Green Revolution

Children on Raw Foods

2011-09-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

So let’s make it very clear that the raw food diet is an experiment. It is not a diet that has been proven to have sustained human populations throughout the ages.

On the other hands, millions of people throughout the world have lived on vegetarian diets, so we know that meat is not necessary in the human diet. In many cases, these vegetarians were pretty close to be vegans, and for the past 100 years there have been many vegan families that have successfully raised children on a 100% vegan diet.

Here are the main problems with raising children on a 100% raw vegan diet:

1) Fruits and vegetables are not calorie-dense enough.

People tend to think that what a raw vegan diet is missing is certain minerals and vitamins. So they obsessed over getting a ton of greens in their kid’s diet, or truckloads of slimy seaweed.

But what really matters are the macro-nutrients — the calories! Calories only come from fat, protein and carbohydrates. This turns out to be perfect for adults who need to lose a few pounds, but not so great for children who are growing and need a lot of calories.

Fruits and vegetables are just too low in macro-nutrients (calories) to form the basis of the diet of growing children, who have tiny bodies and great caloric needs for growth. The reason raw food children eat all the time is that they just can’t fit enough raw produce in their tiny stomachs at any one time to get the calories they need.

Some raw foodists who follow a low-fat diet say that the solution to this is to give these children large amounts of fatty foods like avocados, nuts and seeds. Even though these experts ban or severely restrict these items for adults, they claim that in nature, children would be breast-fed up to the age of seven, therefore it would be natural for humans to eat a high-fat diet up to that age, as the fat content of breast milk is around 50% by calories.

While it is true that in many cultures, children are breast-fed up to an age that would be considered improper in Western societies, these children do not only drink breast-milk up to the age of 5 or sometimes 7. Breast milk is critically important for the first 2 years of life, but after that, even in primitive societies, children eat other foods than just breast milk.

What children really need are enough calories to grow. That means enough carbohydrates for energy, and enough protein to grow and build their bodies. Fat also plays an important part because of its concentrated energy, but there is no evidence that children must eat a very high-fat diet in order to grow properly. It’s just easier to get enough calories and proper nutrition if you include high fat items such as nuts, seeds and avocados.

However, nuts and seeds are not as rich in nutrients as we think, if we analyze their nutrients per calorie, compared to cooked potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and even some whole grains.

Children would be better off having access to a variety of foods — raw and cooked — as they are growing up, instead of relying solely on low-calorie fruits and vegetables and high fat raw foods.

2) The unsupplemented raw vegan diet doesn’t provide critical vitamin B12

I won’t expand too much on that point, but it goes without saying that a B12 supplement is mandatory for both children and pregnant or nursing mother. Every single doctor who promotes a plant-based diet recommends a B12 supplement, especially for young children.

3) Grazing on fruit and nuts all day long can create dental problems.

The issue that I’ve seen with 100% raw children has usually been the same: they eat constantly, all day long, and they are never satisfied.

Children have a tiny stomach, yet need a ton of calories and nutrients to grow. It’s normal that they may need to eat more often than adults, so food in general should not be restricted.

The problem is that in a purely raw food diet, many children are not fundamentally satisfied and are not getting the necessary nutrients they need. Their carbohydrate intake may be too low, as they are instinctively looking for more concentrated foods to give them the calories they need, but are restricted to fatty foods like avocados and nuts.

One unfortunate side effect of this constant grazing is an increased occurrence of dental decay, which I’ve seen quite often in raw vegan children. Every dentist knows that the more often you eat in the day — especially sugary foods — the more likely it is you’re going to suffer from dental decay. Eating constantly never brings the oral environment to an alkaline state, and the constant supply of sugar is feeding the bacteria that cause dental decay.

Can a raw vegan diet provide enough protein for growing children?

Human breast milk is composed (by calories) of 52% fat, 6% protein and 42% carbohydrates.

Cow’s milk, on the other hand, is 19% protein, 52% fat, 29% carbohydrates.

The main difference between the milk of these two species is not the fat content, but the carbohydrate and protein content. Human milk is significantly sweeter and less concentrated in protein.

The reason behind this difference is that humans are supposed to grow over a slow period of time, gradually, while cows must grow quickly. But human milk is still concentrated in fat, as babies need those extra calories.

So can a raw vegan diet provide enough protein for growing children? Quite possibly, as human beings grow over a long period of time and do not need that much protein, unlike cows and other animals that grow very quickly.

But remember that babies who drink breast milk also start eating other foods after just 1 or 2 years of age, and that over time, in all cultures, breast milk becomes more a supplement than the main staple of the diet.

So it would be safe to assume that protein needs of growing children should be a little higher than the 6% content of mother’s milk. To be safe, a few percentage points should be added.

The big problem is when children are not getting the calories they need, they are also not getting the protein they need for proper growth. A diet deficient in total energy will also be deficient in protein, which is not so much a problem for adults who don’t need that much protein, but may be a huge issue for growing children.

A fruit-based diet may also be inadequate in protein as many fruits are lower in protein than even breast milk. For example:

Bananas — 4% protein
Apples — 2% protein
Grapes — 4% protein
Honeydew Melon — 5% protein
Dates — 2% protein

On average, fruits are only 4-5% protein, with some fruits being as low as only 2%. I suspect that a big percentage of the protein content of fruits is actually found in the seeds and hard peels of fruits, that are then analyzed in the process but not usually digested when we eat those foods.

Fruits are also low in minerals, compared to vegetables or even cooked starchy plants. Analyzing the data, I can only come to the conclusion that a fruitarian diet is far from adequate for growing children.

Other Nutrients

I won’t expand on specific nutrients, which rely on common sense more than anything. Green vegetables are extremely important for their calcium content, but most raw foodists are aware of that.

Vitamin D can be an issue if sun exposure is not adequate, so sometimes a supplement may be advised if children are not consuming any fortified foods like soy milk.

“Pregnancies From Hell”

Food aversions are very common in pregnant women, including those following a raw food diet.

The vast majority of women that I’ve met who were raw foodists when they got pregnant were not able to maintain that diet 100% during pregnancy, simply because they suddenly couldn’t eat most greens and sometimes most fruits.

Why would healthy women suddenly be unable to eat fruits and vegetables when they get pregnant, when they have been living on essentially fruits and vegetables for years prior to pregnancy?

A recent article published in Science Daily sheds light on this mysterious process. According to two Cornell university researchers, “the nausea and vomiting of “morning sickness” experienced by two-thirds of pregnant women is Mother Nature’s way of protecting mothers and fetuses from food-borne illness and also shielding the fetus from chemicals that can deform fetal organs at the most critical time in development.”

Quoting from the article:

“By creating food aversion, NVP (nausea + vomiting during pregnancy — Frederic) also protects against toxins from microorganisms and other teratogenic (fetal organ-deforming) chemicals, Sherman says. “At that same time, in the first trimester of pregnancy, the cells of the tiny embryo are differentiating and starting to form structures. Those developing structures and organ systems — such as arms and legs, eyes and the central nervous system — at this critical stage of a new life could be adversely affected by the teratogenic phytochemicals in some food plants,” Sherman says. These chemicals are secondary compounds that plants make to defend themselves against disease and insects.

Although phytochemicals have no known nutritive function for humans, most people tolerate their presence in food. (Small amounts of these chemicals might even be beneficial because of their antioxidant properties and trace elements.) But during pregnancy, according to the Cornell biologists, women with morning sickness are shielding the developing unborn from the harsh chemicals by vomiting and by learning to avoid certain foods altogether until the fetus develops beyond the most susceptible stage.”

You can read the full article here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/06/000602075407.htm

Many raw vegan women that I’ve met could not stand the sight of raw green vegetables, but were able to eat some cooked vegetables during pregnancy. Eating cooked vegetables was undoubtedly better than eating no vegetables at all, which is what they would have to do if they had stayed 100% raw.

Many also could not eat many fruits and even found themselves completely repulsed by them. Yet they craved simple “comfort” foods like potatoes, in addition to unhealthy foods like fried chicken and ice cream.

Most women were wise enough to listen to their bodies and make some serious modifications in their diet during pregnancy.

Others stoically stuck to the raw vegan diet, often with disastrous results. I’ve heard of women who ended up completely depleted after a difficult pregnancy when she could only eat a few types of fruit, because she tried to stay 100% raw no matter what. In the end, she was harming her body by starving and more importantly, her unborn child.

Animal Foods and Raw Vegan Children

Many raw vegan families have recognized the nutritional issues that I brought up, yet remained committed to the idea of eating raw. So they instead choose to introduce some animal products to their family’s diet, the most common ones being eggs and some form of raw dairy products.

Although these animal foods can certainly improve on a deficient raw vegan program for children, a body of scientific evidence shows that they are not necessary for the needs of growing children, on a well balanced, low-fat (or lower-fat, in the case of children) vegan diet with B12 supplementation.

There are very serious issues related to drinking cow’s milk, whether it’s raw or not, and a lot of evidence points to dairy products as a culprit in the incidence of diabetes and certain auto-immune disease, and to the prevalence of these foods in children’s diet. (For more information, read: http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall/020700puthepancreas.htm)

I personally wouldn’t include dairy products in my children’s diet as I see no reason to do so, although I realize that occasional treats will be hard to avoid in today’s world. But, as long as the rest of the diet is clean and optimized for human nutrition, children will grow healthy and without long-term health problems, many of which can be caused by dairy products in the human diet.

Food combining revisited

2011-06-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

The raw food diet is a pretty strict diet to begin with.

We don't eat bread. We don't eat meat. We don't eat dairy

products. We don't eat eggs (at least most of us don't!)...

and we don't eat most of what other people eat as well.

But on top of that, we have these rules about not being able

to combine certain foods with each other, and how just

eating one food at a time is best.

And I must say, for a long time I subscribed to all of these

rules. But I also knew that not all food combining rules are

valid.

For example, the original book "Food Combining Made Easy" by

Dr. Shelton gave a lot of rules with no reasoning at all

behind them.

Also, a lot of people have misinterpreted that book. Because

Shelton said "eat melons on their own", some people think

they should never eat melons with other fruits (such as

peaches), when in fact Shelton clearly stated you could do

so.

Essentially, his rule was meant to avoid the common

combination/abomination in those days of a big slice of

watermelon after of rich meal of meat and pasta.

In my book the "Raw Secrets", I simplified food combining

rules in the raw diet to three essential rules:

- Do not combine fat with sugar 

- Do not combine

acids with starch 

- Do not combine different types

of fatty foods within one meal

Today, I'm going to simplify these rules even more, and

completely deconstruct the food combining theory!

-------------------------

How I Reconsidered These Rules

-------------------------

For many years, I followed food combining rules blindly

without questioning them. Then I started simplifying them

over the years, and realized that some of them weren't

necessary.

At this point, I have eliminated most of the "rules" I once

thought were essential.

How did I get to this?

Over the years, I've watched some other raw-foodists eat who

didn't know these food combining rules.

They simply made combinations they liked that tasted good,

without paying too much attention to the combinations like I

did.

My big surprise was to realize that I could eat many

combinations that I thought were "bad" without any negative

effect whatsoever.

The main combination I'm talking about has to do with mixing

fat and sugar together.

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Why Certain Combinations Occur in Nature

-----------------------------------------

The idea behind many food combining rules is to simplifying

the process of digestion. So naturally, the "sandwich" is

one of the worst combinations ever, because it combines many

classes of food which are optimally digested in a completely

different acidic or non-acidic environment in the stomach.

In the raw food diet, we naturally avoid most of these

combinations, leaving mainly one: the combination of fat and

sugar.

The idea behind this rule is that combining fat and sugar,

such as dates and almonds together, will let the sugar

ferment in the stomach.

The reason is simple: almonds and other fats take a lot more

time to digest than simple sugars. If you eat them together,

the sugar you eat will spend much more time in the stomach

and intestines and start to ferment.

So far so good...

But even with that rule, the traditional rules of food

combining allow for certain exceptions. For example, you can

combine acid fruits with nuts together.

The idea is that because nuts digest well in an acidic

environment, acid fruits don't compromise that picture, and

also contain less sugar than other fruits.

This line of reasoning always appeared a little suspicious,

but I noticed that the effects of that combination were

generally positive, as long as I ate very small amounts of

fat.

But there's one strange observation:

- Many foods in nature contain the combination of fat and

sugar in significant proportions!

For example, the durian, a beloved fruit of many

raw-foodists, is very rich in sugar and quite rich in fat

(20% on average).

Even avocados contain some sugar and carbohydrates, and so

do nuts.

And surprisingly, all fruits and vegetables contain a

certain percentage of fatty acids.

There are also other fruits in nature that contain this

forbidden mixture of fat and sugar, such as the "Ackee

fruit", popular in Jamaica.

So it seems to me a little strange to completely ban this

combination, when you can enjoy a ripe durian which contains

a mixture of fat and sugar.

---------------------------------

Raw-Foodists Eating Too Much Fat

---------------------------------

After thinking about this a lot, I realized that most

raw-foodists who benefit from these food combining rules

have something in common: they eat too much fat!

I agree that the combination of a huge handful of almonds

with a bag of dates is a nasty mixture that leads to a lot

of fermentation and gas.

But try eating three dates and three almonds together.

You'll probably find that this combination goes down

perfectly well.

The same goes for other fatty foods:

Eat a huge guacamole and then have all the figs you can eat,

and you probably will experience some gas.

But dice up a third of an avocado in a salad that contains

lettuce and mango, and you'll probably be fine.

So my main observation with the rule of not combining fruit

and fat together has to do with quantities.

When small quantities of fat are used in the diet, there is

no reason to fear combining some fruit with some fatty foods

once in a while.

So my new "rule" is: you can throw in some fruit in a salad

containing some fat. Try to avoid fruits that are very

concentrated in sugar such as dates or dried fruits or

bananas, and instead use juicy fruits. Also, avoid large

quantities of fat.

------------------------------------------------

Eating Fruit is Better than Eating Fat

(in spite of food combining rules)

------------------------------------------------

Another problem with the food combining rules that have been

presented before are the restrictions they pose on people.

Let's say you have a salad that contains some avocado.

According to food combining, you should not eat anything for

several hours after that, or only eat more of the same

ingredients for optimal digestion.

So if you're not satisfied after a meal of salad and avocado

(and most people aren't) because you didn't eat enough fruit

during the day or before the meal, then your only option is

to wait several hours or eat more avocado.

What I recommend now is to eat fruit, whenever you feel like

it or feel hungry, even if the combination is not perfect.

Eating some fruit after a salad containing avocado will be a

LOT better than eating more avocado and more fat after that

same meal.

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The Spirit of Food Combining Rules

----------------------------------

I still believe in the spirit of food combining rules, which

is about keeping things simple and avoiding long lists of

ingredients.

However, it's probably not necessary to obsess about these

rules, when you can enjoy some simple, tasty and low fat

combinations that will taste great and digest well, even if

they don't follow the rules 100%.

-----------------------------------

Want to get started with the raw diet?

-----------------------------------

If you can't wait to get started with the raw food diet and

discover the healthiest way to eat raw, whether it's 100%

raw or mostly raw, get your hands on the Raw Health Starter

Kit!

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/starterkit.html

Metabolism

2011-03-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Half-Fast Metabolism

There is a huge amount of misinformation being taught about metabolism. This is quite understandable, as most people do not even truly understand what their metabolism is. Some folks are teaching that the rate of your metabolism determines just exactly which foods are best suited for you to eat. They teach that people are born as either fast or slow metabolizers, and glorify the advantages of being a fast metabolizer. They assert that the fast metabolizers burn through fuel more rapidly than the slow metabolizers, making the fast metabolizers relatively more efficient at digesting their food. Actually, the opposite is really true. It is easy to understand if we use a car analogy. The car that gets more miles to the gallon is more efficient than the car that gets fewer miles to the gallon. It is equally as easy to understand that the person who utilizes the least fuel to accomplish any particular task, i.e., the slow metabolizer, is the most efficient.

The fast metabolizers, it is taught, will only thrive on a high fat diet, as fruits will prove to be insufficient in terms of fuel density, leaving the consumer constantly hungry and suffering from the maladies (mistakenly) associated with the overconsumption of fruit's sugars. Only the slowest metabolizers, it is taught, could even hope to have a chance at possibly succeeding, healthwise, by utilizing fruit for fuel. Often, athletes are brought into the example. If you are a serious athlete, then you might be able to use more fruit if you are a very slow metabolizer, it is said, but otherwise, it is too easy to overeat on fruit and it really should simply be avoided.

First, let's begin with a few terms. The term metabolism represents the sum of all of the catabolic and anabolic processes that go on within your body. The anabolic activities in your body are those whereby simpler structures are united to form more complex ones. Anabolism represents the building processes in your body: growth, repair, and all of the recombinant chemistry that goes on at the cellular and visceral level. Catabolic activities are those whereby complex structures are broken down into simpler ones. Digestion, osteoclastic activity (cells that break down bones), and the conversion of glycogen to glucose are examples of catabolism in action. Metabolism is not, in and of itself, a single function, but rather a representation of the sum total of anabolism and catabolism that is going on in the body at any given time.

Physical activity, or lack of it, determines metabolic rate

The term metabolism does have a useful meaning for us, however. We use it with reference to the phrase, basal metabolic rate, or BMR. We use the two terms almost but not quite as synonyms. The basal metabolic rate is a measure of the amount of fuel a person utilizes, per unit of time, when awake and totally at rest. It does not include such functions as physical activity, daily household chores, or even digestion. When we use the word, metabolism we use it to mean BMR plus all the activities of the day. We might say, He has a fast metabolism and she has a very slow metabolism. By this we would mean that a person with a fast metabolism requires more fuel to perform the same amount of anabolic and catabolic processes as the person with a slow metabolism. This makes the fast metabolizer less efficient in their use of fuel. Either way, however, the difference is not very much, as the BMR rarely varies much more than about plus or minus 5% from person to person of similar body size and design. Body surface area, it turns out, is the biggest factor affecting BMR. BRM in humans accounts for the use of around 1000 calories per day.

What does affect fuel use is the amount of physical exertion one performs. A sedentary person may only use 200 calories per day in performing their daily functions whereas someone going for a vigorous 4-hour hike could use 2000 calories. Professional athletes often use 4000 calories solely for their daily training and Tour de France riders are known to use over 10,000 calories on certain days of this grueling competition. Hence it becomes easy to see that differences in BMR, or metabolism, as it is commonly referred to, plays an exceptionally small role in total calorie usage, usually representing less than 100 calories out of 2,000 to 4,000 or even more.

The truly fast metabolizer is one who uses more calories per hour, throughout the day, than the average person does. The more calories one utilizes in the course of the day, the faster would be their total metabolism. It can safely be said that a fit woman of average physique uses about 1800 calories per day and the average-sized fit man about 2400. Using the man for this example, it would mean that he averages about 100 calories per hour. We could therefore assert that a man who uses more than 100 calories per hour would be termed a fast metabolizer and a man who uses less than 100 calories per hour would be a slow metabolizer.

How Much Fat is Optimum?

The concept that fast metabolizers must consume more fat per calorie than slow metabolizers has been taught as fact for many years. This is contrary, however, to all we know about human health and nutrition. The Director of Nutrition for the United States Olympic Teams says, the amount of fat (as a percentage of total calories) required for the athlete remains the same, regardless of sport. The only thing that varies, sport by sport and athlete by athlete, she asserts, is the total number of calories required.

Enzymes: Are They for Real?

2011-02-24T07:58:00.001-08:00

Enzymes function as the organic chemistry version of catalysts, meaning that they facilitate chemical reactions but do not get involved in the reaction, coming out of it unchanged. A lot of hype has been created around enzymes, misinformation that has really caught on within the raw food movement. A few facts are in order.

Our body produces the enzymes it needs to make digestion happen. There are some 20 different enzymes responsible for the digestion of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. If the digestive enzymes we required to digest foods were already within the foods, the foods would digest themselves. A nut could sit on your counter for decades without digesting itself; hence we must conclude that the required digestive enzymes are not present.

What is that you say, soak the nut to deactivate the enzyme inhibitors?

OK, the nut is soaked. What happens next? Does the nut now digest itself? Certainly not. After a thorough soaking, the nut grows through the stage we call germination. Germination is different from digestion, as when the nut germinates it is actually converting itself into a young plant. New structures are growing. In fact, the germination process is the exact opposite of digestion, which is catabolic, for it is anabolic.

So what did soaking the nut actually do? It must have had something to do with enzymes, for in organic chemistry, nothing happens without an enzyme to foster the initiation of a reaction. There are thousands of enzymes, each performing its own ultra specific task. The enzyme inhibitors that are deactivated when nuts are soaked are in fact not digestive enzyme inhibitors at all, but rather germination enzyme inhibitors. There is a huge difference.

The nuts are easier to digest after soaking, yes. They were in a dehydrated state. All dehydrated foods are more difficult to digest than their water saturated counterparts. The nut is changed in form, from an intensely concentrated dehydrated nut to one that is in the beginning phases of becoming a sprout, a young tender vegetable. Of course it is easier to digest.

Crutches cripple, or so the time honored phrase goes.

If we put a healthy man in a wheelchair for some months, he will lose the use of his legs. Making it easier in the short run actually makes it harder in the long. The same can be said for digestive aids. Consumption of digestive enzymes does not encourage a person to eat well, in fact, it does the opposite. Why eat well if you can get away with eating poorly and taking enzymes? At the same time, the use of the digestive enzyme inhibits and impairs the innate bodily ability to produce the required digestive enzymes. This is a boon for the enzyme salesman, but a bust for the health seeker.

We only have so many enzymes, or so the story goes. I wonder, where do we store them? Do we have a lifetime's worth of digestive enzymes, stored in our glands? Would we find them in a child's glands, if we were to perform an autopsy? Isn?t it strange that no one has ever found them stored in such a fashion? What about all the other thousands of enzymes in the body? Why don't we run out of them? Doesn't it make more sense that we produce digestive enzymes as needed, as we do all the other enzymes in our body?

If we do have just a limited amount of digestive enzymes, as the salesmen would have us believe, how did we use them up in the short span of just twenty or thirty years? What do our parents do for enzymes, I wonder, who are decades older yet still eating foods that are far more nutritionally lacking than we? If taking enzymes helps this problem, how does it do so? And why are we just taking digestive enzymes, why not all the others? How does a broad spectrum digestive enzyme supplement actually work? Each of the 20 digestive enzymes that we produce is ultra specific to the exact type of food we eat. Can a wideband supplement be that specific?

What foods are we eating that require these digestive aids, anyway?

Are we taking supplements to help us digest our fruits? This is unlikely and even by the salesman?s suggestion, unnecessary. Are we eating enzymes like candy to help us digest lettuce, or celery? Again, this is unlikely. So why are we taking enzymes? To help us digest fats, apparently, and the fruits and vegetables that we poorly combined with fats, no doubt.

Herein lays the crux of the matter then. If we eat poor food combinations and take digestive enzymes, we are still eating poor food combinations. If we eat more fats than we have the capacity to digest well, taking digestive enzymes in no way reduces our total fat consumption. It seems that there is not really an instance where the consumption of such digestive aids works to our advantage. By suppressing the symptoms through the consumption of digestive enzymes, we only fool ourselves into thinking we are "getting away with it" while we are actually fostering a worsening of our digestive problems. This approach is in no way different than taking drugs or over the counter remedies for indigestion. The intelligent approach is obviously to eliminate the cause of the problems, rather than to simply treat the symptoms.

Cravings: What Do They Mean?

2010-12-15T01:01:00.000-08:00

Cravings: What Do They Mean, and When Should You Listen?

Want some fries with that low-blood-sugar shake?

No raw food diet would be complete without some mind-boggling, head-spinning, drag-you-to-your-knees cooked food cravings. Especially in the beginning weeks and months. I don’t think I’ve met a single raw foodist who didn’t have to battle the Craving Monster at some point or another—so if you’re facing this challenge, you’re not alone.

Your body always tries to work in its own best interest—and for the most part, it does a good job. Wounds heal, hunger signals compel you to fuel up, fatigue ushers you towards sleep. It’s a diligent worker and an excellent communicator. But sometimes your poor body gets confused—such as with autoimmune disorders, when it attacks its own tissues, and addictions that create reliance on unhealthy substances. And as you may already know, certain cooked foods are loaded with chemical additives, refined sugar, opioid peptides (think opium and morphine), and other addictive ingredients that literally make you “need a fix.”

When it comes to food cravings, this poses a challenge: is your body asking for something it needs, or is it remembering something it’s addicted to? Should you ignore your cravings or indulge them?

The answer isn’t always clear. But as a guideline, here are some tips for deciphering what your body is asking for.

Are you craving a quick blood-sugar raiser, like cookies, candy, ice cream, or other sweets? Then one of two possibilities is likely. First, you may be withdrawing from processed sugar (which, indeed, is almost drug-like) and miss the feeling of a “sugar high”—a likely possibility if you were a sugar junkie in the past. You might also be legitimately craving carbs because you’ve under-eaten and need some glucose in your bloodstream, pronto. In either case, try filling up on plenty of fresh, whole fruit (not dried) and see what happens.

Are you craving a “comfort food” you used to eat after having a bad day, or something special your mom (or grandma or other chef-like family member) used to make when you were little? Then you’re probably having a psychologically-rooted craving. You may be associating a feeling of comfort, familiarity, and overall okay-ness with a particular food item from your past—something you treated not as “fuel” but as a tranquilizer, relaxer, or mood-lifter. These are not good cravings to succumb to. What they do offer is an opportunity to reevaluate your relationship with food, and find constructive ways to deal with difficult emotions instead of swallowing them down with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

Are you craving something super salty, like popcorn, chips, canned food or soup, broth, foods with soy sauce, or ketchup? Although human sodium needs are somewhat low, the raw food diet tends to be tremendously high in potassium—a mineral that needs about a 3:1 ratio with sodium in order for our bodies to function optimally. If you don’t consume overt salt in your raw diet, or if you really like chowing down on high-potassium fare, your body might be crying out for some extra sodium. Try eating celery, seaweed, raw cultured vegetables, swiss chard, or spinach when these cravings strike. If you—like most people—ate a high-sodium diet prior to raw, salty food cravings could be a form of withdrawal; in this case, the cravings generally disappear within a few days or weeks of abstaining from table salt.

Are you craving something dense and rich, like cheese, butter, peanut butter, fast food, or heavy desserts? Your body is probably desperate for calories. Nine times out of ten, when you crave extremely calorie-rich foods, it’s because you haven’t been getting enough fuel for a while (days, weeks, or even months) and your body is pretty peeved about it. This is amazingly common for those on a raw food diet. Even when it feels like we eat a lot of fruit, its so bulky that we aren’t actually getting that much energy from our meals.

Your body knows it will get the best caloric bang per bite by driving you towards energy-dense items, so when you under-eat for a while, you’ll feel like making a bee-line to the first jar of peanut butter that crosses your path. The key to battling this craving isn’t necessarily to eat more fatty foods, but to eat more, period. Try entering your daily food intake on a nutrient calculator like FitDay or Cron-O-Meter—you may be surprised at how little you’re actually consuming. Amp up your overall intake, and the heavy food cravings will typically subside. (One caveat: sometimes cheese cravings are also due to dairy withdrawal or low sodium levels.)

Are you craving a pure, unseasoned protein source, like chicken, eggs, or fish? You probably aren’t getting enough protein. I know, I know; that sounds like blasphemy coming from a fellow raw foodist. Indeed, human’s don’t need an enormous amount of protein to be healthy, but if you aren’t eating enough food on a raw diet (or if your digestion isn’t up to par), you can bet the farm you aren’t getting enough protein to thrive long-term. If ethical concerns don’t dictate otherwise, you can often squash this craving with a small amount of raw animal products; try tossing a couple of free-range organic eggs into a smoothie, for instance. If you’re a committed vegan, focus on eating adequate calories, including plenty of greens and non-sweet vegetables (both of which are relatively high in protein as a percentage of calories). Green juice can be effective as well. Contrary to popular belief, nuts aren’t that high in protein; almonds are 13 percent protein, pecans are only 5, and hazelnuts are 8. Zucchinis, on the other hand, are 18 percent protein.

