raw food

April 20, 1999

_Luv_Jamiroquai, I was 100% earlier this year

but blew it at a few social gatherings. It's just so

easy drop to one's guard and sneek in some cooked

" goodies " . I guess I'm back to 80% for now. Nature's

First Law is a great book and I'm glad you are reading

it. As it turns out, David Wolfe, one of the authors

just gave a 2 hour talk at my local health food store.

What a pleasure it was to see him and hear what he had

to say about raw food. He says that you will benefit

by increasing raw food in your diet no matter how

little the increase but for " fantastic " changes you need

to do 100% (like for 3 months or more). I also have

his new book " The Sunfood Diet Success System " where

he advocates 80%+ raw plant food and then move

forward from there towards 100%. I came close to doing it

and I really did notice changes especially " clarity

of mind " ... and there is a lot to be said for that.

He also said that doing 80% raw gets you 80% of the

results whereas 100% raw gets you 1000% of the results.

I have not been to a health spa but I say a very

nice on on the internet in British Columbia, Canada.

It looked like a great place to relax and they

served all raw meals. If I find the link to it again I

will post it for you. -OrionsDad

February 3, 2001

Changing from cooked to raw is hard but we were/are designed to eat

raw foods, it's the cooked foods that are unatural and toxic to us and

I we are addicted (I do see it as a drug).

The only thing bad about a raw diet is the b12, they say that it's

because the soil doesn't have so much as it used to so vegans need to

get supplements, methylcobalamin is best, any more advice?

Nigel.

Friday, February 02, 2001, 8:59:40 PM, anastasiastatham:

accu> Hi Nigel!

accu> Good for you! I believe that our physiology is designed to thrive on

accu> a raw diet of plant food. You sound like you are doing well so far.

accu> Good luck, love and peace from Stacey

accu> p.s. I shouldn't think that your body would appreciate any dead

accu> animal, raw or cooked. Nature provides everything we need within

accu> plants.

accu>

July 8, 2003

Raw means at room temperature.

Alexandra Kafka [alexandra.kafka]

08 July 2003 00:20

rawfood

[Raw Food] raw food

As far as I know people who only eat raw food do not heat their food

above a certain level, so that it just gets warm but is not really

cooked. Is this true, or does raw mean really raw?

July 8, 2003

rawfood , " Peter Gardiner " <petergardiner@e...>

wrote:

> Raw means at room temperature.

>

I understand it to mean not above body temperature, thus dehydrating

(if you dehydrate) at 95 degrees being acceptable.

Bridgitte

July 8, 2003

Brigitte

I am just trying to think of a reason for tampering with the

temperature of raw food. Sorry, I cannot think of any.

Peter

Bridgitte [syndactylcat]

08 July 2003 16:36

rawfood

Re: [Raw Food] raw food

rawfood , " Peter Gardiner " <petergardiner@e...>

wrote:

> Raw means at room temperature.

>

I understand it to mean not above body temperature, thus dehydrating

(if you dehydrate) at 95 degrees being acceptable.

Bridgitte

July 8, 2003

rawfood , " Peter Gardiner " <petergardiner@e...>

wrote:

> Brigitte

>

> I am just trying to think of a reason for tampering with the

> temperature of raw food. Sorry, I cannot think of any.

>

I'm not talking about something to 95 degrees and eating it warmed

up. Room temperature is the way to go. I was speaking more of

transitional foods like flax crackers or cookies that some people

(like me) like to have around.

Wasn't sure if I was clear or not...

Bridgitte

July 8, 2003

I meant HEATING food to 95 degrees...

Sorry.

Bridgitte

July 8, 2003

Brigitte,

If warming is on transitional food items, it is no big deal.

In a couple of months it will be out of your diet and doubtless far

more toxic items have been your way previously.

Concerning you plan of short water fasts, it is not a

good idea to have them too close to each other as you

can set up a mode in which your body looks to store food

ready for the next little " famine " to come along.

I do not feel the need for fasts much now but in the

past I have followed the maxim that a fast about twice

as long as the previous is comfortable but after five days or

week, I used to get the hydrotherapy. It made me feel

much better. It washes out all the toxins and debris that

might otherwise recycle through the blood and cause headaches,

fatigue and the like.

If you attempt a fast in a hospital or when having treatment you may

react more strongly to any medication and some is to be taken with food

only. Most proponents of fasting write that fasting is excellent for

healing

which makes the idea of combining the fast with the operation sound a

great idea. Obviously you have to defer to whoever is treating you on

that one.

