Much research has been conducted to determine the best diets for the human body. Overwhelmingly studies have shown that a raw, or mostly raw, diet is the best for the body. All foods have in their own bodies the enzymes necessary to digest them. God, in his wisdom, made them that way so humans and other animals could utilize them for food and also to enable them to break down after they died and return to the soil from which they came to be recycled as fertilizer. All we have to do is ingest the plants and our bodies will utilize those enzymes to aid our digestive enzymes to properly digest the food and absorb the nutrients.
Now "raw" doesn't necessarily mean what you think it does. Eating a baby carrot, crunching down on it and enjoying the sweetness of it is eating it "raw", however, if you steam it or gently saute' it, not raising its internal temperature above 118 degrees F, it will still be crunchy, but it will be partially cooked. This is also considered "raw". If the internal temperature of the vegetables is raised above 118 degrees F, all the enzymes will be destroyed along with many of the vitamins in the plants.
Most people think that the "raw" diet means you must be a vegan or vegetarian. That is not true. You can eat meat, in fact, I don't think anyone should be a vegan or vegetarian. You can not get complete proteins from any vegetable or bean, it must come from meat. You don't need that much meat, no more than 6 ounces a week and it can be chicken, fish, eggs, rabbit, goat, lamb, pork, venison, turkey, beef, or any meat source. Just watch your fat intake. Of course, most meats such as pork, venison, and fish need to be cooked thoroughly, please be sure you do that. It is better that meats be cooked well due to unknown butchering cleanliness. Just stay away from processed meats such as bologna, wieners, sausage, ham, any lunch meat, bacon, etc., due to unhealthy ingredients used in processing.
The raw food diet is good for anyone, but it is even more beneficial to someone with serious medical conditions such as heart problems, diabetes, cancer, neuromuscular diseases, or any serious or life threatening condition.
Along with the "raw" diet, you should also juice. Juicing is almost like eating it raw; you just don't have the pulp to contend with, so you are getting more of the beneficial juices from the plant. There is a lot of bulk and fiber in the body of the plants themselves, but most of it is not as beneficial as the juices you get from them. Of course, there are exceptions such as the skin of the grape, apple, or potato, each of which has a ton of nutrients in the skin. Fortunately, if you put skin and all into the juicer, it will, more than likely, squeeze most of those nutrients from the skin, too. Juicing is also a fun thing to do because you can make up your own combinations and experiment with them, get creative. The combination of eating raw and juicing along with a balanced and adequate supplement regime can usually get anyone back on their feet in no time.
This diet also works very well as a weight loss diet since the calories are relatively low and the food is mostly low in carbohydrates.
One important thing to remember is that you must continue on this regime, not fall back into the old fast food and junk food routine or you will undo all the good you have done on the raw diet. If you don't take care of yourself, you will find yourself in the same condition you worked so hard to reverse.
There is a history of this diet, along with juicing, actually putting cancer into remission. There is a man named Jerry Brunetti, who goes around the country lecturing on juicing and raw diet because it cured his very aggressive lymphoma. He was given 6 months to live if he didn't take chemo. He opted not to take the chemo and set out to find a way to cure himself. He read and read and came up with the "raw" diet along with juicing. At the end of 6 months, he had no more signs of the lymphoma. That was now 10 years ago and he is still doing very well. He, of course, continues on the diet, even with his traveling, he carries a juicer along with him. He is healthy and still has no signs of the lymphoma.
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This is a DVD explaining what and why Jerry Brunetti did in curing himself of lymphoma. It is very easy to understand and a very compelling example of how raw, organic fruits and vegetables can dramatically change your life.
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If you are in the market for a juicer, here are a few that I recommend.
You will notice there is a large span in prices for juicers. There are some higher and some that are a different type called "masticating" juicers, however, they are primarily for grasses and greens. They will not do carrots, apples, etc., so I didn't include them. These are your run of the mill juicers that most people use. They are called "centrifuge" type and they work well for most types of foods you would be juicing. I admit, trying to do greens in one of this type is rather messy and tends to make green "goo" all over the inside, but it still does juice them.
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Here are some books on juicing and eating raw. They contain information and recipes.
