 2% is composed of:

• Heavy metals such as lead
• ·        Arsenic
• ·        Chlorinated Disaccharides and Monosaccharides
• ·        Methanol
• ·        Triphenilphosphine Oxide

78 Reasons to Ditch Sugar.

In addition to throwing off the body’s homeostasis, excess sugar may result in a number of other significant consequences. The following is a listing of some of sugar’s metabolic consequences from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications.

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.

2. Sugar can upset the body’s mineral balance.

3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children.

4. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.

5. Sugar can adversely affect children’s school grades.

6. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.

7. Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection.

8. Sugar can cause kidney damage.

9. Sugar can reduce helpful high-density cholesterol.

10. Sugar can promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol.

11. Sugar may lead to chromium deficiency.

12. Sugar can cause copper deficiency.

13. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.

14. Sugar may lead to cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, and rectum.

15. Sugar can cause colon cancer, with an increased risk in women.

16. Sugar can be a risk factor in gall bladder cancer.

17. Sugar can increase fasting levels of blood glucose.

18. Sugar can weaken eyesight.

19. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which can narrow blood vessels.

20. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.

21. Sugar can produce an acidic stomach.

22. Sugar can raise adrenaline levels in children.

23. Sugar can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

24. Sugar can speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and gray hair.

25. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.

26. Sugar can promote tooth decay.

27. Sugar can contribute to weight gain and obesity.

28. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

29. Sugar can cause a raw, inflamed intestinal tract in persons with gastric or duodenal ulcers.

30. Sugar can cause arthritis.

31. Sugar can cause asthma.

32. Sugar can cause candidiasis (yeast infection).

33. Sugar can lead to the formation of gallstones.

34. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.

35. Sugar can cause ischemic heart disease.

36. Sugar can cause appendicitis.

37. Sugar can exacerbate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

38. Sugar can indirectly cause hemorrhoids.

39. Sugar can cause varicose veins.

40. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraception users.

41. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.

42. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.

43. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.

44. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

45. Sugar leads to decreased glucose tolerance.

46. Sugar can decrease growth hormone.

47. Sugar can increase total cholesterol.

48. Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure.

49. Sugar can change the structure of protein causing interference with protein absorption.

50. Sugar causes food allergies.

51. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.

52. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.

53. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.

54. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.

55. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA.

56. Sugar can cause cataracts.

57. Sugar can cause emphysema.

58. Sugar can cause arteriosclerosis.

59. Sugar can cause free radical formation in the bloodstream.

60. Sugar lowers the enzymes’ ability to function.

61. Sugar can cause loss of tissue elasticity and function.

62. Sugar can cause liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver.

63. Sugar can increase the amount of fat in the liver.

64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.

65. Sugar can overstress the pancreas, causing damage.

66. Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.

67. Sugar can cause constipation.

68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).

69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.

70. Sugar can cause hypertension.

71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.

72. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the minds ability to think clearly.

73. Sugar can cause depression.

74. Sugar can increase insulin responses in those consuming high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets.

75. Sugar increases bacterial fermentation in the colon.

76. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.

77. Sugar can increase blood platelet adhesiveness which increases risk of blood clots.

78. Sugar can increase the risk of Alzheimer Disease.

Fasting IV: Juice Fasting.

During fasting, the body burns up and excretes huge amounts of accumulated wastes. This process can be assisted by drinking alkaline fruit and vegetable juices and potassium broth. The sugars in the fruit juice strengthen the heart and are extremely beneficial in normalizing all the body processes, assisting the body’s own healing and cellular regeneration. Juices require no digestion and are easily assimilated. Minerals are increased within the tissues. Therefore increased oxygenation occurs acting to reverse the aging process.

General Juicing Rules:

• Drink freshly prepared juice and do not store the juice for over 24 hours. If you can’t drink it immediately, put it into a glass jar (filled to the top) and put a lid on it to prevent oxidation. Juice rapidly loses therapeutic and nutritional value during storage
• Raw fruits and vegetables are not always compatible when eaten together. Apples are the exception. You can also mix pears with Jicama.
• Melons should be juiced by themselves. Making the entire meal melon is an option.
• Avoid using pre-bottled or sweetened juices. All the live enzymes are inactivated when they are pasteurized.
• Juices don’t stimulate acids to be released from the stomach, but orange and tomato juice are high in acids and you may want to mix these juices with other less acidic ones.
• I’ve read that cucumbers may not be good to mix with other vegetables as they are in the melon family, but it seems to work fine for us. We do limit cucumber to less than 25% of the total volume however.
• Don’t add more than 25% green juice to your vegetable juices (unless you have a barf bucket handy!)
• Juicing Greens—you might want to do this in between harder vegetables, the juice sludges at the bottom and doesn’t pour out easily if you juice them first. For example, I juice a couple of carrots, then a bunch of parsley, then cram a couple more carrots in after the parsley to get the juicer moving again.
• Dilute all fruit juice with water (one part juice to 2-4 parts water) and drink throughout the day. We’ve found that 2 cups fruit juice blended with ½ tray of ice cubes comes up to 4 cups—the perfect dilution and it’s frothy cold.
• Vegetable juices need not be diluted.

Vegetable Juices:

·       Asparagus—Kidneys, diuretic, blood purifier, bowel health, soothes nervous system

(Note: urine will turn dark and have a different odor to it when you eat or drink a lot of asparagus. This is normal and harmless and will pass.)

·       Beet greens—Gallbladder, liver, osteoporosis.

·       Beets—Blood cleanser, liver cleanser, menstrual problems, arthritis, lymph glands, flushes the kidney and bladder, and is good for low blood pressure.

(Note: never drink it straight as it can temporarily paralyze your vocal cords, cause hives, increase the heart rate and give you alternating chills and fever. Hmm—sounds like a good reason to stay away from beets altogether! They sure do taste “earthy.”)

·       Brussels sprouts—Good for diabetics and hypoglycemia, makes for healthy skin, increased male potency and stomach ulcers.

·       Cabbage—Colitis, ulcers, and it curbs alcohol cravings.

(Note: Do not store cabbage juice because its Vitamin U content can be quickly lost.)

·       Carrots—Eyes, liver problems, high cholesterol, protects skin fro UV rays, nervous problems (like Multiple Sclerosis), arthritis, osteoporosis, and low blood pressure.

·       Cauliflower—Breast cancer

·       Celery—Kidneys, diabetes, osteoporosis, good for people who sweat in excess, muscle cramps, fatigue, anxiety, stress, insomnia, headaches, air pollution, sweet cravings, low blood pressure, and obesity.

·       Comfrey—Intestines, hypertension, osteoporosis.

·       Cucumber—Edema, diabetes, tendonitis, skin tone, muscle tone, complexion problems, poor nail growth.

·       Dandelion greens—Spring tonic, strengthens blood and bones, increases stamina and energy.

(Note: eat them early in the summer as they get bitter as they age.)

·       Fennel—Night blindness, eye disorders, flatulence, blood strengthener, migraines, nausea.

·       Garlic—Allergies, colds, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, high fats, diabetes, immune booster, anticarcinogen, antibacterial, antifungal, rids body of toxins through the skin, low blood pressure.

·       Ginger root—Circulation, motion sickness, nausea, laryngitis, clears mucous in the throat, sinuses and lungs.

·       Greens (Collard, Mustard, Turnip, Kale, Parsley, Spinach, Turnip, Chard)—Cardiovascular disease, skin, eczema, digestive problems, obesity, breath.

(Note: Greens contain more than 100% of the RDA for Vitamin C and Vitamin A)

·       Jerusalem artichokes—Diabetes.

·     Jicama—Sooths upset stomachs, osteoporosis/osteopenia, and hemorrhoids.

·       Kale—Constipation, bladder problems, arthritis, also see Greens.

·       Lettuce—Lung cancer prevention, hair and nail strength, skin problems.

·       Onion—Normalizes nervous system for sympathetic dominance, stimulates beneficial bacteria, breaks up mucous, low blood pressure

(Note: If you juice onions, put them in the juicer first THEN the other vegetables so the odor does not stay on the juicer parts.)

·       Parsley—Kidneys, edema, arthritis, tendon and ligament problems, osteoporosis (has lots of natural calcium), one of the most nutritious foods in the world, boils and cysts, increases oxygenation of the blood, bad breath, stimulates normal peristalsis of the gut, vision problems, adrenal exhaustion, thyroid disease, obesity.

·       Potatoes—Intestines, ulcer.

·       Radish—Liver, high cholesterol, obesity, sinus problems, clears excess mucous, soothes sore throats.

·       Spinach—Anemia, eczema, regenerates damaged intestinal tracts, constipation, circulation problems, cleans liver and glands.

·       Sprouts—Baldness, morning sickness.

·       String beans—Bruising.

·       Sweet potatoes—Any kind of skin problems.

·       Tomatoes—Use them alone or leave them alone, but adding celery and cucumber to it works fine.

·       Watercress—Anemia, colds.

·       Wheat grass—Anemia, liver, intestines, breath, excellent antioxidant, Parkinson’s disease.

·       Zucchini—internal cleanser, fantastic as a mineral supplement.

Fruit Juices:

·       Apple—Liver, intestines, blood cleanser.

·       Apricots—High in iron for anemia, silica and vitamin A for hair and skin.

·       Bananas—Heart and muscles.

·       Cherry, black—Colon, menstrual problems, gout, prevents tooth decay.

·       Citrus—Obesity, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, raises body temperature to fry out viruses/bacteria, bruising, heart disease, stroke.

(Note: Don’t juice the skin of any citrus except lemon and lime. They are difficult to digest and can cause colo-rectal problems.)

·       Cranberries—Urinary tract infections, antiviral.

·       Grape—Colon, anemia, good for kidneys and heart, high in iron, soothing to nervous system, builds hemoglobin, promotes healthy bowel action, liver cleaners, helps to eliminate uric acid, helps with low blood pressure, obesity.

·       Grapefruit—High blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, obesity.

·      Lemon—Liver, gallbladder, allergies, asthma, cardiovascular disease, colds, obesity.

·       Melons—Eat them alone or leave them alone, good for kidneys (diuretic), juicing watermelon rind gives you 95% of the melons nutritional benefits compared to only 5% of juice without the rind.

·       Papaya—Stomach, indigestion, hemorrhoids, colitis.

·       Pear—Gallbladder, blood pressure, cardiovascular health, digestion, a safe fruit for diabetics.

·      Pineapple—Digestion, allergies, arthritis, inflammation, edema, hemorrhoids.

·      Strawberries—Strengthens the blood, nerve tonic, keeps glands healthy, protects against cigarette smoke toxins.

·       Watermelon—Kidneys, edema, used as a diuretic.

Quote [19]

“What we believe is very important. I can be eating the healthiest diet in the world, but if I still worry that I’m eating poorly, it won’t do me as much good. Or I can be eating what I believe is the best diet, and even if it isn’t, it will do me good, and it will lead me to a better way of life. The thing is to do what we really believe in. The other thing is to not focus only on diet. The focus is on good health, or on being a balanced person. Then everything falls in place.

(Jinjee)

Fasting III: History and Cures.

Is Fasting Safe?

Nobody has ever died as a result of a few weeks of intentional fasting. If it makes things better in your home, call it a liquid diet. If you talk to anybody about fasting, most people will think you have totally lost it. Don’t listen to them. Get educated! Before fasting you should have a thorough understanding of all the steps involved and you should become acquainted with a practiced practitioner who knows what they are doing (and has done a fast of the duration you would like to do) that you can call to ask any questions if necessary.

