A NATURAL DIET Vs. A TRADITIONAL DIET
Contents:
- Living Foods and Enzymes Vs. Cooked Foods
- What's the problem with our present diet? Some results obtained from the standard diets and lifestyle.
- What is then the natural diet for Humans?
- How will I change if I shift to a natural diet?
- Why eating plays such an important role in our lives?
- Why should one eat raw fruits and vegetables?
- What is the natural diet?
- More advantages of following a raw food diet:
- What are enzymes?
- How do I know if the food I eat contains fresh enzymes?
- Why are enzymes so good for me?
- Are enzymes destroyed in the stomach?
- What is wrong with heating or cooking our food?
- Convince me that cooking affects the enzymes in food
- Is raw eating extreme?
- Conclusion
- Information on sprouting and growing greens
- Information on Vegetarian/ Vegan / Raw diets
- Tell me more about Verónica's books: contents, reviews, how to buy them...
To understand the difference between a Natural Living Diet and a Standard North American Diet, it is important to understand the difference between Living foods full of enzymes and cooked foods.
Cooked foods put an end to the life of the enzymes existing in the foods one eats because the enzymes cannot live once exposed to heat. Contrary to cooked foods, living foods are foods which have not been exposed to extreme temperature and therefore conserve their enzymes in their natural form, keeping in this way all their benefits for our bodies and health.
After reading the information covered below you will have a much clearer understanding as to why enzymes play such important role in our health and why the present traditional North American diet does not nourish fully our bodies. As a result, many of the common dis-eases are affecting many North Americans and people from other parts of the world who follow standard diets devoid of living enzymes.
If you want to take and active role in preventing the all so common di-sease of today's society, then you should think of changing your diet and lifestyle to include raw, living foods full of enzymes to give your body all the nourishment it needs to reach its optimal health!
One of the main problems of the Standard North American diet is its obvious disconnection from foods in their natural state.
The standard diet does not leave room for one to live in harmony with the plants and animals. When we live a life which includes Nature, the animals and the earth, we can experience health, happiness and peace.
A raw vegan diet can put an end to many of the sicknesses caused by the standard diet and put an end to our disconnection with Nature.
You might be wondering why would this be true... Well, there are many reasons. For one, a raw vegan diet treats all animals and all species as equals by not killing or eating them. Also it enhances our overall life and that of the planet by using less of our natural resources and not contaminating further the environment to produce meat or other processed food. A raw diet opens up all the tremendous amounts of time and energy humans spend to cook food. This diet also puts an end to our use of massive resources to create the cooked food culture of today with all the restaurants and stores, factories and shops producing cooked and processed foods. This brings a huge break to the environment adn can make a big difference in terms of improving the health of our society and planet.
Humans are the only animals on this planet that eat cooked food. No other creatures on this planet cook or tamper with their food in any way. All animals living in the wild eat their food raw and, almost always, fresh. Only domesticated animals eat cooked and processed foods, and these food items are served to them by humans. Most of the animals in the wild do not show the signs of terrible health we experience in today's society.
Cooked and processed foods are a thing created by humans. The cooking and processing of foods has become so common that most of us do not even question it. We tend to reproduce many generations of learned patterns of eating and cooking which have been dragging us towards more and more cases of sickness and illness.
Before we can understand what is so wrong about the present standard diet we need to consider what is it that constitutes the basis of human nourishment. Is it pills and supplements? Is it the flesh of animals being killed and eaten without any compassion? Is it the milk of cows? Is it cooked and processed foods containing dyes, flavors, and preservatives? It is all the junk which is now readily available at any gas station and variety store which only further feed our addiction to processed foods?
The answer is simple and obvious. It is none of the above.
The basis of human nourishment is obvious: it is RAW PLANT FOOD. I firmly believe that Nature is in perfect harmony and is our Mother and teaching example. Just by watching the show presented by nature and all the rich foods readily available, I see fruits, plants and trees but nowhere do I see a bag of potato chips or a hamburger. It is obvious that all the processed foods were created by humans later on in time. Nowhere in nature there are signs that we should be eating corn chips and fried foods.
