Basic Facts About Raw Plant Foods
By Robert Reid in 2002
The following are common sense overlooked facts concerning raw plant foods:
Consuming raw plant foods is nutritionally superior for many OBVIOUS reasons. All cooked foods are molecularly destroyed to a great extent, devoid of enzymes and living water, and are addicting (especially flour products, white sugar, dairy and meat). When these cooked foods are prevalent in the system, our appetite for truly healthy and nutritious fruits and vegetables is deadened while the body waits to cleanse the remains of the last (generally acid and mucus forming and nutritionally "dead") cooked or processed meal/snack.
Lucky for us today, we have a wealth of information on the web, in books and the restaurants that are popping up around the country in support of the raw food diet. Raw foods devotees generally make great use of culinary art and innovative preparation techniques to make their dishes gourmet treats. The flavors that can be brought out in this style of cuisine are nothing short of spectacular. There are many celebrities today that have become raw food enthusiasts.
OBVIOUS BENEFITS OF RAW FOODS
The innumerable nutrients discovered and as of yet undiscovered (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, micro-nutrients etc.) found in natural raw foods are intact. High heat from Cooking can destroys over 80 % of these vital nutrients.
The enzymes in raw food and the natural molecularly unaltered relationship of the other various constituents massively assist in the proper breakdown, assimilation and delivery of the foods to the various organ systems in the body. Digestion of cooked food saps us of energy, as the body must do all of the work for a minimal amount of useable vital nutrients. This is why we feel tired after a cooked meal instead of energized. You should fell great after you eat. Eat raw foods and the food enzymes do a lot of the work, not you. On a living foods diet you do not require as much sleep and will come to have tremendously more energy, like a child.
A balance diet of raw foods comes out to somewhere around 70% living water . The Body is over 70% water like the earth, so this is perfect. Many greens and fruits are 80% to 90% living water. Bananas are approx. 73% living water! Nuts and seeds even contain water. This living electrically charged and predominantly alkaline water is what brings true vitality coursing through our veins, surrounding all of the cells in our body with the perfect environment. Each cell is like a battery; a negative (acid) charge exists within the cell and the positive (alkaline) charge must exist outside the cell.
The electrical charge and life force energy in raw foods is intact. Cooking takes all of the life force energy out of the food. Aura photography of raw foods shows a strong and stunning glow and range of colors. Cooked food has no aura. Conventional nutritionally study has not looked at this simple element of food. As they say in Disney's 'Lion King", this is "the great circle of life". You are what you eat; if you eat vibrant food brimming with life force, you will be vibrant and brimming with life force. Eat life force and you will have life force. Cells in the body built from vibrant nutrients do not breakdown as easily.
Eating natural foods eventually awakens our sensitivities to what foods are best for us, how much and when we should eat . Only TRULY NATURAL FOOD can tap us into TRUE NATURAL INSTINCTS. Cooked food, which is molecularly altered, causes food to react much like drugs; addiction rather than natural instinct dominates our feelings. It takes some time to cleanse the toxins and the drug like affect of cooked food remnants, before we can return to our natural instincts. We should gradually transition to an 80% or more raw plant food diet with perseverance over time.
Raw fats are desperately needed to rebuild strong cell walls, protect us from free radicals and provide critical maintenance to the nervous system/brain, are essential for proper functioning of the endocrine glands (responsible for production of hormones), and also serve as a major source of fuel during athletic endeavors . People are more deficient in healthy fats than anything else (except maybe minerals if they are eating a non-organic diet or diet without enough greens).
All cooked fats become trans fatty acids, which are carcinogenic. The body cannot build cell walls that have integrity as the trans fatty acids result in holes in the cells walls which allow nutrients to escape and invite invaders to enter the cell. During heating oxygen has been driven from them and antioxidants are destroyed causing them to become rancid easily. With heating also the hydrogen is forced into all of the open links of fat's carbon chain, resulting in fats that are "saturated with hydrogen. They are no longer useful to the body since hydrogen cannot be removed to convert them back to saturated fats and they become chemically "inert". The heated fats circulate in the blood as globules that cannot be properly metabolized, all the while reducing the body's ability to transport oxygen, clogging arteries and directly increasing the risk of heart's disease. Those populations that eat the highest percentage of their fats as unsaturated fats (raw fats) have the lowest rates of heart disease,
Protein in plant raw plant foods is high grade and more than adequate.
