Via811,The Road to Health and Happiness: Train as if your life depended on it, Dr. Douglas Graham

Corruption, Fraud and Greed in Science?!!!

2012-01-15T11:06:00.000-08:00

"The China Study" by Dr. Campbell is one of my favorite books. It was such an eye-opener for me. It was a catalyst for the dietary and lifestyle changes I have made since reading it.

In the last chapters of the book, Dr. Campbell expounds especially about one of the worst aspects of science which is what he calls "reductionist" science. This is what commonly happens when scientists isolate a nutrient or ingredient from its original "whole food" source in a pill or supplement form in an attempt to achieve the same effects as the natural source. This is like trying to use a piece of Humpty Dumpty after he'd fallen off the wall as if he was still whole!!! This usually backfires and causes more harm to people, for which the beta-carotene supplement fiasco is a prime example.

It is common knowledge that corporate greed has often misrepresented scientific studies and results in their advertising campaigns promoting their products. However, the corruption, fraud and greed goes much further than that. Some scientists are now fraudulently fabricating results in the hope of "getting in on the action" of the pill industry, to strike it rich. Here is one of the latest headlines that left me shaking my head:

The chief "resveratrol" scientist is being cited for fraud and fabrication of evidence. To make a long story short, "resveratrol" is an artificially produced replica of an ingredient originally found in grapes that is supposed to improve cardio-vascular health and longevity. Remember all the headlines about a glass of red wine a day supposedly being good for your heart? Or even better, the magical "resveratrol" pill that will cost you a fortune, but will supposedly give you a long and healthy life? Wrong.

Folks, what's good for you is not red wine and even less so "resveratrol". Grapes are what's good for you.

Mother Teresa

2012-01-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

Here is another fantastic story about Mother Teresa.

I have a childhood friend who was born in Goa India. We went to elementary school together. I was often invited to her family home back in Toronto. Her father, Mr. D., was an especially charming and well loved man. The first time I visited her home, her dad asked me if I would like something to drink, to which I replied yes. He went to the fridge, brought me a drink and said: "This is your first time to our house and I will serve you as a guest. After today, you are a friend, so you will have to serve yourself!" What a memorable first impression.

Mr. D. used to be a journalist back in India before the family moved to Canada. Here is one of his stories that I will never forget: Before they left India he had an opportunity to visit Mother Teresa's orphanage. He arrived very early and was greeted by Mother Teresa herself. "Ah, you've come to help", said she. She immediately puts Mr. D. to work moving beds, doing laundry, sweeping the floor, whatever needed done for the day. After a long and hard day's work Mr. D. was exhausted and ready to take his leave. Mother Teresa approached him and said: "You're welcome!" Mr. D. was somewhat taken aback by this response as he was expecting gratitude for his volunteer labor, so he said: "Welcome for what?" Without blinking, Mother Teresa said: "You're welcome for having been given the opportunity to help in the work of a noble cause. I knew you would be grateful." And so he was.

Of course, Mr. D. would embellish this story so beautifully. I wish I could remember all the specific details. Yet, I hope I got the most important part of this story right.

The Fruit Hunters

2011-12-25T23:49:00.000-08:00

I started a group on the 30 BAD forum called 'The Fruit Hunters'. For me, one of life's simplest, yet most exquisite pleasures is finding seasonal fruit at its source.

Finding a fig tree laden with figs and gorging on the fruit (memories of Italy and France come to mind)...

Wearing a protective helmet while under a fruiting durian tree-I've sadly only been in Costa Rica when they weren't in season, so this is a dream I've yet to realize...

Hiking in the woods, coming to a warm, sunny meadow filled with blueberries or wild strawberries. I have so many fond memories of this in Canada as a child with my parents, then carrying on the tradition with my young son years later...

Even finding wild blackberries in the suburbs of the UK, which are usually completely neglected by the city dwellers...

These are some of my life's sweetest dreams.

Here is my most recent sweet dream. On Christmas day 2011, after coming home from a 2.5 hour beach walk, I saw that one of my neighbour's abiut trees was full of fruit. I asked permission to pick some and they gave me six of these beauties.

In the picture, only two are left!!! Here is the link to my group. Any fruit hunting adventure you'd like to share?

Before & After Pictures & Updates

2011-11-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, so how is my progress on 811rv?

Here are some pictures for comparison:

The first picture of me in the sleeveless dress was taken in January 2010 after doing 100% 811rv for over 6 months and mostly 811rv since May 2007.

The next picture of me was taken in November 2011 after much traveling and other difficult circumstances for nearly two years caused me to eat very high raw 811 vegan, but not 100% 811rv.

I am now 6 kilos more than when I was 100% 811rv. I have some of my previous cellulite return and I have much less muscular definition and more body fat. My periods are not as easy as on 811rv, but definitely not as excruciating as on my previous SAD diet. My skin is not as nice either with occasional small candida break outs on my face, especially around my mouth. I also have occasional respiratory problems like I used to have on my SAD diet. I have had two very bad flus that lasted for over a week since re-introducing regular servings of cooked food.

My face is plumper, less defined, but that also means that wrinkles show less which is not necessarily bad either. My blood results this year showed a difference too. For the first time since I began this journey my B12 levels were low. Granted, the last two years have been very stressful which probably depleted my reserves faster than usual. Also, I very likely, although this needs to be tested, lack intrinsic factor from my previous colitis history. I now supplement my diet with methyl-cobalamin (B12) sub-lingual tablets. Once I get my levels back within a healthy range, I'll probably stop them again and get re-tested some months later to test my theory about intrinsic factor. I don't like to take any supplements; hopefully, I will be able to get off all pills one day for good!

Over all, I would still categorize my health on 811 vegan (basically more a Dr. McDougall diet) as excellent, but I felt much better on 100% 811rv or Dr. Graham's diet.

For me, it is 100% 811rv that is still the optimal diet and the more days I hit this bull's eye target, the better I feel.

Pomegranates

2011-11-17T16:41:00.000-08:00

Pomegranates have long been one of my favourite foods, but making a meal of them can be quite challenging because they take so long to peel and eat the individual seeds.

They are in season now and very good deals can be had on them in the grocery stores. The most efficient use for them I've found is to juice them with an orange juicer. The left over fruits and pips that don't get juiced can be blended into very tasty smoothies.

Here are a few of my favourite pomegranate smoothie recipes:

1) Pomegranates, grapes and lettuce
2) Pomegranates, oranges and lettuce
3) Pomegranates, oranges and celery
4) Pomegranates, oranges and fennel
5) Pomegranates, kiwis and lettuce
6) Pomegranates, kiwis and celery
7) Pomegranates, kiwis and fennel

Another great use I've found for pomegranates is a substitute for the popcorn I used to eat when watching a movie. I usually wear old clothes that I'm not afraid of staining when doing this because eating pomegranates while distracted by a movie always ends up making permanent stains in any material they come across.

Finally, pomegranate seeds add lovely texture and colour to any acidic or semi-acidic salad dressings as well as to other types of smoothies when they are added at the end.

Warning: pomegranates are quite astringent and can be very constipating. I usually need to eat them with lots of other good soluble fiber foods like tender greens in order to keep things moving smoothly.

Here is a link to some lovely images of pomegranates : Picture

Health Compromises That Have Not Killed Me Yet

2011-10-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: What I am about to write is not a promotion of health compromises, but a simple acknowledgement that there are compromises and then there are COMPROMISES when it comes to the best health achievable under a given set of circumstances. Optimal diet and optimal healthy lifestyle is best. Striving for optimal health and happiness should be everyone's birth right and never challenged, but it is not realistic, nor healthy to only expect the best no matter what. Perhaps the healthiest viewpoint is to accept the best choice considering all of the external environmental forces, influences, and exposures that are beyond a person's control. In other words, make the best of every situation, but don't expect the best.

What specifically am I talking about? Considering that this is a blog dedicated to the 811rv diet and lifestyle, it should be no secret that I am referring to cooked foods and less than perfect lifestyle habits.

Since I turned my health around in May 2007 by finding out about 811rv and implementing it to the best of my ability, I must admit that I have yet to perfect this diet and lifestyle. I feel best when I am eating 100% 811rv and following the best lifestyle habits; therefore, I always return to it as soon as possible when I stray, but my strays are frustrating considering that I know better. Dr. Graham suggests an adaptation window of 7 to 10 years as a reasonable and probably average result. This is also in line with normal turnover and regeneration of living cells where it takes between 7 to 11 years to completely replace almost every cell in the body. Some cells are never renewed; ova in a woman, for example are never renewed. A woman is born with all of the ova she will ever have and they never renew. Since I am only in my fourth year of 811rv diet and lifestyle and I have many years of unhealthy diet and lifestyle under my belt, I am satisfied that I am following a 'normal' course for anyone that undergoes a major diet and lifestyle change. Hopefully, practice will get better with time. Yes, I realize that only 'perfect practice makes perfect', but who the heck wants to be 'perfect' all the time??? Nonetheless, feeling one's best all the time can't be beat!

I was recently introduced to AA by a new friend of mine. I'm not an alcoholic, even before discovering 811rv, I never drank. I tasted alcohol when I was in my teens and I even got drunk a couple of times in my life. However, I've never liked the taste of alcohol, much less its effects on me. One of the AA messages that I found most striking is that once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic even if you've been sober for decades. Furthermore, one of the tests of AA to determine whether a person is an alcoholic is whether such a person turns to alcohol for comfort when things are stressful and times are hard. Does this not bring to mind most people's notion of 'comfort foods'? Food should only be consumed for normal nutrition, not as a medicine or sedative-ie. eat to live, not live to eat. My conclusion to the AA information is that I am a cooked food-aholic. Intellectually, I understand that when times are stressful/difficult that it is MOST important to stay on course with 811rv diet and lifestyle, but I have yet to achieve that goal. Sadly, I have come to realise that eating any cooked foods is a slippery slope for me. I wish there were something like AA or Al-Anon in place to give the support necessary to stay on course, but I have yet to find one. Visiting the raw food boards is often a frustrating, negative process that doesn't fulfill the proper need for support.

So what are the health compromises I have made over the past four years? I will try to rank them in the order of most harmful to least harmful. Please note that these 'findings' are ONLY based on my personal observations with my limited, non-medical interpretations of what is going on in my own body.

1)Salt or sodium chloride (not to be confused with natural sodium found in whole plant foods). Salt affects me horribly and my body immediately reacts negatively to it, especially in the form of oedema.

2)Heated, processed, non-whole food fats (ie, oils and their many derivatives). I might be Italian, but my Italian body does not react well to the mediterranean staple of olive oil, especially if it is heated. Interestingly, when I visited Israel a couple of years ago, I learned that 2000 years ago, nobody ate olive oil. It was only used for lamps. I wonder when and why this changed?

3)Gluten and other grain products. Again, pasta and fresh bread are many Italians' staples and very appealing to the palate, but they irritate my digestion and even affect my respiratory system.

4)Dairy and any of its many derivatives. Happily, I gave these up long before I even became vegan, let alone 811rv! I made the connection between dairy and my excruciatingly painful kidney stones many years ago, so I haven't dared go near them for years.

5)Cooked tuberous starches (ie potatoes, yams etc). I do not feel any immediate effects from eating these. However, I must assume that in the long run I am not doing myself any favors because nutritionally they do not stack up in comparison to fresh, whole, ripe, raw, organic fruits and vegetables. The lack of nutritious food is certainly no help. I do not check my blood sugar regularly either because I am not a diabetic, but it can not help but be affected by these starches considering their high glycemic load. Another interesting fact is that the potato was only discovered in the new world. It was introduced to Europe only a few centuries ago. Europeans at first reacted very badly to it. Russian czars actually tricked people into wanting it by posting guards around planted potato fields, thus tempting people into thinking it was a special delicacy only to be indulged in by the rich. To think that it is now such a staple only a few centuries later!!!

6)Steamed vegetables. Again, I feel no huge immediate negative effects from eating these, but they are certainly not as nutritious as the raw versions. The main problem I experience with steamed vegetables is the lack of fiber since it is destroyed by the cooking process. If I could check my white blood cell levels on a regular basis, I would probably also see a spike after eating them, but I do not, and can not check my blood after each meal!!! Speaking of which, I only get my blood medically checked once a year and so far so good with my results-YAY!

Here's a typical example of a compromised daily menu when I eat cooked foods:

Breakfast: Raw fruits
Lunch: Raw fruits with raw vegetables
Supper: Raw fruits with raw vegetables and some cooked food. I try to make the cooked food a 'condiment' rather than the main calorie source. Steaming, the crock pot and a microwave are my weapons of choice in the cooked food domain. Lots of greens with the cooked food helps me maintain fiber levels high enough for better digestion. Again, my previous colitis lets me know immediately if I do not have enough of the proper fiber in my diet.

Again, I make no recommendations to do as I do. I just like to speak candidly through my own biases.

Poisons and Antidotes

2011-08-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

First off, I must apologize for not writing in a long while. My only excuse is that what started off to be a crazy year has turned into longer with no immediate end in sight.

Which leads me to the title of this blog post.

My present and continuing circumstances have made me come to some interesting conclusions:

1) Goodness, is it ever difficult to stay 811rv while constantly moving around and being exposed to lots of personal and environmental stresses (no, I won't go into the personal stresses so don't bother asking).

2) There are ways to counter these negative effects to one's health and happiness which I will share with you in my always hopeful attitude that this blog is helping somebody, somewhere out there.

Forewarning: What I am about to write is not meant to be apologetic or exculpatory in nature. It is still my firmest belief that each and every capable adult of us is the primary person responsible for their own health and happiness. Therefore, the responsibility for the pitfalls that I have fallen into these past few months lies solely with me. If I had planned better, if I had reacted better and most importantly if I had acted better I would not be in this see-saw act of trying to balance the poisons with antidotes. That being said, there is no point in adding insult to injury. I, just like most of us less than perfect humans, have to make the best of the situation and try to recuperate what is possible of our losses and find a way forward.

Mantra to this blog post: It is easier to stay on course than to find your way back.

Poison 1: Not breathing enough clean air properly.
Antidote: Hold your breath while in the company of smokers or other sources of extreme pollution, make a mad dash away from such an environment and then breathe in deeply as soon as possible. Practice deep breathing exercises when exposed to good quality air asap.

Mantra: It is easier to stay on course than to find your way back.

Poison 2: Not eating proper food best adapted to our physiological needs in the quantities needed to thrive.
Antidote: Dilute the pollution with some extra water, swell up like a balloon, abstain from a meal or two then try to stretch your stomach beyond its capabilities when you do start to eat again thus starting a vicious yo-yo cycle. Go back to proper food asap.

Mantra: It is easier to stay on course than to find your way back.

Poison 3: Not getting enough proper exercise to sustain a machine made for appropriate motion in quantity and quality.
Antidote: Workout like crazy to compensate, sustain a stupid injury, be bed ridden, atrophy some muscles, try to start moving again. Go back to proper exercise asap.

Mantra: It is easier to stay on course than to find your way back.

Poison 4: Not getting enough sleep in quantity and quality.
Antidote: Catch up on some zzz's, over sleep a few hours, days etc, thus disrupting your circadian rhythms (aka jet lag), be groggy during the day and unable to sleep at night. Go back to proper sleep asap.

Mantra: It is easier to stay on course than to find your way back.

Poison 5: Not getting enough sun in quantity and quality.
Antidote: Expose yourself to too much sun to compensate. Burn in the most sensitive of areas. Start getting sun damage. Or, don't expose yourself at all for a while becoming paler and more sensitive than ever and depriving your body of the vitamin D and other essential nutrients the sun provides. Go back to proper sun exposure asap.

Mantra: It is easier to stay on course than to find your way back.

Poison 6: Exposing yourself to high stress people or high stress situations and not dealing properly with it by using emotional poise.
Antidote: Become a social recluse, do not participate in any activity that might challenge you either physically or mentally. Justify your actions by saying they're not worth it anyway and you're better off without them anyway. Or, conform to their behavior, join the pack, become like every one else, drink your beer, smoke your fags, be a couch potato, take your pills and SHUT UP already.

Mantra: It is easier to stay on course than to find your way back.

Moral to this story: We are all exposed to and will forever be exposed to potential toxins that can undermine our health and happiness.

811rv DIET AND LIFESTYLE is still the best option to life's many challenges.

Home sweet home

2011-02-08T00:34:00.000-08:00

Traveling so much this year has been exciting, yet exhausting. Living out of a back pack is fun for a while, but does get old.

I'm working at settling into permanent residency in Costa Rica. This is where my heart and soul feels best.

It feels so nice to be back here, where I belong.

Global Gypsy Travels

2010-10-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

Honduras on the beach for 3 months.
First on my itinerary of travels is minding a small beach front hotel, during its rainy season closure, for a friend in Honduras. The location is stunning;however, some adjusting is needed. Unfortunately, my partner and I are here during the rainy/hurricane season. In fact, we just missed hurricane Paula by the skin of our teeth. I've never been in a hurricane prone area during the season, so experiencing the strong winds and blowing rains has been a little concerning. Nonetheless, the winds keep the normally very hot caribbean weather much cooler and I prefer feeling the cool ocean winds to the stifling, stagnant heat.

With regards to my food necessities, I quickly found the local fruit and veggie market. I've been feasting on the best rambutans I've ever had for peanuts. Organic food has been difficult, if not impossible to find. The selection, in general, is not as good either in choice or quality as Costa Rica. I must say, that I'm very spoiled in CR in that regard. I've also discovered the local fruit truck that will deliver to the door every week.

Honduras is nice, but some things are disappointing. Normally, the beach here is pretty clean, but the seasonal rains and winds have brought up much plastic and other rubbish onto the beach, which makes the water unswimmable and the beach unwalkable even during calm, clear days. I'm so used to CR's pristine beaches that this has been quite a shock for me. Local culture is still in the habit of littering. The hotel owner pays for the beach to be cleaned up once the weather clears up, but that won't be until December at least. We will hopefully get a few weeks to enjoy the cleaned beach before we leave.

I'll post pics soon once I upload them.

Living life with no regrets, Via.

Global Gypsy-Living Life With No Regrets

2010-09-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

So...my big news is that I have decided to become a Global Gypsy for the next little bit of my life. Now that I have a good understanding of, as well as good application of the 811rv diet and lifestyle, it is time to focus on other important aspects of my life. I only have one life to live after all.

Traveling has always been one of my main passions in life. Since I first took to an airplane as a little girl while immigrating to Canada, the travel bug has never left me.

Internet is not likely to be a sure thing at any or all times, but I will post about my adventures and how I go about making my dreams come true as the inclinations and opportunities present themselves.

Hopefully we will meet up one day, if not in person, than at least in spirit during my time of wandering.

Big changes are coming....

2010-07-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

I have been experiencing some incredible changes in my life. Details to follow...

p.s. Still 811rv-now more than ever!!!

Nutty is nuts for me

2010-02-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

An interesting development has occurred with my rooster Nutty that I would never have predicted.

If you recall, Fruity and Nutty were the two baby chicks that I hand raised from the egg last year when I was down in Costa Rica. I used to carry them around everywhere with me and sometimes they would sleep in my shirt or tucked behind my ears in my hair. At night time, they would sleep in a little box beside my bed. They couldn't stand to be separated from me. They would scream their heads off and come running if ever I ventured too far. I knew that they were imprinting on me as happens with most precocious birds such as chickens or ducks that will imprint on the first caretaker, no matter what the species. However, I had no idea that the imprinting would continue onto adulthood. This seems to have happened with Nutty. Here's why I think so.

A few days ago, I went up to feed the chickens at my neighbor's house. Nutty came charging at me and pecked at my finger. I thought he was being his usual bossy, macho self. I thought he was trying to scare me away from the hens. I picked him up and scratched him around the ears, which he has always liked, to reassure him that I meant the hens no harm. That seemed to calm him down.

Today, when I went up to feed the chickens again, Nutty came charging again, but first he did the rooster chicken dance around me before pecking at my leg! Roosters only do this to hens that they're trying to dominate and impress. He was treating me as if I was a hen to woo and seduce! I picked him up again and scratched his ears.

After putting him down, I starting eating some bananas. I tossed some pieces to him. He also did the usual rooster cluck, cluck call for me to indicate that there was food to be had. Roosters let hens eat first when they come across a food source. When he saw I wouldn't eat the banana on the ground he did another impressive rooster dance to show off to me!

Should I be flattered that he thinks his adopted mama is a hot mama?!!! I saw a video recently of a wildlife cameraman being jumped on and humped on the neck by this wild crazy bird. I hope that's not what Nutty's intentions towards me are. I'm a much more respectable chick than that.

Pictures of Costa Rica 2010

2010-01-25T03:53:00.000-08:00

1)Home sweet home
2/3/4/5)Kinky the sweetest most magical creature
6)My little waterfall shower
7)Plant& Nature Master Eleacib giving us some pointers
8)2 Lucky gals
9)Piggy & I
10)Let's share a meal together
11)Anty investigating the goods
12)Rollinea treats

The Rooster Chronicles

2010-01-04T05:58:00.000-08:00

My love affair with chickens continues...

As I got back to my little cabin in Costa Rica, I immediately went to visit my chickens who have been taken care of, in my absence, by my wonderful Tico neighbors.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Lee and Moody's babies had almost all survived to adulthood-only one was eaten by a wild animal. My chicken caretakers let the chickens roam free during the day. They head off into their cages at night on their own. Some of my other chickens, that are being taken care of by other neighbors, sleep in the trees at night.