If Nature has provided all the food needed by all the animals in their natural state why should it be any different for us, humans?
Nature presents plants, herbs, grains and nuts along with rich fruits from trees in abundance. All this belief of humans getting nutrition from canned, boxed, or otherwise processed foods is nonsensical. This need had been created by mankind throughout the years and has evolved into the most serious addiction leading to so many of the illnesses affecting out health and the proper functioning of our bodies. Many of these highly processed foods consumed are depleted of part of their nutritional content and of their fresh enzymes. Many times digesting these food puts a huge strain on the body and with time many unprocessed toxins are accumulated and can lead to many of the so common di-seases.
- According to the Statistical Abstract of the United States 1992, as published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Bureau of the Census:
- 49% of all Americans suffer from AT LEAST one chronic disease;
- Cardiovascular diseases will affect nearly 80% of all Americans;
- Cancer will affect 30% of all Americans and 80% of them will die of it;
- Cancer is the number one cause of death of children living in America;
- Over 40 million people in America suffer from arthritis;
- Over 50% in this country suffer ulcers;
- There are 50 million insomniacs who consume over five billion sleeping pills yearly;
- 80 million suffer allergies;
- American will "catch" over 800 million colds this year;
- 98.5% of the population have bad teeth;
- 70-80% are overweight and 80 million are obese.
- Disease is now known to be related to diet and lifestyle. Doctors estimate that about 75% of all disease are related to our diet and way of life.
As a result of this astonishing figures I can only take what feels to me like positive action towards leading a lifestyle that embraces love, compassion, kindness, concern and care for the environment and the animals and a raw vegan diet rich in healthy fruits and vegetables along with nuts.
Food is the single most important factor in achieving and maintain good health. When it comes to good nutrition the key, as in all natural living, is simplicity. "Living foods, such as fruits and vegetables, eaten in their natural state, raw, is the best way to get all the nutrients they have to offer. By cooking our foods, vegetables and fruits, we loose 85% of the nutrients they provide. All enzymes are killed and amino acids are either destroyed or changed into indigestible components.
If you want to change the results you are getting in your present life condition, you must change your course of actions. This implies changing your choices, dietary and otherwise towards those ones which will bring about wholesome health and radiant living.
There is only one natural and normal diet for humans, and that is a diet of raw plant foods. Any other diet than that of a raw food diet leads to deteriorated health, dental corrosion, and body organs impregnated with various residues of cooked, died, flavored, and otherwise processed foods containing chemical formations not found in Nature. Many of these signs of illness do not appear until later on in life when our bodies have accumulated too many residues. Sometimes, at this stage when the signs of sickness appear it can be too late to reverse the situation. Others, depending on the condition of our bodies and how deteriorated they happen to be, one can recover its optimal health by following a raw diet, enzyme rich juices and a change in lifestyle that includes exercise, love and compassion in one's life. This is why we never question our patters on eating until it is too late and an illness has appeared. The problem is that our bodies strive to live and put up with poor eating conditions for a long time before they show any real signs of deterioration. Because it is not always easy to receive accurate messages of the level of deterioration or toxidity in our bodies, it is always better to prevent by treating our bodies with the natural diet and foods which it is made to receive.
Only one person is in charge of what goes in your mouth and into your body... that's you! Therefore, if you want a healthy body make sure to feed your body what it craves and needs: living, enzyme-rich foods!
A human used to eating the typical foods found in a Standard North American diet who then changes to a raw plant diet can discover health in abundance and recovery from many illnesses (depending of course on the level of abuse and toxidity your body has experienced). This is because eating raw plants restores the body on a molecular level, building strong cells, radically naturalizing the body, and grounding the person in the natural world. As the months and years pass, a person switching to a raw vegan diet may notice a greater awareness of the spiritual world, become more intuitive, and feel natural powers that they had not experienced. This happens because as we detoxify from all the residues from cooked foods and other toxins sitting in our bodies we start to feel more aligned with Nature. One may feel more of a connection with Nature to the point that one desires to only bring things which are good and in harmony with nature to the body. One feels alive next to everything which is natural. Being around plants and animals starts to feel most comfortable and natural because this is our innate state of being.
