Raw Food Diet, is it for you?

Raw Foods, some sensible thoughts by Paul Benhaim. Or more to the point, what is so wrong with cooked food. You probably know that cooking food destroys most of the vitamins and minerals. More recently, it has been suggested that heating (cooking) foods actually changes the structure of both the proteins and carbohydrates in the foods. Cooked foods are now not what they seem and our bodies find that difficult to deal with. Cooked foods will eventually wear down your bodies defence systems. And it all starts in your large intestine or colon. Damaging your internal organs it causes you to behave erratically while alive and eventually bring on premature death.

All the diseases of civilization: cancer, heart disease, diabetes are all directly attributable to the consumption of cooked food.

Eating raw, living foods is based upon the simple premise that foods in their most natural state (non GM, non hybrid, non sprayed, not transported, preserved, heating, packed or treated in any way) are the most life giving.

Those who eat a vegan or vegetarian diet, or those who miss out a desert now and again often consider themselves healthy. If you suffer from any colds, fevers, headaches, body pains, allergies then you are in the first stages of dis-ease. These symptoms now considered normal by civilization's standards, are actually dangerous, pathological conditions caused by eating cooked food. How many animals do you see blowing their noses? People think they are healthy, but they have never experienced real health.

Eating raw gives you excess energy, a new level of intuition and even a new smooth skin!

Truth is not enhanced by qualifications, nor does it suffer for the lack of them. Truth stands on its own. If something is not true, it fails. There is no better test of something's worthiness than good results. Success leaves clues, so does failure. If you want to be successful, listen to successful people. If you want to be rich, listen to rich people. If you want to be healthy, listen to healthy people.

Are the people who you have learnt from (teachers, politicians, governments, advertising company and food corporation executives) alive, passionate and healthy. Do they live unaided until 90 years of age, still active in their life?

There is the protein question that often comes up - where do you get protein from in raw foods. Protein is no more important than any other element in our food. When people have a craving for protein, it is really an addictive craving for cooked protein. We crave this as a means to making us feel better as our bodies detoxify from the unnatural proteins we have eaten in the past. These craving soon disappear once you have completely cleansed the body.

Cooked protein does not feed the body. You can get all the protein you need from raw plant food - yes, even fruit has protein. How is it that a cow can grow hundreds of pound of protein flesh from simple grass that hardly contains any protein at all?

It is not protein that is necessary to develop proteins in your body, but the essential amino acids that are present in raw fruits and vegetables. The mass frenzy on the subject of protein is the product of an elaborate media campaign by the meat and dairy industries to push their products.

The truth is no one ever suffers from a protein deficiency - and certainly no one ever dies from one. But people die of protein poisoning en masse every day. Heart attacks, strokes, cancer, etc. are all the inevitable results of overburdening the body with cooked animal proteins. A complete source of natural de-natured protein is found in hemp seeds- with Australia still not allowing these non-toxic seeds for human consumption. Bee Pollen and Spirulina are other great sources of high protein foods.

Fats are often a mis-understood subject. It is time for us to re-learn the true facts and not the hype of the low-fat diets that seemed to imply they would result in low-fat bodies. It is clear we cannot live without, in fact we would die without a regular intake of fats in our system. It is also clear that some fats actually kill us. Sound complicated? It is simple really- some fats are healers, some fats are killers.

Fats that are healers include natural unheated, unprocessed fats found in quantity in nuts and seeds. Cold-pressed oils are also a great source and the base to many different raw food salad dressings. Omega-3 and omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids are the most well known of these fats. Strangely enough, hemp seed and hemp oil are the best balanced sources of these fats. These kind of fats actually assist in increasing metabolic rate and may lead to weight loss.

Fats that kill are nearly all heated or processed fats. Where are they found? In nearly all processed foods and oils that do not clearly state 'cold-pressed'. The food industry found a novel way to increase the shelf-life of fats in their products called hydrogenation. This high heat process distorts the structure of the fats. Sometimes labelled as just 'vegetable fat' in margarines this is being shown to be one of the most deadly ingredients. You can find hydrogenated fats in nearly all take-away food outlets, snack bars, cereals, breads and soft-spreads.

The best fat suitable for high temperature cooking is coconut oil (palm oil), with Ghee coming a close second. If you must cook- use these fats. Even olive oil is better suited for salad dressing or low temperature heating only.

Are steamed veggies considered living foods? No, cooked foods include breads, pastas, anything that is heated above 40C starts to loose its enzymes. When foods are eaten that are deficient in enzymes, the body has to use its own enzymes, which are secreted by the pancreas, to break down the food. Eventually, on a diet of dead food, the pancreas becomes swollen and irritated and then the other digestive organs begin to have troubles as well.

What about supplementation. To say that a pill or powder or potion, no matter how 'natural' or organic is good for us is to say that Nature has made a mistake by not offering us these foods in a processed, refined state -- which, of course, is ridiculous.

