The Live Food Diet Program

By Ron Radstrom, founder of Natural Light Raw Foods

"Vitality and beauty are gifts from nature for those who live according to its laws."
- Leonardo DeVinci

What Always Works and Is Curiously Rarely Used?

Down through history, natural healers would effectively use nutrition as a means to help people with their health and sickness. In the 19th Century, Kellogg and Thompson each healed thousands of people and both of them deliberately avoided the use of refined sugar, flours, processed food, heavily cooked food, meat, dairy or poultry in their treatments. This past century, more well known names such as Hoxsey, John Christopher, Bernard Jensen, Max Gerson, Norman Walker, Henry Bieler and Joel Robbins, to name a few, all helped heal tens thousands of people with natural means and none saw success using predominantly refined foods, processed foods, cooked foods, meat, dairy or poultry. Many did use fresh squeezed juices in their cures and all relied heavily on the consumption of fresh, raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, grains and beans. As matter of fact, I've never even heard a rumor of a natural healer who attempted to cure others using barbecue short ribs, donuts, french fries, hamburgers, pizza, bean burritos, spaghetti, cheese, coffee, and soft drinks. Yet, some or all of these types of food are regularly eaten by nearly all of us on a daily basis, whether we are sick or seemingly healthy. And our children are raised on such a diet at their insistence. The natural consequence is premature death for nearly all by around the age of 75. What's worse is the dreadful state of health experienced for many years prior to this untimely end.

A Test - Raw/live Food VS. Cooked/Processed Food

A comparison can be done between live food and devitalized food to see what immediate effect each has on your body. This comparison nearly always works, even with CAVE people ( Critical About Virtually Everything people). See for yourself. Take one day and drink only water or juices from the beginning of that day. Make sure to drink at least three glasses by 1PM. During the rest of the afternoon eat a large vegetable salad, fresh fruit salad, some whole fruit or a smoothy that only uses fresh squeezed juices and fruits. Go lightly with the oil on the veggie salad, and no dry nuts or seeds should be used for this test. Note how you feel just prior to eating/drinking the food. Your general energy level, feeling of well being, how your stomach feels or has no particular feeling, your degree of awakeness, alertness, etc. Eat the meal and note these characteristics again five minutes after finishing the food. Check out the same things 20 minutes later, and two or three hours later.

Later the same day, say 6 or 7PM, eat a regular cooked/processed food meal and do the same routine. See how you feel just prior to eating the food, 5 minutes later, 20 minutes later, and two or three hours later.
Nearly all folks find that ten to thirty minutes after eating a cooked/ processed food meal there is a drop in energy level, awakeness, alertness, a heavy feeling in the stomach, and a mild sort of despondence can be perceived. Most of us older than 30 are ready for the coach or bed if this meal is eaten for lunch or later in the day. Do this for yourself and see if it is not true.

What's To Be Done?
- From the Easiest to the Most Gung-Ho Actions

OK, so the Standard American Diet is one that should be modified. What's the alternative and how is the change made if you're not thrilled by the prospect of carrot juice and raw broccoli flower buds in place of cheeses, pizza, hamburgers, coffee and donuts? Practically all folks in the industrialized world are "emotionally bonded" to their cooked and processed/refined foods. Therefore, some form of gradient step program must be utilized in order to discover the superior benefits raw food for one's self and at the same time get the body to go along peacefully with the new routine.

My observation with thousands of people over the last seven years, is that transitioning to a live food diet with the following four points is the most effective in delivering needed nutrition to the body:

• Daily consumption of uncontaminated water. At least one quart for a 100 lb person and two quarts for folks twice as large. If any appreciable amounts of cooked/processed food are eaten, then the amounts of water needed doubles on those days.
• Fresh raw fruits and vegetables along with soaked/sprouted grains, seeds, beans and nuts; moderate use of raw, organic nut butters; regular use of a truly raw, unprocessed, unadulterated organically grown Olive Oil.
• A raw, organic whole food powder concentrate consisting of ingredients from at least a dozen different plant sources (alfalfa, barley grass, rose hips, etc.), and consumed in large amounts daily makes the transition smoother.
• Daily supplementation with an EFA (Essential Fatty Acids) blend, including Flax Oil, Borage Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Sesame Oil, Sunflower Oil.