My deal with my neighbors that I give chickens to is that they don't kill them. I pay for any extra feed they give them and they can eat the eggs. So far, I have about 10 chickens spread out amongst 3 families, but the chicken family is growing. This is my little way of giving at least some chickens a decent lifespan with excellent quality. My chickens get to live free and hopefully will live out their natural lifespan. My neighbors are also happy with the situation because they get good quality eggs. I wish I could convince them not to eat the eggs because they are horrible for one's health, but they would buy even worse quality ones from the store anyway, so there's no point in trying to stop them.

Back to Lee and Moody's babies, which are in fact, mostly only Moody's babies because Lee's eggs were eaten by a snake last year. It was a tragic thing to watch as the eggs kept disappearing right from underneath her. I had no clue what was going on with the eggs until I finally spotted the big black mica snake just above Lee's nest in the shed. The snake would slither down and steal the eggs right from underneath her, until finally all were gone before I realized what was happening. My neighbor gave me 7 eggs from different hens that were mostly fathered by Moody to replace in Lee's desolate nest. I replaced the eggs quickly because Lee had worked so hard. The eggs were almost to term. A chicken sits on her eggs night and day for 21 days and only comes out to eat a little, once a day. You should have seen her sorrow when all her eggs disappeared, her cries gave me goosebumps. Lee took to her adopted eggs easily and she did an amazing job of raising her adopted family, after I made the shed snake proof. It was beautiful to watch both Lee and Moody parent their babies. Both were so tender and gentle with them, yet fierce at protecting them.

The batch has grown into beautiful chickens, but there's one problem. Three of the babies are roosters-two of which are spitting images of their father Moody! Adult roosters will not tolerate other roosters around their harem of hens. Thus begins the rooster chronicles.

I managed to find another home for one of the roosters, but two are left. Moody, my original Costa Rica rooster, is a proud, macho, fierce father and harem leader. Today, I witnessed an example of his fierceness. Tiki the family's dog followed me up to the chickens' cages as I let them out for the day. As soon as I let Moody out of his cage he jumped on Tiki and chased him away from his family! The dog whimpered off and didn't return.

Only one of the other roosters gets into trouble with Moody, he happens to be Nutty the little chick I hand raised with his sister Fruity. Fruity and Nutty are still very tame and will easily let me pick them up and pet them. Nutty has reached adulthood-he has started to sing, so Moody feels threatened by him. Moody, who is older, bigger and more experienced, chases him away from the hens. Nutty often has to forage on his own, although Fruity often joins him because they were raised together apart from Lee's other babies. They truly care for each other.

Today, Nutty got into trouble with Moody again. As I let Fruity out of the cage, Moody did his chicken dance around her (the chicken dance is the funniest thing to watch) and then mounted her. This is the usual chicken foreplay-the sex seems even less appealing because it barely lasts a few seconds! Fruity was not in the mood to be mounted so she protested. Nutty came running to the rescue of his sister, forgot about his fear of Moody, and jumped on Moody's back! Moody was in too compromised a position to fight back. Nutty managed to run off before Moody got his wits back. The whole event had me in stitches!

Pics:
1)Lee (far left) with her beautiful adopted family.
2)Fruity and I, not likely Moody's offspring because of her colors.
3)Nutty and I, Moody's young & inexperienced but equally fierce son.
4)Moody, my fierce, macho rooster.

Letter of Encouragement/Advice

2009-11-20T06:05:00.000-08:00

This is a letter I wrote to a girl asking for advice on vegsource during the fall of 2009. It was a time of turmoil on the board because there was an internet troll present regularly posting doomsday, disrespectful trash. Hope it helps.

Dear Hannah,

I've been thinking a lot about you lately, so I decided to write a letter of encouragement and advice. A letter that I would have appreciated receiving at your age. A letter you can choose to ignore or enjoy or get mad at, but whatever your reaction-isn't it amazing to know that you have the choice to choose any of these emotions? You are in control of these, if you want to be.

I know you are 19 years old and are sometimes struggling with staying 811rv as well as other issues like high stress at school. Boy have I been there, in more ways than you can know. How did I get through these issues? Certainly not as well as you have the possibility to do because I was not exposed to 811rv at your age. Going through University for me was often hell. I was eating crap. I wasn't sleeping well. I wasn't exercising. I gained the usual 15 school pounds. I was totally stressed out most of the time. But, I survived.

I wish so much more than survival for you. I wish you could thrive during this experience just like every future challenging experience you will face. 811rv diet and lifestyle can give you the opportunity to thrive, all you have to do is choose it, each day. Don't look back at the past or worry about the future. Choose to do the right thing each day-it is never wrong to do the right thing. You know what is right for you. This knowledge is in each and every one of us. Guidance is also here, if you need some of the details spelled out more clearly.

Hannah, there are far more formidable opponents to doing the right thing than cyber "people" on this board that only give a capital letter to identify themselves with. Close friends and family will put pressure on you to do all sorts of things, mostly because they want you to act like them to justify their own actions. My mother was famous for trying to make me feel guilty when I refused her food, which to her symbolized her nurturing and sacrifices she made to raise me. Now she has Alzheimer's amongst many other diseases. In a weird way, I wish she was still able to try to manipulate my feelings like she used to because that would mean that I had not lost her to this horrible "walking dead" disease.

Authority figures with lots of fancy sounding initials attached to their names will use their positions also to try to stop you from doing what you know is right for you also. They do this for all sorts of reasons, even if they appear well meaning, they are often spoken out of self-interest.

This outside pressure will intensify when things are not going as well as they should be. For example, you lose some sleep, get stressed, look horrible and almost everyone will point to your differences and say "see, I told you so". You can even get hit by a bus and people will still say "see, I told you that bizarre diet was going to do you in." This is the usual behavior of arrogant, whiny, negative, sick people who prefer negative attention to no attention at all. You will constantly be challenged by these energy guzzling types-but it is your choice how you react to them. You can choose to let them get to you or not. Isn't it amazing to have this choice?

Hannah, look at yourself in the mirror. Do you have eyes on your face above your nose and mouth? Can you feel your heart beating in your chest? Is your brain in between your ears (not like others whose brain is up their butt)? If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then the chances are that you are a human.

What can a human like you accomplish? Perhaps, if you're lucky (living under correct knowledge), you'll be as happy and healthy as one 56 year old man that I know. This man is only a human, but he is taking care of a beautiful family, he regularly runs marathons, he teaches people that are interested to learn what he knows, he writes books, he hosts internet forums for an often hostile public, he holds quality transformational events for people that are interested, he gives amazing conferences, he laughs a lot, he cries when it's appropriate and much more. He does this all quite humbly too. To me these are all parameters of well-rounded excellent intellectual, emotional and physical health. As you know, all of these are connected, as is everything else in life.

In contrast, the vast majority of other 56 year old men I know can barely get up in the morning to go to their 9 to 5 cubicle for corporate slave wages. The vast majority of other 56 year old men I know have many, many health issues, chronic and acute. So what is so special about Dr. Graham? Nothing, except his diet and lifestyle.

Hannah, I wish for you, that in 37 years you will have surpassed your wildest dreams for health and happiness, simply by choosing to do the right thing each and every day.

Don't Undersell 811rv

2009-11-12T12:05:00.001-08:00

As you know, my journey to 811rv began with an omnivore diet for 38 years, followed by a vegetarian diet for 3 months, followed by a vegan diet for 9 months then 811rv as of May 2007. I have had some slip ups since May of 2007, but I basically have not looked back. I keep moving forward, happier and healthier than ever on 811rv.

Many people ask me about my diet. If I perceive a real interest I'll pass on information. My usual route has been to introduce people to the principle veg authors, in the sequence that I have followed-namely John Robbins, Dr. Campbell and then Dr. Graham. Today, I learned that I have probably been shortchanging 811rv to many of the people that have inquired by presuming that they would follow my own route to 811rv.

How did I learn this?

Six weeks ago, a neighbor, friend and construction worker that has many, many health issues, including a severe addiction to coffee (Hi B, if you're reading this!) was working at my house for some repairs I needed done. B has basically been eating a SAD diet for over 50 years.

He's known about my dietary changes for awhile, although he didn't know the exact details. I teased him, while he was working one day about the scanty amount of fruit he eats. I dared him to have one of my real fruit meals of 7 ripe bananas and several figs. He proceeded to enjoy this meal very much. He showed an openness to try so I lent him all of Dr. Graham's material that I have, including "Grain Damage" and "The 80/10/10 Diet". B, has dived into the diet head first and he's loving every minute of it. He says he's never felt better in his life and many of his health issues are resolving. He says he's not going back to his old diet at all. He even says that he will be giving up a lifetime addiction to coffee before the Christmas holidays!

B is truly inspirational to me and I wish him the best of luck (luck=living under correct knowledge). May the fruit be with you B.

My Torments and Victories with Kidney Stones

2009-11-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

This was the article I wrote for Dr. Dave Klein's "Vibrance" e-zine which can be found at www.livingnutrition.com

I was terribly woken up one early morning in the autumn of 1998 with a searing pain on the right side of my lower back and right side. The pain was excruciating, making me vomit and almost faint. I had a searing urge to urinate; my urine was pink indicating blood. My husband rushed me to the emergency room of our nearest hospital which was 45 minutes away. The whole trip, I was screaming with unbearable pain-worse than the childbirth pains I had experienced 2 years earlier. My poor son, strapped into his car seat and having been rudely awakened was also screaming with terror, not understanding what was going on with his mother.

The nurses and doctors took one look at me and rushed me off to have x-rays taken.
The x-rays showed nothing, but the doctors informed me that I had probably passed some kidney stones.

One and half years later, in the spring of 2000, I was once again awoken with the same horrible, horrible pain. “Oh my God, not again!” were my only thoughts in between bouts of vomiting and screaming.

Off to the hospital again and more x-rays were taken. This time the x-rays showed that I had 6 kidney stones. Three were trapped in the passage between the kidney and the bladder and three more were still in my kidney. I was rushed off immediately for surgery to remove the stones blocking my passage. The stones left in my kidney would have to wait while I recovered from my first surgery. Until surgery, I had to keep a catheter in place to keep the passage open to be able to urinate-boy was that a lot of fun (NOT!). Several months later, I was finally treated with ultrasound to blast the kidney stones out of my kidney. While visiting me in recovery, my adorable son kicked one of the nurses, thinking she was the cause of my pain.

So what did cause this? My urologist said that she didn’t know what causes kidney stones, but that they were made principally of calcium. A friend, who’d also suffered with kidney stones, told me that she had cut out milk and cheese and that seemed to work for her. I thought about my habits prior to these events. I had never paid much attention to nutrition and health, except in my ever constant battles to not gain excessive weight in my youth. I was never anorexic, but like most young women I wanted to be slim and attractive. Things changed when I discovered that I was pregnant. I started reading parenting magazines, pregnancy magazines and pregnancy and parenting books. These publications were readily available at my gynaecologist’s office. One thing that stood out in all my readings was the importance of calcium for strong bones for both me and the baby. I had never much liked milk, but once I got pregnant I got into the habit of drinking one huge mug (the equivalent of at least 4 cups) of warm milk every night as well as in the morning when I awoke. After all, I needed 8 cups worth everyday to meet the government RDAs, right? I gained 65 pounds during my pregnancy.

Were my milk drinking habits the cause of my kidney stone problems? At the time, my only concern was for the pain. I did not want to experience that pain ever again so I dropped the milk considerably to one cup a day; but, I did not completely ban it because I was still concerned about osteoporosis since my mother had just been diagnosed with that disease. I knew I wasn’t meeting government recommendations for calcium so osteoporosis was still a big concern. Today I know that those recommendations are completely wrong and based on the unnatural eating habits of most of the population, as well as being hugely influenced by powerful industrial lobbies. Osteoporosis seemed far away and I thought it was better to avoid the kidney stones now and deal with osteoporosis later. It seemed the lesser of two evils.

Have I ever come a long way since those thought processes occurred to me!?!!! And what’s worse is that I have now learned that milk causes both of those diseases!
Imagine, thinking I had to choose between having one horrible disease or another when radiant health is the real choice?!!!

Yes, radiant, vibrant, and optimal health is my choice now. What’s more, it gets easier and better every day that I follow my natural diet as outlined by Dr. Douglas Graham’s “The 80/10/10 Diet” and a natural hygienic life style. My only regret is that I did not discover this sooner.

So much has changed for the better since becoming an 811rv (80/10/10 raw vegan) in May of 2007.

It’s hard to begin listing the benefits I’m experiencing because there are so many and they are so far reaching. Of course, there are the visible, superficial benefits of losing almost 50 pounds and dropping my body fat percentage to the teens which I’m very happy about. I’m pretty tanned now too which looks great. My skin and hair are now naturally, inexpensively managed and look great. I exercise more and can even run now. I sleep better too. These are all great, but there are also many other added benefits like the knowledge that I’m acting in a more compassionate manner to all life forms: human, animal and plant. Also, that my footprint on our planet is a healthier one. I have such a better outlook on life in general now that the mysteries of being healthy have largely been explained.

Of course there are many people to thank for my successes, not least of which is Dr. Klein and this magazine. Thank you so much!

If you want to follow my story, please join me on my blog or Dr. Graham’s forum or Dr. Klein’s forum as well. I love sharing this information with as many people as possible because health is truly our only wealth.

Ciao.

Forewarning-Why I Created This Blog

2009-11-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

Why did I create this blog?

At the beginning of “The 80/10/10 Diet” book by Dr. Graham, he described a poignant Indian legend of blind men examining different parts of an elephant and coming to different and wrong conclusions about what the elephant truly is. This legend accurately describes the current state of most human’s fragmented and erroneous, health knowledge-especially when it comes to nutrition and fitness, environmental knowledge and animal rights knowledge. Dr. Graham has, with his lifetime work, best combined this knowledge to form a very accurate whole picture of true health in all of its diverse aspects. This blog seeks merely to add to that foundation with some more detail, but certainly not in any exhaustive fashion. Much more detail of true health can and should be added for those like I, who want and need it. Any that are up to the cursed yet blessed challenge of fine detailing in three dimensional quality the health elephant, please step forward. The world needs you.

This blog is not for the faint of heart who wish to dilly dally with compromised nutrition, compromised fitness, compromised environmental health, compromised animal rights. For me, improperly fitting compromises have always been too difficult half measures that are not truly sustainable. In the end, the ill-fitted compromises serve no one.

This blog is written for those who recognize the world’s health problems as well as acknowledge that we can no longer afford baby steps in the right direction-one step forward, two steps back, if you will. It is written for those courageous enough to realize that the time has come to run, with exponential time, in the opposite direction that humanity is presently going.

Enjoy my blog and may your life be fruitful.

Curses and Acknowledgments

2009-11-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

There are so many people to thank and also many people to curse for me embarking on a blogging adventure. The most important is Dr. Douglas Graham. Ever since I first heard of him, read his books, listened to his conferences, followed his advice, began practicing, and slowly perfecting the 811rv diet and lifestyle, my world has been turned upside down. It is so much better than I could have ever imagined!

Yet, with the fantastic health and happiness benefits 811rv has procured me has also come the sometimes overwhelming responsibility and need to share this knowledge. My clumsy, inexperienced attempts to do this have often left me cursing with frustration at our world’s current state of affairs and my seeming insignificance to make a difference.

Yes, I refer people to Dr. Graham and I often reread his published works, often with great success, but this has proven insufficient for me. I remember when I consulted him after practicing 811rv for almost two years because I wanted to increase my fitness levels as well as cut out all non 811rv cheating in my diet-at the time, I was having approximately one cooked meal per month. He had the audacity to refuse my hard earned money. He told me that he thought I could figure it out and do it on my own without his help; although he left the door open for assistance if I decided I needed it. How dare he tell me I am smart enough and competent enough on my own! In all seriousness, encouraging people to think and act with informed free will is the best thing Dr. Graham has ever done for me

Dedication

2009-11-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

I dedicate this blog first and foremost to my DH and DS. It is my most earnest wish that you both find the courage to strive to be the healthiest minds in the healthiest bodies, but even if this never occurs, know that I love you for what was, is and will be.

This is also dedicated to Billy Jo (1969-2006). We never met, but I know we were kindred spirits. May the example of your abused life and untimely death not be in vain, but instead be helpful to other kindred spirits.

To my parents and family: “Ti voglio bene asai”.

The Half-Baked Story

2009-11-12T05:17:00.000-08:00

This is the story of the low-fat, high cooked-starches diet promoted by Dr. McDougall.

Dr. McDougall is a relatively successful doctor that promotes preventative/curative health practices through diet and lifestyle. He has helped many people become healthier, including one of my heroines Dr. Ruth Heidrich who overcame her breast cancer through a low-fat, mostly raw, high fruit, vegan diet. Dr. McDougall has dispelled, through scientific study and promotion, many of the myths regarding the consumption of animal products and especially fat, including plant fat such as coconut oil. I appreciate many of his health articles.

However, it is my opinion that Dr. McDougall's approach is not optimal. He has not followed through to their scientific and logical conclusion his diet research and application. This is obvious by the majority of vegans that follow his recommendations, yet are still very often acutely and chronically sick. Colds, flus, allergies, arthritis, celiac disease, obesity, digestive disorders, cancers and many other diseases are still extremely prevalent in the cooked vegan population. It can not be otherwise because a cooked vegan diet is a nutritionally deficient diet.

All epidemiology studies, as well as individual nutritional studies, have shown that the higher the level of whole, fresh, raw, organic fruits and vegetables promotes the best health. Even Dr. McDougall recognizes that raw fruits and vegetables are nutritionally superior to cooked starches.

Let's do a cursory nutritional comparison of a typical cooked starch diet vs a typical 811rv diet, I'll use a simple program like www.nutridiary.com for the comparison:

811rv day one menu plan, p. 176 "The 80/10/10 Diet": 4lbs. watermelon, 1lb. bananas, 1lb peaches, 1lb mangos, 8 oz mango, 8 oz heirloom tomatoes, 1 lb romaine lettuce, 8 oz each cucumbers, mangos, and red peppers, 4 oz tomatoes. With this menu you get approximately 2000 calories, 102% RDA for iron, 1278%RDA for vitamin A, 2292% RDA for vitamin C and 291% RDA for fiber. Plus you get lots of the best quality water and many other nutrients not yet even known to science.

If you were to do a McDougall half-baked 80/10/10 diet and replace 1000 calories of 811rv with cooked starches-even the best quality cooked starches like a baked potatoe with skin and without salt (only 3.5 large baked potatoes=almost 1000 calories), you would immediately notice all of the most important vitamins dropping significantly, the water source dropping drastically, the fiber source becoming sticky and binding which causes bloating and constipation. Therefore, you would have a significant decrease of important nutrients. Not only that, you would increase exposure to scientifically proven toxins such as cancer causing acrylamide and other maillard reaction products with each bite. All of this for 3.5 measly potatoes!

It would be even worse if you were to add gut shredding whole grains, with their broken glass like fibers, gluten and predominantly acid minerals.

Is it any wonder that cooked vegans, who follow this low-fat, high starch diet only displace their cardio-vascular disease symptoms with allergies, celiac, arthritis, cancer, and more?

Dr. McDougall's only quibble with a raw diet is that he doesn't believe it's possible to get enough calories from raw foods. This is a lame and sorry excuse because it is more than possible to eat enough calories from raw fruits and vegetables. It does take some adjustment, mostly by overcoming psychologically our culturally conditioned bad habits. But it is very possible and even delicious to do so.

He also claims that no successful society has lived exclusively on raw fruits and vegetables. This too is false, because all archeological, paleo-botanical, anthropological evidence clearly shows that there has been NO successful human society since we left our original tropical forest home. We've just been destroying one habitat after another and moving on to plunder different ones with each successive boom/bust cycle we have created. Now we realize that it's a small world after all, and we're running out of resources to plunder.

In conclusion, Dr. McDougall's diet is a step in the right direction. It is healthier and more sustainable than an omnivore diet. However, it doesn't make it to the finish line. Sorry Dr. McDougall et al, I and many others have been there, and done that. I'm not buying your half-baked story anymore.

Misery Loves Company

2009-11-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

Since embarking on my 811rv health journey, I've had many interesting experiences and reactions from other people. The vast majority are overwhelmingly positive, but sometimes I get exaggeratedly negative responses from people. This got me thinking about the possible reasons why. This passage from Jared Diamond's book Guns, Germs and Steel on page 331 may contain a clue:

Preserved writings of the first millennium B.C. show that ethnic Chinese already tended then (as many still do today) to feel culturally superior to non-Chinese "barbarians", while North Chinese tended to regard even South Chinese as barbarians. For example, a late Zhou Dynasty writer of the first millennium B.C. described China's other peoples as follows: "The people of those five regions-the Middle states and the Rong, Yi, and other wild tribes around them-had all their several natures, which they could not be made to alter. The tribes on the east were called Yi. They had their hair unbound, and tattooed their bodies. Some of them ate their food without its being cooked by fire." China's cultural unification accelerated during that same period, as literate "civilized" Chinese states absorbed, or were copied by, the illiterate "barbarians". Some of that cultural unification was ferocious: for instance, the first Qin emperor condemned all previously written historical books as worthless and ordered them burned.