Peter

Bridgitte [syndactylcat]

08 July 2003 21:14

rawfood

Re: [Raw Food] raw food

rawfood , " Peter Gardiner " <petergardiner@e...>

wrote:

> Brigitte

>

> I am just trying to think of a reason for tampering with the

> temperature of raw food. Sorry, I cannot think of any.

>

I'm not talking about something to 95 degrees and eating it warmed

up. Room temperature is the way to go. I was speaking more of

transitional foods like flax crackers or cookies that some people

(like me) like to have around.

Wasn't sure if I was clear or not...

Bridgitte

July 8, 2003

rawfood , " Peter Gardiner " <petergardiner@e...>

wrote:

> Brigitte,

>

> Concerning you plan of short water fasts, [snip]

Hmmm, that wsn't me...

Bridgitte

July 9, 2003

Sorry

Bridgitte [syndactylcat]

09 July 2003 00:06

rawfood

Re: [Raw Food] raw food

rawfood , " Peter Gardiner " <petergardiner@e...>

wrote:

> Brigitte,

>

> Concerning you plan of short water fasts, [snip]

Hmmm, that wsn't me...

Bridgitte

July 7, 2004

Well, I think raw foods are Ok. I love eating raw vegetables:)

Noel

Message: 7

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 08:31:15 -0000

" Stephen " <tanan603

Raw Food

Hello Guys

What do you guys think about " Raw Foodism " and is there one among

you?

July 7, 2004

i think it is alright if that is what you are into.

i like many of my veggies raw and eat plenty

of seeds and nuts, but i am not interested in

doing it 100%.

i'm always interested in trying new recipes,

and this includes raw food recipes, so if you

have some delicious dishes you want to share

here, please do. The list has several raw foodists

in the membership and many more like myself

that enjoy trying new ideas for meals. i look

forward to your future postings on this subject.

Summer is a great time for raw; too hot to cook!

~ pt ~

The songs of our ancestors are also the songs of

our children.

~ Philip Carr-Gomm, 'The Druid Way'

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~~~~>

, " Stephen " <tanan603>

wrote:

> Hello Guys

> What do you guys think about " Raw Foodism " and is there one among

> you?

September 29, 2005

i've seen a bunch of articles about raw food lately -- soon to be a new trend maybe?

there's a raw food restaurant in nyc called "pure food and wine".. they opened last year and apparently are doing great business... the menu is on their website www.purefoodandwine.com -- pricey and gourmet -- i went a few months ago and dragged a meat-eating friend along...it was one of the absolute best meals i've ever had! my friend expected some nasty tofu-laden goulash, but was totally impressed and more than willing to go back

"zurumato" <zurumato wrote:

http://www.satyamag.com/sept05/strahl.html The End of Cooking: Is a Raw Food Diet the Key to Health, Happiness and a Long Life? By Lynda StrahlMy new neighbors, Douglas and Marcia, recently invited me to dinner. After assuring me that the menu would accord with my vegan principles, they proceeded to dish up the most delicious—and unusual—meal to pass my lips in a very long time.For openers, they served a delectable chilled watercress soup. It was creamy and flavorsome, and I can taste it still. Then came the main attraction, a mock meat loaf, made of a gorgeous mixture of Portobello mushrooms and almonds. The supporting cast consisted of some interesting looking vegetables, one of which I took at first to be spaghetti but which turned out to be made of shreds of butternut squash with a light garlic dressing. Believe me, it tasted a good deal better than it sounds.There was also a scrumptious

salad that would have made a satisfying meal in itself. And for dessert, my hosts served a grade A apple and walnut cobbler—vastly superior to anything of that genre I have ever made myself.It was only when I was sitting back, feeling replete from this splendid repast, that the truth sank in. Everything we had eaten had been raw. Not a single item had ever made the acquaintance of a skillet, saucepan, roasting tin or dutch oven. What’s more, it emerged that my hosts only ate raw food. They eschewed all forms of boiling, broiling, frying, roasting, baking, stewing and related activities.Douglas and Marcia were raw foodists—or, as they preferred to be known, living foodists.Why Would Anyone Want to Eat Like That?It didn’t take much prompting to get Marcia to expound on the thinking behind this unusual regime. “It’s quite simple,” she explained. “Cooking destroys or degrades most of the nutrients in the food, especially protein. Most of it