The four points above, as well as the rest of this article, are thick brush strokes. All of this data should be used as well as further research and experience by yourself to learn what best suits your particular situation. If you find within several weeks that you are becoming more energetic and healthy, then you are surely on the right path. This is what you should look for and expect when earnestly changing over to a live food lifestyle - marked improvements every several weeks. If this is not the case, or you find some aspect has worsened, contact us and we will be glad to help you find out how to make effective adjustments. This is true no matter how old you are, or how difficult your health challenges may seem.

If your diet has been basically the same over the last six months and is enjoyable to you, then that diet can be thought to be within your "zone of comfort". The transition works easiest if you do it not far outside of your zone of comfort A useful tip here is to estimate the ratio of raw foods usually eaten to all other foods. This ratio is done in terms of weight rather than volume or size. Assuming the percentage of raw food is usually less than 20%, to see improvement in your digestion, you would need to increase the ratio of raw to other foods to 50/50 or even 40 % other foods to 60% raw. This could take a few weeks or longer for you to accomplish, but you would see nice benefits each week along the way. Later you could move along to increase the ratio to 80% raw and 20% other foods or even 90/10. At this point you are close in on going fully raw without it being too drastic a change for your body.

How to Make the Changeover and What To Eat

Converting over to a raw/living food diet to quickly can cause your body to detoxify. Dr Joel Robbins, a nutritionally based M.D., used the following plan with his family to make the change into a live food diet: 6 days on, 1 day off. His family would eat strictly live/raw food meals and snacks for 6 days of the week - Mon-Sat - and on Sunday they could eat whatever they pleased. Literally anything. Pizza, cheesecake, Big Macs - whatever. This plan is clever since it provides a limited period of time for you to be "deprived of your comfort foods" - 6 days - and gives you the one day of unbridled indulgence to look forward to. It is workable because it gives the body (and you) the opportunity to contrast the effects of eating live food consistently for a long enough period of time with the effects of eating devitalized food. Very quickly, DR Robbins family members just naturally chose less heavily rich cooked/processed foods in order to lessen how terrible they felt on Sunday and Monday. Finally, they would hardly eat any devitalized foods on Sunday so as to continue the feeling of well-being from their meals. This is a good way to prove the value of a live/raw food diet with your own body.

An Even Faster Approach to Going Raw

Make a decision to only eat raw/live foods for 2 weeks straight. Don't cheat at all and on the 15th day sit down to eat a little or a lot of your favorite cooked/processed foods.

CAUTION: The effect will not be pleasant when you go back to eating what you used to eat! But, you will now see for yourself the devitalizing effect of cooked food. It is very much like quitting smoking for two straight weeks. The first drag you take on that cigarette will taste totally vile and noxious. That's what it really is. But if you keep smoking that cigarette, by the time you get to the end of it you will be back into the groove of smoking and it will hardly seem so bad anymore. The same with your cooked/processed food meal on the 15th day.If you want to eat more for the rest of that day and do, by the 16th day you will be back in the groove of eating the devitalized food that's slowly poisoning your body and feel it is once again "normal". The contrast between the 14th day and the 15th day is the lesson here and you can make your nutritional choices for the indefinite future based on your observation of cause and effect on your own body. Repeat this process by increasing the number of straight weeks raw from two to three, and then three weeks to four, etc. Pretty soon you will not want to do the cooked food day any longer.

The Fastest, Most Express Route to Raw of All

This plan involves some strict water fasting, lots of juicing and a thorough dedication to eating only live/raw food as soon as possible. Here is a no nonsense approach for the person who can and wants to use self discipline to see themselves benefiting from a 100% live food lifestyle in the most sure and rapid way.

Did you know that... research has found evidence which indicates that the mucus secreted by the intestines very much determines the kind of bacteria that will grow there. In addition, it has been found that it takes more than one year on the average for a new diet to produce any noticeable change in the flora (bacteria). Now you know! source: Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management by Dr. Bernard Jensen

Phase 1 - Water Fasting: five consecutive days.

The day before you decide to start this fast, make sure you drink at least 2 quarts of water ( 8 glasses) between waking up and 7 PM. Eat a light to medium sized meal earlier than 2PM. Do not eat any whole food after 2PM.

CAUTION: This water fast procedure is not recommended for those who are too thin, have any form of irritated bowl syndrome like crohn's disease, have a history of congestive heart failure, or indications that the kidneys may not be able to handle large amounts of fluids in the diet. If your hands, feet or ankles start to swell up, discontinue using this program and immediately cut down to your normal consumption of fluid intake.