To conclude, a person shifting to a raw vegan diet will be rewarded with vitality, great energy and a supple body full of radiant health, joy and love.
Eating speaks of where we stand at any given moment in our lives in terms of our beliefs and thoughts. Eating determines what level of health our body will experience. Each meal is part of what the person will become. Every bite of food we put into our body has the potential of either building a strong, healthy body, or a weak body prone to disease and sickness. Each meal becomes a part of the individual. What each of us brings to our mouths is our own decision and part of our right to full personal expression. Whatever lifestyle and diet we choose speaks of who we are and what we believe in at a spiritual, physical and mental level. Therefore our diet is an open statement of who we are at any given moment in our lives. Our diets reflect our beliefs and system of values. Let our diets speak of compassion, love, joy and health!
This is where the expression "You are what you eat" comes from. The important thing is not so much what we have been doing up to now, but what attitude and decisions are we going to take from now onwards in running the course of our lives. We need to get actively involved in leading our lives. It is our duty to take full responsibility for looking at reality with critical eyes. Each one of us is responsible to look at our lives and develop a critical mind that cna question the status quo in order to come up with our own conclusions. We need to be aware that the choice is ours and it belongs to each individual and person who wants to fully live his/her life. Therefore, those who wish to become healthier, or to maintain good health, should always remember to eat that which is most natural and nourishing. And those who wish to increase their chances of sickness and earlier deterioration should also make their food choices knowing that what they eat if it is not in its natural form will not completely nourish their bodies as a working organism and might lead their bodies to sickness and illness.
In my personal life, foods which are "natural and nourishing" are those foods which will fill me with energy. Foods which make me happy and I am joyful to prepare and eat. These foods are quality, organic foods in their most natural state. I have experienced that following this lifestyle sometimes can be hard in a society which follows a totally different diet. Social and peer pressure can be very strong. However, when one is nourishing one's body with the proper food from nature, the body naturally craves those foods which will provide it with the best quality of nutrients. The beauty of eating this way is that it gets easier and it flows more and more naturally the more in tune with nature and our bodies we allow ourselves to be. The more we listen in to the feedback our bodies give us without being biased by our addictions and our old habits conditioned by advertising tempting us to eat highly processed foods, the more we naturally gravitate towards healthy living raw foods as our only and wholesome way to eat.
Anyone who wishes to experience an incredible natural high on simple life and an overwhelming sense of positive energy should give Mother Nature a try by eating what Nature provides to us in its natural form. That is: raw plant foods. If we allow ourselves to try to live the natural way, wonderful things can happen. We will start to develop a very profound connection with our roots and our relationship with nature and all living things on this planet will gain a brand new dimension. As we learn a new way of living, we can sense the pleasure and peace of leading a life in harmony with the plants and animals. Gradually we might start to look into gardening and producing our own food. We might start simply by sprouting and then branch out to having your own vegetable garden. The wish to connect and work with our own hands and love towards self-sufficiency and community food production carries one to take steps towards redefining our old patterns of shopping for food in particular and of producing food, eating it and living naturally in general.
This is a very exciting journey. However, the fruits do not come easy. To enjoy them, to taste them one has to allow oneself first to dive into this new experience and eat what nature has made available for us.
As our society experiences more and more waves of diseases and ills which affect a good number of the population, more and more studies are carried out to find out what changes we need to incorporate in our lifestyle and diets. All the studies done in the past few years are reporting the benefits of eating more fresh, uncooked fruits and vegetables instead of the processed grains and animal products that constitute the main part of a traditional diet. A lot of the research done so far demonstrate that the consumption of raw fruits and vegetables is one of the basis of good health. Yet, many people still hardly include 3 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables in their diets.
Many people do know that raw fruits and vegetables are healthy foods and strive to eat them everyday. However, few realize that raw fruits and vegetables are so important that they should be mainly what you eat. As one tries to move away from cooked and denatured foods a whole new way of eating living foods opens up full of options, colors and taste.
Fruits and vegetables along with raw nuts and seeds can give one's body all the nourishment to produce excellent health and a life free of the so-common colds and other illnesses we are so used to experiencing and which through the years we have accepted as natural and normal.
