Forewords & Introductions
There is one custom dating back 500-1,000 generations prevalent in virtually ever culture on earth - cooking. What if you could attain immeasurably stronger defense mechanisms against all illnesses, a clearer mind, a happier emotional state and even a more highly developed spiritual level merely by omitting this custom?
The raw food diet has been portrayed by the media as the latest diet craze. Out of ignorance, some "experts" will even recommend that this diet could be "unsafe" for children. Hmmm... I wonder how all those children survived for eons before cooking was invented.
Yet this diet is here to stay. People discovering its benefits develop such a zeal that they want to tell the world. It is so much more than a weight-loss diet. It is truly the diet that unveils our latent capacity to live in peace and harmony with mental and spiritual clarity.
I will always recall my first introduction to the world of living food. In 1989, I had a housemate who ate 80% "live" food, as she called it. Why wasn't I convinced after a year of living with her?
Hmmm, live food? Well that's fine, I thought, but I would just as soon eat what I love and spend money on supplements (enzymes and vitamins) for the things lost in the fire of cooked food. Besides, her diet was so boring! Just fresh juice, salad, and "health-food" chips for the 20% of allowed cooked food.
Little did I know that supplements could never compensate for ingredients in live food that are impossible to put in a tablet or liquid supplement, and little did I know at that time how to make raw food more appealing than cooked food. I had no idea of the variety of tastes that I was missing out on!
As I explain in Chapter 3, I was searching for the elusive "fountain of youth," the "silver bullet" that would give me more energy and halt or reverse aging. I thought it would be something that would probably cost a lot of money.
When I discovered the living food diet, and experienced it firsthand, I realized that this was it! I quickly read everything I could find on the topic, frequently "google-ing" the words "raw food" into the Internet search engine, as well as the Internet bookstore Amazon.com. I read about 70 books related to nutrition, including everything on raw food that I could find, within a year and another 30 the next two years. I attended numerous workshops and lectures by long-term raw fooders.
Usually when we think of a diet, we think of weight-loss. This book will show you that the power of what you eat - and refuse to eat - goes far beyond weight control. When properly nurtured, the body can heal itself of cancer, infertility, thyroid problems, asthma, diabetes and even sleepwalking, in addition to obesity. Surgery can almost always be avoided. You will read testimonials like these, and more, in Chapter 2.
Even if you have already begun your journey into living foods, you will have with this book a compilation of nearly all the scientific studies that have been done to day illustrating the superiority of the raw diet, as well as many that implicate cooking in causing disease.
In this book, I have answered the most frequently asked questions about the living foods diet. Is cooked food really toxic? And more importantly, could it be that relieving the body of the toxicity of cooked food would give your body a big enough boost to heal itself of disease? What personal testimonials and experiments support this clam? Could it really be that a raw food diet can boost your mental ability as well?
Won't a raw food diet make me feel cold and be impossible to do in winter? How can I get my family to go raw? Does my pet also need this diet? And perhaps the most frequently asked question: How do you get enough protein?
In this book you will find answers to all those questions and many more. You will learn how the raw food diet is a huge benefit for the environment and future generations. You will discover various ways to transition, choosing the way that is the most comfortable for you. You will learn how to make the diet work for you in practical terms, such as while traveling and in social situations. There is even a chapter with over 100 delicious raw recipes to get you started.
What, you say? You've already tried this diet, but failed? In Chapter 18, you will learn many of the snares that trip people up when starting a living foods diet and how to avoid them. You will learn about the addictive nature of cooked food, as I have experienced myself, and how to break the addiction.
But wait - if this diet is so great, why isn't is making the news? One would think that such a dietary change that can enable the body to heal itself of diseases thought to be incurable (such as cancer and even AIDS) would be all over the front pages of newspapers and on the six o'clock news. Why do mainstream media publications portray the raw diet as just another Hollywood diet fad?
You will discover, as I have, that there are powerful financial interests behind the cover-up and why this movement does not have big money to support its research. You will learn why it may never be more than just a grassroots movement - at least for a long time to come.
In this book, you will learn how to empower yourself, taking back control of your health from the giant food processors and drug corporations.
You will learn the secret long known by the natural hygienists: the body is the only true healer. Your body can cleanse itself and heal itself of all disease if you practice the ten energy enhancers strictly enough and soon enough: cleanliness, pure air, adequate rest and sleep, a nontoxic raw diet, right temperatures, regular sunlight, regular exercise, emotional balance and nurturing relationships.
Additional appendices will enlighten you on some of the radical branches of the raw food movement, scientific studies condemning cooked food, behavior modification techniques to break free from the cooked food habit and strict living strategies especially recommended for the immune impaired and those seeking their highest health potentials.
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