There is common misconception: " where do you get your protein from?" Firstly the RDA's for protein seem to be very high, though they have come down and there is talk for lowering it yet again. Mother's milk contains only 1.6% to 4 % protein (I have seen 5 different numbers for this in my books), so what more must be said. Could we really possibly need 10% to 30% of our diet as protein? Should a fully-grown adult need more protein than a rapidly growing infant?
Protein is the main constituent of the cell nucleus, and along with fat is integrated into the membrane structure of every human cell. This protein however is quite stable and rarely needs replacing. Protein's role is to provide specific nutrient material necessary for the processes of growth and repair. Eating protein will not build muscle, as muscle building is an adaptive response generated by the body to perceived increases in gravitational resistance or put another way, muscle is the body's response to activities that demand strength. You must give your body a reason to have muscle. Certainly people who desire to gain muscle mass require a slightly higher consumption of protein but it remains in proportion to the total caloric needs which also double and triple as compared to that of the typical sedentary person.
I believe RDA research maybe thrown off because the quality of the cooked protein typically consumed is poor; the amino acids are molecularly altered (destroyed by high heat) and mostly non-useable, thus requiring a higher intake.
The cow uses simple amino acids from living grass water to build its body. One thousands pounds and made out of grass juice! If we consume the cow's meat we must do a lot of work to try to break the finished product (the cow's flesh and muscle) back down into utilizable amino acids so that we may structure the new cells in our body. And when I say a lot of work I mean it; we do not have a digestive system designed for this. Our stomach acids are only a tenth of that of carnivores; making it difficult to break down and easier for "invaders" in the meat to harm us. Meat is highly acidic, usually contains hormones, pesticide residue, adrenaline (from the animals fright of impending death), indigestible (non-usable) animal cholesterol and antibiotics, and the meat putrefies to varying extents in our intestinal tract. Why not skip that ordeal and go straight to living protein sources found in a natural, ready to use state in plant foods.
Nuts are not a "meat substitute". Paleontologists tell us that primitive man was a nut eater; during difficult times (extreme cold, flood, and cataclysm) meat became a "substitute" for nuts and other plant foods . It should stay as such; a substitute used only in desperate times. Today there is no call for it, especially when; so many precious resources like water of the earth are used, a massive amount of toxins are produced in the chemical spraying of crops for feed, and lands including rainforests are ravaged to grow wheat and raise livestock. Not to mention the animals feelings about it all.
Protein exists in a natural healthful quantity in a balanced raw vegetarian diet plentiful in leafy greens, nuts and seeds, olives, banana (1.3% protein), coconut (over 6% protein) and avocado (3.5% protein which is similar or more protein content of mothers milk and equal in terms of its content of amino acids essential to growth and repair). Nuts produce more food per acre than any other product. Nuts are a preferred source of protein and to quote Dr. Herbert Shelton, "nuts are a veritable store house for minerals and high-grade protein, emulsified oil and health-imparting vitamins. They come packed in a nature-made, water-proof and air-tight shell, clean and wholesome."
| |
|
Water |
Protein
|
Easily Digestible
Healthful Oils/Fats |
Other |
| Almonds |
6 % |
24% |
54% |
Contains all 17 essential amino acids |
| Brazil Nuts |
4.8 |
17.2 |
66 |
|
| Pecan |
3.5 |
13 |
70 |
|
| Pine nut |
6.4 |
33.9 |
49 |
The highest % protein of any natural food |
| Pistachio |
4.2 |
22.5 |
54 |
Non-acid. Alkaline Forming. |
| Walnut |
2.5% |
18 - 27% |
56 - 61% |
|
|
| |
|
Carbohydrates 7 to 5%, Cellulose (fiber) approx 3% and organic salts (minerals) 1.5 to 3% make up the remainder of ingredients in nuts.
Nuts are not difficult to digest if eaten properly. They must be chewed well and not eaten at the end of a meal. They combine best with leafy greens and do indeed taste wonderful with salads.
Peanuts are not nuts. They are legumes. They are highly acid forming and difficult to digest. They really only taste good cooked and yet are almost indigestible cooked. So while they do contain an average of 30% protein, they are not a desired food.