After juice/water fasting, you should feel stronger and more revitalized, your health will improve, your physical and mental working capacity will increase and you will look younger than before you started the fast.

Fasting is the oldest therapeutic method known to man.

Fasting was used by Galen, Plato and Socrates to “attain mental and physical efficiency.” Pythagoras fasted for up to 40 days at a time. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, prescribed fasting to his patients. And the great physician, Paracelsus, said, “Fasting is the greatest remedy.”

Swedish Fast Marches led in the 1950’s and 60’s, by Dr. Lennart Edren proved to the world the safety of fasting. Participants of these fasts marched 325 miles—that’s 33 miles/day—for ten whole days without solid food! And their health improved. As a matter of fact, participants had more energy AFTER the fast than before.

It was observed that serum albumin levels remained constant, as did blood sugar levels, even though no protein was consumed over the course of the 10-day march. Body protein is in a dynamic state of breaking down (catabolism) and building up (anabolism). When old or diseased cells decompose, the amino acids are simply recycled to build young, healthy cells.

One doctor, Otto Buchinger, Jr., has supervised over 90,000 successful fasts. Russian doctors have found that fasting is the most effective treatment for schizophrenia—64% of the patients improved mentally after 20-30 days of controlled fasting.

Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, believed that fasting was of the mind and involved a setting aside of self in order to become a clearer channel for creative and spiritual energies. He recommended fasting for poor diet, poor assimilations, poor eliminations and incoordination between the sympathetic and cerebrospinal nervous systems, imbalances or toxins in the circulatory system, improper acid-alkaline balance, glandular malfunctions and general congestion of the body.

A 54-year old Scottish woman juice fasted for 249 days. Not only did she not harm herself, but she lost 74 pounds and got rid of her arthritic pain.

Fasting extends your life. One experiment done on rats showed that limiting them from overeating and systematically starving them increased their lifespan 2 ½ times! Proponents of fasting declare that aging is not commensurate with calendar years, but rather with the health of the cells. During fasting, the concentration of toxins removed from the body and appearing in the urine can increase ten-fold.

What Conditions Does Fasting Help?

• Allergies

• Alzheimer’s disease

• Angina pectoris

• Asthma

• Atherosclerosis

• Back pain

• Benign ovarian and breast tumors

• Bronchitis

• Bulimia

• Cardiovascular disorders

• Chronic constipation

• Chronic Streptococcus infections

• Cold, flu and fever

• Coronary artery disease

• Crohn’s disease

• Diseases affecting locomotion

• Diseases of the liver and gallbladder

• Disorders of the stomach and intestines

• Eczema

• Environmental allergies

• Epilepsy

• Fever

• Fibroid tumors

• Glaucoma

• Heart attack prevention and recovery

• High blood pressure

• Insomnia

• Insulin resistance

• Joint and vertebral degeneration

• Lagging libido

• Lipomas

• Low blood pressure

• Mental illness (especially schizophrenia)

• Migraines

• Muscle and connective tissue disorders

• Nasal polyps

• Obesity

• Post-treatment for malignant disease (The residue of a dying cancer cells can be highly toxic. A fast does more than detoxify noxious by-products of malignancy; it degrades abnormal cells and tumors, releasing cellular toxins and by-products into the circulation for elimination.)

• Psoriasis

• Psychosomatic disease

• Respiratory diseases of all kinds

• Rheumatoid arthritis

• Sinusitis

• Skin diseases

• Tonsillitis

• Ulcerative colitis

Protein.

Humans are taught to eat a large amount of protein and to obtain this protein from animal products such as meat and dairy products. Vegetarians worry about lack of protein and substitute meat with tofu, cheese, beans and other meat substitutes.

The person that wants to follow a raw food diet and eat completely naturally will choose nuts and seeds to supply their protein needs.

How Much Protein is Enough?

The idea that a person needs to search for hard-to-find protein sources is a myth! In fact, as long as you eat enough calories to meet your body’s needs for energy, you’ll probably never experience anything close to a protein deficiency.

Think about this: when a newborn baby is growing rapidly, their nutrition requirements are higher than any other time in their lives. This is because the baby’s little body is growing so rapidly. And, nature clearly intended for humans to be able to provide breast milk for their infants. This should give us a clue to the proper amount of protein required to remain healthy. Breast milk contains a meager 6% protein! Interesting and surprising, isn’t it?

This would indicate that less than 6% protein is optimal during other life phases. So, let’s look at the protein content in various raw food choices we have available.

Protein Content of Fruits
Banana: Papaya: Peach: Avocado: Orange: Watermelon:	4% 7% 7% 5% 9% 7%
Average protein content of fruit: 5%
Protein Content of Vegetables
Tomatoes: Cucumber: Lettuce: Celery:	17% 21% 59% 25%
Average protein content of vegetables: 20%
Protein Content of Nuts & Seeds
Almonds: Sesame Paste (tahini): Sunflower seeds: Pumpkin seeds:	15% 12% 15% 17%
Average protein content of nuts and seeds: 15%
- Average protein content of a low-fat raw food diet: 7-8% - Average protein content of human milk: 6%

In fact, some cultures that survive on root-based diets actually obtain less than 5% of their calories from protein, yet remain in better health and live longer than the average American.

As long as you eat enough to meet your caloric needs and you eat a good variety of foods, there is absolutely no need to fear any protein deficiency. A raw-food diet of fruits and vegetables, even if it doesn’t include a lot of nuts and seeds, provides about 7-10% of protein a day.

Excess protein is actually not healthy, just like excess fat.

Fat: Part II- Addicted to Fat?

When switching to a raw foodist diet, some people have problems because they add too many nuts and seeds to their diet. These foods take the place of the important fruits needed to meet the energy requirements.

It is necessary to take a careful look at the fat content consumed in any diet, including a raw food regimen, to ensure that fat does not sneak its way into the diet in large amount.

For example, if someone eats a lot of avocados in a single day, let’s say five avocados of about 300 grams of fruit each, at 18% fat you are consuming 270 grams of fat which is the same as just over one cup of oil. Who would sit down and consume a cup of oil?

So, How Much Fat Is Best?

Most progressive health experts with years of experience promote the same fat requirements year and year, recommending a fat intake of about 15% OR LESS. The primates all eat diets that consist of very low-fat diets.

Practical Guidelines

Unless you are allergic to them, do not completely avoid avocados and nuts, just limit yourself to small amount. This will depend on everybody, but if you’re not very active, it shouldn’t be more than one-half an avocado per day or two ounces (60 grams) of nuts and seeds but not both on the same day.

Eat enough fruit to meet your calorie needs – which means eating a LOT of fruit by most people’s standards. Avoid oils including olive, flax seed, coconut butter, canola, peanut and others.

If you do not choose to obtain fat through avocados, nuts and seeds, you can consume two tablespoons of raw nut butter per day.

Eat fat only once each day and do not eat fatty foods every day of the week. During hot weather, avoid fatty foods entirely and eat water-rich foods to keep you hydrated. These include tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, peaches and other juicy fruits.

Avoid eating sweet fruit with fat. Fruit normally digests rapidly but when combined with fat it takes time to digest. This can result in acidity. Mixing nuts and dried fruit can have the same result.

Quote [18]

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

(Albert Einstein)

Fat: Part I – Our Fat Needs.

You probably know that humans store body fat and that some body fat is necessary for proper functioning. However, you may think that eating fat is required in order to store body fat. This is a misconception.

Everything a person eats contains some amount of fat. In fact, a natural diet of fruits and vegetables, along with some seeds and nuts or avocado, provides the body all the essential fatty acids it needs!

Oil does not have to be included in the diet. It is simply an incomplete, over-concentrated form of fat!

Fatty foods are complex foods which are hard to digest. A single drop of oil can slow down digestion for two hours. Eating excessive amount of fat, whether from plant or animal sources, can result in serious health problems such as diabetes, candida, chronic fatigue, low energy levels, hypoglycemia and many others.

It does not matter where the fat comes from; too much fat, even from natural raw foods, will cause health problems.

Some people that attempt to adjust to a raw food diet fail because they think they are eating only “good fat” but are really eating a very high-fat diet. There are some simple reasons for this:

1. The average American diet consists of over 45% fat by calories but most health organizations suggest a fat intake of less than 25%. Even vegans and vegetarians frequently fall into this trap.
2. Fat is a concentrated way to obtain calories and therefore energy. We have been accustomed to eating concentrated foods such as pasta, oil, butter, bread, and other. On a raw food diet, there are no concentrated foods except fatty foods. People often compensate for lack of calories by eating highly concentrated fatty foods.
3. The only alternative to fat is fruit. When eating a raw diet, there are two main types of food that provide the energy, in calories, that we need: fruit or fat. Vegetables simply have so few calories that a person would never be able to eat enough to survive.
4. We just do not eat enough fruit. Eating fruit as the basis of our diet is new and often people fail to realize how much fruit it takes to provide energy for an entire day.

The human body requires fuel to operate and you must get that fuel, via calories, from somewhere. Fat has a lot of calories but requires a lot of energy to digest. Plus the health risks associated with a high fat diet simply are not worth it when you can feel better when eating the right foods.

Fruit, on the other hand, is very easy to digest. It provides fast energy and is alkaline-forming. Fruit is a way to obtain simple carbohydrates which match our physiological needs.

Usually, when a person wants to become a raw foodist but fails, they will find themselves eating complex carbohydrates that have been cooked. They simply haven’t learned yet to consume high quantities of sweet fruits to meet their body’s carbohydrate needs.

In other words, a diet that is high in fat is certain to fail! A diet with enough fruit (and green vegetables) will, however, succeed.

Fast Food Calorie Chart.

It seems as though fast food restaurants have become a way of life for many of us. With the hectic schedules and fast-paced lives we lead, it can be hard to find time to squeeze in cooking and preparing healthy meals. Many of us rely on the fast food industry to feed us when we are running errands on our lunch breaks, or feed our hungry children after a long day, so how good or bad is this fast food for our health?

You may be alarmed to see the calorie content of some of the most popular fast food items that are available.

• Regular Cheeseburger – 320 calories

• Large Cheeseburger – 610 calories

• Regular Hamburger – 275 calories

• Large Hamburger – 520 calories

• Fish, fried or battered – 210 calories

• Chicken, fried, dark meat – 430 calories for two pieces

• Chicken, fried, wing/breast – 495 calories for two pieces

• Chicken Nuggets – 300 calories for 6 pieces

• Onion Rings – 175 calories for 8 rings

• Regular French Fries – 240 calories

• Large French Fries – 360 calories

• Hot Dog – 240 calories

• Chili Dog – 325 calories

• Dressing – Caesar – 160 calories for one packet

• Regular Chocolate Shake – 360 calories

• Regular Strawberry Shake – 360 calories

• Hot Fudge Sundae – 290 calories

• Pancakes, Butter and Syrup – 520 calories for three pancakes

• Apple pie – 260 calories for one piece

Keep in mind, that this is only the calorie content for some of the most popular choices in fast food. This does not depict the fat grams and other nutrient content. It is also important to remember that people often have more than one item from this list, which can lead to a large amount of calories for one meal from a fast food restaurant. Eating fast food in moderation can be fine, just make sure to watch your calories and try not to make it mainstay in your diet.

Raw Milk vs. Pasteurized Milk

When it comes to raw milk, most people are a little squeamish and are not sure what to expect. True, raw milk is in its truest form, being straight from the cow and in its pure sense, but maybe knowing just how powerful and healthy raw milk is, could change a few minds. Raw milk has been used for years as a way to sustain life and even fight diseases.

