The Health Evolution: Getting Started with the Raw and Living Foods Lifestyle By Michael Snyder

Publisher Data and Legal Information Copyright C 2013, TheRawDiet.com. All rights reserved. Published by TheRawDiet.com Contact the publisher at URL: http://www.TheRawDiet.com Email: [email protected] No responsibility is assumed by the authors/publishers for any injury and/or damage and/or loss sustained to persons or property as a matter of the use of this product’s liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of operation of any products, methods, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without express written permission of TheRawDiet.com. © 2013 TheRawDiet.com. All Rights Reserved. Michael Snyder About The Author – Michael Snyder Michael Snyder is president of TheRawDiet.com and MikesRawBlog.com As a leading expert in the vegetarian and vegan raw and living foods diet, Michael helps people globally transition to raw foods. He loves preparing raw gourmet foods, juicing, sprouting, blending, and all other aspects of the living foods lifestyle! Michael is a passionate believer in the healing power of raw foods and healthy living.

Michael provides keynote addresses, food preparation demonstrations, catering services, seminars and tele-seminars, and personal coaching focusing on helping people safely and quickly transition to raw foods. Michael lives in in Portland, Oregon. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Getting Started with Raw Foods • • • • • • • • • • • •

What are raw and living foods? Examining the variety, preparation, and taste of raw foods The problems with cooking Where are the essential nutrients? Eating adequate calories Combating deficiency The richest sources of easily digested protein Maximizing consumption of chlorophyll rich foods Tips and techniques for eating starchy root veggies Raw vs. Living Nuts and Seeds Fruit juice vs. Vegetable juice Succeeding socially on a raw food diet

Chapter 2 Finding the Right Approach • • • •

Finding the path that works best for you Free software for diet analysis Food combining for optimal digestion Food combining rules for living foods

• • • • • •

The Acid/Alkaline pH scale Rainbow Green dietary approach 80-10-10 dietary approach Ann Wigmore approach Hippocrates Health Institute approach Hard to find nutrients

Chapter 3 Achieving Great Health with Nourishing Foods • • • • • • • •

Sprouts Drinking water Sea Vegetables Beverages Salt and Sodium Cultured and Fermented Foods Dehydrated foods Basic foods and appliances for traveling

Chapter 4 Tools of the Trade • • • • • •

Knives Blenders Food Processors Juicers Additional Appliances Sprouting equipment

Chapter 5

The Art of Raw Gourmet • Why gourmet? • Balancing tastes in recipes • Spices, seasonings, and herbs • Garlic and Onions • Raw and living sweeteners • The raw chocolate controversy • Making smooth creamy dishes with nuts and fruits • Thickening and thinning recipes • Creating delicious dishes of various nationalities Chapter 6: The Super Food Evolution (Page 46) • Supplements vs. superfoods and the raw vegan diet • Food enzymes vs. supplemental enzymes • Probiotics and friendly bacteria • Green superfood powders • Nutritional benefits of algae and grass • Growing high mineral wheatgrass • A secret technique for growing superfoods with music • Vitamin B-12 in the vegetarian diet, food or supplement? • High nutrient berries • The most important sprouts • Nutrient rich seeds • The dietary staple containing every nutrient needed to sustain life • Maca, The hormone builder • The miracle of MSM • Soy, A Healthy Superfood • Minerals in food vs. supplementation • Resources for on-line support

• The 30-Day Raw Challenge!

Chapter 1 - Getting Started with Raw Foods

The raw vegetarian diet is the healthiest and best tasting diet on earth. It is healthy for the environment because you are eating plant foods. It is healthy for your physical body. It is healthy for your emotional and spiritual mentality. It is healthy for your brain and your heart. This diet supplies every essential nutrient in an easy to digest form. I like the saying, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!” The food is essentially living. Raw foods have not been microwaved, cooked, radiated, or heated above 110 degrees. If you plant a raw almond in the ground, it will grow into a tree. If you plant a cooked almond in the ground, it will rot and disintegrate into the soil. This is not a bland and boring raw vegetable diet. There is more to eat than just broccoli and carrots! Many people tell me they could never eat this way because they like food that tastes good, and they need more protein. They wonder how I can eat boring salads every day. What they don’t understand is that this diet is full of the most delicious foods they have ever tasted. The variety of foods to choose from is incredible. You could eat a different fruit each day of your life and you won't come close to tasting them all. One of my main reasons to eat a raw and living foods diet is the flavor and taste. There are no cooked foods that can come close to tasting as good as raw gourmet recipes. Occasionally I will eat some cooked foods, and I am usually disappointed. They just don’t taste as good as raw foods.

The juice is what holds the flavor, and cooking removes all the juice! Cooks must compensate for the loss of juice and flavor by adding condiments, such as salt, ketchup, mustard, and hot sauce. The key to making this diet work is to make the food taste delicious. Preparing gourmet foods is an easy way to make it delicious. Sure, some folks eat nothing but simple salads and smoothies, but most people will quickly become bored of this. Raw gourmet recipes do a great job of mimicking cooked food dishes. I make raw vegan versions of spaghetti, burgers, cakes, soup, ice cream, sushi, pizza, cookies, crackers, cheese, milk, French fries, catsup, lasagna, stir fry, mashed potatoes, gravy, and much more! I have made dishes of every ethnicity, including American, Russian, Thai, Italian, Indian, Mexican, and German. My versions of the ethnic foods taste better than any cooked version I have tried. It’s no longer enjoyable to eat at restaurants because the food just doesn’t taste as good as raw gourmet. This diet has evolved way past the simple salad! Once you have eaten raw gourmet you’ll never go back to cooked. Besides destroying the flavor, cooking also destroys vital nutrients. It denatures proteins, destroys vitamins and enzymes, changes organic minerals into their inorganic form, and it is especially damaging to fats. Cooking fats creates free radicals and carcinogens, which are two of the biggest causes of disease and aging.

It is estimated that cooking destroys 80% of the nutrients in food. It destroys 50% of the proteins, and between 60% to 70% of the vitamins and minerals. One can still heat food and consider it raw. I will often warm my food up to 110 degrees, especially during the winter. Temperatures above 110 will kill the enzymes. Enzymes are chemical catalysts that create every chemical reaction. They are proteins found in every cell and are needed for nearly every biological facet of life. Your digestive and immune systems use enzymes, and they far outweigh the importance of other nutrients. Living foods are much easier to digest because they are full of enzymes. If the food is living, your body doesn’t need to build digestive enzymes to break it down. Your immune system will then have more enzymes to heal and repair the body. A strong immune system will slow, stop, and even reverse the aging process. Cooking destroys 100% of the enzymes in foods. This diet is much more than apples and oranges. There are many foods that can be classified as raw and living. This diet may include fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted legumes, sprouted grains, grass, algae, sea vegetables, herbs, spices, dehydrated foods, juice, tea, fermented beverages, and fermented foods. Fruits, vegetables, and greens should be the foundation of the diet. The other items should make a small part of your daily menu. There are so many foods you can add to your diet that I

can guarantee you will never get bored. The transition to raw foods is an exciting journey full of new discoveries. Every essential nutrient is provided when a variety of foods are eaten. Care must be taken when transitioning to the raw foods diet to ensure you are receiving all essential nutrients. These essential nutrients include minerals, vitamins, enzymes, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, phytonutrients, and anti-oxidants. The proteins are broken down into 20 different amino acids, and 8 are essential. There are at least 50 essential nutrients that our body cannot make. These nutrients must be eaten in food. Our bodies create the non-essential nutrients. When I first transitioned to raw foods, I had a hard time eating enough calories. The food is around 80% water and you will need to eat a greater volume of food than you are used to. For example, one apple contains the same number of calories as one slice of bread. The best way to eat adequate calories is to put your juicer and blender to work. These two appliances make it easy to eat enough food throughout the day. You don’t need to adhere to the three meals a day plan. Listen to your body and eat when you are hungry. I find it best to eat many small meals throughout the day, but everybody is different. Some people will feel better with 2 big meals and one tall glass of juice.

When I start the day with a breakfast of fresh juice and fruits I feel full of energy. I never need coffee to jumpstart my day because fresh juice fully energizes me. I always carry a few pieces of fruit with me because I never know when hunger will strike! Fruit is the ultimate fast food, it takes no time to prepare, there is no clean up, and there is no trash. Making full meals out of fruit will keep you out of the kitchen. Locally grown in-season fruits are always the best tasting and least expensive. Worries about malnutrition and deficiency on this diet are unfounded. It is the most calcium rich, mineral rich, vitamin rich, and protein rich diet on earth. You will be receiving and assimilating so many nutrients that you won’t need to eat as much. You can eat half the amount of food and receive more nutrients compared to a person eating the same foods cooked. This is good news because studies have found that the less you eat, the healthier you are and the longer you live. One of the biggest concerns about the raw and living foods diet is protein. This diet is the most protein rich diet on the planet. When protein is consumed it is broken down into 22 different amino acids. There are 8 to 10 essential amino acids that must be found in food, and I ensure that I eat them all, every day! This is easy because there are many vegan foods that supply every amino acid in an easy to digest form. Many raw foods, such as ripe fruit and sprouts, contain proteins that are already broken down into amino acids.

Consuming a good variety of foods will supply you with more than enough protein. Twenty to forty grams of protein is appropriate for most people. Generally, this should make up 10% to 30% of your daily calorie intake. There is more than enough protein available in fruits, leafy greens, and vegetables to satisfy your body’s needs. Sweet fruit averages 6% to 8% protein, and leafy greens/vegetables average 50% of their calories as protein. Two of the essential amino acids, tryptophan and lysine, are destroyed at temperatures above approximately 110 degrees Fahrenheit. While every food contains protein, there are a few that contain remarkably high levels of amino acids. There are forms of protein you can get from algae that are readily available. These proteins are predigested and available as amino acids. Algae by weight have significantly more protein than any other plant on earth. It is over 50% protein by weight and contains complete digestible protein. There’s no other food that comes close to this. Foods that are complete proteins contain every essential amino acid. The three types of raw algae are spirulina, chlorella, and Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA) blue-green algae from Klamath Lake, Oregon. Algae contains 20 amino acids. One of my favorite sources of protein is a pate made from nuts and seeds. This is an incredibly delicious, nutritious, and easy to prepare food that requires a food processor. By combining different nuts and seeds, you can make a pate that contains 22 amino acids.

Leafy greens are high in protein compared to other vegetables. Blending or juicing the leafy greens is an easy way to eat large quantities. Dr. Ann Wigmore’s Energy Soup recipe is high in amino acids and should be a staple in the diet. Bee Pollen is a complete protein already broken down into the individual amino acids. It contains all the essential components needed to sustain life. It is 40% protein and contains 21 amino acids. Bee pollen is unique in that it is one of the only sources of an important nutrient called lecithin, which helps dissolve and flush fat from the body. Hemp seeds are around 35% protein and contain 19 amino acids, including every essential amino acid. There are many sprouts that are high in protein, especially lentil and sunflower. Sea vegetables such as kelp and dulse are high in amino acids. Some reports classify kelp as containing 21 amino acids and 74 minerals. Wheatgrass juice contains almost every essential nutrient, including amino acids. Ripe fruit contains smaller amounts of protein, but the proteins are already broken down into amino acids and are easily absorbed and assimilated. These foods will supply more than enough protein to your diet. Mike's First Journey Down The Living Foods Path

During my first year on this diet I was eating mostly fruit. I felt great for the first few months and then my health started to decline. My energy levels and appearance were deteriorating.

Many people were telling me that I was getting too skinny and my skin color was turning orange! I first got started on the raw foods diet to heal my chronic disease. At age 17, I came down with a bad case of eczema and psoriasis on my face. The skin on the side of my nose would become flaky, red, itchy, and irritated. It was very embarrassing. I had no idea what the cause of this disease was, or how to cure it. I went to many different doctors, but no one had a cure. The raw food doctors taught me that my body would heal itself if given the proper nutrition. They also taught that fasting is an essential part of the healing process. Unfortunately, I was not experienced with fasting, and I made a major mistake. I water fasted for a week without a coach or mentor. I became very skinny, had low energy levels, and eventually fainted. The most important part of the fast, is breaking the fast with solid food. I broke my fast the wrong way, eating too much of the wrong types of foods. It created extreme pain and abdominal distress.

My parents were especially concerned. They were begging me to eat some cooked foods. I tried to explain that my weight loss was not caused by the raw foods diet, it was caused by fasting. They just knew that my health was in danger.

During this time my knowledge of the raw foods diet was limited and I still wasn’t aware of the essential nutrients. I wasn’t eating enough variety, and I wasn’t consuming enough fat, protein, calories, or chlorophyll. After a year of eating raw foods, I attended my first International Raw and Living Foods Festival in Portland, Oregon. This was the most amazing event I had ever attended and it changed my life. I had never seen so many healthy, happy, glowing, radiant, and beautiful people. I met many people who had been eating this diet for decades. Some of the healthiest people were the senior citizens who have been eating this diet for over 50 years. I attended many lectures and food demonstrations given by famous teachers and authors. It was at this festival that I learned about the optimal diet. I learned that my diet of mostly fruit wasn’t giving me enough nutrients. I wasn’t eating enough vegetables or greens. One of the most important nutrients I was missing out on was chlorophyll, which comes from the green foods. After the festival I increased my consumption of green foods and my energy levels significantly improved! I discovered that water fasting is not the most ideal healing tool. The ideal is juice fasting! With juice fasting, you get all the health benefits of water fasting, combined with extra nutrients that helps speed up the healing process.

I have a friend here in Portland who has been on a one year juice fast! He has been using the Omega VRT350 juicer to make one gallon of juice every day. He just drinks the juice, no solid foods. He has been juice fasting from Jan. 1, 2012 through Feb. 2013. He is blogging about his experience at Facebook.com/YearofJuice This Portland raw foods festival is still taking place. The name has changed to the Raw and Living Spirit Fest, www.RawAndLivingSpirit.com I have found that the more chlorophyll rich foods I eat, the better I feel. Chlorophyll is essentially the same as the hemoglobin in our blood. The one small difference is that chlorophyll has a magnesium molecule, and hemoglobin has an iron molecule. To increase the greens I started to make many dietary changes. I now juice leafy greens as often as possible. I drink Wheatgrass juice, which is 70% chlorophyll. I eat algae, which contains about 10 times more chlorophyll than grass. I eat a high quality green superfood supplement. One of the best changes I made was to start blending up the leafy greens into soup. I started making a recipe similar to the one created by Dr. Ann Wigmore called “Energy Soup”, which includes a large quantity of blended greens. Eating a high chlorophyll diet has created many healing miracles in my life. Some improvements have been an increase in my energy levels, my skin problems completely healed, and my depression has disappeared.