Are you craving red meat—even if you haven’t eaten it in years? This is a classic iron craving. Load up on dark leafy greens or sea vegetables, and eat them with another food high in vitamin C to enhance absorption (such as a salad with spinach and orange slices).

Are you craving dairy, bread, pasta, crackers, or other grain products? Both dairy and gluten-containing grains contain opioid peptides—amino acid sequences that affect the brain in the same way opiates do, targeting your endorphin receptors and making you feel pretty darn good. These opioids are also amazingly addictive and are largely responsible for cravings. In the case of milk, it makes sense—if wise Mother Nature makes this liquid semi-addictive, it ensures that young mammals feel compelled to keep drinking it, which keeps them nice and nourished. Unfortunately, the addictive quality doesn’t go away just because you grow up. Some people have success including raw dairy in their diet, but most of the time, dairy and grain cravings are due to opioid peptide withdrawals.

Above all else, eat enough. When your body is chronically under-fueled, it’ll start screaming for all sorts of wacky things. For many people, the best way to defeat cravings is to simply eat a greater quantity of raw foods.

Fasting: the Natural Way to Perfect Health

2010-03-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

By Loren Lockman

If you’re suffering from health challenges of any kind, you may want to take a look at the ancient, and amazing practice of fasting. Not well understood by many today, fasting has been used for time immemorial to address problems of all kinds.

Virtually all animals employ fasting in times of sickness or injury.

You may have seen a cat or a dog (or any other animal) lie down and refuse food when ill. Though people often believe that this is a “bad” thing and that the animal will be harmed by its stubborn refusal to eat, in fact, the animal is simply following its instincts and nature’s dictates and giving its body the optimal conditions in which to deal with virtually any problem.

Rumi, the great 11th century poet and mystic extolled the virtues of fasting. Pythagoras understood the impact that a clean body has on the brain, and insisted that all prospective students fast for six weeks before he would tutor them.

After Gandhi was assassinated at 77, his doctors commented that his organs looked like those of a 35 year old. Their only explanation was the extensive fasting he had done.

Plutarch said, “Instead of medicine, fast for a day.” This remains excellent advice. At the first sign of a cold or flu, or any other acute illness, if you will take to bed and cease eating, your body will have the opportunity to cleanse and heal itself much more quickly.

The benefits that can accrue to us via fasting are numerous and varied. Fasting is not magic, though it often seems so. It is simply nature’s way of allowing the organism the best possible conditions in which to cleanse and heal itself.

Heart disease affects 50% of all Americans. Last year, a peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal proved that fasting is three times as effective as hypertension medications at reducing high blood pressure.

It’s helpful to understand that virtually all symptoms that we experience are evidence that the body is attempting to heal itself. Sinus congestion, fever, swelling, even pain, are created by the body on purpose, and are nothing more than evidence that the body is working to address some problem and restore balance, or homeostasis. When the body is given an opportunity to cleanse and heal, all manner of symptoms may arise, and they often do.

Sometimes, those who don’t understand this will believe that the fast has made them sick. In fact, by ceasing to squander the body’s energy on unnecessary activities (including, temporarily, eating!), much more energy is available to cleanse and heal. The appearance of symptoms simply indicates that these processes have begun.

It is always the body that heals itself. Remedies of all kinds generally treat symptoms, not causes, and it is only by eliminating the cause of a problem that we can expect to solve the problem.

Taking a decongestant may relieve the discomfort, but it does nothing to eliminate the actual problem, which was a toxic substance in the body. With its means of elimination paralyzed by the drug, the body is forced to store these toxins, furthering the body’s build-up of them, and eventually creating chronic disease.

If you’ve been eating a Standard American Diet for 20, 30, 40 years or more, your body probably has a lot of stored debris. Additionally, as the body becomes overburdened with the toxins brought in from outside (exogenous) sources from our diet, water, and the environment, it’s also becoming overburdened with toxins created inside the body (endogenous). These endogenous toxins are the waste products of cellular metabolism. When a system is heavily burdened, it’s unable to process and eliminate the cellular wastes quickly enough, and these wastes build up.

Many years ago, French scientist Alexis Carrel won the Nobel prize for keeping the cells of a chicken heart alive for 32 years. He accomplished this by keeping the cells’ fluid bath clean, changing it twice a day. In fact, the cells only died when a research assistant neglected to change their bath one day.

Like the chicken heart cells, we can improve our health and extend our life by providing our internal organs with a clean environment. Fasting is the most effective and efficient way to allow the body to cleanse itself of all wastes, both exogenous and endogenous.

Fasting means different things to different people. I use the textbook definition: “the complete abstinence from all nutrients.” Though people talk about “juice fasting” or “fruit fasting,” these terms are misnomers. Because fruit and vegetable juices contain nutrients, taking only juices is more appropriately termed a “juice diet.” The same is true for long monodiets like the melon or grape diet.

Though many believe that juices and certain foods are “cleansing,” this isn’t true. Rather, simple diets of juices or water-rich fruits allow the body a much greater chance to cleanse itself than it has while eating a typical diet. Though the body detoxifies more than usual while consuming a lighter diet, this is very different than what happens while truly fasting.

There are beneficial physiological changes that occur in the complete absence of nutrients. The body goes through a series of steps to meet its constant glucose needs, looking first to the digestive tract, next to glycogen stores in the liver, then to muscle tissue to create glucose, and finally, to adipose tissue. This last step doesn’t happen if there are any nutrients coming in.

This is important because we retain toxins primarily in the adipose tissue – our long-term fat stores. With nutrients coming in, the body never switches to burning adipose tissue as a primary source of fuel. The result of this is that so-called “juice fasts” are generally much easier on the body because there is much less detoxification going on.

Though one can expect to experience some discomfort while fasting, the degree varies greatly and depends on the specific conditions of the faster. Most people enjoy the process and find it relatively painless.

There are some typical symptoms that one may expect to experience. As mentioned earlier, fasting is the most effective way to treat high blood pressure. Within days of beginning a fast, most people will see their blood pressure begin to drop. In cases where there is a lot of arterial plaque, blood pressure may go up first, as these fatty deposits are broken down and released into the bloodstream, thickening the blood.

There is no cause for concern in either case. However, when fasting, you are very likely to experience dizziness upon standing up quickly, and this can be dangerous if you pass out and hurt yourself when you fall. Take the precaution of sitting up first when getting up from a lying position, rise slowly, and brace yourself if possible.

Aches and pains, cold and flu symptoms, congestion, headache, and many other symptoms may also arise. One thing that often happens is that people find their internal organs. Many people are not really aware of their internal organs, and don’t know where they are. When fasting, it is not unusual to feel some aches in these organs, especially the liver and kidneys, which are the primary organs of detoxification. They will likely be working much harder than usual, and you may feel some pain there as a result.

It is also not unusual to experience aches and pains in old injuries. Injuries that healed improperly or incompletely tend to improve while fasting. When given a chance, the body goes back in and begins the work of completing these repairs. They may hurt while this is going on. This is the body’s way of reminding us to stay off them while they are healing.

Over the last 17 years, I’ve supervised people with almost every condition imaginable through fasts ranging from a few days to nearly 10 weeks. The results have been almost uniformly very positive. This should not surprise us though – the human body is incredibly resilient, and given the opportunity and ideal conditions, is almost always capable of healing itself.

How long your fast should be depends on your conditions. The average person has a six to eight week reserve of nutrients, and can safely fast that long, if she does it properly. Few people ever need to fast that long, though most would undoubtedly benefit from it.

Fasting properly means following the natural model: the sick animal lies still throughout the fast. Fasting means complete physiological rest, so this is the ideal way. I encourage my clients to spend as much time as possible resting comfortably with their eyes closed. Attempting to fast while continuing one’s normal routine is a recipe for disaster, as the body becomes quickly exhausted.

If fasting is a safe and natural process, why would anyone need supervision? No one does. However, many people find that they fare much better when in the proper supportive environment, and under experienced supervision.

There are some contraindications for fasting, though they are few and far between. I believe that almost everyone can safely fast, and will benefit greatly from doing so. Some exceptions to this are women who are pregnant or nursing, anyone who is emaciated for any reason, or anyone with extreme nutritional deficiencies.

Fasting in pregnancy or lactation results in an overload of toxins to the baby. Because fasting means that the body is living on nutrient reserves, those who are emaciated for any reason literally cannot fast. They can refrain from eating, but rather than fasting, they will be starving. In the first case, the body is being fed on non-essential reserve tissue. In the second case, when no reserves are present, the body will consume vital tissue. The body is intelligent enough to distinguish between the two.

The emotional component to this process is also very important. Fasting is an opportunity to clear out long-suppressed emotional “baggage.” The results of this part of the process can be amazing, and coupled with the rejuvenative physical effects, make fasting a very powerful tool.

If you’re having any trouble sticking to your chosen raw diet, you will also benefit from fasting. When you eliminate all of the toxins from your system, you will cease to crave any of the non-foods that still have a hold on you.

If you’re not already experiencing perfect health, you may want to investigate fasting. You’ll want to examine all of your diet and lifestyle choices to achieve this lofty goal, and fasting is a good way to start.

Did We Adapt to Cooked Foods?

2010-01-19T16:55:00.000-08:00

by frederic patenaude

Recently, a book was published that seems to contradict a lot of the established raw food theory. The book is called “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human” by Richard Wrangham, who’s a British primatologist.

So I spent the time reading the 300 page book, initially with some skepticism. I expected another meat-eating scientist trying to rationalize their habits by some unsubstantiated arguments. Instead, I found the book “Catching Fire” to be quite fascinating, bringing light to a lot of controversies that raw-foodists will definitely find interesting.

It also destroys the foundation of many common raw-food myths (that I didn’t believe in anyway), but surprisingly, the basic conclusions of Mr. Wrangham’s research partially support the low-fat, fruit-based diet that I recommend.

Before I go into the details the theory presented in “Catching Fire”, let me review some of the current beliefs common in many books on the raw-food diets (including some of my own):

• Humans are apes. Other apes we know eat a plant-based diet of fruits and vegetables. Chimpanzees and bonobos, which are the types of apes sharing the most DNA with humans, eat a fruit-based diet. Therefore, our natural diet should also be diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
• Before the advent of cooking, humans lived essentially on fruits, vegetables, and perhaps some nuts and seeds and animal products (when they could find them).
• There must have been a “golden period” of time, before cooking, when we lived for much longer than we do today (some claim 120 to 140 years is our natural lifespan). The advent of cooking and processed foods brought the “descent” of man, as far as our health is concerned.
• Humans have not “adapted” to cooked foods. We ate cooked foods for survival purposes, but our bodies are still wearing down from the consumption of these foods. Because cooked food is toxic, the most natural diet would be a diet of 100% raw foods.
• Humans are not carnivores. Meat has no place in the human diet.
• Grains are not our natural foods. We have been eating grains for only a tiny fraction of our history on this planet. Our natural diet, the one we’re the most adapted to, is one of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
• We should eat a raw food diet because of the enzymes and other essential nutrients that are destroyed in the cooking process.

As you may imagine, the book Catching Fire demolishes most of these claims. The book’s central claim is that cooking played a very key role in our evolution.

"I believe the transformative moment that gave rise to the genus Homo, one of the great transitions in the history of life, stemmed from the control of fire and the advent of cooked meals. Cooking increased the value of our food. It changed our bodies, our brains, our use of time, and our social lives. It made us into consumers of external energy and thereby created an organism with a new relationship to nature, dependent on fuel."

Now most raw-foodist will definitely deny these claims. After all, cooked food is "poison" and couldn't possibly have played any role into making us into who we are (at least not in a positive way). Raw-foodists would disagree strongly with the statement that "cooking increases the value of our food." Raw-foodists believe that cooking only destroys and cannot possibly "improve" anything. However, objectively speaking, Wrangham is correct about something.

The Quest for Calories

All over nature, it seems that the biggest challenge for all animals trying to stay alive is getting enough to eat. Modern humans, on the other hand, spend only a fraction of their day eating.

"Because the amount of time spent chewing is related to body size among primates, we can estimate how long humans would be obliged to spend chewing if we lived on the same kind of raw food that great apes do. Conservatively, it would be 42 percent of the day, or just over five hours of chewing in a twelve-hour period."

The main thing that cooking does is it increases the overall caloric content of our diet, our at least it enabled us to obtain more calories in less time and with less energy.

it allowed us to eat many rich foods we wouldn't have been able to eat in nature, such as roots and starches. This was certainly a key element in freeing our ancestors from having to search for foods and chew tough fruits with few calories all day long.

So according to Wrangham, the main appreciable thing that cooking does is simple: it increases the amount of energy we could obtain from our food. By that, of course, he means calories.

"Studies of digestibility show that we use cooked starch very efficiently. The percentage of cooked starch that has been digested by the time it reaches the end of the ileum is at least 95 percent in oats, wheat, potatoes, plantains, bananas, cornflakes, white bread, and the typical European or American diet (a mixture of starchy foods, dairy products, and meat). A few foods have lower digestibility: starch in home-cooked kidney beans and flaked barley has a digestibility of only around 84 percent. Comparable measurements of the digestibility of raw starch are much lower. Digestibility is 71 percent for wheat starch, 51 percent for potatoes, and a measly 48 percent for raw starch in plantains and cooking bananas."

"We need to know what cooking does. Cooked food does many familiar things. It makes our food safer, creates rich and delicious tastes, and reduces spoilage. Heating can allow us to open, cut, or mash tough foods. But none of these advantages is as important as a little-appreciated aspect: cooking increases the amount of energy our bodies obtain from our food. "

Of course, one might argue that raw-foods contain more "energy" and nutrients, but the fact is that Wrangham is correct in pointing out that it is easier to get calories from cooked foods than it was, at least for early humans, to get them from wild raw plants.

However, the author is obviously biased in favor of cooking, but I'm sure you have guessed it by now.

"Raw-foodists are dedicated to eating 100 percent of their diets raw, or as close to 100 percent as they can manage. There are only three studies of their body weight, and all find that people who eat raw tend to be thin. The most extensive is the Giessen Raw Food study, conducted by nutritionist Corinna Koebnick and her colleagues in Germany, which used questionnaires to study 513 raw-foodists who ate from 70 percent to 100 percent of their diet raw. They chose to eat raw to be healthy, to prevent illness, to have a long life, or to live naturally. Raw food included not only uncooked vegetables and occasional meat, but also cold-pressed oil and honey, and some items that were lightly heated such as dried fruits, dried meat, and dried fish. Body mass index (BMI), which measures weight in relation to the square of the height, was used as a measure of fatness. As the proportion of food eaten raw rose, BMI fell. The average weight loss when shifting from a cooked to a raw diet was 26.5 pounds (12 kilograms) for women and 21.8 pounds (9.9 kilograms) for men. Among those eating a purely raw diet (31 percent), the body weights of almost a third indicated chronic energy deficiency. The scientists’ conclusion was unambiguous: “a strict raw food diet cannot guarantee an adequate energy supply.” The amount of meat in the Giessen Raw Food diets was not recorded but many raw-foodists eat rather little meat. Could a low meat intake have contributed to their poor energy supply? It is possible. However, among people who eat cooked diets, there is no difference in body weight between vegetarians and meat eaters: when our food is cooked we get as many calories from a vegetarian diet as from a typical cooked diet."

My comments on this last quote from the book is that it is certainly true that a typical raw food diet is deficient in energy. As I have mentioned every time, vegetables simply do not contain enough calories to sustain life, and raw fats such as avocados are difficult to eat in large quantities to maintain energy levels (especially considering that they are more difficult to digest than cooked starches). The traditional raw-food diet is a weight loss program. It's not something that can be sustained over the long-term.

Some ridiculous comments are being made because the authors of the study have obviously little knowledge on how one could balance a raw-food diet and make it work. However, the raw-food diet they describe is very typical of what many raw-foodists eat, and the absolute opposite of what I recommend.

Wrangham goes on:

"The energy consequences of forgoing cooked food lead to a consistent reaction, illustrated by journalist Jodi Mardesich when she became a raw-foodist. “I’m hungry. These days, I’m almost always hungry,” she wrote. A typical day began at 7 A.M. when she cut and juiced two ounces of wheat grass. At 8:30 A.M. she had a bowl of “energy soup,” which she describes as a “room-temperature concoction made of sunflower greens, which are the tiny first shoots of a sunflower plant, and rejuvelac, a fermented wheat drink that tastes a lot like bad lemonade.” She added a couple of spoonfuls of blended papaya for interest. Lunch was a salad of sunflower greens, sprouted fenugreek seeds, sprouted broccoli seeds, fermented cabbage, and a loaf made of sprouted sunflower seeds, dehydrated seaweed, and some vegetables."

"Dinner was more sprouts, avocado chunks, pineapple, red onion, olive oil, raw vinegar, and sea salt. An hour later she was hungry again. In photographs she looks distinctly thin, but she was happy. She described herself as feeling energized, mentally sharper, and more serene. Nevertheless, after six months, during which she lost 18 pounds (8.2 kilograms), she could not resist slipping out for a pizza. Mardesich was not alone in finding a wholly raw diet a challenge. The Giessen Raw Food study found that 82 percent of long-term raw-foodists included some cooked food in their diets."

My comments: The raw diet described above is typical of many people trying to eat raw. Unfortunately, this diet doesn't work. It obviously is very low in calories (energy) while being high in fat. Unfortunately, that's the way a lot of raw-foodists try to eat, and it just isn't sustainable. That's why I recommend to get sufficient calories from fruit, while keeping your overall diet low in fat.

"Anthropologist Elizabeth Marshall Thomas describes bushman women in Africa’s Kalahari Desert returning to camp at the end of their ordinary long day thoroughly exhausted, because for much of the day they have been squatting and digging and walking, and hefting large loads of food, wood, and children. Even in populations that cook, these natural activity levels are high enough to interfere with reproductive function. If we imagine the lives of our German raw-foodists made more difficult by a daily regime of foraging for food in the wild, their rate of energy expenditure would surely be substantially increased. As a result, many more than 50 percent of the women would be incapable of pregnancy. Then add that the subjects of the Giessen Raw Food study obtained their diets from supermarkets. Their foods were the typical products of modern farming—fruits, seeds, and vegetables all selected to be as delicious as possible. “Delicious” means high energy, because what people like are foods with low levels of indigestible fiber and high levels of soluble carbohydrates, such as sugars. Agricultural improvements have rendered fruits in a supermarket, such as apples, bananas, and strawberries, far higher in quality than their wild ancestors. In our laboratory at Harvard, nutritional biochemist NancyLou Conklin-Brittain finds that carrots contain as much sugar as the average wild fruit eaten by a chimpanzee in Kibale National Park in Uganda. But even carrots are better quality than a typical wild tropical fruit, because they have less fiber and fewer toxic compounds. If the German raw-foodists had been eating wild foods, their energy balance and reproductive performance would have been much lower than found by Koebnick’s team."

My comments: These points are interesting. Even under the best circumstances, where we get hybridized raw foods with lots of calories, most people have trouble getting enough raw food to eat so they're not hungy all the time. Can you imagine what early humans would have done, with no access to bananas or hybridized high-calorie fruits, supermarket avocados, bottles of oils and packs of nuts? Especially when you consider the fact that early humans were much more active than we are, it makes the "struggle for raw calories" even more obvious.

Wrangham also points out some studies where various groups of people tried to live off wild raw-foods, and in every single case they did not manage to get enough calories to thrive.

"Raw-Foodist thrive only in rich modern environments where they depend on eating exceptionally high-quality foods. Animals do not have the same constraints: they flourish on wild raw foods. The suspicion prompted by the shortcomings of the Evo Diet is correct, and the implication is clear: there is something odd about us. We are not like other animals."

Are We Just Like Chimpanzees?

The logic of nature is often easy to follow.

Once we realize that we are animals living among other animals, it's easy to look at nature and try to see where we fit in the grand scheme of things. For example, we might look and try to find other animals similar to us.

Science tells us that humans are apes, related to some degree to chimpanzee by a common, earlier ancestor. We share more DNA with chimpanzees than with any animals on the planet. Looking at these creatures, we can see so many apparent similarities. In fact, I remember reading how many people in England were shocked when they first saw Chimpanzees in a zoo for the first time. Many people were disturbed by the sight of these animals, precisely because they look so similar to us, which was viewed as repulsive for people of that time, who believe that humans were unlike any other animal on the planet.

So raw-foodists look at what apes eat, and although you will find evidences of some meat-eating among them, even scientists admit that they essentially live on fruits and vegetables. Obviously, since we're apes, our diet should be something along those lines. (not eating dairy, grains, refined foods)

We also know that there are profound differences between chimpanzees and us. How profound?

"Evolutionary benefits of adapting to cooked food are evident from comparing human digestive systems with those of chimpanzees and other apes. The main differences all involve humans having relatively small features. We have small mouths, weak jaws, small teeth, small stomachs, small colons, and small guts overall. In the past, the unusual size of these body parts has mostly been attributed to the evolutionary effects of our eating meat, but the design of the human digestive system is better explained as an adaptation to eating cooked food than it is to eating raw meat."

"Mick Jagger’s biggest yawn is nothing compared to a chimpanzee’s. Given that the mouth is the entry to the gut, humans have an astonishingly tiny opening for such a large species. All great apes have a prominent snout and a wide grin: chimpanzees can open their mouths twice as far as humans, as they regularly do when eating. If a playful chimpanzee ever kisses you, you will never forget this point. To find a primate with as relatively small an aperture as that of humans, you have to go to a diminutive species, such as a squirrel monkey, weighing less than 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds). In addition to having a small gape, our mouths have a relatively small volume—about the same size as chimpanzee mouths, even though we weigh some 50 percent more than they do. Zoologists often try to capture the essence of our species with such phrases as the naked, bipedal, or big-brained ape. They could equally well call us the small-mouthed ape."

(…) The difference in mouth size is even more obvious when we take the lips into account. The amount of food a chimpanzee can hold in its mouth far exceeds what humans can do because, in addition to their wide gape and big mouths, chimpanzees have enormous and very muscular lips. When eating juicy foods like fruits or meat, chimpanzees use their lips to hold a large wad of food in the outer part of their mouths and squeeze it hard against their teeth, which they may do repeatedly for many minutes before swallowing. The strong lips are probably an adaptation for eating fruits, because fruit bats have similarly large and muscular lips that they use in the same way to squeeze fruit wads against their teeth. Humans have relatively tiny lips, appropriate for a small amount of food in the mouth at one time.

(…) Human chewing teeth, or molars, also are small—the smallest of any primate species in relation to body size. Continuing farther into the body, our stomachs again are comparatively small. In humans the surface area of the stomach is less than one-third the size expected for a typical mammal of our body weight, and smaller than in 97 percent of other primates. The high caloric density of cooked food suggests that our stomachs can afford to be small. Great apes eat perhaps twice as much by weight per day as we do because their foods are packed with indigestible fiber (around 30 percent by weight, compared to 5 percent to 10 percent or less in human diets). Thanks to the high caloric density of cooked food, we have modest needs that are adequately served by our small stomachs.

(…) The human small intestine is only a little smaller than expected from the size of our bodies, reflecting that this organ is the main site of digestion and absorption, and humans have the same basal metabolic rate as other primates in relation to body weight. But the large intestine, or colon, is less than 60 percent of the mass that would be expected for a primate of our body weight. The colon is where our intestinal flora ferment plant fiber, producing fatty acids that are absorbed into the body and used for energy. That the colon is relatively small in humans means we cannot retain as much fiber as the great apes can and therefore cannot utilize plant fiber as effectively for food. But that matters little. The high caloric density of cooked food means that normally we do not need the large fermenting potential that apes rely on.

(…) The weight of our guts is estimated at about 60 percent of what is expected for a primate of our size: the human digestive system as a whole is much smaller than would be predicted on the basis of size relations in primates."

MY COMMENTS: Another change that is not mentioned is that humans produce several times the amount of starch-splitting enzymes (useful for digesting complex carbohydrates) than chimpanzees. It's obvious that although we share a lot of similarities with these animals, we are VERY different. We would also expect our diet to be somewhat different.

Could Humans Live on a Chimpanzee Diet?

The idea is appealing: chimpanzees live on fruit, therefore we can also live on fruit.

However, we should ask ourselves: what kind of fruits do chimpanzees live on?

"Evolutionary adaptation to cooking might likewise explain why humans seem less prepared to tolerate toxins than do other apes. In my experience of sampling many wild foods eaten by primates, items eaten by chimpanzees in the wild taste better than foods eaten by monkeys. Even so, some of the fruits, seeds, and leaves that chimpanzees select taste so foul that I can barely swallow them. The tastes are strong and rich, excellent indicators of the presence of non-nutritional compounds, many of which are likely to be toxic to humans—but presumably much less so to chimpanzees. Consider the plum-size fruit of Warburgia ugandensis, a tree famous for its medicinal bark. Warburgia fruits contain a spicy compound reminiscent of a mustard oil. The hot taste renders even a single fruit impossibly unpleasant for humans to ingest. But chimpanzees can eat a pile of these fruits and then look eagerly for more. Many other fruits in the chimpanzee diet are almost equally unpleasant to the human palate. Astringency, the drying sensation produced by tannins and a few other compounds, is common in fruits eaten by chimpanzees."

(…) Astringency is caused by the presence of tannins, which bind to proteins and cause them to precipitate. Our mouths are normally lubricated by mucoproteins in our saliva, but because a high density of tannins precipitates those proteins, it leaves our tongues and mouths dry: hence the “furry” sensation in our mouths after eating an unripe apple or drinking a tannin-rich wine. One has the same experience when tasting chimpanzee fruits such as Mimusops bagshawei or the widespread Pseudospondias microcarpa. Though chimpanzees can eat more than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of such fruits during an hour or more of continuous chewing, we cannot.

(…) The shifts in food preference between chimpanzees and humans suggest that our species has a reduced physiological tolerance for foods high in toxins or tannins. Since cooking predictably destroys many toxins, we may have evolved a relatively sensitive palate.

My Comments: Since I've been coming to Costa Rica, I've had the chance to look at what monkeys eat in the wild. The monkeys in Costa Rica are not like great apes, but fruit constitutes most of the diet of some of these monkeys.

What always puzzled me is that whenever I saw the fruits these monkeys ate, and by accident some of it was dropped on the ground, it always looked far from edible to me. Whenever I tried to eat some of these fruits, I found them to be quite repulsive.

I don't think that my taste buds have been corrupted by the foods I've eaten all my life. For a modern human, I have pretty natural taste buds. And I'm quite convinced that a baby human would not enjoy many of the fruits eaten by most monkeys, and would in fact refuse to eat them.

Even Raw-Foodists "Cook" Their Foods

"It makes sense that we like foods that have been softened by cooking, just as we like them chopped up in a blender, ground in a mill, or pounded in a mortar. The unnaturally, atypically soft foods that compose the human diet have given our species an energetic edge, sparing us much of the hard work of digestion. Fire does a job our bodies would otherwise have to do."

This last quote by Wrangham made me look at the way raw-foodist eat their foods. In my opinion, even smart raw-foodists like 80-10-10 do the equivalent of "cooking" without using any heat. Let me explain:

We get more calories from our raw foods by making smoothies and other blended foods
We assimilate more from our greens by blending them into soups or even juicing them
We favor high-calorie fruits such as bananas, dates, mangoes and other tropical fruits, which have been bred to be high in sugar and low in fiber.
We make rich dressings by blending nuts, seeds and avocados
Some raw-foodist also ferment certain tough vegetables

Why do you think that blending is so popular in the raw-food world? Why do you think that green smoothies are such a craze? Why do you think vegetable juicing has so many fans? These are all techniques we use to get the most out of our raw foods! In other words, most people inherently understand that eating carrot sticks doesn't work. They know that raw-foods are lower in calories, and therefore have discovered all kinds of ingenious ways to make them more digestible.

I do believe that this raw food diet CAN works when we use some of these tools. In my opinion, in would be almost impossible to live off wild foods. And I can bet you anything that anyone who eats a significant quantity of wild food in their diet gets the bulk of their calories from either cultivated fruits, cooked rice or grains, potatoes or avocados, or has access to an unnatural variety of dried "wild" foods shipped from all corners of the world.