For the next five days, you should make sure to drink at least one quart of water for every fifty pounds of body weight. No food, juice or beverage is consumed for the next five days. Most people experience a nearly total absence of hunger by the third or forth day.

The purpose of taking nothing but water for five consecutive days is to give the digestive tract time off for this period of time - rest and relaxation from the daily grind of processing too much food. In turn, your body will now have an opportunity to get started on such backlogged projects as boosting your immune system, detoxing your blood, healing skin conditions, allergies, eliminating excess mucous deposits and a cleansing of the intestines, liver and kidneys. Most people feel more energetic, internally released and a better feeling of well being while on such a water fast.

Phase 2 - Juicing

On the day after your last day of water fasting, you break the fast with fresh squeezed, home made juices. These can be a combination of carrot, apple, celery, etc., juices, or citrus juices like orange or grapefruit. Either way, if the juice seems too heavy or sweet for you, you can drink water with it or mix in the water beforehand at the ratio of 1 to 3 or 1 to 2.

Along with every 16 ounces of juice, take one heaping tablespoon of Vital Nutrition Plus. If you are drinking juice in 8 ounce increments, then use two rounded teaspoons of Vital Nutrition Plus for every glass of juice. In terms of capsules, this would be eight for every 16 ounces of juice consumed and 4 along with 8 ounces of juice.

Herbs for Nutrition - Vital Nutrition Plus

The Truth About Supplementation - Vital Nutrition Plus

During the course of each day, make sure to consume at least one quart of homemade juice for every fifty pounds of body weight. In addition, drink at least one quart of water for every 100 lbs of body weight. Continue with only juices, VNP and water for another five days.

If you are handling a serious health challenge, or just want to get maximum gain in terms of internal hygiene improvement, it is most effective to continue this phase for another 30 days. If you opt to do this, you should also do a Complete Colon Cleanse/Nutritional Program, followed by a Kidney Cleanse and Liver Cleanse during the same 30 day period.

See the following links for more information as to what these programs are all about.

Complete Intestinal Cleanse Program

Complete Kidney Cleanse Program

Seven Day Nutritional Program and Cleanse for Liver

Phase 3 - Making It Work Long Term

A tremendous boost in one's efforts to derive clear benefit quickly from raw food is to use a raw, organic whole food concentrate powder called Vital Nutrition Plus. Consuming at least 4 heaping tablespoons of this supplement every day (or 32 capsules), ensures you are getting adequate protein and other nutrients, such as vitamin B-12.

For more details about this terrific nutritional resource, click on the following links -

The Truth About Supplementation - Vital Nutrition Plus

Herbs for Nutrition - Vital Nutrition Plus

Another aid to making a successful conversion to raw foods in the early stages is to have on hand raw food snacks and treats. These cookies, crackers, seeds, nuts and fruits are all dehydrated at very low temperatures, (below 105 degrees), so as to preserve most of the enzymes, vitamins and other natural nutrients. They are also very delicious and filling. This is quite important to those in their first year of going raw because the raw snacks substitute for the heavier foods in the cooked/processed food world but at the same time give raw food nutrition.

You can purchase crackers, cookies, raw nuts, and dehydrated fruits from us on our Online Shopping Pages.

Trying to change from devitalized foods to raw foods will require an understanding of what to eat beyond whole fruits and salads. To sustain such a lifestyle indefinitely, you will need to become educated in the preparation of raw food recipes that are just as interesting and satisfying to eat as the "real foods" normally eaten in our societies. Discovering a large number of recipes that you thoroughly enjoy eating will be crucial in your efforts to incorporate raw food as the mainstay of your diet.
We have a collection of raw recipes on our recipes page to get you started, as well as many raw recipe books available on our products page.

To date, all people we have heard from who have changed majorly toward a raw food/juicing plan as above for ten consecutive days or more, including drinking lots of water and using Vital Nutrition Plus every day, have seen their energy levels go up, their digestive systems function better and their feeling of well being improve - not to mention some remarkable benefits in terms of illnesses.

This is all just a matter of simple cause and effect, folks. When an effective cause is applied in the correct way, the expected and desirable effects will occur. Try it, and then you will know this live food diet to be true for you, as well.

We very much appreciate seeing this work well for so many around the world who give it a good go.

Best wishes,
Ron Radstrom