I prepare the Ann Wigmore Energy Soup recipe a few times per week. It is approximately one cup of water, two cups of leafy greens, one half an avocado OR a quarter cup of soaked raw nuts and seeds, half of an apple, and 1/3 cup of dulse or sea vegetable blend. You can use a wide variety of leafy greens in this recipe. The best are the sunflower green sprouts. My favorite nuts and seeds to use with energy soup are almonds, sunflower seeds, and tahini. The raw almonds and sunflower seeds should be soaked overnight to bring them life energy. It is important to juice and blend on a raw foods diet for two reasons. First-our blood is liquid, and the nutrients in food need to be in a liquid form to be efficiently transported through our body. The juicer and blender do the same job as our teeth, only much better. The juicer and blender will turn hard and fibourus foods like cabbage, kale, and beets into liquid much better than our teeth will. Secondly, most raw foods are high in water content and low in calories. You need to eat a large volume of food in order to receive adequate calories and sustain your energy levels throughout the day. There is not enough time in the day to spend an hour chewing your salad. You can save hours each day by simply putting your large salad in the juicer or blender to make a pint of juice / Energy Soup / green smoothie. This way you get all the required nutrients and calories with minimal effort and it only takes a few minutes a day.

The original Energy Soup recipe calls for Rejuvelac, which is a fermented beverage made from grains. To make rejuvelac, you simply soak raw wheat or rye grains in water for a day or two at room temperature. Many raw foodists drink rejuvelac daily and thrive on it. I personally have not tried making it. There is an interview with Brian Clement, director of Hippocrates Health Institute, where he mentions rejuvelac. Ann Wigmore founded Hippocrates, and passed it on to Brian Clement back in the 1980's. Brian said “Rejuvelac. We used to call it rejuve-rot. It is not a Hippocrates invention, it is a traditional drink from the Baltic countries. We used it in the past because we thought it had beneficial lacto-bacteria. We paid for a study on rejuvelac; we naively thought the fermentation would always be good bacteria. The study found that this was not the case; 40% of the batches tested were good, 60% were bad. Also, you cannot tell by the smell if the bacteria are good or bad. Instead, you can use acidophilus supplements, and they can be taken as implants also.” Instead of rejuvelac, I use unpasteurized miso. Miso is a cultured soybean that provides many beneficial nutrients and probiotics. It is a staple of Japanese cuisine, and I use it in many recipes, including soups, salad dressings, and tea. Hippocrates Health Institute has an amazing (and Free!) raw foods magazine. Grab your copy at

http://www.HippocratesInst.org and click on “Magazine.”

Variety of Foods I eat different leafy greens every day. The variety and selection of greens never ceases to amaze me. Before I ate raw foods, the only leafy green I ate was iceberg lettuce! The most nutritious greens are grown in a sprouter in your home! The most nutritious greens are the sprouts, like sunflower greens, wheatgrass, barley grass, as well as the microgreen sprouts like alfalfa, clover, broccoli, arugula, cabbage, cress, and radish. These sprouts have 6 to 10 times more nutrients than the best organic vegetables, they are inexpensive, and easy to grow! After green sprouts, the next best selection of greens can be found at your local farmers market or natural foods store. Support your local farmers as much as possible! Some excellent leafy greens include kale, collards, red and green chard, bok choy, arugula, mustard, parsley, cilantro, endive, dandelion, spinach, beet greens, romaine, stinging nettles, baby micro-green sprouts, and green or red leaf lettuce. It is important to eat a wide variety of greens because they all contain unique nutrients. I usually buy two bunches of greens at the store. Romaine and Kale are my staples because they are high in minerals and chlorophyll. I buy one bunch of romaine or kale, and the second bunch will be something different and unique that I haven't eaten in a while. Most vegetables in the produce section can be eaten raw. Two you should avoid eating raw are the white potato and rhubarb. They are unappetizing raw and hard to digest.

Most other starchy root vegetables are delicious grated up on a salad, blended up in a soup, or sliced up into noodles. Eating the starchy vegetables will help to take away cravings for cooked starches such as bread, pasta, chips, or other grains. Some good starch vegetables include yams, turnips, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas, and burdock root. One of the staples in my diet is pate. This is a delicious gourmet dish made by blending up soaked nuts and seeds with various vegetables, herbs, and spices. I have found this to be the easiest way to eat the nuts and seeds. When I first started eating nuts and seeds, I was just eating them plain or added to salads. I was also eating large quantities of nut butters. I quickly learned that this is not the best way to eat them. The raw nuts and nut butters were giving me indigestion and constipation. The best way to eat nuts and seeds is to first soak them. This activates the enzymes and turns them into living foods. This makes them much easier to digest and assimilate. They become exponentially more nutritious and most of fats are converted into proteins and simple sugars. After soaking they can be blended up and turned into delicious pate, cheese, or nut milk. They are the perfect replacement for dairy. Sesame seed milk is the richest source of calcium available, especially if the milk is made with unhulled seeds. The hulls contain most of the calcium. Your local health food store should have a good selection of raw nuts, but some must be ordered over the Internet. For example, raw cashews usually must be purchased over the Internet. Most

cashews in the stores are not raw even though they are labeled raw. You may find some truly raw cashews in the store. You can test them by sprouting to see if an actual sprout grows out of the nut. Nuts and seeds should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer so they don’t become rancid. Some people may have allergic reactions to nuts. Bacteria are usually the cause of the reactions. The bacteria and mold is most often found on the nuts with wrinkles, like walnuts and pecans. There is an easy solution... To kill the bacteria, soak the nuts for 10 minutes in a quart of water with two teaspoons of “Food Grade” hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Use a 3% H2O2 solution. After 10 minutes, drain and rinse, then continue to soak in plain water for the required time. This hydrogen peroxide may also be used to sanitize veggies, dried fruits, sprouts, and to wash dishes. For veggies and dried fruits, soak them in 3% H2O2 or 1/4 teaspoon power per quart of water for 10 minutes, then drain and rinse. Soak dishes in a quart of water with 1 tablespoon 3% H2O2 or 1 teaspoon of powder for 5 minutes. This will effectively kill all the dangerous molds and bacteria. During my first year on raw foods, I was under the impression that juice wasn’t healthy. I really don’t think I ever had fresh raw juice before in my life. After I attended my first Living Foods Festival, I learned that fresh juice is the most important part of the diet.

The healthiest people I know are the ones who drink the most juice! For optimal health, drink a minimum of 12 ounces of green juice every day. The point of juicing is to remove the fiber. You can absorb the nutrients instantly because you don’t need to digest the fiber. Juice is especially important for people just starting to improve their diet due to years of malnutrition and nutrient deficiency. Vegetable juice is especially important for people who have trouble digesting the fiber in vegetables. A week after the festival, I purchased my first juicer. I immediately started juicing every fruit and vegetable I could get my hands on. I couldn’t believe how good it all tasted! I juiced tomatoes, pineapples, beets, carrots, apples, greens, grapes, oranges, broccoli, onions, grapefruit, cucumbers, celery, and more. I am still amazed at how good raw juice tastes. There is nothing better! Every household should have a juicer. My favorite juice blends are about 10% fruits and 90% leafy greens and veggies. My favorite juice blend is 25% celery, 25% cucumber, and 50% greens. I sometimes throw a carrot in to make it sweet. I also love to mix a little ginger juice in to help with digestion. My favorite food to juice is wheatgrass. I try to drink 4 ounces of wheatgrass juice every day. Wheatgrass juice is consumed in small amounts, usually in shot glasses that hold 1 to 2 ounces. Wheatgrass has almost every essential nutrient. If it is grown with the Ocean Grown Solution, it will absorb 92 minerals and

elements out of the soil. This makes it the most mineral rich food on earth, and the perfect food for humans and pets! Our body is made out of minerals, and we need to eat as many of them as possible. It is best to drink juice on an empty stomach for quicker absorbsion. Ann Wigmore recommended to hold the wheatgrass juice in your mouth for at least two minutes and chew. This will mix it with your salivary digestive enzymes. The juice will be absorbed directly into your bloodstream through a little hole under your tongue. The juice will taste sweeter as you chew because the starches will be broken down into sugars. I always “chew” my wheatgrass juice for a minute or two for better absorbsion. If you don’t have access to fresh wheatgrass juice, a good substitute is Pines Wheatgrass. Pines is a company that sells wheat and barley grass dried at low temperatures and ground up into a powder. It should be available in the supplement aisle of your health food store. Drink fresh raw juice every day and watch your energy levels soar! Social Success Succeeding socially on a raw food diet is difficult at first, but it will become easy over time. It can be tough when you aren’t receiving support from family and friends. The best thing you can do is to tell them you don’t expect them to eat raw. Don’t try to force your ideas, beliefs, and eating patterns on them. Just lead by example, and once you start seeing results from your

excellent eating habits people will start asking you what your secret is. Tell your family and friends that you are setting goals to transition to a raw foods diet and you would appreciate their support and help. If you ask them for support, they will give it to you. Once of the best ways to introduce people to the raw foods lifestyle is through the raw gourmet dishes. The gourmet dishes taste so good people will be amazed and very impressed. The food will effortlessly sell the diet to your friends and family, and you won’t need to do any work. You’re not going to convert people to the raw diet with celery and carrots, so you’re going to have to work your magic in the kitchen. The first thing you need to do is purchase a good recipe book. Practice the recipes before sharing them with your family, just in case it doesn’t turn out well. I’ve written two recipe books, ‘The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book’ and ‘Rawsomely Vegan.’ Guacamole and salsa are good recipes to start with because of their familiarity. You may then move up to chocolate cake, berry pie, and some of your favorite entrées and appetizers. The biggest test of your willpower will come when you visit a restaurant. A visit to the restaurant is unavoidable. We all are required to visit restaurants on special occasions, whether it’s a friend’s birthday, a wedding, or another special occasion. You may be surprised at the selection of raw foods available at restaurants, even though they aren’t listed on the menu.

The easiest way to go about this is to call the restaurant in advance and ask them to prepare you a special raw salad. You can then bring your own salad dressing, avocado, and nuts to add to the salad. Personally, I eat a few pieces of fruit, and / or a handful of soaked almonds before going in the restaurant. I carry the almonds in a smaller Tupperware container if I am travelling. This prevents my hunger from taking over and ordering a cooked entrée. If I didn’t call the restaurant in advance, I will silently hand the waitperson a card when it is my turn to order. I found this card in the classic book by Victoria Boutenko titled “12 Steps to Raw”. Print it out, make copies, and use it at restaurants. Often you will find that the dish you receive will incredibly delicious, filling, and cheaper than other menu options: I Eat Only Raw, Uncooked Foods I would like a salad or vegetable plate with only fresh, uncooked items: Lettuce Zucchini Cauliflower spinach Mushrooms tomato sprouts scallions Parsley cilantro bok choy bell pepper Arugula celery onion kale Avocado chard cucumber radish Cabbage carrot beet Thank You for your creative efforts!

Chapter 2-Finding the right approach

There are many different paths that can be taken with the living foods diet. It is important to learn about every approach to find the one that works best for you. If the diet plan you are trying isn’t giving you the results you want, then it’s time to experiment with a different approach. You must listen to your body to learn how the food makes you feel. One person may feel great on a diet consisting of mostly fruit, while others may feel unbalanced. This may depend on the person’s previous diet, current state of health, and lifestyle. A person with an active lifestyle will have different nutritional needs than a person with an inactive and sedentary lifestyle. I have found that keeping a food log of my eating habits is very helpful. I have kept food logs many times throughout my dietary transition. It helped raise my awareness and brought focus to my food choices. The food log is used to write down each food item eaten. There is another section to write down how the meal made you feel. Your meal choices should give you a happy belly and leave you full of energy. A couple weeks of tracking your food choices will give you a good idea of which eating plan you feel the best on. For example, you could do daily experiments by changing the percentages of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. For one week eat 80% carbohydrates, 10% fat, and 10% protein.

One example of this approach is to eat fruit, celery, and leafy greens for breakfast and lunch, and for dinner eat a small amount of fruit and follow it by a large salad with vegetables, greens, and either one avocado or a 1/4 cup of soaked nuts and seeds. The next week eat 45% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 15% fat. One example of this is would be to eat a small amount of fruit followed by vegetable and leafy green salads for each meal. To increase the protein percentages, protein rich foods such as algae, hemp seeds, and nut pate can be added. Track your percentages with the free software on http://www.fitday.com or http://nat.crgq.com and take good notes in your food log. You will be surprised at how easy it is to eat a diet dangerously high in fat. A little oil, an extra spoonful of nut butter, and an extra avocado will bring your daily percentage of fat above 60%. Try not let your percentage of fat rise above 35%. A diet over 35% fat causes insulin and blood sugar imbalances, and the blood will thicken and clump together reducing the ability to deliver oxygen to the cells. Experiment with the various eating approaches I will outline below. Try out each diet for a one or two week period and track it in the food log. When you review your notes you can compare the results from each plan and pick the one that works best. The diet plans below contradict each other in many places and this may cause some confusion. One approach recommends a diet high in fruit and no superfoods or supplements, while another includes many superfoods and recommends a diet higher in fat.