Now we know that we do not have to be victims of our sick bodies. We can take full control of our health by feeding our bodies good quantities and quality of raw plant foods; such as: fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
So, the best way to avoid sickness and enjoy natural health is to embrace all the foods that Mother Nature has to offer in their natural unprocessed state!
A natural diet is a diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts in their natural state without them being processed in any way that would alter their nutritional and natural state. I believe that we were meant to eat foods in its natural state. One does not see any of the animals in the vegetable kingdom cook their food. So why should we do so? All these animals manage to live healthy full lives. Yet, us humans, throughout the years have only but encounter more and more diseases and illnesses threatening our health.
I always try to imagine what a child would do if left to his/her won devices in terms of choosing his/her food. If the child had to pick between a colorful fruit from a tree or a dog or any other animal around him/her, most likely the child would go for the first choice and try to play or just observe the other. It is not our humane instinct to grab an animal and reap it into pieces and eat it. We are not built to do that and it is unnatural to do so. The only reason most of society eats meat and cooks most foods is because it has been taught to us. As kids we are not given an option to act and behave according to our natural instincts. I remember being a little girl and disliking milk. However, my mom would force me to drink it in spite of my disliking it so much. If left alone I would have never touched milk again. and that is what I did when I was old enough to make my own choices!
I believe that it is not casual at all that food comes uncooked in its natural state as provided in nature. In our attempt to make food more palatable or digestible we have resorted to fire. All methods of cooking to one extent or another alter the quality and nutritional values of the food we eat. Therefore, if we want to get the most nutritional value out of our foods we ought to return to more simple ways of preparing our foods which do not involve cooking it. You will be surprised to see how if you start feeding your body uncooked fresh foods it will start to crave those foods more and more. Ironically the more raw food one eats, the more cooked and precessed food starts to feel and seem less appealing to the point that eventually one loses all desire for processed foods.
This shift in our taste and perception is not casual. It is due to the fact that our bodies gravitate towards that which is natural if given half a chance. Once one has been eating raw food for a while, it is possible to trust more and more the intuitive food choices that come from within in terms of the type and quantity of food our bodies need. Many of the foods that for long were consumed in its cooked form will become unpalatable in their raw state. We can then know that it is time to stop eating or stop including these cooked foods in our diets. The more raw one eat the more certain foods tha tused to taste good do not entice our attention. Also as we try foods in their raw state we realize that certain foods do not taste good in their raw state. For instance, I would not want to eat raw potatoes! A a good rule of thumb is: "If it does not taste good in its raw state then it is better not to eat it. "
Therefore, eating raw fruits and vegetables makes sense because this is what we are supposed to eat. It is the most natural and normal way to eat and live.
Natural foods contain their full life-force. However, the life-force in food is destroyed when it is exposed to heat. Life-force is the most important factor in food. If you doubt this, just try for yourself. See how you feel when you eat vibrant and living fruits and vegetables, and how you feel in comparison when you eat dead foods like meat and cooked potatoes. The difference of life-force in your body should be enough to convince you of the benefits of raw fruits and vegetables. Think of how you feel after a typical X-mas dinner. Most likely you fill tired and without much energy to do much of anything. Next time around try an all raw meal and you will be left feeling clear, bright and full or radiant energy! This is because a raw natural meal contains all its life-force intact while in the cooked one the life-force has been destroyed.
- All fruits and vegetables in their raw state are water-rich foods. We have all heard that water is a really important factor for good health. Many people understand the importance of drinking enough water, but few are able to live up to the recommendations given by doctors, which is to drink 8 to 10 large glasses of water everyday.
- Water is important for many reasons, one of them being because it flushes toxins out of the body. Water is Nature's preferred solvent, and is used by the body to carry out toxins produced by the cells everyday. If you don't take in enough water, you will experience symptoms associated with intoxication, such as headaches.
- The problem that most people have is that their food is mostly devoid of living water. Everything you eat has to be turned into a liquid for your body to assimilate it. When you put a piece of bread in your mouth, which doesn't contain much water, your body has to use an incredible amount of energy to break it down, and rarely entirely succeeds in doing so. But when you eat something like a papaya, which is mostly water, your body digests it with ease.