It's not that cooking food is one of the defining aspects of civilization. I believe that it's the "processing" of foods that makes the difference. This includes: blending, cultivating, hybridizing, juicing, etc. Raw-foodists may just be a lot smarter by using methods that don't create toxins that are harmful to the body when processing their raw foods.

We are civilized by nature. Even the modern raw-food diet is "unnatural".

So my final comments on this topic are as follows:

There may never have been a "golden age" where humans lived in perfect health eating delicious fruits and vegetables. Most likely, we come from a line of animals that ate tough and astringent fruits similar to those modern apes eat. Over time, we started to cook more and more, and learned how to hybridize plants to get sweeter and better varieties. We evolved to prefer these foods over the wild foods we formely ate. Trying to go back to wild foods simply doesn't work.
Cooking was probably a key element in human evolution, however it doesn't mean we are forced to keep eating it today. Modern nutritional knowledge of calories, combined with cultivation of many varieties of sweet fruits, non-bitter vegetables and modern techniques such as blending allow us to eat a raw diet and get the best of both worlds (civilization and nature).
We come from such a long line of sick and diseased ancestors and parents living on the low-quality, toxic Standard American Diet that a low-toxin, high-nutrient raw-based diet is definitely the way the go.

I do not believe that the research presented in the book Catching Fire really goes against the low-fat, fruit-based raw diet. However, it does show you how unsustainable most other low-calorie, high-fat raw-diets are, and how many of their claims are not based in solid science.

Therapeutic Hemp Oil

2010-01-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

by Andrew Weil, M.D.

The nutritional composition of oil from the marijuana plant could be beneficial to your health. To most people, Cannabis sativa is synonymous with marijuana, but the plant's Latin name means the "useful hemp." Species designated sativa (useful) are usually among the most important of all crops. In fact, the utility of hemp is manifold: the plant has provided human beings with fiber, edible seeds, an edible oil, and medicine, not just a notorious mind-altering drug.

In our part of the world, these other uses of hemp are no longer familiar. We rarely use hemp fiber and know little about hemp medicine. (Some cancer patients have found it to be a superior remedy for the nausea caused by chemotherapy, and some people with multiple sclerosis are grateful for its relaxant effects on spastic muscles.) Hemp seed is sometimes an ingredient in bird food; otherwise, edible products from Cannabis sativa are virtually unknown.

This may all change. In many parts of the country, promoters of hemp cultivation are working to educate people about the immense potential of this plant and to reintroduce it into commerce. They champion hemp as a renewable source of pulp for the manufacture of paper, as a superior fiber for making cloth, and as a new food that can be processed into everything from a milk substitute to a kind of tofu.

Hemp seeds contain 25% high quality protein and 40% fat in the form of an excellent quality oil. Hemp oil is just now coming on the market. Produced by the Ohio Hempery in Athens, Ohio, it will be sold through natural food stores in small, opaque bottles to be kept under refrigeration. It has a remarkable fatty acid profile, being high in the desirable omega-3s and also delivering some GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) that is absent from the fats we normally eat. Nutritionally oriented doctors believe all of these compounds to be beneficial to health.

Hemp oil contains 57% linoleic (LA) and 19% linolenic (LNA) acids, in the three-to-one ratio that matches our nutritional needs. These are the essential fatty acids (EFAs)-so called because the body cannot make them and must get them from external sources. The best sources are oils from freshly ground grains and whole seeds, but EFAs are fragile and quickly lost in processing. EFAs are the building blocks of longer chain fats, such as eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) that occur naturally in the fat of cold-water fish like sardines, mackerel, salmon, bluefish, herring, and, to a lesser extent, tuna.

Adding these foods to the diet seems to lower risks of heart attacks because omega-3 fatty acids reduce the clotting tendency of the blood and improve cholesterol profiles. They also have a natural anti-inflammatory effect that makes them useful for people with arthritis and autoimmune disorders.

Health food stores stock many brands of EPA/DHA supplements in the form of fish oil capsules. I usually do not recommend them because I think it's better to get your essential fatty acids in foods, and I worry about toxic contaminants in fish oil supplements. But what can you do if you choose, for one reason or another, not to eat fish? You can get some omega-3s in expeller pressed canola oil, the only common vegetable oil that contains them.

A much richer source is flax oil. Flax oil is pressed from the seeds of Linum utilitatissimum, the source of linen fiber and an oil better known in this country as linseed oil, the base for oil paints.

Linseed oil is usually classified as a "drying oil" rather than a food oil because its chemical characteristics cause it to combine readily with oxygen and become thick and hard. This tendency to harden on exposure to air quickly turns linseed oil rancid and unfit to eat, but makes it useful as a vehicle for pigment on canvas. (The word "canvas" by the way is a relative of "Cannabis," because true canvas is made from hemp fiber.)

For dietary purposes flax oil must be pressed at low temperatures, protected from light, heat, and air, stored at cool temperatures, and used quickly once the containers are opened. Most flax oil is not delicious. There is great variation in taste among the brands currently sold in natural food stores, but the best of them still leaves much to be desired.

I have been recommending flax oil as a dietary supplement to patients with autoimmune disorders, arthritis, and other inflammatory conditions, but about half of them cannot tolerate it. Some say it makes them gag, even when concealed in salad dressing or mashed into a baked potato. These people have to resort to taking flax oil capsules, which are large and expensive.

Udo Erasmus, author of the classic book, Fats and Oils (Alive, 1986), [and Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, The Complete Guide to fats, oils, cholesterol and human health, Second Printing of Fats and Oils, (Alive, 1996). This book is a fabulous resource on nutrition --ratitor] says that the problem is freshness. Unless you get flax oil right from the processor and freeze it until you start using it, it will already have deteriorated by the time you buy it. Hemp oil contains more EFAs than flax and actually tastes good. It is nutty and free from the objectionable undertones of flax oil. I use it on salads, baked potatoes, and other foods and would not consider putting it in capsules.

Like flax oil, hemp oil should be stored in the refrigerator, used quickly, and never heated. Unlike flax oil, hemp oil also provides 1.7% gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). There is controversy about the value of adding this fatty acid to the diet, but many people take supplements of it in the form of capsules of evening primrose oil, black currant oil, and borage oil. My experience is that it simulates growth of hair and nails, improves the health of the skin, and can reduce inflammation. I like the idea of having one good oil that supplies both omega-3s and GLA, without the need to take more capsules.

One of the questions that people are sure to ask about hemp oil is whether it has any psychoactivity. The answer is no. The intoxicating properties of Cannabis sativa reside in a sticky resin produced most abundantly in the flowering tops of female plants before the seeds mature. The main psychoactive compound in this resin is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Strains of hemp grown for oil production have a low resin content to begin with, and by the time the seeds are ready for harvest, resin production has dropped even further. Finally, the seeds must be cleaned and washed before they are pressed. As a result, no THC is found in the final product.

A second question that people may ask is, "Is hemp oil illegal?" The oil itself is perfectly legal. Hemp seeds are allowed in commerce if they have been sterilized in some way to prevent germination. This is usually done by subjecting them to heat. At the moment, the Ohio Hempery is importing sterilized seeds from Canada and extracting the oil here, but it hopes to get some sort of exemption from this requirement in order to be able to use the freshest seeds possible in the future.

Obviously, there is a political dimension to the appearance of this product. For many years, Cannabis sativa has been stigmatized as a satanic plant and its cultivation has been prohibited. As an ethnobotanist interested in the relationships between plants and human beings, I have always felt that making plants illegal was stupid, especially when the objects of these actions are supremely useful plants like hemp. The plant is not responsible for human misuse of it.

The efforts of the Ohio Hempery and other groups to promote hemp cultivation are part of a campaign to rehabilitate this plant and change society's view of it. Whether or not you wish to join that campaign, it must seem counterproductive to deny ourselves access to the many benefits that hemp offers. Of those, the gift of an edible oil with superior nutritional and therapeutic properties is one of the most important.

If you have a chance to try hemp oil, a long forgotten, newly rediscovered food, I think you will see why I am enthusiastic about it.

Andrew Weil teaches at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, has a private medical practice, and is the author of Natural Health, Natural Medicine.

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/37948/

http://hightimes.com/activism/hager/6014

The Case for Small Farms

2009-12-14T22:10:00.000-08:00

An Interview with Peter Rosset

MULTINATIONAL MONITOR

Peter M. Rosset, Ph.D. is executive director of the Oakland, California-based Institute for Food and Development Policy -- better known as Food First <http://www.foodfirst.org> -- a nonprofit "people's" think tank and education-for-action center whose work highlights root causes and value-based solutions to hunger and poverty around the world, with a commitment to establishing food as a fundamental human right. He is author of a number of briefing papers, including "The Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture in the Context of Global Trade Negotiations," and is co-author of the book "World Hunger: Twelve Myths."

Large farms are commonly viewed as more productive than small farms. What's the evidence that suggests that in fact small farms are more productive?

Peter Rosset:

Here at the Institute for Food and Development Policy, we've reviewed the data from every country for which it's available, comparing the productivity of smaller farms versus larger farms. By productivity, I mean the total output of agricultural products per unit area -- per acre or hectare.

For every country for which data is available, smaller farms are anywhere from 200 to 1,000 percent more productive per unit area.

The myth of the greater productivity of larger farms stems in part from the confusing use of the term "yield" to measure productivity. Yield is how much of a single crop you can get per unit area -- for example, bushels of soy beans per acre.

That's a measure that's only relevant to monocultures. A monoculture is when a single crop is grown in a field, rather than the kind of mixtures of crops and animals that small farmers have.

When you grow one crop all by itself, you may get a lot of that one crop, but you're not using the ecological space -- the land and water -- very efficiently.

In monocultures, you have rows of one crop with bare dirt between them. In ecological terms, that bare dirt is empty niche space. It's going to be invaded and taken advantage of by some species in the ecosystem, and generally we call those species weeds. So if that bare dirt is invaded, the farmer has to invest labor or spray herbicides or pull a tractor through to deal with those weeds. Large farmers generally have monocultures because they are easier to fully mechanize.

Smaller farmers tend to have crop mixtures. Between the rows of one crop there will be another crop, or several other crops, so that ecological niche space -- that potential -- is producing something of use to the farmer rather than requiring an investment of more labor, money or herbicides. What that means is that the smaller farm with the more complex farming system gets more total production per unit area, because they're using more of the available niche space.

It might look like the large farm is more productive because you're getting more, say, soybeans per acre. But you're not getting the other five, six, ten or twelve products that the smaller farmer is getting. And when you add all of those together, they come to a much greater total agricultural output per unit area than the larger farms are getting.

MM: Is that the essential difference -- that the small farms use a more complex cropping arrangement?

Rosset: There are a lot of reasons why smaller farms produce more per unit area than larger farmers. One is because of the more complex systems, as I explained.

Small farmers also benefit by integrating crops and livestock. By rotating pasture and planted fields, animal manure is used as fertilizer, and then the part of the crop that is not consumed by humans -- let's say the stalks of a corn plant -- is food for the animals. So there's recycling of nutrients and biomass within the system. That also makes it more efficient and productive.

Small farmers tend to invest more labor in their land. That too makes it more productive.

And the quality of the labor is much better. When it's a farm family whose future depends upon maintaining the productivity of that soil and that piece of land, they naturally take better care of it.

When it's a huge corporate farm with relatively alienated wage labor doing the work, the employees do not have the kind of tie to the future of that piece of land that they would if they were family farmers.

MM: It seems as if some of these benefits are not necessarily inherent in size but just in the different styles of farming. Could you have, for example, more complex kinds of farming on large farms?

Rosset: You can, but what tends to be limiting is mechanization. As farms get very large, labor costs and logistics become prohibitive, so farmers switch to machinery, and machinery requires simpler systems. With machines, you can't achieve the same level of complexity and therefore the level of productivity that you can with a smaller size.

So some of the factors do depend on size and others depend on styles of management and relationships between human beings and the land.

MM: Do the general points you're making apply equally to farms in the United States and other rich countries as well as farms in the developing world?

Rosset: Amazing as it may sound, we find the same general pattern. Some of the causes may be different, and what we consider a small farm versus a large farm may be different, but smaller farms in the U.S. produce more than 10 times more value of output per unit area than large farms. Part of that is because smaller farmers in the U.S. tend to produce higher value crops, but part of it also has to do with the same factors that explain greater productivity of smaller farms in the Third World.

MM: If all this is so, then how come the conventional wisdom is just the opposite?

Rosset: For one thing, there are vested interests behind the conventional wisdom. Obviously we have a huge corporate-owned agribusiness system in this country that has a vested interest in making the American public believe that what they're doing is productive and efficient and good for us. So there's a little bit of intentional myth creation going on.

There's also the fact that smaller farms don't appear to be economically viable. Despite what I've said about productivity, they're being driven out of business in incredible numbers. At the end of World War II, we had more than six million farms in the United States; today we have less than two million, and it's mostly the smaller farms that have been driven out of business.

We have to look at why that is. My belief is that it's because we have a system here that rewards inefficiency, low productivity and destruction of soil -- 90 percent of the topsoil in the United States is being lost faster than it can be replaced.

This system is heavily based on direct payment subsidies tied to the amount of land that a farmer has. American taxpayers paid a record $22 billion in direct farm payments last year. Sixty-one percent of those payments went to the largest 10 percent of American farmers.

Although those subsidies have been presented to us as helping keep family farmers on the land, they do just the opposite.

Because large farms in the U.S. get such a large subsidy, they can stay in business even if they're selling what they produce below the cost of production. The subsidies are tied to area and allow prices to drop below the cost of production. That prevents small farmers from competing because: one, crop prices have dropped so low and two, they don't have enough land to get enough subsidies to live on.

The system drives inefficiency and destruction of resources, because the large farms are the ones that strip rural America of trees, destroy the soil, dump so many pesticides, and compact the soil with machines.

It's basically a transfer of money from the pockets of U.S. taxpayers to large corporate farmers, so that they can stay in business despite low prices, and to the ones who benefit the most -- the Cargills and ADMs of the world who have all this grain that they're buying at giveaway prices and using to capture markets around the world and drive small farmers out of business in Mexico, India, Africa, Asia and South America.

MM: Is export dumping the primary cause of farmers in the Third World being driven off the land?

Rosset: There are many ways that policies are biased against small farmers in the Third World. In any particular Third World country, you'll find that the local landed oligarchy tends to have captured the political system and distorted rural policies in their favor, whether it's agricultural credit, prices, marketing, input supply or trade policy.

But all those biases together pale in comparison with the impact of this kind of export dumping and the taking over of local markets by multinational grain companies. Because of the perverse way that farm subsidies work in both the United States and European Economic Community, the U.S. and Europe are dumping agricultural commodities on Third World economies at prices often below the cost of production. Local farmers can't compete.

MM: To what extent in developing countries does the Green Revolution change the equation? Don't Green Revolution efficiencies require big farms?

Rosset: What's happened with the Green Revolution is sort of a microcosm of what's happened in the United States in this century, where agricultural production has gone up tremendously, but at the cost of driving people out of the countryside and into the cities, where the economy cannot absorb the excess labor. The Green Revolution promoted seeds that required chemicals, irrigation and other expensive investments that could only be adopted by larger, wealthier farmers, but not by smaller, poorer farmers. This allowed the larger, wealthier farmers to expand at the expense of the smaller farmers.

During the boom years of the Green Revolution, from 1970 to 1990, world food production did go up dramatically. Unfortunately, hunger increased in most parts of the Third World as well. The Green Revolution creates what we call the paradox of plenty, or hunger amidst abundance. Production goes up, but that production is in the hands of larger farmers, who expand at the expense of smaller farmers. These smaller farmers eventually lose their land, move to the cities, don't find jobs, and can't afford to buy the additional food that's produced. So the Green Revolution gives you more food and more hunger.

If we ever really want to get at hunger in the future, we have to find a different kind of agricultural model that can have additional production come from the hands of the poor themselves. The small farm model is really the only model that will allow us to have more food and less hunger, instead of repeating the mistakes of the Green Revolution era when we had more food and more hunger.

MM: What happens when you add the World Trade Organization and proposals for agricultural liberalization into the story?

Rosset: I think the proposed agreements on agriculture in the WTO are the gravest threat to rural communities, small farmers and rural ecologies around the world, perhaps the gravest threat in history.

I've already described a system that's pretty bad, but despite all odds, small farmers and peasants have clung to the land in incredible numbers all around the world. But the WTO agreement on agriculture threatens to remove virtually any ability on the part of individual countries to protect their agricultural sectors, to stop the flooding of their local markets with cheap imports from Northern countries or other large grain-exporting companies. It would take away the ability of countries to have programs that promote or support small farmers or family farmers.

Organizations representing small farmers, medium-sized farmers, farmworkers and the landless from all over the world were in Seattle last November protesting the WTO. We had the National Family Farm Coalition from the United States, the National Farmers Union from Canada, Mexican farmworker unions, the landless workers union (MST) from Brazil, farmworker unions from Africa, farmers' organizations from Africa, farmers' organizations from Thailand, the United Farm Workers union from the United States -- an incredible international coalition of rural organizations all saying that the proposed WTO rules for agriculture would be a death sentence for rural communities and rural areas around the world.

The upside of the WTO proposals is that they have helped a new global food movement coalesce. It's got all of those rural actors -- farmers, farmworkers and the landless -- as well as environmentalists concerned about pesticides and genetically altered crops and consumers concerned about food safety, working together against the WTO.

To me this is very exciting, because counting all the people negatively affected by the global food system as we know it, we are really the majority of the people in the world.

MM: What would the WTO agricultural proposals do and how does that differ or go beyond the already-existing restrictions on Third World governments?

Rosset: Many Third World countries have already been hurt by structural adjustment agreements. In exchange for renegotiating the debt, the IMF and World Bank forced them to open their borders to imports, among many other things. That meant opening their borders to the dumping of Northern food surpluses and cheap food and undercutting their local farmers.

What the WTO rules would do is raise those agreements to the level of treaty law, making it a violation of international law for a country to impose any kind of protection on its agricultural sector. I believe that every country, in order to have national security, has to have the most important dietary elements for its population produced within its borders. But under the WTO rules you would not be able to maintain policies to guarantee that. It would also require that Third World countries reduce any remaining tariffs much more dramatically than northern countries would have to reduce theirs.

Basically what happens with free trade or the integration of economies is that you go from a relatively small-sized national economy to a larger economy. If you have a small economy that's too small to support a Cargill or an ADM, and you have protection so that it's hard for those companies to get in, then you have a situation where smaller producers and smaller companies can flourish. When you open up into a larger economy, you create the conditions where the giant conglomerates now have large enough market conditions to support themselves, and then they can undercut everyone else and drive everyone else out of business. So as we go from smaller economies to larger economies, we create the conditions where the largest multinationals can use their power in the marketplace to drive everyone else out of business, with devastating social consequences.

MM: What is multifunctionality?

Rosset: Multifunctionality is a way of characterizing agriculture that would set it apart from other kinds of economic activity, like industry. The notion is that farming isn't just producing corn the way that, for instance, a shoe factory produces shoes, because agriculture also involves the management of natural resources. Agriculture has impacts on culture and ways of life, and farmers are the custodians of those cultures.

The concept of multifunctionality was developed by the European Union as a way of arguing that agriculture should receive special treatment in the WTO and shouldn't be opened to free trade the way that industry has been.

Unfortunately, that notion didn't have a lot of success in terms of trying to stop the U.S.-driven juggernaut towards free trade in agriculture.

The United States was able to point out quite rightly that Western Europe was being hypocritical in saying that they wanted protection for agriculture in order to preserve its multiple functions, given the way European export subsidies are destroying farming in the Third World. Of course the United States was also being hypocritical, since U.S. export dumping is also destroying agriculture throughout the Third World. As a result of the U.S. maneuvering, this very interesting and I think potentially very useful concept fell by the wayside.

MM: How would you like to see it incorporated into trade agreements?

Rosset: It should be the basis for excluding agriculture from the WTO altogether. I think that agriculture does serve these multiple functions. It is very special and important, and it shouldn't be subjected to arbitrary and exaggerated free trade policies.

If agriculture were excluded from the WTO, then countries would be able to develop policies towards their rural sectors that were tailored towards their own rural needs, their own realities and their own cultures, something that's not permitted under the WTO. Multifunctionality does give at least a theoretical argument for why you should exclude agriculture.

Arguments Used Against the High Fruit Diet Don't Add Up

2009-12-13T22:07:00.000-08:00

Over the years there has been an increase in the number of raw "gurus" or leaders speaking out against excessive and even moderate fruit consumption, while more and more packaged, refined, and fragmented questionably raw superfoods enter the market.

There are experts on both sides, long term raw foodists and even doctors. For a while now some leaders have been "scaring" people away from fruit or simply giving them vague misinformation.

I have over 10 years experience with both sides of the raw food lifestyle, going from eat anything as long as it's raw (heavy avocado and nut consumption) to a high fruit low fat no superfood diet. I feel that the

insight that I can provide into these misconceptions is honest and valuable.

Some arguments against the high fruit diet and misleading advice on moderate fat consumption.

ARGUMENT: 100% raw foodists and especially fruitarians run into problems eating excessive quantities of fruit over the long run.

First of all this is a very vague statement, "problems" could be defined as any number of things. Secondly, the same could be said about anyone following any other kind of diet in the world, be it raw, vegan, vegetarian, standard american etc.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything so there's no doubt some people will have "problems" on any diet. But "especially" fruitarians is a bogus argument, my good friend Anne Osborne has been eating fruit exclusively for 17 years and has raised 2 children raw and is very healthy and vibrant.

I have many friends that live on a predominantly fruit based diet and they are the most active, healthful people I know. Your health is in your own hands, do not blame a particular "diet" or "lifestyle" if you have not informed yourself, kept good physical shape and oral hygiene and adapted your eating plan to make up for any deficiencies.

ARGUMENT: There is no proof of anyone succeeding long term on a high fruit low fat diet.

Clearly this argument is unfounded and meant to scare people away from a natural diet and probably sell them something.

If you look at the diets of any of the primate family you will note that they all eat a high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein diet.

Also fats are simply not available in season year round in abundant quantities for regular consumption (Nuts, seeds, avocados, coconuts). So why would it make sense that we were meant to thrive on a high fat, unnatural diet?

Perhaps they are omitting the works of numerous natural hygienists such as Dr. Shelton, Albert Mosseri and Dr. Graham, not to mention many other people following natural hygiene around the world.

ARGUMENT: Eating as much as you want as long as it’s raw is a healthy way to transition.

Everyone coming to the raw food diet has a different issue with food in general, whether it's selecting the wrong foods to eat most of the time or eating too much of what they crave. So giving that kind of advice to someone who probably already has issues with food and making poor choices is just not serving their purpose for achieving better health.

You need to be aware of how food effects you and get informed on carbohydrates, protein and fat and calories. If you do not know the difference between false hunger and true hunger you're not going to get anywhere by eating anything as long as it's raw.

You want to get healthy and probably sooner than later. I've found too many times people are stretching out their "transition" periods because they like binge eating whether it's on cooked food or raw treats.

Eating enough fruit calories is going to give you sufficient hydration, vitamins and fibre to help you feel full and curb your cravings for any other unhealthy foods.

ARGUMENT: Fermentation occurs when digested fruit (glucose) turns into carbon dioxide. C02 is irritating to the body when not eliminated properly. Frequent consumption of massive quantities of fruit leads to fermentation and a highly acidic condition in the body from excessive C02 levels.

Claiming that the sugar in fruit is turned into carbon dioxide is a very deep misunderstanding on how the body works. Fermentation occurs when yeast metabolizes sugar to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. This is commonly done in the production of wine, beer and other spirits.

However, the human digestive track is not an alcohol producing machine. The food we eat doesn’t just sit there and ferment. It passes through a complex set of chemical processes to be quickly assimilated and eliminated. In fact, fruit sugar starts being assimilated as soon as we put fruit in the mouth. The only way for fruit sugar to ferment would be to eat large quantities of it and miscombine it with other foods, such as is commonly done by most raw-foodists.

Food combinations to avoid are:

- Sweet fruit combined with nuts, seeds or avocados (such as any type of raw bar)

- Sweet fruits like dates, combined with watery fruits like watermelon

ARGUMENT: Athletes can handle an increased fruit intake only because they are giving off more of the C02 (produced from fermentation) from their lungs.

This is a completely ridiculous statement. The only reason athletes need more fruit is because they have higher needs for calories. CO2 is produced by the lungs from breathing, and has nothing to do with eating fruit!

ARGUMENT: Eating fruit by itself is dangerous to the body like taking a shot of hard liquor.

Sure. We see it all the time: alcoholics everywhere are getting their fix by eating apples and bananas! Fruit eaters are walking around in a drunken state. Next thing you know, we will all gather at “Fruit Eaters Anonymous”, or maybe anyone who eats fruit should sit in a session of “Alcoholic Anonymous”.

I’m quite disturbed that this level of low-quality, misleading information is still circulating on the Internet in raw circles.

ARGUMENT: Fat is a more stable form of energy because it converts slowly.

It’s a frequent misconception to think that fruit should be combined with fat, or fat should be eaten because it “digests more slowly”.

Most fruits are not very high on the glycemic index, and the fact that they are assimilated quickly is a good thing, rather than something to fear.

When we exercise and go through our day, our blood sugar reserves go down. As blood sugar is low, we get hungry and eat to naturally raise our blood sugar to healthy levels. When a person constantly experiences low-levels of blood sugar, we call it “hypoglycemia”, and it’s not a good thing to have.

Furthermore, to experience health we do not want our blood sugars to be high all the time. We want the natural sugars in food to be assimilated quickly and utilized by the cells. We don’t want that sugar to accumulate in the bloodstream.

Eating fat, on the other hand, encourages high blood sugar levels. First of all, high levels of fat in the blood streams lowers what we call “insulin sensitivity — which is the ability for insulin to quickly carry sugar to the cells.

A low fat diet improves insulin sensitivity. Therefore, it’s a mistake to want to add fats to fruit to “slow down digestion”. All you’re doing is contributing to the problem, rather than solving it.

ARGUMENT: You should eat a small amount of fat with each meal to slow the sugar absorption.

All foods contain carbohydrates, protein and fats in the PERFECT ratio, even lettuce contains some fat. So why on Earth for proper digestion and sugar absorption should you need to add MORE FAT to your meal?

Especially at each meal that is just going to zap more energy from you to digest food and not going to make you feel more healthy or well balanced.

ARGUMENT: Eliminating nuts and overt fats in the diet is unhealthy and leads to a fasting like state with increased detoxification of the body.

I do not understand why so many raw-foodists are afraid of detox. It must be because their diet is so unhealthy, that as soon as they start to eat well, they can feel the “detox” more than anybody else.

In my opinion, this idea of “detox” has been greatly exaggerated. It doesn’t take more than a few weeks for the body to adapt to a low-fat, raw food diet. Eating nuts and fats in quantity is absolutely not necessary to keep the “detox” at bay. In fact, even when one eliminates all fats from the diet, there is no resemblance of a “fasting state” as long as one eats enough calories.

ARGUMENT: It is healthier to overeat on fat than fruit.

This is a rather dangerous and disturbing argument in itself. It is actually quite hard to overeat on fruit (based on appetite) as removing processed and cooked foods from your diet will make your body more receptive to true hunger and feeling full after an adequate amount of food is eaten.

Fruit has a high water content and is full of fibre and will make you feel full faster than the same amount of calories in pure fat.

It is much easier to overeat on fat and in fact quite detrimental to your health. It slows down digestion, thickens the blood stream, impedes healing of the body as oxygen is not able to reach cells as quickly and can cause numerous problems with candida and fungal overgrowth.

It is unnatural to eat a high fat diet as it flies in the face of any natural vegetarian mammal diet. Humans are meant to be active and not require massive amounts of recovery time after each meal.

Eat a whole meal of fruit and you will see that the down time needed to digest your food is minimal if non existent. In no way, can I see it ever being healthier to overeat on fat, than on fruit.

ARGUMENT: Long term raw foodists and fruitarians experience dental decay because their bodies are acidic and leaches calcium from their bones.

There is only one thing that causes dental decay, and it’s bacteria on your teeth feeding on sugar. This sugar can come from different sources. Usually, the biggest culprits are dried foods like nuts and seeds (and raisins), because they tend to stick to the teeth.