Raw milk consists of important enzymes that aid in assimilating the nutrients present in milk. Raw milk serves as one of the best sources for calcium consumption. One of the major raw milk drinking advantages is that it contains the beneficial bacteria, which otherwise get destroyed, when the milk undergoes pasteurization process.

How beneficial is raw milk can be understood by analyzing the loss that occurs, when the milk is pasteurized. Pasteurization destroys enzymes, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 and also it kills the beneficial bacteria. Raw milk does not rot, rather it sours naturally. Pasteurized milk is often associated with health problems like diarrhea, cramps, iron-deficiency anemia, cancer, skin rashes, osteoporosis and allergies etc. On the contrary, raw milk keeps you away from these health ailments.

Raw milk is highly nutritious and thus acts as one of the healthiest foods. Raw milk tastes better, when compared to pasteurized milk, as it is creamier and fresh. People who do not relish the taste of milk are likely to find the taste of raw milk pleasant. There can be digestion problem with the consumption of processed milk, but that won’t be the case with raw milk.

Himalayan Salt vs. Sea Salt and Rock Salt

Many people believe sea salt is a healthy alternative to table salt, but this is no longer the case. The oceans are being used as dumping grounds for harmful toxic poisons like mercury, PCBs and dioxin. Reports of oil spills polluting the sea are becoming more frequent. With some 89% of all the sea salt producers now refining their salt, today’s sea salt simply isn’t as healthy as it used to be.

If you were to look into a microscope at sea salt you would see it has irregular and isolated crystalline structures disconnected from the natural elements surrounding them. Thus, however many vital minerals it may contain, they cannot be absorbed by your body unless the body expends tremendous energy to vitalize them. Your body’s net gain is small compared to the great loss of energy.

Because the crystalline structure of himalayan crystal salt is balanced, it is not isolated from the 84 inherent mineral elements, but is connected to them in a harmonious state. This means the energy content in the form of minerals can be easily metabolized by your body. When you use this salt it has a vital energetic effect, your body gets an ample net gain with little energy loss.

Mined salt, or rock salt, is also a poor substitute for Himalayan Crystal Salt. While natural rock salt comes close to being intact and is more valuable than industrial table salt, from a biophysical as well as bio-chemical perspective, it holds little value.

The elements contained in rock salt lack sufficient compression to be included in the crystal web, but are only attached to the surface and in the gaps of the crystalline structure. It is the considerable pressure that brings the elements to a colloidal state – where your cells can readily absorb them. The valuable elements found in rock salt are useless because your body cannot absorb and metabolize them.

Quote [17]

“The cardiologist’s diet:  If it tastes good, spit it out. “

(Author Unknown)

Himalayan Salt vs. Conventional Salt

Most people simply don’t realize that there are enormous differences between the standard, refined table and cooking salt most of you are accustomed to using and natural health-promoting salt.

These differences can have a major impact on your staying healthy.

If you want your body to function properly, you need holistic salt complete with all-natural elements. Today’s common table salt has nothing in common with natural salt.

Your table salt is actually 97.5% sodium chloride and 2.5% chemicals such as moisture absorbents, and iodine. Dried at over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, the excessive heat alters the natural chemical structure of the salt.

This salt from the Himalayas is known as “white gold.” Together with pure spring water, Himalayan Crystal Salt offers all the natural elements exactly identical to the elements in your body — the very same elements originally found existing in the “primal sea.”

Containing all of the 84 elements found in your body, the benefits of natural Himalayan Crystal Salt include:

1. Regulating the water content throughout your body.
2. Promoting a healthy pH balance in your cells, particularly your brain cells.
3. Promoting blood sugar health and helping to reduce the signs of aging.
4. Assisting in the generation of hydroelectric energy in cells in your body.
5. Absorption of food particles through your intestinal tract.
6. Supporting respiratory health.
7. Promoting sinus health.
8. Prevention of muscle cramps.
9. Promoting bone strength.
10. Regulating your sleep — it naturally promotes sleep.
11. Supporting your libido.
12. Promoting vascular health.
13. In conjunction with water it is actually essential for the regulation of your blood pressure.

Table Salt

What remains after typical salt is “chemically cleaned” is sodium chloride — an unnatural chemical form of salt that your body recognizes as something completely foreign. This form of salt is in almost every preserved product that you eat. Therefore, when you add more salt to your already salted food, your body receives more salt than it can dispose of.

This is important as over 90% of the money that people spend on food is for processed food.

Typical table salt crystals are totally isolated from each other. In order for your body to try to metabolize table salt crystals, it must sacrifice tremendous amounts of energy.

Inorganic sodium chloride can keep you from an ideal fluid balance and can overburden your elimination systems.

When your body tries to isolate the excess salt you typically expose it to, water molecules must surround the sodium chloride to break them up into sodium and chloride ions in order to help your body neutralize them. To accomplish this, water is taken from your cells in order to neutralize the unnatural sodium chloride.

This results in a less-than-ideal fluid balance in the cells.

For every gram of sodium chloride that your body cannot get rid of, your body uses 23 times the amount of cell water to neutralize the salt. Eating common table salt causes excess fluid in your body tissue, which can contribute to:

1. Unsightly cellulite
2. Rheumatism, arthritis and gout
3. Kidney and gall bladder stones

When you consider that the average person consumes 4,000 to 6,000 mg of sodium chloride each day, and heavy users can ingest as much as 10,000 mg in a day, it is clear that this is a serious and pervasive issue.

Water Fasting vs. The Water Diet

Let us first look at the difference between water fasting and the so called “water diet“. With water fasting, a person abstains completely from solid food for the purposes of weight loss and detoxification. A water diet, on the other hand, involves the consumption of at least eight-to-ten 8-ounce glasses of water daily as part of a daily nutrition and health regimen. They are too different disciplines. However, they can be used hand-in-hand to optimize your health, detoxification and weight loss goals.

The Water Diet asks you to commit to drinking half a gallon of cool water (no ice) daily – for life. This breaks down to eight, 8-ounce glasses per day – totaling 64 ounces – half a gallon. That’s it! Drinking half a gallon of water per day, it is said, can foster gradual weight loss over time, without exercise or special diets. The premise is that cool water forces your body to burn roughly 60 calories more per day because it has to “warm” the water up to body temperature. Cool water means refrigerated ? period. Not frozen or full of ice.

If you are truly serious about fasting for weight loss and health, then the water diet is imperative. Water fasting is done for a season as a means to achieve detoxification, healing and spiritual reflection and/or breakthrough. The Water Diet is for life. It says: “Continue to drink half a gallon of water every day once the fast is over. Do this every day … make it yours – practice it as a lifestyle”. This, we believe, is quite possibly more important than the fast itself.

Weight Loss Tip #2: Don’t Try To Lose Weight!

Paradox!

Don’t try to lose weight. The number one indicator of excessive weight gain in the future is attempting to lose weight in the past. Don’t diet, it won’t last. Instead get up and go get more exercise. Try to change your life style.

Quote [16]

“Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.”

(Socrates)

Seaweed.

The Japanese have been using seaweed or sea vegetables in their diet and food preparation for centuries. In Japan, the consummation of seaweed is as normal as the usage of apples or carrots in the west. Commonly, what we find strange to eat simply seems that way because we have not eaten that food since childhood. This is fine, as long as you keep your diet varied. You need not try everything that other nations try, but perhaps we should all make an exception for seaweed.

Seaweed is so easily found in the wild and if you don’t live by the sea, you can just as easily purchase it, often in Asian supermarkets. It is rarely expensive and with so many varieties of seaweed, we could just as easily think of it like fruit; if you are not consuming it, you are missing out on a huge variety of tastes and textures.

Onto the health part. Seaweed is so different in every way from vegetables or fruit. For a start, it grows in the sea. So, we can logically assume that it also has many nutrients which one can’t get a hold of so easily in fruit or vegetables. This is a safe assumption to make.

Seaweeds are low fat, incredibly rich in minerals, they contain a similar concentration and variation of minerals to which humans have in their blood and have the ability to bind with toxins and heavy metals, eliminating these nasties from the body.

Seaweeds are all very energizing because they contain an abundance of various minerals. These minerals are used by the body for it’s various functions but also these minerals alkalize the body. An alkaline body is a healthy body but most people have an acidic body. So everybody can stand to add seaweed to their diets.

Go to your nearest Asian food store and pick two or three different varieties of seaweed. They will come dried, and sometimes roasted. If you can’t get a particular seaweed which you would like to try raw, buy it roasted. You will still reap tremendous benefit from it. Store it in an airtight container because you don’t want the seaweed absorbing moisture from the air, which will make the seaweed soft and will reduce it’s shelf life.

Here’s a run down of some of the various seaweeds you can buy:

Nori

• A very useful seaweed to have. It will often come in flat sheets and so, many people use nori to make vegetable wraps. It has a mild flavor and so it may be a good way to begin to include seaweed in your life.
• Nori contains approximately 48% protein (a handy figure to know for when you get that “where do you get your protein” question) and an abundance of carotene, vitamins C, D, B1. B2 and B3.
• In nori there are also high amounts of calcium, iron, iodine and phosphorous, and little fat.

Dulse

• Found in the North Atlantic. It also has a mild flavor, which can be described as spicy and nutty.
• Dulce, similar to Nori, contains an abundance of protein, as well as iron. Many women, due to menstruation, are lacking in iron. Therefore, including Dulse in your diet is highly recommended.
• Aside from it’s iron and protein, Dulse is rich in dietary fiber, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, as well as vitamins A, B2, B6 and E.
• It has been concluded by a nutritional researcher, Paul Pitchford, that Dulse can lower cholesterol, remove toxins and ease the herpes virus.

Kelp

• A large algae which contains over 70 minerals and trace elements.
• It has been shown to increase energy levels, boost metabolism, fight against heart disease and cancer, improve a poor digestive system and suppress appetite.
• It is often used ground up and used as a seasoning. It’s taste is rather strong and so this method would be my recommendation.

Agar agar

• A tasteless, odorless and clear seaweed which is often used when one would use gelatin as a vegan alternative.
• Agar agar acts as a mild laxative, and can add bulk to those on a low calorie diet.
• It contains iodine, calcium, iron, phosphorous and many vitamins.

Powers of Herbs and Spices: Cinnamon.

Cinnamon is, for many raw foodists, a very reliable friend. You want something sweet and comforting? Apple sauce, cinnamon and honey equals happy days.

Fortunately, cinnamon has many health benefits. In fact, the more you eat, the better.

Cinnamon is the inner bark of  a small tree, the Cinnamon Tree. There are two types of cinnamon, Chinese and Ceylon, of which Ceylon is generally more difficult to come by.

Studies have been made, which concluded in the suggestion that cinnamon oil and cinnamon extract have anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-parasitic properties. The dreaded and common yeast infection, caused by Candida Albicans, has been shown to be severely inhibited by cinnamon. Cinnamon also helps ease the discomfort of excess gas.

Cinnamon has a warming effect on the body and so can be used to solve cold related discomforts. This includes colds and flu, and circulatory problems.

For those ladies that are prone to urinary tract infections, cinnamon has been shown to suppress completely the bacteria which causes this discomfort.

Buying

When buying cinnamon, be sure to smell it. Cinnamon should have a sweet smell, an indication that it is fresh.

Storing

Cinnamon should be kept in a sealed container in a cool, dark place. Ground cinnamon, like other powdered spices loses its flavor quickly. Ground cinnamon should keep for 6 months. Cinnamon sticks are able to retain their flavor for longer periods of time and should last for a year or more.