- Water-rich foods are important because they keep the body clean. They are digested quickly and help to flush toxins out of the system. If you don't eat many water-rich foods, you will have to drink a lot of water to compensate. In addition you have to make sure that you are drinking quality unpolluted water to get its full benefit.
- The best and most high-quality water can be found in fresh fruits and vegetables. The water found in fruits and vegetables is pure because it has been distilled by the plant itself through its roots. There no other source of water that can match the water found in raw plant foods.
- When we live on a diet that is mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, we take in a lot of high-quality water, so it is not necessary to drink as much. However, it is still a good idea to drink water, especially in the morning, but you will find that your needs for water will diminish.
- Your body, when fueled with the high-quality water found in fruits and vegetables, will function more regularly as far as elimination is concerned. Cooked and dead foods have a tendency to clog up the body. Raw fruits and vegetables do the opposite and keep your system clean and running smoothly.
2. Raw Vegan diets clean your body from accumulated toxins rather that filling your body with more toxins:
Cooked foods are the product of complex chemical reactions. This transformation that takes place in foods when they are exposed to heat create countless new molecules that were not naturally present in these foods. The impact of consuming cooked food can be in the long run detrimental to human health filling the body with unnecessary toxins which the body needs to later get rid of. If toxins are not released from the body, eventually signs of the so-common diseases affecting so many people in today's society appear. This is due to the fact that there are a lot of reasons to believe that new molecules created during the processes of cooking enter the blood stream without being properly digested, since there are no enzymes adapted to their digestion. These molecules would then accumulate in all parts of the body to create any number of conditions that we refer as diseases and which also contribute to early aging.
Many researchers think that there are no reasons for the body to be adapted to the new molecules created in the process of cooking, due to their huge amount and complexity, and the fact that they have entered human bodies only in the past 10,000 years of human history.
3. Getting plenty of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants:
- Raw fruits and vegetables are filled with vitamins and minerals, which often lack in cooked and denatured foods because they are mostly destroyed during the cooking process.
- It is quite obvious that cooking destroys the nutritional quality of the food. Heating is a destructive process in itself. When you apply fire to something, it becomes less than it was before. When you apply fire to your food, it becomes less than it was before. You cannot "add" to your food by cooking it. You can only "remove" from it, or alter. When you boil your vegetables they loose some of their nutritional value because fire destroys and does not create. Your food too does get burned when you boil it or heat it in any way…cooking kills your food just like it burns any other thing exposed to it.
- As a result, many important vitamins are loss during the cooking process. And some foods that most people eat every day are completely devoid of vitamins. For example, white bread sold in all stores doesn't contain any vitamins. The vitamins that it may contain are artificial vitamins that have been added to the bread. Canned goods, also, hardly contain any vitamins. If the vitamins are not present in the foods, your body will have to supply its own vitamins to absorb the minerals present in the foods.
- When you eat raw foods, you can be sure that you'll get all the vitamins and minerals that you possibly can. It is much better to eat foods that have all of their vitamin and mineral content intact. Most fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins and minerals, that work in conjunction with each other. Papayas have a good supply of calcium and also vitamin C, which is necessary for the absorption of calcium.
4. You get the most out of your food!
- Eating a diet that is based on raw fruits and vegetables, and low in cooked and processed foods, is a way to maximize your nutrition. Remember that many vitamins, trace minerals, and other factors that play an important role in your health probably have not been discovered yet. When we eat processed foods we eat foods that have less nutrition and value, and possibly less of the important food factors that have yet to be discovered. The only way to play it safe is to base your diet on raw fruits and vegetables, because we know that these foods have full nutrition, and until they are processed and cooked, they can provide us with the important vitamins and minerals that we need.
5. You will save money!
- Another good point is that you will be getting more for your dollar. If you cook the food you buy, it is very much like throwing away your money. However, by eating your food in its natural state you will making full use of its nutritional value as well as of your money spent on that food. Also you will be healthier which means that you will not need to spend money in pills and medicine to heal from colds and other illnesses.
