Raw Food Diet?

The Association of the Covenant People, Burnaby, B.C.
"Thy Kingdom Come" - July 2012

EATING RAW "LIVE" FOODS

BY RICK COUPLAND

Editor's Note: I love this article. We published it a couple of
years ago and since Rick is on holidays this month, I decided to
run it again. It so reminds me of thirty years ago when I was
beset by crippling arthritis and one of the things I adopted was
a raw food diet that lasted 14 months. I was rehearsing for a
musical production during a few months of that time and I was
worried that without my daily intake of other foods, I might not
have the strength needed for the rigorous practice. I had become
a vegetarian a few months earlier and that was a real change from
my daily intake of at least one steak. But, I needn't have
worried, I found I had more strength and I couldn't believe the
positive results on my body. Within six months, there was no
further arthritic pain and now, at 75, I thank God for all those
pain free years. I've told others with such pain about my
experience and they have had some success, perhaps I had more
because I was trying other things as well. And I was disciplined
all during that period. I am still a vegetarian and still like
some raw foods in my diet.
......

I have watched several excellent movies in the last few months on
a variety of health topics. Some of the titles include: Food
Matters, Healing Cancer from Inside Out, Simply Raw - Reversing
Diabetes in 30 Days and Raw for Life - The Ultimate Encyclopaedia
of the Raw Food Lifestyle. While addressing different health
issues, all movies agree that the proper diet can help us to
maintain our body's well-being the way that God intended.
What these movies are really preaching is the benefits of eating
a raw diet. Now the definition of a raw diet changes from one
person to the next, but the common denominator is eating fruits
and vegetables in their natural state .... uncooked. It usually
includes nuts, seeds, sprouts, fresh herbs and spices, seaweeds
and any living plant food deemed beneficial. Some people choose
this diet to stay healthy; others resort to it to cure a
particular disease. Along with no eating of meat, dairy
consumption is also usually eliminated. And sugar and white
flours are definitely a nono.

Proponents of this way of eating claim that raw food is the
medicine your body craves. You are feeding your live body with
live foods, which activates the healing process .... healing from
the inside out. This certainly coincides with what Hippocrates
proclaimed two and a half thousand years ago .... "Let food be
thy medicine and medicine be thy food".

Brian Clement, founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute,
states there are 4 major components in raw living food, which all
contribute to the healing and prevention of disease, (1)
hormones (2) oxygen (3) phytonutrients and (4) enzymes. When we
heat our foods over 110 to 120 degrees, we destroy most of these
4 components. When food is cooked, it becomes harder to digest,
and this causes a variety of negative effects on our system. Our
digestive system has to work overtime, our body becomes stressed,
and it is said to even affect our sleep each night .... we are
not able to reach that deep state of sleep that we love to awake
from. This usually leads to coffee and sugar in the morning for
an energy fix .... albeit a false energy.

The movie "Simply Raw - Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" must be
seen if you are a diabetic, or you know someone that is. One of
the biggest causes of diabetes is sugar. Evidence shows that 20
years after sugar is brought into any culture, there is an
outbreak of diabetes. The average Canadian/American consumes 150
pounds of sugar per year. This movie begins with a quote from
the American Diabetes Association "Diabetes is a chronic disease
that has no cure". The movie chronicles 6 individuals, all
diabetics, who volunteered to stay at the Tree of Life
Rejuvenation Center in Arizona for 30 days. By changing their
diets to raw foods and juices only, they were able to reverse
their diabetes .... no more insulin .... no more medication. Raw
food creates an anti-aging effect .... Diabetes is an accelerated
aging process.

Wouldn't it be great if our medical doctors believed in and
promoted this type of healing! It certainly is the more Christian
way of living. Rather than popping a pill for every ailment, we
must realize that our body is a miraculous self-healing,
selfrepairing machine. If we remove the causes of disease, the
body's natural healing will take over.