Preparing

If you are going to grind your own cinnamon, be sure to use Ceylon. Grinding the cinnamon quills in a coffee or spice grinder will result in a ground cinnamon with a pungent taste.

Sprouting I

if you are not including sprouts in your diet at least a couple of times a week, you are truly missing out on a hugely nutritious and alkalizing source of energy.

Sprouts are low in calories, high in fiber, varied in flavor, very alkalizing and nutritious. All that, AND they are cheap and easy to grow.

Sprout in small amounts. You may have realized this; sprouts grow. They will often quadruple in quantity and so don’t put yourself in a position in which you are overrun with sprouts. You may start thinking, “Oh no, must consume my sprouts!”

This is not the attitude we are going for.

Start small.

Go to your local health food store and pick two packets of either seed/grain/legume, or a combination.

Why not the local supermarket or wholesale grain store?

These may prove to be excellent sources of produce, in your near future.

First though, start in the health food store.

It has been my experience that certain grains/seeds/legumes from the supermarket simply don’t sprout. They are no longer alive. Poor things.

Another benefit of buying in the health food store is that the goods will probably be organic. Imagine, at a lower price than two starbucks coffees, you can incorporate 25% or more organic produce into your diet.

What will you need to begin sprouting?

You can buy sprouting trays, and maybe further on into your sprouting career you will choose to take this route. For now though, all you need is fresh water, your chosen sprout, a little bit of free space in a warm (not hot) place and a few large glass jars. You will need to soak your sprout, generally overnight. You will then drain the sprouts in a colander and put them in the glass jar. You will need to cover the jar in a way that air can still enter. Wire mesh, cheese-cloth or a tea towel will do. You must make sure to keep the sprouts moist whilst assuring they are not surrounded by excess water. This is done by rinsing the sprouts in a colander, once or twice daily, and then returning them to their home in the jar. Once the sprouts are the size you enjoy, put them into the refrigerator.

What kind of sprouts should you start with?

These sprouts are practically fool proof so they are excellent to begin with:

Chickpeas /  Garbanzos

• An excellent little creature, the chickpea (so called in my part of the world, garbanzos to those in the U.S.) virtually requires no work to sprout.

• They are an excellent source of protein and to my palate they taste like monkey-nuts. You should soak them in two or three times as much water as chickpea, as they soak up a lot of water. They are edible as soon as you notice the tail protruding. I like to eat them when the tail is still short, before the taste gets too strong.

Quinoa [Keen-wah}

• This Peruvian seed (commonly mistaken for a grain) is incredibly nutritious even in it’s cooked form. Quinoa strengthens the kidneys and has very high levels of iron.

• Soak them for 4 to 6 hours. In two days you will have your own little batch of baby quinoa.

• Quinoa does have a distinctive ‘sprouted’ taste, though quite mild.

Lentils

• There are many different kinds of lentils; red, Chinese, green and brown.

• They have a peppery taste. I like to combine them with other strong tasting foods, such as garlic and cayenne pepper. They are also excellent just with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Sprout them as you would garbanzos.

Buckwheat

• One of personal favorites; buckwheat. Buckwheat is an excellent source of rutin which is a bioflavonoid. Rutin strengthens the capillaries and the overall circulation of the body. Therefore, those with varicose veins should include buckwheat in their diet. It sprouts very easily. Soak for a mere 2 hours.

• The dark side of buckwheat is the weird slime it creates when soaked. Putting the buckwheat into a colander and running water through it whilst mixing the buckwheat around with your hands will solve this problem. Once soaked the sprout is edible though if you leave it for a day longer it will be more nutritious.

• For breakfast, I like to blend buckwheat with a small amount of water and a pinch of salt. I then add raisins and nuts or seeds and a spoonful of honey. Not dissimilar to porridge.

• Another option is mashing the buckwheat roughly with a fork or potato masher and eating as you would rice, i.e. with a sauce, in sushi, just with olive oil, etc…

ALFALFA – The traditional sprout we have all grown to love. It has a sweet, clean, and refreshing taste with exceptional nutritional benefits. Great on sandwiches and in salads.

BROCCOLI – This Italian variety was especially grown for us. This high quality seed grows quickly and produces a sprout with a mildly spicy flavor and a fresh crisp texture.

RED CLOVER - Subtle differences distinguish clover from alfalfa. Red Clover is not as sweet and grows in a lighter shade of green. Red Clover is known for helping to purify the blood and create balance and restoration.

Wheat

• Wheat is also very easy to sprout. Soak overnight and then leave to sprout for approximately two days.

• Many people who have trouble eating cooked wheat find that they can eat sprouted wheat without problems.

• Sprouted wheat is very satisfying and filling.

• Another favorite breakfast of mine is to blend up a cup or two of wheat berries with a half cup of water. Blending for 20 seconds or so leaves the wheat still quite intact. I then add raisins, dates and nuts and blend for a further 10 seconds. Into a bowl it goes with a chopped banana, and voila, you have a great version of granola.

Sprouts are inexpensive, easy and fun to grow. For just minutes a day, anyone, anytime, anywhere, can sprout, grains, legumes, and nuts and have high quality food all year long!

Sprouts are naturally high in quality protein, vitamins, minerals, trace elements. enzymes, anti-oxidants, few calories and no cholesterol.

Quote [15]

“I have a great diet.  You’re allowed to eat anything you want, but you must eat it with naked fat people. ”

(Ed Bluestone)

Alkaline Food vs. Acid Food II

Here is a Chart of food and what we should be eating compared to what we should not be eating.

Food and Beverage Chart: ALKALINE (green) – ACID (grey)
* Excellent for preventing and combating cancer.
*SUPER FOODS – Excellent for nutrition and health.

- VEGETABLES Alfalfa Asparagus Barley Grass Green Beans Beets* Broccoli** Brussel sprouts* Cabbage Carrot** Cauliflower* Celery Chlorella Cucumber Dandelions Edible Flowers Eggplant Fermented Veggies Garlic** Greens* – Beet, Chard, Collard, Mustard, Wild Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce Mushrooms* Nightshade Veggies Onions Parsnips (high glycemic) Peas Peppers Potatoes Pumpkin Radishes Rutabaga Spinach* Spirulina Living Sprouts* Squashes Sweet Potatoes Watercress ORIENTAL VEGETABLES Daikon Radish Dandelion Root Maitake, Reishi  and Shitake Mushrooms Sea Veggies – Kelp*, Kombu, Nori and Wakame Seaweed Umeboshi (pickled plums) FRUITS Apple Apricot* Avocado Banana (high glycemic) Berries inc. – Blackberries, Raspberries**, Strawberries*, Goji* Cherries, sour Coconut, fresh Currants and Raisins Dates and Figs, both dried Grapes *Purple, Red Grapefruit Lemon and Lime Melon – Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Musk, Water Nectarine Orange and Tangerine Peach Pear Pineapple* Umeboshi Plums Rhubarb Tomato* Tropical Fruits PROTEIN Cottage Cheese Chicken Breast Nuts – Especially Almonds* and Chestnuts Seeds – Pumpkin, Sprouted, Sunflower – Millet Tempeh (fermented) Tofu (fermented) Whey – POISON! Yogurt, Plain* SWEETENERS Stevia SPICES & SEASONINGS All Herbs Cayenne** and Chili Pepper Curry – Tumeric** Cinnamon – Ginger Miso – Tamari Sea Salt OTHER Apple Cider Vinegar Bee Pollen* Lecithin Granules Molasses, blackstrap Butter, unsalted Soured Dairy Products Probiotic Cultures Marine Phytoplankton**Alkaline Antioxidant Water – Mineral Water Tea – Dandelion, Essiac*, Green*, Herbal, Ginseng, Kombucha Fresh Fruit Juice – Green Juices and Wheat Grass Juice**- Veggie Juices Organic Milk (unpasteurized) MILK IS FOR COWS NOT HUMANS! ALKALIZING MINERALS Cesium: pH 14 Potassium: pH 14 Sodium: pH 14 Calcium: pH 12 Magnesium: pH 9 -

VEGETABLES Corn Olives Winter Squash FRUITS Blueberries* Canned or Glazed Fruits Cranberries* Currants Plums Prune* GRAIN PRODUCTS Amaranth Barley Bran, wheat Bran, oat Bread Corn Cornstarch Crackers, soda Flour, white Flour, wheat Hemp Seed Flour Kamut Macaroni Noodles Oats (rolled) Oatmeal Pasta Quinoa* Rice (all) Rice Cakes Rye Spaghetti Spelt Wheat Wheat Germ* BEANS & LEGUMES Beans – Black, Kidney, Lima, Pinto, Red, Soy, White, Lentils Almond Milk, Rice Milk, Soy Milk (may cause allergies) Peas – Chick and Green DAIRY Butter, Salted Cheese – Cow, Sheep and Goat (most desirable) Cheese – Parmesan and Processed Ice Cream Ice Milk NUTS & BUTTERS Brazil Nuts, Cashews, Peanuts, Pecans, Pistachio. Walnuts* Peanut Butter Tahini ANIMAL PROTEIN Beef (US beef filled with antibiotics, banned from exportation to Europe) Corned Beef Lamb (best choice) and Veal (INHUMANE) Pork and Bacon Sausage Turkey Venison Rabbit Organ Meats Fish – Carp, Cod, Haddock, Pike, Salmon*, Sardines*,Tuna* Shellfish – Clams, Lobster, Mussels, Oysters*, Scallops, Shrimp Eggs – Less acidic if natural feed, no hormones, no antibiotics. FATS & OILS Oil – Avocado, Canola, corn, Flax, Hemp Seed, Virgin Olive (best choice), Safflower, Sesame, Sunflower Butter Lard SWEETENERS Carob Corn Syrup Sugar (poisonous, aging, feeds cancer and obesity) ALCOHOL Beer Hard Liquor Spirits Wine (Red wine is healthy – skip the white) OTHER FOOD – BEVERAGE Catsup Cocoa Coffee Mustard Pepper Soft Drinks Sodas (fizzy water, sugar and chemicals) Soy Sauce Distilled Vinegar DRUGS & CHEMICALS Aspirin Drugs – Prescribed Medication and Street Food Additives Herbicides and Pesticides Tobacco

Where To Find Raw Food Products.

Starting and succeeding on an uncooked diet means that you will need to invest in raw food products to help you in your journey. Here are a few tips on how to find the best resources for your raw food products to make sure your diet is a success.

The first thing you want to look at when analyzing a raw food product is its ingredients. You want to make sure it is free from synthetic additives. You want all the ingredients to be as natural as possible. This usually means that the supermarket is not the best place to find what you need.

If you have a local farmers market that is the best place to find your raw food products. They carry the freshest variety of fruits and vegetables possible because you are buying directly from the grower’s themselves.

If you have a small time neighborhood grocer you may find higher quality produce that what the big chain stores carry. Check with them to see what organic produce they carry.

Also check online. There are a plenty of places to find organic raw produce and food online. One such place is Raw Food on Amazon. They carry plenty of yummy raw and organic foods.

High quality raw foods are not to difficult to find as long as you know where to look.

Raw Food Bars vs. Energy Bars

Not only are raw food bars highly nutritious, they actually taste good! They are made from uncooked food sources.

You can pick up these organic raw food bars in a variety of different flavors from chocolate to blueberries. They are a viable alternative to candy bars, even for people who are not following a 100% raw diet. Instead of feeling worn out and tired after eating one, they can help you to feel energized and satisfied. This is because they are easy on your body and your digestive system.

