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In addition to informing readers about the potential dangers of the SAD
American Diet, another one of our intentions in writing this book is to
show how wise - and easy - it is to switch to a mostly-raw vegetarian
diet that avoids all the harmful processed foods and drugs cited in the
previous chapter. There is considerable scientific evidence supporting
the wisdom of eating fruits and vegetables for the purpose of preventing
or healing disease. For example, the National Cancer Institute and most
nutritional experts advise us to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables to
prevent cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Much of the information
that is coming from the scientific community today is reminiscent of what
we were told several decades ago by our mother or grandmother, encouraging
us to eat our green vegetables. And we all remember the old adage: "An
apple a day keeps the doctor away."
That sounds simple enough, but then there are all the other voices out
there causing people to wonder: "If I become a complete vegetarian,
where will I get my protein?" "If I don't drink milk, how can
I get enough calcium?" "How would I get vitamin B-12 if I don't
consume animal products?"
These are all legitimate questions. But unfortunately, the reason so
many people are asking these questions is because of the misinformation
and propaganda distributed by those who profit from the sale of meat,
dairy products and processed foods. If you research proper diet and nutrition,
one of the first things you will learn is that the average American must
first "un-learn" most of what we have been taught about nutrition,
including the four food groups, half of which are animal products. Once
this propaganda is unlearned, we will realize that every element of nutrition
needed by the human body can be provided by a diet of raw fruits and vegetables.
For example:
Protein
Protein has been the most widely-publicized of all human nutritional
needs, and this has led many people to be obsessed with making sure they
get enough protein. The problem is that the average American consumes
over 100 grams of protein a day, which is three to five times the amount
experts now say is necessary. This excessive amount of protein is harmful,
and more physical problems are being caused by people consuming too much
protein than are caused by people not getting enough protein.
Several generations of school children and doctors were taught incorrectly
that we need meat, dairy and eggs for protein. The meat, dairy and egg
industries funded this "nutritional education" and it became
official U.S. government policy. Much of the evidence used to support
the claim that animal products are ideal for meeting human protein needs
was based on a now-discredited experiment on rats conducted in 1914.
Nutritionists have drastically altered their thinking about human protein
needs since that infamous rat study. But this updated knowledge has been
very slow to reach the public. Most adults will remember being told repeatedly
(and incorrectly) in school about how important it is to get lots of protein.
Official U.S. policy on human protein needs has changed so drastically
that there is no longer even a minimum daily requirement for protein listed
on the latest nutrition labels. Modern research has shown that most people
have more reason to be concerned about medical problems caused by consuming
too much protein, rather than not getting enough. Protein is an extremely
important nutrient, but when we get too much protein, or protein that
we cannot digest, it causes problems. In his book, Your Health, Your Choice,
Dr. Ted Morter, Jr. warns, "In our society, one of the principle
sources of physiological toxins is too much protein."
It may come as quite a shock to people trying to consume as much protein
as possible to read in major medical journals and scientific reports that
excess protein has been found to promote the growth of cancer cells and
can cause liver and kidney disorders, digestive problems, gout, arthritis,
calcium deficiencies (including osteoporosis) and other harmful mineral
imbalances.
It has been known for decades that populations consuming high-protein,
meat-based diets have higher cancer rates and lower life-spans (averaging
as low as 30 to 40 years), compared to cultures subsisting on low-protein
vegetarian diets (some with average life-spans of more than 90 years).
Numerous studies have found that animals and humans subjected to high-protein
diets have a consistently higher rate of cancer development. As for humans,
T. Colin Campbell, a Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University
and the senior science advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research,
says there is "a strong correlation between dietary protein intake
and cancer of the breast, prostate, pancreas and colon." Likewise,
Myron Winick, director of Columbia University's Institute of Human Nutrition,
has found strong evidence of "a relationship between high-protein
diets and cancer of the colon."
In Your Health, Your Choice, Dr. Morter writes, "The paradox of
protein is that it is not only essential but also potentially health-destroying.
Adequate amounts are vital to keeping your cells hale and hearty and on
the job; but unrelenting consumption of excess dietary protein congests
your cells and forces the pH of your life-sustaining fluids down to cell-stifling,
disease-producing levels. Cells overburdened with protein become toxic."
