Simply Raw

A lady in a wheelchair, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, went to the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida several years back. Today, she is 66 years old and running marathons! Dr. Brian Clement, director of the Institute, told her amazing story of healing during a conference in Geneva last Wednesday. On Thursday, he gave a workshop on more specific issues related to healthy living, with serious insights on how to understand the benefits of eating raw. As I was busy translating Brian’s talk into French for the audience, I was unable to take notes and relay the information here.

But thanks to my eldest daughter Celia Herrera, who joined me the night before and is a Communications student in Boston, here is a thorough summary of Brian’s Wednesday lecture. This will give you plenty of food for thought:

Good food = good fuel. Diets are good tools in helping to enrich our physical, emotional and spiritual lives.
Why raw foods heal diseases and prevent premature aging. Each plant possesses specific substances that will benefit your body, for more energy and longevity. Here’s what you get in raw foods:

• Hormones in raw plants allow your cells to speak to each other, so they aren’t confused!
• Oxygen in raw foods help to better digest proteins and minerals;
• Enzymes give your body higher energy and eliminate diseases;
• Antioxidants give you superior protection;
• Vitamins are essential for proper nutrition;
• Minerals and trace minerals are saturated in living foods;
• Protein is found in its most complete and absorbable form: it helps build your cells in an optimized way;
• Electrical charge increases the biological frequency of your cells.

Our world’s mistake Clement deplores the way our society deals with food. “We’re convinced we need animal proteins and dairy”, the doctor laments. But the latest research proves otherwise. “Any scientist today knows that when you take it away, people get better”. Milk, cheese and yogurt are the #1 cause for cancer! The problem, according to Dr. Clement, is that the way we were taught to eat had only one single purpose, that is to sell. Also, doctors keep prescribing pills to their patients, and we keep taking them! “We need to wake up”, shouts out Dr. Clement.

What you need to do:

At first, you will feel sick and weak: these are normal symptoms. After a while, you will feel like a child again!

How to start
1: WHY?

• Why aren’t animal foods good for me?
  Your body does not need saturated foods and protein (your own body produces it, it doesn’t need to get it from other animals!) Also, a human body cannot break down animal flesh in less than 2-3 days, and that process always leaves debris and damages.
• Why would my life be improved with exercise?
  It’s not all about food! It’s impossible to remain healthy without exercising as well.
• Why is spirituality also key?
  Without it, you would feel alone, not strong enough and incapable of doing everything you could do! Once you realize you have the universe on your side, nothing can stop you!

2: HOW? Transitioning from addiction to social-eating to living and nourishing foods

• You should make a change in your life slowly! It could take, for example, a year. Progressively, you eliminate the bad foods and replace them with better foods!
• How to prepare the foods so that they provide great pleasure?
  Although you’re determined to make changes, you’re surely addicted to your old lifestyle. The best thing to do: make raw food so that it looks, feels and tastes exactly like your old diet! For example, make a raw pizza or veggie burgers (see Recipes on this blog).
• How to embrace and maintain this lifestyle?
  You will  realize how rich and rewarding this lifestyle is. You’re looking for what’s best for yourself, what you like most. Set goals for yourself that you can achieve. Like this, you’ll develop self-respect.

3: WHY IT’S DIFFICULT

• It’s counter to popular culture! You might feel like an outsider in your social circle. Don’t judge your friends, and smile when they criticize what you eat.
• It’s counter to the international propaganda machine. Again, the industry is trying to sell us drugs, dairy, meat, etc. to make profit!
• It’s outside the peer-based understandings and acceptance. That’s why you have to be strong in a corrupted and negative world.

4: HOW TO DEAL WITH OBSTACLES
“But no one understands me….”: Overcoming problems with family and peer acceptance

• Have a plan to support your new lifestyle. Don’t force people to eat like you, don’t say anything negative. Just show them the example. If they wan’t to try it, great. If not, “c’est la vie”!
• Recognize your own comfort in sharing food with others. Show love through giving good foods. Tell others how raw food makes you happy.
• Remember: people can’t be converted unless they have a reason. But if you have young children, it’s your role to teach them how to eat healthy.

When facing all these obstacles, remember: the rewards are great!  “Let food be thy medicine”, said Hippocrates.
Thanks to Carole Dougoud for organizing the event, and thanks to Brian himself for this wonderful lecture.

For more inspiration, come to Simply Raw’s classes, more information here. You can also check out our recipes here.