Fruits are actually alkaline foods. According to the Acid Renal Load Chart, all fruits are alkaline forming (so are vegetables). On the other hand, many nuts are acid-forming. And all oils are neutral (they don’t alkalize your body like fruit do).

My advice for fruit eaters when it comes to dental decay has to do with dental hygiene more than anything. I personally experienced the most dental decay when I was eating a high-fat raw diet. Now that I eat a high-fruit diet and with a strict dental hygiene routine, I have perfect checkups.

Consuming greens does not fix the problem of an acidic body when maintaining a high fruit diet.

Again, fruits AND greens are alkaline forming. There is absolutely no evidence to prove that fruits are acid-forming.

ARGUMENT: The best diet is one that balances all of the raw food groups.

This is another very vague statement as it can be interpreted in many ways depending on what you consider a healthy raw food.

For some people anything that is not heated above 118 degrees is raw, for some it is fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and for some maybe even grains and superfoods. This is actually where the majority of raw foodists's diets lie. Somewhere in the middle of confusion, trying to get their greens, trying to get good fats, trying to get all their vitamins and minerals.

Yet the majority of people eating this way have varied health from one person to the next and often nagging issues with candida, excess body weight, low energy, poor skin clarity, bad digestion etc.

As we've seen with the Standard American Diet, trying to have a balance of food groups really doesn't work as people tend to eat what is marketed the most to them as healthy and they don't listen to their bodies.

If you try to eat an equal quantity of fruits, vegetables and nuts and oils you're going to have a lot of issues. Almost no creature eats a well rounded balanced diet of many food groups. That is strictly something that the human psyche has been programmed to accept.

ARGUMENT: For long term success don't have a large amount of fat in your daily diet but be careful to not increase the amount of fruit you are eating once you reduce your fat intake.

Now they acknowledge that a high fat diet is not ideal, but to say "be careful about increasing your fruit intake" isn't giving you a lot of options of what you can eat.

There are only two sources of sufficient calories in a raw vegan diet, carbohydrates from fruit or fat from nuts and oils.

If you follow their advice you are either going to be trying to eat as many vegetables and greens as you can (which won't be sufficient for caloric needs) or try to resist the urge to eat more fat or fruit and live on a low calorie diet by will power alone.

Either way this is not only unsustainable it is also quite ridiculous when you think about it logically. If you are a long term raw foodist you will have a better sense of appetite and should be able to trust your hunger when it comes to fruit and vegetable consumption.

Fats are always slower to register with your hunger receptors so it is still advisable to be aware of how much fat you are consuming because it adds up quickly.

ARGUMENT: When you are 100% raw you will eventually evolve to require less food over the years.

I don't like this word evolve as it makes it sound like right now you are subhuman and will eventually become something different the longer you eat raw foods.

While it is true as you age your energy levels decrease and thus you will require less calories to sustain your level of activity, this is grossly misrepresented. You will probably have the same level of energy when you're 20 as you're 25, 30 as when you're 35.

So unless you still have a lot of weight to lose years after being successful at a raw food diet, I don't suggest believing you'll magically require less food to function optimally. Your body will be less tolerant to large quantities of fats, salts and spices yes, but that is because it's cleaner than before.

You're not going to "evolve" to require less fuel from fruits if you're maintaining the same exercise levels. No athlete in the world runs a calorie deficit on purpose because they believe their muscles can run more efficiently as they get older.

Perhaps the only type of person this would be true for is if they immediately stopped expending so much energy while being on a raw food diet and spent most of their time idle and not exercising at all. This of course I don't recommend to anyone who wants to live a long and healthy life.

Nutritional Foundations a Lesson in Basic Nutrition

2009-11-26T14:32:00.001-08:00

Nutrients are substances which are essential for the maintenance, repair, growth, and reproduction of all our body tissues. Our foods contain the following basic nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and water.

Carbohydrates, our body's most efficient source of energy and an essential component in the production of many structural and functional materials, are produced by plants in the process of photosynthesis. They are made of compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen called sugars or saccharides. Molecules of these simple sugars attach together to make long branching chains that are called complex carbohydrates. These large carbohydrate molecules are also commonly referred to as starch.

Once you eat them, digestion by intestinal enzymes disassembles these chains back into the simple sugars, which then pass easily through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream, where they journey to the body's tissues. Metabolic processes change these simple sugars into energy, which provides fuel for the body's activity.

Dietary fibers are even longer chains of complex carbohydrates. Unlike starch molecules, these fibers resist digestion because of their chemical configurations. Therefore, most fibers eventually end up in the colon and form the bulk of your stool. Most people think that fibers are only the husks of grains and the long stringy components in fruits and vegetables, but actually, dietary fibers are present in all plant tissues. For example, after a potato is peeled, the white matter we eat has plenty of relatively indigestible fibers in it.

Fats too are complex molecules made up of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Although they are not as easily digested as sugars are, fats are sources of energy and they provide important structural materials for building different components of the human body. Fats are divided into two categories: saturated fats (solid at room temperature), found mostly in animal tissues, and unsaturated fats (liquid), found mostly in plant tissues. Most fats can be synthesized by our own bodies from carbohydrates as they are needed. The fats that we can synthesize are said to be nonessential because they are not necessary ingredients in our diet. The only fats we cannot synthesize for ourselves are a few unsaturated fats. They must be provided to us, ready-made, in our foods and therefore are called essential fats.

Proteins provide the raw materials for a large part of the functional and structural components of our bodies. Only as a last resort are they used as a source of energy. The building blocks that make up all proteins are called amino acids. Various combinations of the same twenty two- amino acids, put together as are the letters of the alphabet that can form a whole dictionary of words with different meanings, make all of the proteins in nature. Proteins are found in all foods derived from animals and plants, unless they have been removed or altered by refining processes. Only eight of the twenty-two amino acids are essential to us, because they cannot be made in human metabolism. These eight essential amino acids must be present in sufficient quantities in our food for us to enjoy good health.

Water makes up a large part of our foods. Although it yields no energy, for many reasons water is an essential element for life. It is not just a passive solvent in which salts, compounds and gasses interact; water participates actively in forming building blocks of cells and is the environment in which cells live. Approximately 60 percent of body weight is water.

Because the four nutrients discussed above - carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and water make up the largest portion of any foodstuff by weight, they are often referred to as macronutrients. Our foods also contain two micronutrients--vitamins and minerals--which make up only a tiny percentage of our food by weight.

Vitamins are organic compounds that are synthesized for the most part only by plants and bacteria. Humans and most large animals can synthesize vitamin D (with the help of sunlight), and some animal species can make vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Thus, our supply of vitamins must come from plant foods and our own bowel bacteria. Vita means life, and, as the name indicates, vitamins are essential for our existence. Without adequate amounts, disease can develop.

Minerals are also micronutrients, but they come from inorganic matter, primarily the earth. Their presence in adequate amounts in our foods is also essential for our good health. They participate in thousands of metabolic reactions that must take place throughout the body. For instance, iron in the enzyme hemoglobin transports oxygen in our red blood cells. Some minerals are important elements in our structural material. Calcium, for example, is a large part of bones and teeth.

Our foods also contain various non-nutrients, substances that are not necessary for life or good health. Many of these substances, such as cholesterol, pesticides, herbicides, and additives, present real threats to our health. Even though these non-nutrients make up a small amount by weight of our foods, their health significance can be great, causing problems such as heart disease, cancer and allergies.

Carbohydrates are made by plants and stored in their leaves, stems, roots, and fruits. Plant foods contain both simple and complex carbohydrates in various amounts. Fruits are often more than 90 percent carbohydrate, but most of their carbohydrates are the sweet-tasting simple forms of carbohydrate, such as glucose and fructose. Green and yellow vegetables store most of their calories as complex carbohydrates, but since they contain very few total calories the amount of complex carbohydrate they provide in the diet is small. Whole grains (rice, corn) and the whole grain flours (wheat, rye) and whole grain pastas (wheat, soba) made from them, tubers (potatoes, yams), legumes (beans, peas), and winter squashes (acorn, hubbard) contain large quantities of complex carbohydrates and thus are known as starches. Rice, corn, and other grains, and potatoes typically store about 80 percent of their calories in the form of complex carbohydrates. Beans, peas, and lentils are approximately 70 percent complex carbohydrates.

Starches contain sufficient calories to easily meet the energy requirements of the active person, and they are abundant in proteins (with all their essential amino acids), essential fats, fibers, and minerals required to meet our daily dietary needs, Many starches, such as the maligned potato, have a full complement of vitamins as well. (Grains and legumes need the help of fruits or green and yellow vegetables in order to provide adequate vitamin A and C.)

You have probably heard that marathon runners and other endurance athletes "load up" on carbohydrates before an event, devouring large meals of spaghetti, rice, and potatoes in order to store energy-providing carbohydrates for the long race. Carbohydrate-loading several times a day will give you too the energy to race through your busy life.

The only food from animals in which a carbohydrate is found in significant amounts is milk, which contains a simple sugar called lactose. However, lactose cannot be digested by most adults,* and consequently, when they drink milk, they suffer assorted evidences of indigestion, such as diarrhea, stomach cramps, and hurtful amounts of gas. In the sense of total amount of carbohydrates in their diet, Americans eat far too few calories from this source--only about 40% of their diet is carbohydrate. To make things worse the kinds of carbohydrates eaten are mostly "empty calories" in the form of white sugar, corn syrup, and fructose. A healthy diet, like the McDougall diet, is more 80% carbohydrate from nutritious foods--starches, vegetables and fruits.

Grams of fiber present in portions of food that yield 100 calories

Percent of calories found as carbohydrates in various foods

Almonds	13	Beans (kidney)	72	Beef	0
Bread (whole wheat)	75	Brussels Sprouts	74	Cabbage	85
Carrots	92	Cheddar Cheese	2	Chicken	0
Corn	94	Eggs	2	Grapefruit	93
Lobster	1	Milk (whole)	30	Oatmeal	71
Oranges	88	Peanuts	16	Peanut Butter	15
Pork	0	Potatoes	90	Rice (brown)	89
Spaghetti (whole wheat)	81	Sugar*	100	Sweet Potatoes	92
Tofu	23	Tomatoes	85	Turkey	0

Beans (kidney)	1.5	Bread (whole wheat)	0.7	Brussels Sprouts	4.4
Cabbage	4.3	Carrots	2.3	Cauliflower	3.7
Corn	0.7	Green Beans	4.0	Grapefruit	0.8
Kale	3.4	Oatmeal	0.3	Oranges	0.9
Peas	2.4	Peanuts (with skin)	0.8	Peanuts (without skin)	0.3
Potatoes	0.6	Radishes	4.1	Rice (brown)	0.2
Scallions	2.0	Soybeans	1.4	Spaghetti (whole wheat)	0.6
Sweet Potatoes	0.6	Tomatoes	2.3	Tofu	0.1
Yams	0.9

*When we hear or read the word sugar most of us think of granular white table sugar. Unlike the simple sugars found in ripe fruit, this kind of sugar should be eaten only in limited quantities. After the refining process, it contains no fibers, proteins, essential fats, vitamins, or minerals. It is purely concentrated sugar. Nothing could better deserve the descriptive term "empty calories," because calories is all it provides. Although refined sugar can provide energy, too much refined sugar in the diet can lead to tooth decay, contribute to obesity, and raise triglycerides. A nutritional imbalance, weakening the body's defense and repair system making us susceptible to disease processes from infection to cancer, may result when "empty calories" make up a substantial part of the diet.

Fibers are made only by plants and FOUND ONLY IN VEGETABLE FOODS. There is no fiber in beef, pork, chicken, lobster, cheese, egg, or other animal-derived foods.

Dr. Gabriel Cousens

2009-03-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

interview with Dr. Gabriel Cousens at the Tree of Life

Sprouting: as done at Dr. Cousins´ Tree of life complex

Is There a Food Better Than Fruit?

2009-03-31T21:22:00.000-07:00

By Frédéric Patenaude

Fruits are such a delight to the senses. Of all the foods available to us, fruits are the most attractive, delicious and enjoyable. Of all natural foods, that is, the foods we can eat in their natural state, fruit is the food we are most attracted to and that first entices our senses. Humans are born with a natural instinct for sweet foods, and in nature that instinct naturally draws us to fruit.

When we are hungry - and I mean really hungry - fruit is often the most satisfying food we can eat. Is there anything better than to devour a delicious ripe mango on a hot summer day? Or to bite into a luscious, freshly-picked apple? Or to enjoy a sweet, juicy, ripe orange? Is there any man-made dish that can beat the perfection of a fully ripe cherry?

Fruits have been consumed by human beings going as far back in time as we know, whereas grains, legumes and dairy products have only been cultivated for 10,000 years or less, which is just a breath e shown that fruit has been an important part of in the life of humanity. Anthropological studies havthe human diet for hundreds of thousands of years.

Fruit has always been recognized as one of the healthiest foods there is. In the minds of most people, fruit is seen as a healthy food we should eat more of due to its vitamin content. But even when realizing the exceptional nutritional qualities of fruit, very few people actually give it the place it deserves in the diet. Fruit is still eaten as a “snack” or a “dessert,” but is rarely seen as a staple food. In the mind of the masses, fruit is a “healthy snack” but not something that can really sustain a hard-working man, like meat or bread can. They don’t realize that fruit should be a staple in the diet, and has been for thousands upon thousands of years, long before wheat and rice were cultivated, and long before cheese, sandwiches and twinkies were invented.

Fruit eating offers many benefits:
Fruit is the best source of the natural sugar needed for energy.
Fruit is packed with vitamins, and still represents the best vitamin source of any food.
Fruit is packed with anti-oxidants. Digesting ripe fruit
Fruit is easier to digest than grains.
Fruit is basically pre-digested. Digestinhardly requires any digestive enzymes, and is thus less taxing to the body.
Fruit is alkaline forming (whereas meat, fish, grains and legumes are acid-forming).
Fruit contains an abundance of pure water.
Fruit is easy to eat. It doesn’t require much preparation.
Fruit is beautiful. All of our senses are nourished by fruit, not just our taste buds. 2
Fruit contains lots of fiber, which is necessary for optimum digestion.
People who eat lots of fruit live longer.

A study published in the British Medical Journal (September 2001), showed that fresh fruit offers the best bet for a long life. The results of a study showed that frequent fruit eaters had a 32 percent lower risk of dying from cerebrovascular disease such as stroke, and a 24 percent lower risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, than those who ate fruit less than once a day.

Is Fruit Alkaline or Acid Forming?

It has been known for a long time that fruit is one of the most alkaline forming foods there is. Even if it is acid to the taste, like oranges, after digestion the end result is alkaline-forming. However, some authors have recently claimed the contrary.

According to Dr. Robert Young, author of “The pH Miracle,” fruit is acid-forming due to its high sugar content. He then goes on to explain his unproven theory that the sugar in fruit ferments and produces acidity in the body.

Dr. Robert Young is completely mistaken on this point. Fruit is alkaline-forming, even if it contains sugar. The natural sugar that fruit contains is perfectly utilized by the body and doesn’t necessarily ferment to produce acidity.

The fact is that fruit diets have been used for hundreds of years to combat acidosis. People go on grape cures, oranges cures, etc., and it helps to eliminate excess acidity in their bodies. It has been known for hundreds of years by naturopaths and Natural Hygienists and other health practitioners, both traditional and alternative, that fruit is alkaline forming - and that fact is not at all challenged by the nonsensical theories of Dr. Young about fruit being acid-forming.

An unfortunate side-effect of that unhealthy diet is that they can no longer handle sweet fruit. It has been proven that high-fat diets decrease insulin sensitivity (the effectiveness of insulin in carrying 1sugar to the cells), and thus raise blood sugar levels . So those living on high-fat diets, that is, most raw-foodists, will inevitably experience more blood sugar swings when they eat fruit. So the problem is not the fruit per se, but the high amounts of fat consumed.

Once you substantially reduce the amount of fat that you eat, by eliminating all oils and reducing the quantities of avocados, nuts, and other fatty foods, your body will be able to process and utilize fruit sugar much more efficiently. With the knowledge that the primary source of fuel for the human body is natural sugar, the concept t having “too much” sugar becomes illogical. The only way you can consume too much sugar of fruiin the form of fruit would be to overeat, which is difficult to achieve when eating high-water content fruit. A fruit-based diet would be a diet in which you get most of your calories from sweet fruit. That means at least 50% of your calories from fresh fruit.

Eating a low-fat, high-fruit diet will not cause insulin levels to spike, will not cause unneeded weight gain and will not cause a fatty liver. People condemning a fruit-based diet obviously have no experience with it.

The primates all eat a diet that contains less than 10% of total calories from fat. Recent research also shows that our ancestors also ate a low-fat diet.

In Practice

Unless you are allergic to them, I do not recommend avoiding avocados and nuts. You can eat them regularly with benefit. The following guidelines will help you:

The ideal is to limit your fat consumption to less than 15% of your calories.
In practice, it means:

Eat enough fruit to meet your caloric needs (which means a lot, by most people’s standards!)
Avoid oils (this includes olive oil, flax seed oil, coconut butter, etc.)
Eat no more than one half to one avocado a day.
Eat no more than two ounces (60 grams) of nuts or seeds per day. Alternatively, you could have two to four tablespoons of raw nut butter.
Eat avocados or nuts on separate days.
Eat fat only once a day.
Don’t eat fatty food every day of the week.

Some More Guidelines

Avoid the sweet fruit and fat combination.
If you just eat an apple, it will digest quite fast and leave the stomach rapidly. But eat an avocado at the same time and digestion will be prolonged. The sweet fruit will have time to ferment and produce acidity.

The same happens when you mix nuts with dried fruits — an abominable combination that is likely to putrefy and ferment, unless it is consumed in very small quantities, such as five almonds with five dates.

You can avoid fats entirely for weeks during times of hot weather, when the body calls for water-rich foods, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, peaches, etc.
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www.fredericpatenaude.com/innercircle.html

The Myth of Overeating

2009-03-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

There is a myth currently being spread in the raw food movement , hurting people as it goes.
It is the myth of overeating.

The myth of overeating goes like this:
- The cause of all diseases is overeating

- Even when people eat raw, they still overeat, therefore that’s why they don’t do as great as they expected

- Try to eat less and less, and you will feel better. Eventually, you might even need to eat only tiny amounts of food, because your body is utilizing the calories better. Who knows, one day you might even become a breatharian, living on nothing but air?
Someone recently forwarded me a link from a popular raw food forum, where a raw-food author criticized my recent article on “Why I’m Mad at a Raw Food Movement.”

The funny thing is that he didn’t want to say my name, but gave away the name of my book. Not so subtle…

In any case, the entire conversation revolved around overeating.
The author in question blamed me for promoting a diet that includes a lot of fruit, and said that under no circumstance should you eat 4 bananas in one meal, because that would be “overeating” and therefore “bad”.

Of course, nowhere in the article was “overeating” defined. So why not start there?

Here are several definitions I have found for overeating:
- gluttony: eating to excess (personified as one of the deadly sins)
- Overeating can refer either to eating too much at one time, or to eating too much on average.
- Gluttony, the act of eating to excess (either to discomfort or more than required for proper health)

So basically, overeating is simply eating more than what the body needs to maintain proper health, or eating too much at one sitting, and therefore going over the digestive capabilities of the body.
So if everybody agrees that overeating is simply eating “too much”, then maybe we should figure out “how much” we need to eat, in order to know what’s overeating and what’s not.

Why Calories Are Important

The most important element we get from the foods we eat is energy, or calories. That comes in the form of carbohydrates, fats or protein.
Then of course our food provides us with the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that we need.

The calorie concept is still extremely valid even when we analyze raw food nutrition. Why? Because it is a fairly accurate evaluation of the amount of food a person needs to eat every day to meet her needs.

A calorie is simply a unit of energy. Because our cells need simple sugars to live, there is certainly a certain amount of energy that we need to get from our food every day. If we go under this amount, the body will break down its own fat reserves to meet its needs. If we go over this amount, the body will accumulate fat reserves for the future.
It’s best if you think of calories as simply “energy”.

The amount of energy (calories) that a person needs every day will vary greatly according to these basic factors:
- Height, weight and muscle mass (each pound of muscles requires an additional 25 calories per day to “maintain”)- Gender (men will generally need more calories than women)- Activity levels (athletes need more calories than sedentary persons)

There are many ways to calculate how many calories you need per day. You can use simple calculators (for example, at http://www.fitday.com/) to figure out your basic metabolic rate (the number of calories you need every day, without any physical activity).
You can even go to a gym and step on a special machine that will measure your body fat, your muscle mass, and your basic metabolic rate.

So you will get a certain number, for example: 1500 calories per day.
That will be your minimum to maintain your weight and muscle mass. Then you will need to add on top of that any physical activity you have for the day, and add in calories for that.
An easy but imprecise way to figure this out is to simply take your ideal weight, and multiply it by 10.

That’s your basic rate.
Then add to that basic activities (walking, working, etc.), and fitness training (running, yoga, etc.)
The online fitness calculators can help you figure out these numbers.
In general, a fit and active woman who doesn’t need to lose any weight will want to eat around 2000 to 2500 calories per day.
A fit man will probably want to eat anywhere from 2500 to 3500 calories per day.
If you have three meals per day, that means each meal could be between 600 and 1500 calories each.
- One banana is 100 calories.- One apple about 60.- One large mango: about 150 calories- One avocado: about 250 calories (mostly coming from fat)
So if “overeating” is simply eating more than your body needs, why would it be “overeating” to eat 8 bananas at one sitting?

Is there any logical reason to think that this might be “too much”, other than the irrational fear of fruit?

8 bananas gives you about 800 calories. If a person has three 800 calorie-meals per day, they will get 2400, which is about what the average person needs.

But can you digest 8 bananas at one sitting?

Although this may seem like a lot of food for someone new to the raw diet, the body has the ability to digest a fairly large amount of fruit. It’s easy to see from how light you feel, even after a fairly large meal, and how easy it is to digest it.

So if your body needs it… and you can digest it, is it overeating? Absolutely not.

Undereating is the Real Problem
There is certainly a problem with “overeating” in the raw food movement, but it’s not what our raw-food author thinks.

The real “overeating” problem is the excess of fat, in the form of avocados, nuts, seeds, oils — which almost every raw foodist eats in rather large quantities, because they are not used to eating appropriate amounts of fruits and vegetables.

As they are overeating on these foods, which the body only needs in small quantities, they are also “undereating” on the real nutrient-rich foods: water-rich fruits and vegetables.
What tends to happen is a pattern of “undereating” on small, insufficient meals of fruits and vegetables, followed by binges on nuts, seeds and fats to compensate on the lack of calories.
For example, a lot of raw foodists eat ridiculously small quantities of food in one sitting, leaving them malnourished and hungry.

For example: a small salad containing lettuce, dressings, and a few fruits.
A few hours later, they are hungry… but they’re also afraid of overeating, so they try to eat this ridiculous small meals again. Eventually, the caloric deficit becomes so great that they binge on a 3000-calorie meal to compensate.

Stop These Anorexic Behaviors!
With a normal, cooked, Standard American Diet, high in fat and salt, it doesn’t take a lot of food to reach your maximum number of calories per day.
In other words… the food doesn’t weigh a lot, but is rich in calories.

So because of that, we’ve been accustomed to exercise a certain restrain when it comes to eating, because we know from experience that eating a large amount of food leads to digestive problems and weight gain.

That’s because the food is dense in calories. But another problem with it is that it’s also has a low nutrient density. For the same amount of calories, you get fewer vitamin, minerals and anti-oxidant.

With fruits and vegetables, it’s completely different.
The food is low in calories, but nutrient dense.

A pound of food doesn’t contain a lot of calories, but for the same amount of calories, it contains more vitamins, minerals and other nutrients than any other food!
Therefore… you have to eat more! And at the same time, you are better nourished.

For example, let me show you how you could get 2000 calories on a Standard American Diet:

BREAKFAST:
- 3 medium pancakes, whole wheat- 1 cup of orange juice- 1 sliced pear- 3 Tbs. fruit jam

LUNCH:- 1 mixed salad- 3 Tbs. salad dressing- 1 roll- 4 ounces tuna fish- 1 apple

DINNER:
- Plate of spaghetti with sauce- No dessert
Now let’s take a look at the “raw” equivalent, while keeping our fat percentage fairly low.

BREAKFAST:
- Smoothie made with 6 medium bananas, 1 apple, 3 cups of spinachLUNCH:
- 5 big mangoes eaten with celery and lettuce leaves

DINNER:
- Large salad with ½ avocado, three large tomatoes, and an entire head of lettuce - 2 cups of freshly squeezed orange juice

And an interesting fact: the raw diet contains more than twice the natural water, even without adding any liquids. With a lower sodium content, this makes the raw diet clearly more hydrating.
BOTTOM LINE:
- Fruits and vegetables contain more nutrition PER CALORIE. However, it is still necessary to consume enough food to meet your needs.
- Overeating is consuming more food than your body needs or your body can digest. If you eat enough to meet your needs, you won’t be overeating.
- A big problem in the raw food movement is NOT overeating, but rather UNDEREATING fruits and vegetables and overeating concentrated fats.
By the way, if that seems like too much food for you, don't worry. You can eat more often at first.
ANSWER TO QUESTIONS:

Doesn’t eating raw foods require fewer calories?

Because fruits and vegetables are easy to digest, they do require less energy (calories) digest. However, This difference is probably less than 5%. Because raw-foodists tend to have more energy, they will easily increase their exercise and activity by at least that much, so in the end they require the same amount of calories or more than the average person.

How many meals should you eat every day?

Ideally, 2 or 3. But initially, to make it easier to consume a large volume of fruits and vegetables, you can eat 4 to 5 times. Overtime, you’ll be able to make larger meals that will last you several hours, without any digestive issues.

Why did every experiment on life extension found that restricting caloric intake was the only was to lengthen life?

All experiments on caloric restriction were done on animals such as rats, who have a short lifespan. Laboratory rats are not fed their normal foods that they found in the wild, and are not as active as well. So feeding them 30% less of the toxic, artificial food they normally received extended their lives. The same would happen if you would cut by 30% the food intake of the average American.

However, eating a natural diet of fruits and vegetables is completely different. Eating an adequate amount of it will not shorten your lifespan.
The greatest proof that caloric restriction doesn’t work is the fact that almost all life extension specialists end up living an average or below average lifespan.

Is it a sin to eat at night or before going to bed?

Ideally, you want to leave a few hours from your last meal until your bedtime. However, it is not necessary to avoid eating at night completely. To improve your digestion, exercising before meals will do a lot more than avoiding eating at nighttime.
If for whatever reason, your schedule only allows you to have a dinner rather late in the day, you’ll still be fine. Just make sure that last meal is low in fat and easy to digest.
In any case, lunch should be the largest meal of the day.

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com

Green Smoothies: Victoria Boutenko Discusses the History of Processed Foods

2008-12-19T06:20:00.000-08:00

Victoria Boutenko Discusses the History of Processed Foods and How Smoothies Can Improve Digestion

Kevin Gianni

Victoria Boutenko: I started to do research about the what humans have been eating and I discovered, and I placed that in my latest book that's called, 12 Steps to Raw Foods, the 2nd Edition. The discovery that we actually stopped eating greens like a main dish only for 180 years ago. One hundred eighty (180) years ago, we were eating lots of greens every single day. What happened 180 years ago was the industrial progress started and there were several inventions 180 years ago, right at the same time, the refined - refining of sugar was invented by an English chemist. And then a Swiss miller at the same time invented metal grinder for the mill and he was able to make white bread, white pasta and this was so easy and so cheap that those factories started to grow like mushrooms everywhere.

And then Napoleon decided to go on a war and conquer the world, but his soldiers had to have food. And I have read lots of anthropological books and historical research and I found out that 180 years, like 200 years ago people were really hungry. There was not enough food and everybody was working all summer long collecting, gathering, preparing food for the winter. There was no refrigeration. They would just dig a cellar and put there whatever they can, dried fish, dried grapes, dried mushrooms, dried apples. And people were in the winter eating every other day because they didn't have enough food. And they would eat molded, spoiled, fermented, it doesn't matter. There was just not enough food and lots of people died in the winter.
So, imagine when Napoleon went to the war, his soldiers didn't have food and he announced a huge sum of money as a reward to somebody who will come up with the idea how to survive without food. And so, then the French chef came out with the canning process, the very first cans took six hours to make and they would last for over a year. That was such a big invention that was embraced by everybody. Within several years, the process of canning reduced from six hours to 30 minutes.