Another benefit of the raw diet is it will keep you at your
optimal weight .... your body will be able to regulate and
balance itself. You will notice an increase in energy and
vitality, no more need for those afternoon naps!
One of the more nutritional parts of the raw food diet is eating
sprouts. Some sprouts, such as wheat grass, are 30 times more
nutritious than any organic vegetable you can eat. During World
War 1, the British Army sprouted beans to ward off scurvy in the
trenches. And in 1940, the United States Army studied their
usability as food during the war. Many people grow their own
sprouts. You basically soak the seeds for a day, drain and
continue to rinse once or twice a day for 3 or 4 days, allow to
dry in sunlight around the 5th day, then enjoy. If you are new to
sprouting, start with any of these, they are all very easy for
beginners: sunflower, almonds, lentil, mung.

If you're thinking that eating raw foods is boring and nothing
but green salads day in and day out, then take a look at some of
these (remember they are all raw and un-processed):
cinnamon-banana pancakes, soft corn tortillas, hearty chili,
almond milk, apple pie, mango coconut chutney, coconut enchilada
wrap, chocolate mousse parfait.

How can a chocolate mousse parfait be good for you? Well,
chocolate is actually one of the healthiest foods you can eat. In
fact, it is sometimes referred to as a superfood, which I wrote
an article about in the May, 2010 TKC. Unfortunately the
chocolate that you and I find in the stores today is mostly
sugar, along with a host of other harmful ingredients.
Researchers claim raw cacao, from which chocolate is made,
contains more antioxidants than any other food. Antioxidants
fight cancer, slow down aging and prevent cell damage. It is rich
in minerals, and contains more magnesium than any other food.
For more information on eating raw "live" foods, do a little
reading at your local library or bookstore, or search the
Internet for some recipes to get you started.

Food really does matter? Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and 1
don't have any medical training. I am just an individual that
researches information that other people have studied and proven
to be effective, and I just pass that information on to you.
......

NOTE:

Certainly some people with serious health issues can obtain good
results and even a cure from their ailment with a raw food diet.
Because they may have been living a physically wrong food
lifestyle for years or decades, the raw food diet washes out
impurities and brings the body back to balance.
Now as the article states "raw food" may mean different things to
different people.
I do eat a lot of raw foods: nuts, raisins, fruits, tomatoes,
carrots, lettuce, peas .... but to eat raw spinach, brachial,
turnip, cauliflower and the like, no I do not, some may, but like
eating raw potatoes, I find it not appealing. Some may like raw
eggs, to me it turns my stomach to even think about it.

I am not a vegetarian, but I also do not eat meat but maybe once
a week (if I was able to obtain organic meat maybe I would eat it
a few times a week), often though I will go for a month or so and
not eat meat. I do like salmon, and being good for you, I eat
salmon two or three times a week.

Some people can get way too fanatical on "raw food diet" and the
great health and strength man - Charles Atlas did NOT give it any
emphasis in his course. A balanced diet, a wholesome, organic as
possible, clean foods as given by God to ancient Israel, fruits
and vegetables (cooked or uncooked), nuts and whole grains,
organic cow or goat milk, tea, chocolate in moderation, molasses,
licorice, honey, and all the rest of good health laws (sleep,
rest, exercise) go together to give you vibrant health and being
and looking your true age, as opposed to your biological, birth
age.

I can do no more than give you myself as an example. Go to my
Youtube, the last uploads of myself preaching or singing, I'm
only months away from being 70 years of age on my birth-
certificate, but in actual health age I'm 50 and not 70 years
old. Your true age is governed by your physical health. I swim
like a healthy 50 year old, and people are amazed how fast I go.
I can still do a pull up jump hop into my stirrup to mount my
horse, like Roy Rogers always did in his young and middle age
years. My hair is still 90 percent present and 75 percent its
natural color, from the minerals I make sure I take each day. I
look and act and physically do things as a healthy 50 year old.
People knowing me in my working life never come close to guessing
my age.
Nope, all this is not from being on a "raw food diet" - I'm not,
I do like some things cooked. I have followed the Charles Atlas
course since I first got it when I was 14 years old (which is
still obtainable - see the Charles Atlas website) and followed
the clean foods laws of the Eternal all my life.

Keith Hunt