Writing in the Sept. 3, 1982 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine,
researchers Dr. Barry Branner and Timothy Meyer states, that "undigested
protein must be eliminated by the kidneys. This unnecessary work stresses
out the kidneys so much that gradually lesions are developed and tissues
begin to harden." In the colon, this excess protein waste putrefies
into toxic substances, some of which are absorbed into the bloodstream
Dr. Willard Visek Professor of Clinical Sciences at the University of
Illinois Medical School, warns, "A high protein diet also breaks
down the pancreas and lowers resistance to cancer as well as contributes
to the development of diabetes."
In his 1976 book, How to Get Well, Dr. Paavo Airola, Ph.D., N.D., notes
we "have been brought to believe that a high protein diet is a must
if you wish to attain a high level of and prevent disease. Health writers
and 'experts' who advocated high protein diets were misled by slanted
research, which was financed by dairy and meat industries, or by insufficient
and outdated information. Most recent research, worldwide, both scientific
and empirical, shows more and more convincingly that our past beliefs
in regard to high requirements of protein are out-dated and incorrect,
and that the actual daily need for protein in human nutrition is far below
that which has long been considered necessary. Researchers, working independently
in many parts of the world, arrived at the conclusion that our actual
daily need of protein is only 25 to 35 grams (raw proteins being utilized
twice as well as cooked) ... But what is even more important, the worldwide
research brings almost daily confirmation of the scientific premise ...
that proteins, essential and important as they are, can be extremely harmful
when consumed in excess of your actual need."
Dr. Airola continues: "The metabolism of proteins consumed in excess
of the actual need leaves toxic residues of metabolic waste in tissues,
causes autotoxemia, overacidity and nutritional deficiencies, accumulation
of uric acid and purines in the tissues, intestinal putrefaction, and
contributes to the development of many of our most common and serious
diseases, such as arthritis, kidney damage, pyorrhea, schizophrenia, osteoporosis,
arteriosclerosis, heart disease, and cancer. A high protein diet also
causes premature aging and lowers life expectancy."
The good news about protein, however, is that it is much easier to meet
our minimum daily protein requirements than most people would imagine
. . . with just fruits and vegetables. Because much of what experts once
believed about protein has been proven incorrect, U.S. government recommendations
on daily protein consumption have been reduced from 118 grams to 46 to
56 grams in the 1980's to the present level of 25 to 35 grams. In fact,
the most recent (1994) nutrition labels for food do not even include a
minimum daily requirement for protein because nutritionists know it would
be very unusual for a person to not meet his or her protein requirements.
Many nutritionists now feel that 20 grams of protein a day is more than
enough, and warn about the potential dangers of consistently consuming
much more than this amount. The average American consumes a little over
100 grams of protein per day.
Drastically reduced recommendations for protein consumption are an obvious
indication that official information about protein taught not so long
ago to everyone from school children to doctors was incorrect, but there
has been no major effort to inform the public that what we were taught
has been proven wrong. So there are large numbers of people with medical
problems caused by eating more than four or five times as much protein
as necessary, yet their misguided obsession is still to ensure that they
get enough protein.
A good way of determining which foods provide sufficient protein is to
consider recommendations on the percentage of our total calorie intake
that should be made up of protein, and then determine which foods meet
these recommendations. These recommendations range from 2 1/2 to 8 percent.
Reports in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition say we should receive
2 1/2 percent of our daily caloric intake from protein, and that many
populations have lived in excellent health on that amount. The World Health
Organization established a figure of 4 1/2 percent. The Food and Nutrition
Board recommends 6 percent, while the National Research Council recommends
8 percent of our calories should come from protein.
The 6 and 8 percent figures are more than what most people need, and
these higher percentages are intended as a margin of safety. But still,
these recommendations are met by many fruits and greatly exceeded by most
all vegetables. For example, the percentage of calories provided by protein
in spinach is 49%; broccoli 45%; cauliflower 40%; lettuce 34%; peas 30%;
green beans 26%; cucumbers 24%; celery 21%; potatoes 11%; sweet potatoes
6%; honeydew 10%; cantaloupe 9%; strawberry 8%; orange 8%; watermelon
8%; peach 6%; pear 5%; banana 5%; pineapple 3%; and apple 1%. Considering
these figures, any nutritionist would have to agree it is very easy for
a vegetarian to get sufficient protein.