This is clear evidence that there have existed among societies peoples that were eating a raw diet, but were forced into assimilation by the dominant societies.

The Chinese example reminds me strongly of the Roman Catholic church's condemnation of Galileo and his "barbaric" notion that the earth was round.

I've been reading much about Leonardo Da Vinci also, who is fabled to be have been a fruitarian too. We will never be able to ascertain this positively. He was extremely secretive of his ways and his writings-no doubt out of reasonable fear of the powers that could easily have condemned his life.

The powers that be are always very fearful of change, it is no wonder they try to quench it.

Bananas Are Being Grown in Iceland Right Now

2009-10-29T00:37:00.000-07:00

Forget about thinking that our problems are insurmountable-we no longer have this option.

Forget about trying to adapt to ill-fitted compromises. Just like ill-fitted shoes, ill-fitted diets HURT. Humans are natural frugivores.

Forget about hoping everything will turn out for the best. Hope, without appropriate action, kills.

Trying to solve problems using the same thinking that caused them is a recipe for disaster-I'm paraphrasing Einstein of course.

Do the right thing. Do the optimal thing. Or, pay the consequences. History has taught us these lessons over and over again. It's time we finally learned them.

Bananas are being grown in Iceland in geothermally heated/lighted greenhouses. With their rich volcanic soil, I can't wait to taste one of my dreams come true.

Check it out:http://www.sln.org.uk/geography/SLNgeography@Iceland1.htm

Let's talk about "ancient" diets

2009-10-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

I've been studying these lately.

Let's start with the "ancient" diet practiced by the Sumerians in what was once known as the "fertile crescent". These people were so smart that they invented the first writing system known to man. They also invented the wheel that they tethered to their domesticated animals. Their grain/animal agriculture got so "advanced" that they left behind for their inheritors an arid wasteland that is now known as the "middle east".

One must next mention the great Roman empire who planted such "advanced" seeds of grain/animal agriculture that their sick and dying population was easily finished off by small bands of horseback Huns.

Don't forget the great multi-island Polynesian societies who roamed as far as Hawaii and Easter Island practicing their very "successful" lifestyle, especially of cutting down all their trees, and chicken agriculture. Many were so "successful" with their diets and lifestyle that they ended up destroying their habitat. They finally had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive.

What about the great and "ancient" Mayan and Aztec civilizations who loved their corn, beans and tubers so much that they made easy pickings for gold and conquest hungry Spaniards. They too vanished despite their "healthy" diets and lifestyles.

Last, but not least, today's "great" worldwide civilization who is so sick and dependent on starch/animal agriculture that it needs to find another planet to plunder-quickly too.

There is a ray of light in this madness. Our closest genetic and physiological relatives-the anthropoid apes have lived in harmony with their environment for MILLIONS of years. They haven't lived in boom/bust cycles that caused ever increasing waves of death and destruction in their wake, like their cousins the humans have. What is this "miracle" diet you ask? A fruit based diet, of course.

Sounds a lot like 811rv to me.

A Tale of Two Sanctuaries

2009-09-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

As I continue my research into what is wrong with the Fauna Foundation chimp diet, I came across this site http://ippl.org/. Please check out the site yourself. Nonetheless, I will give you a resume of the International Primate Protection League.

Amongst many of the great things that Shirley McGreal, founder of IPPL, and her organization has been doing since 1973 is running a sanctuary for rescued gibbon apes in South Carolina. Gibbons, as many might know, are also anthropoid apes. They are not as close genetically or physiologically to humans as chimps are. Chimps, however, are definitely as close to gibbons as they are to humans genetically and physiologically.

As I was reading the site and also enjoying the recordings of the gibbons'songs-yes they sing, each and every one of them. Although not very understandable to my relatively stupid left-brain dominated human mind (gifted singing, as well as all the arts are a product of right hemisphere dominant brains), there is no doubt that the gibbons' songs are beautiful and undoubtedly a form of language and higher intelligence. If you want to learn more about how primate minds developed from a fruit rich diet in our original forest home and are now deteriorating at a shocking rate because of the introduction of "frankenfoods", I highly recommend the book "Left in the Dark"" by Graham Gynn and Tony Wright.

Back to the gibbons. Many of the gibbons rescued by Shirley McGreal came from experimental torture labs. For those of you who blindly follow scientific "experts" please remember the horrors, such as experimental torture labs, created by "genius experts" before following their lead. They are not perfect. They can and do, easily make mistakes-use your own judgment-in as much as our damaged left brain dominated brains let you.

Again, sorry for the digression, back to the gibbons. One of Shirley's rescues is named Igor. According to IPPL, "he had lived at a drug company laboratory before being sent to the New York lab where he resided for 21 years. At some time in his life Igor had developed a neurotic habit that nearly caused his death on several occasions. He "self-mutilated" whenever he saw another gibbon. Igor would become frantic and bite himself savagely for minutes on end. More than once, he almost died of blood loss." This one example clearly shows the nightmares that life in experimental torture labs creates. It is no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the gibbons were not spared any of the tortures imposed upon the chimps. Shame on us all.

Back to Igor. "Despite this sad past, Igor really likes people. He loves to have his back scratched. He enjoys bird-watching and even has his own TV. He also enjoys the company of dogs. He has now been here 22 years." Isn't this amazing?!!! Not only did he forgive his human torturers, he even likes them. What is also amazing, as well as pertinent to this blog about the optimal, natural diet for primates, is that Igor not only survived his past abuses, but is now thriving!!! After undoubtedly experiencing severe physical and psychological trauma for at least 21 years, he has been thriving for at least 22 years! He is not alone either. IPPL has many very old, healthy gibbons that swing, sing and look amazingly young for their age.

You must be saying to yourself-"don't be so quick to draw parallels between the chimps at Fauna and the gibbons at IPPL. They're not the same". I disagree. I kindly refer you to my previous post about the Law of Similars which can be found here. They do not need to be identical, what is important is that they are similar enough in all the important matters such as genetics and physiology. In other words, to quote an author I highly admire, Jared Diamond in "The Third Chimpanzee. The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal", "In this respect as in most others, we are just a third species of chimpanzee, and what's good enough for common and pygmy chimps is good enough for us."

So what makes IPPL more successful than Fauna? There are many factors involved in optimal health and longevity, but one of the most important is proper diet. Of course, while I thoroughly examined the IPPL site with regards to this important factor, I came across this, "the gibbons are fed the best quality fruits and vegetables". I wrote IPPL and Shirley McGreal confirmed this, also saying: "We don't allow visitors and the gibbons seldom get sick. Occasionally animals fight but we are lucky as they don't get diarrheal diseases.
A good thing because you can't pill a gibbon. They are not like
chimps who tend to swallow anything. If gibbons suspect a pill, they
perform a thorough examination and toss whatever you hid it in or the
whole package if it's powder!

We don't use vitamins as every meal has multiple choice of food items. Shirley"

Imagine, they seldom get sick and they refuse to take any pills! But, any microbiologist can tell you that germs are ubiquitous and multiply at lightning speed. Even the workers at IPPL expose the gibbons to billions of germs, viruses, bacterias, fungi etc. How could they not?

"They seldom get sick and they refuse to take any pills", can most humans say the same? Look around you, the vast majority definitely can not. I used to think "better living through chemistry" had been proven indisputably, at the expense of Igor, chimps and other torture victims, by big pharmaceutical companies. They don't have any financial interests involved in these claims, after all-what a numb skull I was in this regard. What a surprise that this miraculous gibbon with almost 98% identical genes to humans can live this way- old, yet young-looking, athletic, healthy and intelligent. It is not a surprise to natural hygienists, who study and respect the laws of nature. There is a small, but growing number of humans that are actually waking up to this possibility. I am one of the fortunate few who is.

The summary conclusion of this tale of two sanctuaries is this, a whole, fresh, ripe, organic, low-fat, raw vegan diet that meets caloric needs is the optimal diet for all anthropoid apes. IPPL, is just another of the many examples proving this. I have and am experiencing incredible health benefits from adopting an 811 low-fat, raw vegan diet. Imagine how wonderful it could, would be if all primates ate this way. It would mean more multi-fruit bearing forests, less destruction from soil eroding mono-culture grain agriculture. It would mean more vibrant health for all. It would mean the end of experimental torture labs because they simply are not needed. The win-infinity scenario is endless. It is my sincerest hope that one day, all primates will be able to sing and dance-perhaps even swing from trees-well into our genetically programmed old age with vibrant health. We must spread the word.

p.s. As a sad note, Shirley McGreal also stated that they have very recently started introducing bread and "browse biscuits" to the gibbons diets. I have no idea why they are introducing this most unnatural of artificial sugars and junk cooked food. The predictable and inevitable health declines that the gibbons will suffer from the gluten, maillard reaction products, and other health-destroying chemicals found in these "frankenfoods" will be devastating to witness. I can only hope they will stop this practice as soon as possible.

1 Cup of Cooked Starches+1 Cup of nuts=50% of Daily Calories

2009-09-17T01:18:00.000-07:00

Over one month ago, I posted criticisms of the feeding practices of the Fauna Foundation chimp sanctuary (http://via811.blogspot.com/2009/08/loving-them-to-death-tragedy-at-chimp.html).

I have since received some comments and posts from volunteers of the sanctuary accusing me of focusing on some "insignificant" aspects of the chimps' diet.

Is this true?

Look at the facts objectively.

All books on primate feeding recommend 2 x BMR's (BMR=Basal Metabolic Rate) worth of calories for captive primates because they are more sedentary than their wild counterparts. The usual in the wild is 3xBMR. For example, the largest Gombe chimp weighed 40kg, with the average chimp weight at approximately 35kg. Therefore, at this weight the calories per day for a wild chimp is 3021kcal on average. Considering the relative sedentary lifestyle of captive chimps, their daily calorie average should be 2 x BMR or 2014kcal.

Gloria, the founder of the sanctuary, states that the chimps eat approximately 1 cup of cooked (usually starchy) food per day, plus nuts in unspecified amounts daily.

Let's do the math.

One cup of rice is 204 calories. This makes up 10% of a 2000 calorie daily diet which on the surface seems like little. However, it is 10 times more acrylamides which are formed from heating carbohydrates and are a known carcinogen. This one cup of cooked food is also full of other Maillard Reaction Product's. Not only is this cup of rice full of cooked food poisons it is also full of anti-nutrients such as destroyed vitamin C and destroyed fiber. Just with this one cup of cooked rice, the chimps are exposed to 10 times more dangerous products and 10 times more anti-nutrients than their wild physiology has ever been exposed to before.
Plus, this means there is 10 times less absorption of the needed nutrients found in the whole fruits and vegetables-their optimal natural diet.

Let's continue with the nuts. If they feed one cup of almonds per day, this equals 820 calories at 73% fat. If they feed two cups per day, this equals 1641 calories. Plainly, even just one cup is too much fat. What is the real amount? There is a direct causal relationship between excess fat and diabetes as well as heart disease. The Fauna chimps suffer from both these debilitating diseases, including the former Québec City zoo chimps who were not previously exposed to experimental torture.

Just with these two items, the 2000 calorie a day diet is 60% fat. 50%, BY CALORIE, of the diet consists of excessive fat and Maillard Reaction Products as well as other anti-nutrients. These items are small in volume, but huge in impact over the total diet.

Assuming the rest of the diet is fruits and vegetables, perhaps 5 bananas, one whole celery bulb, 2 peppers, 5 apples, 1 broccoli head for example to bring us to 2020 calories. To an untrained human, with little to no knowledge or experience of the volume of food required to eat an optimal natural diet, a trolley full of this much produce looks huge. However, it is barely 1000 calories.

Therefore, the chimps at Fauna are eating only 50% of their calories from the fruits and vegetables which are their appropriate food and 50% from overwhelming high fat, nutrient poor, toxic rich, inappropriate calories. Does this sound insignificant to you?

Why are they depriving the chimps of their favorite, most beneficial food of fruit and vegetables, in the quantities they want and need, in favor of high fat nuts and junk cooked food???

It gets worse.

Chimps get extremely excited and happy about eating ripe delicious fruit. As a fruit loving primate myself, the thought of giving up a delicious fig for a cup of cooked oatmeal or bland nuts makes me cringe. Have you ever tasted a cup of unseasoned oatmeal or rice? Put yourself in the chimp's place, wouldn't you feel deprived and cheated? And this after a lifetime of abuse and torture.

Bananas=Blueberries-WTF(what the fruit)!

2009-08-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

On my last posthttp://via811.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-chimp-can-eat-30-bananas-day-if-we.html, I claimed that I basically eat a wild bonobo chimp diet. You're probably saying to yourself: "I bet she hasn't even been to equatorial Africa where bonobo chimps live (true). Nor has she ever even tasted a Batofe fruit that bonobos exclusively forage on for weeks at a time, as described by Takayoshi Kano in The Last Ape: Pygmy Chimpanzee Behavior and Ecology (equally true). Now, she's saying bananas=blueberries. WTF (what the fruit) is she talking about?"

The "Law of Similars" is my topic of the day. Let's do some nutritional analysis together. According to http://www.nutridiary.com, which sources its data from the USDA, we can make some very interesting comparisons. This site primarily analyzes the different macro nutrient ratios of foods. The macro nutrients are carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Dr. Graham and his wife Rozalind have renamed these "caloronutrients" because they are the only nutrients that provide calories or the fuel energy used by the body.

Ok, pick a fruit, any fruit. I'll start:
100 grams/bananas= 93% carbs, 4% protein, 3% fat
100 grams/blueberries= 90% carbs, 5% protein, 5% fat
100 grams/crabapples= 95% carbs, 2.5% protein, 2.5% fat (this sour fruit surprised you, didn't it?)
100 grams/sourcherries=88% carbs, 7% protein, 5% fat

Just from this small sampling we can see a pattern emerging. Fruits have an average caloronutrient ratio of 90% carbs, 5% protein, 5% fat. This is their bell curve.

But wait, what about avocados or durians, what's up with them?
100 grams/avocados= 20% carbs, 5% protein, 75% fat
100 grams/durian= 66% carbs, 4% protein, 30% fat

In determining statistical averages (thanks to my DH, PhD and stats genius), these extreme variants are called "outliers". Their relative importance should be studied, but like all exceptions, they prove the rule.

Let's compare some micro nutrients now:vitamins A, C, minerals calcium, iron, omegas 3 and 6 from another site "http://www.nutritiondata.com". This site details some of the micro nutrients that have been identified by scientists.

100gr/bananas= A=64iu, C=8.7mg, calcium=5mg, iron=.3mg, omega3=27mg, omega6=46mg
100gr/blueberries:A=54iu, C=9.7mg, calcium=6mg, iron=.3mg, omega3=58mg, omega6=88mg

Are you surprised to see that both bananas and blueberries have these micro nutrients? If you're like most people, you probably associate carrots with vitamin A, oranges with vitamin C, milk with calcium, meat with iron, and fish with omega 3. The sad truth is: the industries that most benefit from these products have done a fine job of brainwashing people into believing that the highest source of these nutrients is the best source. In fact, the best source is the one found in the natural diet of each species. For example, a cat doesn't need to ingest vitamin C, but a human does. This is what is called an essential nutrient. Too much of a nutrient is just as bad as too little. Both negatively affect homeostasis, but too much for a cat is not the same as too much for a human. How do you determine what is too much, too little or just right? These are determined by examining the genetics and physiology of each species, for scientists. In nature, however, each species has evolved to know what to eat. In other words, wild chimps don't need human scientists to tell them what to eat. As for captive chimps that have been exposed to humans' denaturing by cultural conditioning, their wild brethren are still much better guides than people are. Believe it or not, but even humans have not lost their natural instincts about what to eat, but it takes a lot of sloughing away of learned habits to be able to listen to our instincts. Wild chimps prove to be better guides, even for humans!

The above list of micro nutrients is a very small sample of the micro nutrients found in bananas and blueberries. Scientists estimate that not even 10% of all micro nutrients have been identified, much less studied. Also, many scientists make the reductionist mistake of macro managing these micro nutrients and giving them more importance than they truly deserve. Effectively, they make mountains out of mole hills. If one eats a whole food, species specific diet and gets enough calories to sustain BMR (Basal metabolic rate)+ one's activity levels, there is no need to sweat about the micro nutrients. But I digress.

Let's go back to bananas and blueberries and resume how The Law of Similars applies to them. How can a long yellow thing that grows on tree-like plants in the tropics be closely related to a small round blue thing that grows on shrubs in Québec's subarctic? One reason is that they are very similar in what matters most nutritionally-their macro nutrient composition. But one little blueberry does not have the same total amount of calories as one average cavendish banana. Therefore, it takes many more bites of blueberries to equal Mr. Banana.

In conclusion, bananas and blueberries are not identical, but they are similar enough in the important stuff to both be FRUITS.

Stay tuned for the sequels to this saga: Green Leafy Vegetables-Popeye Was Right! followed by 75% Fat Ticking Time Bombs-NUTS! and finally Maillard Reaction Products-HomeOSTASIS Wreckers!

One chimp can eat 30 bananas a day, IF WE LET THEM

2009-08-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

This was partly the response I got from the Fauna Foundation regarding my critiques of their chimp feeding practices on my blog: http://via811.blogspot.com/search/label/Chimp%20Sanctuary

I am preparing further write ups on the matter in the hope that I can steer the founders in the direction of 811rv for the chimps.

I plan on attacking the problem by expounding on "The Law of Similars" and explaining how even though humans are not chimps, our genetic and physiological similarities are so infinitely large and our differences so infinitely small that they are not in any way statistically significant. In other words, chimps and humans can survive on the same diet, but more importantly they can also thrive on the same diet.

Also, I will go into how "The Law of Similars" also applies to nutrition, for example how all nuts have a similar high fat nutritional make-up.

Finally, I plan on doing a comparative study of how the Fauna Foundation's chimp diet differs from a wild bonobo chimp diet and why these differences are important and not statistically insignificant. In other words, how one cup of cooked food a day and how the wrong ratios of carbohydrates, proteins and fats compounded by daily practice is very detrimental to the chimps health. A wild chimp's average, daily macro nutrient ratio is 88% carbohydrates, 7% protein and 5% fat.

How ironic that here I am a human, thriving like I have never thrived before in my life on what is basically a wild bonobo chimp diet, yet this same diet is considered not good enough for our chimp cousins in captivity!!!

I would greatly appreciate any input, arguments, research, criticism, etc you would like to contribute to this.

p.s. If you want to follow a discussion about this amongst other low fat raw vegans click on this linkhttp://arawconnection.ning.com/forum/topics/one-chimp-can-eat-30-bananas-a

Pigeon love knows no bounds

2009-08-25T07:05:00.001-07:00

Sweeet.....

These little bunnies, about 6 days old, were attacked by a dog and orphaned.
Two out of the litter of five did not survive, and these three were not doing very well.

Noah is a non-releasable, one-legged homing pigeon that we have here in rehab. Noah kept going over to the bunny cage and looking in...even sleeping in front of the door to the cage.

Then, 2 days ago, I only counted 2 bunnies in the cage, so I hurriedly picked Noah up from the front of the cage so I could look inside. And to my surprise...there was the tiny bunny...under Noah's wing...sound asleep! The bunny had crawled through the cage....preferring a featherbed, no doubt.
Now, they are all together, and the bunnies are doing GREAT. When the bunnies scoot underneath Noah's feathers, he extends his wings out to surround them..and they snuggle. When one of them moves and they start sticking out here and there, he gently pushes them back under him with his beak!!!!!This is amazing!!!

Loving Them to Death-Tragedy at The Chimp Sanctuary

2009-08-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write this for several months now, but I've been conflicted about it and thus unable to do so. On the one hand, I greatly admire the efforts of the chimp sanctuary. On the other hand, I must speak out against some aspects of it.

I visited the Canadian Chimp Sanctuary "Fauna Foundation" several months ago. Sadly, the visit left me feeling disheartened.

First off, I must say that the intentions of the founders and supporters of the Fauna Foundation are very noble and worthwhile. They have only the best interests of the chimpanzees at heart. They work very hard at trying to provide a good quality, permanent home to the wonderful chimps that "have been used, neglected, abused or rejected by humans", mostly in U.S. labs for "scientific" research. Even more importantly, chimp sanctuaries do a wonderful job in the campaign to end chimpanzee research.

Chimps in research live horrible lives. They are usually alone in crate like cages. They are forced to endure all sorts of tortuous abuses such as vaginal washes or liver punches-where the "scientists" remove a part of the liver for investigation, other biopsies, stressful knockdowns, and even attempts to infect them with HIV viruses. Coincidentally, I found this quote to be quite revealing: "Scientists would ultimately learn that chimpanzees do not contract AIDS from HIV infection."-Things that make you go hmmm.

At Fauna Foundation, the chimps are spared such torture, but they are not spared from human ignorance. The average lifespan of the chimps at the sanctuary is 35.5 years old-this was the average age of death of the six chimps that have lived at the sanctuary and died there. According to Jane Goodall, wild chimps start to look old when they are about 40 years old, but live many more years longer. Captive chimps have lived as long as 70 years old-the most famous being Cheeta the chimp from the original Tarzan movies or 66 year old Grégoire that Jane Goodall rescued. So what is going on at Fauna Foundation?