is either completely destroyed or rendered useless by prolonged exposure to heat. Cooking also robs your food of its enzymes, plus most of its vitamins.” Her conclusion: “Going raw is the only way to get the full nutritional benefit of what you eat.”This gave me pause. What she said seemed to make sense. But how did she explain all those folks like me, who take care to eat a sensible and balanced diet, manage to get our full ration of nutrients, and do so without shunning the stove? If a raw food diet is so wonderful, how come I, for one, manage to keep healthy without it?“It’s a matter of degree,” chipped in Douglas. “You’re healthy because you are a vegan. Think how much healthier you would be if you were a living food vegan.”“And then there’s the enzyme question,” said Marcia, warming to her thesis. “The fact is that every type of food naturally contains exactly the right mix of enzymes needed for that food to be digested. Heating food above a certain

temperature kills the enzymes, which means that our bodies have to generate the enzymes they need to digest the food in question.“But the body is simply not equipped to produce the exact combination of enzymes you need to digest every kind of food. So the stuff takes longer to break down; it clogs up your intestinal tract and it takes longer to pass through your system.“There’s also a belief that we only produce a finite amount of enzymes in our lifetime, and the faster we run out of them, the more rapid the aging process will be. So there you are: Avoiding cooked food will keep you young.”She certainly scored a home run with that last point. I knew my hosts were both approaching the swamplands of middle age, yet they looked no older than the average college sophomore. If only the same could be said for this humble reporter.In full flow now, Marcia went on to talk about how cooking also clobbers many of the vitamins contained in our daily fare. About

half of B vitamins are lost as a result of heat, as is some 80 percent of vitamin C, she said. It’s true that in most cases, you would need to cook the foods at high temperatures or for long periods before you lose that much of the good stuff, but unfortunately that happens rather often with the typical dishes most of us throw down our gullets.But Wait, It Gets WorseAs if all this wasn’t depressing enough, Douglas went on to say that cooking can actually make food toxic. “Heating fats is especially bad because it generates free radicals, and you know how nasty they are.” (For those of you who don’t, free radicals are unstable molecules believed to cause tissue damage at the cellular level and thought to increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and age-related illnesses.) “Cooked food can also lead to a weakening of the immune system and therefore an inability to fight infections,” he added enthusiastically.“There’s another point

Douglas forgot to mention,” said Marcia, with the air of one poised to deliver the clinching argument. “Washing the dishes is a heck of a lot easier with a living food diet. We never have to contend with large oven dishes loaded with burnt-on grease.”So What are We to do?I came away from my neighbors’ house feeling good about the meal I had eaten, but uncertain about the arguments they had expounded so fervently.Ten years ago I struggled hard to become a vegetarian. It was a radical move for me, and one which needed a lot of adjusting to. Six years later, I went through a similar period of turmoil when I turned vegan. Douglas and Marcia were halfway to convincing me of the justice of their cause. But I felt that becoming a living foodist would be one lifestyle change too many for me.Since that evening, I have read up on the subject and talked to people who know more about these things than I do. But I’m still not fully

convinced.One friend, a professional nutritionist, told me that raw food regimes do tend to be healthy, but mainly because they are generally low in fat and high in fiber. But so is a balanced vegan diet like mine. My friend went on to say that the benefits of going raw are partly offset by the fact that it limits the types of foods you eat and deprives you of certain important nutrients. He singled out iron and calcium as possibly being problematic in that regard.And then there’s the question of variety. Douglas and Marcia are both excellent cooks and could probably turn a clump of nettles into a tasty dish. (In fact, I feel sure they have.) But what about mere culinary mortals like me? I doubt that I could serve up appetizing lunches and dinners day after day in a stove-free environment. And think how much harder it would be for a living food homemaker, with a house full of hungry little living foodists to keep fed and happy.It’s true that there are some

excellent raw food recipe books on the market, full of ideas for tasty uncooked meals. But I’m not sure they would provide enough recipes to keep my taste buds happy in the longer term.Meet Me Part WayIt seems to me that a sensible compromise is in order here. I’m not prepared to go cold turkey and give up cooked food completely, but I have resolved to increase the proportion of raw food in my diet. That seems like an easy thing to do. After all, I have no problem in choosing a side salad in place of a cooked vegetable to accompany my meal. Why not take that idea just a little further?For example, how about continuing to eat soups and stews, but adding a sprinkling of shredded carrot, chopped broccoli or sliced mushrooms just before serving up? Or what about boiling and mashing your potatoes as you have always done, but mashing in a handful of alfalfa sprouts before it reaches the table? And of course you can add nuts and seeds to just about

anything edible.While most us might find it too difficult to go completely raw, we can surely all benefit by finding ways of eating more raw foods whenever the opportunity arises. Just remember to take it gradually and keep it balanced. Lynda Strahl is a freelance journalist, based in Seattle. Two great resources for exploring living foods are Living Cuisine: The Art and Spirit of Raw Foods by Renée Loux Underkoffler (Avery) and The Sunfood Diet Success System by David Wolfe (Maul Brothers).

