Introduction
In this treatise, we will explore many things including the differences between unprocessed, uncooked foods and those that have been processed and/or cooked. There is an ever-increasing population in the United States and abroad of people who refer to themselves as Raw or Living Foodists. In the pages to follow, I will share scientific documentation gathered from such sources as medical dictionaries, books authored by physicians, researchers, mystics, the Archives of the Vatican, and even the Old Testament.
I have benefited greatly from a diet based on uncooked and unprocessed (whole) foods. (Scientific research proves that nutrients are destroyed in cooking; so are cooked foods still whole foods?) Before I started on the path to healthy living, I thought I was perfectly healthy except for the minor problems of dandruff, athlete?s foot, small pimples on my upper arms, reoccurring warts on my fingers and hands, love handles, a small beer belly, pinpoint hemorrhages (small red dots) on my chest, slow moving bowels, poor memory, a short temper, and a twenty-four hour, seven day a week stuffy nose. My doctor said that none of these problems were related to my diet. I saw the registered dietitian at the medical center and she said the same thing as the doctor. None of these problems were related to my diet. But when I cut out the processed foods and the animal products and started eating mostly raw and unprocessed foods, all these problems vanished! My life improved in every way possible! In a matter of five years, I went from working for others for a living and just getting by day to day, to owning a health food store and
earning a license in nutrition. During the two years that I spent working in my health food store on Long Island, counseling walk-ins and those with appointments, I helped many people
regain
their
health.
But
the
responsibilities of running the business took a toll on me and left me feeling stressed. Yoga
helped, but the stress would return. I sold the store and went back to school to become a Naturopath and took a teacher training course in Kundalini Yoga. Helping people stay healthy or teaching them how to regain their health is my life?s work and I enjoy it very much!
The Mind
There is a direct connection between diet and the mind. Professor Arnold Ehret, noted European savant, raw foodist and author of many books, explains it rather gracefully in his book, The Mucusless Diet Healing System (page 161).
“If your bloodstock is formed from eating the foods I teach you, your brain will surprise you. Your former life will take on the appearance of a dream and, for the first time in your existence, your
consciousness will awaken to a real self-consciousness. Your mind,
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your thinking, your ideals, your aspirations and your philosophy changes fundamentally in such a way as to beggar description. Your soul will shout for joy and triumph over misery of life, leaving it all behind you. For the first time, you will feel a vibration of vitality through your body (like slight electric current) that shakes you delightfully”.
I have experienced exactly what Professor Ehret explains in this quote and believe that most anyone can experience this transformation as well if they follow the guidelines in this book.
My friend, Robert Ross talks about what it means to be a whole being: “The real value of a whole, raw food diet is that it empowers more than just our health…for with a healthy body and healthy mind, we not only think clearly and less reactively, but with greater awareness, understanding, sensitivity and compassion. A healthy, whole being takes full responsibility naturally, doesn?t fall into fear and anger with a knee jerk response to adversity and has compassion for his enemies as well as his friends. We have that whole being in us just waiting to come out and all we have to do is stop repressing it with toxic lifestyle and diet choices. Whole raw foods help us get in touch with our natural power. Whole beings are naturally powerful. The toxins in cooked and processed foods however, block your natural power. Many of these toxins actually have a sedative-like effect on the brain.”
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Chapter One: The Nutrients
Enzymes
Dr. Edward Howell has been involved with and studied other researchers? enzyme research for many years, finally authoring a cutting edge book called Enzyme Nutrition. In this book (pages 33 &
34) he states: \could not exist without enzymes. Enzymes convert the food we eat into chemical structures that can pass through the cell membranes of the cell's lining the digestive tract and into the blood stream. Food must be digested so that it can ultimately pass through cell membranes.
Enzymes
also
aid
in
converting the prepared food into new muscle, flesh, bone, nerves, and glands.
Working with the liver they help store excess food for future energy and building needs. They also assist the kidneys, lungs, liver, skin and colon in their important eliminative tasks. Perhaps it would be easier to write about what enzymes don't do, for they are involved in almost every aspect of life\
\run our bodies, digestive enzymes, which digest our food, and food enzymes from raw foods, which start food digestion.” \ingested, the enzymes in raw food, or supplementary enzymes, result
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in a significant degree of digestion, lowering the drain on the organism's own enzyme potential\
\kind of heat treatment of food in the kitchen destroys enzymes. Slow or fast baking, slow and fast broiling, steaming and frying all destroy 100 percent of enzymes in food. Vigorous boiling takes place at 212°F. Frying is done at much higher temperatures, and in addition to destroying enzymes it also damages protein or forms new chemical compounds with unknown and possibly pathogenic possibilities, imposing still more burden upon the metabolic enzymes\
%uncooked foods contain an abundance of food enzymes which correspond to the nutritional highlights of food. For example, dairy foods, oils, seeds and nuts, which are relatively high in fat content, also contain relatively higher concentrations of the enzyme lipase which aids in the digestion of their fats. Carbohydrates, such as grains, contain a higher concentration of amylase (digests carbohydrates) and lesser amounts of lipase (digests fats) and protease\
The banana is an excellent example of how a food is capable of digesting its own ingredients. \starch when green. The enzyme amylase changes the banana into 20 percent sugar when the fruit is kept warm for a few days and becomes speckled. About one-quarter of this sugar is dextrose (glucose), needing no further digestion. The amylase in bananas works on banana starch, but not readily on other starches, such as potato starch. The ripe banana contains high-class raw calories that
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