Question: I feel good eating cooked foods. Why is eating raw foods so important?Answer: It is important to eat raw foods because they are the highest quality foods for the human body. If you keep putting the wrong gas into your car, after a while your car will not run as well as it should. The same thing will happen to your body, if you continue to eat cooked and processed foods. It is not part of nature’s design to eat foods other than those that are raw and whole. If you think you feel well on cooked foods, wait until you eat a raw-food diet. Everything your body needs to survive and live to its fullest is found in raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
Question: What is so bad about cooked or processed foods?
Answer: Cooked foods are very low quality, and it’s very unnatural to eat cooked or processed foods. They lack the nutrients your body needs to thrive. Worse, they clog up your body with thick, slimy waste. If you continue to eat them, you will not feel well. If you do not stop, you will get toxemia, or even worse, you will die.
Question: Is there any scientific evidence that the raw food diet is as good as you claim?
Answer: Dr. Douglas Graham lectures internationally about the raw-food diet and says, "All sciences point to the consumption of raw food as best for the human body. The science of nutrition, that is establishment textbook nutrition, mentions raw fruits and vegetables as the best source of every known human nutrient. No organization is promoting cooked food for its nutritional value. Logic dictates that raw is best. There is no model in nature for the consumption of cooked foods."
Question: What is Toxemia?
Answer: Doctors have made up many different names for diseases of the body. However, there is only one true disease and it appears in different forms. This dis-ease of the body is called toxemia. It is caused by letting too many of the wrong things get into your body: cooked food, negative thoughts, pollution, etc.
Roe Gallo states it best. Here is what she says about disease: "Most conditions that we refer to as disease, are preventable. Degenerative genetic conditions are not preventable, but they are also rare. Common conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, asthma, allergies, heart disease, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis, although they are pervasive, are usually preventable. These conditions are really not really the disease, but the symptoms of disease. The disease is toxicity. You create toxicity with poison and deprivation. The causes are poisoned air, water, food, thoughts (fear), and deprivation of nutrients, movement, rest, sunshine, oxygen, love."
Question: Is a raw-food diet too hard for people to follow in today's society?
Answer: No, it’s actually easier to follow than other diets. When you eat all your food raw, you don’t have to waste time cooking or preparing your food. You just pick up your fruit, and you’re ready to go. Eating raw foods saves more time when compared to eating cooked foods. Think about it; you always see people on the street walking and eating some sort of fruit, a banana or an apple, but you never see anyone walking down the street eating a hamburger or a steak. Also, it is far less expensive to eat raw foods, and you can get them almost anywhere.
Question: If I have to eat cooked foods, are any of them better for me than others?
Answer: Yes, eating baked squash or lightly steamed vegetables is okay, if you must eat cooked foods. If you feel this way, you should look into dehydrated foods as an alternative to cooked food. Dehydrators make foods taste cooked, but the enzymes remain in the food, as long as it was dehydrated under 110 degrees.
Question: If I go on a raw diet, where will I get protein and vitamin B12?
Answer: If the body is working well, it will get protein from the high quality raw foods that you eat. You don’t see wild animals counting protein grams. They get all they need from raw foods. How did they get so big and strong? All the protein and vitamins that your body needs, as well as vitamin B12, are contained in raw foods.
If the body is not working well as is often the case in today for most people, a simple vegetarian supplement will do the trick. I suggest that food is the best source for nutrients, but if your body isn’t absorbing the proper nutrients from food, a simple supplement will do.
Question: I live in a cold climate. Do I need cooked foods to keep warm?
Answer: No! In fact, eating cooked foods in cold weather will make you feel colder. If it’s cold outside and your warm body goes into that cold, you will feel colder. Why do people drinking hot liquids look so cold? Your body will handle the cold weather much better on a raw diet. This is something I’ve noticed along with many others who have switched to a raw diet.
Question: Is it hard to be social on a raw food diet?
Answer: Any transition is a challenge, but the more you get used to it, the easier it becomes. The longer you are on a natural diet, the easier it will become to handle social situations. Without even looking, you will find a new group of friends who will feel the same way you do about being natural. More likely, they will find you first. You will have such a good time with natural people who think the way you do, that you’ll have very little time for unnatural people in your life. In time, your social life will be more rewarding than it was at the beginning of your change.
Question: Can anyone at any age eat this diet?
Answer: Yes. But although people refer to it as a diet, it’s actually not a diet. It is a natural way of eating. Raw food is the natural food for every person just as it is for any animal. The longer you have been eating unnatural foods, the harder it will be to make the change back to eating raw foods. But yes, it is for everyone. "You do not become natural; you were born that way." You have been brainwashed; you have become unnatural. The healing process is just a matter of getting back to nature and its natural diet. This is where you started from and where you should be today and always.
Question: Is there too much sugar in a natural diet of mostly fruits?
Answer: If you are eating what your body truly craves, the answer is no. There is much more unnatural sugar in today's modern, unnatural diet, which people eat every day. Once you are clean inside, your body will crave what it truly needs. Remember that any plant containing seeds is a fruit. Many non-sweet fruits will be included in your diet also. When you become natural, you will learn to love the non-sweet fruits such as cucumbers, red peppers, zucchini, squash and all others with seeds that might not taste good to you now.
Question: Is it healthy to raise my child on a raw-food diet?
Answer: Including a good amount of raw foods in your child’s diet is highly recommended. This is how all babies should ideally be brought up. Too many people are poisoning their children with unnatural foods. You do not have to be one of them.