And now these new cans - the tin foil cans were able to stay more than two years - could be fish, could be meat, and could be vegetables. That was a revolution in food industry. Everybody was happy. The government was happy. There were no more dead people in the street in the winter. The people were happy they didn't have to dig cellars and prepare food and they had a backup plan.

The merchants were happy. They were making tons of money and at that time there was a turning point. Before that, the humanity was mostly eating raw food and I have lots of proof of that - mostly raw food because they were scarce of fuel. Their only fuel was wood and there was - not everybody could afford to have the stone house. Or not everybody could even afford to have a pot to boil and they just really didn't care. They were hungry. They were not eating for pleasure. They were eating for survival.

Kevin: Yes.
Victoria: But at this time, as long as you have a can opener and a few pennies, you could just buy a food.
So, people stopped eating what they were eating before and they were eating now white bread preserved confection. Instantly, there were four diseases formed that never existed in such quantities before that resulted from eating predominantly cooked food. There were rickets, scurvy, pellagra, and beriberi

Beriberi and pellagra are poly-vitamin deficiency. And cancer, you can find descriptions before like single cases in history. In 1900, huge number of people died from cancer. Sixty-four (64) people per 100,000 that's a huge number. Suddenly, and then in 100 years it tripled. The number tripled in 100 years. That never happened before in humanity that degenerative disease resulted from lacking of nutrition. So, what happened, the malnourished mothers gave birth to malnourished children - the whole generation and these children were never even introduced to dandelions and plantain, or any of greens. They were introduced to the can opener.
And so, now we could see with our own eyes, you and I, we could observe how the health is really falling apart. Like, when I was in school we had only one girl who had glasses and we had only girl who was obese. And now you go to school, you see that half of the children in the class wear glasses, they have pimples, they have braces, they are obese and some of them have asthma, some of them have arthritis, some of them have cancer.

Kevin: Yes.
Victoria: So, what can we do to undo the damage? I personally think it's obvious that nothing could be better than consuming greens and nothing could be faster than consume blended greens because this way the body stimulates the most. And as people begin to consume blended greens that Ann Wigmore discovered years ago, the only downfall of her blended greens were that they were not very palatable. But, they worked.
She was able to reverse cancer. She was the first one who really would major in that, that's really a tribute - you have to pay tribute for that. So, there could be nothing than blended greens and whoever is doing this, they do have results. And this is wonderful. Isn't this great?

Kevin: That's amazing.
Victoria: Yes. And like here in Ashland, Oregon where I live now, they sell blended greens in every household store, every juice bar, in some restaurants. You can just go and buy different smoothies.

Kevin: Wow!
Victoria: And, it's so easy.

Kevin: It's just an amazing concept and actually pretty easy to add into your diet as long as you have a blender, right?

Victoria: Yes. We actually did one study which we called, Roseburg Study. Well, for one month Dr. Paul Fieber was prescribing to 27 of his patients who were low on hydrochloric acid and they have been taking hydrochloric acid pills for years with every snack. From 16 years old to 80 plus years old for one month they were adding one quart of freshly made green smoothies that my family delivered to them everyday fresh. To their existing diet, we specifically emphasized they do not change their diet to raw food diet. We didn't want to see what raw food diet makes to that. We wanted just to see green smoothie. And after one month, they improved. Their hydrochloric acid recovered 68.6%.

Kevin: Wow!
Victoria: Which allowed them to absorb better nutrition and in addition to recovering their hydrochloric acid - and the younger ones in that group didn't have to take hydrochloric acid ever.

Kevin: Really?
Victoria: In addition to that, they reported that they also have taken the hypertension medication and headache medication, and insomnia pills, and some of them lost weight, some who wanted to gain, gained weight. Seven out of 27 reported improved sexual performance, and other things. Amazing! Like, one woman, for example, she prays that she stopped craving coffee because now she had so much nutrition in her diet because of the green smoothie that she didn't really want - she lost craving to unhealthy foods.

The Ideal Situation - Eating in cold regions

2008-12-16T05:24:00.000-08:00

By Frederic Patenaude

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, we learned previously that 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 I have never found 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 - on raw food

2008-12-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

By Frederic Patenaude

It is really important to look at the 'big picture' about the foods we eat.
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 raw food diet means that you'll eat mostly raw food. You'll avoid heating foods for the most part. While I've gone long periods of time eating a 100% unheated raw diet, I do not claim to eat 100% raw all the time, nor will I tell you that I will 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 I, and most other 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!

I hope you found the secrets exposed in this lesson informative and interesting! I enjoyed sharing them with you. In our next bonus lesson, we'll consider what is involved in eating a raw food diet in cold climates. I look forward to sharing those facts with you.

GET RAW EXERCISE!

Frederic Patenaude Raw Vegan
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/

Self-mastery through Attentive Eating

2008-12-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

INTRODUCTION

A subject which can radically change a person's life in all of its aspects - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. - Attentive eating.

It seems strange to think that the manner in which one eats, the "how", can have such an important influence in one's life.
The utter simplicity of the technique caused many people to refuse to even believe that it could lead to important changes, resulting in the refusal to even try the method.

While the method is so simple in its essence, that even all of the lowliest creatures practice it instinctively, yet, man is so conditioned in his habits, that he has to unlearn his present method of eating and relearn what he once knew thousands of years ago.

Even if a person refuses to change his diet to higher quality foods and insists on remaining with his present conventional diet, still, he will experience profound changes in all aspects of his life by applying the technique to his or her life. So let us not delay any further - let us penetrate this mystery.

ANIMALS EAT WITH FULL ATTENTION

The basic needs and instincts of all living creatures are air, water and food, clothing and shelter - with food as the most basic. All life everywhere knows its needs in food to survive and every creature on this earth knows how to eat. It is an inborn instinct which does not need to be learned and it is present from the moment of birth onward - in one-celled life forms (amoeba) up to the largest animal forms in existence.

All of these living creatures, eat in the same manner. They eat with full attention, chew their foods as much as is necessary for the species and are fully absorbed in the taste of the food while they are eating it. When the sensual enjoyment of the taste begins to recede and disappear, they stop eating and walk away from the food fully content.

This enjoyment of the food, closely interlocked with the taste of the food, is how the bodily instinct guides the animal to cease eating when the body's needs are fully provided for. All living creatures have been faithfully guided by this sense of taste instinct since the beginning of time and there has never been a problem with it.
Why no problem? - Because they all eat the same way - with full attention, totally immersed in the taste of the food, even closing their eyes to avoid distraction, and ceasing when the sense of taste begins to lose its enjoyment. Even all little insects eat with total attention.

WHY SUCH DIFFICULTY?

Then why do humans have such difficulty in eating, in knowing when to eat and when to stop?
There are several reasons.First, people eat according to the clock, approximately 3 meals a day with inbetween meal snacks and rarely when truly hungry.
Secondly, they eat foods which have spices, sugar and salt added which stimulate them to overeat more than the body requires.
And lastly, because they have minds and enjoy mental stimulation, they eat with a divided attention - while reading a newspaper, or watching TV. Or conversing with someone.
In this booklet, we are going to concern ourselves almost exclusively with the last consideration - that of a divided attention.

DIVIDED ATTENTION

When the attention is divided, say for example, watching TV while eating, emotions and feelings are aroused which conflict with the ideal digestive atmosphere.
This inhibits gastric and digestive secretions needed to digest the food optimally.
The great sensual enjoyment of eating, which is so basically important to the body and emotions necessary to inner happiness, is largely bypassed, because the attention is on something different than the taste of the food.

The result is that - since the taste enjoyment is largely reduced or eliminated, the body is unable to signal the eater when to stop. So the person eats, mechanically stuffs himself and stops only when the discomfort of the distended stomach signals its protest….

Eating without awareness or attention - invariably leads to overeating and dismissing the important role of the taste of the food in directing us to stop eating when we have had enough to satisfy the body's needs.

FOOD AS SEX

The instinct of eating is so basic, so much more frequent and urgent than the instinct of reproduction (sex), that the sensual enjoyment of food easily replaces the urge for sex.
This probably explains why bingeing in eating so frequently replaces the frustration of loneliness, when companionship of the opposite sex is lacking.

FOOD AS DRUG

It is a known fact that stuffing oneself with food causes most of the blood to leave the brain and enter the stomach area to digest the food. This dulls and drugs the mind and effectively shuts off the thinking process, acts as an emotional anesthesia, effectively allowing us to escape from thoughts and feelings of inferiority, sorrow, loneliness, regret, boredom, guilt pressure, fear, low self-esteem, self-hatred, etc.
Unfortunately, using food as an escape mechanism from emotional problems only drives the problems in the unconscious mind temporarily.
Suppressing these problems causes them to burst forth into the consciousness with increased force, demanding attention from the conscious mind until they are properly dealt with.

They can be released and eliminated by facing them squarely with full attention and being willing to feel them totally without attempting to escape the pain involved. Often within minutes, they begin to weaken and dissipate in intensity. Persistence, courage and repetition lead to success and freedom.

THE BOOK OF SECRETS

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in vol. 3 of "The Book of Secrets", containing Discourses on Vigyana Bhairava Tantra on the ancient scripture on Tantra by Lord Shiva (in 5 vols. ) which contain all of 112 meditation techniques known, has this to say on p.19:

The fifth technique.
"When eating or drinking, become the taste of the food or drink, and be filled."
We go on eating things; we cannot live without them. But we eat them very unconsciously, automatically, robotlike. If the taste is not lived, you are just stuffing. Go slow, and be aware of the taste. And only when you go slow can you be aware. Do not just go on swallowing things. Taste them unhurriedly and become the taste.
When you feel sweetness, become that sweetness. And then it can be felt all over the body - not just in the mouth, not just on the tongue; it can be felt all over the body. 'A certain sweetness' is spreading in ripples - or anything else.

"Whatsoever you are eating, feel the taste and become the taste."
---- Tantra says taste it as much as possible; be more sensitive, alive. And not only be sensitive: become the taste.

"With avoidance of taste, your senses will be deadened."
They will become less and less sensitive. And with less sensitivity, you will not be able to feel your body, you will not be able to feel your feelings. Then you will just remain centered in the head. This centeredness in the head is the split. Tantra says do not create any division within yourself. It is beautiful to taste; it is beautiful to be sensitive. And if you are more sensitive you will be more alive, and if you are more alive, then more life will enter your inner being. You will be more open.

"You can eat things without tasting; you can touch someone without touching; it is not difficult."

"When eating or drinking, become the taste of the food or drink, and be filled by the taste;"
When drinking water, feel the coolness. Close your eyes, drink it slowly, taste it. Feel that you have become that coolness; it is becoming a part of your body. Allow its ripples to spread, and you will feel a coolness all over your body.

In this way your sensitivity can grow, and you can become more alive and more filled.
We are feeling frustrated, vacant - empty, and we go on talking that life is empty. But we are the reason. We are not filling it and we are not allowing anything to fill it.

We have an armour around us - a defense armour, We are afraid to be vulnerable, so we go on defending against everything. And then we become tombs - dead things.

"Tantra says be alive, more alive, because life is God. There is no other God than life. Be more alive, and you will be more Divine. Be totally alive, and there is no death for you (p. 392). "

ALERTNESS

While eating, eat: chew with awareness. Whatsoever you are doing, don't do it mechanically.
Walk with alertness, and you will walk differently: a different grace comes to your walking. You move more slowly, more beautifully....

When I say "feel", I mean observe. First do it mechanically and then with awareness, and you will be able to feel the difference.

For example, if you eat with awareness, then you cannot eat more than is needed by the body.

MEDITATION OVER FOOD

For those who practice meditation, the use of eating as a meditation is the easiest of all meditations to master. We, as all living creatures, are thoroughly experienced in eating, a practice we have done all our lives, several times a day since birth. It does not involve difficult concentration as ordinary meditation techniques do.

The pleasure involved in eating, automatically holds the interest of attention, almost effortlessly. This is the reason why this eating technique of meditation has been held in especially high regard by the most ancient practitioners of Tantra - since its practice leads to a profound transformation in a relatively short period of time, with a minimum of effort.

Every time you eat, several times a day, you'll be practicing meditation and this leads to rapid progress and attainment when done with your full attention.

The Secret of Habits

2008-12-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

Whenever we change a long-standing habit, a new pattern is at first unpleasant. After short time it becomes tolerable. After we become accustomed to it, it becomes enjoyable.
Finally, after a time, the new habit becomes dispensible and as strong and habitual as the placed previous undesirable habit was.

Dr. Herbert Shelton quotesRelative to this subject and of great value to our understanding of how the stimulation and depression mechanism works, I quote the brilliant Dr. Herbert M. Shelton in his "Human Life, Its Philosophy and Laws" :

"This Law (Law of Dual Effects) explains the power of habit. The temporary "relief" from symptoms and the short period of exaltation are followed by worse symptoms and depression, so that the individual resorts to the drug for more relief and more exaltation. He cannot tolerate the depression of power that inevitably follows the added impulse of power induced by tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, opium, or other drug.

"The heightened sensibilities, pleasurable sensations, joyous emotions induced by opium soon pass, leaving the terrors of hell in their wake. The "brilliancy" of thought and intellect and ecstacy of enjoyment give way to languor, stupidity and horror unutterable. The user resorts again to his drug to revive the former state.

"His body does not need and does not demand more opium. It needs and demands rest. But he craves more opium as a means of temporary "relief" from his intolerable suffering. The "relief" produces more suffering, which calls for more relief" which produces more suffering which calls for more relief and so on until death brings complete and lasting relief. As the drug habitue becomes weaker and more nervous, he requires more frequent doses, or stronger doses of his poison.
"A striking confirmation of this view is supplied by the recently discovered fact that when there is no awareness of pain, there is no "craving" for morphine. Vandalistic neurologists have recently devised an operation which they call prefrontal lobotomy, which consists of removal of a portion of the nerve fibers of the forehead to "relieve" unbearable pain. They find that when awareness of pain ceases, the "craving" for morphine also ceases and there are no "withdrawal symptoms", except a transient mild tremor. I interpret this to mean that when there is no consciousness of pain, there is no mental desire for the accustomed means of "relief". I would interpret the so-called "withdrawal symptoms" in the same way. They grow, not out of lack of morphine, but out of fear of pain.
"Relieving" morphine-induced pain with more morphine is the height of medical insanity.

"What temporarily strengthens permanently weakens. Tobacco steadies the nerves only to produce unsteadiness of them; alcohol weakens permanently because it temporarily strengthens; tonics produce temporary strength and permanent debility; a cup of coffee relieves a headache only to fasten the headache upon the user; it relieves depression of spirits only to double the depression when it "wears off". This is the reason cathartics, that seem to strengthen the bowels weakens them.

"Let any habitual user of any drug discontinue his drug for a few days and he will experience in their fullness all the secondary effects - only to find that these may all be made to disappear by a return to its use. Coffee "cures" the headache it has caused; whiskey restores the feeling of strength it has wasted; tobacco the steadiness of nerves it has destroyed."

Stimulants activate and depressTo explain this in other words - All stimulants activate the body initially but depress it ultimately. All stimulants pick you up. Any ingested stimulant which causes the heart to beat faster is a physiological poison and should be shunned like a plague.
In this case, when coffee is given up, the headache symptom which follows is due to the pain felt in the head from the congestion in the brain caused by the presence of the caffeine which is transported by the blood as it makes its circulating rounds through the body to eventually reach the organs of elimination, whence it is discarded.

Now, all addictive habits and compulsions are due to their stimulating character and the more stimulating they are, the more addictive they are and the more they draw us into ever-increasing bondage. The cycle becomes more vicious as the habit is continued.
As stimulation is repeated, in frequency, more recuperation is required than the body is able to receive in a night's sleep, so, in order to get the same feeling of exhilaration or "high" as he received before, the addict feels impelled to increase the frequency of his stimulant. Next, he feels that he needs to increase the amount of the dose.

The more stimulant - the more rest neededBut each increase in dosage leads to a further expenditure of energy, thus necessitating a greater need for recuperation or rest. As the deficit in rest accumulates mote rapidly, this inexorably leads to a greater let-down, thus forcing the addict to increase the amount of the dosage more and more until the whole body - mind system collapses from exhaustion. This is why it is so difficult to give up an addiction. No one likes to go through the feeling of "down" with its attendant depression.
Yet, it is during this recuperation or "down" phase that the body, nervous system and brain, recharges with energy. It is absolutely essential that we realize that this stage MUST be gone through if we are to restore structural, physiological and vital integrity to the body - if we are to restore our feelings, emotions and mind to a state of normal tone and wholeness.

The Law of Vital AccomodationContinuing with Dr. Shelton, another closely related law follows which is called the Law of Vital Accomodation - "Nature's Balance Wheel" which states that:The Law of Vital Accomodation
"The response of the vital organism to external stimuli is an instinctive one, based upon self-preservative instinct which adapts itself to what ever influences it cannot destroy, or control, or avoid".
.........

"Serious misinterpretation of the fact of toleration has led to grievous errors in practice. Because a habit does not seem immediately destructive, we must not be deceived into believing it is non-injurious, or even beneficial. The steady non-violent resistance to nicotine, for example, that the body must keep up, when tobacco is used, constitutes an equally steady drain upon the vital resources and keeps the user always below par."

Have a happy lifetime

2008-12-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

The chart reads as follows:

Star Light

Fresh Air

Pure Water

Planet Earth

Mother's Milk

Perfect Fruit

Tasty Leaves

Loving Touching

Playful Activity

Restful Sleep

Did I miss anything?

Everyone has seen a food chart right? Well... that one is mine. If you're able to show me something that's more accurate THEN SHOW IT TO ME! I'd really like for that to happen at least once!! Until someone proves otherwise... The Good Mood Food Chart is the GREATEST food chart graphic thingy ever put together. I don't see anything that's even close to being as good on any wall or in any book or in any school or hospital or anywhere else for that matter. That's OUTRAGEOUS and that's the first time I've ever used that word as a negative... the first!

"Why isn't it" is a question that begs to be answered! I want to be shown a more accurate chart. I would love that. Unfortunately no such thing exists. Accurate doesn't get any better than perfect. Integrity doesn't either. If there is something more accurate out there somewhere I would love to see it but I'm not holding my breath. Actually I'll do a radical 5 minute breath exercise right now in honor of the occassion.

The Good Mood Food Chart is certifiably genius and there's an essay available upon request... but that's not what this particular page is entitled or all about. Here it is... and it's huge! Print it and THEN read it okay? And don't forget the chart! Might as well print it out too! This sounds strange at first but it makes complete sense almost immediately...

The REAL Four Food Groups

What's the very first food?

Answer: blood.

What's the second food?

Answer: milk.

What's the third food?

Answer: fruit.

What's the fourth food?

Answer: leaves.

Besides MOM... what do the first and second foods have in common? Well, they're both mono diets. A fetus can't be fed anything that doesn't come through the umbilical cord. Isn't that true? For a fetus it’s all umbilical cord juice! And does a baby need anything besides Mother’s Milk? No way!

You can only improve the purity of the Mother's Blood and the Mother’s Milk and that's an easy thing to do and it's also an important thing to do. And that goes for the father too because how one family member eats ~ affects how the others eat. This is especially true of the father. He's as irresponsible and unworthy of fatherhood as she would be of motherhood if she didn't improve her health when that baby comes on board! As a mother who doesn't kick the bad habits jeopardizes her pregnancy a father who doesn't put away the liquor and put out the cigarettes does his families health a grave injustice also. (Alcohol and cigarettes are just the easy targets. I don't mind or hesitate including meat, pasta, rice and bread -- along with everything else that is dead -- into that same category.)

And the same holds true for milk as it does blood, at least for the most part and for a while. I’m talking about the “mono diet” thang! There’s no substituting or supplementing Mother’s Milk. A baby breathes with little itty bitty tiny lungs but oxygen and everything else is brought through to the fetus via the umbilical cord and the blood stream. So for the first nine months of our lives (inside mom) and for the first nine months of our lives (outside of mom) we (baby’s) don't need to find food anywhere else for she is food. Mom is the food! Both blood and milk are whole and complete foods and that's how ALL NATURAL FOODS ARE. 100% pure living liquid is what builds our strong and very solid healthy bones.

Your body/mind operates the best when it is fed one type of food at a time - just like when we’re very young and just like all creatures of the wild eat all their lives. One food at a time. No mixing! Mono diet is an important thing to keep in mind and an important thing to do. Mono diet is how we begin our lives and is how all creatures of the wild live their lives. We should too! All the traditional meals we are fed are designed the exact opposite! And perhaps on purpose!! They make you enjoy and then they make you pass out! So what they’re really designed to is make you “enjoy passing out” which isn’t really pleasurable or enjoyable at all! Passing out on a full stomach is not what we were designed to do! That full 'satisfied' satiated feeling is a paralyzed stomach... that is all.

Think about pizza! The average American actually considers pizza a “health food” because it's got all the four food groups in it! No, no, no... that's lol! Always refer back to The REAL Four Food Groups, especially #1 and #2 when doubt crosses your mind. The advice I give is perfect for everyone. Pizza isn't water soluble! Drop a slice of pizza into a bowl of water and wait ~ but don’t hold your breath! Nothing much of anything happens for a long long time. Pizza is a “concrete” type of solid and our stomach acid is not that powerful! Our stomach acid is much less potent than a natural meat lovers stomach acid. Other mammal animals like cats and dogs - who thrill for the chase, the take down, the kill and then the warm bloody meal - have stomach acids and intestinal tracts designed for that kind of action. Our biology is designed for our own food groups. And a natural meat lovers biology wasn’t designed for pizza either! Their stomach acids and digestive systems fare better against pizza than ours do but even they have a terrible time processing pizza and poohing it out! The last time I poohed pizza my colon dropped and I thought I was going to die!

Our body is mostly composed of Living Waters. There’s some rock in there somewhere and a few other things but mostly ~ we’re beautiful bags of mostly water. Living Water. Food Group #1 and #2 just happen to be Pure Liquids. The first 18 months of Human Life is exclusively fed with Living Liquids! Not stale, polluted, lagoon type of fetid water - but electrified and energized water teeming with LIFE that's constantly being refreshed and renewed and moving around and under and over and through somewhere! I can only imagine all the miles of liquid pathways which run through our bodies... it's actually a staggering figure. If that were to change humans wouldn’t be alive 100 years later! So to all the vegan advocates of the world pushing their nasty tofu addictions... shut up! The human mammal animal is not a natural vegan! Not at all. Blood is the first food and milk is the second! And both those are 100% animal based.

Is this essay starting to make sense yet? Dead solids and stagnant liquids muck up the natural processes of our lives. The idea is to refresh and renew and reenergize the water content that is YOUR BODY. And that includes your mind as well! The mind runs on electrical impulses right? What conducts electricity better...? The stagnant waters of a polluted lagoon or fresh seawater? Living Liquid is what determines not only physical health but emotional health as well.

When you eat pizza it plugs-up and stops-up the plumbing and you don't want that! You want a clean free flowing internal sewage system full of compost... not a clogged one full of pollution. The quality of blood radically transforms... becomes radically different NEW AND IMPROVED when your internal water pipes are free from all clogging debris. My name is Fouad... pronounced like God... and in the military FOD is an acronym for "foreign object debris." How convenient!

Standard blood tests are no longer even accurate when you get off the cooked food diet. You should keep that in mind! Test results are revealed and proved to be ridiculous for they were developed by and were designed for people who eat cooked food. I don’t have the low-down on such information in my own mind but I have friends who are really radical about blood testing. If you want specifics on BLOOD PURITY the raw food books which discuss the subject. I'm not at all motivated to draw blood on purpose though. The truth of blood purity and health and happiness and the “how” and the “why” of such things are all "clarity" obvious to me and in need of no such explaining. I taste the difference when I've cut myself. I’m not complicated about anything I think or do... it's all Logic of Tree.

I don’t need the “scientific” explanations nor do I need the “religious” beliefs to guide my way through LIFE'S TIME. People are afraid of germs?! When cut or scraped you're supposed to lick the wound! But unfortunately most think the worst when they hear the best so when I say things like that they react defensively and say things like "yuck" or "weird" or "gross" or "it will get infected" and fearfully worry about... germs, bacteria, gingivits, and all that other "scary" microscopic stuff. Saliva is like... ultimate antiseptic! And band-aids are out. That's what coagulated blood (scab) is for. You shouldn't be washing soap into the wound and the blood away only to cover it with a stupid little piece of gauze and tape! Don't wash the blood away for sanitary reasons for sanity's sake. Nothing else is able to hermedically seal our wounds better than blood. That's why we bleed! We weren't designed for car crash type traumas we were designed for the simple abrasion stuff ~ and then... only if careless and clumsy! Do Mountain Goat's lose their hoofing as they leap rock to rock? Do Mountain Cat's trip off their paws and fall flat on their backs? Do Mountain Pygmy Possums... with prehensile tail and all lose their balance and fall out of trees ~ even when gliding some 50 feet between trees? Just because we stand on two feet and swing our arms for added balance doesn't logically follow that we are any less nimble and or less agile than they are ~ in our respective domains. "Clumsy" only started after shoes were invented. Traveling 70 miles an hour in a car or 500 miles an hour in a plane is like a fish Out O' Water! We're not where we're supposed to be.

the blood away is Infection smection! Infection my raw ass! So, next time your kids get a booboo you say, “No honey, you don’t need a band-aid just lick it for a while!” For when your bodily fluids are alive and vibrant ~ you are vibrantly alive ~ and the healing factor is much more potent than it ever was before. Actually, the healing factor only would be as it always should have been. Powerful and potent and not in need of any help!

I just remember who I was and the taste of my blood before I changed my diet and who I am and the way my blood tastes now. Both are vastly different. Now when I cut my finger (a booboo!) I do something that’s very wacky and zany! Instead of antiseptic or a band-aid... I lick my wound clean! Saliva is what is supposed to clean wounds ~ not any antiseptic. Septic is derived from the word "sepsis" which refer to the little LIVING BEING things in the microverse. Blame it on the little guy! Just can't get away from that one now can we? The Big Bully! They always pick on those smaller in size. Dumb move. When people discuss balance as in "balanced meal" they are using faulty scales... because NATURE is the only one with a perfectly accurate scale. Things always have a way of balancing out ~ don't they? A Big Bellied Bully can't be too big of a bully or the smaller and always much more numerous bullied people would get mad. Pound for pound... it's a Lost Cause. There is STRENGTH IN NUMBERS (in better words... There is STRENGTH IN FAMILY) and the smaller you are the more you are too. In our MAMMAL ANIMAL reality... the bigger you are the less in numbers you are too.

Things like wolves and elk need vast territory to roam over if they are to survive (us too... beat your bare feet!) and how much land does it take to support or fellow elephants? I don't know... a lot! What about our aquatic mammal animal friends? The blue whale is the largest animal of all time ~ EVER! Blue Whales out-sizes all the dinosaurs by far. The ocean is huge but it is specifically balanced to be home to a perfectly sized BLUE WHALE FAMILY. We have forgotten where HOME is. I live at 13612 Proctor Valley Rd. No no no! HOME is where FOOD is. HOME is never anywhere else. So for us it's not an address it's an orchard! There are boats in the waters with huge nets scooping up the masses of little fishies ~ while they are in school living! Learning is fun and natural and so is teaching but seafood is mass murder. And that's neither fun or natural. Talk about being cold like death. There is no fun for us swimming in the deep of BLUE water and so we have NO BUSINESS building boats equipped with huge nets designed to scoop out everything swimming by. Fish aren't taken out of churchs during mass... they are taken out of LIVING SCHOOLS (while having fun teaching and learning)... AND MASS MURDERED. If everyone were to understand something as simple as The REAL Four Food Groups the ocean would quickly find BALANCE and so the largest animal ever to live on PLANET EARTH could continue to swim in water so deep it's BLUE. The BLUE WHALE is warm and breathing and alive only because it lives in a place far removed from where feet are able to go.