Of course, the previous abuse of the chimps before arriving at the Foundation must have been very deleterious to their health and longevity prospects. However, my visit proved to me that it is not just their past catching up to them. Their present conditions are also very unhealthy. The usual causes of death at the sanctuary are heart attack, diabetes and stroke!!! Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are preventable, even reversible and caused by diet and lifestyle-read "The China Study" by Dr. Colin Campbell.

Our guide tearfully told us the story of Billy Jo who at the age of 36, on Valentine's day 2006, while playing with some of the human caretakers, just fell down and died on the spot of an "unforeseeable" (according to the sanctuary's veterinary) heart attack. Common, western society human diseases that are unheard of in wild chimp populations as well as very uncommon in non western human societies are killing the chimps. Just looking at them and comparing them to their wild counterparts, one can see they are obviously obese with potbellies.

Diet is definitely the culprit in this tragedy. The chimps are fed cooked EGGS (the cholesterol, fat and other nasty, artery clogging ingredients in them is not proper food for humans let alone chimps) everyday for their supposed "protein" requirements-when is the darn protein myth finally going to be busted once and for all?!!!

According to the Foundation's calendar, Tommy-a resident chimp, pictured above, loves "Quaker oatmeal, raisin bread, Yves tofu dogs and Sunny Delight, his favorite orange drink". A volunteer comes to cook for the chimps regularly. "Tom's favorite recipe is: Oatmeal with baked apples". The ingredients are apples, cinnamon, cocoa, brown sugar and cooked oatmeal.

During the visit, the chimps were fed colorful candies and two dozen eggs were boiling to be fed later. When my friend questioned if the artificial food colorants affected the chimps behavior as it does in human children, the answer given was that what was important for the Sanctuary was the chimp's quality of life-implying that the candies, in part, gave them a good quality of life. This statement really bothered me because the obvious anthropomorphizing of human desires, culture and addictions onto the chimps does not serve the chimps at all.

Chimps are primarily frugivorous animals. In the wild, at least 80% of chimps' daily calories-ie the vast majority of their calories, come from raw, whole, fresh, ripe and most importantly uncooked FRUIT, not tofu dogs, raisin bread and orange drinks! It is obvious that the caloronutrient ratio of these chimps, probably not even known by the caretakers of the Foundation, is definitely high fat as well as very stimulating with things such as cocoa, grains and salt-I wish they would consult www.nutridiary.com to confirm this. The fruits and veggies I saw were low calorie fare and low quantities to boot-five delicious apples is nothing compared to the quantities of fruit a chimp would eat in the wild. That's barely 400 calories from fruit!

BTW, there's plenty of protein in fruit, nor is there too much protein such as is found in eggs/animal products. Bonobo chimps live almost exclusively on fruit. Yes, Jane Goodall has reported that chimps have been witnessed to eat meat, especially other monkeys that compete for the fruit trees as well as other animal products such as termites. They have also been witnessed to cannibalize their own infants. Does this mean they need to eat meat or cannibalize their infants for their nutritional requirements? NO. This is just a symptom of the excessive environmental pressure they are under from humans who keep cutting down their trees that feed them.

Chimps have taught us so much about ourselves. As Jane Goodall has stated, they are in fact more successful than humans in important ways. They do not over breed. They do not destroy their environment. They deserve better.

Now, how do I get this message across to the Fauna Foundation so that changes can be made? Please, Fauna Foundation, feed the chimps a whole, fresh, ripe, raw, mostly organic, low fat raw vegan diet and you will be able to love and take care of Tommy for many more years. Or will Tommy and the others continue to be victims of human arrogance and ignorance?

Follow up on this blogpost. I received this response from Gloria Grow, the Founder of the Fauna Foundation:

Thank you Gloria and I will print your response on my blog!!! I am really encouraged by what you are saying. I still feel that an exclusively raw diet that is low in fat, even raw fat from nuts and seeds would be much more beneficial to the chimps. Please read "The 80/10/10 Diet" by Dr. Douglas Graham to understand how cooked food, especially grains with their high glycemic index and even raw fats when they exceed 10% of daily calories are very damaging, especially for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

One of my conflicts, regarding the posting on my blog was precisely how to tell you. I wanted the message to be effective, yet not coercive because it is the chimps' lives that are at stake. When I talked about human arrogance and ignorance I was referring specifically to human's cultural biases, especially in favor of protein and cooking.

Again my sincere thanks for your prompt and reassuring response.

Marisa or Via as my web friends call me.

Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:47:25 -0400
Subject: Website

Dear Marisa,

It has recently come to my attention that you have put some information about the Chimpanzee residents of Fauna on your website. There are a number of inaccuracies on your website, that I feel need to be corrected.
It would be good if you would please contact me to clarify these errors. This way we could at least be sure to help you, or anyone who might read your website, understand, and know exactly what we do, and what is being done for the Chimpanzees living in our care.
Most important I feel, is to let you know, and your readers know, how very ill the Chimps were when they moved into Fauna, and how they have actually exceeded their expected lifetime, here with us.
The lifespan for captive Chimpanzees is nothing at all the same as their wild cousins, and this is a hard reality. We have not contributed to the deaths of the Chimpanzees here at Fauna, but in fact have extended their lives, with an amazing diet, of mostly fruits and vegetables. At Fauna, and other similar sanctuaries, it can cost up to $75.00 per day to care for a Chimpanzee. Our produce bill is approximately $1,200.00 per week, that is an enormous amount of produce, which includes, grapes, melons, mangoes, lemons, oranges, tangerines, bananas, (one chimp can eat up to 30 bananas a day if we let them) pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, starfruit, passion fruit, figs, cherries, strawberries, pears, peaches, plums, and I know I am missing many. The vegetables we serve is as diverse as it can be here in Quebec.
We try to serve at least 20 different fruits and vegetables per day, giving the Chimps a lot of choice, and variety.
Almost all our produce is served raw, with the occasional cooked serving. Cooked food in a day amounts to about one cup, per Chimp. This includes, oatmeal, Basmati Rice, squash bake, etc. The reason we hire someone to cook for the Chimps, is so we can control the content of the ingredients.
Another daily food requirement for the Chimpanzees are the nuts and seeds. Again, our list is extensive. We buy and serve as many varieties as we can, in shell and out of shell. We serve almonds, pecans, filbert, walnut, pinenut, pistachios (one of Toms favourites), and many more, as well as many different seeds from pumpkin, sunflower, etc. Again, you would simply have to look at our budget and see where we spend the money.
The Chimps live a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, as do I. It is very rare an egg or dairy be included in their diet. It is true we do have a little 32 year old Capuchin monkey, and a Long Tailed Crabeating Macaque that do eat a boiled egg per day. When these eggs are prepared they are done in the chimphouse for the week. Our little Sophie, the Capuchin does not eat much at all and weighs 3 pounds, she does like to eat the yolk of the egg, and she drinks Ensure, and prefers her food cooked, she is missing most of her teeth.
The information you give about wild Chimpanzees is completely accurate, but you would need to be much more informed about Research Chimpanzees, and the extreme damage done to their bodies, including their hearts, and organs. We consult with a lot of different people on what to serve the Chimps, for their different health problems.
There are a number of studies we would be very willing to send to you, so you could become more informed, and as you say less ignorant about the issue. Along with that, some of the papers we have worked on, that speak about the emotional problems the Chimpanzees in captivity suffer from, and the things we do here at Fauna to help them heal. These papers would give you a lot of insight and information about caring for and truly helping such destroyed Chimpanzees.
I admit I was ignorant in letting certain information be put in our calendar, not realising how it could be misunderstood, but I can assure you I am not ignorant.
I would have appreciated an opportunity to have an intelligent conversation with you, before you wrote your story. I could have at least helped you with some factual corrections, so you would not look as though you did not know what you were doing.
In the beginning of your story, you say you thought a long time before writing, and you respect the work I am doing, but I feel that you could have shown me a little respect, by at least speaking with me first, and possibly asking me questions, and seeing for yourself what I do inside the chimphouse, and not listening to someone else's opinion.
I am hoping you will take the time to speak with me. I left you a message yesterday, and would like to clarify this as soon as possible. If we do not get this fixed, then you will be doing a great disservice to all Chimpanzees, and I am sure you want to help, and not hurt.
As do I.

Thank you,
Gloria Grow
Founder, Fauna Foundation

P.S. Gloria, if a chimp feels like eating 30 bananas a day, why not let him? Why ignore the chimp's natural instincts? Many humans have been known to eat 30 bananas a day, including myself. In fact, I am a member of a forum called exactly that "30 bananas a day." This is also what I refer to as arrogance and ignorance. Why do you think humans know more what a chimp should eat than a chimp does?

P.P.S. This is the next e-mail I wrote to Gloria the next day:

Dear Gloria,

After receiving your reply, I've given more thought to how I could help you feed the chimps a more natural diet, closely mimicking what they would eat in the wild and I think I can help you save money too! I am completely willing to do this on a volunteer basis and would expect no remuneration whatsoever.

The 80/10/10 diet that I follow is basically a replica of the wild bonobo chimp diet, working under the paradigm that humans are cousins of chimps and other anthropoid apes. Our natural diet closely resembles theirs.

This diet has helped me recuperate from many ailments, as you can read from my first blogpost-How I became a raw vegan. I am very confident that it will help heal your chimp residents and even extend their lifespan further.

Please consider my offer, I am very serious.

Sincerely, Marisa

Eating locally is NOT always the best environmental choice

2009-08-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

Eating locally is NOT always the best environmental choice

"What's the Ideal Distance from Farm to Fork?" asks U of T geography professor Pierre Desrochers.

This is an article from U of T magazine, one of my alma maters.

Promoting food grown by local farmers is worthy, but is based on a faulty premise according to Prof Desrochers.

"While a New Zealand apple eaten in Morrison Hall represents more "food miles" (the distance travelled from "farm to fork") than the indigenous McIntosh - it doesn't mean that the Ontario apple is the better environmental choices, says Desrochers. New Zealand apples are grown during our winter months so they don't need to spend long periods in energy-guzzling cold storage, he says.

According to Desrochers, buying locally grown but economically uncompetitive products almost never reduces greenhouse gases. In the U.S. 80% of the energy used to get food from the farm to the table occurs during food production. Transportation accounts for less than 10%

'Long-distance food transportation by highly efficient diesel container ships represents only a tiny percentage of the total energy used in agricultural productions,' says Desrochers, adding that cold storage or greenhouses use much more energy.

'North Americans somehow forget that we have seasons.'

I am an environmentalist, and I feel no guilt about buying tropical fruits that are imported here in Canada. I also buy seasonal things that are locally grown as much as possible. Québec strawberries, blueberries and other field berries are fabulous.
However, organic, fair-trade bananas I buy constantly as well as other tropical fruits that I get organic as much as possible. I am convinced that there is actually a positive value in terms of my environmental footprint in doing so. These fruits are grown on trees, which are hugely beneficial to the earth's environment. The trees provide habitat and nourishment to much wildlife. Also, their production provides a much more sustainable economic resource to other populations of the world that would otherwise cut down the trees for other types of agriculture or economic activity.

Of course, when I'm in Costa Rica, I don't buy anything imported because there is no need to, but when I'm in Canada I do and I feel good about it too!

So yes, eat local seasonal food, but an imported fair trade banana is still much better than a local piece of meat/animal or grain product.

L'Italia mia

2009-07-16T05:50:00.001-07:00

1) My nephew, my dad and I
2)The cemetery where many loved ones rest
3)Arpino
4)First arch
5)Civitavecchia-medieval fortress
6)My birth home
7)View from home
8)View from Montecassino
9)Canadian war memorial at Montecassino
10)Posta Fibreno-lake of fresh mountain water
11)View from Arpino
12)Sette Frati
13)Wild Columbine
14)Caneto
15)Caneto
16)Market at Isola Liri
17)/18)Part of my grand parents ancestral home
19)A sea of beautiful smelling jasmine
20)St Peter's Square
21)The streets of Sora

Pictures of our trip 3

2009-06-21T13:00:00.001-07:00

1) Massada and the Dead Sea.
2) We had lots of fun feeding these tame little fellows some pieces of apple.
3) Dead Sea close-up. It was so weird swimming in this extremely salty water.
4/5/6) Capri, Italy.
7/8) My nephew and I hamming it up at Pisa.
9) My son and Michelangelo's David-identical twins?
10) The beautiful female body as they once were.
11/12) Me at Villa D'este-the most beautiful fountains and Renaissance gardens.

Pictures of our trip

2009-06-11T07:02:00.001-07:00

1)My Dad by the river Jordan, Israel.
2)Ancient carving of the important foods of pomegranate, dates(the real honey as referred to in the Bible), figs, grapes, olives(which intelligently were only used for lamp oil in ancient times), wheat and barley (whose agriculture sadly continues the desertification and arable land destruction to this day).
3)4)Sea of Galilee, Israel.
5)Ruins of Galilee, Israel.
6)Sphynx, Cairo Egypt.
7)The unplanned, surprising camel ride-the long story to be told in person if I ever get the chance to meet you, Cairo Egypt.

Pictures of our trip

2009-06-08T04:38:00.000-07:00

1)These were my life lines-fruit and vegetable stores and stands while not on the ship.
2)Theater of Dionysos
3)Amphitheater at the Acropolis.
4)Having seen so many gorgeous statues while traveling, it was so obvious that people, even women had beautiful muscular bodies. How come we've strayed from that heritage?
5)Foraging for ripe loquats.
6)Poseidon's temple near Athens.
7)Site of the Virgin Mary's house where she died in Turkey.
8)Ephesus Turkey
9)One of my favorite fruits-pomegranate in blossom at the archeological site of Ephesus.
10)Beautiful rose bushes in Turkey.

More to follow!

Advice when flying for long hours

2009-05-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

I just did a 15 hour flight, with a stopover in Frankfurt. The total travel time with waiting at the airport and finally getting to our hostel was 21 hours. I only ate 2 clementines that whole time and I drank lots of water. I hardly slept either. I'm traveling with 3 others who ate, one mostly raw (my son), the other two(my Dad and nephew) ate the plane food. I'm the only one of the gang that felt great after the flight. I was able to walk for another 3 hours to sightsee and do some food shopping for the gang. Everyone else conked out and two even have a "cold"(my Dad and nephew). Eating lightly or not at all and keeping well hydrated are the secrets to a successful flight. The flight is already stressful enough without the body having to deal with food/frankenfood digestion as well.

Greece=a foraging raw vegan's paradise

2009-05-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

I truly enjoyed Greece. Loquats are in season right now and they're delicious. Also, there are fruit and nut trees planted all over the place. In the National Park of Athens, I foraged some loquats, oranges and even some early figs, although they weren't ripe enough. I wish I could be here for the real season of figs. There are also many cactii, pistachios, walnuts and other more temperate fruit trees as well. The smell of the orange blossoms all throughout the park is amazing! I will add pictures when I have better access to the internet. Ciao for now.

Cruising is raw vegan friendly

2009-05-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

Here's some trip news for you all. I'm presently on the cruise ship heading towards Istanbul Turkey. It's a beautiful sunny day and 18 C, just perfect weather. I've just come from a wonderful jog on the tread mill for an hour. What a priviledge to be looking out at the gorgeous sea while working out. We also just listened to a seminar about Istanbul's history with special emphasis on some of the things we'll be visiting. I'll heading off to get some sun by the pool pretty soon. The fruit and salads here on board are pretty good, especially the melons-lots of healthy choices to be made where there's a will to do so. A ping-pong tournament and bridge tournament are also on the agenda for the day. Tonight we'll watch the evening show and hopefully get to bed early so we can fully enjoy Istanbul tomorrow. There's also a beautiful library onboard-I'm currently reading the Biblical illustrated Dictionary. It was really cool to learn how "manna" or "bread" as it was later translated, which was used by Jesus ("the bread of my body" might be familiar with some of you) and very much by the Jewish people, was actually a sweet honey like sappy gum produced by aphid like insects on certain dessert plants. Also, the importance of delicious fruits such as figs and pomegranates in Biblical times-was such fascinating stuff to learn about. Hope you are all doing very well and keeping extremely healthy. Will post pictures when I have better internet access.

Meeting a beautiful little wolf

2009-04-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

I met another 811raw vegan yesterday-Lupita, and her beautiful family-hurray! She is such a sweetheart, we became immediate good friends. We share so many affinities. I loved the way she talks to her family. Her husband, she calls "Guapo", her children "mis amores". She is so expressive of her love and affection for everyone, but especially her family. Lupita's children are fantastic-so mature, so conscientious and very considerate. One of her daughter's, both of which are gorgeous, even gave up her bed for me for the night because it's a big bed so that I wouldn't have to sleep on a small twin bed!

We all enjoyed our visit to the chimp sanctuary very much, more on that a little later. Our next adventure was to chinatown. I bought some exotic fruits for Lupita and her family to try. Lupita still had not tried durian yet-she was an almost immediate convert to this delicious, yet bizarre fruit. We enjoyed durian together by her pond after a fantastic workout together. Lupita is a personal trainer and she gave me a good workout that I still feel, even two days later.

What a privilege it was to meet her. Thanks again to the forum 30 Bad for providing the medium to meet other low fat raw vegans!

Staying raw while traveling

2009-04-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

Have spoon, will travel.

I'm off on a big trip tomorrow that I'm very excited about. My father has always dreamed of visiting Israel. With his health being so poor, he can no longer travel on his own. I'm the lucky person that gets to go with him on his trip!

The itinerary is as follows: 1) Chimp Sanctuary
2)European cruise for 2 weeks visiting Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and then Italy
3)Farm sanctuary

For me, the toughest part will most likely be the cruise because I won't have much independence to buy my own food.

I've taken some precautions beforehand. First off, I've called the cruise line and asked for a fridge in my room and for extra organic fruit to be served. Next, I'm bringing along some tupper-ware to be able to prepare my meals in advance for the land excursions (thank you MM for the suggestions). I'll stock up on fruit and greens the night before. I've also planned in advance how I'm going to tackle this by doing some internet searching about markets in the places I'll be visiting to be able do some of my own shopping.

Right now, the most important thing for me to do is make a list reminding me of my motives for staying raw during this trip.

a) I want to enjoy this trip to the fullest. I don't want to be dragged down with low energy, bouts of constipation, headaches, bloating etc. that will prevent me from being my best at all times. I know that even small amounts of cooked food, especially salty, oily fare have these negatives effects on me. I don't want to spend anytime having to recuperate from a meal. Life is too short. I might never make it back to these beautiful places and I don't want to miss a thing.

b) I want to be fully present and healthy for my family, especially my dad, since this trip is very important to him. Seeing him so sick truly motivates me to stick to 811rv or that could very easily be me one day.

c) I want to meet this new challenge to my 811rv diet/lifestyle with grace and confidence. I want to look back at this experience with complete self-respect and pride for my accomplishments.

Thank you any and all that read my blog for your support. I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Raw Liberation

2009-04-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

If we could live on uncooked food alone, we should be saving so much time and energy, as well as money, all of which may be utilized for more useful purposes. ~Mohandas K. Gandhi

This quote which I found on LivingFruity's blog has always resonated with me. When Karmyn was visiting with me in Costa Rica we touched on this too. 811rv is liberating in so many ways.

First there is the time I save in the kitchen. I still get the urge, every once in awhile to prepare something fancy, perhaps even gourmet raw just for the fun of it. I made a fancy watermelon "cake" for my son's birthday for example. I also get the inkling to dehydrate stuff every so often too. I come across some recipe that tickles my curiosity and I try it out. But the fact that I no longer have to prepare 3 meals per day, 7 days a week, day in and day out is such a BLESSING. The best part is that I have no guilt that the "fast" food I eat and serve my family is unhealthy processed junk like microwave dinners or fast food restaurant fare. I just cut open a watermelon and dig in with a spoon or wrap some lettuce around a banana and run out the door! It's that easy.

There are still so many people, especially women, that are slaves in the kitchen. Even people that eat out most of the time and don't do their own cooking pay so much of their hard-earned money, time and their health on these cooked meals. Also, think about the social gatherings, somebody usually slaves many hours preparing the meal, people then eat these heavy meals and basically fall asleep. They have no energy to do anything but recuperate from the meal. How fun is that? Wouldn't it be more fun to eat a nice light raw meal and then enjoy a fun activity with your friends and loved ones when you get together?

Then there is the freedom to thoroughly enjoy my physical body, especially in athletic pursuits. I never could have dreamed it possible that at 42 I could actually take up jogging. Dr. Ruth Heidrich is one of my heroes, but she's not exceptional. There's no reason why I couln't do an Iron-man one day too!

Next, I can't speak about raw liberation without talking about the health freedoms that I'm now enjoying. I have not missed one day of work for a "sick day" in 2 years. I used to regularly miss days at least once a month because of my excruciating periods (which now last about a day and barely fill one panty-liner hehehe!). Then, there were the "colds" that would hit me at least once a month. Seasonal, as well as contact, allergies put me in the hospital on numerous occasions. I'm not afraid of getting older anymore because I know that I'll be enjoying fantastic health then too.