Question: Sometimes you refer to a natural diet as consisting of raw fruits only. Are you saying that these are all I should eat?
Answer: The best foods for our body are the foods that have the most liquid in them. That would be fruit. Fruit should be the main part of your diet because of this. I highly recommend you include these in your diet along with leafy green vegetables, seaweed and some nuts. They are all natural foods. When I refer to a natural diet, I’m speaking about all of them. I’ve met with people in many countries who have eaten a raw-food diet for many years, and they all feel that these foods are all that is needed for the body to thrive. But, you have to remember, no matter how good the food you’re putting into your body, if you overeat, there will be problems.
Question: Is eating 100% raw foods boring? Are there many food choices that I can eat?
Answer: Eating raw foods is definitely not boring. You could eat a different fruit every day for the rest of your life and still not taste all the fruits of the world. Don’t limit your choices. Learn about and experiment with exotic fruits. There are many great tasting fruits that most people don’t know. Learning about them will keep this way of eating very exciting.
Question: I thought a raw diet would give me much more energy, but I am eating raw foods and feel tired. Why is this?
Answer: There are times during detoxification that your body will need rest. At these times, you will have less energy than usual. Don’t fight it. Give your body the rest it is demanding. The longer you are on a raw-food diet, the less you will feel this energy drain. However, at the beginning, you might feel it more often. It takes a different amount of time for each person. In time, you will feel much more energy than ever before. However, if you overeat or ignore correct food-combining rules, energy will drain from your body, regardless of whether or not you’re eating a raw diet. Be careful with that.
Question: How much water should I drink if I’m on a raw diet? What is the best type of water to drink?
Answer: Drinking a good amount of water upon rising each day is the best way to start the day. It helps cleanse the body and wakes you up. I suggest drinking 6 glasses of water upon rising every morning. The best type of water is the water found in organic fruits. The next best water available would be the cleanest you can find. Be careful with water sold in plastic jugs, as the plastic will leach into the water. It’s best to drink water kept in glass jars and at room temperature. Do the best you can.
Question: Is fasting a good idea?
Answer: When your body is cleansing or going through a detoxification, fasting will help it get rid of waste much faster. Fasting on water, while abstaining from any form of food, is the only true fast. However, a juice diet can be just as helpful to the body as fasting on water. Sometimes, it can even be safer and more beneficial.
If you decide to fast, never do so without the advice of knowledgeable people to help you. Be careful how you break the fast too. For more information on fasting, read the interviews in my book, The Raw Life. In addition, see the recommended reading section for many good books on this subject.
Question: What is your opinion about supplements?
Answer: No two people are in the same place at the same time. If you were living in true nature and eating a natural diet, you would not need to take any supplements. But we are not in true nature, so depending where you are, taking some whole live food supplements can help. I would suggest most people take enzyme supplements along with probiotics. These are two very helpful whole live food supplements. Others will depend on each person’s situation. When eating high quality foods, supplements are usually not needed but they can be very helpful. If a person is eating a high quality diet and still has deficiencies, I would suggest taking supplements until what is missing can be understood.
Question: I work out with weights. Can I maintain and increase my muscle buildup on a raw-food diet?
Answer: Engaging in any strengthening exercises will help you tremendously if you want to put on muscle weight. When first switching to a raw-food diet, you might lose some muscle mass, but your muscles will grow as long as you work them the correct way. In fact, they will grow much faster than they did before you ate a raw-food diet. You will get much stronger on a raw-food diet.
For an example of how strong you could get eating raw foods, look at the gorilla. Gorillas are the closest animals to man in terms of anatomy and eat a 100% raw-food diet. They are one of the strongest animals on earth. If gorillas ate any cooked food, they might get a little heftier, but they would not be nearly as strong as they are now.
Question: Can a person on a raw diet overeat on fruit?
Answer: Yes, a person on a raw diet can eat too much fruit. Many people on a raw diet are under the impression that they can eat all the fruit that they desire. Overeating in general, and overeating on any one food is something I would not recommend. Over eating when we first change to a raw diet is not unusual and over eating on fruit can lead to bingeing and cause your insulin to spike.
It plainly states in the glycemic index that some fruits require more insulin than others. Any food or fruit above fifty on the glycemic index will require more insulin or another food which is low on the glycemic index to change the index. It would be wise to eat lettuce and celery when eating a lot of fruit. You can also eat non-sweet fruit with sweet fruit. Non-sweet fruit is digested more like a vegetable than a fruit.
Over eating on fruit can also lead to demineralization of your teeth and decay. The man that introduced me to the raw diet over forty years ago lost his teeth for this reason. His diet consisted mostly of fruit. Over the years I have seen more problems from over eating on fruit or not eating enough of the vegetables, nuts, and seed than any other reason except detox and healing crisis.
Enjoy your fruit; it is one of the finest foods we can eat in most cases. Make sure you eat your vegetables along with plenty of variety.
Question: Will I get enough fat on a raw diet?
Answer: Yes, if you are eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and avocados you will get all 20 of the fatty acids that the body needs. The human body can manufacture 18 of these fatty acids but the two essential fatty acids; linoleic and linolenic acids must be in your diet.
The effects of not getting enough of the essential fatty acids over a long period of time could be a real problem. Some people try to go without nuts, seeds, and avocados, which is not always a good idea. The body can seem to be doing well and run on its reserves for many years before it develops a problem. This can also be a factor with other nutrients.
More from Paul Nison >>