You got to realize that most of the energy bars on the market today that are advertised as ‘Healthy’ are really anything but. They are full of processed ingredients and refined sugar. You may feel full for a little while, but you end up hungrier than you were before once the sugar high crashes.

On the other hand the raw food bars have no strange ingredients, no preservatives and nothing in there that shouldn’t go in your body.

These bars have never been heated like other energy bars have. They go through a preparation method known as ‘cold processing.’ This means it is not heated above 104 degrees in order to keep the enzymes in tact. They also use natural sweeteners such as honey or fruit nectar.

Many of these bars use hemp as the base. It is rich in the essential amino acids a person requires, along with vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. These raw food bars are a healthy tasty treat that is definitely better than the sugary ones so many people use to energize themselves.

Quote [14]

“In general, mankind, since the improvement in cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.”

(Benjamin Franklin)

Don’t Go Raw Too Fast!

Depending on what you read, you’ll get different advice on how quickly you should transition to an all raw food diet.  This is not a haphazard decision.  Several things must be in place to make this change. Not the least of which is the right attitude.

I suggest a gradual shift from a cooked food diet to a raw food diet.  I don’t believe in going completely raw for myself.  You may have a different feeling on this, and that’s ok for YOU.

Going raw too fast leads to several ailments that are usually attributed to detox symptoms.  Remember what is happening to your body at a cellular level as you eat different types of foods.  Raw foods contain the enzymes your body needs to process and digest them.  Cooking foods destroys these enzymes forcing your body to work harder producing the enzymes to digest them.

Another function of raw food is the cleansing of cells.  Your cells readily pass their waste into your bloodstream and lymphatic system once introduced to the enzymes in raw foods. This waste has to go somewhere.  Your bowel movements do a good job of removing waste, but if you go all raw too fast, the waste can build up causing your body to react in strange ways.  Some symptoms of raw food detox include headache, acne, pain, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and constipation.  To relive these symptoms simply introduce a little cooked food or more liquids when you are not eating.

Switching to a raw food diet offers many benefits, don’t introduce unnecessary problems by going raw too fast.

Low and High Carb Fruit.

Fruits Lowest in Sugar

• Small Amounts of Lemon or Lime
• Rhubarb
• Raspberries
• Blackberries
• Cranberries

Fruits Low to Medium in Sugar

• Strawberries
• Casaba Melon
• Papaya
• Watermelon
• Peaches
• Nectarines
• Blueberries
• Cantaloupes
• Honeydew Melons
• Apples
• Guavas – Pineapple Guavas (Feijoa) and Strawberry Guavas are probably similar, but information that directly compares them is not available
• Apricots
• Grapefruit

Fruits Fairly High in Sugar

• Plums
• Oranges
• Kiwifruit
• Pears
• Pineapple

Fruits Very High in Sugar

• Tangerines
• Cherries
• Grapes
• Pomegranates
• Mangos
• Figs
• Bananas

• Dried Fruit, such as:

• Dates
• Prunes
• Dried Apricots
• Raisins

—————————————-

Almost Carb-Free

Greens have very little carbohydrate in them, and the carbs that are there are packed in layers of fiber, which make them very slow to digest. That is why, in general, greens have very little impact on blood glucose. In some systems greens are even treated as a “freebie” carb-wise (meaning the carbohydrate doesn’t have to be counted at all).

The Best and Worst Desserts You Can Eat.

The June/July 2006 issue of Men’s Fitness magazine ran an article chronicling the best and worst of the frozen treats. Here is the rundown:

Fittest:

Rocket Pop

• 70 calories
• 0 g protein
• 19g carbs
• 0 g fat

Whole Fruit Bar

• 80 calories
• 0 g protein
• 21g carbs
• 0 g fat

They claim it counts as a daily serving of fruit if it’s made from 100% juice.

Fudgsicle

• 100 calories
• 2 g protein
• 19g carbs
• 2.5 g fat

Can you believe there is protein in a fudgsicle? Who knew…

Fattest:

Chipwich

• 250 calories
• 4 g protein
• 37g carbs
• 11 g fat

And I quote, “…the worst mix of calories, carbs, and protein of almost any snack out there.”

Drumstick

• 260 calories
• 4 g protein
• 29g carbs
• 15 g fat

Quote [13]

“They are sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing.”

(William Shakespeare)

Fasting II: Water Fasting.

Water fasting means the complete abstinence from anything considered food or any nutritional supplements except pure water in an environment of complete rest.

It is incredibly a safe approach to healing.

Benefits of Water Fasting – Water Fasting Tips

• It cleanses your respiratory, circulatory, digestive and urinary systems, destroying impurities all over the body and eliminates uric acid deposits.

• People detoxify and heal more quickly with water fast than with any other fast. This is because with water fasting, your digestive passageway and organs are able to rest completely, allowing for all of your energy to be used for cleansing and repair of damaged tissues.

• It restores your body balance by eliminating wastes.

• It has been found effective in the treatment of type II diabetes.

• It has been found to be one of the most effective treatments for obesity.

• Water fasting is beneficial in epilepsy, reducing the length, number, and severity of seizures.

• It is effective for treating both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
• It improves poor immune function during fasting.

• Water fasting increases your cell-mediated immunity and immunoglobulin levels.

• Water fasting decreases your antigen-antibody complexes, and enhances natural killer cell activity.

• It increases your life span.

• It helps you in weight loss.

• Water fasting promotes detoxification.

• It gives your digestive system a much-needed rest.

• Fasting promotes the resolving of inflammatory processes, including painful inflammatory syndromes such as rheumatoid arthritis.

• It quiets allergic reactions, including asthma and hay fever.

• It promotes the drying up of abnormal fluid accumulations, such as edema in the ankles and legs and swelling in the abdomen.

• It corrects your high blood pressure to a safe range within two weeks without drugs. And the blood pressure will remain low after the fast if you eat correctly and live healthy.

• Water Fasting helps to overcome bad habits and addictions. It rapidly dissipates the craving for nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and other drugs.

• It restores your taste appreciation for wholesome natural foods. People say that their taste buds come alive after fasting and that food never tasted so good.

• It is exceptionally beneficial in chronic cardiovascular desieses and congestive heart failure, reducing triglycerides, atheromas, total cholesterol, and increasing HDL levels

• Going on water fast gives you the motivation and enthusiasm to make a fresh start and commit yourself to a new and better way of life.

Apples vs. Oranges

	Apples	Oranges
Vitamin A:	Yes 73 IU	Yes 269 IU
Vitamin C:	Yes 9 mg	Yes 70 mg
Folate(imp during pregnancy):	Yes 4 mcg	Yes 40 mcg
Potassium:	Yes 158mg	Yes 237 mg
Calcium:	Yes 9.5 mg	Yes 52 mg
Iron:	In traces	In traces
Phosphorous:	Yes 9.5 mg	Yes 18 mg
Magnesium:	Yes 7 mg	Yes 13 mg
Other minerals:	Traces of iron, zinc, manganese and copper	Traces of iron, zinc, manganese and copper
Vitamin E:	Yes 0.66 IU	No
Kingdom:	Plantae	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida	Magnoliopsida
Color:	Red,Green	Orange
Taste:	varied	varied
Family:	Rosaceae	Rutaceae
Selenium:	No	Yes 0.65 mg
Vitamin B1 (thiamine):	No	Yes 0.1mg
Pantothenic Acid:	No	Yes 0.33 mg
Subfamily:	Maloideae (or Pomoideae)
Subclass:		Rosidae
Species:		C. sinensis
Genus:		Citrus
Varieties:		Naval orange, Persian orange, Blood orange, Valencia orange,

Lemon vs. Lime

	Lemon	Lime
Vitamin A:	2 IU	6.7 IU
Vitamin C:	4 mg	19 mg
Folate(imp during pregnancy):	No	5.5 mcg
Potassium:	80mg	68mg
Calcium:	15mg	22mg
Iron:	0.35mg	0.4mg
Phosphorous:	9.2mg	12mg
Magnesium:	4.6mg	4mg
Other minerals:	Traces of selenium, zinc, manganese and copper	Traces of selenium, zinc, manganese and copper
Kingdom:	Plantae	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida	Magnoliopsida
Subclass:	Rosidae	Rosidae
Order:	Sapindales	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae	Rutaceae
Genus:	Citrus	Citrus
Species:	Citrus x limon	Citrus x latifolia
Taste:	Sour	Bitter/Sweet

Quote [12]

“We think fast food is equivalent to pornography,nutritionally speaking.”

(Steve Elbert)

Watermelon.

Nutritional Analysis
Advantages:

• Very low in saturated fat
• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• High in potassium
• Very high in vitamin A
• Very high in vitamin C

Disadvantages:

• Very high in sugar- Although these are natural sugars, they are better for you than concentrated sugars.

What Does Watermelon Contain?

About eighty-eight percent of watermelon is, as you can probably guess by both its taste and name, water. The other twelve percent of watermelon consists of fiber. Of course, both sugar and vitamins can also be found in watermelon as well. Since it is mainly made up of water and fiber, however, this means that you will not be likely to gain any weight when you decide to eat watermelon. It is a lot healthier than many other things which you could be snacking on. With the Weight Watchers diet program, you are able to eat watermelon as a free fruit, meaning you can eat as much of it as you would like. Watermelon is not only free of fat, but it is also free of cholesterol and low in sodium as well.

What Health Benefits Does Watermelon Offer?

Watermelon has various health benefits to offer you. One of the main health benefits of it is the fact that it does consist of about twelve percent fiber. Fiber in itself can provide many health benefits. It works as a weight loss aid, helps lower blood sugar levels and blood pressure levels, and may even work to prevent your risk of developing colon cancer in the future. Fiber can do a whole lot for your body. The water that is found in watermelon can also help you keep your body well hydrated during the hot days of summer, which is important. The fact that watermelon can quench your thirst on a hot day in summer is the main reason that many find it to be so satisfying. Watermelon offers various other health benefits as well. Some of these include the fact that it is packed with essential vitamins, such as Vitamin C and Vitamin A.

Is The Sugar Watermelon Contains Bad For You?

One of the main reasons that many people are afraid to eat watermelon is because it does contain sugar and they are afraid that it is bad for you. The most important thing that you should keep in mind is that too much sugar is not good for you. At the same time, anything eaten in moderation is okay. Chances are that you are not going to sit down and eat an entire watermelon is one sitting.

Eating a few slices of watermelon here and there will provide you with the healthy benefits it has to offer and should quench your hunger for the delicious treat. Even though watermelon does have sugar, you should keep in mind that this type of watermelon is the natural type of sugar. It is not artificial sugar, so therefore the sugar found in watermelon is healthier than the sugar found in a candy bar. Overall, you will probably find that the sugar found in watermelon will not hurt you, unless you eat is excessively.

Six healthy reasons to eat watermelon.

1. Watermelon his rich in lycopenene 40% more than tomatoes!
2. Get your Vitamin C – 2 cups will give you close to half of daily recommended allowance
3. Fight infection – 2 cups of watermelon gives you twenty-five percent of daily recommended allowance of beta carotene which helps the body make Vitamin A and without you set yourself up for viral infection (ex. flu) and vision problems.
4. Heal faster – Especially in the yellow-orange varieties, a rare edible source of citrulline, an amino acid used in wound healing and cell division. FYI: there’s extra citrulline in the white and green part that are usually thrown away or feed to animals
5. Sooth stress – Also a good for its potassium content which helps control blood pressure.
6. Quench cravings- Only 96 calories in two cups! The water in the melon makes you full.