Two reasons we have such a low protein requirement, as noted by Harvey
and Marilyn Diamond in Fit for Life, are that, "the human body recycles
70 percent of its proteinaceous waste," and our bodies lose only
about 23 grams of protein a day.
Another important lesson to "unlearn" is that the need to
consume foods or meals containing "complete protein" is based
on an erroneous and out-dated myth. Due to lingering misinformation from
that 1914 rat study, many people still believe they must eat animal products
to obtain "complete protein." And for other people, this fallacy
was replaced by a second inaccurate theory that proper food combining
is necessary to obtain "complete protein" from vegetables. Both
of these theories have been unquestionably disproved, because we now know
people can completely satisfy their protein needs and all other nutritional
requirements from a good variety of raw fruits and vegetables without
worrying about proper food combining or adding protein supplements or
animal products to their diets.
In fact, the whole theory behind the need to consume "complete protein"
- a belief once accepted as fact by medical and nutritional experts -
is now disregarded. For example, Dr. Alfred Harper, Chairman of Nutritional
Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and of the Food and
Nutrition Board of the National Research Council, states, "One of
the biggest fallacies ever perpetuated is that there is any need for so-called
complete protein."
Protein is composed of amino acids, and these amino acids are literally
the building blocks of our body. There are eight essential amino acids
we need from food for our body to build "complete protein,"
and every one of these amino acids can be found in fruits and vegetables.
(There are a total of 23 amino acids we need, but our body is able to
produce 15 of these, leaving eight "essential" amino acids that
must be obtained from food.) There are many vegetables and some fruits
that contain all eight essential amino acids, including carrots, brussels
sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, okra,
peas, potatoes, summer squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and bananas.
But the reason we do not necessarily need all eight essential amino acids
from one food or from one meal is that our body stores amino acids for
future use. From the digestion of food and from recycling of proteinaceous
wastes, our body maintains an amino acid pool, which is circulated to
cells throughout the body by our blood and lymph systems. These cells
and our liver are constantly making deposits and withdrawals from this
pool, based on the supply and demand of specific amino acids.
The belief that animal protein is superior to vegetable protein dates
back to 1914 when two researchers named Osborn and Mendel found that rats
grew faster on animal protein than plant protein. From these findings,
meat, dairy and eggs were termed as "Class A" proteins, and
vegetable proteins were classified as an inferior "Class B."
In the mid-1940s, researchers found that ten essential amino acids are
required for a rat's diet, and that meat, dairy and eggs supplied all
ten of these amino acids, whereas wheat, rice and corn did not. The meat,
dairy and egg industries capitalized on both of these findings, with little
regard for the fact that nutritional requirements for rats are very different
than for humans.
It was discovered in 1952 that humans required only eight essential amino
acids, and that fruits and vegetables are an excellent source of all of
these. Later experiments also found that although animal protein does
speed the growth of rats, animal protein also leads to a shorter life-span
and higher rates of cancer and other diseases. There are also major differences
in the protein needs of humans and rats. For example, human breast milk
is composed of 5 percent protein, compared to 49 percent protein in rat
milk. And a human infant requires an average of 180 days to double its
birth weight, compared to only four days for rats.
To illustrate how ignorant "experts" can be, during the time
that high-protein diets were thought to be healthy, many experts felt
it was a "mistake of nature" that human females produced breast
milk of only 5 percent protein. Instead of assuming that God made a mistake,
perhaps it would be wiser to realize that the promoters of meat, dairy
and eggs have made a mistake by encouraging us to consume dangerously
high amounts of protein. If a human infant can be perfectly nourished
during the most rapid period of growth with nothing but 5-percent protein
from breast milk, there is no reason to believe that older humans need
more protein.
The "complete protein" myth was given another boost in 1971
when Frances Moore Lappe wrote Diet for a Small Planet. Lappe discouraged
meat eating, but promoted food combining with vegetable proteins, such
as beans and rice, to obtain all eight essential amino acids in one meal.