Finally, the thing I appreciate the most about 811rv is the freedom it gives me to think outside of the box. 811rv has given me the courage to change jobs. I quit a high paying but dis-satisfactory job for a really fun job. I'm now working outside most of the time, surrounded by beautiful flowers, doing physically challenging stuff and I get my winters off to enjoy in Costa Rica. I'm living on less and truly enjoying it. I also look forward to my next "job" of traveling the world, perhaps woofing, spreading the 811rv message. Whether I get paid or not for doing what I love and making my dreams come true doesn't worry me in the least. How many people do you know that are still stuck in a rat race and see no way out of it? We must spread the word.

Durian-How do I love thee?...

2009-04-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Oh, my beautiful, prickly, smelly Durian, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the breadth and depth and height
my nose can endure,
and my stomach can stretch
and my arms can reach
to pick you off the tree,
outside my house,
so you don't stink it up,
that I've hung you on,
as you thaw,
from your long voyage,
across the oceans,
in a frozen state.

I love thee to the level
of every day's most urgent,
hungry need,
by sun,
candlelight
and even fluorescent,
energy-saving bulbs.

I love thee freely,
even though you cost a fortune,
and I wish I could forage you freely
from abandoned orchards.

I love thee purely,
as any low-fat raw vegan,
must surely do.

As for the other ways that I love thee, Elisabeth Barrett Browning said it way better than I ever could so I might as well shut up now.

"I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs (pre 811rv with many "dis-eases"), and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

p.s. I love my dogs more however, because I actually share my durian with them-can you imagine sharing durian?

p.p.s. I probably shouldn't be admitting this, but I actually enjoyed my durian smelling farts.

Check out these durian videos for more durian fun:

Who says cats are obligate carnivores?

Durian virgins

Scottie can you beam me there please?

King of fruits

You can not eat that, tomorrow is gone

How smelly is the durian?

Durian last supper

You can't eat durian cos you don't eat_____

Last pictures of Costa Rica 2009

2009-04-04T08:43:00.001-07:00

1) Smiley face with apples, tree tomatoes and Guaba
2) My protective hen with her new babies
3) Helping a baby chick get out of its shell
4) Passionflower which makes maracuya or the more acidic passion fruit
5) 3 types of bananas-the reds were particularly delicious

A raw weekend with raw friends

2009-03-24T04:10:00.000-07:00

I just had a wonderful weekend with other rawfooders-yeah!

Check out some pictures: http://www.hiboox.fr/go/albums/divers/meeting-811,5015c9a1aadf3fc9f077694131cc0a7a

I got to meet one of my internet heroes and sane advocate of rawfoods-Frédéric Patenaude-this weekend. He's got a good head on his shoulders and a warm heart too! Also, he didn't get pissed with me when I gave wrong directions on our way back from Monteverde that made us detour for a couple of hours-lol. Jogging on the beach with him was amazing too!

Also, I finally met MC who I introduced 811rv to through a French forum. I'm really happy for the successes she's experiencing with it. She looked lovely.

Karmyn and toddler Andrew were sweet as usual. I especially loved Andrew's interactions with my baby chicks-yes I actually brought along a couple of baby chicks to our weekend out! They need some hand raising and I couldn't leave them alone. Andrew was very observant of my interactions with them and tried to imitate me. He was also careful to not touch them too roughly or step on them. That is very impressive for a toddler!

Great fun.

The Successes and Shortcomings of The Durika Foundation

2009-03-24T01:41:00.000-07:00

I have recently begun studying intentional communities. Just yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to visit my first one-The Durika Foundation http://www.durika.org. The word "Durika" means Eagle's beak or Mountain of Power in the local indegenous languages. Here is a recap of the visit and my personal review of Durika.

My son, a very good friend of mine, and I began our day very early to head off to Durika. Durika is 3 hours away from home here in Costa Rica with the last 14kms taking an hour to do. Costa Rica is pretty famous for its potholes and bad roads, but the road to Durika is definitely one of the most difficult I've come across so far. Happily, my friend's old 4x4 Toyota landcruiser, although not very comfortable, was strong enough to make it up the difficult road to Durika. Nonetheless, we left early enough to miss the afternoon rains that threatened because that would have made the road even more scary to traverse. The next time I visit however, I plan on walking in and staying a while to work and explore Durika much better.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by a long time resident of Durika named Zina. She has been with Durika for 14 years-and the community has existed for 18 years. Zina, as well as the other residents that we met, seemed to be in excellent health-clear skin, slim, athletic bodies and very good emotional poise. We sat with Zina for a while as she spoke to us about Durika-its community and objectives. From what I've researched so far, most intentional communities don't last more than 4 years before internal strife tears them apart. Durika, however, has been largely successful.

From the brief description we learned from Zina, I would say that this success is based on a strong organizational and disciplined foundation. From what I gathered, meditation both individual and group form is practiced daily. Strenuous, outdoor daily activity is also cherished by the community members. Social interaction that respects both private and group activities are also well defined. Hosting of individual as well as group visitors in order to interact with the outside world is an important part of the community's life. Outside communication with telephone and internet plays a key role. A clean and natural setting is obviously priceless to the community.

Learning new skills is also incorporated into the community's life. For instance, all the members are trained firefighters to help out with out of control, human caused fires that frequently occur. These fires are the result of the horrible slash and burn animal agricultural practices that are rampant in the area, which are causing massive environmental destruction. The community members are also trained in environmental protection to help fend off the often violent hunters that plague the forests with their dogs and have even shot at one of the residents.

Another strong success point is that the community has the common goal of purchasing more land for conservation and protection. So far, they have admirably been able to purchase a whopping 8500 hectares for private conservation! All of these factors contribute to the fine, successful example that is Durika.

Unfortunately, from a natural hygiene perspective, Durika has some shortcomings that prevent me from qualifying it as the ideal intentional community model to be followed. First off, they follow a lacto-ovo vegetarian, mostly, cooked diet. They have only managed to learn how to successfully grow garden vegetables. At least they are organic, very delicious as well as nutritious no doubt. Fruit is mostly imported from the outside and it doesn't seem to play a large role in the community's diet. Although organic vegetables are a cut above most, a perma-culture fruit orchard is sadly missing from the community. They rely heavily on goat and chicken animal products that are also far from ideal. I found it distressing to visit the baby goats that were taken from their mothers immediately after birth-one of the little tykes nursed on my fingers-so sad. Grains, salt, oil and vinegar-which we know have huge environmentally as well as health destroying properties-are also a large contribution to the diet.

One good point is that they do practice calorie restriction-with strict rationing of the community's products. For example, only one cup of goat's milk is generally allowed per day. Ironically, they give more to children and older people under the mistaken notion that it helps with bones; whereas, it does the complete opposite. This calorie restriction is a good thing considering the overall poor quality of the diet.

Finally, the "alternative" health practices of the community are truly just the flip side of the exact same allopathic medicine practiced by conventional doctors. Although the community practices a mostly hygienic lifestyle that prevents disease and keeps its members largely healthy-they don't seem to have connected all the dots of the health picture. For instance, herbs and "natural" remedies that are administered intravenously are practiced.

Despite its imperfections, I enjoyed my visit to Durika. The Foundation is doing a lot of fine work that although needs some refining is laudable nonetheless. I wish Durika a long life and may it continue to grow and evolve into something even better.

A Tribute to Harley Johnstonne

2009-03-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

You might recall that the person who led me to find Dr. Graham and the 811rv diet and lifestyle that I am presently living was a young fellow by the name of Harley whose posts I followed on a vegan fitness forum. Harley has always impressed me and this recent post of his on vegsource is a fine example of the type of man he is. You're an inspiration Harley.

"From: harley (203.171.199.156)
Subject: my dad passed a few days ago...
Date: March 5, 2009 at 11:26 pm PST

this aint a post for sympathy, rather its a reminder that life is short, precious
and fleeting and we are here to make a positive impact rather than dwelling
on negativity and being guilty of a wasted life.

i got the news a few days ago that my dad had lost his battle with radiation
therapy and the big pharma poison cocktails that he chose to sign up for. my
dad new the natural options but was happy with the doctors orders. just as he
always accepted my lifestyle, i accepted his. im not bitter, depressed or angry
at my dads choices, preferred state of ignorance or how forceful the doctors
were in pushing his immune system to literal death.

sure i had a tear for a minute. but then it occured to me that people can pass
thru our hands but never our heart. that i can chose to live by the values
instilled by my father or i can do what society says i should do. get
depressed, get violent, get abusive, get drunk, eat crap, mope in bed all day,
wear black, mourn and walk around with heavy shoulders. just like they show
us on tv.

i say no. i say im gonna live how i know my dad would want me to live.by this
i mean to continue living the health and fitness based lifestyle that he was
proud of. what lifestyle is that? its the one that brings me the greatest joy. its
not to be confused by 'living for our parents' but rather living in a way that
brings joy for all those that love us, be those people be in our hands or our
hearts.

my brothers have decided to use dad's passing as an excuse to lower their
standards. an excuse to focus on what they have lost. rather than the peace
that dad has gained. an excuse to follow societys list of 'this is how we expect
you to act if someone dies'.

so we can see that its not our genetics, its not our upbringing, its not our
education, its not our looks,its not our religious beliefs, its not our traditions,
rather, its merely a choice in the moment to focus on whats good in our life
rather than whats bad..

in the cycle of life, there is death and birth. it would be crazy to not accept
this. it would be like crying every time the sun went down each night. rather
we should focus on the fact that we are still alive and here to do a job. its
called living our life purpose.

my dad said once' you gotta keep on riding no matter what the terrain!' so of
course im not gonna sit down by the side of the road cos the hill got steep all
of a sudden.. :)

i believe that life is to be celebrated. not mourned.
i believe that its against our loveones wishes to be sitting around dwelling on
negativity and using our loved ones passing as an excuse to lower our
standards to physical and emotionally abusing ourselves with food, drugs,
booze etc.

i believe experiencing emotions of pain and despair are merely signs we are
not being grateful enough.

im grateful i have the mental capacity to remember all the good times with
my dad.
im grateful i can use this life experience to help others achieve the positive
focus they deserve in times of apparent adversity."

Orthorexia

2009-03-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

"A doc named Bratman made this word up a few years ago after he found himself obsessing about healthy food. His ice cream eating guru apparently helped cure him of this obsession, after which he wrote a Yoga Journal article about it, and then a book. I guess "discovering" this "disease" is his claim to fame. Certainly there are people who obsess about eating healthy food, just as there are people who obsess about exercise, politics, sex, Elvis, UFOs or whatever. And there are also doctors who are obsessed with finding diseases all over the place. Maybe this guy just substituted one "rexia" for another one."

This was posted on vegsource recently by Mark H. in response to questions about orthorexia. I also posted this comment regarding Wikipedia's definition of orthorexia:

"Anybody can contribute to Wikipedia and often the people are not even recognized specialists in the field. I don't fully trust it, especially because just last year someone asked me to look up this word and the definition was extremely different to the one you quote.

That being said, there is no way, no how that 811rv fits even this new definition. Read the book, try it, live it and you'll quickly see that 811rv lets you live life to the fullest, especially because it proves there's no need to obsess about food and nutrients etc. It allows you to see that there is so much more to life and gives you the freedom and ability to enjoy it.

That being said, it is easy to see how many people, who are so addicted to their stimulants and frankenfoods, would find 811rv to be limiting. Personally, I wouldn't trade my new found health, athletic abilities and joy of living and especially joy of eating a lot of delicious fruits and veggies for their "food", even if I'm still far from a perfect practitioner of 811rv. I still occasionally eat cooked stuff, but it is definitely becoming less and less of a treat since my body lets me know pretty quickly that it has not been treated well. If feeling healthy and not abusing my body qualifies me for some psychological label, then how do you psychologically qualify the sickness addicts prevalent today?"

Sometimes I wonder if being sick is preferable to many people. Perhaps it's the attention one gets when one is sick. I know that as a child, I would see some friends with chickenpox or other "disease" and they would get extra-special treatment during that time by their parents and I thought to myself "I wish I could get the chickenpox too". I certainly loved all the extra care I got from my parents when I was ill. Perhaps, on some level, people love this attention and this is why people don't change their diet and lifestyle habits. What do you think?

Another one bites the dust...

2009-03-04T04:16:00.000-08:00

Allergy that is.

I can now eat mangoes!

I started getting severe allergies several years ago-to the point of breaking out in hives, horrible itching, swelling and even respiratory problems-I went to the emergency room on several occasions because of them. I had several allergens, but one of them was to mangoes.

I've been 811rv for almost two years now-not perfectly because I still cave into a cooked vegan meal perhaps 3-4 times a month, nonetheless I have had incredible results.

Just recently, I was visiting Dr. Graham on his farm here in Costa Rica and I told him of my mango allergy. He encouraged me to try them again, but only very ripe, organic ones and to make sure not to eat too much or let them touch my lips for long.

I tried that and now I'm eating them regularly. My son says watching me eat one is like watching a two year old. I savor them with such glee.

Simplicity at meal-time, variety throughout the year

2009-02-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

This was recently posted on vegsource by a friend of mine that I introduced 811rv to.

"MC from Costa Rica (196.40.91.163)
Subject: Find fruits in Costa Rica?
Date: January 29, 2009 at 9:34 pm PST

Hello,

I live in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and I don't find it so easy to get nice, ripe and various fruits.

In the last nine months I have seen: banana, papaya, mango, guanabana (rarely), pineapple (acid), passion fruit, rambutans, watermelon, melon (not sweet), coconuts but I don't eat them, avocados... But never more than four or five types of fruit, I mean they are not all available at the same time. For example there was the time of guanabana, then rambutan, then passion fruit, etc. Only the banana and the papaya are available all year long.

There are strawberries but so disappointing, and the few imported fruits (grapes, apples, cherries etc) are unaffordable. Besides none of the fruits are organic, at best they are "natural".

We have a "feria del agricultor" once a week, and three supermarkets. There is no market.

I looked for fruits in other places, only in Orotina I found different fruit like sapote and "nispero", I felt in paradise there and didn't want to go back home. I also went to Liberia, Santa Cruz, Nicoya, La Cruz, San Ramon, Atenas, Dominical, Golfito, Upala, various beaches, I travel a lot, and don't see anything but bananas, papayas, mangos and watermelon.

And I can't grow fruits, the climate is too cold where I live.

I am bored of bananas! Help!!! lol

I really love the 811rv diet, I have the book, I lost weight, I am in my best shape ever, it's like a miracle. But how could I do to find a larger variety of fruits, and organic ones?

Thank you if you have ideas.

This was my reply:

Marisa (201.222.2.218)
Subject: Re: Find fruits in Costa Rica?
Date: January 30, 2009 at 2:07 am PST

In Reply to: Find fruits in Costa Rica? posted by MC from Costa Rica on January 29, 2009 at 9:34 pm:

Why not use the foods you do find as staples and at least once a week, make a trip to find some more exotic things-like in Orotina? This is my strategy. 811 is really best if you take advantage of seasonal variety-simplicity at meal time-but variety throughout the year-with every season bringing new joys to savor. For instance, right now manzanas de agua (Malay Apples) are in season in my area, as are sapotes and guanabana, rolineas and anonas. Plus, the seasonal fruits are even better than organic because they grow on more or less wild trees that have deep tap roots for absorbing nutrients.

I go to a special market once a week (usually with a carpool buddy) to pick up the seasonal goodies. However, since they don't last long in my fruit safe I still rely on bananas, papayas, watermelon, coconut water and pineapples (I too love the criolla type). I also use tamarindo, dates, raw sugar cane and raisins to add to my salads.

Plus, an excellent source of free food is Tico neighbors-who are very generous and knowledgeable about local fruits. Mine, for example, bring me manzanas de agua, sugar cane, rolineas etc because they know I love them and they love teaching me about new ones. Ask around and tell people your interest in special tropical fruits and pretty soon they'll be knocking on your door to offer some.

Finally, most of my produce comes from the fruit trucks that drive around the neighbourhood to sell their produce-since I don't have a car this is just perfect for me. I've gotten to know mine very well and of course they love me because I'm a good customer. They are an excellent source-all you have to do is mention your interest and they'll be happy to supply you.

For me, I buy so much food and for so much cheaper (for example yesterday, I bought 6 pineapples, one watermelon, 2 papayas 40 bananas, 4 lettuce heads and 1 kilo of tomatoes for 10,000 colones-that's not even $20-imagine!), than back in Canada that much of it goes to feed the local wildlife!"

As strange as it might seem, Costa Rica does not have as much variety in the stores as in Canada for example. This is because Costa Rica does not import much produce. Costa Rica, however, is ideal for 811rv when you respect its true nature of simplicity at mealtime and variety throughout the year. In nature, this is how we would eat. When a mango tree, for instance, would come in season we would hang around that tree and eat until there were no more fruit before heading off to find another food source. Right now there are at least 4 different fruits in season here: sapote, rollineas, star apples, maranon and mangos. Except for the maranon that I have yet to fully appreciate, I'm thoroughly enjoying every one as well as other more common stuff like watermelon, bananas, pineapples and papayas.

Simplicity at meal-time, variety throughout the year. It's worth repeating.

Is 811rv for everyone?

2009-02-27T07:25:00.000-08:00

Some time ago I received a comment on my post about questioning 811 from a person saying that they had tried 811rv, but it had not worked for them. They also asked the question: Is it possible that 811rv is not for everyone?

For me,the answer is yes and no. Why?

I am totally convinced that 811rv properly followed, especially after a good amount of time for bodily and mental adjustments to be made, is the best diet for all humans, but I doubt that all humans will ever adopt it.

I can't help but compare the food situation to the smoking situation of the planet. Presently, there are over a billion people in the world that smoke-that's a huge percentage of the earth's human population. And this is so despite the almost unanimous, prolific scientific evidence/warnings that it is harmful to people's health. Why is this?

People don't usually die right away because of smoking. The body does its best to cope and damage accumulates relatively slowly. There are even smokers who live to a fairly old age if their other diet and lifestyle factors are not too bad. However, just because there are many smokers and even some smokers in relatively good health that live to old age, does this mean that not everyone is meant to breathe smoke-free air? Obviously not.

We are all meant to breathe smoke-free air and it is obviously better air for all humans. This is true of the 811rv diet too.

811rv is meant for everyone, but present circumstances dictate that not many people eat this way. An online friend of mine was fond of saying that one can't be ordinary to eat and live this way-you have to be EXTRAORDINARY. I agree.

Ciao Cashews Nuts

2009-02-27T06:21:00.000-08:00

Why I've said good-bye to cashews. I used to love these nuts, but now I don't touch them-literally.

Years ago, when I first started coming down to Costa Rica, I was introduced to the cashew tree, fruit and nut-which is attached to the bottom of the fruit. My neighbor at the time had a tree in her yard. I had always enjoyed the nut, but I knew nothing about it. The fruit and nuts are in season when I am in Costa Rica and they are very prolific around my village.

One day, as I was enjoying a swim at my neighbor's pool I decided to investigate these beautiful fruits and nuts. I figured that since they were such a widely available product that they must be harmless. Yikes! Was I ever mistaken! (Nudge, nudge this is true of many, many widely available products).

I decided to open up the cashew nut to see it in its natural state. Grabbing a nearby rock, I cracked the shell open. Some of the juice squirted onto my belly and my son's belly too. I fingered the gooey substance surrounding the nut. It felt unctuous. Then, I had to sneeze and I touched my nose and face with my cashew covered hand. Five minutes later the pain began! What a horrible burning sensation that was. Everywhere the liquid touched was screaming with pain. Next came the inflammation, swelling and finally oozing liquid which lasted for many weeks. My face looked like Mohammed Ali had used it for practice. I thought I would be scarred for life, but surprisingly and happily the scars eventually faded and there's no trace left.

I have since learned that the nut is covered with a highly caustic acid. Cashews must be either chemically or heat treated simply to be removed from the shell. Cashew workers must wear gloves, goggles and even masks to avoid breathing in the toxic fumes which will burn the lungs. This is definitely not a natural food for humans or many other creatures either for that matter! Apparently, "raw" cashews/butter can be found in health food stores, but I don't trust that they're truly raw or that they haven't been nutritionally harmed to make them edible-so I've said good-bye to cashew nuts.

BTW, it is for this reason too that I've given up olives as well. My grand parents had an olive farm in Italy and I can attest that raw olives are very bitter. They must be treated in some way-usually with salt-to remove the bitterness. Ian, on vegsource posted of a Peruvian olive that is supposedly only sun-dried. But, quite frankly, I'd rather enjoy some sweet delicious fruit than waste my money and probably my health on an expensive product that apparently still tastes bitter and is still very high in fat.

Cashew fruit, on the other hand, is a different matter. Maranon, as they are called in Costa Rica are very popular, especially in fruit drinks. So far, I find them too astringent to truly enjoy. But many people say that combined with another sweet fruit like dates in a smoothie they are delicious. I have yet to try them this way, but I will eventually since I have a tree growing on my property and would hate for the good fruit to go to waste.

Moments shared with Dr. Graham

2009-02-16T13:23:00.000-08:00

If you've read my first post you know how I came to be an 811raw vegan. Today, I'd like to tell you a little of my relationship with Dr. Graham. Basically, I've only met him 3 times in person. I've never been to one of his events-nor do I work for him. We've corresponded on his forum and by e-mail a little-but, at best, I must admit that our friendship is very new-I'm not even a particularly good client of his because I've spent only about $120 on his products. However, I'm the type of person that likes to express my gratitude to people that have helped me. He has helped me very much with his books, forum, articles and internet conferences. I also like to give back as much as I can to others who may also benefit from my experience-this is basically why I promote his work.