Nature’s Living Superfood.

Nature’s Living Superfood is an extremely potent combination of nature’s most deeply nourishing, cleansing, building and alkalising ‘Superfoods.’

About Nature’s Living Superfood:

• Cleanses and detoxifies through the power of chlorophyll.
• Helps maintain intestinal regularity.
• Supports liver, kidneys, blood & bones.
• Maintains circulation and immune function.
• Includes beneficial bacteria (probiotics) & natural soil organisms (NSO’s).
• Alkalising superfoods.
• 100% superfoods – NO Fillers.
• Wild crafted or grown without the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides.
• Amber glass bottle with metal lid & oxygen absorber.
• Suitable for vegans.

What are the exact ingredients in Nature’s Living Superfood?

• 100% Wildcrafted,
• 100% Superfoods – No Fillers

Land Vegetables:

• Whole leaf barley grass,
• whole leaf wheat grass,
• nettle leaf,
• shave grass(horsetail),
• alfalfa leaf juice,
• dandelion leaf juice,
• kamut grass juice,
• barley grass juice,
• oat grass juice,
• burdock root,
• broccoli juice,
• kale juice,
• spinach juice,
• parsley juice,
• carob prod,
• ginger root,
• nopal cactus,
• amla berry

Algaes:

• Spirulina,
• broken cell wall,
• chlorella

Wild crafted aquatic vegetables:

• Icelandic kelp,
• Nova Scotia dulse

Enzymes;

(Optimum absorption & cleansing)

• Amylase,
• lipase,
• protease,
• cellulase,
• bromelain,
• papain

Comprehensive probiotic mixture – beneficial organisms. Includes extensive NSO (Natural Soil Organisms):

A.Agilis, L. Acidophilius, R. Arrhizus, DDS-1 Acidophilius, Bifidus, L. Bulgaricus, A Brasilenese, B.Brenis, P. Chrysosporium, A. Citreus, L.Casei, P. Calcis, S. Cellulasae, P. Dentrificans, S. Faecium, S. Fradiae, P. Fluorescens, A. Globiformis, S.Griseoflavus, P.Gelatic, B. Lipolyticum, A. Lutes, A. Lipoferum, A. Lwolfii, B. Laterosporous, P. Maringlutinosa, B.Macerans, P. Nigraclens, P.Putida, L. Plantarum, B. Pumilus, B. Polymyxa, B. Stationis, K. Zopfit, L. Salivarius, B. Subtilus, B. Succingenes, A. Simplex, B. Subtilus, S. Thermopolis, A. Terreus, M. Verrucaria, T. Viride

Carob.

(Ceratonia Siliqua)

Harvested from carob-pod trees growing wildly in Spain, this is a full-bodied and sweet crystal-like powder that freshens up and cools all recipes giving that extra depth to chocolate recipes in particular.

The carob tree is a member of the legume (pea) family and it grows in Mediterranean areas. It favours arid conditions which are naturally alien to fungus and pests, so little or no chemical sprays are needed in its cultivation.

Nutritional Factors

Carob is 80% protein and contains vitamins A, B, B2, B3 and D. It is also high in calcium, phosphorous, potassium and magnesium and contains iron, manganese, barium, copper and nickel.

The pulp, in the seedpods of carob, is very nutritious and, due to its high sugar content, sweet-tasting and mildly laxative. It can gently help to cleanse and relieve irritation within the gut. The seedpods are also used in the treatment of coughs.

Although it has only been used in manufacture and baking in Britain for some 20 years, carob is by no means a newly discovered food and evidence of the use of carob products by humans, date back to ancient Greece and Egypt where the plant was used as a source of food. The Greek Theophratus recorded in 4BC that his contemporaries called the carob the Egyptian fig. Ancient Egyptians used the gummy properties of carob seed by using it as an adhesive in binding mummies and the pods and seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs. The Romans are said to have eaten the pods when green and fresh for their natural sweetness.

Quote [11]

“If you have formed the habit of checking on every new diet that comes along, you will find that, mercifully, they all blur together, leaving you with only one definite piece of information:  french-fried potatoes are out.”

(Jean Kerr)

Aloe Ferox vs. Aloe Vera

Derived from the Latin name of ‘wild Aloe’ is Aloe Ferox. Aloe Ferox is from the same family as the more popular Aloe Vera and is indigenous to South Africa.

Ferox is physically a much stronger plant than Vera. It is much larger in size and the leaves are almost impossible to break by hand. The middle of the plant is equally robust.

Unlike the more common Vera plant, Ferox is never cultivated. The Ferox plant grows wild and only the lower leaves are ever harvested.

The plant is neither irrigated nor treated with pesticides or insecticides. Containing three times as many polysaccharides as Aloe vera, this plant is so strong that its survival is sustained through the strength of its own immune system.

In addition, it also contains around 160 different secondary plant substances, such as iso, bio flavinoids and aloiside. Research shows that secondary plant substances can have an anti bacterial and anti mycotic (anti fungal) effect. The proportion of amino acids (proteins) is 2 to 1 in comparison with Aloe Vera. It also contains considerably more iron and calcium.

Protein Powder vs. Protein Rich Food.

Whey protein is now the most popular protein supplement, and is touted for having the highest biological value. This basically means that it is more easily broken down by our bodies than animal or vegetable proteins, and therefore quickly provides your muscle cells with the nutrients it needs after a workout. The reason for this is that whey protein is higher in essential amino acid and BCAA (branch-chain amino acids)s. It can also be a better source of protein for those of you wanting to lose body fat, because it is generally lower in fat and carbs then most whole food counterparts. Furthermore, whey uniquely contains certain aminos, which create a very powerful intracellular anti-oxidant called glutathione.

It is far easier to drink a protein shake than to buy, prepare, cook and eat poultry, fish or egg whites, particularly if you are at work or on the go. We all know that eating small, frequent meals is the best way to eat, whether you are aiming for muscle gain or fat loss, but for many people, eating this frequently is virtually impossible.

Eating and Drinking Don’t Mix.

While eating your meal, for the most part, do not drink with it.

This dilutes the stomach acids and digestive enzymes. It is best to drink 20 minutes before your meal – this helps uptake of nutrients and move bowels.

If you feel your mouth is just so darn dry while eating, that is likely due to being:

• Stressed while you eat,
• Eating in a rush,
• Not being aware that you are eating
• Secretory glands not functioning well due to drinking during meals [conditioned not to secrete]

If any of those explain you while eating, try to adjust. Your secretory glands will regain proper function once you train yourself not to drink during meals.

If you absolutely cannot avoid drinking during meals then:

• Avoid cold drinks
• Drink warm to hot teas
• Avoid milk during meals

Drinking cold mucousy milk during a meal is like spraying foam on a fire. It totally kills it. The Chinese call your digestive system the triple burner. It burns from below and that fire works its way up properly digesting your foods. Cold milk and beverages douse that fire.

Quote [10]

“If you hang your swimsuit, on the refrigerator door,
The goodies inside, will be easier to ignore.”

(The Quote Garden)

Chewing.

Digestion starts in the mouth when food is mixed with ptyalin, an enzyme secreted by the salivary glands. Pylatin converts insoluble starches into simple sugars. If the digestion of starchy foods is impaired, the body is less able to extract the energy contained in our foods, while far worse from the point of view of the genesis of diseases, undigested starches pass through the stomach and into the gut where they ferment and thereby create an additional toxic burden for the liver to process. And fermenting starches also create gas.

As we chew our food it gets mixed with saliva; as we continue to chew the starches in the food are converted into sugar. [There is a very simple experiment you can conduct to prove to yourself how this works. Get a plain piece of bread, no jam, no butter, plain, and without swallowing it or allowing much of it to pass down the throat, begin to chew it until it seems to literally dissolve. Pylatin works fast in our mouths so you may be surprised at how sweet the taste gets.]

Horace Fletcher, whose name has become synonymous with the importance of chewing food well (Fletcherizing), ran an experiment on a military population in Canada. He required half his experimental group to chew thoroughly, and the other half to gulp things down as usual,. His study reports significant improvement in the overall health and performance of the group that persistently chewed. Fletcher’s report recommended that every mouthful be chewed 50 times for half a minute before being swallowed. Try it, you might be very surprised at what a beneficial effect such a simple change in your approach to eating can make. Not only will you have less intestinal gas, if overweight you will probably find yourself getting smaller because your blood sugar will elevate quicker as you are eating and thus your sense of hunger will go away sooner. If you are very thin and have difficulty gaining weight you may find that the pounds go on easier because chewing well makes your body more capable of actually assimilating the calories you are consuming.

A logical conclusion from this data is that anything that would prevent or reduce chewing would be unhealthful. For example, food eaten when too hot tends to be gulped down. The same tends to happen when food is seasoned with fresh Jalapeño or habaneo peppers. People with poor teeth should blend or mash starchy foods and then gum them thoroughly to mix them with saliva. Keep in mind that even so-called protein foods such as beans often contain large quantities of starches and the starch portion of protein foods is also digested in the mouth.

B12 Deficiency.

Symptoms of B12 deficiency

If you don’t get enough b12, you might become anemic. You don’t carry enough oxygen to your blood. You look pale and your immune system might become weak.

But there are be many other signs of B12 deficiency:

• Tender or sore muscles;
• Lack of energy, anxiety;
• Irritability;
• Poor hair condition;
• Eczema;
• Depression;
• Numbness and tingling in the hands and feet;
• Impaired memory;
• Infertility;
• Impotence.

In babies or toddlers, the child may start to look pale, fail to thrive or have weak muscles.

There can also be many “slow” symptoms. Symptoms that you don’t notice immediately, but show only over time.

Actually, it might be a reason why some people don’t feel well on raw, vegetarian or vegan diets.

Causes of B12 Deficiency

The main causes of b12 deficiency is age. As you get older, it becomes harder for your body to absorb B12.

This may be due to low stomach acid that comes with age or intestinal problems such as ulcers or having part of the intestine removed or taking medications such as antacids and laxatives on a regular basis.

Other causes of B12 deficiency: when you don’t eat meat, fish or dairy. Because these are vitamin b12 foods and you don’t find this vitamin in fruits or plants. That’s why 80% of all vegans – who don’t supplement – are deficient in this vitamin.

What does vitamin B12 do?

Why is vitamin B12 so important? What does this vitamin do? It supports our nerves, energy production and red blood cells. It helps to decrease our homocysteine and thereby the risk of heart disease and weakening of the arteries and nerves.

Best B12 supplements

If you’re on a raw vegan diet causes of b12 deficiency can be prevented by taking supplements. You don’t need much vitamin B12. David Wolfe eats ants occasionally. This provides him with sufficient B12!

If you don’t wish to eat ants like he does, methylcobalamin – 1000 mcg (sublingual) is a great source (i.e. from Natural Factors). Nano B-12 is another good source. This is the best B12 supplement because they are absorbed easily.

Rejuvenac (fermented wheat drink) is also a good source of vitamin B12. However, though this is a natural and vegan drink, you should know that the Hippocrates Health Institute (Raw food institute in Florida) advises not to drink this because of the high amount of fermentation.

If you prefer to get it from (raw) food: the best food sources are:

• Oysters (15 mcg)
• Sardines (28 mcg)
• Tuna (5 mcg)
• Salmon (6 mcg)
• Lamb (trace)
• Eggs (1.5 mcg)
• Milk (0.3 mcg)
• Turkey and chicken (2 mcg)
• Cheese (1.5 mcg)
• Ants.