The larger creatures (especially those in the way of progress) are doomed to an early extinction. For them the end of time is near. After them it will be us. Our unbalanced population explosion is allowing us to gang up on and push even the biggest of the big so hard they get shoved into oblivion. And BLUE WHALES aren't even bullies! 6 billion members in our FAMILY... who all decided to move away from home to eat cooked foods that in all reality is a LIVING SCHOOL of fish who are all studiously busy having fun learning. Human's are the biggest big belly bully to ever walk around a school lookin' fpr nuthing but trouble. When smaller kids get bullied the mistake of wandering off too far beyond the protection of home base. A bully only bullies when Mother & Father are somewhere beyond the point to be able to hear the panic sound of loud crying voices. I refer to the kind of school fish are in as a LIVING SCHOOL When the fringe fishes spot danger and jukes a quick move... if you're part of a school of fish... you INSTANTANEOUSLY turn too! Unfortunately none of us attend a LIVING SCHOOL.

Teaching and teachers are wonderful and knowing a whole class room full of other people is great but who is a child's most natural teacher? Yeah ~ that would be Mother and Father not anybody else and not without the help of Lot's O' Family. One teacher is out there trying to handle 30 kids!? It should be the other way around! 30 experience wisened adults for every 1 child. How does that sound? Okay it's an exaggeration but consider the subject material and with what's going on. The world is cooked! Oh no! It only sees through cooked food eyes. Only when you got Raw Contacts on to see the world with do you see how everything is a big fat belly bully lie! People think soap cleanses skin!??? People think the outside is a cause of illness!??? They think too much exposure to the daytime without any protectioin is what causes skin to get burnt while too much exposure to the nighttime could cause you to catch your death of cold......???

The outside doesn't cause disease... the inside does.

caught in the path of our cooked fest Learning is fun and natural and so is teachingLiving Being's ~ especially those land feet Without breath, clad in a sfish while in mass masses of schools of fish. Also fellow mammal animal friends and all the rest... WHILE... and get this... there's pipes stretching out from every populated stretch of beach in the world belching out civilization's polluting waste.

Watch for the Juiceman’s infomercial (usually plays several times every day and night) and look for the guy with the cracked lips. The guy who lost a whole lot of weight in a very short period of time (and back then I didn’t even know what I was doing!) and for the guy the camera man had a difficult time centering on the tv screen. My image is crammed up and to one side. You don’t suppose it’s because of my bald head do you?!? Those very wealthy creeps! Not even a thank you card for my services rendered and I’m cute!!! How dare they, but they did! The creeps didn’t want to show my bald head on tv! Waaa! I’m giving a 130 pound weight loss testimonial for their juicer and not even so much as a thank you card! Move around a chunk of your income - delete some crapola costs out of your cost of living - and learn to afford to always have large quantities of raw consumables ready for you and for your family to binge on at all times. And such food really is only to be found for free. So you don't have to learn how to afford you just have to learn how to forage. I suggest the JuicemanII because it’s the best for what you need the most… Massive Raw Foods Action!

Keep fresh juices handy. Not the store bought stuff and not from the local juice bars. The juices they make isn’t as good as the juices you can make yourself and besides it costs a lot lot more and you get a lot lot less! Juice bars are good for special occasions and for when you’re stuck running around town but you and your family have to get into the habit of doing the fun stuff I’m talking about yourselves and together! Everyone should get involved and help because the more hands you have helping the easier and the more fun you have. Work isn’t even work anymore when you have lots of helping hands - it’s play! Always have fresh juices ready and/or readily available. Gallons of the stuff and refrigerators of the stuff and every counter space stuffed with the stuff! Replace the water jugs and for sure the milk jugs and the bottles and cans of this foul swill and that dead solid that most every home always has ready and readily available with organically grown produce and with freshly made juices. And keep them stocked! Ever drink a coconut? Ever heard of a cherimoya? How ‘bout french sorrel? Ever munch on some sorrel? Imagine how your Life would drastically improve if you could reach into your refrigerator and instead of a cold beer you pulled out a cold coconut water or a pitcher of fresh cantaloupe juice!

If you’ve got reasonably responsible kids running around the house pay them - actually give them a bonafide job making substantial amounts of fresh juice on a regular basis. There’s no reason to eat juice that’s grown stale and stagnant like a fetid lagoon. The juice you drink should be fresh and vibrant. Don’t do what my dad does. He buys cheap, marked down, aging produce from commercial grocery stores and then after a few more days in the refrigerator (before the stuff is completely rotten) he juices it and then he doesn’t drink it for a day or two after that! The idea is to flood your living machine - feed it with vim and vigor - not with rot and decay. Buy it organic and fresh and juice it fresh and drink it fresh. Replace the trapped dead waters and solids in your body with Living Liquids. Much like a bitten apple (which turns brown quickly) juice becomes less and less desirable with every passing second. After a while juice becomes toxic and is no longer nourishing. Make sure everything you feed your family is fresh and vibrant and alive and to do that all you have to do is be doing it yourself. Be the role model! It doesn’t even matter if you’re a kid! Anybody can become this type of role model if they want to! Simply refuse to eat cooked food! What are they gonna do? Force feed you dead food intravenously? I don’t think so! Peer pressure is their only leverage. Read or go exercise or play games during lunch time - anything but eat dead bread. Eye-spy all the neglected fruit trees in your neighborhood! YUM! Pack your house with fresh produce, break out the juicing equipment and start drinking fruit and vegetable and green juices! Those are the Living Waters you cram down your throat to replace and renew and refresh the fluids which determines your well-being.

Any and all your favorite natural flavors will do. If you don’t like the taste of this or that and/or you don’t like the way it makes you feel just switch to something else! For instance, when I first started replacing my internal fluidic stagnation with fresh juices I used oranges from my back yard but they would puff up my fingers to more than twice their normal size. That’s not the orange’s fault, mind you… it was detox (detoxification)… part of the cleansing process… but I didn’t much like the look of my swollen puffed-up fingers and I definitely didn’t like the way they would make me feel so I simply switched from oranges to grapefruits because I found they didn’t have the same effect on my arthritic, carpal tunnel fingers. At that time in my Life if my hands got cold they would turn into a ghastly white, go completely numb, and have NO BLOOD FLOW AT ALL. I would either have to run warm water over them or I would have to swing my arms around (and hard!) like a windmill to force the color, the feeling and the blood back into them. Talk about Dead In Nature. Handling cold morning oranges (one of the things fingers were designed to do) would turn my hands into a pale death white. After a couple of months I had become healthier and the oranges didn’t puff-up my fingers anymore. About a year or so later - after consistent juicing and massive raw foods action -- the cold stopped numbing my hands and fingers and it hasn’t happened again since. Now I’m jumping into the cold ocean along with the kids! Only the cooked adults are left on the beach - afraid of the cold and for good reason! My arthritic, carpal tunnel syndrome type condition radically improved. So my point is… when your veins and other fluidic pathways exclusively flow with Living Liquids the aging process arrests… old age stops! Remember Ponce De Leon? He rode around the countryside looking for The Fountain Of Youth… well…!!! Any and all your favorite natural flavors will do fine and there is a near infinite variety of flavors to choose from.

But the fourth food group will be the most beneficial to you especially in the beginning and especially if your constitution is weak and/or you’re suffering from debilitating pains. True intake of plant blood acts like a true transfusion. Your blood becomes better blood. The Four Food Groups are in order with age. 1) Blood. 2) Milk. 3) Fruit. 4) Green leaves. So, especially if you’re a sufferer of old age’s debilitating effects caused by eating cooked foods your whole LIFE then for sure start guzzling the green juices. And you don’t have to be “old” to need their rejuvenating effects. Everyone needs to do massive green juice action for an extended period of time! Once your starved cells are flooded for a while it doesn’t take much spot maintenance to keep them happy. Especially if you HAVE NOT… juice organic greens and drink! Pug them down like a thirsty alcoholic on a hot day with a cold brewhaha!

I carefully and thoughtfully considered how to explain this safe and effective weight loss plan to every type of audience I might have. That’s tough to do. If you’re religious you need to hear The Raw Truth in a certain way. If you’re scientific you need to hear it in a certain way. If you’re a procrastinator or if you’re a parent or a kid you need to hear The Raw Food Diet presented to you in a certain way. And depending upon your present state of health or lack thereof… or if you’re just an ornery and obstinate old cuss or if you’re someone who just meekly follows along with what others (or someone) around you decides or wishes or wants. Whatever that certain way is for you just so you take action!

And not just “some action” you need to take Massive Raw Foods Action whoever you are! Each and every one of us is deficient. Cooked food negatively affects all of our lives in our respective ways. Doesn’t matter if you’re 6 and I’m telling you I don’t eat those foods because they don’t taste healthy or if you’re 16 and I’m telling you be cute eat fruit or if your 36 or 86 and I’m flat out telling you cooked food is poison. This responsibility is yours to play with because you and only you are the one living your life. I can’t convince anyone convinced they can’t change and the information is ridiculous anyway! But… as with everything natural and healthy and fun… the more the merrier! That’s why I hope I’m able to touch that instigating resonance within you that gets you to ACT! So don’t just forget and don’t just don’t do. If you’re still confused and I understand no cooked food can be a bit of a dilemma that leaves you wondering what to do -- I’ll make it child’s play for you. Go get a plump juicy sweet ripe organic delicious honeydew melon (everyone likes honeydew melon right?) and eat it all by yourself. Wake up in the morning and while your stomach is empty sit down with a whole honeydew and before you eat anything else eat the whole entire thing. Eat it all and eat it all yourself. Say, “This is mine!” And go for it! It doesn’t matter how long it takes for you to eat it… just don’t eat anything else in the meantime. If you inhale it get another one and another one and another one! Until they’re no longer in season. Then switch to another and then to another and another!!!! On an empty stomach and without eating anything else… eat an entire melon by yourself and don’t eat any other food for at least half an hour or so. Eat one food and then eat it again and again and then switch to another. I’d tell you not to drink anything either but really… who’s thirsty after a whole melon? Nobody.

No medicine can ever match the efficacy of plant blood. EVER. Every sip replaces stagnant bodily solids and fluids that “needs to go” and “needs to get out! The fluids that are your body are like freshly squeezed juices. If they are allowed to sit around they become poisonous and toxic. And the fluids that are your body are like all waters of the world. If they are not allowed to move around and circulate and do their “thang” they too become stale and stagnant. I consider most if not all medical intervention a form of malpractice. Drinking green drink - alone - rejuvenates and restores 20 years of aging off your LIFE! That is, if you’re already old! The effect on the young is equally transformative. It doesn’t matter how often you’ve circled our super abundant star! Skin tone and complexion improves, bones become more supple and strong, lungs clean up, the mind clears up, and people’s poor feet - all swollen and hard worked and abused and neglected and shoe’d -- gets better circulation down there so far away from the heart and lungs! Massage the people you love all the time to increase circulation even more -- and don’t forget the feet! And when you do your loving touching will be reciprocated back to you - unless of course the ones you love and hold dear are all grumpy fuddy duddy’s who’ve forgotten how to touch and give love or even worse… never learned how in the first place. There’s more than one way to get the juices flowing! Drink juices, do some fasting and allow your body to take a break once and a while (geesh!), give and get lots of massages and loving, walk your body, talk your mind, expand your lungs, refuse to wear especially tight fit, constrictive clothing (all clothing is constrictive - ultimately) After all, the more you do the more you do! Natural nutrition and natural activities are always healthful for you. So eat and do more of those than the other stuff.

And by the way… I was discussing how the blood flow ~ the circulation in my wrists and hands and fingers and their overall health radically improved because of the things I’m talking about (yours will too!) and they did… their health RADICALLY improved but they didn’t heal entirely. Pain does remain. Why? Can you explain why before I say? Reading all this is exhausting as is writing it. It requires effort to relax the mind, to interpret information, to accurately discern and perceive and understand all the multi-varied input your mind receives. Whether it’s this text or the Wild Wild World! The brain picks up sight, sound, taste, touch, smell and processes them all simultaneously. The brain receives all communique spoken in the universe. Gravity, time, air pressure, and every other energy or force or language that there is. So it may be unfair to ask you why my hands didn’t heal completely but as with everything that is real the question is simple and easy to answer. They haven’t healed completely because I haven’t stopped doing the things that caused their pain in the first place. We’ve got to stop doing the things causing our dis-ease. And that’s where talking about Natural Nutrition and Natural Lifestyle fits in. Am I far out there? I may be but it’s only because the world… the real world is quickly disappearing and I want to be there before it does. Who knows? I and others like me might actually be able to stop that from happening. Feed your children well! Both their bodies and their minds. With those fed well their divine souls will be content and satisfied and in need of no further need to find nourishment from other sources.

Healthy, Happy and Wise! And perfectly so! When the soil is rich and there’s plenty of rain a flower needs nothing more, but the light of the day and some time, in order to bloom and grow.

Lungs provide the necessary pump action that pushes everything through, the heart is the regulatory valve ensuring proper flow and blood is the fuel! Cleanse your air infiltration system, cleanse your fuel injection system, change your oil, and get a good lube job! Fill your Living Machine with high octane, with raw energy and keep it fine tuned! This is one service you can only do yourself. Don’t ever take it to some chop shop service center where money hungry technicians try to sell you on anything and everything you don’t need! Don’t let the white uniforms fool you! Chop shop slop is totally obvious and has to be kept sterilized for them to stay in business. The white of their uniform is constantly bleached so they appear to be clean and professional. And they get thrown out and replaced with new ones as soon as the stains of their incompetence begins to show too plainly. There are no after market products that can improve the look or the performance of a time tested classic AND THERE ARE NO REPLACEMENT PARTS FOR YOUR LIVING MACHINE!

You are a singularly unique entity ~ even identical twins aren’t exactly identical! vehicle designed to safely carry two very special passengers - your mothers genetic soul and your fathers genetic soul - on a very special trip through Life and Time. All across time

I’d love to franchise my juicing stations, The Fountains of Youth, and put them into every billionaires home and into every hospital and replace all the sugary drink vending machines and diseasy stinky coffee stands. Coffee! Oww! Ouch! My stomach turns and twists just thinking about a cup of coffee. After so long I’d probably have a heart attack if I drank a drop! I was a hardcore coffee addict! Remember The Four Food Groups! 1) Blood 2) Milk 3) Fruit 4) Greens. They are Living Liquids… coffee isn’t alive at all and because it isn’t alive it isn’t promoting anyone’s health or happiness and that holds true for every cooked food and drink. Coffee isn’t alive and besides… where does the black go? Coffee is black when you drink it but it’s not when you pee it. Where’d the black go? Nowhere! That’s the whole problem. It becomes part of the built-up, clogging debris in what should be a pristine living water machine! A lean, pristine clean living liquid machine!!! That’s us! LOL!

Now, consider pizza and beer - hamburger, frech fries and a coke - spegetti and meatballs with garlic bread, steak and potato, pasta and rice and chicken and dumplings and tofu! Tofu??? Yuck. Tofu is not, has never been and never will be a health food! Weight loss and more than just that… Perfect Health, Vibrant Health, Paradise Health, Wild Animal Health, is all about Living Liquids vs. Dead Solids. Coffee is a liquid but it’s a dead liquid and the black sedement remains and finds home in any nook or cranny in your body that it can find. However… the red of the watermelon, orange of the orange, blue of the blueberry, purple of the plum, yellow of the pineapple and blah blah blah… your body is biologically designed for and so it knows exactly what to do with all the rainbow colors. Coffee is a drug and your body reacts to it as a drug. The body knows coffee is up to no good, it knows everything but The Four Food Groups is a threatening invasion and responds accordingly. Coffee doesn’t just add to stress, coffee causes stress. Bread doesn’t just contribute to heart disease, bread causes heart disease (or is that steak that causes heart disease!!!?) Bluntly put, cooked food (dead food) is the CAUSE of disease. Raw Food (living food) is the CAUSE of health. Decrease the amount of cooked food in your diet by increasing the amount of raw food. Decrease cooked by increasing raw is the ultimate success strategy and is exactly how disease is reversed and health is promoted. Simple, natural, and no funny money business. Honest, true, and straightforward advice. Accurate integrity that always produces Quality Results!

When you can’t help but to mack down on late night meals do it with salad instead. My favorite thing in the world was to binge on a big meal and then go right to bed. That’s why you just don’t have the energy to do the things you want to do. Consider the Third Food Group. At night you can’t see fruit on the tree and if you can you can’t tell an unripe green orange from a ripe orange orange. We both know it’s best not to eat at night and I know it’s a tuffy! Sleep is like the ultimate rejuvenator but when your tummy’s full instead of being busy sleeping the body is working overtime to process that solid lump of dead food. Our stomach acid just wasn’t designed to digest cooked food. So in other words, telling children in trouble to go to bed without dinner may seem like punishment but it’s actually one of the nicest things you can do. The intent to deprive and the tone of voice and the anger and parent disapproval is what really punishes children. Going to bed without dinner is actually one of the smartest things you can do! So switch to salads. I call it crunchy water! Become a salad gourmet! I can’t think of many things more exciting than having a world class salad sitting in front of me on a big plate that’s all for me! Especially when I know there’s more salad ready and waiting when the first plate is all gone! Your body doesn’t have to work nearly as hard digesting a scrumptious salad than it does most other foods. When you’re body doesn’t have to work so hard digesting food when it should be sleeping you actually get more sleeping in when you’re sleeping! Did that make sense? True sleep doesn’t happen on a full stomach.

I’m talking about KICKASS, no-holds barred, massive salad action! Do it on fruit only if you able to do that or even better yet sleep on an empty stomach (yes you should go to bed without your dinner!) but that’s a tuffy and I’ve only been able to do it when the conditions were just right! And that’s a two way street because the one is also the other. The conditions become just right when you’re eating and living naturally! One huge avocado for every salad! A (fat) president in our nation's past had a similar campaign slogan. What was it??? A chicken for every pot??? Not!!! Bad advice! A huge avocado for every salad! Now there’s a campaign slogan! It probably won't win but who want to be First Lady anyway? Here’s a quote from one of my books… people saying avocado is fattening is like a cigarette smoker blaming lung cancer on fresh air!

Never forget The Four Food Groups. Blood, milk, fruit, greens. We’re both too old for the first two but not for the second two!

ACTION PLAN:

Consider the 3rd food group again. Fruit should be your mainstay morning and afternoon food. What’s faster fast food than breast milk and apples? Get to the Farmer’s Markets once or twice a week and buy buy buy. Buy in bulk. And buy only what’s in season. That’s a great thing about Farmer’s Markets compared to grocery stores. Most of what’s at the Farmers Market is fresh and in season. Grocery store fruit probably has been sitting in some storage facility for 5 or 6 months! Get to the Farmers Market and load up on things to juice and drink and load up on things to just eat! Juice and fruit in the morning and throughout the day - salads at night. That’s Certified All Expert advice!

A big blender like a VitaMix Total Nutrition Center is a true joy to have around. Expensive but totally worth it. A wise investment for your health portfolio! A JuicemanII Juicer (not the Juiceman Jr) Even if they are creeps the JuicemanII (pound for pound) is the best juicer on the market. When it comes to massive juice action nothing can touch it. It doesn’t blend smoothies and it doesn’t make chocolate ice cream like a Champion Juicer. (Just put frozen bananas into the Champion with raw carob powder and voila! Chocolate ice cream! Or put frozen berry’s in with frozen bananas for strawberry and blueberry ice cream. With just a little push and a little imagination the possibilities are endless! You should always be keeping bananas ready and handy any way. In fruit baskets for snacking and munching or peeled and frozen for early morning breakfast and late afternoon lunch smoothies. Heck, why limit yourself… smoothies at night too! Raw uncooked honey and/or date in with fresh fruit and/or fresh juice and ice. Blend! YUM!!! I just gave you a million dollar recipe!! And you’ll need a little 20 dollar citrus juicer too!

And if you’re really into and have the money get a Green Power because no machine can juice greens like the Green Power! There’s a special kick to it through the Green Power. The JuicemanII can juice more, faster, easier but it can’t do greens with the special kick the Green Power can. I guess there’s a juicer for every occasion! If you can get them all get them all but I listed them in order. If you can’t afford a Total Nutrition Center (it’s as expensive as the Green Power… around 500 dollars… for a blender!) any average blender will do. But regular blenders suck compared to the Total Nutrition Center! The JuicemanII costs 200 dollars… but get it no matter what and use it use it use it! And a little citrus juicer. Total Nutrition Center and the JuicemanII. They do juicing right so it’s not discouraging. Smaller or other juicers just don’t have what it takes! I should be on commission for those products!!!

Salad shooters, the perfect knife, huge cutting boards… If you can get them all get them all! Go for it! And be on the lookout at swapmeets and garage sales and places like that because I’ve gotten 200 dollar juicers for 5 dollars! We live in a world now ruled by technology so you might as well put it to your good use. Toasters, microwaves, coffee makers, ovens and all that are just land fill to me. Trash belongs in the trash!

Redesign your kitchen for washing and chopping and juicing veggies, greens and fruit!

BE CUTE EAT FRUIT

IF YOU’RE GREEN INSIDE YOU’RE CLEAN INSIDE

MASSIVE RAW FOODS ACTION

Living Liquid is your nutrition and nothing else! SOLIDS DO NOT BELONG IN THE BODY ~ PERIOD!!! From now on… is it Living? &... is it Liquid?… is the way you think when you think about nutrition. All you do is replace the stale and stagnant liquids (and solids) in your body by pushing them out with Living Liquids! Be consistent and when you fall off the wagon brush yourself off and jump right back on! As time goes it gets better and better! I’ll finish with a quote from my testimonial for the JuicemanII juicer… “I used to go to bed at midnight, waking up at noon still tired. Now I go to bed at midnight and I wake up at dawn and I’m going the whole day long. Raw Energy. Nothing can compare!”

Contact me anytime for anything and I hope this was worth the wait!

RC DINI

CERTIFIABLY GENIUS

BE CUTE EAT FRUIT DOT COM

2008-12-02T07:35:00.000-08:00

The Fruit Diet is the ultimate compassionate diet because you're not killing anything. The Fruit Diet is so FULL OF LIFE it's not even a die-t anymore ~ it's a live-t!

And look at the leaf covering up the top of my bald forehead. I didn't even have to put it there... it was already like that. What a wonderful lovable adorable mulberry leaf it is!

When it's MULBERRY TIME in my back yard I'm under there stuffing purple berries into my mouth one after another after another after another after another! Why not?

They're so good. They make the most outrageous purple smoothie ever! I eat'em every year. They dry on the vines too. Those are totally the best! I wonder how much they'd fetch per pound? Surely a billionaire's movie mix!

My hands just aren't fast enough or dextrous enough to make my mouth happy. My mouth is usually pretty upset with my hands not being able to move fast enough. And those occassion ants really make my mouth mad at my hands!!!

Give a hoot don't pollute ~ WHEN YOU EAT!

I tell kids ~ I EAT FRUIT BECAUSE IT TASTES HEALTHY!

I tell teenagers ~ BE CUTE EAT FRUIT!

I tell a more mature crowd ~

BE HEALTHIER: EAT MORE FRUIT.

And for the ones who want to go berzerk... who want to go plum crazy... who want the world to once again be addiction, pollution and disease free ~ EAT FRUIT EXCLUSIVELY.

After you're done eating there should be Piles O' Pits & Peels ~ NOT POLLUTION. Seeds and skin and that's it.

Anyone saying anything negative about that should shush! Because when a tree's fruit is ripe... that's the time to eat! It's not too complicated is it? Nah. Everything is a whole complete food to something. Fish in the sea... bark off the tree... even rock! Crack a dull rock open and it's shiny inside. But then it gets dull too. Things are eating it. To whatever those things are... rock is a whole food. And I'm talking fruit! Tree's don't go pooh. They drink water and soak up star light! That's mostly what they eat. And they are the ones making us our food. So we travel their seeds a few. So if you're reading this in a defensive way...!!! Why?

Instead of teaching children where the garbage goes... let's show them where the compost goes! Isn't that simple and isn't that smart and doesn't that make sense? It does to me! When I was a kid I didn't know I could do more (much more) for the pollution problem than merely putting my trash with the rest of the trash. Kids even get yelled at for it and kids should never get yelled at for anything ~ especially for playing and for eating. The way kids are designed to eat (adults too) is to eat in the exact same location the food comes from and to simply drop whatever's left-over in exactly the same place.

Or there abouts.

KIDS ARE SUPPOSED TO LITTER!

Adults are wrong yelling at kids (for littering on the street) because it should be a fruit orchard and all compost not hot asphalt and all cookie crumbs!

Look at that adorably cute picture of me again and understand I am what I call a Primal Father Figure. I'm an impossible mix of "formidable" and "cute" and part of why I'm here is to yell at the adults who are yelling at children ~ or at least tell them how to start the process of much needed change. I'm one of the very few even talking about it.

Primal Nutrition and Primal Parenting and Primal Living stops the global devastation and starts the process of undoing all the damage that's been done. And yelling doesn't help the situation anyway. Yelling is merely the resulting stress and unbalance caused by the problem and that problem's foundation (as wacky as it may sound) is everybody's favorite... cooked food! The destruction all started A.C.F. Not A.C. ie "after christ" but A.C.F. ie "after cooked food!"

I like using a city bus as an example of what I'm talking about... catching a child by the arm and yanking the child back onto the curb just as they were about to step out in front of the transit bus and be smashed and killed... is an understandable time to yell at children because...

YOU ALMOST JUST KILLED YOURSELF!!!!

WEREN'T YOU PAYING ANY ATTENTION AT ALL????

WHY WEREN'T YOU LOOKING WHERE YOU WERE GOING??

WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO YOU? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU.

YOU ALMOST JUST DIED! WHAT ON EARTH COULD YOU HAVE BEEN THINKING!!!???? THAT'S JUST IT...

YOU WEREN'T THINKING.

AND YOU ALMOST GOT YOURSELF KILLED!

Stepping in front of a city bus is for sure a serious mistake and without doubt cause for alarm but kids everywhere are being yelled at for other things which are no-things at all. STOP YELLING AT CHILDREN! It doesn't maaattteerrr the circumstances. As the frightened parent is yelling because of the "almost" fatal dunderheaded move they just saved their own flesh and blood from making ~ it's still not the child's fault! Yelling doesn't remove the threat or take it away away and they shouldn't be yelled at for it.

Yelling should never be a way of getting

your point across... not to a child.

Keep in mind you're browsing BE CUTE EAT FRUIT DOT COM! And there are no potentially deadly dangers in a fruit orchard ~ none! In a city... deadly danger abounds... BUT NOT IN AN ORCHARD! There ~ children rule supreme. Nothing in the natural world is capable of threatening a child's sovereign freedom ~ not in an orchard. There... they are the SUPER FRUITARIAN POWER! There are millions of deadly dangers in a big city. None in an orchard ~ not one.

Nothing hunts us. We're natural nutrition to no thing. Except of course for the hungry mouths of the microcosm. Decomposers naturally eat us but nothing else. And that's only after we're dead. Unless we're filled with preservatives! Right? And females only need to give birth to one child at a time. That's how they are designed. Two or more is like a surprise! Women only need to grow one at a time. Get it!?? They don't need to make 4 or 5 or 10 or 12 or 100 or 200 or 10,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000 to be a successful mother ~ only one. At a time. The Giant Sea Clam splurges out billions of little eggs every time she gives birth because she has to or her kind won't survive to thrive. Right now our children are born into a world of survival horror but they didn't used to be. We are who we are because of our wildly successful mammal animal past and not for any other thing. We're still living in caves! Only they are artificial structures now and not even real caves... you gotta go before the time of cave dwelling... you gotta go B.C.F. (before cooked food). Instead of thinking back tens of thousands of years or hundreds of thousands of years think in terms of MILLIONS of years. Don't have faith in a 'nutrititious' food producing companies who boast being in business for 60 years. Or a hundred years. What could they have figured out compared to what the untold MILLIONS of years have? NOTHING! When you're able to look back to the past with true sight amd then look forward you're able to glimpse into the future all of a sudden. When people look back and all they are able to see is the veiled shroud of mystery there's no hope of peering into the undetermined future with any kind of accuracy at all.