I met Dr. Graham for the first time in January of 2008. I asked permission through his forum to meet him at his fasting retreat in Chirripo Costa Rica. I went to the hotel and we spoke for about 10 minutes. What struck me at first was that he was not very tall-I expected him to be taller for some reason. I also commented on his crooked baby finger and he explained how he got it. I thanked him for his work and told him how much it had helped me. I remember clearly the spontaneous, childlike smile of glee he flashed me.

This year however, I had a couple more meetings with Dr. Graham that were truly a lot of fun. While Karmyn was visiting me, I made an appointment with Dr. Graham to meet him, Simon and Grant (two of his Natural Hygiene students) on the beach. We all went for a jog and we talked about his farm here in Costa Rica. I'm very much interested in being a part of some sort of intentional community on the property-but I haven't figured out yet what form my participation will be. I don't know if they all slowed the pace for me because I'm a running beginner, but I'm proud to say that I kept up with them and was able to talk while jogging.

Next, Dr. Graham invited me to spend a day on his farm. Simon, Grant, Dr. Graham and I all hiked up to his farm (2.5 hours up is what is took us from the town of Uvita). I kept up, but it was obvious that I was the least in shape, Dr. Graham even walked backwards while talking to me up the hill. Once we reached his farm, Alexandro his farm caretaker was there to greet us. Since my Spanish was the best of the group, Alexandro spoke to me the most and I translated what he said to the others. We then visited the gorgeous farm while hiking through the virgin tropical forest. At this point I was tired and by the time we reached the river I made a bad move and slipped on some rocks and hurt my knees. Next however we reached a fantastic swimming hole on the river that made it all worthwhile. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue/green. It was deep, the waterfall falling on my shoulders was heaven. It was even raining sweet scented flowers from some trees. I soaked up the sun and water.

Finally, we all hiked back up to Dr. Graham's rustic cabin. He collected native greens and estococas(similar to heart of palm) to eat with many delicious rollineas that he picked off his trees. I know this fruit, but to eat it fresh off the tree after heavy physical exertion was just scrumptious! We all talked about the farm, the raw food movement and natural hygiene.

At this point, I left on my own because I was already late in meeting my family and it took me another 1.5 hours to get back down to Uvita.

My overall impression of Dr. Graham is that he's a very generous, kind man. He's also very much on the ball both physically and mentally. He does look his age and some people seem disappointed with that because they unrealistically think that his diet and lifestyle should give him miraculous qualities. I personally think he is much fitter in many ways than the vast majority of people his age and younger, but he is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Meeting him and spending more time to get to know him was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it to all that have the opportunity.

More pictures of Costa Rica-February 2009

2009-02-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

1)One of our neighbors
2)Karmyn, Andrew and me
3)Wild, seeded banana
4)Fruit truck owner Eric and Gerald delivering my goodies
5)Moody and me
6)811 submarine with passion fruit

Do It Anyway by Mother Teresa

2009-01-23T02:53:00.000-08:00

Mother Teresa has always been one of my idols. I don't believe she was perfect by any stretch, but she was exceptional. Here is a perfect example of her brilliance.

Do It Anyway
by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical
and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some
false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone
could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Planning a Garden

2009-01-20T03:56:00.000-08:00

This was posted by Dr. Dave Klein from Vibrance and Living Nutrition. I just had to share it.

Planning a Garden
Author unknown

Plant three rows of peas:
Peas of mind
Peas of heart
Peas of soul.

Plant four rows of squash:
Squash gossip
Squash indifference
Squash grumbling
Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce:
Lettuce be faithful
Lettuce be kind
Lettuce be happy
Lettuce really love one another

No garden should be without turnips:
Turnip for service when needed
Turnip to help one another
Turnip the music and dance

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love

There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow

To conclude our garden We must have thyme:
Thyme for God
Thyme for fun
Thyme for rest
Thyme for ourselves

My love affair with chickens part II

2009-01-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

Having got my chickens back while here in Costa Rica, I've found the motivation to continue their story because it deserves to be told. They are such wonderful, intelligent, and emotional beings. Since they've been domesticated for such a long time, they can make the best pets ever, much better than parrots and other beautiful birds that should be left in the wild. They are so affectionate with their caretakers if you raise them from chicks. I strongly believe that as the pressures of human industry and agriculture increase to the inevitable stage where animal agriculture will stop because it is not sustainable on this planet, we nonetheless have the responsibility to continue taking care of farm animals-in much smaller numbers of course. I think it would be a horrible, shameful thing to slaughter the last agricultural creature, who have been used and abused by humans for food and the like for thousands of years, only to kill the last of their species. So, I will continue their story in the hope that people will see them in a new light. Please, give them the respect and caring they deserve.

Ginger did indeed turn out to be the smartest and most independent of the hens. My son named the other chickens: Cyclops (cos she had one eye closed for a few days), Knocker (cos she would knock on the window to go outside), and Window (cos she would hang out by the window).

I kept the chickens in their coop for a few days so they would get the idea that this was their new home. But, I really wanted them to roam free in the garden. I was afraid however that they wouldn't go back inside their coop at night and they'd be at risk for predators such as raccoons or foxes. This turned out to be groundless because every night as it got dark, but not a minute sooner, they would head back to the safety of the coop on their own. I would close the window to their coop and they'd climb up to the nest boxes to roost and settle down for the night.

They were sooo darling at night. All of the hens would snuggle up to Billy Idol and take turns preening him. He was very spoiled by his hens, but he deserved it because he worked hard to take care of them. Every time he would come across a food source, he would call his hens over and let them eat first. Only when the last hen had eaten her fill would he eat himself. He worked diligently at keeping his family together and preventing them from getting lost or into trouble. If the dog came close he would usually try to stare him down and away from his hens. If one of the hens strayed, Ginger was notorious for this, Billy Idol would come running to her calls of distress. Boy, was that girl at the agricultural store wrong about roosters. Not only are they pretty, but they are also indispensable to the chicken family structure.

The first day I opened the window to the outside, my chickens were quite uncertain as to what to do. They stepped outside hesitatingly, but Billy Idol lead the way and soon all were out and about enjoying the summer weather and beautiful surroundings. It didn't take them long to start pecking at the window every morning at first light to ask to go outside.

I had gotten into the habit of saying a specific phrase every time I had fed them in the coop (my phrase was "here chicky, chicky"-lol) so they would associate that phrase with being fed. This worked out quite well because even roaming free in the garden I could get them to come running to me for food every time I called. They were hilarious when they came running and everyone that visited got a laugh from my tame chickens who came a-running. They looked like albatrosses trying to take off while flapping their wings.

They were great company to me in the garden too. They loved to hang out with me while I worked in my garden. There was always the hope of finding a delicious, recently dug up worm so they stayed close by. They would occasionally let themselves be petted also, but they weren't as tame as my Costa Rican chickens which I had the good fortune of raising from chicks. They had been raised factory style until I purchased them so they were wary of humans and never warmed up to me as much as my Costa Rican chickens who snuggle up to my neck under my hair at night before settling down for sleep.

I eventually had to give up my Canadian chickens because fears of the bird flu made the government pass a law against free roaming chickens. I couldn't stand the thought of them been cooped up all the time since they loved being outside and they were miserable caged up. I gave them to an organic farmer who has other chickens and they roam in an outside enclosure which is better than a coop, but still not as good as roaming free. Happily, my Costa Rican chickens can roam free and they love it. More on them another day...

Pictures of Costa Rica

2008-12-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

(Mad-Eyed) Moody being transported to our place.

My fruit safe.

The fruit of cacao and sapote.

Some Sapote fruit with cacao (I eat the sweet creamy fruit surrounding the seeds) and bananas in the background.

Last, but not least is my cabin in the jungle.

Settling into Costa Rica

2008-12-15T17:21:00.000-08:00

I'm unbelievable happy to have internet in the jungle! I'm also enjoying the best mamey sapote ever that I picked up at the fruit vendors stalls. These stalls are all over Costa Rica, on the side of the road and a better source of fruit and veggies than the grocery stores.

The sounds here are amazing, especially the howler monkeys. They're awake even before the roosters. Pretty soon the cicadas will begin their roaring as well (they are very loud). I've seen my chickens again that my dear neighbors and friends have taken care of for me while I was in Canada. My beautiful rooster has become so big and beautiful.

I'm in heaven...

Off to Costa Rica

2008-12-08T06:11:00.000-08:00

Toodles everyone! I'm outta of the snow and into the sun! With October and November having been particularly dreary and dark months here in Canada, I'm so happy to be heading south.

I don't know when I'll have my internet hooked up down there, but as soon as I do I'll write again.

Hope everyone stays healthy and happy.

Ciao.

Recipes: My Favorite Green Smoothie

2008-12-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

This is my absolute favorite green smoothie recipe I've ever had.

Here goes:

2 cups of baby greens
2 bananas
the end stalks and leaves of one fennel bulb (I've finally found something to do with these after I eat the bulb)
a few sprigs of parsley

Blend together.
Uses:
1)Eat as soup (you can add diced fruit or veggies if you like)
2)Water it down a little and drink it up
3)Keep it thick and use as dressing on a salad.

The fennel gives a slight licorice flavor that is truly delicious.

Enjoy!

ps. Sorry I haven't posted any pics for this or of me lately, but my digital camera has conked out on me.

Out of the closet

2008-12-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

Speaking of skeletons reminded me that I've been wanting to post about coming out of the closet with-believe it or not-almost everyone now.

Being a raw vegan certainly has its challenges, not the least of which is social interaction.

As I've grown better and better at the living practice, knowledge and experience of this lifestyle I've acquired more confidence about telling people about it.

My latest hurdle has been work. People are naturally very curious and ask me lots of questions in the lunchroom. I've been pleasantly surprised by most people's casual, nonchalant acceptance of my eating habits. Most comments are positive and questions are curious, not judgmental in nature. I do give arguments in favor of my diet and lifestyle that not everyone agrees with, but it has never escalated to anything remotely hostile.

Many people ask to try my exotic fruits which they in turn purchase occasionally. This pleases me to no end because I know it's a positive influence on them and at the very least makes them stop to think about the possibilities.

People are also quite impressed with my energy levels, mostly cheery disposition and the fact that I never need to take a sick day. As a funny aside- I used to be jokingly known as "She can't poo", now half an hour to 45 minutes after each meal I'm off the bathroom to do my business. Now, my coworkers jokingly say they can set their watches to my digestive schedule. People do notice and although changing habits is VERY difficult and there's lots of misinformation out there, our actions speak very loudly.

My food shopping habits...

2008-12-02T06:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Sarah at http://livingfruity.blogspot.com for this blogging idea. Sarah offers great tips, so I thought I'd write a complementary one to show a similar yet somewhat different approach to 811 shopping-when we're in Canada(this is very different when we're in Costa Rica).

First off, I have 3 humans and 2 dogs to feed our raw vegan diet. I spend approximately $200 dollars a week, depending on seasonal availabilities and sales. We're all raw vegans but we have very different tastes. Tropical food suits me perfectly, while seasonal and local suits the rest of my family more.

I shop frequently. I go to Asian stores once a week-on the day they receive their produce and I buy a lot of exotic tropical fruit that I adore. This is mostly just for me since the men (young and younger)in my family as well as my dogs haven't acquired a taste for them yet. I buy one coconut every two weeks or so (I try to stay as low fat as possible) plus other seasonal food such as rambutans, longans, lychees, cherimoyas, tamarind, star fruit etc. This food can be quite expensive, although sales and bulk discounts are frequent. However, tropical fruits are usually very high calorie and nutrient dense so I feel I'm getting good value.

For the rest of my food, I stopped buying bananas by the case because of ripening issues. Instead, I buy them almost everyday at different stores that are on my way home from work. I usually buy them in the reduced section where near ripe bananas are on sale because they're turning black. They are not rotten at all, but simply ripening-I still have to wait a couple of days more before they're truly ripe. My greens and other fruits, I'll buy as I need them trying to stay organic as much as possible.

Raw and organic nuts and seeds, I buy at the health food store-every two weeks or so and I store them in the freezer. They are expensive and also not to be over consumed because of the high fat content.

As for storage, almost all of my counter tops, shelves and even some cupboards are full of produce. I transfer all the food that is unfortunately sold in styrofoam containers with plastic into baskets-except for lettuce and celery which keep better in the plastic. I keep things in the fridge only to maintain freshness, but I always let them warm up to room temperature before eating. I'm not a big fan of frozen smoothies and the like so I don't buy any frozen food except for corn which although usually blanched is still good quality in the frozen state. I eat it sparingly nonetheless, after thawing and warming in warm water.

Needless to say that my shopping carts almost always raise eyebrows. A visit to my home also surprises people that don't know me very well.

Bone breaks/repairs

2008-12-02T05:53:00.000-08:00

I watched "The Body Machine" on the Discovery channel with my son the other day-what a great show. It explains basic physiology in a fun way.

One of the topics was bones. It was really fun to learn how we're born with more bones then we grow up with, how the skeleton is not permanent, but is constantly breaking and rebuilding. If we live to eighty, the body will have broken down and rebuilt 8-12 completely new skeletons! It takes the body approximately 9 years to rebuild a skeleton. Also, the bones manufacture our precious blood.

Cool stuff.

Fantastic article on B12

2008-11-30T19:44:00.000-08:00

You can never learn enough about this issue, please read carefully.

http://www.roylretreat.com/articles/b12.html

Essie Honiball

2008-11-26T07:49:00.000-08:00

I finally read Essie Honiball's classic book "I live on fruit".

What a gem it is. It is a quick easy read with wonderful things to say such as this:

"I also had to learn that, in the same way as I could not give rein to my appetite, I could not give rein to my undisciplined thoughts. I had to learn to think and react positively, and to clean my state of mind in the same way as I had to purify my life-blood, for nothing pollute's the lifeblood and causes more diseases than does one's state of mind. As long as there was any trace of hatred, intolerance, vindictiveness, depression, or negative criticism in my heart, I could not expect the fruit to correct that too. I also had to work at these things, as man is a psychological unit his body and soul must work in harmony.

Even today, after all the years of work, I am in every respect imperfect, but the difference is that in the past I was all to eager to put the blame for my weaknesses and discomfort, my frustrations and illnesses on the shoulders of others. Today, I myself accept responsibility and when something goes wrong, when I experience some bodily discomfort or give way to an unchristian reaction, I seek the fault within..."

The body is self-healing-not news for hygienists

2008-11-26T06:51:00.000-08:00

I just came across this mainstream article about breast cancer.

http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=70539032&feedname=CP-HEALTH&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True

What was interesting is that the article was listed under a heading called "Stranger than fiction". I found it also interesting that the study's authors had great difficulty in getting it published. I wonder if big pharma had anything to do with suppressing it (hint, rhetorical question)?

Mainstream media article

2008-11-21T06:07:00.000-08:00

Finally, a decent albeit too short mainstream media nutritional article that makes sense!

Check out this article:

http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/HealthyLiving/NEWContentPosting_TheSoko?newsitemid=thesoko-2252&feedname=THESOKO_V2&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=False

I would like to get my hands on the original study to see if it compares in quality to The China Study by Dr. Campbell. It seems obviously very complimentary.

Quotes to live by

2008-11-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Are you craving a certain kind of food? "You're hungry. Eat something that will do your body good, already." Dr. Douglas Graham.

I have long and publicly taught the doctrine that, as a general proposition, man causes his own sickness and suffering-that in almost all cases, he is more or less to blame for being sick, and that he as truly owes society an apology for being sick as he does for being drunk. --Sylvester Graham, July 13, 1884

If we could live on uncooked food alone, we should be saving so much time and energy, as well as money, all of which may be utilized for more useful purposes. ~Mohandas K. Gandhi

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better place than we found it, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life breathed easier because you lived: this is to have succeeded. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Examining Motives

2008-11-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

This question was posted on vegsource recently. My reply is underneath.

From: MM (75.94.9.203)
Subject: Examining Motives for not staying on track
Date: November 12, 2008 at 8:35 pm PST

Okay, so I'm looking at the new year coming up and want to finally make this a permanent lifestyle and am taking a look at the most common reasons why I fall off this program, if and when I do fall off, and realized I could use some feedback and the added eyes looking at these "excuses" to help me get out of denial and into reality.

1) There are so many stories of people being able to reverse heart disease, diabetes, or any other disease, that I find myself rationalizing eating unhealthy foods by knowing that I can fast or eat healthy or whatever to reverse whatever I've done to myself. I know this is faulty reasoning because not every smoker or person with cancer can reverse their plight, but I haven't had any life-threatening issues yet and the small, nagging ones (allergies, whatever) are fairly easy to navigate around. Any reality checks to put this little monster away?

2) When I'm under stress (mostly financial--take a look at the economy) I find myself working in a job I hate but have to go to in order to make ends meet or I overwork myself due to other "have-to's" and then get low blood sugar from stress, not eating and taking a break and not resting when I'm tired. I know the natural hygiene lifestyle requires good sleep and other lifestyle habits, but how have you all coped when you want to stimulate yourself to keep going when your exhausted or want to numb out when you're afraid of losing your house??

3) Social disapproval in the form of interrogation, ostracizm (not inviting you over due to not knowing what to serve you) or constant questions WHILE you are eating at their dinner table have caused me many times to either avoid social situations all together or to give in. I have watched Dr. Graham's video on "making friends with your food" where he's got some really good suggestions on playing dumb and changing the subject, but does anybody else have any other suggestions? Bringing my own food hasn't worked too well and asking them to make a salad and then eating only that ilicits statements like, "are you only going to eat that??" and then people get offended that you are not eating the food that they've spent so much time preparing. Saying things like "it seems to be working for me so far" is okay when I'm doing well, but during detox can raise some eyebrows.

Any suggestions along any of these lines would be very helpful since you all have awesome experience and suggestions so far.

My reply:

1) Every single act you do effects you and all the relationships you are in for the present and future too. For example, if you choose to eat a pizza-not only will you have immediate digestive and bodily problems, but you will have put your hard earned money,time and energy encouraging animal agriculture if there's meat and cheese on it, grain agriculture with all its soil damaging, resource depletion, biodiversity destructive problems etc. Plus, the example that you set to others, especially those that you love. Do you truly want to work hard to be a part of those problems? (when I say you, I'm including myself in there too, this is how I reason with myself). Every single act makes a difference-be conscious.

2)Keep things in perspective. When you're under stress is when you need even more to be good to yourself otherwise you'll make things worse. How could you possibly keep your house if you lose your health? How could you possibly keep your house if the planet is in peril and most if not all of our economic activities are making it worse?
Cutting back on lifestyle expenses will not only de-stress you, but will help others and the planet as well. Are you so caught up in consumerism-that you're willing to pay for it with your health?

3)Social disapproval comes mostly when you disapprove of yourself. If you are not confident and proud of your choices, others will mirror YOUR OWN sentiments back to you. By changing your attitude your true friends will support you-the others are best to let go of.

Hope this helps (it helps me to remind myself) Can I post your message on my blog?

I will eat raw-hilarious video!

2008-11-13T05:23:00.000-08:00

I just watched a hilarious video. Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr4_RfJxwsU"

Tips

2008-11-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

I've decided to list some useful tips that have helped me.

1)My biggest challenge has been with potatoes because my mom used to feed them to me a lot when I was young. A few weeks ago I was having many slip-ups with potatoes in the evening, just after work-I would stop at a restaurant and order some baked potatoes to eat on the long drive home. My solution has been to leave some of my favourite fruits in the car so that when I finish work I can snack on them while driving home.

This info from Green's natural hygiene blog has helped too. "Potatoes (especially the usual white variety) are considered to be less healthy than table sugar. They raise the insulin level to extremely high levels only to drop right back down shortly thereafter to cause a craving for the same kind of low quality food".

2) Unfortunately, most fruit sold in markets is not ripe. It's almost impossible to stop at a store to eat something right away-that's good quality. I usually buy my bananas every other day so they can ripen at different times. This has been an organisational challenge, but is very doable.

3)Never put tomatoes in the fridge, they get a very bad taste. Leave them at room temperature.

The body does not lie,but we often don't read it correctly.

2008-11-12T06:11:00.000-08:00

Youth does not necessarily equate with beauty.

Beauty does not necessarily equate with health.

Strength does not necessarily equate with "lifting" abilities.

Feeling "good" or "high" or "energetic" does not necessarily equate to being healthy.

Slim does not necessarily equate to low fat.

Longevity does not necessarily equate to a long healthy life.

Not expressing symptoms does not necessarily equate to health.

Unlearning unhealthy stimuli and learning correct bodily responses is one of the greatest challenges of 811.

811 is very disappointing...

2008-11-11T05:28:00.000-08:00

I just don't get it. Why would I want to eat 811 or live a natural hygiene lifestyle when there's so much better out there?

I mean why go for natural beauty and athleticism when there's botox, plastic surgery, and steroids, etc., etc., etc., that perform so much better?

Why eat naturally sweet and delicious food when you could have all the aspartame, trans fats, acrylamides, maillard molecules, etc., etc., etc., that just "taste" so much better?

Why go to the bother of living a healthy lifestyle when automatic wheelchairs, prescription and non-prescription drugs, arteficial life support etc., etc., etc., can do what the body does so much better?