Some people believe see vegetables are a good source of B12, but there is not sufficient research that shows sea greens contain b12. Especially if you are breasfeeding or are pregnant, I wouldn’t take the change. Take supplements.

Raw Uncooked Food in Winter.

It’s one thing to be a raw foodist on Hawaii, but eating raw food in a cold climate in winter time is a completely different story.

Gabriel Cousens did research in Alaska and found that 95% of the raw foodist were successful. He asked them what they did and I’m sure these tips might help you to stay warm in the winter. I’ll write their suggestions down below.

Why do you feel cold?

When starting a raw food diet, many people release toxins. This might give you a uncomfortable cold feeling. But it’s temporary. Further when you’re raw, you’re body temperature drops. It takes some time to get used to the new body temperature. This too, should be temporary and you will feel warmer over time.

When you’re eating raw food, your arteries clear up and your circulation improves. Actually, most people that have been eating raw uncooked food for a while say that they’re never cold! They even swim in ice cold water in the winter. So feeling cold when eating raw seems to be a transitional issue.

But there are things you can do to stay warm in winter. First of all, it’s a misconception that you can only eat COLD foods when you’re on a raw food diet. YOU CAN EAT WARM FOODS, just don’t heat them above 120F (water 160F). Most people cook their food and then let it cool off until about 110F before they eat it anyway. So you may heat your raw uncooked foods. Just not above 110F, the right temperature for eating them anyway… Think of soups or warm apple cider…

Top 8 tips from Alaskan raw foodists

• More exercise.
• Cayenne pepper in socks and cloves.
• Add more heating spices to food (cayenne, ginger, peppercorn, garlic).
• Raw doesn’t mean your food has to be cold. You can warm food up to 120 for 2 minutes. (just stir and when it becomes to warm to touch.)
• Warm up plates.
• Put a cold salad from the fridge in dehydrator/oven for few minutes to make it room temperature.
• Put warm sauces/salad dressings over your salad.
• Drink warm apple cider.

Water III

What’s The Best Drinking Water

The quality of the fluids we drink is imperative to good health, and the health benefit of water is directly related to it’s quality.

When you’re on a healthy diet, you know the health benefit of water. Clean, pure, alkaline water, with the right pH and structure.

So clean, alkaline waters is best. This still leaves many options. Distilled water? Spring Water? Rain Water? A water filter? And then, not all experts agree.

Here are some of the world’s leading experts on raw food and clean water and their opinions of what they found is the best water for consumption: David Wolfe, Gabriel Cousens, and Briant Clement.

• David Wolfe, world’s no 1 raw food teacher, uses spring water.

• Brian Clement, leader of the Hypocrates Health Institute, is in favor of the living water system and distilled water.

• Gabriel Cousens uses distilled water, and reveals his secret tricks to make this the best drinking water.

Gabriel’s Water Recipe

Given the pollution in the world, use distilled water. But distilled water by itself is aggressive and immature. To solve this you take a gallon of distilled water, add a pinch of salt or 12 drops of active ionic alkaline minerals, so that you get about 50 parts per million. This way you create H3O, the best water there is. With 50 parts per million, you don’t have the aggressive pulling out of minerals out of the body.

Then you structure your liquid by putting it out in the moonlight overnight. The moon structures water, not the sun. Then you bless it and you have good quality. Crystal energy from micro crystals is another alternative to structure it.

So first you heat the fluid and take out all the herbicides and pesticides, and destroy all the homeopathic pattern of the herbicides and pesticides. Then you restructure it with salt, crystal energy, moonlight and by blessing it.

Quote [9]

“Tell me what you eat, I’ll tell you who you are. ”

(Anthelme Brillat-Savarin)

Water II

The health benefit of water is key to a healthier and longer life. Drinking water is important for:

• The elimination of toxins.
• Keeping your blood thin and flow well.
• Cellular and bodily functions such as digestion.
• Relieving constipation.
• Suppressing appetite, and
• Metabolizing stored fat, thus helps with weight loss.

Some quick facts:

• You can live 40 days without food, but only 3 without water.
• You can loose 50% of your glucose, body fat or protein and survive, but if you loose 20% water, you’ll die of dehydration.
• Babies are 90% water, adults about 70%, elderly about 60%.

Most cooked food doesn’t contain much water:

• Bread 30%,
• Butter 16%
• Cheese 40%
• Cereal 5%.

But raw vegetables have a lot:

• Cucumbers, celery and lettuce 95%.
• Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, peaches, strawberries 90%.

Signs of dehydration:

• Dark-colored, pungent urine.
• Allergies.
• Hard stool, constipation.
• Low energy and weakness.
• Dry mouth or lips.
• Dry skin.

Fasting I

During the years it takes for a body to degenerate enough to prompt a fast, the body has been storing up large quantities of unprocessed toxins in the cells, tissues, fat deposits, and organs. The body in its wisdom will always choose to temporarily deposit overwhelming amounts of toxins somewhere harmless rather than permit the blood supply to become polluted or to use secondary elimination routes.

A body will use times when the liver is less burdened (for example, when you fast!) to eliminate these stored toxic debris. The hygienists’ paradigm asserts that the manifestation of symptoms or illness are all by themselves, absolute, unassailable proof that further storage of toxic wastes in the cells, tissues, fat deposits, and organs is not possible and that an effort toward elimination is absolutely necessary. Thus the first time a person fasts a great quantity of toxins will normally be released. Being the resident of a body when this is happening can be quite uncomfortable.

Each time you fast, even if it is only one day, you allow your body to go through a partial detox, and each time it becomes easier and more comfortable than the last time. The body learns how to fast. Each time you fast it, your body slips into a cleansing mode more quickly, and each time you fast you lighten the load of stored toxins.

Food In The Order Of Digestive Difficulty.

Hard To Digest: Meat, fish, chicken, eggs (if cooked), all legumes including soy products, peanuts and peanut butter, beans, split peas, lentils, chick peas, dairy products such as cheese, milk, butter milk, nuts and seeds and their butters.

Intermediate: all grains–quinoa, amaranth, millet, spelt, rye, wheat, oats, barley.

Fairly Easy: Brussels sprouts, green beans, green peas, broccoli, cauliflower, raw cultured milk products, asparagus, cabbage, sprouts especially bean sprouts, kale, other leafy greens.

Very Easy: fruits, vegetable juices, fruit juices, broth (clear).

No Effort: herb tea, water.

Quote [8]

“More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.”

(John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist, The Affuent Society)

Emotions and Digestion.

Another sure fire way to ruin any food, including the very best available is to eat in the presence of negative emotions generated by yourself or others. Negative emotions include fear, anger, frustration, envy, resentment, etc. The digestive tract is immediately responsive to stress and or negative thoughts. It becomes paralyzed in negative emotional states; any foods eaten are poorly digested, causing toxemia.

It is natural for a person who has lost a loved one or suffered a great loss of any kind to lose their appetite for a period of time. This reaction is pro-survival, because while grieving, the body is griped by powerful negative emotions.

There are people who, under stress or when experiencing a loss, eat ravenously in an attempt to comfort themselves. If this goes on for long the person can expect to create a serious illness of some kind. Individual sensitivity to this type of overeating is dependent upon genetics and personality and who is generating the negative emotions.

Self generated negative emotions are very difficult to avoid. If you are unable to change your own emotional tone or that of others around you, then it is important to eat very lightly, eat only easily digested foods such as raw fruits and vegetables, raw juices, steamed vegetables, and small servings of whole grains, nuts and seeds.

Food Combination.

Few people seem to realize that each type of food requires specific and different digestive enzymes in the mouth, stomach, and intestine. Carbohydrates, fats, proteins–each requires differing acid or alkaline environments in order to be digested. Proteins require an acid environment. Starch digestion requires an alkaline environment. When foods in complex combinations are presented to the stomach all together, like a meal with meat, potatoes, gravy, vegetables, bread, butter, a glass of milk, plus a starchy sweet desert, followed by coffee or tea, the stomach, pancreas, liver and small intestine are overwhelmed, resulting in the fermentation of the sugars and starches, and the putrefaction of the proteins, and poor digestion of the whole.

For the most efficient digestion, the body should be presented with one simple food at a time, the one bowl concept, easily achieved by adherence to the old saying, “one food at a meal is the ideal.” An example of this approach would be eating fruits for breakfast, a plain cereal grain for lunch, and vegetables for supper. If you can’t eat quite that simply, then proper food combining rules should be followed to minimize digestive difficulty, maximize the adsorption of nutrients from your food, and reduce or eliminate the formation of toxemia, and of course foul gas.

• In general, fruit should be eaten alone unless you happen to be hypoglycemic or diabetic in which case fruit should be eaten with small quantities of a vegetable protein such as nuts, or yogurt and/or cheese if able to digest dairy.
• Starches should be eaten with vegetables, which means that a well combined meal would include a grain such as rice, millet, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, corn, wheat, rye, oats, spelt, potatoes, or starchy winter squash combined with raw or cooked vegetables.
• Protein foods such as meat, eggs, beans, lentils, tofu, split peas, should be combined with vegetables, raw or cooked. But protein should never be combined with starches.

The most popular North American snacks and meals always have a starch/protein combination, for example: meat and potatoes, hamburger in a bun, hot dog with bun, burrito with meat or cheese, meat sandwiches, etc. It is little wonder that intestinal gas is accepted as normal, and that over time these hard to digest combinations eventually cause health problems that demand attention.

Healthfood Junkfood.

Many people improve their diet, eliminating meat and chemicalized food in favor of whole grains and organically grown foods, but they then proceed to make these otherwise good foods into virtual junkfood by preparing them incorrectly. What should be health-producing dietaries are ruined by frying, salting and sugaring.

Healthfood junkfoods include:

• organically grown potato chips deep fried in cold pressed organic unsaturated canola oil (made rancid by frying) sprinkled with natural sea salt;
• organically grown oat and nut granola roasted with cold-pressed unsaturated oil (made rancid by roasting) hideously sweetened with honey;
• carrot cake made with rancid whole wheat flour, cold pressed unsaturated oil (made rancid by baking), honey, and cream cheese (salted);
• whole wheat cookies (stale, rancid flour) sweetened with honey, made with vegetable oil baked at high heat (rancid);
• whole wheat pizza vegetarian style with lots of soy cheese;
• whole wheat pizza vegan style with lots of real raw milk cheese;
• organically grown corn chips deep fried in cold pressed vegetable oil with or without natural sea salt,
• yogurts made from powdered milk without an active culture of beneficial bacteria and covered with highly sugared fruits, etc.

These foods may well represent an improvement over the average American diet, but they still are not healthy foods, and should never be used in a diet for a sick person. Nor are they worthy of a person attempting to maximize health.

Quote [7]

“To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy. ”

(Hippocrates)

The Glycemic Index.

The dietary management of hypoglycemia requires that not only refined but also unrefined sugars and starches with a high glycemic index be removed from the diet. (The glycemic index measures the ease with which the starch is converted into glucose in the body, and estimates the amount of insulin needed to balance it out.) This means no sugar, no honey, no white flour, no whole grains sweetened with honey, no sweet fruits such as watermelons, bananas, raisins, dates or figs. Potatoes are too readily converted into sugar. Jerusalem artichokes are a good substitute.