All the approaches will give you spectacular results, but one approach may work better for you. The right approach will depend on many factors including your previous diet, your lifestyle, and your metabolism. I usually eat phase two of the Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine diet, but there are days I will eat the 80-10-10 diet or the Wigmore diet. There is another approach called “Eat anything as long as it’s raw”, but this could lead to a diet high in fat, low in greens, and nutritional deficiencies! I recommend following one of the proven programs created by Clement, Cousens, and Wigmore. Optimal Digestion with Food Combining Food combining is a very important aspect of eating. Improper food combining leads to numerous problems such as indigestion, low energy, bloating, and gas. Food combining creates optimal digestion, which is an important key to health. There are a few rules that should be followed when preparing meals. The rules are more important to follow when eating cooked foods because living foods have enzymes that assist in digestion. With living food meals, you could combine most foods together as long as you don’t overeat, but there are a few exceptions. Overeating is the greatest cause of indigestion. Click Here to view a basic food combining chart: http://site.therawdiet.com/pdf/Foodcombining.pdf Each food takes a different length of time to digest, and different digestive enzymes are needed to digest it. Melons spend the

shortest time in the stomach and only take a few minutes to pass through. Fruits, greens, celery, and sprouts take about 20 minutes to an hour to digest. Vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains may take up to three hours to fully digest. An acidic environment is needed in the stomach to fully digest protein rich foods, and starchy foods require an alkaline environment. Amylase, a starch-digesting enzyme created in the mouth, is destroyed in an acidic stomach environment. This prevents starchy foods from being fully digested. The pH scale runs from 1 to 14. The acid side of the scale is between 1 and 7, and the alkaline side runs from 7 to 14. The foods you eat will create an environment inside your body that falls somewhere on this scale. For optimal balance, we should be eating 75% alkaline foods and 25% acid foods to maintain a pH of 7.4 in the body. Most fruits and vegetables are alkaline foods. Seeds and soaked nuts fall on the alkaline side. Foods such as unsoaked nuts, grains, beans, legumes, oils, and animal products will fall on the acidic side of the chart. Acid fruits such as citrus fall on the alkaline side of the chart but they will create an acid environment in the stomach. There aren't many raw vegan foods on the acid side of the chart. If you’re body is too high on the alkaline scale, then raw organic apple cider vinegar may be used to bring yourself back into balance because of it’s low pH of 3.075.

When I first started out on raw foods I was experiencing frequent indigestion. Eating fruits and melons with slower digesting foods caused this problem. The problem disappeared once I started practicing the food combining rules. Fruits have complex sugars that are predigested and turn into simple sugars as they ripen. They should be eaten alone and on an empty stomach for optimal digestion. If they are eaten with other foods requiring longer digestion times, the fruit will be held in the stomach and ferment. The fermenting sugars may create gas, abdominal discomfort, and will be unusable by the body. I usually eat fruit 10 to 30 minutes before eating salads to give them time to digest. This takes away my cravings for dessert. The food combining rules do not apply to fresh juice, which requires no digestion and is immediately absorbed into the bloodstream. I occasionally eat fruits combined with soaked nuts and vegetables in a gourmet recipe. I’m able to digest this combination with no problems, unless I overeat. If I overeat during a meal, I will eat a digestive enzyme supplement to prevent indigestion. More information about enzyme supplements can be found in chapter 6. Celery and leafy greens may be combined with any food. Eating celery after meals helps to clean the mouth and will assist in digestion. A fruit smoothie isn’t complete without a generous serving of greens and celery blended in.

Soaked nuts and seeds may be eaten with vegetables and acid or sub-acid fruits. Nuts should not be combined with avocados or starchy foods, which can be difficult combinations to digest. Starches should never be combined with proteins, acid fruits, or fermented foods. These foods require different pH environments in the stomach. Do not drink liquids during or immediately after meals because the digestive enzymes will be diluted. Wait 15 to 30 minutes after drinking liquids to eat foods. The Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine (RGLFC) diet is a popular approach created by Dr. Gabriel Cousens and the staff of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center. The RGLFC diet is based on research on microorganisms and the pH scale. There are harmful microorganisms, called mycotoxins, which are floating around in the bloodstream. Mycotoxins are bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, and parasites. They can enter the body through food and water. The most common foods containing mycotoxins are stored grains and animal products. Some vegan foods that contain high levels of mycotoxins include peanuts, corn, cashews, yeast, alcohol, soy sauce, Nama Shoyu (raw soy sauce), heated oils, and mushrooms. A dark-field microscope will give you a great view of the mycotoxins swimming around in a sample of blood. The dark-field microscope has shown that sugar feeds the mycotoxins.

RGLFC is broken into three phases. Phase One requires a fruit, sugar, and mycotoxin free diet for three months to clean out the body. After three months one may transition into Phase Two and resume eating low-glycemic fruits and sugars. Phase Three includes moderate glycemic foods, and high glycemic foods in moderation. The RGLFC food selections emphasize low to moderate glycemic foods. The glycemic index ranks carbohydrates based on their effect on blood sugar levels. The carbohydrates that break down into sugars quickly have the highest glycemic indexes. The low glycemic carbohydrates break down slowly and gradually release sugar into the bloodstream. A high glycemic diet puts stress on the liver and kidneys, and it may lead to such health problems as diabetes, chronic fatigue, and skin problems. The Rainbow Green diet recommends that dietary intake of the 3 macronutrients are 30% to 50% protein, 10% to 25% fat, and 30% to 55% carbohydrates. The Tree of Life has classified fruits according to their glycemic index. They have found that low-glycemic fruits are the salad fruits such as tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, lemons, limes, and avocados. Low to moderate glycemic fruits include grapefruits, most berries, and pomegranates. Moderate glycemic fruits include apples, pears, oranges, peaches, plums, and blackberries.

The high glycemic fruits include apricots, figs, mangos, grapes, raisins, melons, bananas, papaya, pineapple, kiwi, sapote, cherimoya, durian, and dates. You may view the Tree of Life food chart by Clicking Here.-> http://site.therawdiet.com/pdf/RainbowGreenPhases.pdf Dr. Doug Graham teaches people how to achieve optimal health and vitality with a low fat raw vegan diet. He is a popular speaker and is the president of a natural hygiene organization called Healthful Living International. His approach is called 80-10-10, or 8-1-1, which represents the average percentages of the three main nutrients. The diet is 80% carbohydrates, 10% protein, and 10% fat. For support with this approach you can visit Dr. Graham’s message board at http://www.vegsource.com/talk/raw/index.html The 8-1-1 approach is based on research that shows the dangers of a high fat diet, such as clogged arteries, slow blood circulation, and low energy. The 80% carbohydrates are found primarily in fruits, vegetables, and sprouts. A typical day for this approach includes a large quantity of fruit and greens. Fruit is eaten for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, eat all the fruit you care for, and then follow it with a large salad. This approach avoids spices, herbs, supplements, salt, dehydrated foods, cultured foods, and superfoods. The guidelines call for eating whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic food. The approach that brought raw foods into the mainstream is the Dr. Ann Wigmore diet. Dr. Wigmore moved from Lithuania to

America and adopted a Standard American Diet (SAD), which quickly made her sick. She regained her health with a raw vegan diet and her gray hair returned to its natural color! Dr. Ann is perhaps the world’s best known raw foodist. She opened a health retreat with Viktoras Kulvinskas in 1963 called the Hippocrates Health Institute. Ann and Viktoras are often referred to as the mother and father of the modern raw foods movement. Dr. Wigmore found that a diet including large amounts of wheatgrass juice, sprouts, blended foods, cultured foods, and a few other raw vegan foods create optimal health. Ann and Viktoras helped introduce wheatgrass juice to health food stores around the world. The grasses, sprouts, algae, and sea vegetable foods are some of the most nutrient rich foods on the planet. The Wigmore diet uses mostly wheatgrass juice and blended foods to maximize the absorption of nutrients. Blending foods will save you hours of chewing time each day. The blender is more efficient than our teeth when it comes to breaking down food. The foundation of the Wigmore diet is “Energy Soup”, which supplies almost every essential nutrient needed by the body. People following the Wigmore program eat Energy Soup every day. It is designed to supply all essential nutrients and to help you eat large quantities of greens. Dr. Wigmore’s personal assistants report that she thrived on energy soup and it put her in a space where she didn’t need to sleep anymore.

I eat Energy Soup and variations of it as often as possible. It is helpful to purchase a second blender to carry with you in the car and to work so you can make the soup no matter where you are. Energy soup is best consumed in small amounts throughout the day. In the morning add a ¼ avocado, and in the evening add soaked nuts and seeds. Some of the best are hemp seeds, soaked flax seeds, soaked almonds, or a nut or seed cheese. Fill the blender half way with apples or watermelon. Mango or papaya may be used occasionally if they are in season. Fill the other half of the blender with organic greens. Some of Dr. Ann’s favorites were dandelion, purslaine, lambsquarter, sunflower baby greens, and buckwheat baby greens. Blend this a little to make room for the remaining ingredients. These include figs (either raw or dried and then soaked), 2 handfuls of soaked and rinsed dulse sea vegetables, a small section of aloe leaf scooped out, sauerkraut, and rejuvelac (a cultured beverage made with sprouted wheat berries). Each bite should be chewed 30 times or more with gratitude and love. I personally do not use rejuvelac. I substitute it with miso, and kombucha or green tea. There are a few other components essential to the Wigmore program to assist healing and detoxification. Jumping on a minitrampoline or rebounder is essential for detoxing the major organs such as the kidney and liver. Dry brushing with a skin brush every morning gently cleans toxins off the skin and increases blood circulation. Enemas are

used in the morning to assist in cleansing the colon and digestive tract. The use of these healing tools has made the Wigmore program very effective and successful. Brian Clement took over Ann Wigmore’s position as the director of The Hippocrates Health Institute in the 1980’s. This is a world famous raw foods healing retreat using a low fat raw vegan diet to restore harmony to the body. The Hippocrates program has people minimize their intake of fruit, especially if they have symptoms of disease. Their research found that sick people were improving their health on a living foods diet, but the health problems wouldn’t go away. They found that the health problems would completely disappear when all sugar was removed from the diet. Once the person is healed, they may resume eating fruit in moderation. The Hippocrates Program teaches that tree-ripened fruit is an ideal food for humans. Unfortunately, most people don’t have access to ripe fruit. The fruit is picked weeks and months before it is ripe, and then shipped to the stores. Fruit that is picked before it is ripe doesn’t have the chance to fully develop. Instead of fruit, the Hippocrates approach relies heavily on fresh juices, vegetables, and sprouts. Wheatgrass juice is consumed daily, as well as a green vegetable juice. The base of the green juice is 1/4 cucumber, 1/4 celery, and 1/2 baby greens and sprouts. The main baby green used is sunflower. This drink supplies every essential amino acid, and it is very high in vitamins, minerals, and chlorophyll.

TheRealTruthAboutHealth.com is Dr. Brian Clement's personal website where he answers all types of questions on health and nutrition. In that video, Kulvinskas gives a great insight on the early beginnings of the raw foods movement with Ann Wigmore. Essential Nutrients

Most people will thrive on a raw vegan diet. There are a few nutrients that are hard to find in a vegan diet and extra care should be taken to include them. The hard to find nutrients include vitamin A, vitamin B-12, vitamin D, zinc, selenium, iodine, and the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA. Our bodies should be able to make most of these nutrients, but some people may not make enough of them. B-12 is not found in raw vegan foods. You must eat either a B-12 supplement, or nutritional yeast. Your local health food store should have a high quality B-12 supplement. The best can be found on sites such as the TreeofLife.nu , The Raw Food World, and Hippocrates Health Institute. Nutritional yeast is a popular vegan seasoning which has many culinary and nutritional uses. It is high in B-12 and other B vitamins. I have never heard of problems eating nutritional yeast. Gabriel Cousens says that we should avoid foods with yeast, including nutritional yeast. I think it is okay to eat nutritional yeast on occasion as a seasoning, but don’t use it as a foundational food.

I had a few friends around age 35 that were thriving on a 100% raw vegan diet for 3 years. After 3 years, they started having bad symptoms of low energy, not feeling well, and then two of them were so low on energy they couldn’t even get out of bed! A visit to the hospital found that the only thing seriously wrong with them was a B-12 deficiency. A simple series of B-12 shots brought them back to normal and all symptoms disappeared. Don't risk a B-12 deficiency, it’s too dangerous! Another nutrient to watch for is vitamin A. Vitamin A is not really found in plant foods. Beta-carotene is found in plant foods and is the precursor to Vitamin A, which means our body uses betacarotene to make Vitamin A. Approximately four units of beta-carotene are needed to create one unit of vitamin A. Beta-carotene is easy to find in fruits and vegetables and is available in high levels in goji berries, carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, some leafy greens, and algae. Ideally, our body will make adequate levels of vitamin D from sunlight. It is very important to sunbathe as often as possible, even during the winter. The sunlight is an important nutrient and optimal health depends on it. Sunbathing may be difficult in northern environments during the winter. Some people who are unable to sunbathe will definitely need a vitamin D supplement. If you’re not receiving 20 minutes of sunlight a day, you may want to get tested to determine if you need a vitamin D supplement.