But by 1981, Lappe conducted additional research and realized that combining
vegetarian foods was not necessary to get proper protein. In her tenth-anniversary
edition of Diet for a Small Planet, Lappe admitted her blunder and acknowledged
that food combining is not necessary to obtain sufficient protein from
a vegetarian diet. In fact, Dr. John McDougall warns that efforts to combine
foods for complete protein are not only unnecessary, but dangerous, because
"one who follows the advice for protein combining can unintentionally
design a diet containing an excessive and therefore harmful amount of
protein."
Another myth that needs to be dispelled about protein is its relationship
to strength, energy and athletes.
As pointed out by John Robbins in Diet for a New America, many studies
have shown that protein consumption is no higher during hard work and
exercise than during rest. Robbins writes, "True, we need protein
to replace enzymes, rebuild blood cells, grow hair, produce antibodies,
and to fulfill certain other specific tasks ... (But) study after study
has found that protein combustion is no higher during exercise than under
resting conditions."
A 1978 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association warns
athletes against taking protein supplements, noting, "Athletes need
the same amount of protein foods as non athletes. Protein does not increase
strength. Indeed, it often takes greater energy to digest and metabolize
the excess of protein."
Most athletes are not aware of this information on protein, but there
have been attempts to make this warning known. For example, George Beinhorn
wrote in the April 1975 issue of Bike World, "Excess protein saps
energy from working muscles ... It has also been discovered that too much
protein is actually toxic. In layman's terms, it is poisonous ... Protein
has enjoyed a wonderful reputation among athletes. Phrases like 'protein
power,' 'protein for energy,' 'protein pills for the training athlete'
. . . are all false and misleading."
Robbins gives additional evidence for this claim in Realities for the
90's by naming some of the world's greatest athletes, all holders of world
records in their field, who all happen to be vegetarians: Dave Scott,
six-time winner of the Ironman Triathlon (and the only man to win it more
than twice); Sixto Linares, world record holder in the 24-hour biathlon;
Paavo Nurmi, 20 world records and nine Olympic medals in distance running;
Robert Sweetgall, world's premier ultra-distance walker; Murray Rose,
world records in the 400 and 1500-meter freestyle; Estelle Gray and Cheryl
Marek, world record in cross-country tandem cycling; Henry Aaron, all-time
major league home run champion; Stan Price, world record holder in the
bench press; Andreas Cahling, Mr. International body building champion;
Roy Hilligan, Mr. America body building champion; Ridgely Abele, eight
national championships in karate; and Dan Millman, world champion gymnast
... all vegetarians.
That's a list that would surprise the average American, based on what
we have been taught to believe about protein and meat.
Calcium
Calcium intake is another subject many vegetarians are concerned about.
We are told we must consume milk and other dairy products to get calcium,
but, actually, the best source of calcium is from green leafy vegetables.
The trace mineral boron is essential for calcium to be properly absorbed,
and the best source of boron is leafy vegetables and fruits.
Neal Barnard, M. D., states "that green leafy vegetables provide
generous amounts of calcium without the animal protein of meat diets.
In fact, green vegetables such as broccoli, collard greens, and kale are
loaded with calcium." The reason Dr. Barnard emphasizes the importance
of obtaining calcium without animal protein is that the acidity of animal
protein robs calcium from the bones. Calcium is one of the most alkaline
minerals in the body, and when our blood stream becomes too acidic because
of meat, dairy and other acidic foods, the only way for the body to balance
this acidity is to rob calcium from the bones.
The incredible lesson to learn here is that calcium deficiencies are
not caused by insufficient intake of dietary calcium. Calcium deficiencies
are actually caused by excessive acidity, primarily animal protein. Dr.
Barnard notes that when volunteers eat a high-protein meal, they lose
calcium in their urine.
John McDougall, M.D., also writes: "An important fact to remember
is that all natural diets, including purely vegetarian diets without a
hint of dairy products, contain amounts of calcium that are above the
threshold for meeting your nutritional needs. In fact, calcium deficiency
caused by an insufficient amount of calcium in the diet is not known to
occur in humans."
But many people, especially elderly women have a very serious problem
with calcium deficiencies, which cause brittle bones. One of the most
serious problems caused by loss of calcium is osteoporosis, which is characterized
by the loss of 50 to 75 percent of a person's original bone material.