Glycemic Index (compared to glucose, which is 100)

Grains		Fruits		Vegetables
all bran	51	apples	39	baked beans	40
brown rice	66	bananas	62	beets	64
buckwheat	54	cherries	23	black-eyed peas	33
cornflakes	80	grapefruit	26	carrots	92
oatmeal	49	grapes	45	chic peas	36
shred. wheat	67	orange juice	46	parsnips	97
muesli	66	peach	29	potato chips	51
white rice	72	orange	40	baked potato	98
white spagetti	50	pear	34	sweet potato	48
whole wheat spagetti	42	plum	25	yams	51
sweet corn	59	raisins	64	peas	51
Nuts		Baked Goods		Sugars
peanuts	13	pastry	59	fructose	20
		sponge cake	46	glucose	100
Meats		white bread	69	honey	87
sausage	28	w/w bread	72	maltose	110
fish sticks	38	whole rye bread	42	sucrose	59
Dairy Products
yogurt	36	whole milk	34	skim milk	32

Fresh Produce.

Vegetables, especially leafy vegetables, deteriorate much like radioactive material; they have a sort of half-life. The mineral content is stable, but in respect to the vitamins and enzymes and other complex organic components, each time period or “half life” results in the loss of half the nutrition. Suppose a lettuce has a half life of 48 hours, two days after harvest only 50 percent of the original nutrition remains. After two more days, half the remaining half is gone and only 25 percent is left. After two more days half of that 25 percent is lost. Thus six days after harvest and a lettuce contains only bout 12 percent of its original nutrition. A two day half-life is only hypothetical. Those types of produce I classify as very perishable probably do have a half-life of from 36 to 48 hours. Moderately perishable produce has a half life of about 72 hours; durable types of produce have half lives of 96 hours or longer.

Vegetable Storage Potential

Very Perishable	Moderately Perishable	Durable
lettuce	zucchini	apple
spinach	eggplant	squash
Chinese cabbage	sweet peppers	oranges
kale	broccoli	cabbage
endive	cauliflower	carrot
peaches	apricots	lemons
parsley		beets

The half life of produce can be lengthened by lowering its temperature. For that reason, sophisticated produce growers usually use hydrocooling. This process dumps a just-cut vegetable into icy water within minutes of being harvested, lowering core temperature to a few degrees above freezing almost immediately. When cut vegetables are crated up at field temperatures, and stacks of those crates are put in a cooler, it can take the inside of the stack 24 hours, or longer, to become chilled. Home gardeners should also practice hydrocooling. Fill your sink with cold water and wash/soak your harvest until it is thoroughly chilled before draining and refrigerating it. Or, harvest your garden early in the morning when temperatures are lowest.

Still, when you buy produce in the store it may have been sitting at room temperature for hours or possibly days.

Fats and Oil.

The best fats contain high levels of monosaturated vegetable oils that have never been exposed to heat or chemicals–like virgin olive oil. Use small quantities of olive oil for salad dressing.

Monosaturated fats also have far less tendency to go rancid than any other type. Vegetable oils with high proportions of unsaturated fats, the kind that all the authorities push because they contain no cholesterol, go rancid rapidly upon very brief exposure to air. The danger here is that rancidity in vegetable oil is virtually unnoticeable. Rancid animal fat on the other hand, smells “off.” Eating rancid oil is a sure-fire way to accelerate aging, invite degenerative conditions in general, and enhance the likelihood of cancer.

I recommend that you use only high-quality virgin olive oil, the only generally-available fat that is largely monosaturated. (Pearson and Shaw, 1983)

When you buy vegetable oil, even olive oil, get small bottles so you use them up before the oil has much time being exposed to air (as you use the oil air fills the bottle) or, if you buy olive oil in a large can to save money, immediately upon opening it, transfer the oil to pint jars filled to the very brim to exclude virtually all air, and seal the jars securely. In either case, keep now-opened, in-use small bottles of oil in the refrigerator because rancidity is simply the combination of oil with oxygen from the air and this chemical reaction is accelerated at warmer temperatures and slowed greatly at cold ones.

Chemical reactions typically double in speed with every 10 degrees C. increase in temperature. So oil goes rancid about six times faster at normal room temperature than it does in the fridge. If you’ll think about the implications of this data you’ll see there are two powerful reasons not to fry food. One, the food is coated with oil and gains in satiety value at the expense of becoming relatively indigestible and productive of toxemia. Secondly, if frying occurs at 150 degrees Centigrade and normal room temperature is 20 degrees Centigrade, then oil goes rancid 2 to the 13th power faster in the frying pan, or about 8,200 times faster. Heating oil for only ten minutes in a hot skillet induces as much rancidity as about 6 weeks of sitting open and exposed to air at room temperature. Think about that the next time you’re tempted to eat something from a fast food restaurant where the hot fat in the deep fryer has been reacting with oxygen all day, or even for several days.

Quote [6]

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

(Albert Einstein)

Alkaline Foods vs. Acid Foods I

Alkaline foods are foods that raise the the amount of oxygen that your blood takes in. The most alkalizing foods are RAW green leafy vegetables, non-sweet fruits and (wheat) grasses. The opposite of alkaline foods are acid foods.

How much oxygen your blood can absorb is measured on a pH Scale that ranges from 0 to 14. A PH of 0 is most acidic while a PH of 14 is most alkaline.

The Right Acid – Alkaline Balance

Our blood is in balance when we’re slightly alkaline: with a pH of 7.365.

In the beginning of the 20th century, very smart scientists and nobel prize winners made a great discovery. If our blood cannot absorb enough oxygen we get sick: cancer, heart issues, arthritis and candida infections, diabetes are the result.

You know that our body tries to maintain a constant temperature 98.5F or 37C. But but do you know that your body tries even harder to maintain the right amount of oxygen in your blood (a pH of 7.365)? When our pH is too high or too low, we don’t feel well, we feel tired, gain weight, have poor digestion and get aches and pains.

Most people in the US and Europe are too acidic: they cannot absorb enough oxygen. That’s why cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes are epidemic.

Why are we too acidic? The famous four:

• Stress;
• Toxins;
• Parasites; and
• The FOOD we eat.

Acid Foods List

It’s too bad that the foods we like most make us most acidic and thus sick. What are these food? You guessed right:

• Junk & Processed foods;
• Sugar;
• Coffee & Tea;
• All animal food (meat, eggs, chicken, fish, lobster, oysters);
• Grains: (white) wheat, rice, pasta, flour, bread etc ;
• Some Fruits;
• Dairy products (milk, cheese, butter);
• Bad fats;
• Peanuts, cashews.

Alkaline Foods List

During most of our lives, the majority of the foods we eat are (highly) acidic. These make us sick and tired. By eating raw alkaline foods and drinks, we can help our body heal itstelf from most diseases:

• Vegetables – especially raw green leafy vegetables.
• Salads – made of lettuce, spinach, celery, cucumber, avocado etc.
• Fresh Herbs & Spice – parsley, basil, cilantro, cayenne, ginger.
• Fruits – watermelon, avocado, cucumber, young coconuts.
• Wheat grass.
• Sprouts: i.e. alfalfa, mung bean, broccoli etc

Top 6 Super Foods.

Wheatgrass Juice

• Wheatgrass contains most of the vitamins and minerals needed for human health.
• It’s a whole meal and complete protein with about 30 enzymes.
• It has up to 70% chlorophyll (which builds the blood). It’s an excellent source of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc.
• Wheatgrass cleanses the body (natural raw detoxer) and it eliminates body and breath odors.
• The natural value of wheatgrass juice is so high that many people don’t feel the “cravings” that lead to overeating.
• It’s great for the skin and first and second decree burns.
• All grasses are edible and that there are over 400 varieties.

Goji Berries

• Tibetan goji berries are extremely rich in anti-oxidants which help protect the cells in our bodies from diseases like cancer.
• They’re also an excellent source of Vitamin C and soluble fiber.
• They have more amino acids than bee pollen, more beta carotene than carrots, more iron than spinach and 21 trace minerals.
• Goji Berries contain of 13% protein!
• It’s been used to treat eye problems, skin rashes, allergies, insomnia, liver disease, diabetes, cervical cancer, to lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
• It’s a powerful anti-fungal and anti-bacterial food.

Maca

• Maca is a radish like fruit that grows in Peru. It’s one of the top 5 super foods enjoyed by raw foodists.
• It’s extraordinary rich in nutrients: 10% protein, 60% carbohydrate and full of fatty acids, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals trace.
• Maca is famous for its amazing health benefits and used to boost, energy, strength, libido, sexual function and fertility in both men and women.
• It’s a natural viagra with no side effects and it’s said to relieve symptoms of menopause within days.
• The Peruvian root works gradually, not instantly. You need to eat maca continually to receive the full benefits. For the best results look for organic raw maca powder.
• Maca balances the body’s systems: it’ll raise low blood pressure and lower high blood pressure as needed. Maca boosts immunity and harmonizes the body’s overall vitality.

Bee Pollen

• Bee pollen contain more than 96 different nutrients, including every single nutrient that you need to live.
• It’s made up of 40% protein. It’s a natural energizer, slows down the aging process, and lowers cholesterol levels.
• This super food reliefs discomfort from PMS, prevents prostate problems, improves sperm count, boosts the immune system, and detoxifies your body. It alleviates allergies, improves endurance, strength and mental clarity.
• It promotes weight loss: the rate at which your body burns fat and it reduces cravings.
• It regulates your mood and helps control stress in your life.

Hemp Seed

• Hemp is one of the purest, most complete plants on earth.
• It has the perfect balance of Omega 3 and 6 for sustainable human health. This makes raw hemp seeds incredibly powerful against cancer. It might be the single best food to prevent it. It’s a high quality, complete raw food protein and has a massive trace mineral content.
• It’s the only seed that doesn’t need to be germinated before eating: it has no enzyme exhibitors. Therefore it’s easy to absorb.

Chocolate

• Although controversial, many find raw chocolate a super food.
• It’s rich in anti oxidants and magnesium. And as long as you’re healthy and use is sensably it’s a super, tasty and healthy addition to your recipes.

The benefits of raw chocolate?

1. It’s a major source of magnesium. Therefore a great laxative, it releases PMS symptoms, it’s good for the brain and heart.
2. It’s the number 1 anti-oxidant source. 30X as much as green tea and 10X that of blueberries.
3. It does not contain caffeine.
4. However, it does contain theobromine (a sister molecule of caffeine). This makes raw chocolate the best medicine against asthma.
5. It contains serotonin and triple defense. Together they protect us from the damage of stress.
6. Chocolate is the number one weight loss food. It’s so nutrient dense. If you eat a few beans you feel fantastic and satisfied. You won’t feel hungry and you can go for hours without food.

Raw vs Cooked.

Why go Raw?

The benefits of going raw-vegan are boundless. Raw foods are easy to digest, and they provide the maximum amount of energy with minimal bodily effort.

Studies have shown that living foods have healing powers that can alleviate many illnesses such as low energy, allergies, digestive disorders, weak immune system, high cholesterol, candida, obesity and weight problems (weight normalization), etc..

Research and real life experiences have also shown that a person can prevent the body’s healthy cells from turning into malignant cancerous cells by consuming mostly a raw food diet that includes whole organic foods!

What’s wrong with cooked foods?

Heat changes the makeup of food. Foods that have been heated have lost all of their life force, and their beneficial enzymes are destroyed.

The digestive system has to work harder and longer to process cooked foods to get nutrition and energy from it. Once cooked, food can lose up to 85 percent of its nutritional value. Raw foodists call that “dead food.” Since we are essentially what we eat, consuming the dead energy of dead foods make our bodies feel heavy and stagnant.

Quote [5]

“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal. “

(Napolean Hill)