Why raw?
Well, when man evolved, what was the human body designed to feed on? There was no fire, no preservatives, no additives, the obvious food source was plant life, picked fresh. Man first inhabited the equatorial regions where tropical fruits were available growing on the trees.The choices for early man were fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. As the world became more crowded, the population spread out and inhabited cooler climates and the food sources changed.
The the evolutionary process is very slow, we still possess an appendix which has no useful function but it has not evolved away and man has not adapted to the modern diet that serves only the food manufacturing industry and the pharmaceutical industry. Everyone is being poisoned by the very food that is meant to nourish the human body.
Lets look at what you eat and see what it is doing to you ……………
Refined Sugar
Refined sugar contains no fibre, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes, only empty calories. What happens when you eat a refined carbohydrate like sugar? Your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize the incomplete food. Calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium are taken from various parts of the body to make use of the sugar. Many times, so much calcium is used to neutralize the effects of sugar that the bones become osteoporotic due to the withdrawn calcium.
Likewise, the teeth are affected and they lose their components until decay occurs and hastens their loss.
Refined sugar is void of all nutrients, consequently it causes the body to deplete its own stores of various vitamins, minerals and enzymes. If sugar consumption is continued, an over-acid condition results, and more minerals are needed from deep in the body to correct the imbalance. If the body is lacking the nutrients used to metabolise sugar, it will not be able to properly handle and rid itself of the poisonous residues.
These wastes accumulate through the brain and nervous system, which speeds up cellular death. The bloodstream becomes over-loaded with waste products and symptoms of carbonic poisoning result.
Sugar also makes the blood very thick and sticky, inhibiting much of the blood flow into the minute capillaries that supply our gums and teeth with vital nutrients. Therefore, we wind up with diseased gums and starving teeth. America and England, the two largest sugar consumers, have horrendous dental problems.
Refined Salt
Commercial table salt is used in our food and to soften water. During the refining of table salt, natural sea salt or rock salt is stripped of more than 60 trace minerals and essential macro-nutrients.
Commercial refined salt is not only stripped of all its minerals, besides sodium and chloride, but it is also heated at such high temperatures that the chemical structure of the salt changes. In addition, it is chemically cleaned and bleached and treated with anticaking agents which prevent salt from mixing with water in the salt container. Unfortunately the anticaking agents perform the same function in the human body, so refined salt does not dissolve and combine with the water and fluids present in our system. Instead it builds up in the body and leaves deposits in organs and tissue, causing severe health problems.
Two of the most common anticaking agents used in the mass production of salt are sodium alumino-silicate and alumino-calcium silicate. These are both sources of aluminum, a toxic metal that has been implicated in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and that certainly does not belong in a healthy diet. To make matters worse, the aluminum used in salt production leaves a bitter taste in salt, so manufactures usually add sugar in the form of dextrose to hide the taste of the aluminum.
Processed Foods
There are several reasons why you should avoid processed foods but here are a few:-
Trans fats. These are the real fat substitute in our modern diet and are in ALL fast food and processed foods.
Trans fats have been linked to heart disease, cancer, digestive disorders and degeneration of joints and tendons. Consumption is also linked to skin issues, learning disabilities, stunted growth in children and auto immune disease.
High Fructose Corn Syrup. Essentially, High Fructose Corn Syrup increase your triglyceride levels and your LDL (the bad cholesterol) within 60 minutes of ingestion.
In 2005, if one looks at the actuarial curve on cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypoglycemia and diabetes, they all parallel HFCS increase in the food chain.
Artificial sweeteners. We have been led to believe that these are a safe and smart alternative to sugar but that is not the case. Consuming artificial sweeteners impairs the body’s ability to control food intake and body weight.
Artificial sweeteners can actually stimulate your appetite, increase your carbohydrate cravings and stimulate fat storage and weight gain.
Monosodium Glutamate or MSG. MSG is essentially concentrated salt and is an excito-toxin, which means that is overexcites your cells to the point of damage, acting as a poison.
What is really tricky about MSG is that it can be hidden in food labels under names like broth, casein, hydrolyzed, autolyzed, gelatin, hyrdolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), yeast extract, malted barley, rice syrup or brown rice syrup.
Monosodium Glutamate has also been linked to causing nerve damage and vision loss. Basically, this stuff is REALLY bad for you.