The orthodox approach of medical doctors and nutritionists in dealing
with osteoporosis and other calcium deficiencies is to tell the person
to consume more dairy products or even calcium supplements. This approach
has not been successful, because in the United States, 25 percent of women
over the age of 65 suffer from osteoporosis. Their bones become brittle
and are easily broken. Something as minor as a sneeze can lead to a cracked
rib.
For people wanting to prevent or heal osteoporosis, their primary goal
should be to minimize calcium loss by avoiding animal products and other
acidic foods. A diet of raw green vegetables will supply plenty of dietary
calcium, without any need for harmful products such as dairy or calcium
supplements. There is an incredible amount of evidence from all around
the world to substantiate this claim.
Anyone successfully indoctrinated by the meat and dairy industry's nutritional
education would be baffled by the numerous studies finding osteoporosis,
a calcium deficiency that makes the bones porous and brittle, is very
prominent among people with high consumption of both protein and calcium.
For example, the March 1983 Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that by
age 65, the measurable bone loss of meat-eaters was five to six times
worse than of vegetarians. The August 22, 1984 issue of the Medical Tribune also
found that vegetarians have "significantly stronger bones."
African Bantu women average only 350 mg. of calcium per day (far below
the National Dairy Council recommendation of 1,200 mg.), but seldom break
a bone, and osteoporosis is practically nonexistent, because they have
a low-protein diet. At the other extreme, Eskimos have the highest calcium
intake in the world (more than 2,000 mg. a day), but they suffer from
one of the highest rates of osteoporosis because their diet is also the
highest in protein.
The explanation for these findings is that meat consumption leaves an
acidic residue, and a diet of acid-forming foods requires the body to
balance its pH by withdrawing calcium (an alkaline mineral) from the bones
and teeth. So even if we consume sufficient calcium, a high-protein, meat-based
diet will cause calcium to be leached from our bones. Dr. John McDougall
reports on one long-term study finding that even with calcium intake as
high as 1,400 mgs. a day, if the subjects consumed 75 grams of protein
daily, there was more calcium lost in their urine than absorbed into their
body. These results show that to avoid a calcium deficiency, it is more
important to reduce protein intake than to increase calcium consumption.
Vitamin B-12
Vitamin B-12 is another concern of many vegetarians because B-12 does
not come from the plant kingdom. But likewise, animals do not make Vitamin
B-12 either. B-12 is made by bacteria that grow in the soil, and can be
found in bacteria in fermented foods and bacteria within the human body.
Our daily requirement of Vitamin B-12 is extremely small, only about
3 millionths of a gram for adults, including pregnant women, and the requirement
for children is proportionately smaller. The liver stores a three to five-year
supply of B-12, acting as a "B-12 buffer" for the body, as explained
by Michael Klapper, M.D.
With the trace mineral cobalt found in sea vegetables, a vegetarian can
manufacture his own B-12. Dr. Klapper writes, "Most of the concerns
over vitamin B-12 adequacy in the vegan diet (those eating no animal products)
seem to be more theoretical than real, and most vegan people seem to grow
and function very well without ever taking a vitamin B-12 supplement....
There are bacteria within the human body that make vitamin B-12, in the
mouth's saliva, in the liver's bile, and within the intestinal contents."
Cereal grasses (such as barley) and nutritional yeast, which is grown
on a B-12 enriched medium, are also considered good vegetarian sources
for B-12. In his book, Cereal Grass, What's in it for you!, Ronald L.
Seibold, M.S., writes, "Surprisingly, laboratory analyses from the
past forty years consistently show that dehydrated cereal grass does contain
appreciable amounts of vitamin B-12.... The B-12 found in wheat and barley
grasses may be there in connection with microbes found in the soils in
which the grasses are grown or the positive flora (lactobacilli) which
are known to thrive on cereal grasses."
Vitamin B-12 has many important functions, several of which are related
to the functions of other B-complex vitamins. B-12 is required for the
conversion of folic acid to an active form, it is essential
for proper formation of red blood cells, for the synthesis of DNA and
RNA, for normal cell growth and nerve function. B-12 is also required
for proper digestion and absorption of foods, specifically the metabolism
of protein, carbohydrates and fat.