There are many excellent, high quality, and natural vitamin D supplements available. It’s easy enough to supplement with this important nutrient during the winter. Zinc, Selenium, and Iodine are three hard to find minerals on any diet. The best source of zinc is the green pumpkin seeds and they should be eaten on a regular basis. Brazil nuts are the best source of selenium and eating three a day will satisfy your daily requirement. Iodine is an essential nutrient not found in land plants. Iodine is used by the thyroid gland to create hormones. An iodine deficiency causes the thyroid gland to grow into a goiter. We need between 150 and 1,100 micrograms in our daily diet. The only sources are sea vegetables or supplements. The sea vegetable kelp is the best choice because it supplies between 450 to 5,000 micrograms per gram. I like the kelp powder, which can be sprinkled on salads or blended into smoothies. SeaVeg.com has great sea veggies. I highly recommend taking an iodine supplement. Most doctors I have spoken with say that almost 100% of people are deficient in iodine, and it takes around three months of supplementation to obtain the required levels. Essential Fats

The two essential fatty acids are classified as omega-3 and omega-6. The term for the omega-3 fats is alpha-linolenic acid, and the term for the omega-6 fats is linoleic acid. For optimal health, we need to eat them in a ratio of about 1:3, which is 1

omega-3 unit to 3 omega-6 units. The ratio should never rise above 1:5. The body cannot make these fats and they must be supplied through food. They are required for normal cell, tissue, gland, and organ function. Some of the foods that supply the omega-6 fats include sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, tomatoes, beets, carrots, walnuts, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, and sprouted grains. Some of the foods that supply the omega-3 fats include flax seeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, broccoli, and cauliflower. The nuts and seeds are the best sources fat. Juicing high quantities of vegetables and leafy greens, especially the sunflower green sprouts, will give you a fairly high quantity of essential fats. Flax seeds are the richest source of omega-3. They are about 60% omega-3, and 20% omega-6. Hemp seeds supply the two essential fats in the perfect ratio needed by the body. Both the brown and golden colored flax seeds are nutritious. Two to four tablespoons of flax and/or hemp seeds a day, or a tablespoon of flax or hemp oil, should satisfy your omega-3 requirements. The essential omega-3 fats are made up of three different components. The short-chain omega-3’s are found in plant foods and are called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). The long-chain omega-3 fats are called EPA, DPA, and DHA. These are extremely important for signal transmission in the eyes and brain. Over

60% of the brain is made up of these two fats. Most people can make the long-chain fats from the plant-based short chain fats. A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition (BJN) in October 2002 measured rates of conversion of ALA into the longchain fats. The conclusion was that women converted an average of 36% and men converted an average of 16% of the ALA into the long-chain fats. As long as there is enough plant based omega-3’s in the diet, the body should be able to create the long chain fats. There are some people who will need to supplement or eat the long chain fats, especially those suffering from depression and pregnant women. EPA and DHA are available in a couple different vegan foods. Purslane contains EPA and is a very nutritious herb. Purslane is not sold in the stores but it grows wild in almost every garden. EPA and DHA are also found in algae. One type is an algae supplement called “O-Mega-Zen” which contains 300 mg. of DHA per serving. There is another form of algae grown in Klamath Lake, Oregon. It is one of the most nutrient dense foods on earth and it contains both EPA and DHA. It is AFA (Aphanizomenon flosaquae) blue-green algae, and is harvested by a few companies. The most popular is E3 Live. They make it both in a powder and liquid form. Dr. Gabriel Cousens writes “E3Live and AFA Cyanophyta are the only source of vegetarian food that has the long chain omega 3's. Long chain omega 3's are extremely critical for the health of our bodies... and particularly for depression and anti-inflammatory.” Also on E3Live.com, Bryan Clement discusses E3 Live and says “I just am very happy that you're speaking about this product,

because it's the most important supplement that's hit the 21st century.” http://site.TheRawDiet.com/e3live.html is the official E3 site. Two nutrients people are especially concerned with in today’s society are calcium and magnesium. This is probably due to the increasing rates of osteoporosis and weak bones. A big reason for the high number of cases of osteoporosis is due to an acidic diet. When a person’s pH level is below 7.4, the body will pull minerals such as calcium out of the bones to maintain an alkaline environment. Calcium and magnesium are plentiful in the raw vegan diet. Leafy greens are the best sources. This website provides a free tool to help you find the best foods for every nutrient, http://www.nutritiondata.com/nutrient-search.html Here are a few of the best sources for Calcium (per 100 grams) Lambsquarter-309mg ; Garlic-181mg; Kale-205mg Dandelion-187mg; Bok Choy-105mg; Parsley-138mg Collard Greens-145mg; Kelp-168mg; Spinach-99mg Flaxseeds-199mg; Almonds-248mg; Sesame Seeds-975mg Arugala-160mg; Oranges-43mg; Here are a few good sources of magnesium (per 100 grams) Flaxseeds-362mg; Cashews-292mg; Almonds-275mg; Kelp-121mg; Pumpkin Seeds-152mg for one ounce Purslane-68mg, Spinach-79mg; Kiwi-30mg Sesame Seeds-351mg; Brazil Nuts-376mg; Almonds-275mg

Chapter 3 -Nourishing foods

The raw vegan diet supplies an abundance of nutrients when a variety of foods are eaten. This chapter will provide an overview of the numerous food choices available. I am constantly discovering exciting new foods to eat. I love to visit the Asian markets to try out their exotic fruits and vegetables. In my my food adventures I have discovered interesting, exotic, and delicious foods like jackfruit, cherimoyas, kefir, almond milk, raw cacao / chocolate, irish moss, durian, miso, and Himalayan salt. My favorite dietary staples are sprouts. They are the easiest to digest foods because they are incredibly high in enzymes. Sprouts are the cheapest and most nutritious foods available, and you grow your own organic salad for just pennies a pound. One pound of seed will give you 10 pounds of sprouts. Sprouts are 6 to 10 times more nutritious that the best organic vegetables!!! The best part about growing sprouts is that you don’t need any prior knowledge of gardening, and there is no soil or special lighting required. Setting up an indoor garden is a fun and exciting process. Growing sprouts takes just minutes a day. The easiest way to start an indoor garden is to purchase an automatic sprouter. The automatic sprouter does everything for you. It is set up to water the plants at scheduled intervals. All you have to do is add the seeds, and a couple days later you eat! This is ideal for people who aren’t home long enough to water the sprouts.

There are at least 14 different varieties of sprouts, which can be classified under seeds, legumes, grains, and beans. There are two main types of sprouts, the micro-greens and the sprouted seeds / grains / beans. The micro-greens are some of the most nutritious foods on earth and I recommend eating large quantities daily! These include baby sunflower greens, wheatgrass, and barley greens. I usually purchase sprouting seeds from my local health food store. Mold usually isn’t a problem with homegrown sprouts. Mold contamination usually occurs with store bought sprouts that have been sitting on the shelves for a long period of time. A small amount of hydrogen peroxide diluted with water will help kill off any potential mold growing on the sprouts. Add a teaspoon of technical grade H2O2 to water and use a spray bottle to water the sprouts. Mold usually won’t be a problem you need to worry about. Grains are a controversial food in the raw foods community. Many people enjoy them sprouted. Others avoid them because the taste is very bland when eaten alone. They have phytic acid, which may pull calcium out of the bones. Cooked grains cause mood swings, contribute to obesity, and have addictive chemicals called opioids. It is estimated that approximately 1 out of every 33 people in the U.S. has celiac disease, which is intolerance to the gluten found in grains. When grains are eaten in excess, the sugars are converted into fat and stored in fatty tissue.

Grains have been linked to many chronic health problems, which include digestive disorders, allergies, depression, diabetes, and they suppress the immune system. One of the main reason people have problems with grains are because they are stored for long periods of time. During storage they become contaminated with mycotoxins. Wheat, corn, barley, rye, and peanuts are the worst offenders when it comes to mycotoxins. Wheat is the worst offender when it comes to food allergies. Most people will see health improvements when they stop eating wheat. Wheatgrass juice is different than wheat and it does not contain gluten. Some people enjoy sprouted wheat and it is helpful if one is trying to gain weight. The safest grains to sprout are quinoa, millet, buckwheat, amaranth, oats, and spelt. Wild rice is not raw and cannot be sprouted. The rice may split apart, but it will not sprout. Raw grains for sprouting may be purchased at SproutPeople.com or the Hippocrates Health Institute. Cravings for cooked grains such as bread and pasta are very tough to overcome. Many people are addicted to them because they break down to sugar and contain addictive opiates. The best way to overcome the cravings is through complete abstinence, and cravings should disappear in a few days. Many people eat a 70% to 90% raw foods diet, and include cooked, sprouted grain breads sold in health food stores.

The health food stores have a great selection of sprouted breads. Some brands are made with sprouted grains and are baked at low temperatures. The most popular brand here in Portland is “Dave’s Killer Bread.” It is quite easy to make your own sprouted grain bread using a dehydrator. I’ve found that one of the best ways to overcome the bread cravings is to eat a high quality protein, such as algae, whenever the cravings start. Blended fruit smoothies also take away any desire I have for bread. Water Is Nothing But H20, or Is It? Water is one of the most important nutrients because our bodies consist of approximately 80% water. It is very important to stay well hydrated for optimal health. The question of water quantity and quality must be addressed. In general, the bare minimum quantity one needs to drink can be found by dividing your body weight in pounds by two. This number is the minimum amount of ounces you need on a daily basis. For example, a person weighing 140 pounds will need a minimum of 70 ounces of water daily. There are many factors to consider that can change the minimum quantity. An active person who exercises will need more water. Most fresh raw and living foods are around 80% juice, so a person eating these foods will not need to drink much water. Cooked foods have the juices cooked out of them so more water needs to be consumed to replace it. Raw dehydrated foods have all the water removed, so extra water may need to be consumed when eating them. The quantity of caffeine and salt consumed

will also play a factor in the quantity of water needed because these substances cause dehydration. The quality of water is perhaps the most important issue to address. The water quality around the world has been contaminated with dangerous chemicals and is not fit for consumption. The water in third world countries is dirty and filled with parasites and bacteria. In the industrialized western countries, the cities are adding chemicals to kill off the harmful bacteria and parasites to make the tap water safe to drink. Many of these chemical additives are toxic to our body and could be one reason why cancer rates are so high. There are hundreds of cancer-causing chemicals found in city tap water, including chlorine and pharmaceutical drugs. Tap water is full of inorganic minerals that our bodies cannot use. Minerals found in the soil are considered inorganic. They are converted by plants to the organic form that we need. For example, we need the mineral iron but we can't eat nails! You can see these minerals collect as sediment inside your teapot and water filter. This sediment accumulates over time inside your body and is the cause of numerous health problems. If you're not using a water filter, your kidneys and liver become the filter. This puts a large and unnecessary burden on two of your most important organs. In the past, a simple water filter would be enough to clean up tap water. There has been a fairly recent discovery that has drastically changed the rules.

In December 2004 scientists released a study that found dangerously high levels of the rocket fuel perchlorate in 90% of the water and food sampled across the country. In the 1990’s, the U.S. government began adding a chemical called MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) to automobile gasoline all across the United States. This chemical is the most carcinogenic chemical known to humans, and it causes cancers in lab animals in extremely small amounts. These chemicals are contaminating most drinking water supplies in the U.S. There are many choices for water filtration available. A water distiller is a great choice because it heats the water and turns it into steam. It flows into a separate chamber and condenses back into water with all the toxins removed. A home water distiller is the only way to remove all inorganic minerals, toxins, perchlorates, and MTBE. The one problem with distilled water is that it changes the structure of the water molecules. Dr. Masaru Emoto has written an incredible book titled "The Hidden Messages in Water". This book shows many beautiful photographs of perfect water crystals. He also has photos of water crystals that are ugly, losing their form, and polluted. The water crystals of distilled water have lost their shape and structure. There are some products on the market that will restructure the water and return it to health. David Wolfe’s website Longevity Now has some good drinking water products. You may also want to look into using a water ionizer. It improves the quality of the water and it tastes good! It purifies the water,

and changes the pH from acidic to alkaline. I have some water ionizers available in The Raw Diet Health Shop.

My favorite water is spring water. There are many natural springs throughout the world. You can drive to the spring and fill up your water jugs. Most of the springs are listed at FindASpring.com , I have one within a 40 minute drive of home. I also like ionized water, and distilled water that has been restructured. Most charcoal based water purifiers work great. Your local health food store should have a good selection.

Sea vegetables are an important addition to the diet. They are some of the highest mineral foods on earth because they contain between 30 to 80 minerals. They are especially important today because poor farming practices have caused the nutrient dense topsoil to erode into the rivers and oceans. Because of this, our fruits and vegetables don’t have as many vitamins and minerals as they did 50 years ago. Sea vegetables and algae have many essential vitamins and minerals that are very difficult to find in land produce.

There is a large variety of sea vegetables to choose from, some of the most common are dulse, kelp, nori, alaria, laver, sea lettuce, and wakame. Once you start using sea vegetables, a meal won’t feel complete without them. An easy way to add sea veggies to your diet is to purchase them in granule form. Dulse, nori, and kelp are sold in small bottles that appear to be saltshakers. You can use these to sprinkle the

sea veggies on your salad. The salty taste makes them a perfect salt substitute, and the small bottles make it easy to travel with. Kelp is the absolute best source of iodine, supplying 100% of the recommended daily allowance per serving. On top of that, it contains hormones, 60 minerals and trace elements, and all 21 amino acids. Occasionally, small snail shells are found in whole dulse. You should check for them by swirling your hand around in the dulse soak water. This will cause the shells to fall to the bottom of the bowl. Nori is a perfect sea vegetable to use for sushi rolls. Acting like a sponge, kelp absorbs almost all the nutrients essential to life from the water. It contains over 60 minerals and elements, 21 amino acids, simple and complex carbohydrates and several essential plant growth hormones. There are many tasty and delicious beverages available. One of the best is found in a young coconut. There are two varieties of coconut available. One is an old, mature, brown, round, and hairy coconut. The other is a white, cylindrical young coconut with a pointy top. The young coconut is more popular because it’s filled soft coconut meat and a pint of delicious coconut water. Coconut water is an incredibly nutritious beverage filled with vitamins, minerals, and sugars. Each liter of water is filtered through the tree for over 9 months, making it one of the cleanest sources of water on earth.

Young coconuts are delicious in recipes. The coconut water and meat can be blended together to make a cream. A very popular and nutritious beverage is vegan milk made from nuts and seeds. The two most popular are almond and sesame seed milk. They are very rich in essential nutrients such as calcium and protein. By blending up the milk with different seasonings you can create a wide variety of flavors. One of my favorite flavors is chocolate milk, which is made by adding raw honey with raw carob or cacao bean powder to almond milk. You can make nut milk in two ways- A nut milk bag, or the Tribest Soyabella. With the Soyabella you just put the nuts, seeds, and water in and push a button. The machine grinds the nuts and filters out the fiber, leaving a rich, creamy milk. The other option is to use a nut milk bag or cheesecloth. You blend up the nuts with water and any other ingredient you like, and then strain out the pulp with the nut milk bag. Some ingredients I like to use are dates, raw honey or agave nectar, cinnamon, and vanilla. In my store, I carry Elaine Love's nut milk bag, she has a great video showing how to use it at http://youtu.be/TvXx8c2j2KA

You can use the leftover pulp from almond milk in many recipes. It is called “almond flour” and is delicious in raw vegan cakes, cookies, and crackers. Herbal tea is a very nourishing beverage and there are many different plants that can be used. Green tea and Yerba Mate are filled with many unique antioxidants and vitamins. There are many herbal teas that are great for assisting the body with detoxification and boosting the immune system. There are many unique plants and herbs used for tea found in the Amazon rain forest. Two of the best herbs that boost your immune system are p’au darco and cat’s claw. While Green Tea and Yerba Mate are my staples, I recently discovered a version of green tea called Pu-erh. It is a green tea that has been cultured for a few years. The culturing process increases the antioxidant level and has many positive health benefits, both nutritionally and medicinally. My friend is a student at the Portland Naturopathic College and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) school. The TCM doctors drink Pu-erh almost every day, similar to how American's drink a daily cup of coffee. I drink pu-erh tea a few times a week and love it. There is some more detailed info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea I purchase it from my local tea shop, or TaoofTea.com Here is a quote from TaoOfTea.com ,

“Puer tea has a recorded history of more than 1,700 years. Many people in the area believe the tea plant was left to them by the Prime Minister of Shu, named Zhugeliang, during the Three Kingdoms period (A.C. 220 to 280). Though the area is considered the birthplace of the tea plant, it is unknown exactly when the species was first used.” The Amazing Lemon Ginger Blast One of my favorite beverages is “Lou’s Lemon Ginger Blast”. Lou Corona taught me this amazing recipe. It is excellent for the cardiovascular system, cleaning the blood, it helps fight fungus, parasites, harmful bacteria, and it helps dissolve mucous, tumors, and fat. I also love the way it makes my skin radiate and glow. It greatly improves blood circulation and helps me stay warm in the winter. I try to drink this every day, and always on an empty stomach. You will need 1 inch of fresh ginger root. Over time you can slowly work up to 5 or 6 inches of ginger. Peel two lemons and discard the skin. Run the ginger and lemons through a juicer with two or three sweet apples. Add two cups of water, and mix in 1/8 teaspoon of 90,000 H.U. (heat units) of cayenne pepper powder or fresh cayenne. Over time, slowly increase the amount of cayenne until you can safely add one tablespoon. Be very careful with the cayenne, it is hot! A blender may also be used if you remove the fiber with a strainer or nut milk bag. There are certain fermented beverages that promote health, digestion, and deliver beneficial bacteria to the digestive system.