Dr. Graham you disappoint me. I just expected so much more.(NOT)

ps. yes, this is spoken tongue in cheek, but hopefully at least one person will get the message

Prickly pear cactus and pomegranates

2008-11-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

These guys are in season right now. I find them delicious alone or combined with bananas.

I've also found a new use for my old oven mitts by using them to peel the pears.

Also, pomegranates are the best right now too. They've become my replacement for popcorn while watching movies. They take so long to break apart and eat that I can watch half a movie while eating just one. Check out my link on fruit facts and pics to see these beauties.

p.s. Congratulations to my USA neighbours. I think you've done the right thing. I feel very hopeful.

The body does not lie..

2008-11-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

The body does not lie.

This is my new motto (prayer, mantra or whatever you prefer).

When I cheat and have some cooked, salty, overly fatty or badly combined food, my body is quick to let me know that I've strayed off the optimal dietary path. Symptoms of its distress are plainly obvious for anyone no longer used to these discomforts. The body does not lie.

When I don't sleep properly or enough, my body quickly unleashes the dark-circles-under-the-eyes-hounds to nip at my insommoniac, night-owl ways. The body does not lie.

When I don't exercise enough or consistently, Ms Flabby-must-be-jelly-cos-jam-don't-jiggle-like-that suddenly starts looking back at me in the mirror. The body does not lie.

When I don't get enough sun, surprise, surprise I actually start blending in with other dark side of the moon walkers and other critters that live where the sun don't shine. The body does not lie.

Now, when I eat properly, otherwise known as the optimal human diet or 811rv for short, my body feels light, hydrated, energetic and with no distresses while digestively processing the in, during or out. The body does not lie.

When I've had a blissful night's rest (I love my bed) is my body ever grateful and it lets me know it! The body does not lie.

When I move my body properly, frequently and it gets to happily express itself-the tales it tells! The body does not lie.

When it gets to breathe fresh air and soak up the sun's warm rays in a beautiful natural setting-wow, heaven on earth! The body does not lie.

Look around you, look at other people, look at yourself. Everybody's BODY speaks the truth about one's past, present and even future to a large extent.

What bodily truths have you observed?

Time is flying, if only I was having fun...

2008-10-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'm really sorry for not being very regular with my blog for awhile. I've been working crazy hours in preparation for my yearly stay in Costa Rica. Anyway, I will definitely have more time for my blog while I'm down there and I promise to catch up on all the topics I want to write about. I hope you're all doing well. Ciao for now.

A very beautiful and moving video to be shared as much as possible...

2008-09-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'm back! I don't know for how long because my life is still crazy right now, but I just had to blog about this video.

I just came across this video on Youtube that I truly enjoyed.

What I appreciated the most was the cultural custom of allowing the baby to reach the breast by him/herself for the first time, the mom being able to be the first to whisper something dear in the baby's ear and the calmness and ease with which the baby naturally reached her goal. Also, all the family members caressing the mom and baby and giving words of encouragement. The reaction of the crowd to the baby's success, reminded me somewhat of the olympics.

You could just feel all the love and joy of the moment-what a beautiful way to come into this world!

Many things that we humans do disturb me very much, but sometimes there are rays of hope....

Ciao and enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrwfIcPB1u4&feature=related

Blogging Update

2008-08-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys!

Just a quick note that I have to extend my blogging vacation for a bit longer-hope you are all doing rawsome. I just bought myself some cases of figs to keep me busy for a minute or two. Take care...

My turn to take a blogging vacation

2008-07-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hi fellow bloggers and blog readers, it's now my turn to take a little blogging vacation since I'm off to visit family and will not have easy access to a computer nor much time in the next couple of weeks. I will be back-because I have so many subjects I want to write about: my chickens, my raw vegan dogs, my garden, my workouts, my new recipes, my controversial big-mouthed opinions etc, etc., Take care of yourselves-I'll miss you.

One of our Favourite Family Supper Feasts

2008-07-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

My son is just amazing-he's actually way better in the kitchen than I am. We just discovered this dip recipe from the latest Vibrance issue. He made it-the whole thing and now it's one of our favourites. This was last night's supper. We started with the fruit and ended with the dipped veggies. SOOO yummy!

The recipe was created by Christina Chadney http://www.abundantapple.com

Sesame Red Pepper Dip:

Ingredients:
4 tbs raw tahini
3 tbs raw sesame seeds
3 sun-dried tomatoes (no sulfites or salt added please)
1/2 cup red bell pepper
1 stick of celery
1 cup zucchini
2 tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp cumin (optional)

Veggies for dipping.

Blend all the sauce ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor to a smooth, thick, creamy consistency. A nice idea would be to spoon the sauce into a cored bell pepper.

Christina also suggests thinning the recipe without the tomato and cumin and drizzling over raspberries or strawberries in Romaine lettuce "boats". I haven't tried this one yet-but when I do, I'll share the pics.

The Ironies of the Different Nutritional Cults

2008-06-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

The Ironies of the Different Nutritional Cults

In human society today, there exists many nutritional cults. The first and most prevalent nutritional cult, which is propagated by omnivores, is THE CULT OF PROTEIN-specifically, animal protein. According to the practitioners of this cult, humans can not survive without eating animal flesh.

This nutritional fallacy has been disproved by vegetarians. Vegetarians have proven that humans can survive without eating animal flesh. They, in turn however, propagated another nutritional cult-THE CULT OF ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS AND PROTEIN COMBINING. According to the followers of this cult, humans must consume animal milk and animal eggs as well as combine their vegetable proteins to get a “complete protein”.

The teachings of this nutritional cult have been disproved by vegans. Vegans have proven that humans do not need to eat any animal products, nor is it necessary to combine vegetable proteins. Nonetheless, vegans have created their own nutritional cult, THE CULT OF COOKED LEGUMES, STARCHES AND GRAINS. You guessed correctly, the members of this cult preach that humans cannot survive without eating legumes, starches and grains-which necessarily must be cooked.

Consequently, raw vegans have disproved the vegan doctrine. They have proven that humans do not need to cook their food nor eat anything that requires cooking. But, once again, “cult”-ural indoctrination took over the raw vegans who produced THE CULT OF HIGH FAT, SPROUTS, SUPERFOODS AND SUPPLEMENTS. Everyone should know by now that humans cannot survive without these products either.

Then, along came the low fat raw vegans or 811rvs, who have thoroughly disproved all of the above cults. They have proven that not only do humans not need animal flesh, animal by-products, combined proteins, cooked legumes, starches and grains, high fat, sprouts, superfoods and supplements-but that humans actually thrive on THE CULT OF MAN’S NATURAL DIET.

Ironically, the teachings of these people-although successful since the dawn of man-are considered today as radical and extreme. That’s human nature for you…

New fruit pics

2008-06-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Labels:

1)Fruit salad with carambola (star fruit), tomatoes, peppers, lettuce
2)Longans(top left and smaller) vs Lychees
3)Figs, saucer peaches (or donut peaches-delicious!), persimmon, clementines
4)Tropical fruit sampler-(clockwise, mangosteen, rambutan, jujube, longan

I'm very happy to have found an asian store that stocks so many tropical goodies.

Truly delicious!!!

The Best Soup Ever...

2008-06-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, if you've been following my blog, after reading my title you can't help but be thinking now: "Don't tell me she made soup out of those beautiful chickens?"

No worries-I did not, nor will I ever eat a poor chicken again.

Nonetheless, I have to interrupt the fascinating saga of me and my chickens with an important commercial message (yes, I have watched too much tv over the years).

I made the most delicious soup recipe the other day and I must share it.

It's a little high in fat content-so please be sure to eat it as the last meal of your day as well as maintaining the rest of your fat content to acceptable levels.

Here's the recipe:

Cream of Celery Soup:

45 raw pistachios without added salt or other ingredients
1 Cup of warm water
5-6 stalks of juiced celery

Blend the pistachios and water until creamy.
Add the juice of the celery plus some of the pulp if you want a thicker consistency.

Pour the soup in the dug out and eaten half of a cantaloup skin.

Eat the soup using celery stalks as spoons!

SOOO Yummy-take my dog and I's word for it!

My love affair with chickens

2008-06-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

My love affair with chickens began in the summer of 2001. We had moved into our new home almost one year earlier. Our home is in the country. The previous owners used to have chickens. They had installed a very good quality coop in the shed that was insulated enough to withstand even our Québec winters. There is even a light bulb to provide extra heat. Neat little ladders climb up to the laying/sleeping boxes at the top. I was also enchanted with the idea of returning to the land-to garden and be closer to nature.

Our first summer, my son and I went to the only farmers cooperative we knew of that sold chickens for raising-which was two hours from home. I wasn't planning on killing them to eat because I didn't have the stomach for that-but eating their eggs seemed perfectly ok (what a numbskull I was). Looking back now, it was pretty sad to see all those poor chickens pressed horribly close together in the packing crates-barely able to move. But I consoled myself with the thought that at least my chickens would have decent lives-roaming free in my garden. We weren't vegans at this point, but we were becoming more sensitive to organic issues. My thoughts were that organic eggs had to be better than non-organic ones. Sidebar, my cholesterol levels, just before becoming vegan, were off the charts(in the 500's) and even though I was only in my thirties, I was considered at extreme risk for cardiovascular disease by my conventional doctor. Now, I know that I was definitely a walking time bomb.

Since going 811rv, my levels have dropped considerably, but I still have probably many years of healing to do before they're very good-I did some tests recently and I'll post them once I know the results. So much for organic animal products being healthy!!!

I let my son choose the chickens. He chose 5 beautiful red hens and we were going to leave it at that, but since he's a boy he wanted a rooster too. The girl at the check out counter told us that roosters didn't serve much purpose, obviously, for laying, to-be-eaten-eggs, but they were pretty. Boy was she wrong!

Our rooster was blond with some red and brown feathers too. He reminded me of Billy Idol with his crest and bleach blond feathers and that's what we named him. We put the 5 hens in the travel box we had prepared and then added Billy Idol. Boy you should have seen his reaction to being placed in a box with five lovely hens! His eyes enlarged as he looked down at them and I swear his utter joy was palpable.

We drove home and didn't hear a peep from the poor chickens. Once we arrived, I thought it would be difficult to get them out of the box and into the coop, but they were so terrified that they just let themselves be lifted one by one out of the box. I placed them head first in their individual boxes in the coop with some water and food on the floor. The next morning, only one chicken had dared to even turn herself around so we called her Ginger from the movie "Chicken Run" since she seemed to be the bravest.

Full Story to follow...

Let's talk about "poop", baby...

2008-05-24T06:41:00.000-07:00

Here's one of my favourite subjects: POO. Do you, like me, get uncontrollable giggles just at the thought? Do you analyse it everytime you have a BM? No, I don't mean anything other than looking at it and perhaps smelling it-no touching it please! Do you make conclusions about your previous meals after analysing it? Are you, like me, now elated because you now have easy, painless, regular BMs since following 811rv-a dream you never thought you'd realize? I know, I know, Freud would have a field day with me...

According to Dr. D, these are the keys to a good BM: "Effortlessness, Satisfactory volume, No foulness, Clean drop."

Indulge me, let's analyse (pun intended) these keys one by one.

1)Effortlessness: Before going 811, I used to struggle, like you would not believe, when I had a bowel movement-which could easily stretch to once every three or four days. My family, like I said in my intro, used to tease me with a "she can't poo" song. Now, except for rare occasions when I've eaten high fat or otherwise have not followed a healthy lifestyle like sufficient sleep, my BMs are effortless and come at regular frequencies of usually 2 or 3 times a day. One of the methods I use to make it as effortless as possible is by adopting a natural squat position, by standing on top of the toilet seat and squatting down. Yes-don't argue with me, this is the best position for having a BM-check out this site if you don't believe me http://www.toilet-related-ailments.com/toilet-posture.html

I totally agree with this quote: "In his 1924 book Culture of The Abdomen, Dr William Welles did not mince his words when he wrote what he thinks of the sitting toilet:
"It would have been better if the contraption had killed its inventor before he launched it under humanity's buttocks."

[Source: William Welles, DC, 'The Importance of Squatting', Natural Health Society Journal, Penrith NSW]"

2)Satisfactory volume: Come on, you know, even if you won't admit it, when you're satisfied with the volume and when there's still some stuck inside that just doesn't want to come out yet. Isn't that the most frustrating thing?! Now, you might be tempted to give yourself an enema or a colonic, or perhaps some herbal or other medecine to "help" nature along, right? WRONG!!! These things are disastrous to one's health, especially colon health. Many, many countless people have been seriously damaged by such practices to the point of being totally incapable of having natural, independant BMs anymore. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THESE "MEDICAL TREATMENTS" EVEN WITH A TEN FOOT POLE.

3)No Foulness: Hmmm, this one's a little tougher to analyse. I mean, I would like to think that my "s*%&" smells like roses now that I've changed my diet and lifestyle, but that would be stretching the truth, just a little. Of course, our own poo doesn't smell nearly as foul as someone else's, like for example, a not completely 811rv spouse (Hi Darling-don't you love it, that I constantly talk about you on my blog?), but there are noticeable differences between individual BMs depending on diet and lifestyle. For example, a high fat avocado will definitely foul up my poo the next day-it's very noticeable to say the least. A badly combined salad will do the same thing too. Go off 811 and WATCH OUT! That stink bomb's a real killer.

4)Clean Drop: This one's probably the toughest to analyse. It should "plop, plop, fizz, fizz-oh what a relief it is". I know that was a commercial for alkaselzer, but it always made me think of poo. It shouldn't splat on the side of the toilet and slowly slink its way down into the water. Nor should it explode all over the bathroom-I have seriously seen this in one public toilet. It was sooo gross!

Ok, so there you have it: the secrets to having a successful BM. Enjoy :)))

Emotional Eating, My Take On It

2008-05-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Sarah from going bananas "http://www.goingbananasblog.com/" just posted her thoughts about emotional eating and how it affects our abilities to go and maintain a raw food lifestyle. I thought I would chime in with my own experiences with this.

People use food with the mistaken belief that it will comfort them and shelter them from negative, destructive feelings. Whereas, it is very well known in psychology that the only way to truly heal an emotional wound is to fully express it.

In my experience, I have noticed that everytime I've turned to food after an emotional upheaval it was not to comfort myself, but to punish myself. If I fight with a loved one, like my child or my spouse, I blame myself for my part of the problem and invariably my thoughts turn to bad food choices, choices I know will have a negative physical impact on me. This starts a vicious circle of more self-loathing if I do succomb to the bad choices.

Dr. Rozalind Graham has explained in the video "How to Make Friends with Your Food", that these thought patterns come from unresolved feelings of parental abandonment and disapproval from our childhood.

I now take comfort in this knowledge because I can reason with myself when unhealthy food cravings occur. I think it truly is a question of learning to love and accept ourselves completely. Still on the road to health and happiness...

Leukocytosis

2008-05-17T03:06:00.001-07:00

Many raw fooders know this information already, but it's great to refresh our memory as to why cooking is soooo bad. Borrowed from:http://www.rawfoodlife.com/Articles___Research/Toxins_Created_by_Cooking/toxins_created_by_cooking.html

Pinpointing the Pathogenic Nature of Cooked Foods: Leukocytosis

An increase in white corpuscles in the bloodstream is indicative of pathology. White corpuscles are the body’s first line of defense against toxic or harmful substances. The typical white corpuscle count is about 6,000 per cubic millimeter. When this count doubles, triples or increases four or five fold it is evidence of a diseased condition even if outward appearance does not reflect it.

Dr. Kouchakoff of Switzerland conducted over 300 detailed experiments, which pinpointed the pathogenic nature of cooked and processed foods. Food heated to temperatures of just 120 to 190 degrees F (a range usually relegated to warming rather than cooking which, nevertheless destroys all enzymes), causes leukocytosis. Leukocytosis is a term applied to an abnormally high white corpuscle count.

On Raw Food, Leukocytosis Does Not Occur

Within a short time after eating food cooked at these low temperatures, white corpuscle counts tripled in the participants of Dr. Kouchakoff experiments. When raw foods were added to the meal, foods cooked in this low temperature range did not cause leukocytosis. At cooked temperatures higher than 190 degrees, no amount of raw food offset the pathological effects of heating, and leukocytosis always occurred.

There is no proliferation of white corpuscles when uncooked, raw fresh produce food is eaten. On the contrary, the constant daily fight against the toxic effects of cooked food eventually exhausts the immune system, causing age-related illness and premature death.

NOTE: This research was done in the 1930’s, as I recall, and has never been confirmed. Nobody it seems has done the same experiment to disprove it either - in almost 80 years. Hmmm? Meanwhile, cooked food proponents will always remind you that this research hasn’t been verified, and was also poorly designed. Nonetheless, it is indicative of something, and they still teach in medical schools that digestive leukocytosis is normal after eating. Is it? - Robert, ed.

White Blood Cells and the Immune System

A spontaneous multiplication of white corpuscles takes place in normal blood immediately after the introduction of any virulent infection or poison since white corpuscles are the fighting organisms of the blood. The human body contains hundreds of defensive mechanisms including leukocytes, lymphocytes, plasma cells, monocytes, basophils, neutrophils, eosinophils, and granulocytes to clear the circulation of toxic materials. These serve to protect and continuously purify the body against the ravages of poisons.

White blood cells patrol your circulatory system and defend against alien potentially harmful substances that have been absorbed or injected into the body. White cells are sanitation engineers maintaining the purity of tissues, lymph, and body fluids. If poisons, bacteria, fungi (yeast), metabolic wastes, cooked food debris, or other foreign substances enter the blood, they are engulfed by white blood cells. White cells tolerate nothing abnormal in the circulatory system. Some of what is apprehended is recycled as food, especially organic materials. High concentrations however, overwhelm your immune system.

When pharmaceutical or recreational drugs, medicinal herbs, nutritional supplements, inorganic nutrients and cooked foods are consumed, leukocytosis occurs. An abnormal proliferation of leukocytes are released into your bloodstream from lymph glands and bone marrow where they are normally held in reserve until needed, to apprehend harmful alien substances before they disrupt and chemically unite with a significant number of cells and tissues.

In the process, white cells go on a suicide mission sacrificing themselves while protecting the greater good of the organism. In the aftermath of eating cooked food or taking drugs, the white cell count rises to between 12,000-20,000 per cubic millimeter of blood. After clearing the bloodstream of toxic debris your white cell count decreases back to normal, about 4,300-7,000 per cubic millimeter of blood.

Healthfully Normal White Blood Cell Counts vs. Ordinary WBC Counts in the Typically Toxic

Although ordinary, this pathological average WBC count of 4,300-7,000 is exceedingly high and is based on the general populace who routinely consume junk food, cooked foods, condiments, soft drinks, teas, coffee, tobacco, and fermented foods: all of which cause abnormal proliferation of white cells. This phenomenon repeated each meal, each day, each week, each year for decades slowly lowers resistance to disease and hideously drains your immune defensive response.

On the contrary, those who consume a clean-burning diet of predominantly raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds have white cell counts well below 4,300: and are mistakenly regarded as immunodeficient! The truth is: those who are REALLY suffering immunodeficiency diseases (as in AIDS) have destroyed their capacity to generate white blood cells, from constantly ingesting drugs or massive transfusions.

The healthy body is parsimonious, harvesting its resources strictly according to need. Your system is very economical in that it does not maintain faculties beyond what it requires. Healthy individuals whose blood streams are pure have lower white cell counts in circulation. The remainder is held in reserve within bone marrow, capillaries, and lymph nodes for times of emergency.

Raw fresh produce foods strengthen your immune system, alleviating the need to deplete its reserves. Overtime however, an enervating typical lifestyle routine gradually drains the bodyâ€™s tremendous capacity to throw-off toxins. The average American is self- poisoned 20-40 times DAILY. Each bout lowers body vitality as chronic disease slowly develops.

Raw foods are easily digested, requiring only 24-36 hours for transit time through the digestive tract, compared to 40-100 hours for cooked foods. Eating overly heated nutrients increases the threat of putrefaction and disease. As you consume cooked carbohydrates, proteins and fats, you are eating numerous carcinogenic products generated by heat.

Bacteria Decompose Dead Organic Matter (Cooked Food) In the Body

Overly cooked foods literally wreck our body. They deny needed nutrients to the system since heat alters foodstuffs such that they are partially or wholly damaged. Nutrients are coagulated, deaminized, caramelized and rendered inorganic and become pathogenic. Virulent bacteria find soil in dead food substances whereas they cannot exist on living cells.

Cooked food spoils rapidly, both inside and outside our body, whereas living foods are slow to lose their vital qualities and do not as readily become soil for bacterial decay. Bacteria decompose the trash in our digestive system just as they do in soil. Bacterial action renders usable some waste materials that would ordinarily be expelled. Bacteria are essential to live and without them our existence would not be possible.

Yogurt Requires Dead, Cooked Pasteurized Milk

After eating cooked food, bacterial populations multiply exponentially. Consider what happens to milk while yogurt is made. If you start with raw milk and add a culture of bacillus bulgaricus the culture dies before it sours the milk.

But if first pasteurized or boiled, the milk is no longer fresh and is rendered lifeless. In making yogurt, it is then cooled to 100 to 110 degrees F and the bacterial culture is added. Bacteria then spoils (ferments) the milk by feeding on dead organic molecules, thereby producing yogurt in 6 to 8 hours. Note that the bacterial culture could not act on raw fresh milk whereas in a dead state, the milk readily became decomposing soil for bacterial proliferation.