Fat
Fat is essential for the human body to function properly. The two essential
fatty acids (and the most important) are linoleic and linolenic acids.
Over the years our diets have become deficient in these two very important
nutrients. The highly processed fats we consume compete with and replace
these essential fatty acids within our bodies. As a result, there has
been an increase of immune-related diseases in our society. Some of these
are multiple sclerosis, diabetes, lupus, and arthritis, just to name a
few.
Raw flaxseed oil contains both of these essential fatty acids, along
with vitamin A, E, and D, and the water-soluble vitamins B1, B2 and C,
as well as many minerals, including iron, zinc and potassium.
Flaxseed oil should be purchased in dark containers since exposure to
the light destroys some of the nutrients. It should be "cold pressed,"
stored in the refrigerator and consumed within three months of the date
of purchase. In the beginning, a person may notice some loosening of the
stool; however, this usually stops within one or two weeks. After approximately
three to four weeks a person should notice healthier skin and hair, increased
vitality, and some have reported a lessening of arthritic pain.
Fats cannot be broken down in the mouth, and only a minute amount can
be broken down in the stomach. It is not until it reaches the bile and
pancreatic juices that fats can be broken down.
Saturated fat is any fat that is solid at room temperature, like margarine,
lard and creamed cooking oils. Since saturated fat becomes rancid when
exposed to air for even a short period of time, various chemical techniques
are used to alter their chemical makeup so that the fat-containing products
will have an extended shelf life. When these unnatural oils are heated,
they become very dangerous for the body, causing the blood platelets to
become sticky, increasing the possibility of heart attack, stroke, cancer
or high blood pressure. Look for the words "hydrogenated" or
"partially hydrogenated" on the label and avoid them like the
plague! Saturated fat is linked to over 50 percent of all deaths in America.
If a person eliminates saturated fat and meat from their diet, they will
reduce their chances of having a heart attack by 96 percent. Most Americans
consume 42 to 45 percent of their calories from fat, while people in the
Orient consume only 10 percent of their calories from fat! As a result,
the rate of heart disease is 17 times higher in the United States than
in China, and breast cancer is five times more prevalent.
Several well-documented studies have shown that in cultures and countries
where fat is consumed in higher quantities, especially animal fats, there
is a higher incidence of heart disease, certain types of cancer, and other
diseases. Even within Japan, affluent women who eat meat daily have 8.5
times higher risk of breast cancer compared to poorer women who rarely
or never eat meat.
Unsaturated fats are those that remain liquid at room temperature. There
are two types of unsaturated fat: monounsaturated which is found in olive
oil, almonds and almond oil and polyunsaturated fat found in corn, safflower
and cotton seed oils. The monounsaturated fats found in natural foods
do not cause increased levels of cholesterol. However, unsaturated fats
should be eaten very sparingly!
As God designed, our body can only digest 2 teaspoons of fat per hour.
Due to the slow digestion of fat, a high-fat meal can stay in the digestive
system for up to 19 hours! During this time the food ferments, which produces
toxic waste that travels through the bloodstream causing headaches, bursitis,
irritation of the stomach and intestines, along with other body pain and
physical problems.
The National Academy of Sciences has reported that bowel, breast and
prostate cancer incidence are highest among those Americans who consume
a high-fat diet. The Academy has recommended that the American people
decrease their intake of meat, fried foods and high-fat dairy products.
In addition, they have determined that an increase in the consumption
of foods high in carotene decreases the incidence of cancer of the bladder
and larynx. To improve circulation and to reduce triglyceride and cholesterol
levels, one should avoid fats found in meat, dairy products, oils, margarine,
shortenings and most store-bought salad dressings. Heart attacks, strokes,
diabetes, many types of cancer and other diseases are the end result of
a high-fat intake.
Heat Destroys Nutrition
When food is heated above 107 degrees, the enzymes start to die. By 122
degrees, they are completely destroyed. Heating not only destroys enzymes,
but alters the chemical make-up, rendering the food nutritionally-deficient
for the human body. The body then has to work overtime to move this dead,
unnatural substance through the digestive system, causing great stress
for the colon and robbing the bones and other organs of their enzymes
to complete the process. (Enzymes are required for all bodily functions.
