Eating Eden
We are hungry. Not just for calories; it goes much deeper than that. The hunger is for nourishment. We want the satisfaction of eating and assurance that what we’re putting in our mouths is safe, life enhancing, and vital.
We’re scared too—with good reason. There is too much cancer; too many people with heart problems, immunity problems, teeth problems, and weight issues; too many people living into old age without quality of life. We try to keep up with the latest buzz, but it’s no use. There’s always something new. The wonders of olive oil. Soy saves the day. Red wine is good for you. The Atkins’ diet is good for you, and tomato sauce cures prostrate cancer. It’s enough to make anyone go on a wild eating binge.
Food and diet marketers are having a field day with our ignorance. Adding to the confusion, scientists contradict one another every other month. But maybe we’re depending on science a little too much. After all, there are certain things that need no proof.
The truth is, we know how to eat to be nourished, vital, and alive. Imagine conducting an extensive, expensive study to prove what gorillas should eat. Ridiculous isn’t it? They know how to eat: wild and raw. Yes, they know how to eat and so do we. It’s not a diet filled with pizza, Coke, and ice cream.
Is eating a raw vegan diet the latest craze or the original diet? We have all heard about fashion models and movie stars adopting a raw food diet to keep their skin glowing, eyes sparkling, and their bodies svelte, but can it actually be healthy for us in the long run?
Yes. Through my 30 years of experience in helping others transition to a raw vegan diet, not only does eating this way maintain health, eating raw vegan can bring immediate transformation and balance to the tired, overweight, depressed, and ill.
Let’s break this down. RAW= uncooked food. VEGAN= foods that belong to the plant queendom. So basically you are eating things that grow on trees, stems, vines, bushes, and the ground in their raw, original, unadulterated state.
Here are the facts: cooked food is dead. When food is heated above 118 degrees, the enzymes die. Food enzymes are important little machines that break down food into its finest components so it can be metabolized and used by our systems. When enzymes are no longer viable in our foods, the body has to work much harder to process meals. This is why folks feel sleepy after lunch and often get that mid-afternoon slump that only a candy bar (or granola bar) and a cup of Joe will combat. Sound familiar?
Vitamins are fertilizers for our cells, organs, and brain. Eating a diet of primarily cooked, micro-waved, processed, packaged, and canned foods leaves us deficient in these vital substances, paving the way for compromised systems, foggy minds, depressed attitudes, and the slow slippery slope of degenerative disease.
Most folks expect a downward health spiral as they age. This expectation is completely and utterly avoidable if eating a “living” diet.
The Garden of Eating
Raw veganism is the diet of the Garden of Eden. The plants and seeds were given as our food and as far as I know, Adam and Eve were not slaving over some hot coals. It was paradise right? They just plucked the food from where it grew and were supremely nourished.
Wild and Original
All wild animals eat a raw diet. They eat unpackaged, unprocessed, uncooked food. When we look at our domestic pets, most are eating canned or packaged food exclusively. Many of them are suffering from the same diseases humans do—they are lethargic, overweight, arthritic, and suffering from tumors and cancer.
Our original diet was raw. We are designed to eat that way.
The foods available to prehistoric human foragers grew naturally, without cultivation, and included nuts, leafy vegetables, beans, fruits, flowers, gums, fungi, stems, and other similar items. These have been primate staples for tens of millions of years.
Humans share more than 98 percent of their genetic material with one particular primate…the Bonobos.
Bonobos are small apes. Like humans, they have individual facial characteristics, reach sexual maturity around 12-13 years old and are know to live well past 40 years. (They also “French kiss”, the only ape known to do so) The bonobo has a brain that is large both in absolute terms as well as relative to its body size. It does well on problem-solving tasks in laboratory settings and has also shown the ability to engage in symbolic communication. Tool use in the wild has not been observed, but captives have been reported to construct ropes to swing from; to wipe themselves with leaves; and to use sticks to probe, rake, and even pole-vault over water!!!
They live peacefully in forest communities. There are many striking similarities to humans, except for the “peaceful” part.
Fruits make up the majority of the bonobo’s diet, but they also enjoy leaves, pith, flowers, bark, seeds, honey, and fungi as well as small invertebrates such as worms and caterpillars. The main feeding activity, in the morning, is usually concentrated on fruits.
