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Raw Food
A once-radical form of vegetarianism called the "raw foods" or "living foods movement" is creeping into the mainstream via forums such as gourmet restaurants, upscale food festivals, airline menus and big-name cookbooks.
Since the mid-1990s, the health-food world has embraced a style of preparation in which all ingredients are raw, organic and vegan (no fish, meat, eggs or dairy products), and nothing is heated above 118 degrees.
The rationales are that a diet of fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts is inherently healthier, and that heat destroys key nutrients and enzymes. So instead of ovens and stoves, the essential kitchen tools are juicers, blenders, high-tech slicers and dehydrators.
Until recently, the movement ("raw foods" and "living foods" are usually used interchangeably) gained most of its exposure through Web sites, natural-food stores, trade shows, a handful of modest cafes and endorsements from a few celebrities, including Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone.
The necessary life supporting process or nutrition most often starts with mothers milk and continues as we draw our life force from the all giving Mother Nature. Live foods, because of their high energetic structural integrity, give us the healthiest, food sourced nurturing possible. Raw food diets have been used since 500 B.C. to heal people. One of the greatest raw food pioneers was Dr. Szekely who over a period of 33 years, saw more than 123,600 people (approximately 17% of them coming to them with "incurable" diseases) with better than 90% of them regaining their full health using live raw foods. Briefly, foods that have a high degree of life force, in turn enhance the human life force. These high enzyme, raw foods have the capacity to revitalize, and regenerate the human organism.
A variety of research has shown that a good percentage of nutrients are destroyed in cooking. We can also assume that with all of the potent pesticides, herbacides, and additives that go into our foods, cooking will transform a certain percentage of these into more carcinogenic (cancer causing) compounds.
The consuming of plant life for food is in harmony with nature in that the fruits and vegetables that we eat are harvested in their seasonal cycles in sync with their own life and death cycles. Unlike that of animal protein. When an animal is about to be killed, there is a release of adrenaline into to tissues. This fear based adrenaline is then absorbed by the eater of that animal. When we eat animal flesh, we take on their fear and pain of death and it permeates every cell.
I dont want to go off on a tangent about animal protein so if you would like to read more on the subject I highly reccomend a book called :The China Study" by T.Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II.
I do want to talk a little bit about the protein controversy. The most common question I get is "how do you get enough protein with a vegetarian diet?". The need for high protein is based on fear rather than fact. The initial research on which this myth is based was done in Germany around the turn of the century. It was financed, for the most part, by the meat and dairy industries. They decided that 120 grams of protein per day was needed. Today, the modern research from around the world shows that a more accurate protein need is between 18 and 35 grams per day, depending on which study you read. According to the American Dietetic Association, pure vegetarian diets in America usually contain twice the required protein for ones daily needs. Harvard researchers have found that it is difficult to have a vegetarian diet that produces a protein deficiency unless there is an excess of vegetarian junk foods and sweets.
A raw food diet is in my opinion ideal but speaking from experience it is also difficult(especially when you are cooking for a family)! I do my best to eat atleast 50% raw food. If you are currently a meat eater, I challenge you to atleast eat vegetarian 3 days/week. You will feel great and save money while doing it!! If you are a vegetarian currently, try going raw a few days per week. It is fun to experiment with and I have some great recipes to share with you!
Portions of the above information taken from "Conscious Eating" by Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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