6. No more Intestinal clogging & constipation:
- A problem with the typical cooked food diet that most people are eating is that it eventually leads to intestinal clogging and constipation. Good elimination plays an important role in good health. If your intestines don't function properly, nothing else will function 100% properly in your body.
- Meat has a tendency to remain for a long time in the intestines of humans and putrefy. Humans simply don't have the capacity to digest meat properly. True carnivores have very short intestines that allow them to eliminate the meat they eat in a short time. Meat that putrefies in the body is very dangerous as it produces a wide range of toxins. The intestines of herbivores, frugivores, and humans, is much shorter than those of carnivores. This is because we are meant to eat a diet of fruits and vegetables. These foods don't tend to putrefy and, since they are mostly water, they can benefit from a longer transit in the intestines in order for the body to absorb maximum nutrition out of them.
- Grain products like bread also have a tendency to ferment in the digestive tract and clog the system. Bread is made out of flour and water.
- Fruits and vegetables are clean foods that leave you clean inside. They are easy to digest and easy to eliminate. Once you start eating these foods as the major part of your diet, and at the same time you gradually keep meat products and flour products out of your diet, you will start to experience perfect digestion and perfect elimination.
7. You'll have clean arteries:
- Dirty Arteries are caused my the standard North American diet full of meat and processed food and fats. Clogged arteries are depriving many people of good health.
- According to the latest research there is a strong connection between diet and heart disease. All research advices that the best way to improve your diet is to reduced your intake of meat and other saturated fats, at the same time increasing your consumption of fruits and vegetables.
- It has been demonstrated that meat and fat cause the bad cholesterol in your body to rise up, which leads to clogged arteries and eventually heart disease. But not all fats are bad for you. The raw plant fats found in avocados, olive oil, flax seed oil and nuts and seeds have been shown to reduce the amount of cholesterol. This is why people living in the Mediterranean regions, while eating a diet high in fat, have a low incidence of heart disease, compared to Americans. This is because most of the fat that they eat comes from cold-pressed olive oil and other natural sources.
- Fat found in meat, on the other hand, has been shown to cause heart diseases and clogged arteries. Many people experience a significant reduction in their cholesterol level just by becoming vegetarians.
- Researchers have also found that components in raw fruits and vegetables help to keep the arteries clean. Raw plant foods, while not causing heart disease in the first place, can also help reverse the condition. The types of fatty acids found in raw plant foods also have been proven to help with the cleaning of arteries. Therefore by embracing a raw vegan based diet you will be ensuring to enjoy clean arteries and reduced your risks of heart attack.
8. Reduce risks of Cancer:
- About one fourth of the population in North America is affected at some point or another, and many of them die of it. We know from scientific research that cancer is related to diet and lifestyle.
- The latest studies also recommends fruits and vegetables to fight cancer and reduce the possibility of getting it. In raw fruits and vegetables the highest concentration of cancer-fighting components, such as anti-oxidants like vitamin C can be found.
- So by eating a diet of raw plant foods, you are lowering your chances of getting cancer two ways: first, you are not ingesting most of the food substances that cause it; and second, you are eating the foods that help to prevent it.
9. You will be more in tune with making your own living!
- Most prepackaged and processed foods alienate us from the food we are eating. We are totally disconnected from the food in is natural state which has been used to make a can soup or a pastry. By preparing colorful raw foods and getting involved in the process of growing your sprouts and some vegetables if you have room at home, you will be actively participating in making your living. This is a very rich and rewarding experience which connects us more and more to the simple yet essential art of living and producing your own food.
10. You'll feel great and full of energy!
- You will find inevitably that when you eat more fruits and vegetables you'll feel better. And that the heavy meals of meat and potatoes sap your energy and vitality.
- Fruits and vegetables contain vitality from the sun. When you eat living foods you feel alive, vibrant and full of radiant energy to use for your own life and to spread around among others!
As you experience for yourself teh raw vegan diet you will discover for yourself the spiritual, mental and health realated benefits of eating the natural way!