Yes, this is clearly the theme for the month of January and the beginning of a New Year, even if February is starting tomorrow! As with every year, this is the perfect time to look back as well as plan ahead, make new resolutions to reach new objectives… and in the field of health and nutrition, the choice of resolutions is wide! For my part, if I were to recommend a single resolution to benefit you on all levels, it would be to consume fresh juices as often as possible. Even in the winter time, in fact especially in the winter, juices constitute a necessary and welcome input of nutrients which are immediately usable by the body, so why not get started?

Juices, Juices and yet more Juices!
Yes, this should be the ultimate goal for 2010! Adopt fresh juices this year, make it a daily habit and you’ll become addicted before you know it! (This is by all means a very positive addiction). Freshly extracted juices bring a great number of benefits to our body and contribute to improving our moods, resistance to infections and viruses as well as general well-being, because they are:

• full of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that are essential to our good health;
• low in calories and toxic content (opt for organic fruit and veggies);
• a fantastic source of nutrients which are immediately assimilated by the organism;
• very easy to digest, therefore a source of immediate energy;
• filling and satisfying, resulting in less hunger and cravings;
• and they are absolutely delicious, in a great variety of combinations!

Invest in a good quality juice extractor!
The best gift you can give yourself and your family for 2010 is a juice extractor that will allow you to prepare juices on a daily basis, or as often as feasible. Green juices, vegetable juices, fruit juices, mixed juices… which ever suit you and your loved ones, take advantage of these nectars that nature has provided, and fill yourself up with vitamins! There are many kinds of juicers on the market. If you already own a centrifugal juicer, use it until you become addicted! But as soon as you can, invest in a juice extractor which will not damage the cells of the food and will delay oxidation, while offering higher quality and yield. I personally own a VitaLeo, previously marketed under the Oscar brand, and I am thrilled because it offers a great price/quality ratio. As of this year, I now carry this juicer, along with the Champion, Green Star and Angel models. Contact me here to find our the price and sales conditions for direct postal delivery in Switzerland.

Incredible benefits, even in the winter
By consuming fresh juices, you will allow your body to rest while providing it with fuel of the highest quality! But first you need to let go of limiting beliefs such as the concept that extracting juices from fruit and vegetables is a waste of produce — it is the contrary, it really means bringing top performance to your body. Focus on seasonal products like citrus fruit, carrots and apples in the winter, but also irresistible tropical fruit, as well as winter vegetables such as kale, spinach, lamb’s lettuce and of course all manners of sprouts to bring the vital energy of chlorophyll during the cold season.

Some news of Simply Raw
2009 was a year full of developments with many raw food classes given to more than 60 enthusiastic participants, a growing raw community of people falling in love with raw food from Geneva to Lausanne, with a wider offering of products and services, including raw vegan gourmet meals featured occasionally. In 2010, classes will continue to build the momentum. A Simply Raw Shop will begin to take shape, with ingredients and machines already available to clients. One thing is for sure: eating raw will slowly become easier, more fun and more widely accessible! And I believe this manner of eating and living will begin to raise interest with the media. Undeniably so, raw foods are the way of the future. So stay tuned for upcoming new recipes, new books, and new tools to help and support you on your road to optimal health!

With spring comes the rejuvenation of nature and the emergence of young green sprouts in the fields, all signs of life renewal and great vitality in the green of nature. Humans can also draw great energy from greens which turn out to be one of the most nutritious foods for our species. This statement is not always convincing, and to many it may even appear inappropriate. But there is sufficient scientific proof today to demonstrate that chlorophyll, which is present in all green leaves, has a composition which is very similar to human blood, and that greens are very rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids essential to human health.

Yes, this may very well be yet another inconvenient truth. The idea that human beings can reach optimal health and fantastic shape by consuming large quantities of greens appears just too simplistic. This idea bothers the establishment, particularly the agrifood and pharma businesses, because it is unlikely to be a source of great profits. But this youth treatment is really there for anyone to grab, as long as he or she wants it, believes in it, and practices it daily.  

Victoria Boutenko explains all this at depth in her world famous book “Green for Life” by suggesting green smoothies as a perfect means to ingest more greens daily. There is no longer any need to promote the powerful properties of green juices, real energy cocktails and health boosters. Juice bars are sprouting all over the world, many of them offering healthy superfoods such as wheatgrass juice, another undeniabe source of high performance nutrients and healing properties. And even in Switzerland there is cause to rejoice, as wheatgrass and orange juice is now being served, fresh, in the Manora cafeterias in both Lausanne and Geneva! So treat yourselves next time you are near one.

To get you started with one way or another to increase your daily ration of greens, try the following green juice — the perfect energy cocktail.