Vitamins, minerals, hormones and protein all require enzymes to perform
their functions.) Processed foods are not only cooked, but are also full
of chemicals and other toxins our bodies were never designed to have to
deal with.
Consequently, over 65 percent of our adult population and over 20 percent
of our youth (those under 17) already have chronic diseases and are on
medication. If that doesn't make you angry, it should! We need to wake
up and take back the control of our bodies before the foods of this world
destroy us! I know it is not easy, but thousands are doing it each day
and so can you.
By God's design, we were meant to eat our food raw, just like all of
the rest of the animal kingdom that God created. Raw food is digested
very quickly, usually within 30 to 60 - rather than the hours or even
days required by many of the cooked food or cooked flesh products. Raw
fruits and vegetables also are a wonderful source of fiber.
Raw foods are certainly more economical than flesh and processed foods,
and require much less time to prepare. In fact, if a person has an area
where they can garden, they can produce their own food for pennies while
enjoying healthy exercise. When it comes to cleanup, it is much easier
to simply rinse off a plate that has contained a raw meal than to clean
up grease on dishes, pots and pans after a meal based on the SAD American
Diet.
Raw foods help the body's weight to normalize and keep the body's appetite
in check. It is almost impossible to overeat on a raw, whole-foods diet.
Amazingly, when we eat foods the way God designed them to be eaten, degenerative
diseases do not occur; in fact, if we are already experiencing these diseases,
they will usually reverse and disappear quite quickly. People often report
having more energy, being better rested at night and do not require as
much sleep. Mood swings usually disappear and even the need for a deodorant
or breath deodorizers often vanishes. Problems with PMS and menopause
usually become nonexistent and often the mind becomes clearer while memory
and concentration improve.
Dr. James B. Sumner, a 1946 Nobel Prize winner, states: "Raw foods
contain health-giving rejuvenating enzymes. Cooking, pasteurization, smoking,
pickling, air pollution, pesticides, drugs, antibiotics, chlorination
and fluoridation of water and many other interferences in nature's processing
will denature enzymes, thus making the nutrients in food not readily available."
Cooking food has a devastating effect on nutrition. All enzymes and most
vitamins are destroyed by heat, while minerals and protein are converted
by heat to a form that is not usable by the body. According to John Michael
Douglas, M.D., Ph.D., Dr. P.H., F.A.C.P.: "When we treat food with
thermal fire, we lose up to 97 percent of the water soluble vitamins (Vitamins
B and C) and up to 40 percent of the lipid soluble vitamins (Vitamins
A, D, E,
and K)."
The composition of protein is drastically changed by heat. If you have
ever fried an egg, this is obvious. Once the egg hits the hot frying pan,
the clear, runny "albumen" (protein) of the egg instantly changes
to a white, rubbery texture. Protein is obviously not the same substance
before and after it hits the heat. And the form of protein that mankind
was created to be sustained by is raw protein from living plants.
Enzymes are the very first nutrient to be lost to heat, as they begin
to die at 107 degrees. This is bad news because enzymes are necessary
for the functioning of every other nutrient, so nothing works the same
without the benefit of the enzymes from the food you consume.
So this means that by cooking food, you have killed all its enzymes,
destroyed most vitamins, and transformed protein and minerals into a form
the body can no longer use to build new, vital, living cells. This is
not good. Considering the dead-food diets of most Americans, it is no
wonder that we are a sick nation in the middle of a health care crisis
that no vitamin supplements, medical drugs, surgeries, radiation or chemotherapy
will ever solve.
We must acknowledge that there is a difference between food that is alive
and food that is dead, and we must ensure that the majority of what we
put into our body is material which we can use to build healthy new living
cells. This is why the Hallelujah Diet is at least 75 to 85 percent raw
fruits and vegetables. And if and when we do eat cooked foods, we must
ensure that this 15 to 25 percent portion of our diet does not contain
toxic chemicals, animal products, white flour, white sugar and other processed
foods that are very hazardous and difficult for the body to eliminate.