September 29, 2005

The raw food stall at the Vegan Fair looked like a feast - it looked

healthy, smelled delicious and was very colourful.

I wonder how the cobbler was made as cobbler is usually cooked.

Jo

, " zurumato@e... " <zurumato@e...>

wrote:

> http://www.satyamag.com/sept05/strahl.html

> The End of Cooking: Is a Raw Food Diet the Key to Health, Happiness

and a Long Life?

> By Lynda Strahl

>

> My new neighbors, Douglas and Marcia, recently invited me to

dinner. After assuring me that the menu would accord with my vegan

principles, they proceeded to dish up the most delicious—and unusual—

meal to pass my lips in a very long time.

>

> For openers, they served a delectable chilled watercress soup. It

was creamy and flavorsome, and I can taste it still. Then came the

main attraction, a mock meat loaf, made of a gorgeous mixture of

Portobello mushrooms and almonds. The supporting cast consisted of

some interesting looking vegetables, one of which I took at first to

be spaghetti but which turned out to be made of shreds of butternut

squash with a light garlic dressing. Believe me, it tasted a good

deal better than it sounds.

>

> There was also a scrumptious salad that would have made a

satisfying meal in itself. And for dessert, my hosts served a grade A

apple and walnut cobbler—vastly superior to anything of that genre I

have ever made myself.

>

> It was only when I was sitting back, feeling replete from this

splendid repast, that the truth sank in. Everything we had eaten had

been raw. Not a single item had ever made the acquaintance of a

skillet, saucepan, roasting tin or dutch oven. What's more, it

emerged that my hosts only ate raw food. They eschewed all forms of

boiling, broiling, frying, roasting, baking, stewing and related

activities.

>

> Douglas and Marcia were raw foodists—or, as they preferred to be

known, living foodists.

>

> Why Would Anyone Want to Eat Like That?

> It didn't take much prompting to get Marcia to expound on the

thinking behind this unusual regime. " It's quite simple, " she

explained. " Cooking destroys or degrades most of the nutrients in the

food, especially protein. Most of it is either completely destroyed

or rendered useless by prolonged exposure to heat. Cooking also robs

your food of its enzymes, plus most of its vitamins. " Her

conclusion: " Going raw is the only way to get the full nutritional

benefit of what you eat. "

>

> This gave me pause. What she said seemed to make sense. But how did

she explain all those folks like me, who take care to eat a sensible

and balanced diet, manage to get our full ration of nutrients, and do

so without shunning the stove? If a raw food diet is so wonderful,

how come I, for one, manage to keep healthy without it?

>

> " It's a matter of degree, " chipped in Douglas. " You're healthy

because you are a vegan. Think how much healthier you would be if you

were a living food vegan. "

>

> " And then there's the enzyme question, " said Marcia, warming to her

thesis. " The fact is that every type of food naturally contains

exactly the right mix of enzymes needed for that food to be digested.

Heating food above a certain temperature kills the enzymes, which

means that our bodies have to generate the enzymes they need to

digest the food in question.

>

> " But the body is simply not equipped to produce the exact

combination of enzymes you need to digest every kind of food. So the

stuff takes longer to break down; it clogs up your intestinal tract

and it takes longer to pass through your system.

>

> " There's also a belief that we only produce a finite amount of

enzymes in our lifetime, and the faster we run out of them, the more

rapid the aging process will be. So there you are: Avoiding cooked

food will keep you young. "

>

> She certainly scored a home run with that last point. I knew my

hosts were both approaching the swamplands of middle age, yet they

looked no older than the average college sophomore. If only the same

could be said for this humble reporter.