Some popular fermented beverages include kombucha tea, kefir beverages, and rejuvelac. Kefir grains are traditionally used to make fermented dairy beverages using dairy milk. Kefir grains are not grains, they are living beneficial bacteria that can be used with nut and seed milks and juice. Kefir beverages are similar to yogurt. They are high in nutrients and probiotics. Most health food stores have a good selection of kefir drinks in the milk and yogurt section. You could make kefir at home. There are many places to purchase kefir grains on the internet or local health food store. I carry one brand in my store, the Body Ecology Kefir Starter. Kombucha tea is a traditional beverage from Asia and has been used for thousands of years. There are a few good brands of raw kombucha tea available in health food stores. Dom’s kefir website is an excellent resource for kefir. http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html Dom’s site discusses using kefir with dairy. There is an excellent chapter with in-depth information on vegan kefir milk in the book “Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine” by Dr. Gabriel Cousens. You could make kefir beverages using vegan foods such as almond milk and grape juice as the base. Pineapple juice is a wonderful beverage that should be consumed on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. Purchase the

pineapple that has the most yellow, and then ripen it up by poking small fork holes in the bottom stem end of the fruit. Put it in a glass or ceramic saucer with water in the direct sunlight. A windowsill or even a full spectrum light will work. After a day or two it will smell wonderful and will be yellow all over. Unripe pineapple will burn the mouth and skin. Pineapple pulp is indigestible and contains fibers that will poke holes in the lining of your digestive tract. Peel the ripe pineapple and juice it first thing in the morning. Chug the juice on an empty stomach and don’t eat or drink anything for at least an hour. The pineapple contains a powerful enzyme called bromelain that digests fats and proteins. Chugging the juice will help dissolve any old fatty deposits inside the body. The leftover pineapple pulp does amazing things to the skin. Rub the pineapple pulp on the skin over any areas of the body that need to have fat dissolved. Leave it on and massage for only 10 minutes because the pulp turns acidic very quickly. Salt is a substance that is a little controversial. Most health authorities agree that refined and processed table salt should be avoided, it is not a healthy substance. It is 99.9% sodium-chloride, and it has a little iodine and anticaking chemicals added to it. There are much better choices when it comes to salt. Our daily requirements for natural salt, sodium, can be obtained through fruits and vegetables. Some of the best food sources are celery, tomato, and sea vegetables.

Celery and lemon will make an excellent salt replacement. Dehydrate both and then place into a coffee grinder to pulverize into a powder. Overcoming cravings for salty foods is easily done by increasing your intake of celery, as well as drinking fresh juice that includes a generous serving of celery. When purchasing salt, there are only three companies that can be recommended. The most popular brand is Celtic Sea Salt. This salt comes from France and is sun dried. It is approximately 98% sodium chloride, and it contains 84 minerals. Another brand is called Real Salt. This is an unrefined, unprocessed, and high mineral natural salt from Utah. A third brand is called Himalayan Salt. It was recently discovered deep in the Himalayan Mountains and has been underground for millions of years. It is clean and contains around 84 minerals. I find the Celtic Sea Salt brand to be the best tasting and I use it daily. Adding a little pinch of salt to your drinking water is a great way to consume it because it soaks into the water and is easily absorbed by the body. Salt is a great way to bring out the flavor and juice in gourmet recipes. Cultured and Fermented Foods Fermented foods are very powerful. They are living, high in enzymes, and they provide numerous benefits to the digestive system. They help to replenish the essential friendly bacteria, whose presence is a requirement for a healthy digestive tract. There is an excellent company called Rejuvenative Foods that

sells live fermented foods throughout the US. Many supermarkets carry fermented foods but they are pasteurized and dead. An excellent website and book on fermented foods is http://www.wildfermentation.com/ “Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of LiveCulture Foods” by Sandor Ellix Katz

Some of the popular fermented foods include sauerkraut, kim chee, miso, yogurt, and kefir. These foods are easy to make and they can be stored for months or years if they are prepared correctly. When making sauerkraut or kim chee, the fermenting process can be sped up by adding a teaspoon of a high quality probiotic and/or a tablespoon of miso. This ensures that the beneficial bacteria is present and multiplies rapidly. Within one hour, one bacteria grows into two. After two hours, the single bacteria will have grown into 4. It will have multiplied 256 times after 8 hours. I’ve found that probiotics containing multiple strains of bacteria give the best results. You can make your own sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickled vegetables with either 'The Sauerkraut Maker', or the “Harsch Fermentation Crock”, available at http://www.therawdiet.com/sakicrpo.html Miso is a paste traditionally made out of cooked beans. One of the best brands is called South River Miso. They have about 12 different varieties to choose from. You can make a delicious miso soup broth by warming up the water first. Just don’t bring the soup to a boiling temperature.

Raw apple cider vinegar is another live food that has numerous health benefits. It is much different from other vinegars, which have all been cooked and pasteurized. Raw apple cider vinegar is the only vinegar that promotes health. A delicious cheese can be made with nuts and seeds. Just soak them for the required length of time and blend with a little water and a quarter teaspoon of a high quality probiotic or miso. Let the mixture sit for a minimum of 3 hours to let the mixture ferment. I find it tastes better after sitting for 24 hours. You can also put the mixture into cheesecloth and hang it up, and then squeeze the water out. My favorite ingredients to use are sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and almonds. The beneficial bacteria will pre-digest the nuts and seeds and release their nutrients. Dehydration is a method of food preparation that dries and warms food. These foods are fun to create and the low temperature preserves the enzymes. The foods are dried with a dehydrator, with the sun, or with an oven set to the lowest temperature. They are great for making recipes that mimic cooked foods, such as crackers, cookies, breads, burgers, cereal, trail mix, dried fruits, marinated vegetables, and anything else you want to dehydrate. In general, the food temperature should not go above 118 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve the enzymes. With food dehydrators, the temperature can be set high at around 145 degrees for the initial two hours, then it is turned down under 118 degrees. The food temperature never gets that

high. The water sweats out of the food and keeps it cool. Setting the dehydrator to 145 degrees F for the first two hours will speed up the process, and prevent any bad bacteria from growing. Dehydration is a great method of food preservation. When your garden has an abundance of fruits and vegetables, you can dehydrate them and store for use in the winter. One day a month should be set aside for preparing dehydrated foods. They make the perfect snack foods for the times you are feeling too lazy to prepare a meal. When hunger strikes you can pull out some crackers and top them with sauerkraut or seed cheese, or pull out some sprouted cereal grains and eat with almond milk. These foods taste incredible when eaten warm right out of the dehydrator. One of my favorite chili recipes requires putting it in the dehydrator 2 hours before serving so it can be enjoyed warm. Another great recipe calls for soaking and marinating nuts and seeds, then dehydrating them overnight. You can save yourself a great deal of time by soaking and dehydrating a whole months supply of nuts and seeds. The dehydrating process takes a long time, usually between 12 and 24 hours, but it is well worth the wait. There is no reason to cook the food if you are craving warmth. When cooks make soup, they heat it to incredibly hot temperatures and serve it when it is much too hot to eat. I’m sure we have all had our moments of impatience and burnt our mouth on hot soup. Instead of cooking foods and letting them cool down, warm the foods up to the desired temperature. You can tell when it gets to the right temperature by using your finger or a thermometer.

Warm the soup on the stove and test it with your finger. The soup is warm enough when you can still comfortably put your finger in. Warm soup is the perfect comfort food to get me through the cold winter. The dehydrator is perfect for preparing foods for traveling. Eating raw while traveling should be easy if you prepare your food ahead of time. If you have a long trip planned, put aside some time to make dehydrated foods such as crackers, cookies, granola, pate, fruits, and trail mix. These foods will store for long periods of time and they won’t need refrigeration. There are many other foods and appliances that can be used during travel. Basic travel foods include fresh fruits, sea vegetables, nuts, seeds, nut butters, olives, superfoods, miso, and vegetables. These are perfect for traveling because they don’t require any preparation. You could pack them in a cooler, using containers that are well sealed. The container lids can be used as a cutting board. Fresh dips made in advance will store well in the cooler. Excellent dips include salsa, guacamole, pesto, nut butters, or pate, along with fresh veggies sliced up for dipping. The superfoods will supply all your nutrient needs in compact packages. Great travel superfoods include nuts, seeds, dehydrated foods, bee pollen, goji berries, coconut oil, and green powders such as chlorella, E3Live, spirulina, and other green superfood blend supplements. A blender and juicer may be taken along with an electrical power inverter, which will allow you to plug them into a boat or automobile. A small glass jar is handy for soaking nuts and seeds.

Chapter 4-Tools of the Trade

The raw chef's kitchen is set up a little differently than a cook's kitchen. Walking into the kitchen of a raw foodist is like stepping into a different world. There are no toasters, microwaves, or coffee pots in site. The stovetop is used for counter space, and the oven is used for storage. Purchasing new kitchen appliances may be a little overwhelming at first because of the large selection available. You shouldn't be spending all day in the kitchen preparing food unless it is a special occasion. We should all be eating to live, not living to eat. The kitchen tools in this chapter are designed to make food preparation quick and easy. Without them you may be wasting hours chopping, grating, and blending. These appliances will simplify your life and help you to prepare the most nutritious and delicious food on earth. A chef's most important kitchen utensil is a sharp knife. You will need at least one paring knife and one large knife. Purchase the highest quality you can afford. Take good care of your knives and they will last forever. Purchase knives that can be sharpened at home, and keep them sharp to prevent injuries. Sharp knives will make chopping controlled, quick, and easy. Always use a cutting board and place a damp kitchen towel beneath it to prevent it from slipping. Using knives on kitchen counters, metal, glass, or steel surfaces may cause slipping and sliding. A plastic or wood cutting board may be used, and a wooden board is ideal. Scrub it thoroughly to clean and kill bacteria. Plastic boards are easier to clean but they tend to dull

the knives. Protect your fingertips when cutting by curling your fingers under and positioning them on top of the item to be cut. Stack the food so you can cut large amounts at once. A good, heavy, sharp cleaver is the best knife for opening young coconuts. To open young coconuts, shave off the white skin on the pointy top to completely expose the brown shell. Be very careful to keep your fingers away from the blade. I slipped and cut my finger when I first attempted to open coconuts. Once the top is shaved, you can give the coconut one or two good chops on the top and the knife should penetrate through the shell. Put the knife into the opening and twist. The top should pop right off. Now pour the water through a mesh strainer to remove any floating particles. Pour it quickly into a bowl or wide mouth glass to avoid spilling. To remove the coconut meat, a flexible spatula works well. The blender is the most important kitchen appliance. Make it one of your first purchases after the knives and a grater. The blender is used for soups, smoothies, sauces, dressings, and more. It breaks down the food, making it easier to eat and digest. It will save hours of chewing time, but you still must chew each bite to mix in your salivary digestive enzymes. The cheap blenders aren't designed to blend up nuts and hard vegetables and the cheap motor will wear down quickly.

The most commonly used blenders are the Vita-Mix, BlendTec, and Omega. These high power blenders will blend every type of food completely smooth in less than a minute. The food could taste like a pulp-free juice, but the fiber is still included. It will effortlessly make a thick soup or sauce. It could make a light juice, almond milk, or soy milk. They are all strong and durable blenders with the ability to blend up nuts and vegetables. They can blend up anything with very little water. They have no problem blending up dry nuts and grains, and there is a 5 to 7 year warranty if they break. I also love the Tribest Personal Blender, which is under $100. It can handle every type of raw food with no problem. You can view these blenders at http://www.therawdiet.com/blenders1.html A food processor is a time saving multi-purpose machine. It has many different blades that can chop, blend, mince, mix, and shred. It is perfect for preparing foods for the dehydrator such as crackers, cookies, and burgers. It makes sauerkraut preparation simple, and it's perfect for making a pie for dessert. The food processor does many tasks that a blender cannot do. The blender needs liquid to work, and a food processor works well with dry ingredients. The food processor will make wonderful nut butter. To make nut butter, process the nuts or seeds with the steel "S" blade. Process the nuts for 5 minutes to break down the cell walls and release

their fat. The nuts will soon turn into a butter consistency and start climbing up the walls. I recommend the Omega FoodPro Food processor. It is a durable and high quality product with a long warranty. Fruit and Vegetable Juicers

A juicer can be an invaluable addition to your kitchen arsenal, providing you with the means to extract nutritients from your foods like no other appliance can. If you don't have a juicer, a blender can make juice by using a cheesecloth or nut milk bag to separate the fiber from the liquid. All the essential vitamins, minerals, enzymes, protein amino acids, carbohydrates, fats, and oils that are present in fruits and vegetables, are also present in their juice. There is nothing of importance left in the juice pulp. The juice contains everything you need. You do need a little fiber or pulp, but if you’re eating a fairly healthy diet, you don’t need much fiber. The fiber supplements are made for people who eat the SAD diet, eating fiber-less fast food and soda pops every day as their foundational foods. I know many people who have lived on freshly made juices only for periods ranging from two full days, up to three full months. The longest juice fast I am aware of was completed successfully in 2012. Andy Williams from Portland, Oregon, has completed a full one-year juice fast.