According to the dictionary enzymes are any of the various complex organic substances, as pepsin originating from living cells and capable of producing certain chemical changes in organic substances by catalytic action, as in digestion. This is to say, enzymes assist in the digestion process of foods. They are the energy and life force in foods.
Enzymes are also very important because besides assisting in the digestion of food they assist in its absorption as well. When one eats foods devoid of enzymes, the body does not get the full utilization of the food and also needs to provide by its own sources the enzymes to digest the food, depleting the body in this way of valuable life-force enzymes. This causes depletion of energy in the body and in the long term accumulation of toxicity in the body.
As long as you eat fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables, sprouts, soaked nuts, seeds and grains in their natural organic state without having them processed at all, you can know for a fact that these foods are living foods containing their full life-force.
Enzymes make digestion easier for the body. All raw food, including sprouts and greens, contain the proper types and proportions of enzymes necessary to digest itself. When raw food is eaten, the act of chewing ruptures the cell membrane and releases the enzymes to begin breakdown.
Food enzymes play an important role in digestion by predigesting food in the stomach. As long as the body is given raw living food the body does not need any supplementation of enzymes. However, in the typical North American Diet the enzymes are destroyed when food is cooked. As a result the body's digestive process can become over stressed with full digestive burden and vital nutrients may not be released from food assimilation.
Plant enzymes work at the pH found in part of the stomach - where food can sit for a while before gastric secretions begin action - and can improve utilization.
Enzymes are the very spark of life - they run the entire body. Vitamins and minerals are not activated until they join enzymes. You can put in your body an incredible amount of vitamins and minerals but without enzymes, nothing works!
All people need enzymes. This is why they are so important! These enzymes enhance the nourishment of the body so it can heal itself.
No! Enzymes are not destroyed in the stomach. They are simply deactivated by the stomach's acidity. When the food and the deactivated enzymes reach the small intestine, the body's alkaline reserve reactivates these enzymes at a higher, more alkaline pH. This is where pancreatic enzymes join activated plant enzymes.
Plant enzymes help you absorb and assimilate food. When your body functions properly, food is digested into tiny particles of nutrition that go into your blood and then into your cells. If you lack any necessary enzymes, however, this does not happen. People need to eat enzyme rich foods or they will never absorb all the nutrients in their food to the optimal degree.
- Remember that all foods which have been processed in any way, shape or form by exposing them to heat are not living foods containing their active enzymes alive any longer.
Cooking destroys the enzymes in our food. If one eats only devitalized food and take no additional enzyme rich foods, the pancreas has to do all the work of digestion and the entire metabolic enzyme system is drained.
The solution to this situation is to incorporate more raw foods, which have enzymes still intact. Edwards Howell, MD, the father of enzyme research, discovered that people who eat a large proportion of raw foods do not get as ill and are able to recover from illness more quickly than those who eat mostly cooked food.
If your body cannot break down properly, it's lacking enzymes. Particles of undigested food sit in your stomach and intestines and enter directly into your blood. Whatever you don't digest becomes like poison to your body.
Then the body sends antibodies to get rid of this material. The particles of undigested food often land in soft tissues and cause inflammation, which can lead to bacteria build-up and disease. Many different conditions can develop in this way from simple cases of acne to cancer or other illnesses.
What are the consequences of enzyme deficiency?
If you do not consume enough enzymes there are many conditions that can overtime appear. For example, lack of certain enzymes can lead to attention-deficit disorder, mood swings, and other mental and emotional problems. Also other symptoms include a low immune system.
Taking into account that enzymes are the very life-force in foods, it can be said that whenever you cook food over 110 degrees Fahrenheit, the enzymes in the food start to die. After a few seconds of being exposed to high temperatures, all enzymes in food are dead.How can you demonstrate that?
Take two seeds. Bake one at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, do nothing with the other one. Now plant the two beans and water them. Which one will never grow? The cooked seed. Why? Because during the cooking process all the enzymes have been destroyed and what is left is a dead seed that no longer can grow.
Another example to show this point is to place one finger in boiling water. Don't do it! You will burn! Just imagine if you placed it how terribly your skin would burn. If you left it there the heat would totally eat through your skin and destroy all the living cells of your finger. The same is true when you place any vegetable or food under extreme heat for any length of time.
