Nutrition

You may have already heard of the raw foods diet. Every major health organization in this country (including the American Cancer Society and The American Heart Institute) recommends that we eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. On the raw foods diet, five servings is generally the baseline-you may find yourself eating much more.

Raw foods have much more nutrients and fibers than cooked foods do. Enzymes in raw foods are active, not having been deactivated through the application of heat, and they support the overall health of the body. No bottled supplement or prepackaged food can compare with the life force of fresh, raw food. Raw foods are digested easily and quickly, in 24-36 hours as opposed to 48-100 hours for cooked foods. your body's vitality wont be sapped from breaking down hard to digest foods. A raw foods diet strengthens the immune system, thereby preventing illness and helping you overcome nagging aliments. The raw path has been used to improve the health of those with arthritis, asthma,high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, digestive disturbances, menstrual problems, allergies, obesity, psoriasis, sk

in conditions, heart disease, diverticulitis, weakened immunity, depression, and hormonal imbalances. On a raw diet degenerative diseases often disappear. The aging process can slow. Bad breath and body oder can go away. Eyes will become brighter and the voice more clear. Skin and muscle tone will improve. Memory and concentration can become sharper. You'll feel better, have more energy, and need less sleep. (It is also more difficult to camouflage spoilage in raw foods than in cooked foods, so you are much less likely to get food poisoning.)

You'll spend less time in the kitchen and less money in the grocery store. in fact, when your on a raw foods diet, you'll spend 25 to 80 percent less money on food.

THE DETRIMENTS OF MEAT

Most raw foodists do not eat meat, for both physiological and environmental reasons. The primary reasons are that meat has parasites, it is difficult to digest and meat diminishes the vitality of the body.

In nature , true carnivores don't really chew meat much, as their digestive tracts have such a high concentrations of hydrochloric acid that meat swallowed whole can be digested. Human digestive systems, however, have much lower levels of hydrochloric acid, which means that meat is harder for us to digest and must be chewed well before being swallowed. The liver and kidneys must work overtime in digesting meat, which can adversely affect their health. Also, the flesh t

hat we consume contains uric acid, and the body must draw upon its alkaline reserves to neutralize this acid. (If not neutralized, uric acid contributes to the development of health problems such as gout and arthritis.) When When one eats a meat- heavy diet, the bloodstream and other tissues and organs become more acidic. The body attempts to buffer the acidity by pulling calcium from its bones. This leaching of calcium, in combination with the high levels of phosphorus found in meats, contributes to a loss of bone density. Most flesh foods also contain high levels of fats, which carry toxins and elevate cholesterol levels.