Everything is either a curiosity to a child or it's not. Everything is either something to investigate or nothing to worry about. They aren't designed to live in a domesticated world they are designed to live in a WILD WORLD. The city bus incident is not the child's fault. Warn children of the potential peril of the deadly dangers... but watch them close because children are born to be SOVEREIGN FREE. They are born to run wild and stark raving nude. In our natural~natural world children rule. In our natural~natural world ~ called UTOPIA ~ called PARADISE ~ called THE GARDEN OF EDEN ~ called lots of things... there they rule. There... "fearless" IS the safety standard. A WILD CHILD doesn't just fall out of a tree and break their neck and they don't trip on roots and rocks and things and fall over the sides of cliffs. "Clumsy" is a thing known only to those who wear artificial feet ~ called shoes! And if there is danger... they're aware of it and they know the danger is real and they know exactly what to do about it. If it's run to MOM or back away or step over... they know what to do about it. That's what parenting is for. So a city bus in the wild would be the equivalent to something like a charging rhinoceros or rampaging elephant and what do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhinoceros? Hell if I know or ELEPHRHINO! (:that was a joke:) Feral children don't stub toes and they know exactly what and where all the dangers of LIVING LIFE are.

Wicked-evil, hairy, nasty-looking, wall-crawling creepers ~ like spiders are a mild curiosity to a child and nothing more. It's an amazing learning experience to watch a spider spin it's web from start to finish but it takes a long time to watch and children are short attention span theater all the way! It doesn't take them long to learn something new and they're immediately ready to go on to the next curiosity. And I've seen it. I've watched a spider spin its magic. At that time I had only lost about 50 or 60 pounds and my back happened to be really sore (it usually was). I was sitting on a big rock and I had my lower back pressed up against it because the boulder was HOT. A more efficient heating pad doesn't exist! As I was moaning and groaning because my back was hurting I looked over and I happened to see something sailing through the air. Literally sailing because there was something dragging behind it. I of course investigated and it turned out to be a spider and the sail I saw trailing behind was webbing. The spider actually sailed through the air from a rock to some green leaves of a plant and made the web right there in the air between the two. It didn't hesitate. It didn't make a mistake. Spiders don't have to learn how to make webs... they just make them. The only time it paused was during a few heavier winds and in the next hour or so I watched it spin a whole web. And then it just sat in the middle and waited. I should have waited too because I've been curious how long before the spiders super predator skills snagged some food.

Sinistrous, venomous, fanged-scaley-slimey-slithery-snakes are only a little bit more the curiosity than the spiders. I was lying outside and a snake slithered across my legs and it didn't happen to be moving fast at all. It took 3 or 4 seconds for it to go away ~ and it did. I didn't move and although I was shocked I wasn't scared. There was no fear and neither of us got hurt. BUT I WAS EXHILIRATED! What a rush! Raw Excitement! Nothing's better than a WILD LIFE EXPERIENCE!

And who's really afraid of a completely harmless and totally cute white little field mouse? I ask the question... "Who?" Not elephants that's for sure!!! LOL!!! That's just another absurd lie we grow up being told which only serves to further confuse young impressionable minds. Who's even afraid of a big ugly hairy rat?! Not elephants! Again, that's for sure. How could a rodent hurt an elephant? And a Wild Child isn't afraid either... primal fear is real fear and warns against real dangers. Even baby birds (who are born with wings) are afraid of heights ~ right? That's because they don't know how to fly yet. Primal fear is defense against real threat. Afraid of heights is understandable but how embarrassing it is to be frightened by ~ even terrified of ~ non-threats! Afraid of a bug??? Oh no!!! Afraid of a mouse??? Double "oh no oh no!" Even a big rat with the long freaky looking prehensile naked tail is no threat to anybody. All they do is breed like rats and that's nothing to be afraid of. They don't breed disease as is popularly perceived and they do not deserve to be loathed and despised. "You dirty rat" is a compliment for crying out loud!! LOL! All LIFE on EARTH is of noble birth and deserves the chance to live long and prosper. Rats don't breed disease ~ cooked food does that. The only disease rats know is caused by eating the left-overs people throw into the garbage. Cooking food ~ AND EATING IT! ~ is what breed’s disease. Rats are not health threats... humans are. We are the ones... we are the people who have brought ruin upon the EARTH. Stop blaming rats or blaming anything that's OUTSIDE and put an end to yelling at children.

Without the dedicated, behind-the-scenes, activities of the rodent mammal animal us human mammal animals would be in a whole Heap O' Trouble ~ I tell ya! And the same holds true of everything... even the roach. If you open the window just a little bit the fly will make a getaway. No more fly swatters! Don't squash that bug. The only people Get it? I hope you get it. They are trapped inside and dying trying to get out. There is a way to live without killing anything. Just BE CUTE EAT FRUIT DOT COM! The Fruit Diet is the ultimate passionate diet because you're not killing anything. I heard a wise and wonderful woman named Sangeeta say that and it's quoted exactly (:Hi! Sangeeta:) and it rooted firmly into my consciousness. Bare feet and Good Mood Food to eat transforms the cattle industry and all the people involved into something humane. No more steaks (or tofu burgers!) and what's the leather industry gonna do when people stop wearing shoes? Don't put shoes on babies. LISTEN WHEN THEY CRY. Your baby is talking to you and s/he's saying "I don't like these shoes, they hurt and don't feel good and they're making cry." At the very least... during the period of time your children are learning how to walk... lose the shoes. Kids are designed to go break-neck speeds and fall down but they're small and you just don't fall far when you’re falling off your feet and who gets hurt falling into grass or into sand? Nobody... hardly nobody.

Like a spider web everything is perfectly connected and there are no disposable parts. . There's two ways I guess to look at it. Either the roach is disgusting and ugly and makes your mind fill with loathing and hate "RAID KILLS BUGS DEAD" or they are cute little insect things who have a noble niche in LIFE and who plays an important role in the health of our LIVING EARTH.

Together let's put a stop to all addiction, pollution and disease and to all the suffering and the yelling by simply telling children (and everybody else) to... "Give a HOOT don't pollute ~ WHEN YOU EAT!" That's what wise ol' owls do and we should too.

We have marvelous tools for eating: fingers and nails and lips and teeth and even a nose! We are equipped with everything we could ever possibly need to eat, LIVE LIFE and thrive our whole lives with just our bodies. And it's a perfect set-up so ANYTHING ELSE... anything artificial that helps make our lives more comfortable... does the exact opposite. More is not better and every fruit has a secret it wants to tell you! Peeling is a test of Raw Confection Perfection! When a fruit is ready there's not much (or any) effort involved in the peeling. Peaches, plums, nectarines, tomatoes and grapes (AND MORE!) practically peel all by themselves! All fruit is designed with exact detail with precise specifications and that's us!!! Grape skin practically slides off whole. The flesh pops into your mouth while the skin sheds leaving the entire peel in your fingertips. Pomegranates crack open for you, banana's actually come prepeeled, while passion fruit protects like a treasure chest full of glitter and gold ~ it's contents secure until the lock is broken open. Perfectly ripe persimmon, breadfruit, and cherimoya bursts at the slightest touch and are either completely liquid or are pure pudding in the mouth. The seams of durian section apart easily when it is perfectly ripe with just the pressure of a child's little pinky finger. You don't even have a chance to get into durian when it's unripe! When ready, pineapple conveniently segments apart in a way no one I've yet to encounter has understood.

Eat with etiquette and style but I'm not talking about table manners! Here's a Raw Courage Challenge to you: Do you know how pineapple is designed to be eaten? Barehanded pineapple eating is an extraordinary experience. Revolutionary in fact. Right up there with eating watermelon barehandedly! When perfectly ripe, a small amount of pressure on the individual hexagonal sections break away from the whole into bite-sized, cone-shaped morsels, from skin to core. I'm reminded of the Halloween candy corn I used to stuff into my mouth ~ only slightly larger. BUT this sweet treat is no trick ~ it's the real deal! I'm talkin' Good Mood Food! I'm talkin' guilt free decadence! I'm talkin' about the food our human LIFEFORCE essence is designed to feed on and be fueled by. A perfectly ripe pineapple is something else entirely. It's luscious Living Nutrition! A Paradise Perfection!

Real pineapples have seeds and they are located in the part that is discarded after each barehanded bite. Can you imagine?--there's a future pineapple plant planted with your every bite! Not only that but the crown becomes a whole 'nother plant as well. A discarded crown, lying on its side, will actually stand itself upright and grow wherever you left it (in a natural setting of course). Pineapples mean business and are very serious about their great success. And I almost forgot: as you eat you get mouthfuls of pure juice (that is if you're careful) and what you've got after you're finished is the pineapple's core. And pineapple core is sticky and messy and chewy and fun to eat! Like a dog with a bone…

The Raw Truth of it is this... "if you can't peal it with the greatest of ease you shouldn't be eating it.

AND THAT'S A NATURAL FACT!

The only sustainable way to get healthier

2008-11-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

After numerous trials and errors, after wanting many times to not accept that truth, I've come to the conclusion that Nature can't be cheated on. I've come to the conclusion that, no matter how unpleasant it is to implement that truth into your life, that is the only thing that really works.

Are you ready?

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."

PS: This may sound simple, but believe me, it takes a long time to really understand.

How Much Protein is Enough?

2008-11-27T12:22:00.000-08:00

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: 4%
Papaya: 7%
Peach: 7%
Avocado: 5%
Orange: 9%
Watermelon: 7%
Average protein content of fruit: 5%

Protein Content of Vegetables
Tomatoes: 17%
Cucumber: 21%
Lettuce: 59%
Celery: 25%
Average protein content of vegetables: 20%

Protein Content of Nuts & Seeds
Almonds: 15%
Sesame Paste (tahini): 12%
Sunflower seeds: 15%
Pumpkin seeds: 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.

Our Fat Needs

2008-11-25T07:22:00.000-08:00

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:

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

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.

What Is The Natural Human Diet?

2008-11-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

Whether you believe in evolution or accept the creation theory, it is quite clear that human life did not begin with eating highly processed, packaged foods.
The invention of the term "balanced diet" is something that humans created in order to market foods. Our bodies do have certain requirements, but if you look at the history of the food pyramid, you'll quickly see that few really understand what humans should eat. The published and accepted food pyramid changes frequently!
One research study says all humans need X amount of a certain vitamin or mineral, yet the next study will come up with an entirely different result. No wonder nutrition seems so complicated and complex!

Yet, the human population continues to develop diet-related health problems. Have you looked at the animal kingdom? Notice that in the wild animal kingdom, there are few illnesses. Most wild creatures, eating natural raw food diets, die from attack by other creatures rather than food-related illnesses. Others die from old age, having lived a full, long life.
Humans, however, continue to shorten their lives, reduce their energy level and never take time to wonder why.
Here's a more rational way to look at what nature intended humans to eat?
Determine our natural diet. What foods were humans designed to eat?
Determine what gets in the way of optimal nutrition. Paying attention to getting enough sleep, regular exercise, and avoidance of unhealthy habits are each part of this process.
Eat foods as close to nature as possible. Raw, unprocessed, unseasoned whole foods fulfill our needs.
Where do humans fit in nature?
There is no chaos in nature. Each animal, including humans, is designed to eat a specific type or class of food. Humans are designed to be frugivores. Everything about humans, from our number of teeth to our sexual organs, suggests we are intended to eat a variety of fruit. Since few creatures, including us, eats only one thing, the inclusion of green leaves and other plant parts is not in violation with the nature of the human.

Let's look at our teeth and you'll see evidence of this. We do not have long canine teeth like our cats or dogs. Those long fang-like teeth were designed by nature to rip raw meat from their prey. Even the apes have teeth better designed for eating meat than do humans! Human teeth are designed to grind which is the motion used when eating fruit, leaves, and plant parts.
The acids present in the human stomach are not nearly as strong as those present in creatures intended to eat meat. And, look at our hands; they are clearly designed to hold food like bananas or oranges and be able to peel them - just like the primates do.
When comparing humans to the animal kingdom, it is important to learn that the bonobo, achimpanzee-like creature is the closest to human beings. They are calmer then chimps and resolve conflicts much like humans. Bonobos eat mainly fruit and a certain plant that is a lot like sugar cane, plus some greens, shoots and buds. They are not known to eat nuts at all. They may, from time to time, partake of a bit of insect, fish or small animal, but they never are seen hunting like the chimpanzees. Less than ONE PERCENT of their diet comes from animal products.

Do you see that humans are designed to eat raw, unprocessed, whole foods? Much of what we eat in the "modern" diet is pushed on us by marketers and is not designed for human consumption! Humans were meant to be frugivores, eating fruits, some green leaves and other plant products. Everything about our bodies indicates this to be true! We can be healthier if we eat as nature intended. We can live longer, sleep better, have more energy and experience less pain, illness and early death resulting from obesity and other food-related health problems.

The Top 10 Myths About Eating Fruit

2008-11-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

I'm literally shocked by the amount of confusion around nutrition that exists in the natural movement, especially the confusion surrounding the particular issues with eating fruit.
Fruit has universally been recognized as the healthiest food there is, yet it's also the one natural food that's vilified the most by many trends of the natural health and raw food movements. This of course started with the dangerous low-carb trend, which would like you to believe that eating slabs of butter on grilled steaks is actually healthier than eating the natural "sugar" in fruit.
This unscientific trend has also been picked up by the largest proportion of the raw food theorists, many of which go to the extreme of saying that eating lots of sweet fruit is actually unnatural and unhealthy.
Even the popular Hippocrates Health Institute has launched a fear campaign on eating fruit, claiming that fruit eating is responsible for the common health problems experienced by the majority of raw foodists.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that a lot of people in the natural food movement are actually scared of eating fruit. Literally.
So let's take a look at the most common statements made about fruit, and bust them once and for all.

1-Eating too much fruit will cause symptoms of blood sugar problems.

It's no secret that a proper, healthy raw food diet contains a lot of fruit. In fact, the quantity of fruit that I consume in one single day probably exceeds the quantity consumed by an average family on a weekly, if not monthly basis.
When people look at all that fruit, they're suddenly afraid that eating so much of it will cause them health problems, the most common being cited is blood sugar issues.
I've known many people who are absolutely convinced that whenever they eat a lot of sweet fruit, their blood sugar "goes out of wack." Their interpretation of what is happening to them is often "getting sudden energy, followed by a blood sugar crash."
In other words, they compare their body's response to eating fruit to a common response to stimulants such as alcohol or caffeine: a sudden stimulation followed by a depressed, "recovery" state.

In reality, in a fairly healthy individual, blood sugar will remain stable no matter how much fruit is eaten. I have tested this myself by testing my blood sugar throughout the day, and I found that it didn't matter how many bananas I ate: my blood sugar remained normal throughout the day.
In fact, even when I eat more than 20 bananas in a day (which I do regularly), my blood sugar stays absolutely normal.
Steve Pavlina, who's a professional author and speaker and whose website is one of the most visited on the web, did a 30-day trial of a 100%, low-fat, fruit-based raw food diet. During these 30 days, he recorded every single meal he ate. He also monitored closely his blood sugar, weight, blood pressure and other key stats. Here's what he has to say about the effects of eating fruit on his blood sugar:
I monitored my blood sugar using a blood sugar testing device, the same kind diabetics may use. It showed no discernible spikes in blood sugar throughout the trial whatsoever — absolutely none. In fact, my blood sugar remained incredibly steady throughout the trial. My highest blood sugar reading of the trial was 94, which is still medium-low. All that sweet fruit in my diet simply did not have any adverse effect on my blood sugar.
Eating this way gave my blood sugar more consistency than ever. I couldn’t spike my blood sugar on this diet if I tried. Even eating 19 bananas in one day made no difference.
(from: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/02/raw-food-diet/)

Dr. Graham, author of the book "The 80-10-10 Diet", also told me that whenever people came to him thinking that their "blood sugar was out of balance" due to sweet fruit consumption, they were found to have perfectly normal blood sugar after being tested.
That being said, I think that it's still possible for some people to experience a negative reaction from eating sweet fruit. However, it's not the fruit that's to blame in this case, but their overall diet which is too high in fat. This situation is best explained in the book "Breaking the Food Seduction", by Dr. Neal Barnard, M.D.
"It may surprise you to know that you can actually change your body's response to any food so that you are better able to handle whatever sugars it might contain. (…)Marjorie was one of our research volunteers. In a laboratory test, we asked her to drink a syrup containing 75 grams of pure sugar. Taking blood samples over the next two hours, we saw what happened to her blood sugar. (…) It peaked at about thirty minutes, then quickly cascaded downwward. That's a pretty typical pattern. If your bolod sugar falls too precipitously you may be set up for another binge, which is your body's way of bringing your blood sugar back up again.
Here's the problem: insulin is the hormone that escorts sugar from your blood stream into the cells of the body. It is like a doorman who turns the knob on the door to each cell, helps sugar go inside, and then closes the door. (…)
But everything changes when you eat fatty foods, or when you gain a significant amount of weight. Insulin can't work in an oil slick. When there is too much fat in the bloodstream, insulin's hand slips on the knob. Unable to open the door to the cells, insulin lets sugar build up in the blood. Your body responds by making more and more insulin and eventually it will get the sugar into the cells.
(…) Cutting fat from your meals improves what is called insulin sensitivity, meaning that insulin efficiently escorts sugar into the cells of the body. (…)
With our guidance, Marjorie adjusted her diet to scrupulously cut fat and boost fiber. A few weeks later we repeated the test. She again drank exactly the same sugar solution, but the changes in her blood sugar were very different. Because the low-fat diet had tuned up her insulin, the blood-sugar was more muted, the peak was lower, and the fall was gentler than before. (…) In our clinical studies, we have found that simple diet changes alone boost insulin sensitivity by an average of 24 percent, and it can increase even more if you also exercise."
So again, fruit has been blamed for a problem it did not cause. In most cases, people who think they have blood sugar spikes have in fact perfectly normal blood sugar. And in the few cases when they truly are not handling the sweet fruit they eat properly, their high-fat diet is to blame, not the fruit.

2- Diabetics Should Not Eat Fruit

What about diabetes? Should diabetics avoid fruit altogether or should they not worry about it?
Again, it's best to look at the root of the problem, rather than analyse it superficially.
Fruit eating does NOT cause diabetes. Diabetes is actually caused by a high-fat diet, combined with other factors (some possibly genetic) that will cause insulin sensitivity.
While type 1 diabetes occurs early in life and is rarely reversible, type 2 diabetes is simply an acute form of insulin resistance or "reduced insulin sensitivity." This type is completely reversible when the root of the problem is addressed in time.

If you want to improve your body's response to the natural sugar in fruit — and all of the food you eat for that matter — all you have to do is improve your insulin sensitivity by doing the following:
Reduce your body fat to a healthy level
Eat a high-fiber diet (or should we say, an "adequate" fiber diet)
Eat a low fat diet (10% or less by total calories)
Exercise regularly (and favor cardio type of exercises)
Avoid animal foods
These recommendations, endorsed by many health professionals with extensive experience healing with diabetes naturally (Fuhrman, Mc.Dougall, Ornish, Barnard, etc.), are actually perfectly compatible with a high-fruit, low fat diet.
Most diabetics I know have done incredibly well on a fruit-based diet (as long as it's a low-fat one), by reducing dramatically the quantity of insulin they have to take, or eliminating it completely.
The problem of diabetes should be addressed by looking at the root of the problem rather than superficially claiming that sweet fruit will only exacerbate it. You should pay attention to all the important factors that can improve insulin sensitivity, the main ones being: a low fat diet, regular exercise, low body fat, and a raw food diet.

3- Fruit Causes Candida.

It seems like every other person I meet in the raw food movement has issues with Candida. Usually, the main culprit blamed is sweet fruit.
The question remains whether they actually have a real overgrowth of the yeast "Candida Albicans" or not. I'm personally very skeptical of the self-diagnosis that most "Candida" sufferers come up with. In most cases, I believe they are simply showing symptoms of a diet that doesn't work, whether it's related to Candida or not.
The real problem with Candida is once you are convinced of the problem, you generally follow what is called the "Candida Diet," which does exactly what it claims in its name: it gives you more Candida! It's funny that they don't call it the "Anti-Candida diet" but the "Candida Diet."
When you analyze the diet you will find yet another variation of the medical model for dieting: elimination of carbohydrates and increase in fat and protein. Fortunately for the promoters of this diet, these recommendations actually cause your Candida to stay for a long time. The elimination of sugar might control some of the symptoms, but the root of the problem is being fed with every meal.

Issues with Candida are easily solved once you understand the concept of insulin sensitivity and realize how a high-fat diet actually contributes to elevated blood sugar, which in turn will feed the Candida yeast.
Every food that you eat will be transformed to sugar to feed the cells. The word sugar has been slandered so much that some people seem to be afraid to have sugar run in their bloodstream at any time! But without blood sugar, your cells will die, and your muscles and brain function will stop working.
Your goal should be to keep your blood sugar stable and normal, and not let the sugar accumulate in the blood. It should be swiftly escorted to the cells when they need it. And the way to do that is to simply improve your insulin sensitivity.
So the "Anti-Candida diet" is quite counter intuitive, but addresses the root of the problems, not the superficial symptoms. On this program, you will eliminate any overly fatty foods from your diet (such as oils, avocados, nuts and seeds) for a period of several weeks or months. You will also pay attention to the other factors I have mentioned that can improve your insulin sensitivity.
And if you're afraid of going on a "no-fat" diet, remember that all fruits and vegetables contain a tiny but sufficient percentage of fat, enough to meet your basic needs.

4- Eating too much fruit, especially bananas, will have you overdose on potassium

It's important to make the difference between artificial, supplemental potassium (K), and the naturally occurring potassium in fruits. The FDA does not allow a supplement to contain more than 99 mg. of potassium, and injecting yourself with 200 mg of artificial potassium can rush you to the hospital. But three bananas contain up to 1,200 mg of natural potassium, which will not cause any negative symptoms.

There's really no point to fear any potassium “overdose” even when eating a fair number of bananas. Research done on wild monkeys showed that they eat over 6500 milligrams of potassium per day. It would take you over 15 bananas to eat as much potassium as they do. Plus wild monkeys are much smaller in size than we are, so we could eat even more bananas and not even reach the potassium intake of a monkey on a daily basis.
I have previously stated in my e-zine that early humans consumed 40 times as much potassium as sodium. It makes sense because we lose potassium a lot faster than sodium.
The "official" recommendations by nutritionists are to eat more potassium and less sodium.
Even standard nutritionists agree that most people do not eat enough potassium and that ideally they should consume close to 5000 milligrams per day, and even more for active people.

5- Fruit causes cancer.

Every single week, it seems like a new anti-cancer antioxidant is discovered in some fruit or vegetable. In fact, if you really do some research on the subject, you will find overwhelming evidence linking fruit eating to reduced incidence of cancer. The American Cancer Society also recommends to increase fruit consumption (http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/content/full/52/2/92)

So it's beyond me how some knucklehead naturopath could make the outrageous claim that eating sweet fruit can cause cancer, or that cancer patients should avoid it completely.
The theory is that since cancer cells feed on sugar, cancer patients should avoid fruit to make sure those cells don't grow out of control. Obviously, they don't realize that blood glucose can be created by any food you eat. Even if you avoid sweet fruit but eat more protein or fat, those nutrients will be converted to glucose and fed to the cells. So what's the solution, not eat anything at all and waste away?
Again, it's best to address the root of the problem. Does eating fruit cause cancer? If it did, how many scientific studies can you cite that have linked sweet fruit consumption to increased incidence of cancer? You haven't heard of these studies simply because they don't exist.
For a better understanding of the nutritional causes of cancer, read "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell.

Myth # 6 — Today's fruits are too hybridized and contain too much sugar.

We often hear the claim that "modern" fruit contains too much sugar, as opposed to the low-sugar wild fruits, which are generally not available for sale in most grocery store. The critics of fruit tend to view the cultivars and varieties that are available today as "unnatural". Their claim is that the artificial hybridization of fruit creates an inferior product that is too high in sugar and too low in minerals.

Let's take a look at these claims one by one.
First, the whole idea that cultivated fruit contains "too much" sugar.
It's entirely possible that on average, cultivated fruits contain more sugar than wild fruits. There are a variety of reasons for that and I won't go into all of them.
One of those reasons is simply because as humans moved away from a hunter-gatherer type of lifestyle to a more agricultural one, thousands of years ago, we have perfected certain techniques for fruit cultivation which enabled us to get the best varieties that we preferred. Many wild fruits were left on their own, so to speak, and didn't evolve with the qualities that we normally seek (such as sweetness).
This is not to say that all wild fruit is sour and low in sugar. I have tasted various types of completely unknown fruits in my travels. Many of them were quite sweet and tasty.
For example, in Brazil I tasted at least 5 different types of fruits I had never seen before — all of which grew 100% wild. The sweetness was comparable to a very sweet white peach.
But even if it were true that commercial fruits contain more sugar than wild ones, the real question is: does it contain too much?

An anti-fruitarian site states the following:
“As I have seen an elaborate argument purporting to prove that, in effect, fruits cannot contain excess sugar, let me list some of the symptoms of excess sugar consumption: excess urination, frequent thirst, mood swings such as exhilaration followed by depression (sugar highs/lows), frequent fatigue, intermittent blurred vision, pains in large joints, etc. Such symptoms are more common among fruitarians (and are usually dismissed as "detox") than the extremists care to admit.”
In the same line of thought, author David Wolfe points out that "hybridized" fruit acts like processed sugar in the body. He does not exactly explain how, but says that overconsumption of these fruit can lead to dehydration and a slightly diabetic situation.
Now, all of the symptoms that are blamed on hybridized, sweet fruit are clearly attributable to the high-fat diet that is so common in the raw food world. All of these symptoms, and more, are 100% caused by the excessive fat content that most of these so-called fruitarians forget to mention when they describe their diet.

As I explained in the first part of this article, I can personally consume over 20 bananas in a day and not get the slightest symptom of blood sugar imbalance. But when I was eating a high-fat diet and probably less fruit than I am eating today, I was constantly plagued by low-energy, blood sugar swings, frequent thirst, and many other problems.
So does modern fruit contain "too much sugar"? The answer is a definite no. Unless you consumed more calories than you actually need, you will not take in "too much sugar", even if all you ate was dates.
As for the mineral content of fruits, it's fair to say that it's probably not as high as it could be. But it's not that much of an issue since the diet I recommend includes more vegetables than any other diet. Vegetables contain a higher mineral content than most fruits, and will perfectly balance an otherwise high-fruit diet.
As for the entire issue of hybridization, I find it funny that many of these authors would like us to stop eating "hybridized" bananas, carrots and grapes, while they promote a diet which is composed of a tiny portion of vegetables and a generous serving of artery-clogging, mineral-free oils and fats, and other exotic, packaged foods that are apparently better for us than fresh fruit.
The word “hybrid” means nothing bad. It’s simply the description of a process that also occurs in nature. The fruits and plants that are preferred by animals are spread around more and tend to be “hybridized” naturally.

The truth is that every single fruit OR vegetable you buy has been hybridized to the point of being almost totally unrecognizable from its wild counterpart. Is that a bad thing? Well, a complete return to the wild would mean eating absolutely bitter celery, ridiculously sour oranges and mushy and tasteless watermelon. I don't know about you but I think I'll stick to the delicious cultivated fruits I'm eating now rather than go back to the jungle.

Myth #7 — Tropical fruits are too high on the glycemic index

Another strange recommendation that I hear a lot these days is to avoid certain fruits because they are too high on the glycemic index. The culprits are generally the high-sugar, tropic fruits such as bananas and mangoes.
I could completely destroy this claim, but instead I will explain why I don't even consider the glycemic index a valid and reliable guide to tell us what to eat.
What is the glycemic index? Basically, it's a table which describes the average response in blood sugar after the ingestion of a fixed portion of carbohydrate.
Now how is this average created? By averaging the data collected by a certain number of human subjects.