In fact, as of this writing in February 2013, Andy is still on his juice fast! He has not eaten any solid foods or fiber in over a year. He is using the Omega VRT350 as his main juicer, and he drinks around a gallon of juice every day. Andy is blogging about his experience at www.facebook.com/YearOfJuice There are many juicers on the market to choose from. A cheap juicer will waste food, leave behind wet pulp, and heat the juice by creating too much friction. A high quality juicer will extract two to three times higher quantity of juice, and will save you money in the long run. A cheap juicer costs under $100, while a high quality juicer may cost $230 to $400 dollars. The juicers I recommend are the Omega 8003 / 8004 / 8006 ($230 to $300), the Omega VRT350 / Hurom Slow Juicer ($359 to $380), and the Green Star Juicer ($465 to $529). The top of the line, and most expensive at $1150, is the Super Angel Juicer. The Samson Welles Press Juicer is another excellent choice. You must first grind the product with a food processor or masticating juicer such as the Champion, Omega 8004, or Samson juicer. The Welles Press works by pressing the juice with a hydraulic press. It makes a high quality juice and the pulp comes out completely dry. The press extracts all nutrients, including the good fats, oils, and amino acids. The Gerson Institute in California has one of the world’s highest success rates in healing cancer and disease. They recommend a hydraulic press juicer as the best for healing major disease.

The Greenstar is the best juicer available. It is also a little more expensive than the Samson or Omega. The Samson and Omega are perfect for most people because they will juice fruits, vegetables, greens, and wheatgrass. They will also make gourmet foods such as almond butter and frozen fruit sorbet or 'ice cream'. The Omega has fewer parts and is a little easier to clean than the Samson. I think they are both simple to clean! It takes just a few seconds to rinse off the parts. The only time consuming part is brushing the metal juicing screen. It has tiny holes that seperate the juice from the fiber. The juicers come with a little brush that you use to brush the screen. This is an easy cleaning process that only takes about one minute. There are simple citrus juicers that are perfect for making lemon, orange, or lime juice. A manual juicer will do a slow but efficient job. The automatic machines come in handy if you have large quantities of citrus to juice. You may want one of these if you're making orange juice for the entire family. A wheatgrass juicer is an augur type of machine that slowly crushes the grass at a low heat to extract the juice. Normal fruit and vegetable juicers will not juice wheatgrass. A 17"x17" tray of wheatgrass will yield about 12 to 20 ounces of juice and only requires 50 cents worth of seed. Purchasing wheatgrass juice from the juice bar will cost you almost $1 per ounce. The money you save by purchasing a juicer will quickly pay for itself.

Wheatgrass is easy to grow at home, and you can add a sea vegetable fertilizer or ocean water solution to the soil to increase the nutrient content. The manual machines are difficult to operate and you should purchase an electric juicer. The centrifugal juicers have a spinning shredder or grater disc to separate the juice from the fiber. It expels the pulp into a basket as it spins. This machine is not very efficient as it wastes food and leaves wet pulp. The juice from this machine must be consumed quickly and cannot be stored for long periods of time. The fast spinning disc creates heat and high impact, which destroys a substantial amount of nutrients. A masticating juicer crushes the food and ruptures the cells. The most popular masticating machine is the Champion Juicer. It combines three processes, it first grates, then masticates or chews the pulp, and it then squeezes the pulp. The Champion has 3 special interchangeable filters. The screen filter will make juice, removing the filter will grate vegetables, and the blank plate filter will make pates, nut butters and ice cream. You'll never crave dairy ice cream after you've tried frozen fruit run through the Champion! The only limitation to a Champion is that it cannot juice wheatgrass or herbs. The best juicers available use an auger twin-gear design. The food is slowly pressed and crushed to reduce heat, maximize the amount of juice, and protect the nutrients. These juicers are amazing. They can juice any type of fruit, vegetable, leafy green, herbs, and wheatgrass. They come with a homogenizing blank filter that can be used to make pates, nut butters, and ice cream. The top three juicers in this category are the Green Star,

Samson, and the Solo Star. The Green Star has a unique magnetic twin-gear system to produce juice that can be stored up to 48 hours in the refrigerator. Coffee Grinder, Good Mill

A coffee grinder, food mill, or spice mill plays an important role in the kitchen. They are ideal for grinding small quantities of dry seeds, nuts, spices, and raw cacao beans. The coffee grinder will turn these items into a fine powder. The coffee grinder is especially important for dry flax seeds, which cannot be digested unless they've been ground in a grinder or blender. Spiral Slicers

There are a few special appliances that will help you create unique and beautiful slices. These slicing machines make pasta noodles out of vegetables. The most popular noodle machines are the Saladacco Joyce Chen spiral slicer, the World Cusine Spirooli, the Benriner Cook Help Pro Vertical Spiral Slicer, and the Aroma Mandolin slicer. They make beautiful spaghetti-style noodles and thin slices that taste incredible. Some of the best noodles are made from the following vegetables: Butternut Squash, Cabbage, Beet, Carrots, Turnips, Zucchini, Yam, Sweet Potato, Daikon, and Young Coconut. A beautiful rainbow noodle dish can be created with red beets, golden beets, white zucchini, and orange yams. If the noodles are too hard, you can sprinkle on a little salt and massage until the noodles become soft.

The Spirooli Slicer makes long, fat noodles, and the Saladacco Joyce Chen makes thin angel-hair noodles. They also make a decorative and endless ribbon of connected slices. The Mandolin Slicer rapidly produces long thin slices, julienne strips, shreds, and grates. These slices are good for lasagna style noodles. The Aroma brand Mandolin does a great job. The Mandolin blade can be adjusted for slices of various sizes, and the thickest it will cut is about a quarter inch. Nut Milk Bag

A nut milk bag, a strainer, or a few layers of cheesecloth can be very helpful tools in the kitchen. A nut milk recipe can be easily prepared in the blender, and the mixture can be strained and squeezed through the bag to create a delicious, nutrient rich beverage. The pulp can be used in crackers, cookies, cakes, soups, or dressings. The cheesecloth can also be used when preparing fermented foods such as seed cheese. Sprouters

Sprouting equipment will help you grow your own high quality organic produce in your kitchen. An automatic sprouting machine will greatly simplify your life. The sprinkler system re-circulates water throughout the machine. You won't need to spend any time with the sprouts, just fill it with water and seeds every other day.

However, manual sprouting equipment will do an excellent job and an automatic sprouter isn't necessary. All you need to do is spend 30 seconds two or three times a day watering and rinsing. Good manual sprouting equipment includes jars with screen lids, sprouting trays, colanders, and hemp sprout bags. Some of the better sprouters include the EasyGreen MicroFarm, Tribest Freshlife, Sproutman Wheatgrass Grower, Sproutman Hemp Sprout Bag, and the Biosta sprouter. Dehydrator

A dehydrator will help you make delicious and nutritious dried foods, and it will help you save all your overripe fruits and veggies. It must have an adjustable thermostat that will allow you to control the temperature. The Excalibur and Sedona brands are the two most popular. The Excalibur uses a unique parallel air flow technology that ensures the food is dried evenly. The trays inside the Excalibur can be removed to place large items inside. Most people prefer the Excalibur because of the even drying and adjustable thermostat. The Excalibur is the best dehydrator. It is designed for use in the home or business. I have spoken with people who have used the same Excalibur for over 25 years and it still works perfectly good! The Tribest Sedona Dehydrator is also top of the line. It is slightly more expensive than the Excalibur, but it has some nice luxury upgrades. For example, the Sedona has a glass door, and the fan

is silent. The Sedona is equal in quality and performance to the Excalibur. The Good4U dehydrator is fairly new on the market. It was introduced in the summer of 2008. It is the first dehydrator to use the same Excalibur square design with sliding trays. The Good4U is an excellent dehydrator and is less expensive than the Excalibur. If you want the best, go with Excalibur. If you want an Excalibur but don't want to spend the money, the Good4U is the best. For starters, the round dehydrators such as Back to Basics, or Nesco, will work well. These usually cost under $100 and are easy to use. The stainless steel food dehydrators are excellent. Both Excalibur and The Sausage Maker (TSM) companies make 100% stainless steel dehydrators. These are heavy duty and will last a lifetime. There are no plastic parts in them. The stainless steel dehydrator come with your choice of trays. You could order with plastic, chrome, or stainless steel trays. Most people purchase stainless steel. The stainless steel dehydrators are popular for business purposes, for restaurants, catering companies, and packaged food preparation. They are heavy duty and powerful enough to be used all day long, every day. For home use, the plastic dehydrators are perfect, you don’t need to upgrade to stainless steel. I recommend using the Excalibur or Sedona because they are made with higher quality material.

The plastic and non-stick sheets in the dehydrators are safe because the high temperature is about 155 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature would need to be above 300 degrees to have an effect on the plastics. Kitchen Tool Accessories

There are a few more tools that require a brief mention. Any old hand grater / cheese grater will work well with veggies. A high quality and sharp peeler / potato peeler is great for root vegetables. The garlic press will extract small amounts of garlic, ginger, or onion juice. A tea kettle and / or tea strainer will help you prepare delicious herbal teas. A ceramic tea kettle will not react with the water or give off a metallic taste. Ceramic may be a better choice because of this, and the stainless steel kettles will eventually collect minerals from the water that may be hard to clean.

Chapter 5-The Art of Raw Gourmet

Raw gourmet foods are the most incredible tasting foods in the world. Raw gourmet makes it easy to stay on a raw foods diet because it gives us the comfort food we crave to nourish and satisfy our emotional body. Many of the gourmet dishes mimic cooked foods in appearance, texture, and taste. Let your creativity flow when preparing food. The recipes are usually general guidelines, and you can change them around any way you want. You can use the recipes for ideas of what ingredients to use. The amount of each ingredient used doesn’t need to be exact. When you’re first starting out, try to follow the recipes as close as possible until you learn what makes them work. Once you practice and get the hang of it, you can substitute ingredients to make them taste any way you desire. If a recipe calls for ingredients you don’t have, don’t worry about it. Just make use of what you have on hand. The gourmet recipes should be served with a side salad and sprouts to ensure you are including some greens in the meal. The gourmet recipes tend to use large quantities of nuts and seeds, which makes them extremely high in fat. The side salad will balance out the high fat meal. The modern raw foods movement has been around since the 1950’s. It hasn’t gained much popularity until recently because many people aren’t satisfied with the typical fruits and vegetable salads.

In mid-1990 the gourmet chefs stepped in to provide a solution. The past 10 years have witnessed raw gourmet restaurant openings in most major U.S. cities. New York City alone has approximately 15 restaurants serving raw foods, and it continues to grow. The secret to making delicious gourmet dishes is to balance the major tastes. There are many different tastes our taste buds can detect. The major tastes should be present in each dish. There are two approaches to balancing recipes. The first approach is to balance the five major tastes, which are sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The second approach that may be taken is to balance the 4 major tastes of fat, acid, salt, and sweet. The balance is the foundation to creating ethnic dishes. A majority of the gourmet recipes have each taste present. Create a recipe base with either the 4 or 5 major tastes and play around with the herbs and spices to create unique recipes. For each dish, there will be two or three tastes that dominate, and the others will be present in small amounts. The recipes will have a solid foundation of flavor, with multiple layers of tastes to stimulate each taste bud on the tongue. You just need to use a little common sense, don’t make the desserts dominant in spicy, and don’t make the entrée dominant in sweet. There are two important ingredients in these dishes, salt and jalapeno pepper. They both help bring out the flavor and add heat to the dishes.

Ingredients that create a sweet taste include fruits (fresh or dried), cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, beets, fruit juice, white miso, and coconut water. For the salt flavor try out Celtic, Real, or Himalayan salt, olives, miso, and sea veggies (especially dulse). To bring out the acid and sour tastes, use some lemon, lime, grapefruit, apple cider vinegar, or sauerkraut. The fat may be created with oils, nuts, seeds, nut butter, avocado, coconut pulp, and olives. There are many spices and herbs used in the gourmet recipes. Many can be found fresh and some will be dried. Try to purchase high quality organic spices and herbs. There are some companies that dry the seasonings at low temperatures to preserve the quality. Many of the seasonings will be found as a powder, others will be dried whole. For the whole spices, it is helpful to use a coffee grinder to turn them into a powder. Sometimes these seasonings are too small for the blender and you may get some hard and crunchy herbs in the food. The more you practice creating raw gourmet dishes, the easier it is to substitute ingredients. Each ingredient play a certain role in the dish, some may be used as a sweetener, some as a thickener, some to make the dish creamy, and others to make it hot. Don’t worry if you don’t have the exact ingredients called for in a recipe, you can improvise to find an alternative. You can even use a cookbook for guidance when making a raw recipe. The cookbook recipe will give you an idea of what the main ingredients are used for, and you can substitute the raw version.

If you follow the recipes found in the typical cookbook, you'll be using pounds of processed sugar. At last, there are now delicious alternatives to sugar that will amaze your taste buds. These alternatives to sugar are healthy and you won't feel guilty for indulging in dessert. Most people are aware of the health dangers created by processed sweeteners such as white and brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup, cooked honey, and aspartame. These sweeteners must be avoided at all costs if you want to improve your health. If you haven't done so, please read this excellent article by Dr. Nancy Appleton titled "124 Ways Sugar Ruins Your Health". http://site.therawdiet.com/dangers-of-sugars.html High Fructose Corn Syrup and cooked honey are no different than processed sugar. These high glycemic substances suppress the immune system, cause premature aging, and cause multiple diseases. To avoid sugar, many people are using the artificial sweetener called aspartame. This chemical can be found in diet soda pops, sugar free chewing gum, NutraSweet packets, and many other products all over the world. The many dangers of aspartame are described in detail on these excellent websites, http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame http://www.SweetPoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html A quote from Sweet Poison: “There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption.”