Milk, cheese, dairy
Cow’s milk is an unhealthy fluid from diseased animals that contains a wide range of dangerous and disease-causing substances that have a cumulative negative effect on all who consume it. ALL cow’s milk (regular and ‘organic’) has 59 active hormones, scores of allergens, fat and cholesterol.
Most cow’s milk has measurable quantities of herbicides, pesticides, dioxins (up to 200 times the safe levels), up to 52 powerful antibiotics, blood, pus, feces, bacteria and viruses.
Processed white flour
In the manufacture of white flour, manufacturers first remove the wheat seed’s bran, its six outer layers, and the germ (or embryo) which contains 76% of the vitamins and minerals. 97% of the dietary fibre is also lost.
Then it gets even worse. What little is left is then bleached, preserved, and aged with chlorine dioxide. It is further whitened by adding chalk, alum, and ammonium carbonate to make it look and feel more improved and appealing to the consumer. An anti-salting agent called sorbitan mono-saturate is added in the final stage.
A few synthetic nutrients are then added back into the white flour and it is then called “enriched.” In actuality, there has been no real “enrichment” of the original product, but deception and destruction of the life-giving properties of one of the many perfect creations we find in nature.
Laboratory rats usually die in a week to ten days when placed on a diet of white flour. All of the chemicals from white flour and other elements in our environment wreak havoc on the human body. Humans were not designed nor equipped to ingest cumulative chemicals. A tremendous amount of strain is placed on the pancreas when it is forced to try to protect the body from chemicals. It cannot, at the same time, adequately perform its critical role of protecting the body from diseases.
Yeast
Yeast infection (Candidiasis) is caused by an overgrowth of the normal yeast in the body. So foods that the yeast is feeding on can promote yeast growth and lead to an infection:
- Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils
- White sugar
- Brown sugar
- Syrups
- Honey
- Fructose
- Sorbital
- Dried fruits and fruit juice
- Vinegar and condiments containing vinegar (ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salad dressing)
- Starches
- Refined carbohydrates
- White flour
- White rice
- White potatoes
- Grains
- Yeast and yeast containing products
- Beer
- Mushrooms
- Bread
- Cider
- Fruit skins
- Malt beverages
- MSG (often extracted from autolyzed yeast extract or from wheat)
- Wine
- Yeast Extract
Meat
There is no nutritional need for humans to eat any animal products; all of our dietary needs, even as infants and children, are best supplied by an animal-free diet. Our evolutionary ancestors were, and our closest primate relatives are, vegetarians. Human teeth and intestines are designed for eating and digesting plant foods, so it is no wonder that our major health problems can be traced to meat consumption.
The consumption of animal products has been conclusively linked with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and osteoporosis. Cholesterol (found only in animal products) and animal fat clog arteries, leading to heart attacks and strokes. The rate of colon cancer is highest in regions where meat consumption is high, and lowest where meat-eating is uncommon. A similar pattern is evident for breast, cervical, uterine, ovarian, prostate, and lung cancers.
Low-fat diets, particularly those without saturated fat, have been instrumental in allowing many diabetics to dispense with their pills, shots, and pumps. A study of more than 25,000 people over age 21 found that vegetarians have a much lower risk of getting diabetes than meat-eaters.
Osteoporosis, or bone loss due to mineral (particularly calcium) depletion, is not so much a result of insufficient calcium as it is a result of eating too much protein. A 1983 Michigan State University study found that by age 65, male vegetarians had an average measurable bone loss of 3 percent; male meat-eaters, 18 percent; female vegetarians, 7 percent; female meat-eaters, 35 percent
In addition to the problems associated with too much fat, cholesterol, and protein, consumers of animal products take in far greater amounts of residual agricultural chemicals, industrial pollutants, antibiotics, and hormones than do vegetarians. The absorption of antibiotics through meat-eating results in antibiotic-resistent strains of pneumonia, childhood meningitis, gonorrhea, salmonella, and other serious illnesses.
Meat contains 14 times as many pesticide residues as plant foods. Fish is another source of dangerous residues. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that fish can accumulate up to nine million times the level of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenals (PCBs) found in the waters in which they live.
Cooked food
The discovery of acrylamide in food is a major concern because acrylamide is a potential human carcinogen. When inhaled, it can cause drowsiness, tingling sensations, fatigue, weakness, stumbling, slurred speech, and shaking. The chemical may also cause central and peripheral nervous system damage and may be a precursor to cancer. In fact, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified acrylamide as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
When certain foodstuffs were first analyzed at the Swedish National Food Administration in 2002, it was found that some, when heated, could contain relatively high levels of the substance acrylamide. In total, more than 100 food samples have been analysed at the NFA. The food survey comprised bread, pasta, rice, fish, sausages, meat (beef and pork), biscuits, cookies, breakfast cereals, coffee and beer, etc as well as some ready-made dishes such as pizza and products based on potatoes, maize and flour.
The levels of acrylamide vary considerably within food groups, but potato crisps and French fries generally contained high levels compared to many other foods. The average content in potato chips is approximately 1000 microgram/kg and in French fries approximately 500 microgram/kg. Other food groups which may contain disconcerting levels of acrylamide are crackers, breakfast cereals, fried potato products, biscuits, cookies and popular snacks such as popcorn.
Foodstuffs which are not fried, deep fried or oven-baked during production or preparation are not considered to contain any appreciable levels of acrylamide.
Additives
Nowadays, most people tend to eat the ready-made food, rather than preparing it at home. Such foods contain some kind of additives and preservatives, so that their quality and flavor is maintained and they are not spoiled by bacteria and yeasts. More than 3000 additives and preservatives are available in the market, which are used as antioxidants and anti-microbial agents. Some of the commonly used food additives and preservatives are aluminum silicate, amino acid compounds, ammonium carbonates, sodium nitrate, propyl gallate, butylated hydrozyttoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), monosodium glutamate, white sugar, potassium bromate, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate. Some artificial colors are also added to the foods to give them an appealing look. These coloring substances are erythrosine (red), cantaxanthin (orange), amaranth (Azoic red), tartrazine (Azoic yellow) and annatto bixine (yellow orange).When the food is to be stored for a prolonged period, use of additives and preservatives is essential in order to maintain its quality and flavor. The excess water in the foods can cause the growth of bacteria, fungi and yeasts. Use of additives and preservatives prevents spoiling of the foods due to the growth of bacteria and fungi.
Additives are classified as antimicrobial agents, antioxidants, artificial colors, artificial flavors and flavor enhancers, chelating agents and thickening and stabilizing agents. Antimicrobial agents such as salt, vinegar, sorbic acid and calcium propionate are used in the products such as salad dressings, baked goods, margarine, cheese and pickled foods. Antioxidants including vitamin C, E, BHT and BHA are used in the foods containing high fats. Chelating agents such as malic acid, citric acid and tartaric acid are used to prevent the flavor changes, discoloration and rancidity of the foods.
Although additives and preservatives are essential for food storage, they can give rise to certain health problems. They can cause different allergies and conditions such as hyperactivity and Attention Deficit Disorder in the some people who are sensitive to specific chemicals. The foods containing additives can cause asthma, hay fever and certain reactions such as rashes, vomiting, headache, tight chest, hives and worsening of eczema. Some of the known dangers of food additives and preservatives are as follows:
Benzoates can trigger the allergies such as skin rashes and asthma as well as believed to be causing brain damage.
Bromates destroy the nutrients in the foods. It can give rise to nausea and diarrhea. Butylates are responsible for high blood cholesterol levels as well as impaired liver and kidney function.
Caffeine is a colorant and flavorant that has diuretic, stimulant properties. It can cause nervousness, heart palpitations and occasionally heart defects.
Saccharin causes toxic reactions and allergic response, affecting skin, gastrointestinal tract and heart. It may also cause tumors and bladder cancer.
Red Dye 40 is suspected to cause certain birth defects and possibly cancer.
Mono and di-glycerides can cause birth defects, genetic changes and cancer.
Caramel is a famous flavoring and coloring agent that can cause vitamin B6 deficiencies. It can cause certain genetic defects and even cancer.
Sodium chloride can lead to high blood pressure, kidney failure, stroke and heart attack.
Not to mention the detrimental effects of smoking, alcohol, Caffeine, drugs and prescription drugs all feeding addictions. It’s no wonder eveyone is sick!
Get your free report on nutrition myths from Robyn Openshaw
here http://www.12nutritionmyths.com/
The Truth About Comfort Eating ~ Part 1
Isn’t it funny how those foods we crave when we feel down, upset or lonely are called “comfort foods”, when what they actually do in reality is only add to our discomfort?
How many people, do you think, are walking around today carrying an extra 5, 10, 15, 20lbs or more of “comfort” around their middle, hips or thighs? Can it really be that comfortable to be wearing our pain, now compounded into physical form as well, as if the emotional form was not already enough?!
Today we’re going to wake up and smell the coffee/ bread/potatoes/cheese/chocolate for what they really are, but before we do that, let’s take a moment to look at why we feel we need comforting anyway.
First of all, I want you to list the times you eat when you’re not hungry. This may include any or all of the following:
When I’m feeling…
Sad, tired, bored, angry, upset, disappointed, uninspired, lost, alone, confused, happy, excited, overwhelmed.
You may very well have some others of your own to add; please do as you’ll be working with your list this week and next.
When you have your list, write down next to each emotion what food/s or drink you tend to reach for when you’re feeling that way. Be radically honest as this information is vital.
When you’re done, see if there are trends. Do one or two particular foods or drinks show up more often than the others? Or do you choose different foods for coping with different emotions? Chances are that there are some foods that show up in your list over and over, and these are likely to include bread (or other wheat products), cheese, ice-cream, chocolate, wine and potatoes.
Keep this information; we’ll be working with it later.
Now to the “comfort” part.
I want you to imagine for a moment, feeling one of those emotions that triggers comfort eating for you. For the purpose of this exercise it is a good idea to choose one of the most common ones so you can easily get in touch with the emotion and your pattern around it.
Now, as you have that in your mind, stay with me here as I discuss what this emotion is really all about. You may have heard before the “emotion” can also be read: e-motion, with the “e” standing for energy – thus we have “energy in motion”. Really this is what emotion is. It’s a form of energy within ourselves that is trying to move, and with energy being what it is, it wants to be experienced, brought to consciousness and then, if it is not a positive energy, to leave us by moving up and out.
Now this is all fine and would be straightforward and perfectly okay, if only we didn’t want to stop feeling negative emotion as soon as we start to sense it! You see, we have very much become a people who live in a lot of fear, and when we start to feel anything that feels remotely uncomfortable we head straight to the fridge, freezer or drinks cabinet. What’s important to recognise here is that there is no comfort in this old- school response, it simply stops the energy moving through and instead buries it – for the time being anyway. It is never going to leave if it’s being buried temporarily; in fact it just gains strength and “importance” when it could have been up and out!
So what is it about these foods that makes them feel so comforting?
Well, there are different aspects to each and every food, but generally speaking, we choose a food because it is sufficiently heavy or deadening to our senses that it allows us to “not feel”. It has been shown that it is pretty much impossible to process food and emotion at the same time, and so when we eat these foods our body naturally chooses digestion because it is in its best interests to do so, and so consequently we don’t “feel”.
But of course this doesn’t make the pain go away. It simply stops it for a little while. And the more pain we feel, the more we are likely to eat in order to stop that energy from moving around.
The irony of this is that if we allowed ourselves to feel what it is we need to feel then we could do something about it. We already know that comfort eating doesn’t solve anything; in fact it only makes things worse as now we have weight or health issues to deal with on top of it all!
Instead, we would do far better to recognise that the negative feelings we are experiencing are our servants – they are telling us what isn’t well in our world, so that we know what needs to change, so we can be the happy, healthy and peaceful people we are meant to be!
As this article is in two parts, for this next week I’d like to invite you to play a game with yourself in the days that follow, and when you go to reach for something you see as comforting ask yourself, “What am I trying to escape from here? Why am I reaching for this food when I’m not actually hungry?” When you have your answer, see if you can resist the temptation to quash the feelings that are trying to rise up and instead feel them, be with them, allow them to inform you as to what is wrong and why. You can still go ahead and eat the comfort food if you feel you still want to, but at least get clear on what’s triggered the behaviour in the first place.
Next week I am going to give you the solution to your comfort eating patterns. Having been there myself for many years until a decade or so ago, I know that breaking free of comfort eating can absolutely be accomplished – and how! I’m going to walk you through some of the most common “comfort foods” and explain why they are so common and how you can replace them with something more constructive. We’ll also be looking at “why raw?” in this whole scenario and why raw foods should become the new comfort foods – they have a very strong case! When you truly get how raw foods can be your ally in this story, then you’ll be on the path to setting yourself not just free from the old-school comfort eating, but also setting yourself on a path to way more positive emotion than you ever thought possible!
Sounds good? Then I look forward to sharing with you next week!
© 2010 Karen Knowler WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach publishes “Successfully Raw” – a free weekly eZine for raw food lovers everywhere. If you’re ready to look good, feel great and create a raw life you love get your FREE tips, tools and recipes now at www.TheRawFoodCoach.com