Yet one more example if you need convincing is cooking potatoes. It you cook a potato and then let it sit, it will only last a few days and then rot. Nothing at all will grow from it. The potato will not be able to give life to another potato plant. However, if you take a potato in its raw form and let it sit under any humid condition, it will eventually sprout and start giving out green shoots. This proves that there is life in the raw potato while the life in the cooked potato is not longer present.
To conclude, when we cook food we kill the life-force. What we eat is dead and life-less. Think about the difference between a raw carrot and a cooked carrot. The raw carrot is strong, colorful, and alive. You could plant it and it would probably grow. What about the cooked carrot? It is limp and less colorful, and life-less. Its taste is mostly gone, and its appearance not as inspiring.
What is then the wise thing to do?
Whenever possible do not cook your food! Eat it in its fresh and natural uncooked state if you want to get all the benefits. It doesn't make sense that most of us spend so much money in good quality food to then proceed to destroy all the enzymes and a large percentage or the nutritional value by cooking it.
If you cannot change all your food intake to raw food, just gradually increase the amount of fresh produce in your diet. With time your own body will guide you to wise fresh and alive choices!
What's the good news?
The good news is that by incorporating more and more amounts of living enzymes in your diet you can develop a very strong immune system and your body can start to heal itself of many of its ills and conditions!
15. Is Raw-foodism extreme?
Many people claim that eating only raw foods is an extreme. I understand where they are coming from. They say this judging this diet most of the time without even having tried it at least for a few weeks and also from the point of view of a society that has been taught to believe that eating cooked foods and meat is healthy.
From my personal experience of having been brought up in a very strong meat eating society like Argentina and having suffered for years the pressure of having to eat meat, I felt then that eating such heavy processed foods and meat was an extreme. Since then, guided by my own growing awareness I have come to switch to a vegetarian diet, to a vegan diet and finally to a raw vegan diet. I cannot see my choice to be an extreme but the result of a very deep searching and tuning into what my body guided me to do and its wise feedback.
Eating a raw vegan diet might appear as an extreme to many. However, if you do not want to end up having to cope with the extreme conditions of disease and illnesse prominent in today's society then you have to take extreme measures. We can all choose how we wish to lead our lives. Some base their choices on desires, others on addictions, yet others on the basic and simple needs of the human body. In my case, I can only but speak for the results I get from leading this lifestyle which does not just include the raw vegetables and fruits I eat but also it is based on nurturing positive thoughts and lots of love and compassion towards all species and living things on this planet.
All I can say to people who see a raw vegan diet as an extreme is: "Before you judge it give it a try!"
When people who surround me do not understand my dietary choice, I tell them: "Well, maybe if you spend the next few years of your life living peacefully and in harmony with yourself, the animals and all of nature, walking in beautiful surroundings and exercising your body, doing yoga and eating a vegan diet; then you might understand how one's body naturally guides one towards a raw vegan diet and only from there you can judge if this diet is really an extreme or not."
To conclude, I believe that choices in life cannot be imposed on people. Each action we take in our own lives has to be a choice springing from within our center and nobody has the right to tell us or impose their views on us. Each person has free will to live their lives the best they can. We each have the right to the full expression of our being through the foods we choose to eat, the clothes we choose to wear, the companies we choose to support, etc. Nobody can take that right from anybody else. Those choices and the full expression of each of our beings is what makes each of us so unique. This uniqueness is our very gift we bring to society. Let's each of us make choices in tune with our souls and springing from the heart. I trust that from this inner center only loving and compassionate deeds can sprout and flower as a present for ourselves, to our society, the planet the animals and all generations to come!
16. Conclusion
Let's take full responsibility for our health, happiness and joy by embracing choices which promote peaceful, simple and compassionate life. I believe that Nature is our greatest teacher. Nature contains all the lessons we need for a lifetime of wisdom and richness. I make my choices and I redefine them everyday as I travel this ascending journey. Now the choice is yours. It is in your hands to live a life that nurtures your body, spirit and soul and positively influences those who surround you with your radiant energy and love!
Love and peace always,
Veronica