Aspartame could be the cause of many disease symptoms, and is believed to contribute to fibromyalgia pain and neurological disorders. If you know someone suffering with Fibromyalgia or any weird, mystery, chronic disease symptoms, there is a good chance that aspartame is the cause. The living foods diet provides many delicious and healthy alternatives to the processed sweeteners commonly used. Some of the most popular foods used as sweeteners in the living foods diet include stevia, raw organic honey, Lakanto Sweetener, agave nectar, fresh or dried fruits, dried or frozen berries, dates, young coconut, and yacon syrup. If a cooked recipe calls for processed sugar, one of these ingredients will be an excellent substitute. Use these sweeteners to make living food versions of cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream, nut milk shakes, puddings, chocolate bars, and similar goodies. You will feel wonderful after eating the raw food sweet treats and your energy levels won't crash an hour after eating. Stevia is the ultimate sweet leaf. A native of Paraguay, South America, stevia is a low glycemic herb that can be purchased as a powder, liquid extract, or as a dried whole leaf. It is 30 times sweeter than white sugar in it's unprocessed form. It contains zero calories, it registers as zero on the glycemic index, and it contains health promoting vitamins and minerals. When stevia is concentrated in a powder or liquid form it is up to 300 times sweeter than sugar, yet it is safe for diabetics.

You only need a quarter teaspoon to sweeten up a recipe or beverage. You can easily grow your own plant and grind the dried leaf into a powder. Avoid the alcohol-extracted and refined forms. Agave nectar is a mineral rich syrup that comes from the agave cactus. It has a natural and delicious taste similar to honey or maple syrup. It is absorbed slowly into the bloodstream. Lakanto Sweetener is the closest natural sweetener to sugar in terms of its taste and its versatility. It is safe, healthy, and delicious. It does not have any of the negative side effects of sugar. The two natural ingredients in Lakanto are Non-GMO erythritol and the supersweet extract of the luo han guo fruit. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol naturally found in grapes, pears, mushrooms, soy sauce, cheese, wine and beer, so it and has been part of the human diet for thousands of years. Fruit is the perfect natural sweeteners for any recipe. The addition of apples, pears, dates, berries, bananas, or oranges will add a delicious sweet taste to your food. Fresh, raw fruit juice can be added to the recipe instead of water to give it additional flavor. Dried fruits such as raisins, tomatoes, and apricots are concentrated sugar sources and should be soaked in water for a minimum of a half-hour. These nutritious foods are equally as sweet as processed sugar and they taste much better. Young coconuts are highly nutritious, delicious, and easy to digest. The young coconuts, also known as Thai, jelly, shaved, green, asian, or water coconuts, are usually found in Asian

grocery stores. They are white and cylindrical with a point on the top. The mineral rich water is very sweet and should be used in recipes in place of water. The coconut tree acts as a water filter and it takes 9 months to create one liter. The coconut water is similar to human blood plasma, and it has a similar electrolyte balance. The latest sweetener to hit the market is Yacon Syrup. The yacon is a root vegetable similar to a sweet potato from South America. The yacon is different from other roots and tubers in that it stores the carbohydrates as simple sugar instead of starch. This raw syrup can be used in recipes in place of honey and maple syrup. This is mineral rich raw syrup similar to agave nectar. Farmers in North America have recently started to grow yacon, which is becoming available in local Farmer's Markets and health food stores. These living food sweeteners will help you create the most delicious desserts ever made. Your friends and family will be amazed at how delicious they taste. They won't believe that something tasting this good is actually healthy! Combine some of these sweeteners with raw carob powder, raw mesquite meal, and raw chocolate to make delicious chocolate flavored desserts such as chocolate cake, candy, and chocolate chip cookies. Raw chocolate is controversial among health seekers because it may contain caffeine. According to David Wolfe, “Chocolate becomes caffeinated when processed. Raw, Organic chocolate has theobromine which makes up between 1-2% of the cacao bean.

Theobromine stimulates the central nervous system, relaxes smooth muscles, and dilates blood vessels.” My experiences with raw chocolate have been positive and I use it in many recipes. I love making rich decadent cheesecakes and truffles using raw cacao butter and cacao powder. There are many ingredients available that will create a smooth, creamy texture. These ingredients include avocado, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, cashews, walnuts, almonds, young coconut meat, nut and seed milks, and oils. If a cookbook uses something like butter or milk, you can substitute with these ingredients. Macadamia nuts and pine nuts are perfect for cream, but unfortunately they much more expensive than other nuts. They both cost approximately $13 to $18 a pound. Raw cashews are very difficult to find. The cashews sold in the store may be labeled raw but they usually have been heated at high temperatures to remove them from their shell. Truly raw cashews can be purchased on-line, and they may be soaked and sprouted. Living cashews are delicious and irreplaceable in certain recipes. When they are blended up, macadamias, pine nuts, and cashews make a unique smooth and creamy texture that is hard to duplicate. There are a few ingredients that can be used as a thickener to hold the recipes shape. Flax seeds, dehydrated vegetables, sunflower seeds, and psyillium husk are some of the best thickeners because they do a great job of absorbing excess liquid.

Blend them up into a powder and add to the liquid to make it thick. Coconut oil can be used for thickening if the food will be refrigerated because it’s solid at temperatures below 77 degrees Fahrenheit. If a recipe needs thinning, you may add some juice, young coconut water, or juicy vegetables such as tomato, cucumber, and bell peppers. Gourmet pate is an essential dish in my kitchen. The base ingredients in pate are usually made with any combination of macadamia nuts, pine nuts, soaked almonds, and soaked sunflower seeds. It also contains lemon juice, which acts as a preservative. The pate will last a whole week in the fridge. A whole week’s supply can be prepared in less than an hour and stored in the refrigerator. Pate may then be added to salads to make a very quick and delicious meal. When you are ready to use the pate, you can add different vegetables, herbs, and seasonings to give it a new ethnic taste. For example, for an Asian pate you can add onions, parsley, bell pepper, cucumber, ginger, bok choy, celery and Chinese 5-spice powder. For an Indian dish you could add carrots, cumin, cauliflower, ginger, peas, cardamon, masala, and turmeric. For a Mexican dish the flavors are cilantro, tomato, avocado, lime, cumin, garlic, olives, chili powder, and japapeno pepper. A Thai pate includes basil, lime, coconut, oregano, & olive oil.

The combinations are endless and you will have fun creating new flavors!

Chapter 6-Super Foods for Optimal Health

There is an unbelievable number of supplements being sold these days. A walk down the supplement aisle of the grocery store can be quite overwhelming. There are thousands of different supplements to choose from. The supplements used by those on the living foods lifestyle are much better than the average supermarket variety. Superfoods are commonly used instead of supplements. These are unique whole plant foods that are extremely high in a full spectrum of essential nutrients. Superfoods may be considered both a supplement and a food. They are essentially a blend of different vegetables, sprouts, herbs, and superfoods blended together and dehydrated at low temperatures. The most important supplements are digestive enzymes. Many people today have digestive problems from years of eating cooked and processed foods. Everyone will receive benefits from digestive enzymes, especially those still eating cooked foods. After a certain age, our ability to create enzymes diminishes and we no longer have the ability to digest everything we eat. Even the best food will become poisonous if it’s not fully digested. Enzymes assist the body in processing carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Supplemental enzymes and enzymes in living foods break it down the food before the body is called upon to create its own digestive enzymes. This helps preserve our enzyme energy,

which can then be transferred to other needy places of the body to bring healing and good health. Enzymes should be eaten with hard to digest meals to prevent indigestion. The amount of enzymes eaten depends upon the strength of the enzyme and the digestive difficulty of the food. You shouldn’t need to eat them with ripe fruit, fermented foods, and sprouts because they have an abundance of enzymes and don’t really need to be digested. Some of the harder to digest foods are nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, vegetables, dehydrated foods, cooked foods, and poorly combined meals (such as sweet fruits mixed with avocado and nuts). Enzymes are especially important with unsoaked nuts and seeds because of the enzyme inhibitors that prevent them from growing into a plant. Vegetables such as broccoli, kale, and cabbage may also be tough to digest. Eating enzymes in between meals also provide many health benefits. The enzymes are absorbed into the body and they help clean up the blood. It increases circulation by creating freeflowing blood. The enzymes will digest excess undigested fats, proteins, and carbohydrates within the body. Many people have experienced chronic health problems disappear after eating large quantities of enzymes during and in between meals. Dr. Gabriel Cousens estimates that at least 40% of the enzymes are absorbed into our system in an intact form. His articles discuss how live cell analysis has shown that enzymes break up blood clumping within ten minutes after ingesting.

The enzyme supplement should be plant based and should contain a wide variety of enzymes to help process each macronutrient. There are certain companies who sell enzymes with unnecessary fillers that do nothing but take up space. Two fruits contain powerful protein digesting enzymes, the pineapple and the papaya. The pineapple enzyme is called bromelain and the papaya enzyme is called papain. These enzymes can be purchased individually or as part of a multi-enzyme supplement. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that are needed inside our digestive tract. There are many different strains of friendly bacteria that populate the different areas of the intestines. They help digest food and create unique vitamins that are essential for optimal health. There are over 100 trillion bacteria weighing about three pounds that line the intestinal walls. There are many things that will kill off the friendly bacteria. Some of the most common are stress, chlorine and pesticides in tap water, antibiotics, and preservatives in food. Processed sugar feeds the bad bacteria and encourages its growth. Eating probiotics will ensure that the friendly bacteria grow and gain a foothold. This helps protect the immune system from foreign invaders and it prevents the harmful yeast, parasites, or bacteria from settling in. There are many different strains of probiotics living throughout the various sections of the digestive tract. The most common strains are acidophilus and bifidus. Acidophilus colonizes the walls

of the small intestine, and bifidus colonizes the walls of the large intestine. Some of the most powerful strains are called Homeostatic Soil Organisms. HSO’s are non-pathogenic microorganisms found in healthy soil and plants. There are three living food products that contain HSO’s. They are found in products such as Healthforce Vita-Mineral Green, and Garden of Life Primal Defense. Probiotics come in a powder or liquid form and can be found in the refrigerated section and supplement aisles of your health food store. Green superfoods are becoming very popular. They are made with a combination of high nutrient plants that have been dehydrated and ground up into small particles for better absorption. They contain many nutrient dense vegetables, sprouts, grasses, herbs, sea vegetables, and other unique foods that are difficult to obtain. Many of the green superfood powders are raw and living even though they are in a powder form. The Synergy Company has Kirlian photographs on their website to show that their superfood powder, Pure Synergy, is still alive and full of life force: http://www.synergy-co.com/pages/kirlianphotos.html These superfoods contain almost every nutrient needed by the body. They are high in minerals, they contain the whole B-vitamin complex, vitamin C, and chlorophyll. The green superfoods help

supply hard to find nutrients that may be missing from our soil and produce. Drinking a fresh green juice every day is ideal. If you are able to do this, the superfoods may be unnecessary. Most people lead busy lives and they aren’t able to spend the time to make juice every day. The green superfood is the next best thing. Its high chlorophyll content helps your body maintain a slightly alkaline pH of 7.4. The nutrients in the superfoods are from whole foods, and they are not synthetic or isolated. There are many different brands of green superfoods, some contain between one and six ingredients, and others contain over 30 ingredients. Read up on the various brands offered and try a few different ones to find one that you like. Some of my favorite brands are Body Ecology Vitality Greens, E3Live Renew Me, Pure Synergy, Healthforce Vita-Mineral Green, Garden of Life’s “Perfect Food”, and Sunwarrior, and Vega. Algae and Grass

Algae and grass are two of the most important foods, they should make one of the foundations of a living foods diet. They are the very first life forms that existed on Earth! Algae are single celled organisms that grow in water. All life forms started with algae, and some forms developed into grass that could live on land. Algae and grass are the foundation of the food chain. These are the only two isolated foods that can supply

all the nutritional needs to produce completely healthy and disease free organisms. Algae and grass are the two foods highest in chlorophyll, which is almost identical to the hemoglobin in our blood. Healthy blood depends on an adequate supply of chlorophyll. These two foods are essential for optimum health because they supply an incredibly high level of essential nutrients. They have most of our essential nutrients, including protein, carbs, fats, minerals, vitamins, and phyto-nutrients. The amount of chlorophyll in algae is about 10 times higher that the amount in grass, and the amount found in Klamath bluegreen algae is about 3 times higher that the amount in chlorella and spirulina. The high chlorophyll level makes it very effective against anemia and helps create red blood cells. It is an alkaline food that helps to balance pH levels. Algae is one of the best sources of betacarotene, the precursor to vitamin A. Algae are important because they are the only vegetarian source of the fats EPA and DHA. They are good substitutes for protein powders because they contain 18 of the 22 known amino acids, including the essential 8 amino acids. They provide minerals, cell salts, phytonutrients, vitamins, and enzymes. They have a unique ability to neutralize and remove poisonous substances from the body, such as heavy metals and chemicals. The algae chlorella is extremely effective at removing mercury from the body.

The two most nutritious grasses are wheat and barley. The fiber in the grass is not edible and needs to be juiced. The juice does not contain gluten so people with a wheat and gluten intolerance can safely drink the juice. A company called Pines sells the grasses in a powdered form, it is perfect for those who don’t have access to the fresh juice. When drinking the juice, it helps absorption to keep the juice in your mouth and chew for two minutes, this helps mix in digestive enzymes and many of the nutrients are absorbed directly into the body through a hole under the tongue. Wheatgrass juice is one of the best superfoods available, especially if you grow your own. It could potentially contain up to 92 minerals. It could be grown with and ocean water solution. Every mineral known to man is found in ocean water! Ocean water can be used to water your garden and sprouts. This will create the most mineral rich food possible. The ocean water must be diluted, about 1 part ocean water to 30 parts fresh water. The OceanGrown company has a concentrated solution made with water collected 10 miles off shore to avoid pollution. One supplement that almost everyone needs is vitamin B-12. This is a nutrient made by the friendly bacteria inside our colon, and it is not one of the B-complex vitamins. We do not absorb the B-12 made by the bacteria in our colon. B-12 deficiency creates many dangerous health problems that may be irreversible if it goes untreated too long. Some of the symptoms include low energy, neurological and nerve damage, a

tingling and numbness sensation in the hands and feet, and nervousness, among others. B-12 deficiency is a problem that affects everyone, not just vegetarians. People eating solely raw foods may have a higher level of deficiency because they are not eating any processed foods that are fortified with B-12, such as the soy milk in a box. It is estimated that 80% of raw vegan will become deficient over time. This nutrient is not found in any vegan foods. It is hard to tell if you will be in the 20% who don’t need to supplement and a B-12 deficiency test will cost over $80.00. The best thing to do is to purchase a high quality B-12 supplement, there are no negative side effects and it will significantly improve your health. B-12 deficiency can lead to serious health problems, and it is much harder to regain your health than it is to maintain it. Some of the better B-12 supplements are sublingual, which means they are absorbed under your tongue. B-12 is listed as a nutrient found in algae and sea vegetables, but scientific studies found that eating these foods did not correct a deficiency, and in some cases they caused a deficiency. The one vegan food that contains B-12 is nutritional yeast. If you eat nutritional yeast, you won’t need to purchase a B-12 supplement. I feel it is better to purchase a supplement because yeast has the potential to cause a fungal and mycotoxin problem. As B-12 is made from bacteria, there is a theory that people in the past got the nutrient by eating small amounts of dirt left on unwashed vegetables.

Goji Berries

Berries are one of the most nutrient dense foods on earth. Each berry is packed full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fats, healthy sugars, phytonutrients, and antioxidants. They are one of the most antioxidant rich foods on earth. The antioxidants are needed to strengthen the immune system, which is extremely important in today’s polluted world. The dark pigments in the berries are great for creating the colors found in eyes and hair. While all berries are good, some of the best berries are goji berries, blueberries, camu camu, and elderberries. Camu Camu berries grow in the Amazon, they can be purchased in powder form, and they contain one of the highest vitamin C levels out of any food. I carry the E3Live brand of Camu-Camu on my website TheRawDiet.com Goji berries and wolf berries are similar, the main difference is that Goji is grown in Tibet and Wolf is grown in China. They are dried at low temperatures and shipped from Asia. They are the most nutrient dense food on earth. They contain 18 amino acids, 21 trace minerals, and they are the highest food in vitamin C. They contain 500 times more vitamin C, by weight, than oranges. Goji berries are the number one food containing the nutrients in the carotenoids family. They contain over 600 carotenoids and they contain the highest concentration of beta-carotene. They are the number one food for producing human growth hormone. Goji berries contain unique nutrients used by the pituitary and hypothalamus glands, which produce the hormones. The human growth hormones rejuvenate the body and slow down the aging process.

Sprouts are the cheapest superfoods on Earth. You can easily grow pounds of organic sprouts all year for just pennies. For example, one pound of alfalfa seed costs $6.00 and yields 10-14 pounds of fresh “mini-salad” greens. Sprouts are unique in that they are the only form of agriculture that can be locally grown all year long. The food becomes 60% to 80% more nutritious as it is sprouted. For example, a radish sprout has 39 times more vitamin A than a radish, and broccoli sprouts have 10-100 times more enzymes than broccoli. The sprouting process creates a high concentration of easily digested enzymes, antioxidants, phytochemicals, minerals, fats, amino acids, carbohydrates, and vitamins. Phytochemicals are plant compounds that help protect us from disease. http://www.SproutPeople.com is a great place to purchase sprouting seeds, and read the most detailed instructions on sprouting. Seeds in general are full of hard to find minerals and vitamins. Hemp seeds are the best seed available. They have every essential amino acid, they are high in minerals, and they contain both essential fats in the correct ratio needed by the body, which is about 3:1 omega-3:omega-6. Eating hemp seeds on a regular basis will ensure you receive adequate high quality protein, and it will ensure you have the correct ratio of fats. When choosing flax seeds, purchase the golden seeds. They are much more nutritious than the standard brown seeds. Bee Pollen

Bee Pollen deserves another mention because it is a very important superfood. It is the pollen made by flowers, which is collected by bees who bring it back to the hive. The beekeepers harvest the pollen in a way that doesn’t harm the bees. It has an incredibly high amount of essential nutrients and is considered the most complete food found in nature. It contains all essential amino acids, many trace minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, phytonutrients, lecithin, and it contains over 5,000 enzymes. Bee pollen may increase energy, stamina, muscle growth, and build the immune system. Some people may be allergic to bee pollen and will have a bad reaction. Start with one little granule and work up to larger quantities. It is very important that you find a high quality bee pollen and it must be raw. Heat-treated bee pollen turns rancid quickly. Rancid bee pollen creates oxalic acid, which may build up and contribute to body aches. Maca

Maca is a superfood grown in Peru, South America. It is a dehydrated tuber vegetable, similar to a potato or radish, which is ground up at low temperatures. It is a unique vegetable because it contains precursor hormones that help to balance the hormones found in our bodies. For men, the most active hormone is testosterone. Men may feel extra energy, endurance, libido, and strength in their glands and muscles. For women, maca may help create estrogen, ease premenstrual tension, and it is useful for hormone re-placement therapy. It has often been called a natural form of viagra for both

men and women. Maca gives the body the materials needed to increase natural testosterone production. It is high in many trace minerals, alkaloids, and the B-vitamin complex. Dr. Gabriel Cousens’ writes on macaroot.com "Whenever possible, I prefer to use maca therapy rather than hormone replacement therapy because HRT actually ages the body diminishing the hormone producing capability of the glands. Maca has proven to be very effective with menopausal patients in eliminating hot flashes and depression and in increasing energy levels. They find the right dosage level, sometimes I have started the patient on maca treatment with a half a teaspoon of powder or three capsules a day. In some cases I have raised the dosage to a teaspoon or six capsules a day for full effectiveness." Native tribes have used maca medicinally to treat aliments such as menopausal symptoms, depression, increase sexual energy, enhance the libido, normalize menstrual cycles, immune system support, heal adrenal glands, and improve stamina and endurance. Its high levels of magnesium, calcium, and silica, are useful for building strong bones. Maca is a delicious addition to smoothies and energy soup. MSM

MSM is a natural form of sulfur. It is usually found in foods receiving adequate rain, but most foods are grown with irrigation or in the greenhouse. The body uses MSM to build connective tissues, nails, and hair. Strong connective tissues help maintain healthy joints and increase flexibility.

MSM creates smooth skin, thick hair, and strong nails. It is found in every living organism. Many people are deficient in this nutrient because cooking destroys it. Many people have reported scar tissue disappearing after use of supplemental MSM. Soy, A Healthy Superfood

There is a big controversy regarding soy foods. Some people say that soy is a healthy superfood that should be eaten daily. Others say it has some negative properties and should be avoided. The belief is that Asian populations eat large quantities of soy. They are also the longest living population on Earth. The truth is that the longest living people on Earth are eating miso on a daily basis! They are not eating large quantities of tofu, cooked soy beans, soy protein, or soy veggie burgers. Miso is a cultured and fermented soy bean paste. A special probiotic is used to culture the soy. The probiotics pre-digest the soy beans. This makes it much easier for the human body to absorb and assimilate the nutrients. The miso recipe originated in Japan over 1,000 years ago! Japanese people drink miso almost every day, sometimes with every meal! Make sure you are purchasing a high quality, unpasteurized miso from the health food store. Amazon.com has some excellent

miso, read the Amazon reviews to find the best. I love Eden Miso and South River Miso. I like to blend the miso into soups, smoothies, and salad dressings. I usually mix miso into my green tea. The recipe for my longevity tea is as follows: Miso Green Tea Recipe 2 Cups water 1 green tea bag 1 tablespoon miso 1 Tablespoon green superfood powder 1 teaspoon MSM ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper powder Directions: Bring water to a brief boil. Immediately remove from heat. Steep the green tea in the water for three minutes. Discard green tea into your compost. Stir in the miso until well mixed. Stir in the green superfood powder, MSM, and cayenne. Enjoy! Notes: The Japanese people have the longest lifespan on Earth. Green Tea is their national beverage. Miso is their favorite soup. Green tea and miso are the foundational foods! For the green superfood powder, my personal favorites are the Body Ecology Vitality Supergreens, E3 Live, and Healthforce.

The cayenne pepper improves blood circulation and gets the essential nutrients to every part of your body. Minerals

Most people will benefit from a mineral supplement because we are all mineral deficient. All nutrients, hormones, and bodily processes require minerals to function. Complete mineralization is required for optimal health. The raw food diet is the most mineral rich diet on earth, but additional mineral supplementation may be needed at first. There are some essential minerals missing from the soil and they may be very hard to find in food. Iodine and selenium are two examples of minerals that are hard to find in food. Minerals need to be in the organic form found in plants in order for our body to use them. There are only two forms of mineral supplements that should be used. The first is chelated colloidal minerals. Chelated means they have been changed from the inorganic form to the organic form by plants. Colloidal means they are small enough to be used by the body. If a mineral is colloidal but not chelated, it is in an inorganic form and cannot be used by the body. I recommend and use two brands, both available on my website TheRawDiet.com: - Body Ecology ‘Ancient Earth Minerals,’ - E3Live ‘Renew Me,’

The only other form of mineral supplementation that should be used are angstrom-sized minerals. They are 1,000,000 times smaller than colloidal minerals, and they are more of a vibration of light rather than a solid particle. Their tiny size ensures that they are easily absorbed. These can be purchased as individual minerals or as a combination of 72 minerals in one bottle. Their small size ensures that they will be absorbed and assimilated by the body. Some on-line stores that carry these specialized minerals include the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, The Raw Food World, Hippocrates Health Institute, and Longevity Warehouse. Iodine

Iodine is an essential mineral that almost everyone is deficient in. I highly recommend taking a high quality iodine supplement. Many doctors I speak with say that, on average, it takes about six months of iodine supplementation to get yourself into normal levels. Natural Cellular Defense / Mega Defense by Waiora

Natural Cellular Defense (NCD for short) is a natural mineral called zeolite. Waiora has a patent on their process of purifying the mineral and turning it into liquid form. NCD has many beneficial properties. It safely removes heavy metals from the body, including mercury, aluminum, and lead. It removes toxins and carcinogens from the body. It prevents viral replication, which means it stops viruses from growing and

spreading. Viruses include things like the flu, cold sores / herpes, shingles, and other types of viral infections. NCD is very popular among cancer patients. I have personally spoken with many people fighting cancer who credit NCD with saving their life. There are many testimonials of tumors shrinking with the use of NCD. You could view the numerous and miraculous testimonials at TestimonyInfo.com , I have been using NCD since 2005, and I am just as enthusiastic today as I was in 2005! I am continually amazed at all the healing testimonials I hear. Mega Defense is the other product by Waiora with zeolite. Mega Defense is NCD blended with medicinal mushrooms. This blend creates an even more powerful supplement. It significantly boosts the immune system, and activates the killer cells which fight cancer. Mega Defense has published clinical studies that show it is equally as effective as a leading cancer pharmaceutical drug. I work with Dr. Gabriel Cousens and the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center (ToL) in the Waiora organization. Dr. Cousens has all patients at the ToL taking NCD and Mega Defense. NCD is also recommended by Dr. Brian Clement and Hippocrates Health Institute. Waiora is a network marketing company, which means you can pay a $25 fee to sign up as a distributor, and you get wholesale pricing. The Waiora supplements are very inexpensive, around $30 per bottle of NCD or Mega Defense, the price could be lower if a higher quantity is purchased.

Waiora also rewards you for referrals. You could make some decent extra money in your spare time as a Waiora distributor. Waiora is a great company to work with because they have amazing products, an excellent compensation plan, daily teleseminars with leading experts and doctors, and exciting seminars and events. If you are interested, I would love to have you join our Waiora team. I offer free private coaching to help you get started with the Waiora business, and you would be on the same team with Dr. Gabriel Cousens and the ToL. To get started with Waiora, you could send me an email to [email protected] or give me a phone call at 503-771-3904. You could also read more on Waiora zeolite on my website TheRawDiet.com under the supplements section.

Now it is time for my challenge to you. I challenge you to put your knowledge into action and turn it into good habits you perform daily, almost unconsciously. There are 365 days in each year, and I challenge you to devote 30 of these days to eating 100% raw. Devote a measly 8% of this year to your own raw foods experiment, and you will see for yourself how your life is transformed with the miracle of living food nutrition. We all need support, and there is plenty of support to be found on-line. Alissa Cohen, author of the "Living on Live Food" book and DVD, has created the groundbreaking website, http://www.RawFoodTalk.com On this website, you will post your before and after pictures in your very own journal. You won’t believe how quickly your appearance is improving until you see your very own before and after photos. You will join hundreds of other like-minded friends who are embarking down the same path as you. You will stay inspired and help to inspire others, and you may even win one of the free prizes given away monthly. You will find many knowledgeable friends on this message board ready to give you support and answer your questions. I visit the message boards daily, and you will also find me joining in the discussions at these two excellent forums: http://www.rawfoodsupport.com and http://www.goneraw.com/recipes Head on over to http://www.RawFoodTalk.com and start your own free journal.

Once you put your dietary goals in writing, making the transition will be effortless and easy. Goal setting is very important, don’t skip this step! Join in the forum discussions to help make this transition a fun, exciting, and enjoyable journey. I have published two raw food recipe books that you will love! Each book contains over 300 delicious recipes. The recipes cover every category, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, blended foods, juices, fermented and cultured foods, and more! The titles are ‘The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book,’ and ‘Rawesomely Vegan.’ I hope that reading this guide was enjoyable and inspiring for you! Please give me any feedback, criticism, and praise you have by sending me an email. To Your Great Health, Michael Snyder [email protected] Portland, OR phone: 503-771-3904 Resources: Mike Snyder’s Raw Diet Health Shop http://www.TheRawDiet.com Mike Snyder’s blog http://www.MikesRawBlog.com Mike Snyder’s Waiora page, I highly recommend Mega Defensehttp://site.TheRawDiet.com/liquidzeolite.html

Matt Monarch’s Raw Food World- Matt has the best prices on superfoods, subscribe to his newsletter for his “At Cost” sale. http://jrox.therawfoodworld.com/jrox.php?id=3406 David Wolfe’s Longevity Now http://www.LongevityWarehouse.com Continued Learning: I recommend Yuri’s raw food course ‘Eating for Energy’ http://site.therawdiet.com/EatingforEnergy.html