If our closest cousin in DNA eats primarily raw vegan, shouldn’t we? If you consider the human digestive tract, we are specifically designed for fruits, veggies, nuts, and grains.
The human digestive tract is so long that if it were stretched vertically to its capacity, it would measure an astounding 30 feet in length (about the width of a tennis court), more than 5 times the length of an average adult. A dog’s digestive tract is only half as long compared to its body length.
Human digestion begins in the mouth with thorough chewing, mixing with digestive juices (saliva). We have broad teeth with which to do this.
Carnivores on the other hand have sharp “canine’ teeth to tear their food. They gulp it down without much chewing. Because their digestive tracts are much shorter, the meat stays in their body for less time.
Because our digestive tracts are so long, (for better nutrient absorption) complete elimination can take many days. When you put partially chewed meat (WHO chews 30 times until it’s slurry?) in a hot environment for many many hours/days…. it ferments, rots, and well, stinks! Our bodies become cesspools. Disease follows.
Living Food
When we eat raw, the food is screaming with available nutrients and that nebulous, forgotten ingredient “energy”. Living foods simply have more energy. The yogis call this prana or life force. This energy is sun energy. Through the miracle of photosynthesis, plants transfer the life-giving power of the sun to us through their green blood, chlorophyll, and phyto-nutrients.
The more life force we put into our bodies, the more vibrant we are. Fresh picked organic apple? High in prana. Packaged energy bar of questionable age? Low prana. It’s quite simple. When we eat cooked, processed, and packaged food, the prana is severely diminished and we suffer. Over a period of time, the body becomes diseased. “We are what we eat” is a true statement.
Pleasure Tax
When you put a sprout into the ground, in time, you get a plant. When you put cooked food into the ground, you get a moldy mess. This is what happens in our bodies. I know this from personal experience.
I have basically eaten raw since the 70s. Sometimes I eat cooked foods, when I am out with friends or at a dinner party. When I stray, I pay. My body reacts immediately. I call this the “pleasure tax”. I pay with gas, stinky armpits, pimples, headaches, lethargy, PMS, and tightened joints. Many folks are so gunked up they no longer notice their body’s responses to foods and just chalk it up to “normal” aches and pains and problems.
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine said “let food be thy medicine. Simple words, profound truth.
Let us also address the environmental impact and waste created by a conventional American diet. One pound of meat requires 2500 gallons of water to produce, while a pound of beans requires 25 gals. Large swaths of rainforest are cut down to graze cows. Since rainforest soil is notoriously shallow and poor, these “pastures” lose their vitality in a few years and are left fallow, while new swaths are destroyed. This is not the best use of the “lungs of the planet”. Some predict the Amazon will turn to savanna if this frightening trend continues.
Eating raw and un-package reduces kitchen waste to a minimum. I take out my kitchen garbage once/twice a month. We compost all of our food scraps and have practically zero packaging. I use minimum energy in creating my meals: no fuel for cooking, a few seconds using the blender or the food processor Eating raw vegan truly is the green diet.
A good way to hop on the raw path is to add more raw to your diet. Breakfast is simple, do like the bonobos and eat fruit.
Loaded with moisture, nutrients, fiber and natural sugars, it’s a great refreshing energetic food to begin the day. Choose a variety of fresh fruits in season, add a banana and a little water and whirl in the blender. No powders or dairy needed for the best smoothie ever!
A massive salad for lunch with avocado, deep green leafy veggies, tomatoes, carrots and olives…with a simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice will stick with you through the afternoon without the 3pm slump. Snacks can be almonds, seeds, fruit. Eat a normal dinner and you are at 66% raw! This is a great way to start.
Experiment with all raw days or weekends. Notice how you feel. Most lose unwanted weight effortlessly, sleep better, digest better, eliminate better, and think better. Raw food is simple.
Make food choices as if your life depended on it. It does.
In light of President Obama’s continued efforts to clean up our environment by pushing for clean coal and nuclear power, signing the extension of the Patriot Act, and his inspiring warlord like acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, we at Organic Lifestyle Magazine have decided to release this limited edition commemorative presidential coin featuring our president Barack Obama on one side and our former president George W. Bush on the other.