However, extreme situations require extreme measures and supplementation of super-foods (hemp seeds, bee pollen, spirulina, mineral supplements and juicing) are often necessary as part of the re-mineralisation process.

Juicing is a mechanical form of mastication. Juicing is excellent for the transition period, particularly fresh juices. However, we note that juices should be 'chewed' and should include at least some of the pulp to ensure the natural balance is available to us.

And along comes winter- how do we survive cold weather without warm food or drinks? Warm foods give us a false sense of security. They warm us up for a short while, when soon we are left cold again. It's like taking a hot shower: Are you more resistant to cold weather if you take hot showers or cold showers? One feels warm after a cold shower, and weak and depleted after a hot shower that drains one's vital energy. Look to the animal kingdom and see how some Deer survive icy winters on just grass. Here in Australia we have an abundant of organic fresh fruit and vegetables that offer us the life giving properties, for which we all deeply yearn.

Yes. They are. There is no doubt that people on a regular Standard Australian Diet (SAD) will benefit greatly by incorporating more and more raw foods into their lifestlye. How depends on the individual, however most people will tend to naturally incorporate forms of nature and relaxation in some form - starting your own veggie garden, walking on the beach or in the forest or parks, meditation, yoga or tai chi.

If you are severely overweight then expect many of your friends not to recognise you within a few months. Some of the before and after pictures found on my website attest to this.

It is important that you do not stop a lifelong dietary habit and just eat raw foods. This would be a dangerous shock to your system. In fact, like any 'extreme' sport it is crucial that you collect lots of information before you take part and cause an injury or decide never to take part again. This process is called transitioning and may take anywhere from 3 months to 3 years or more, depending on what type of person you are, how fast you are willing to change and detoxification symptoms you can accept.

Transition slowly and move at your own speed. The easiest way is to include more raw foods in your diet and not to cut out cooked foods at all. It will not take long and you will naturally feel that after an apple, four bananas and a raw chocolate mousse you will not feel so much like the meat pie, potatoes and pasta salad you planned for dinner. Drink lots of juices to start with, eat mounds of greens. To start with your taste buds will start to come back and you will remember that foods actually taste really great without piles of table salt being thrown at it.

Don't worry- they can all be made raw and when transitioning raw foods such as essene bread and raw warmed soups make the journey that much easier.

(PRWEB) September 30, 2004 -- After a barrage of short term diets aimed more at boosting revenues than improving health, the raw food diet - or living foods as its often known - is a nutritional breath of fresh air. At last, pills, potions and protein powders have been dropped in favour of foods that doctors, nutritionists and common sense have been clamoring to be increased for years: fresh, unprocessed, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Living foods has taken this age old advice for improved health and taken it to the next level; famous chefs like Charlie Trotter, Roxanne Klein and Cherie Soria create sumptuous, varied feasts entirely from these ingredients – no cooking required. Ordinary people all over Australia and the world have discovered the flavours and ease of living foods, often reporting a wide range of dramatic health benefits such as weight loss, disease remissions, increased immunity and improved complexions.

Sheryl and Piers Duruz, co-founders of Australia’s leading raw food education web site www.Raw-Pleasure.com dropped 32 kg (that’s 70 pounds) and halved body fat from 21% to 9.6% respectively by changing their way of eating.

“The weight loss was a wonderful surprise,” Piers relates “but feeling alive, energetic and alert enough to see the world as a wonderful place instead of tired and negative is worth more than I ever could have imagined before. It’s a truly hidden gift of life. Raw- Pleasure is our gift back to say thank you and help make it easy for others.”

Subscribers to www.Raw-Pleasure.com’s free Taste Tester recipe testing program regularly receive recipes such as curries, cakes, biscuits, sandwiches, cookies, snacks and more and are quickly developing a country-wide support network on their forums with a uniquely Australian flavour.

Many doctors, such as Dr Doug Graham, are giving living foods the thumbs up. Dr Graham has trained many sports legends such as tennis Player Martina Navratilova, NBA pro basketball player Ronnie Grandison, track Olympic sprinter Doug Dickinson, as well as the United States Olympic Diving team and the Norwegian National Bicycling team.

Closer to home Australia’s own pro cyclist Vladamir Pushemov rode the 1230km Paris Brest Paris bike race– over 51 hours of cycling with less than an hours sleep on a raw food diet coming in with a time just shy of the all time Australian record. Dr Graham states that “people thrive on the raw diet, often telling others how it has improved their health and their lives. Fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens not only contain sustainable amounts of carbohydrates, protein and fat, they have them in the percentages, ratios, and quality that are optimum for human health. When people integrate a proper raw diet with other healthful living practices, they rarely, if ever, develop weight control problems, chronic or even short-term illnesses.”

Even conservative groups such as the US governments National Cancer Institute concur with living foods, such as fruit and vegetables, anti cancer properties stating “Fruit and vegetable consumption have generally been found in epidemiologic studies to be associated with reduced risk for a number of different cancers”.

If you have any doubts about the self-healing power of your body, consult your naturopath or health practitioner for advice!