Soy while high in protein is not a good source. It always comes cooked and processed. Soy is main feed to livestock and like livestock comes backed with big money on advertising. It is however a good transition food for someone transitioning from a meat based diet and needing closer tasting meat substitutes.
| Seeds |
Water |
Protein |
Easily Digestible
Healthful Oils/Fats |
Other |
To be filled in - Also high in Protein and Essential Fatty Acids
S imple sugars found in raw fruits are the best possible source of fuel for the body . They are easily digested. Simple sugars in the form of glucose and/or fructose, fuel every cell of the body. During exercise and at a reducing rate for about 2 hours afterwards, the blood is flooded with the enzyme glycogenase, which doubles the body's ability to convert blood sugar into muscle glycogen. Thus supplying fruit sugars before, during and immediately after exercise will foster a more speedy recovery.
Bananas - Well ripened are almost pre-digested sugar ready for immediate absorption! Excellent for children and athletes they also contain approx 1.3% protein. Some people think they are difficult to digest; this is only true of green not fully ripened bananas, which should be allowed to ripen to fully yellow with brown freckles just starting.
Raw plant foods are non-sticky to the inner "pipe work", unlike all types of cooked grain products ; breads, pasta, pastries. Flour and water makes great glue. Over time the intestinal tract becomes hardened black mucus lining and arteries are lined with debris that is very tenacious and restrict the flow of blood, lymph fluid, etc.
Minerals found in raw foods are intact in a proper colloidal state in the living water . Enough significance on minerals cannot be placed. Organic foods contain up to 80% more minerals due to the soil building/composting techniques used in organic farming. Organic farmers depend on strong plants to resists pests and disease, which can only come from good soil.
Animals are our best teachers for how to eat. There is not one that eats anything but raw food , straight from the earth, in season and one at a time . Over eons and eons as we evolved we must have been the same. Animals in the wild do not get chronic degenerate illness and cancer (withstanding environmental pollutants) and they are all magnificent specimens. Closest cousins the orangutan, bonobo and gorilla are fruitarians. House pets, which are fed cooked and processed foods, suffer a full range of illness including obesity and even teeth problems. Need I say anymore? Indigenous peoples and predominantly raw food cultures such as Hawaiians, go from perfect health to diabetes and cancer in one generation after "civilized" food is introduced into their culture.
How We Eat is almost as Important as What We Eat.
Slow down. Chew well. Honor your food. Eat in silence with attention to the food and the sensations within the body. Let go of stress and other thoughts. BE IN THE MOMENT with YOUR FOOD. This will vastly improve your digestion and awaken your sensitivities around what foods are best for you, what foods "work" for you.
Try the ONE BOWL method of eating. Choose a bowl you love which holds roughly 1 ½ cups. Eat from the bowl while holding it in your hand; it will focus you. If you want seconds refill the bowl. This has an astonishing effect on your attention to the food & emotions you have while you are eating. You are less likely to overeat and will become more easily satiated.
If you do not like this idea try holding your normal plate or large bowl in the air. Just holding it will connect you to the process more. You'll likely eat neater as well.
Are you a raw-foodist?
I believe you may call yourself such if you are at least approx 75% of more raw with the intention of going 90 to 100% raw sometime in the near or distant future. Some people transition over 10 or more years but finally get there. You know your "there" when you 1) no longer feel like your missing something by not eating cooked food or junk 2) and you truly desire only vibrant raw plant food and do not need discipline to stay away from unhealthy food.
I think if you understand and believe in the principles outlined above than you indeed have the raw truth in your heart. It's just a matter of taking baby steps, gradually letting go of that which doesn't serve you and bringing into your life and your body that which brings true happiness. It takes time to let go. You get there in stages. As you absorb each new level in consciousness, you gain new perspective that inspires you on further. So enjoy life now, but inspire yourself to go raw so you can ENJOY LIFE MORE.
EVERYONE WANTS TO LOOK GOOD AND FEEL GOOD . Right? Who doesn't? And yet most of do that which brings us suffering all the time. Taking control of your diet is an excellent first step toward taking control of your life, so you can look good and feel good.
Stop & Smell the roses. Invest in yourself.