So here's my problem: about 99.9% of the American population eats a diet that is too high in fat, and that on averages contains 45% fat per calorie. Their response to food is not going to be healthy, no matter what they eat! I explained the reasons for that in the first part of my article.
Therefore, this so-called index is completely unreliable because the blood sugar response to food eaten will vary tremendously from one individual to the next, and even from day to day.
The factors that will influence it will be: fitness levels, activity levels in any given day, blood glucose level at the time of the meal, insulin sensitivity, age, body fat levels, and more!

If you want to improve your blood sugar response to the foods you eat, focus on improving your health by lowering the fat content of your diet and engaging in daily fitness activities, rather than focusing simply on eating foods that are low on the glycemic index.
By the way, even on this index, every single fruit is listed as "low" to "moderate" on the index.

Myth #8 — Fruit Causes Dental Decay

It's quite legitimate to worry about the possible effects of a diet high in sweet fruit on your dental health. To answer this question, we have to first understand the true cause of dental decay: a proliferation of certain types of bacteria in the oral environment. As we know, these bacteria will feed on carbohydrates and produce acid by-products, which will eat into the enamel, causing decay.
In a healthy individual, fresh sweet fruits such as oranges, bananas and peaches will not cause decay because of the fiber and water in the fruit, which will naturally cleanse the teeth. On the other hand, dried fruits and nuts can be a disaster on the teeth because they tend to stick to form a sticky paste that is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.
But if someone already has dental problems to begin with (even just one cavity), there can be potential dangers to introducing greater quantities of carbohydrates in the diet.
The solution is obviously to deal with the problem at its root by stopping the proliferation of the bacteria. This means to go on a more aggressive dental hygiene program which will dramatically reduce the bacteria count and keep it under control.

If you pay attention to some simple dental hygiene rules, the consumption of fresh fruit will not result in dental decay, as long as you avoid dried fruits such as figs and dates or immediately brush your teeth after eating them.
As for the acidity in fruit and its effects on the enamel, I have a few simple tips:
Only eat acid fruits once a day, and not every day. This includes oranges, grapefruits, kiwis, pineapples, and other very acid fruits.
If you eat more than one fruit meal per day, make one of those meal of a fruit with little or no acidity, such as bananas, figs or persimmons.
Rinse your mouth with water after eating acid foods

Myth #9 — Sugar is sugar, and too much of it is bad, even if it comes from fruit

There's this growing trend of people who are starting to think that because sweet fruit contains simple sugars, that automatically that sugar is the same as the refined white sugar we all know is bad for us.

First of all, most of the diseases that people associate with sugar consumption are actually caused or exacerbated by a high-fat diet. For example, conditions such as candida, hypoglycemia and diabetes would not occur if on a low-fat diet, even if your diet contained some refined sugar.
Of course, by eliminating ALL sugar you can partially mask the symptoms of the disease, but you'll never fully heal from it until you attack it at its very roots, which is done again by:
Lowering your body fat to healthy levels
Lowering the fat content in your diet to 10% or less by calories
Increasing your fitness levels and exercising regularly
Paying attention to the other important factors of health (sunshine, fresh air, sleep, etc.)

Secondly, the "sugar" found in fruit is not exactly comparable to the refined sugar found in a cake. It's in a form that's readily digestible, but also comes in a complete package which includes water, fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and co-enzymes.
Finally, you might want to ask yourself "how much fruit sugar is too much?"
If you've never eaten 20 bananas in a day, it might sound to you like this would be too much. And indeed, it might be too much, for you, because your nutritional requirements are different. But if all you eat is fruits and vegetables with minimal quantities of fat, and if you need about 2500 to 3000 calories in a day, then eating 20 bananas is certainly not "too much". It's the right amount.
The same energy could be found by eating other fruits, but in the end it would still look like a lot of fruit to most people! It's only by doing the nutritional analysis of what's eaten that you'll find that this amount is just amount right to cover your nutritional needs.
A person needing 1500 calories a day will eat less fruit than a training athlete. So how much "too much" is, is simply determined by your daily caloric needs, which will be dictated by your hunger. In other words, if you're still hungry, it's because you haven't eaten enough, even if eating more fruit beyond that point would seem to you like being "too much."

Myth #10 — Eating only fruits will lead to dangerous deficiencies

It might come as a surprise for you to learn that most deficiencies come from a "surplus," rather than a lack of any particular nutrient. For example, osteoporosis is not really caused by a lack of calcium in the diet, but by certain lifestyle and diet factors that prevent its proper absorption and assimilation. Eating all the calcium in the world won't make a difference if you want to "prevent" osteoporosis. To prove that point, just look at the countries in the world that have the highest calcium intake… they also have the highest rates of osteoporosis.
If you were to eat fruit only, and stay within the guidelines of a low-fat diet, you would not develop any deficiencies as long as you consumed enough to meet your caloric needs. You could maintain this diet for months or years and stay in perfect health during that time.
At some point however, you could get certain imbalances caused by a lack of minerals that are generally more abundant in vegetation. For this reason, I do not recommend a pure fruitarian diet. You should include vegetables such as lettuce, celery, spinach, tomatoes and cucumbers in your daily diet.
If you're afraid of a particular deficiency, I'd like to ask yourself the following:
Upon what information are you relying to claim that you are either deficient or that you might become deficient in any particular nutrient?
Remember that all standards for human health are based on an average of "average" individuals, in "average" health eating an "average" diet. So if your goal would be to meet these standards of health, then I would tell you to go ahead and try to mimic their averages.
But remember that in this "average" life you will likely:
Suffer from high blood pressure as you get older (like 90% of the population)
Die of cancer or heart disease (main causes of death)
Watch your prostate enlarge as you get older, if you're a man (almost every single man will)
Become dependent on some kind medicine or drug (like almost everyone over the age of 55)
And so on and so forth!
The standards for health are simply not reliable if you want "above average" health. Let me give you some examples:
The blood pressure of a healthy individual could actually be considered on the "low" side of the average
The body fat of a healthy athlete is considered too low for an "average" person
The resting heart rate of a truly healthy individual could almost cause some doctors to worry about their life
The average body temperature of a raw vegan is slightly lower than the national average
The same goes for averages for cholesterol levels, iron levels, levels of certain vitamins, and so on and so forth.
I personally do not rely on these averages to evaluate my health because I have completely different standards for optimal health.
I also reject the idea of eating certain types of foods in order to get certain types of nutrients. For example:
Eating cacao beans for magnesium
Eating bananas for potassium
Eating a certain types of salt for its minerals (without taking in account that it's 99.9% sodium chloride!)
This is just compartmentalized nutrition and doesn't take into account the incredible complexity of the entire process of digestion and assimilation! Like I said, most deficiencies are caused by a "surplus" of something. In other words, something you're doing is preventing you from assimilitating some of the nutrients in the foods you eat. Rather than stuffing yourself with those nutrients, you have to address the root of the problems by evaluating your entire lifestyle, not just the foods that you eat.
Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables over the course of a year, and your nutrient needs will take care of themselves.
I will tell you however that the biggest "deficiency" that people experience when they try a raw food diet is a "calorie deficiency" or deficit. They are simply not eating enough! By not eating enough calories, they might lose weight faster but are compromising their health and their ability to stay on the program.
If you'd like to get some more practical applications of making the diet work in the real world, including a deeper discussion on this topic of deficiencies and "what to eat" (including what to do for Vitamin B12), you owe it to yourself to check out my "Raw Health Starter Kit", the most complete kit of information available on the topic. For more information, click here.
Conclusion
If you were afraid somewhat of fruit, I hope that reading this article has helped you eliminate your fears of it completely. Remember that every study ever done on the effects of eating a lot of fruit in the diet has only come up with positive results in favor of fruit consumption.
Nobody gets sick from eating fruit. But because it's easy or they have something to sell, they might try to make you believe that fruit was the reason for your problems.
All of the so-called "fruitarians" who crashed on the diet were making some obvious mistakes, such as:
Not eating enough calories
Eating lots of dried fruits and dates
Eating large quantities of avocados, thinking that's it's okay because it's a "fruit" (botanically speaking, it is)
For the record, I do not recommend a diet of only fruit, but one where fruit dominates by calories, with plenty of vegetable matter added for variety and overall nutrition. Fats such as avocados, nuts and seeds can be consumed, but in small amounts.

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

Flower Reverence: The Blessings of Essential Oils

2008-11-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

by Ingrid Naiman

I use essential oils and have in the last years come to rely more and more on them because I believe they are extremely potent and that there is vibrational integrity in the oils that is more concentrated and stable than in most natural remedies.The photographs taken by Dr. Emoto and published in Messages from Water suggest that the oils retain the image of the flowers in crystalline structural form long after surrendering the ephemeral beauty of the flowers. It's quite amazing.The medicinal potency of oils is almost beyond imagination, certainly far superior to antibiotics or other drugs . . . so while oils may be "different" from herbs, the fact is we process what we consume, information and nutrition as well as medicine. Dr. Vasant Lad used to say, "In the end, all food is cooked." By this, he meant that the transformative power of fire is applied to everything we ingest, this whether on the stove or in the gastrointestinal tract where the hot chemicals of transformation separate what will be used as nutrition and what will be discarded.

If you have ever watched steam distillation, you know that something truly amazing occurs. Loads and loads of plant material are placed into a still in a manner that allows for movement of steam through the plant parts. It's like a fine art of basket weaving just to place the plants in the still. Then, in a matter of 20-30 minutes, the plants surrender their essence and little drops of oil collect, usually on the top of the hydrosol (or water) but some oils are heavier and go to the bottom. A separation of oil and water occurs and the oils are siphoned off. The still is opened and what is left is bulk plant material, completely odorless. The plants have given up all of their essence and only the fiber mass is left. It's a fascinating tragedy that one can only accept if the spirit of the plants can live on the form of consciousness in the person who uses this gift.Is it right or wrong to do this? I was very influenced by various environmental opinions until I saw this as a method of extending the reach of inspiration and the incarnation of the flowers.

Flowers celebrate God like nothing else in Nature. They are either completely dependent on Nature to provide for them or they have us people trained to promote their survival through the arduous work of gardening and farming. It's very clever how plants have orchestrated us into this slavery and it's intriguing that so many are willingly devoting themselves to plant fertility and propagation. Plants can only achieve this grip over us through the seduction of their beauty or practicality. Why else would we fuss so much over them if they didn't give us something in return that we valued enough to exert ourselves.Flowers, however, have a moment of perfection and then, sorry to say, it's all downhill. We disrupt this downhill process by harvesting at the moment of perfection and storing that perfection in a concentrated form that lasts for a very long time.There is much more to this, however. All the while flowers were basking in the Sun, they were storing Divine Inspiration for future use by us mud-minded people who can't stand the Light as much as flowers. We sit indoors and busy ourselves with senseless tasks and entertainment. Flowers bring us to our senses, literally and figuratively.

As aroma, flowers work predominantly on the first chakra. They do this ever so much faster than anything else known which says that they have the power to revitalize the life force and reshape our faith since it is trust in the Divine that ultimately stabilizes our first chakra.In my opinion, the rest of the "chakra effects" are different. For instance, the effects on reproductive hormones are mainly chemical, not inspirational.

I really appreciate the work of Sonya Fitzpatrick. One dog told her that the professional dog walker was rushing him. She tried to explain to his "owner" that this was like ripping the newspaper out of someone's hands. Dogs sniff for information and until they have explored the neighborhood with their noses, they haven't brought themselves up-to-date on what is going on.The trouble with people is that the chakra that is most sensitive to aroma operates below the threshold of consciousness, which is why your dog knows more than you about allergies and old karmic enemies and so forth and so on . . . and why your ignorance is profoundly confusing to your better informed companion.

However, we have no choice about whether or not to breathe so conscious or not, scent transforms the functioning of the first chakra more efficiently than any amount of psychotherapy. It also neutralizes odor so to the extent that "bad" smells bad, "good" overcomes it . . . and this affects utilization of energy by all systems of the body, especially the parts of the nervous system that also operate below the threshold of consciousness. In short, synapses and communication are directly impacted.

Oils are very potent. Most people will see remarkable changes with as little as one drop every day or two. So, while the oils are expensive, they are really not so expensive when we realize how little is needed.From an environmental perspective, I am not worried about flowers because the plant is not sacrificed. However, I do worry about sandalwood and some other oils where there is more environmental impact from unconscious harvesting. I also worry about popularization of aromatherapy outside the environmental context . . . pesticides can be concentrated through distillation so be warned that almost no oils in stores are suitable for medicinal use.

When it comes to mixing oils, I really feel each batch will be different so one almost needs the nose of a perfumery expert to achieve the result sought. This said, some oils synergize really well with others so I leave it to each to figure out what works and in which circumstances.

Parasitic Infection: Symptoms and Treatment

2008-11-22T07:40:00.001-08:00

Hulda Regehr Clark drew world attention to one specific fluke that she maintains is the cause of all diseases. There are in fact over 3000 different parasites that have been loosely grouped into four different categories. According to the World Health Organization, 3.5 billion people suffer from some type of parasitic infection. Not all of these people live in third world countries; many in the developed world have any number of parasitic infections, some of which are so highly contagious that extremely casual contact with something that has been handled by an infected person can infect another person.
Since there are such a huge variety of parasites and their characteristics vary greatly, it is not possible to generalize too much; however some broad statements are possible. The symptoms of parasitic infection vary enormously, enough that anyone reading the list that follows will quickly assume that he or she harbors some type of parasitic infection. Therefore, it should be stated that the presence of one or more of these symptoms does not lead ipso facto to the conclusion that one is infected, merely that it might be worth investigating the possibility of such an infection.

Symptoms of Parasitic Infection
Acute parasite infection is usually characterized by greater or lesser abdominal distress and diarrhea, often urgent and attended by burning sensations and tremendous fluid loss. Only rarely is there any visible evidence of infection. Moreover, many laboratories fail to detect the presence of parasites even when presented with specimens from infected persons. It is therefore sometimes necessary for the patient to determine whether infection is likely and to self-administer some remedy since allopathic medicine requires a diagnosis before prescriptions can be written.
Once a condition has moved from acute to chronic, there may be alternating periods of constipation and diarrhea, abdominal distention and bloating, intestinal cramping followed by burning sensations and the sudden urge to eliminate. Generally, there is malabsorption of nutrients, especially fatty foods. Irritable bowel syndrome, blood sugar fluctuations, sudden food cravings, and extreme emaciation or overweight are all possible symptoms—but, as stated, not necessarily proof of parasitic infection.
Itching is a possible clue to infection, especially among children; however, the absence of itching does not mean there is no infection. The itching tends to be worst where there is moisture: nose, eyes, ears, and of course the anus. Skin sensitivity is also common: rashes, eczema-like conditions, and even serious eruptions.
Many parasites affect the nervous system and give rise to sleep disorders, such as insomnia. In children, hyperactivity is common, but adults may have symptoms ranging from depression to anxiety. Some parasites affect the brain and memory. In short, the part of the body affected depends on where the parasites have invaded: blood, intestines, liver, pancreas, kidneys, brain, etc. To make infection even more difficult to determine, ass to this scenario the fact that many, if not most, parasites migrate so the symptoms could change depending on where the parasites are at any given time.

How Parasite Infections are Contracted
It is extremely easy to contract a parasite infection. Contaminated water is one source of infection. Improperly washed or undercooked food is a common means of infection. Transmission from pets is another. Contact with another infected person is also a common route of infection. Travel can escalate the risks. Antibiotics pose another problem because they interfere with normal intestinal flora, some which tend to control certain types of infection.

Treatment
Since there are many types of parasites, each with its own particular life cycle and pattern, a few generalizations may simplify the rationale behind the different treatment strategies.
First, one needs to understand that the parasite is a creature that depends on a host for survival, ergo its name. It leeches nutrients that the host needs in order to be healthy.
Second, the parasite invades a bodily structure and inflicts damage to that structure so healing requires both the elimination of the parasite and the regeneration or rejuvenation of the affected organs.
One thing at a time. I spent many years in tropical countries and came to realize that experts in parasitology are more likely to hail from such countries than from the big modern medical institutions that tend to underestimate the importance of parasitic infection. Parasites lay eggs, thousands of them each day. According to most investigators, the eggs are destroyed by cloves and/or clove oil. Some eggs may be weakened by hydrochloric acid in the stomach, but parasites are clever and want to survive so they usually lay their eggs where the chances of viability are greater. Therefore, the hydrochloric acid is mainly effective against newly ingested eggs. Since one can never be certain of destroying all the eggs, perseverance has its rewards.
Many parasites hide in the folds of the large intestine or under the membrane lining of the intestines. When the eggs hatch, usually around the time of the full moon, the lining sloughs off and exposes a sensitive area that gives rise to acute pain and often the urge to eliminate. Some people have observed the tissue when it is sloughed off.

Cloves
I want to tell a clove story. I had some cloves in a conventional spice jar. One day when I went to use the cloves, I noticed that the red plastic lid was "melted." It looked just as it might had it been exposed to extreme heat, but the plastic was a bit sticky. I have since discovered that several spices, good quality, fresh spices, have a similar capacity to emulsify plastic. I am certain that it is the volatile oils in the cloves that possess this unique trait.
For parasite cleansing, it is necessary to use fresh cloves that have not been irradiated. Most spices are irradiated with 35,000 the amount of radiation permitted in a chest x-ray. This is ostensibly done to eradicate bacteria, but spices are generally excellent bactericides so the irradiation is merely a way of destroying the precious properties of spices. Non-irradiated spices are available from most high-end health foods stores, and we, of course, carry these spices.
Cloves are among the most antibacterial spices known, but as we all know, a few cloves go a long way. Those with some familiarity with herbal medicine know that clove oil is also used to numb pain due to dental infection; but few know that part of the reason clove oil works so well is that it alleviates the infection. Cloves are antiseptic, bactericidal, and antiparasitic.

The Second Strategy
After addressing the eggs, one can deal with the parasites that managed to hatch. There are various opinions here as to what works. Hulda Clark and Hanna Kroeger used wormwood, Artemesia absinthium, in a powdered form and the green hulls of black walnuts in a tincture. These are traditional Western herbs for parasites, and a recent study at the University of Washington suggests that a different species of wormwood, Artemisia annua, a famed anti-malarial herb that is also in many parasitic formulas, has significant anti-cancer properties as well. It is this artemisia that we use in our formula.
Chinese medicine relies on bitter herbs to stimulate the liver to produce more bile. One theory is that it is the bile that kills intestinal parasites, not the toxic properties of the herbs. It is important to bring this out since wormwood is toxic, not perhaps in small doses, but to gain some idea of its addictive and toxic properties, one need merely look at the absinthe habits of the nineteenth century.
Vermouth gets its name from the German "wermut" or Anglo Saxon "wermod" or wormwood, presumably because absinthe was used as a flavoring in some recipes for this famed aperatif. I feel quite certain that some of the traditions of consuming such beverages stemmed from the monasteries that made the wines and liquors and that also housed the vast libraries of books on botanical medicine. There is a cultural tradition of dealing with some of the risks of parasitic infection that is seen in some of the rituals from the past.
While Artemisia annua is safe, Artemisia absinthium should be used cautiously. It may anesthetize a worm enough that it looses its grip on the intestines so that it can be eliminated. This said, some species of wormwood have other properties that justify their use in antiparasitic protocol. For instance, Artemisia annua, popularly known as Sweet Annie, reduces stomach pain and helps to relieve the anemia that often attends parasitization of red blood cells.

Intestinal Flora, Foods, and Other Measures
Since parasites thrive in the absence of proper intestinal flora, it is wise to repopulate the body with intestinal flora. Chlorinated water and diarrhea cause destruction and loss of friendly flora so every effort should be made to rebuild the flora. Turmeric greatly assists this work as do supplements of acidophilus, bifidus, bulgaricus, and other friendly organisms.
Use of green juices, aloe juice, and a diet high in greens also helps as does supplemental garlic and asafoetida (in capsules or food.) In addition, one can nibble on pumpkin seeds and eat fresh pineapple and calmyrna figs. Coconut also has antiparasitic properties. According to some sources, sesame oil is somewhat antiparasitic, and black cumin seed, Nigella sativa, has significant anti-parasitic properties. Many recommend drinking sesame oil, a teaspoon or so at a time throughout the day. I personally would add clove oil and/or fennel seed oil to the sesame oil. Fennel seed tea, three cups per day, can be used, especially towards the end of the cleanse. Some authorities believe that fennel intoxicates parasites, making them less protective and easier to annihilate.
In my experience, no one succeeds in ridding the body of parasites in the five days Hulda Clark suggests is possible. I am convinced of this because there are so many hiding places in the body, especially the intestines. I do not deny that one can become significantly better in a short time. I merely doubt that thorough elimination is possible in a short time. I have heard of specialists in India who required four years to complete treatment. This said, somewhere between the miraculous five-day cure and the discouraging four-year one, there might be a middle ground.

Realism
When using parasite formulas, I would suggest hitting hard on the days leading up to the full moon and just thereafter and going a bit easier on the last and first quarters of the moon. I would do this consistently for at least three months or until all symptoms disappear. Once the body is rid of parasites, it has to be understood that it needs to recuperate from the insult. Therefore a program of regeneration of the affected organs should follow.
Dealing with tissue damage, toxins, and infections associated with parasites
In the meantime, I would suggest that while undergoing the parasite purge that one eat less and put ones pets and other family members on a similar regime so that everyone is on a clean footing when the job is done.

Parasites and their hosts have a curious relationship. Basically, both the creatures and the infected person have to work out survival in a way that maximizes opportunity and life expectancy for both. This said, it is my opinion that sharing of meals with uninvited guests is not really a benign situation so whatever the textbooks say, they seem to be missing some important chapters.
This said, the behavior of the parasites and the body's responses to them vary enormously. I can make some broad statements based on darkfield observations. First, there are obviously some parasites that are so hated that when the blood is put onto a coverslip, the red blood cells run like wildfire to escape the parasite. Then, there are parasites that the white blood cells attack, usually by damaging the membrane in various places, usually far from the mouth and tail. There are also parasites that the red blood cells surround and immobilize, usually by lining up several cells deep. This often appears to be a suicide mission commanded by white blood cells that stay at a discrete distance from the invader.
The parasites come in every which size and color. Some are opaque, sort of whitish but translucent, some are red, some are more yellowish to almost gold, and a few are brilliant shades of blue, everything from dark blue to lapis lazuli. They also come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from a few microns to hundreds of microns. Some have appendages that seem to help them to navigate. Many are partnered, in which case the male is usually smaller and often differently shaped on the ends. Occasionally, one finds whole nests of intertwined creatures. Sometimes, one finds the parasites in the process of dining but commensural would not seem to describe what one sees on a slide. If the parasite is taking first dibs on its host's dinner, it would probably inhabit the gastrointestinal tract and perhaps forage elsewhere only after the pickings are slimmer in the GI tract. Many patients describe the bizarre sensations of mobile creatures. Others had more prickly sensations, like gnawing, biting, and even stabbing pains. A few had itchiness; many were anemic. Some were very ill.

The parasites we could observe in the blood were generally dining on blood, usually on red blood cells, often perfectly healthy looking red blood cells. Occasionally, however, we observed a parade of cells moving right in front of the jaws of the parasite and it would allow safe passage of many cells and then gulp down a crenated red blood cell. What is so interesting is that the blood cells obviously know all about the parasites and they have strategies for containing the moderately dangerous ones, escaping the really dangerous ones, and placating the safer ones.
These observations give rise to all sorts of questions. For instance, given the variety, do we really want to kill all of them? The patients who presented had all manner of histories with conventional and alternative protocols and a few had used the zapper or herbal protocols for parasites.

Parasite Formulas
As everyone probably knows, Hulda Clark has had an enormous impact on the world of parasitology, first, I believe, by positing that so many diseases are caused by parasites and secondly by the challenges her public has posed to the professional community.

Wormwood is a famous malaria herb, used for thousands of years for treatment of malaria. It is an extremely safe herb that even relieves some of the anemia associated with parasitization of the blood. It has been claimed that two-thirds of all people who ever lived on the Earth died of malaria.
We discovered is that most anti-parasite formulas seem to work. Perhaps even more important than this revelation was that they seemed to be destroying the same objects in the blood as chemotherapeutic agents, but the side effects were, of course, much less severe.
Even more interesting was the fact that most of the parasites died within hours of being administered the herbs.

A Digression
Many animals receiving prescription medications for parasites died, and it was initially assumed that the arsenic and mercury were too toxic for the animals, but autopsies revealed that the actual cause of death was bacterial infection related to decomposition of dead parasites, many of which had perforated organ tissues, such as we have all seen with heartworms.
The response of the herbalists was to develop a protocol that boosted immunity.

What is observed is that the vast majority of parasites die almost as soon as the anti-parasitic herbs are administered. It is not therefore necessary to take these harsh formulas for weeks on end. One or two days is all that is needed, but because the parasites can lay 25,000 to 250,000 eggs a day, depending on their type, the name of the game is to continue until the infection is eliminated, and this can be quite tricky since many people not only hatch new parasites but are reinfected by other persons and animals and risk factors in our world: contaminated food and water, insect bites, etc., etc., etc. In short, vigilance has its rewards.

The second phase is, as I learned from the study on animal medication, my observations were that boosting immunity at this time does not have any significant impact because the white blood cells do not approach the dead parasites until the bacteria have finished their job. What happens during this stage, usually one that lasts 5-6 days, is that the blood develops a lot of bacteria and thrombocytes. There is also significant erythrocyte aggregation. I am guessing that there is a risk of hemorrhaging because some parasites may have died in places that would leave the host vulnerable to internal bleeding. I just have to repeat myself: the way the body manages all these complex processes is just amazing.
During the second cycle, patients tend to be groggy and a few are a bit feverish. On the microscope slide, the white blood cells will be seen on the periphery, far from the death scenes of the parasites, but each day, they move a little closer to the corpses of the once living parasites. In the meantime, the parasites become less and less identifiable and the bacteria increase significantly in number until all that is left is fibrin. Only then do the white blood cells appear at the scene, and contrary to everything all the darkfield microscopists have been telling me for years, I am convinced that the white blood cells secrete an enzyme that allows them to digest the fibrin. So, they eat not only the bacteria but the fibrin and the third formula supports this phase of the process.
For the patient, circulation and vitality improve during this stage and the blood starts to look really good, but there is the not so small matter of the eggs so the protocol has to be repeated again and again and again until the parasites are really gone.

The third phase is about resurrecting the body´s immune system after facing these challenges. I am as intrigued by the effects parasites have on body chemistry and temperament as on their reproductive cycles and diet. From what I observed, there are major personality changes that occur once individuals are free of the burden of infestations of other orders of life.

Organ Rejuvenation after Parasitic Infection
As anyone who has ever maintained an aquarium knows, ammonia is extremely toxic, yet it is one of the gases excreted by parasites living within human and animal hosts. It is also responsible for many of the bizarre physiological sensations often reported by infected individuals.
When the body produces a sufficient amount of bile, most parasites and their eggs in the gastrointestinal tract are destroyed before taking up residence in the unsuspecting individual. Between insufficient production of normal digestive secretions, poor diet, and parasitization, the body's internal balance is completely thrown off. The gastrointestinal tract becomes alkaline to neutralize the acidity of the food. This makes it more difficult to fight infection and complicates a host of issues.
Correcting for insufficiency of gastric secretions, paying close attention to the digestibility of food, and restoring proper intestinal flora are the first steps towards bringing harmony to the gastrointestinal tract.
Destroying parasites, assuring that the body's immune system is supported throughout this process, and rejuvenating the large intestine are the next steps and may take months or even years. Since the parasites may have caused anemia, blood building may also be necessary. Perforation of organs is another possible complication of infection. Rejuvenative herbs for the liver, kidneys, intestines, and even the brain may also be advisable.

Victoria Boutenko videos

2008-11-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sep 30, 2008, Reverse Gray Hair with Raw Food

On the Raw Spirit Festival 2008 in Sedona, Victoria Boutenko from "Green for Life", revealed how long it took her to reverse her gray hair with raw food. Watch the raw food video:

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Sep 26, 2008, How To Get White Teeth Naturally

Here's a great raw food video from the Raw Spirit Festival in Sedona 2008. Victoria answers a question on dental health and how to get the whitest teeth, naturally.

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