Green Energy Cocktail

Ingredients for 1 person:
- 3 sticks of celery
- 1 cucumber
- 1 handful of fresh greens (spinach, lamb’s lettuce, romaine lettuce, the choice is large!)
- 1 small apple (for a sweeter taste)
- 1 small piece of ginger (for a sharper taste)
- 1 slice of lime, to squeeze into the juice

How to proceed:
Extract the juice from all the vegetables, the apple and the ginger, preferably using a juice extractor, otherwise a centrifugal juicer. Squeeze the lime in the juice. If you like to drink a fresh juice, let it sit for a few minutes in the refrigerator, this is how I like my juice best! Pour into a nice tall glass, sit down in a quiet and comfortable place, and enjoy with gratitude!

Give this a fair few tries. The taste may need to grow on you (it does!), for others it is addictive, without the side effects, except for overflowing energy! It’s your call, your choice! Indeed, you will have to consume one daily to discover the most incredible benefits, but the positive effects are instantaneous, so don’t wait until tomorrow to try your first green juice. Just get your greens, juice them and drink them! Then watch and observe how you feel….

The benefits of green juices and green smoothies are numerous. For example, they are a great help in weight loss by cutting cravings, but that’s not all. The subject is vast, which is why I have designed a Simply Raw, Level 2 class called “All About Greens“, which takes place (in French) in Morges on Saturday March 28. The class is almost full, so if you are interested in attending, sign up here quickly and prepare yourselves for the most energetic and sumptuously green spring ever!

Sprouting nuts, seeds, grains and legumes produces a remarkable source of nourishment and energy for the human body, often increasing the quality and quantity of the nutrients of these foods. They are full of protein, packed with vitamins and minerals and are very easy to digest so if you haven’t started sprouting at home, do so now, it will be a very rewarding action for you to take! It is the cheapest and easiest food to grow in your own kitchen, there is no need for a garden or any soil.

Sprouting is the practice of soaking, draining and then rinsing seeds at regular intervals until they germinate, or sprout. It is very easy to do. Health food stores all carry special sprouting trays or kits, but the easiest ways to sprout, I find, are the good old-fashioned jar or plate methods.

The jar method: Soak your organic seeds (for example 2 tablespoons of alfalfa seeds) in a large jar full of pure water and covered with a piece of screen or mesh material held with a rubber band, and leave to soak overnight. The following morning, drain and rinse carefully, then leave the jar tilted on a dish rack so any remaining water will gently leak out. Rinse twice or three times a day (depending on humidity levels) and leave to drain until sprouts come out and grow a little. Soaking and sprouting times vary from several hours (quinoa for example sprouts very quickly) to several days (usually 5 days for alfalfa sprouts) – a google search will give you a sprouting chart for all types of seeds and grains. Keep your jar so fresh air can circulate within but away from direct sunlight, at least in the beginning, and make sure there is enough moisture but not too much to avoid molding. It is really easy, so give it a try. Eating your own harvest of energy packed sprouts is a fantastic feeling, believe me.

The plate method is ideal for grains and legumes such as wheat berries, mung beans and lentils, for example. The initial soaking phase is the same. Once drained and rinsed, place your grains or legumes on a plate covered with a paper towel to ensure the right level of moisture, and cover with another plate. It’s as simple as that. Then proceed with the regular rinsing until the sprouts are ready. You can then keep them for several days in the refrigerator.

Soaking nuts, seeds, grains and legumes removes their natural enzyme inhibitors, thereby making these foods far more digestible. Sprouting them will greatly increase their nutritional value: the protein is broken down into amino acids, starches turn into simple sugars and fats into soluble fatty acids – all of which is far easier to process for the human body.

 Sprouts are a source of life force energy and can be part of your daily diet, adding them to salads, on top of spreads or soups, inside wraps and rolls, or some can even be munched on their own for a healthy snack. The most common sprout is the alfalfa seed, but I also often sprout mung beans and lentils which are delicious in just about any salad. A salad full of sprouts does not require any more protein to make it a perfectly balanced meal in terms of nutritional value – it’s basically my favorite lunch! And divine to look at. So whether you are into raw food or not, a sprouted salad is a fantastic addition to any meal.

Before I close I did want to draw your attention to the new Amazon icons on the right hand column of the blog: this is to enable you to order recommended raw food books directly from Amazon — as an answer to many requests for recommended books to get started with.  “Raw Food Made Easy” is ideal for beginners (as the title indicates), “Living on Live Food” is a raw food bible for those really getting into it, and “Raw Food Real World” is a beautiful gourmet book that is extremely inspiring. Happy reading!