Foods such as steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, brown rice and other
cooked food recipes found in this book are not health-producing and cell-building
in the way that raw foods are, but these cooked foods do not have the
same negative impact as consuming hamburgers, hot dogs, colas, sugar desserts
and other processed foods.
Another category of food that should be eaten raw rather than cooked
is spinach and other green leafy vegetables, such as Swiss chard, beet
greens, turnip and mustard greens, kale and collards. The reason is that
these green, leafy foods contain oxalic acid, which is a very healthy
substance in its raw form, but causes several problems when it is cooked.
In his book, Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices, Dr. Norman W. Walker writes:
"Spinach should never be eaten when cooked unless we are particularly
anxious to accumulate oxalic acid crystals in our kidneys with the consequent
pain and kidney trouble. When spinach is cooked or canned, the oxalic
acid atoms become inorganic as a result of excessive heat and may form
oxalic acid crystals in the kidneys."
Dr. Walker explains that oxalic acid - in its raw, organic form - is
one of the elements that contribute to the wave-like movement, known as
peristaltic motion, that moves food and its waste products through our
digestive and eliminative systems. Dr. Walker writes: "Organic oxalic
acid is one of the important elements needed to maintain the tone of,
and to stimulate peristalsis. It is perfectly obvious, of course, that
any motion of the body which takes place by the 'involuntary' action of
its organs is predicated on there being life in the cells and tissues
of such organs. Life is active, magnetic; whereas there is no action in
death nor in dead matter, and this applies definitely to cells and tissues
of our anatomy. If the important organs comprising the alimentary and
eliminative departments of our system, or any parts of them, are moribund
or dead, the efficiency of their function is impaired, to say the least.
This condition can result only from a lack or deficiency of live atoms
in the food nourishing the cells and tissues concerned. Live food means
that food which contains live organic atoms and enzymes found only in
our raw foods."
Dr. Walker further explains that oxalic acid readily combines with calcium,
and if both of these elements are in their raw, organic state, "the
result is a beneficial constructive combination." But he warns: "When
the oxalic acid has become inorganic by cooking or processing the foods
that contain it, then this acid forms an interlocking compound with the
calcium, even combining with the calcium in other foods eaten during the
same meal, destroying the nourishing value of both. This results in such
a serious deficiency of calcium that it has been known to cause decomposition
of the bones. This is the reason I never eat cooked or canned spinach."
My Goal
My goal in writing this book is to set before you a simpler, healthier
lifestyle. A lifestyle that will enable you to so eat that you might live!
At Hallelujah Acres we do not teach an all-raw diet (although that is
the ideal). Many find an all-raw diet too difficult and thus will not
stick with it. We strive to maintain a diet of at least 75 to 85 percent
raw foods, with the cooked food portion making up no more than 15 to 25
percent of our diet. In this book you will find some transitional recipes
for those just beginning the Hallelujah diet, some recipes for that 15
to 25-percent of cooked food intake, and some recipes for special occasions,
as well as many all-raw recipes.
A trip through the supermarket should make one realize that the American
people are in trouble physically. How much space is given to live, fresh
foods in comparison to manufactured, dead, devitalized, chemically altered
foods? This manufactured food keeps for a long time on the supermarket
shelf and makes the food manufacturer a lot of money, but at the expense
of the health of the people who eat these devitalized foods.
The SAD American Diet of today is lacking in nutrition!
The nutrients our body needs cannot be found in the dead, unnatural, manufactured
products we buy in cans, bottles, jars, and packages found on the supermarket
shelves. As Dr. Malkmus so often says, "Once you leave the fresh
produce department in your supermarket, you are literally in the non-food
section of the store and there is practically zero nutrition in any product
found outside of the fresh produce department."
In America, we live in a fast-paced world where we don't take time to
prepare healthy meals. It is so much "easier" to stop by the
fast-food restaurant on the way home. Have you ever stopped to realize
that fast-food restaurants are slowly destroying the health of those who
patronize them? The "foods" found in these establishments are
full of fat, salt, sugar, white flour and harmful additives that cause
most of the physical problems being experienced by our people and contribute
to the heart attacks, strokes and cancers suffered by a large percentage
of the American population.
May our Lord guide you, bless you, strengthen you and help you to do
that which you know in your heart is right for your own body and those
you love. My prayers are with you!
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