>

> In full flow now, Marcia went on to talk about how cooking also

clobbers many of the vitamins contained in our daily fare. About half

of B vitamins are lost as a result of heat, as is some 80 percent of

vitamin C, she said. It's true that in most cases, you would need to

cook the foods at high temperatures or for long periods before you

lose that much of the good stuff, but unfortunately that happens

rather often with the typical dishes most of us throw down our

gullets.

>

> But Wait, It Gets Worse

> As if all this wasn't depressing enough, Douglas went on to say

that cooking can actually make food toxic. " Heating fats is

especially bad because it generates free radicals, and you know how

nasty they are. " (For those of you who don't, free radicals are

unstable molecules believed to cause tissue damage at the cellular

level and thought to increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular

disease and age-related illnesses.) " Cooked food can also lead to a

weakening of the immune system and therefore an inability to fight

infections, " he added enthusiastically.

>

> " There's another point Douglas forgot to mention, " said Marcia,

with the air of one poised to deliver the clinching

argument. " Washing the dishes is a heck of a lot easier with a living

food diet. We never have to contend with large oven dishes loaded

with burnt-on grease. "

>

> So What are We to do?

> I came away from my neighbors' house feeling good about the meal I

had eaten, but uncertain about the arguments they had expounded so

fervently.

>

> Ten years ago I struggled hard to become a vegetarian. It was a

radical move for me, and one which needed a lot of adjusting to. Six

years later, I went through a similar period of turmoil when I turned

vegan. Douglas and Marcia were halfway to convincing me of the

justice of their cause. But I felt that becoming a living foodist

would be one lifestyle change too many for me.

>

> Since that evening, I have read up on the subject and talked to

people who know more about these things than I do. But I'm still not

fully convinced.

>

> One friend, a professional nutritionist, told me that raw food

regimes do tend to be healthy, but mainly because they are generally

low in fat and high in fiber. But so is a balanced vegan diet like

mine. My friend went on to say that the benefits of going raw are

partly offset by the fact that it limits the types of foods you eat

and deprives you of certain important nutrients. He singled out iron

and calcium as possibly being problematic in that regard.

>

> And then there's the question of variety. Douglas and Marcia are

both excellent cooks and could probably turn a clump of nettles into

a tasty dish. (In fact, I feel sure they have.) But what about mere

culinary mortals like me? I doubt that I could serve up appetizing

lunches and dinners day after day in a stove-free environment. And

think how much harder it would be for a living food homemaker, with a

house full of hungry little living foodists to keep fed and happy.

>

> It's true that there are some excellent raw food recipe books on

the market, full of ideas for tasty uncooked meals. But I'm not sure

they would provide enough recipes to keep my taste buds happy in the

longer term.

>

> Meet Me Part Way

> It seems to me that a sensible compromise is in order here. I'm not

prepared to go cold turkey and give up cooked food completely, but I

have resolved to increase the proportion of raw food in my diet. That

seems like an easy thing to do. After all, I have no problem in

choosing a side salad in place of a cooked vegetable to accompany my

meal. Why not take that idea just a little further?

>

> For example, how about continuing to eat soups and stews, but

adding a sprinkling of shredded carrot, chopped broccoli or sliced

mushrooms just before serving up? Or what about boiling and mashing

your potatoes as you have always done, but mashing in a handful of

alfalfa sprouts before it reaches the table? And of course you can

add nuts and seeds to just about anything edible.

>

> While most us might find it too difficult to go completely raw, we

can surely all benefit by finding ways of eating more raw foods

whenever the opportunity arises. Just remember to take it gradually

and keep it balanced.

>

> Lynda Strahl is a freelance journalist, based in Seattle. Two great

resources for exploring living foods are Living Cuisine: The Art and

Spirit of Raw Foods by Renée Loux Underkoffler (Avery) and The

Sunfood Diet Success System by David Wolfe (Maul Brothers).

September 29, 2005

I think there have been rawfoodists for many decades, but it does

seem to be gaining popularity.

Jo

, ank_art <ank_art> wrote:

> i've seen a bunch of articles about raw food lately -- soon to be a

new trend maybe?

> there's a raw food restaurant in nyc called " pure food and wine " ..

they opened last year and apparently are doing great business... the

menu is on their website www.purefoodandwine.com -- pricey and

gourmet -- i went a few months ago and dragged a meat-eating friend

along...it was one of the absolute best meals i've ever had! my

friend expected some nasty tofu-laden goulash, but was totally

impressed and more than willing to go back

>

> " zurumato@e... " <zurumato@e...> wrote: