Getting Started with the Raw Foods Diet

If you've always wanted answers about the raw and living food lifestyle-- about how to stay on track, how to eat for success, how to find the answers you've set out to find...

I've got great news...

Mark Perlmutter, the producer of "Raw for 30 Days" and Sandra Hodge, the Raw Summit coordinator have spent the last few months putting together a panel of medical, nutrition, and raw/living food experts that are quietly changing the way people approach health, fitness and wellness.

The expert panel includes Reverend Michael Beckwith, Doctors Brian and Anna Maria Clement, Mike Nash, Annie Jubb and others that will give you powerful insight into their lives and how they maintain vibrant health.

Better yet, because their mission is to reach as many people as possible, they've created a way for every one of you to be able to receive this information at absolutely no cost.

Any one else who signs up by finding this on the web will have to pay for access to the program. You get all this wonderful information for freeeee.

==> http://www.TheRawDiet.com/summit.html

The power of the internet has given this event the opportunity to reach thousands upon thousands of people just like you who want to know more about what's happening in the raw, vegan, veggie and living foods world and how you can easily implement it into your life for maximum happiness, health and joy.

So hurry on over and sign up now, the event starts tomorrow, November 20, 2007 at 8:00pm EST!

==> http://www.TheRawDiet.com/summit.html

Go ahead and register even if you are unable to call in because you will receive the mp3 recordings and you can listen at your leisure.

Thanks!

Mike Snyder

PS. Again as a special offer to anyone who signs up today, you will not have to pay the admission fee required for everyone else!

==> http://www.TheRawDiet.com/summit.html

I have difficulty sticking to a raw food diet due to lack of variety. I don't have time to prepare meals and depend on salads and smoothies - it gets old. Any good suggestions for a working person?

Question 2)

How do you make 100% raw simple without eating green salad every night at dinner?

Answer:

Thank you for your questions. It is difficult to eat healthy when you have a busy schedule. I have a few tips that may help.

When I first started eating a raw foods diet I was eating simple meals. My meals took little to no preparation time and included foods such as:

- Whole fruits and veggies
- Smoothies
- Ann Wigmore Energy Soup
- Salads

Each week I would pick one new recipe to practice. I prepared variations of this one recipe for 7 days.

I was surprised to find how easy it became and I no longer needed to read the recipe. I had it memorized and could make it in a few short minutes.

For example, the first time I tried making "pasta" with marinara sauce with the Saladacco, it took me over an hour to prepare!

I decided to practice the recipe every day for a week until I learned it. Now I can whip up a delicious pasta in 10 minutes!

If you pick one new recipe to practice each week, you will have mastered 52 new recipes in one year!

Prepare Food in Advance

A mistake I used to make caused me to give in to cooked food cravings. My mistake was waiting until I was hungry to prepare food.

When hunger would strike I was not prepared. I would visit the health food store and pick up quick convenience foods because I was too hungry to make a recipe and I had grown tired of apples.

I found that preparing food in advance saved time and helped me avoid cooked foods.

Here are a few tips for preparing foods in advance.

- Soaking

Before going to bed, spend a couple minutes soaking your nuts, seeds, grains, and beans. They will be ready to use the next morning.

To soak these foods, you just put them in a bowl of water and let them sit overnight. Rinse them the next morning.

Sunflower seeds float in water. The best way to soak them it to put them in a glass jar, fill to the top with water, and screw on the lid. This keeps the seeds submerged under water.

Stay tuned for part 2...

Mike

- Dehydrated Foods

Use an Excalibur food dehydrator to prepare a months supply of food such as crackers, cookies, marinated nuts & veggies, and other snack foods. These foods last a long time and they are easy to prepare. One of my favorite breakfast and snack meals is granola with almond milk. A months supply of granola takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.

Another great recipe is trail mix. Simply soak nuts and seeds for the required time. Mix them in a bowl with some chopped dried fruits, dried coconut, and seasonings such as cinnamon and agave nectar. Dehydrate for 12 to 24 hours.

- Pate

There are so many uses for pate that you will never get tired of it. A simple pate can be made in advance to last a week in the fridge.

Use Pate in the Stack, Stuff, and Roll technique:

- Stack

Stacking is creating layers of veggies and pate. For example, the first layer is a tomato slice, the second layer is pate, the third layer is tomato, and the fourth layer is sauce.

Lasagna is another good stacking meal. Make the first layer out of thin slices of zucchini. Then add layers of pate, followed with more zucchini slices, then seed cheese, more zucchini slices, and top with your favorite sauce.

Another stacking example is the pizza. I like to make months supply of crackers in the dehydrator. I make them in a round pizza crust shape. Stack with layers of veggies and a tomato / basil pate.

- Stuff

This is when you stuff your veggies or fruits with other ingredients. For example, I like to cut a bell pepper in half and stuff it with pate. Two other good items to stuff are portabella mushrooms and tomatoes.

I also love to stuff dates with soaked almonds!

- Roll

This method allows you to make meals such as burritos and nori rolls. I use foods such as nori sea vegetables, romaine lettuce, cabbage leaves, kale, and collard greens. Put a scoop of pate on the greens and roll it up with some chopped veggies.

The roll technique is perfect for busy people because you can eat it on the go. I make a large batch of them and store in a Tupperware container. Whenever hunger strikes I have the option to snack on the rolls.

If I am stuck in rush hour traffic driving home from work, I like to snack on a nori roll or burrito, it helps me pass the time and boredom!

I usually make large quantities of pate for dinner so it will last for at least another four meals. Salt and lemon juice help preserve the pate.

I recently received the following question...

Should supplements be included on a raw food diet? I currently take a supplement, but is this what nature really intended?

Yes, supplementation is needed by most people. The raw vegan diet does not supply every essential nutrient.

I asked Gabriel Cousens if the raw vegan diet supplies every nutrient. a>

The three supplements Gabriel recommends are

1) Vitamin B-12

- With 18 studies done on B-12, they concluded that 80% of vegans and live fooders become B-12 deficient. This is not just a problem with vegans, over 39% of meat eaters are also B-12 deficient.

2) Omega-3 Long Chain Fats - The essential Long chain omega-3 fats are found in only two vegan foods. There are two long chain fats which are called EPA and DHA. They are mostly found in animal products such as fish.

The long chain O3's are very important to eat because they are found in our brain and eyes. They are critical for brain development and as an anti-depressant. We can get our long-chain O3's from vegan foods. Adding coconut oil to flax seeds helps increase their O3 conversion to about 10%. When eating Flax seeds alone, about 1% to 2% of the short chain O3's are converted to long chain O3's. When eating flax with coconut oil, the conversion is significantly increased to 10%. The herb purslane also contains the long chain O3 EPA. Purslane is easy to grow in your yard or apartment balcony. Purchase purslane seeds from Seeds of Change.

The only other vegan food that contains the long chain O3 fats is the E3 Klamath Lake AFA Blue-Green Algae. E3 Live algae is available in liquid or powder form.
To prevent a potential O3 deficiency we recommend eating the following foods daily:

- 3 tablespoons of ground flax seed
- one tablespoon of coconut oil
- Generous servings of purslane and E3 Live

3) Carnosine or L-Carnosine - This essential nutrient originally came from animal products. It is not found in vegan foods. It prevents aging because it is an anti-oxidant, prevents free radicals, and prevents collagen cross linking. Dosage is small, about 1/8 a teaspoon a day. This is not just a problem with vegans- meat eaters do not receive adequate amounts of carnosine. The only vegan form of carnosine is available at Life Extension Foundation website

Here is a question I received from a client: I am following the Natural Hygiene Raw Foods Diet taught in the book "Your Natural Diet: Alive Raw Food" by TC Fry and Dave Klein. I am not feeling balanced. I often become moody, angry, and upset. I am really finding this transition to raw unnerving at times and sometimes I am just so cranky! I hope this passes. Is this normal? I have been through the headache thing but this angry attitude has me quite concerned at times. I have always considered myself to have a pleasant personality but lately this is not the case. I'm not liking myself very much and I know it has to be dietary. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer by Mike Snyder: I do not recommend Dave Klein's diet. When I first started eating raw I was following the program described in "Your Natural Diet: Alive Raw Food" by TC Fry and Klein. It was a disaster and I became sick.

Everyone I have met who tried their program became sick after 6 months to a year. There are a few people who can make it work but it is difficult.

Hippocrates Health Institute has been researching the raw foods diet for over 50 years. They have compiled a great deal of information on health and nutrition, and their program creates miracles.

There are sample videos of the Hippocrates Health DVD Series on this page, it is awesome and worth every penny:

http://www.hippocratesinst.org/SampleVideos.aspx

There is audio of Brian Clement at

http://www.hippocratesinst.org/Library/Recordings.aspx

> Hippocrates says only 15% fruit

Yes, but that is still more fruit than most people! It still allows you to eat fruit every day and for every meal. Instead of eating 12 bananas for a meal like Dave Klein recommends, you only have one or two.

Also, the 15% fruit means sweet fruit. You can still eat large amounts of the salad fruits such as tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers. There is more to it, Clement's books are a good place to start-

Living Foods for Optimum Health
and
Hippocrates Health Program-A Proven Guide to Healthful Living

Regarding the ingredients for your juices:
apple, celery, leafy greens, and cayenne pepper powder, straight.

Those are a great juice ingredients. Brian Clement says to dilute the juice when it only fruit. Your fruit juice, apple, is diluted with vegetable juice. If it was apple juice alone, they recommend to dilute it.

I still drink fresh fruit juices alone, although I usually blend the fruits whole into a smoothie, and I make vegetable juice.