Cooked food is dead organic matter that bacteria feast on. As a result, typical meals of protein, starches and sugars quickly ferment and putrefy. The metabolic by-products of bacterial activity include acid excreta, vinegars, alcohols, indole, skatole, nitropyrene, ptomatropine, ptomaines, leukomaines, hydrogen sulfide, cadaverine, muscarine, putecine, nervine, mercaptins and ammonias.

Our stomach becomes a cesspool of fermenting starches, sugars and putrefying proteins especially when eaten in incompatible food combina-tions as is typical in society. Indigestion occurs, and bacteria feed upon most of the food rather than your body. Digestive juices are no longer secreted when the digestive tract is vitiated. Under this condition, the digestive canal seeks to divest instead of digest.

Healthful Changes that Occur When Adopting a Raw Food Diet

Three important changes immediately occur when you adopt a raw food diet. First is the improved quality of nutrients taken into your system. Raw fresh produce is nutrient dense, largely pre-digested nutriment that is easily absorbed into your blood. Heated nutrients are denatured and of inferior quality, which are among the reasons why people commonly overeat cooked food. While their stomach feels full, their physiology craves nutrients and remains nutritionally starved.

The second important change that occurs on raw food cuisine involves what you STOP eating. No longer introduced into your system are devitalized, refined, heat-damaged toxic nutrient remnants. Energy is no longer wasted that previously was devoted to flushing these nutrient antagonists away from cells and tissues or quarantining them into fat cells, cysts, warts or tumors and abnormal growths. Instead, this energy is now redirected to enhance internal cleansing and further maximize the unfoldment of wellness.

The third major change on a fresh produce diet is the cessation of overeating. Overeating saturates the body with degenerated unnatural foodstuffs that constipate or clog the bloodstreamâ€™s nutrient delivery and sewage cleansing system. The blood delivers nutrients and oxygen to living cells, and carries away their toxic metabolites generated during ordinary cellular metabolism. This is why obesity is a serious condition. With too much food, the body is overburdened with inferior nutritionless empty calories.

High fiber, high water content fresh produce abolishes constipation of the bowels, cells and circulatory system. Obstructions are cleared and blood flow increases to each and every cell in the body. Enhanced blood flow is significant for two reasons: as mentioned above, blood delivers nutrients and oxygen to living cells, and carries away their toxic metabolites.

Raw Food and Athletes

Superb athletic performance on a raw food diet are not unheard of. Dr. Douglas Graham has been a 100% raw fooder for 17 years. He coaches professional athletes and consults with trainers from around the world. As a college gymnast he coached the springboard diving team. A national level competitor himself, Dr. Graham went on to train a trampoline team. After only three years under his tutelage, all seven members of the team won age group National Championships. Dr. Graham has trained professional athletes from many fields, including tennis legend Martina Navratilova and NBA pro basketball player Ronnie Grandison. He has advised Olympic athletes from four continents in a wide variety of sports.

Dr. Karl Elmer experimented with top athletes in Germany, producing improvement in their performance by changing to a purely raw food diet. Raw food provides you with more strength, energy and stamina. On raw food, the mind, memory and power of concentration is more focussed. Raw food leaves you energized rather than the typical tired feeling after meals. The tendency toward sleepiness after cooked meals is forsaken. Raw fooders require less sleep and achieve a more restful sleep.

Raw materials that the body needs to build wellness are not cooked materials. Nutrient values expressed as Percent of Recommended Dietary Allowance [RDA] per Calorie on nutrition charts are highest for raw foods. Potato, brown rice, winter wheat, pasta, and bread donâ€™t even make it to the Recommended Dietary Allowance.

If I had a dollar for every time...

2008-05-13T03:10:00.000-07:00

True wealth of course is measured more by one's health than by monetary values;nonetheless, expressions such as my title, indicate money's relative importance to human society. So let's get the ball rolling.

If I had a dollar for every time...

1)Someone asked me, where do you get your (insert nutrient in here) from ?...

2)Someone tried to use a scare tactic on me to put down my lifestyle in order to justify their own...

3)Someone quoted some outdated nutritional propaganda like "don't you have to combine your foods to get your protein?"...

4)Someone gave me some lame excuse as to why they can't (fill in the blank-my favourites are eat raw foods, exercise, or give up chocolate)...

5)Someone said, "that's great for you, but I could never"...

Obviously, my diet and lifestyle are very much in the minority right now so I would probably be very financially rich if I counted all the negative comments or questions that people say to me. But the times are changing-thank goodness.

So what would I do with all that money? At this point, with all the changes I've made to my life, I honestly don't know. It certainly would not be the same as a few years ago, that's for sure.

How about you-what are the things people say/ask the most about your diet and lifestyle?

Organic Athlete Conference

2008-05-08T18:51:00.001-07:00

Organic Athlete just sent me this link for a conference they held a few years back with some of the most amazing speakers-Dr. Graham, his wife, Dr. Rozalind Graham (Gruben), Dr. Ruth Heidrich, and many, many more.

Check it out (copy and paste the address to access):
http://test.organicathlete.org/conference

One of my favourite Dr. D. posts (long, but worth it)

2008-05-03T03:58:00.000-07:00

The following commentary is real. I am hoping that people will
read it with an open mind, and decide for themselves what value, if
any, is to be found in it.

In health abundance naturally,

Dr Douglas N. Graham

Hi Doug,
I hope you are doing well. I just ran across this (please see below)
and thought it might be of interest to you. I'm sure you're used to
this type of controversy in the raw food community - this is the
first time I saw it in writing. I hear this opinion among other raw
fooders.

For my own edification, I'd be curious to hear from you how this
thinking is refuted with sound biological/biochemical/scientific
fact-based evidence vs. just disagreeing and making broad general
statements. He says people come down with the same cancers and
other diseases after eating so much fruit over the years - but my
suspicion is that may only be true if people routinely have too
much fat in their diet combined with the fruit, and he doesn't seem
to make a distinction between types of sugars.

I've read 80/10/10 as well as many of your other works, and the
works of many other raw fooders. The only philosophy that has
made sense to me over the years is the basis of The 80/10/10
Diet. While I have personally not achieved that ratio yet on a
consistent basis, I definitely strive to move "in the direction toward"
that goal. To the extent that I do, I notice an overall positive
improvement in my physical health and well-being. When I'm "off"
- I notice the negative consequences of that, too - at times pretty
acutely.

Thanks,
N.D.

This Week's Q&A with Paul Nison
(Please e-mail any questions you have to paul@Rawlife.com)
(We will do our best to reply to all questions in a timely manner.)

Question
I was reading through a book from Douglas N. Graham and he
really supports the idea of eating a lot of fruit. He says that as
long as you also have greens and water you can eat as much fruit
as you want. I am a little confused here. I don't want to be a
fruitarian, but, I do believe that fruit is good for you and it should
be in your diet. I think a balance should be struck here. Dr.
Graham has a new book out supporting his 80/10/10 plan. I'm
sure you have heard of it. Do you have an opinion on this? I'm
thinking you might tell me that I would have too much sugar in my
diet if I would follow this plan. Please help me in figuring this out.

Answer
Hippocrates Health Institute did many studies on consuming too
much sweet fruit and confirms that sugar supports cancer and
other diseases in the body. A very active ,healthy person can get
away with eating a lot of fruit for a certain amount of time, but
they are asking for trouble in the future. Dr. Gabriel Cousens also
confirms in his book “Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine” that too
much fruit does more harm than good. Fruit today has much more
sugar than ever before, and because of this it’s more than the body
can handle. Addiction to sugar has become a big cause of many
illnesses. From all my research, I found the Hippocrates Health
Institute way of eating, mostly greens, a little amount of raw fats
from a vegan plant based source and non-sweet fruits, is the ideal
diet for everyone.

Anything with a seed is a fruit, so non-sweet fruit would be
cucumbers, red peppers, etc.. I have seen many people thrive on a
high, sweet-fruit diet for the first few years but after that got the
same sicknesses as people eating a high processed sugar diet.
Fruit is a great food but eating too much can cause serious issues,
and my opinion is 80% sweet fruits is way too much sugar. Of
course there are other things to consider like, how much a person
is eating, how active a person is and what point they are starting
from with their health. Dr. Graham seems to do fine on this diet,
but I have never met anyone as active as he is. Even so, being more
active so you can eat more fruit is not a wise idea. The real issue is
overeating more than anything. Most people can enjoy a few pieces
of fruit each day (except people with cancer or other sugar related
issues) and be fine. But we have to be sensible out how much we
eat and control our sugar intake.

DG: The following comments are not meant as attack. I do not wish
them to be construed as such in any way. I was asked to respond
with facts and science, and have done so. The response may not be
what you wish to read. I have never told anyone what to think, but I
do encourage every person to think for him/herself. Hopefully my
responses will be thought provoking, informative, and possibly
definitive.

I have responded line by line to PNs comments, in an effort to be
as clear and concise as possible.

PN: Hippocrates Health Institute did many studies on consuming
too much sweet fruit and confirms that sugar supports cancer and
other diseases in the body.

DG: To my knowledge, HHI has never done even one true study.
They have analyzed the results of some of their clients, and drawn
conclusions. No actual studies were ever performed, no valid
science was utilized, no blind or double blind research was
created, evaluated, or even considered.

HHI never intentionally gave any client "too much" sweet fruit in
order to see what would happen, or ever utilized the low-fat
approach when utilizing moderate quantities of fruit.

While I agree that "too much" sweet fruit is bad for anyone, "too
much" of anything is bad for anyone. "Too much" inherently implies
a problem.
I am not recommending "too much" fruit, but rather suggesting
that most people do not eat enough fresh fruit.

Sugar does not "support" cancer. This “fact” has never been shown
ever, anywhere, by anyone. What has been shown is that cancer
cells, like all cells, fuel themselves with sugar. But then, all people
have roughly the same blood sugar levels, regardless of the diet
they eat, except for people who eat high levels of fat. These people
tend to have higher than normal blood sugar levels, thus providing
excess fuel for cancer cells. Blood supplies sugar to all cells of the
body. There is no way to stay alive without blood sugar. Therefore,
it is impossible to "starve" the cancer cells without also starving all
other cells of the body, including vital cells such as brain and liver
cells. We would have to kill ourselves In order to starve cancer cells
of sugar. Blood sugar does not come solely from eating sugar. In
order to regulate and stabilize blood sugar levels at all times, if we
do not eat sufficiently of carbohydrates, the body will manufacture
sugar from the protein and fat we consume.

"other diseases." It is not possible for me to comment on this
phrase, as I have no idea what other diseases PN is referring to.

PN: A very active, healthy person can get away with eating a lot of
fruit for a certain amount of time, but they are asking for trouble in
the future.

DG: "Get away with?" What does that mean? If it is taking them
down a precipitous road, then they are not "getting away" with
anything. I have been following this program in excess of 20 years.
When is the future going to take me down, what trouble am I
asking for, how far down the road is this predicted trouble, why
haven't I heard about it, why are Pritikin, McDougall, Ornish,
Esselstyn, Campbell, and the others unaware of it, how did PN get
privy to such info, and what qualifications does he have to make
such a sweeping statement?

PN: Dr. Gabriel Cousens also confirms in his book “Rainbow Green
Live Food Cuisine” that too much fruit does more harm than good.

DG: Ah, one source. An MD, says that "too much fruit does more
harm than good." I agree. "Too much" of anything does more harm
than good. And how, exactly, do we quantify harm and good? How
do we quantify "too much?” On my CD, "How much fruit is too
much?" I explain in depth exactly how to measure and monitor “too
much,” and respond to most of the unfounded fears that people
express about fruit eating.

PN: Fruit today has much more sugar than ever before, and because
of this it’s more than the body can handle.

DG: Which fruit can you name that has "much more sugar" than
ever before? I find that most fruit today isn't as sweet as the fruit I
remember from my childhood. I find that when I go to places in the
world where fruit is produced that it invariably tastes sweeter than
the stuff I buy in the markets in most of the US. Are Delicious
apples sweeter than they were 50 years ago? Are Cavendish
bananas sweeter than they were 50 years ago? Navel oranges? Bing
cherries? Is that what PN is saying? Currently, I can find no
evidence that fruit is sweeter than it used to be. I do know that a
few new varieties of fruits have come on to the market, that are
noticeably sweeter than their predecessors. Grapefruit is the main
example, though there are at least 4 or 5 others. I have heard
leaders in the raw movement state that bananas are 50 times
sweeter today than they used to be. Let's do the math.

Assume the only food you could find in nature was bananas, and
assume you are a moderately active man, requiring 3000 calories
per day. At 100 calories per large banana, you would have to eat
30 bananas per day, if that was the only food you ate.

It is possible to eat 30 bananas per day, though admittedly some
people would find it daunting, at least at first. In a survival
situation, however, we could all learn to eat that many, if that was
what was needed to meet our calorie requirement. A petite woman
might only require 2000 calories per day, or 20 bananas. Now, if
bananas are 50 times sweeter today, and since their primary
calorie source is carbohydrate, it would mean that bananas of the
past only supplied 2 calories each, barring the 4 calories that
would come from protein, and the fraction of a calorie that would
come from fat. At six calories per banana, (2 from carbohydrates
and 4 from protein) In order to meet her calorie need, that petite
woman would have to eat roughly 333 bananas per day to meet her
calorie needs. The man would need to eat 500 bananas per day.
Do you still believe that bananas are 50 times sweeter than they
used to be?

If so, please also consider the ramifications of the nutritional
content of the fruit that is being implied. A piece of fruit with .5
grams of carbohydrate, 1 gram of protein, and a negligible quantity
of fat would provide 66% of its total calorie content from protein!
Now that would be a truly amazing food. I mean, we are talking
about a fruit that has more protein per calorie than meat, pork,
fish, eggs, and almost every cut of poultry. To think that there are
raw food leaders that state that ALL FRUIT used to be this rich in
protein is astonishing to me. Do you ever wonder why no one else
in the entire world seems aware of this monumental historic fact?

PN: Addiction to sugar has become a big cause of many illnesses.

DG: Although the above statement sounds reasonable, it is flawed
in a variety of ways. Addiction to sugar is its own problem, if such
a thing exists. Sugar consumption is natural and normal for
humans, as is breathing air. Are we addicted to breathing air?

What is sugar addiction, I wonder? What type of sugar is PN
speaking of? Does type of sugar matter? Is he talking about
carbohydrate addiction, and if so, is he including alcohol addiction?
Do he distinguish between complex and simple carbohydrates, or
between refined and whole carbohydrates? What specific illnesses
is PN referring to? Is there a reason he is being so vague? Is he
referring to a physical addiction, or a psychological one? There is
profound scientific evidence to show that it is physiologically
impossible to become physically addicted to anything, and that all
addiction is psychological. At that point, it isn’t the substance, but
the susceptibility of the person that is relevant.

There certainly is sugar in the non-sweet fruits PN recommends,
and also in the greens he recommends. Are those sugars not part
of the same problem that he mentions, “addiction to sugar,” and if
not, how and why are they different from the sugars in fruit? Does
it matter whether the sugars PN refers to are incorporated into
whole foods, or if they are refined in some way, such as the sugars
in the refined supplements PN sells?

PN: From all my research, I found the Hippocrates Health Institute
way of eating, mostly greens, a little amount of raw fats from a
vegan plant based source and non-sweet fruits, is the ideal diet for
everyone.

DG: “From all my research” is a phrase commonly used in the raw
movement. What does it really mean, do you think, and is it the
same thing as what it implies?

Dictionary definitions of the word include:
diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in
order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.

And:
Scholarly or scientific investigation or inquiry.

Is PN actually asking us to believe that he engaged in “diligent,
systematic, scientific investigation?”

It's funny really. On one hand, PN has repeatedly insisted over the
years that there is no "one way" that is correct for everyone. On the
other, he now declares the HHI method is "ideal for everyone."

Yet PN has obviously misrepresented the viability of the HHI diet.
HHI uses a great many supplements in their program. In fact the
director of HHI has publicly declared that their raw food diet is
"nutritionally inadequate," and that "supplementation is necessary."

The HHI diet provides calories from three sources: "mostly greens,
a little amount of raw fats from a vegan plant based source and
non-sweet fruits." The non-sweet fruits provide roughly 20-25
calories per average-sized unit. The greens provide roughly 75
calories per pound.

A voracious eater with a large appetite might be able to eat 10
tomatoes, 10 peppers, and 10 cucumbers in a day, and also 2-3
pounds of greens, but I would imagine that that would represent a
daunting task. Even so, all of that food would only add up to 750-
975 calories. Where does the petite woman get her other 1250
calories, and where does the man get his other 2000 calories, if
not from fruit? From fat, obviously. This means that their diet is
roughly 65-70% of calories from fat, exactly as I described it in The
80/10/10 Diet. I would hardly call a diet that is 65-70% fat by
calorie to be, “a little amount of raw fats."

Essentially, this diet thumbs its nose at the world's most successful
and most respected health scientists, and recommends a diet that
uses 50% more fat than the Standard Western Diet, and in the
process, btw, roughly double to triple the quantity of salt.

PN: Anything with a seed is a fruit, so non-sweet fruit would be
cucumbers, red peppers, etc..

DG: Here are a few dictionary definitions of "fruit," none of which
seem to agree with PN's definition that "Anything with a seed is a
fruit."
2. the developed ovary of a seed plant with its contents and
accessory parts, as the pea pod, nut, tomato, or pineapple.
3. the edible part of a plant developed from a flower, with any
accessory tissues, as the peach, mulberry, or banana.
4. the spores and accessory organs of ferns, mosses, fungi,
algae, or lichen.

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source -
Share This
fruit (frt) Pronunciation Key
The ripened ovary of a flowering plant that contains the seeds,
sometimes fused with other parts of the plant.
Fruits can be dry or fleshy. Berries, nuts, grains, pods, and drupes
are fruits.
◇ Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries alone, such as the tomato
and pea pod, are called true fruits.
◇ Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries and other parts such as the
receptacle or bracts, as in the apple, are called accessory fruits or
false fruits.
See also aggregate fruit, multiple fruit, simple fruit., See Note at
berry.

Our Living Language : To most of us, a fruit is a plant part that is
eaten as a dessert or snack because it is sweet,
but to a botanist a fruit is a mature ovary of a plant, and as such it
may or may not taste sweet.
All species of flowering plants produce fruits that contain seeds. A
peach, for example, contains a pit that can grow into a new peach
tree,
while the seeds known as peas can grow into another pea vine. To
a botanist, apples, peaches, peppers, tomatoes, pea pods,
cucumbers, and winged maple seeds are all fruits.
A vegetable is simply part of a plant that is grown primarily for
food. Thus, the leaf of spinach, the root of a carrot, the flower of
broccoli, and the stalk of celery are all vegetables.
In everyday, nonscientific speech we make the distinction between
sweet plant parts (fruits) and nonsweet plant parts (vegetables).
This is why we speak of peppers and cucumbers and squash—all
fruits in the eyes of a botanist—as vegetables.

I have always made the distinction between botanical and culinary
definitions, in an effort to maintain clarity in my writing. If we wish
to call "anything with a seed" a fruit, then almost all plants would
technically be fruits. I believe, as educators, we can be a bit more
precise.

PN: I have seen many people thrive on a high, sweet-fruit diet for
the first few years but after that got the same sicknesses as people
eating a high processed sugar diet.

DG: Health is about so much more than diet. A smoker, for
instance, will likely develop emphysema regardless of the diet s/he
follows. The irksome thing is that my VegSource.com board has
been in existence for almost a decade now, with many people on it
following 811 for almost that long, and they have yet to show, "the
same sicknesses as people eating a high processed sugar diet." I
wonder how long it takes before my health decline will begin? To
point to diet when lifestyle is so obviously a major factor in health
represents poor logic, at best.

PN: Fruit is a great food but eating too much can cause serious
issues, and my opinion is 80% sweet fruits is way too much sugar.

DG: Obviously, this is a reference to The 80/10/10 Diet, and one
which clearly shows PN's lack of understanding of the concepts
involved in that program, and the likelihood that he has not read
the book. Since the world's authorities are in agreement that 10%
of protein by calorie is more than sufficient, and 10% of fat by
calorie is more than sufficient, I wonder how PN can come to any
conclusion other than to recommend 80% of the diet, by calorie, be
sourced from carbohydrates?

The funny part about it is that any time we eat fruit that is sweeter,
we invariably eat less of it. Sugar is satiating, a fact we all learned
as children, when our mothers would say to us, “don’t eat sweets
before your meal, it will spoil your appetite.” This means that
humans have a natural, built-in ability to regulate their sugar
intake in order to meet and accommodate their needs, as
recognized by the “sweet tooth.” We have no such ability to
regulate our fat intake, however, as demonstrated by people’s
inability to maintain a healthy weight when they incorporate a diet
that is high in fat.

PN: Of course there are other things to consider like, how much a
person is eating, how active a person is and what point they are
starting from with their health. Dr. Graham seems to do fine on this
diet, but I have never met anyone as active as he is.r,

DG: There are two models in health care; the medical model and
the health model. The medical model suggests that conditions for
health, when one is healthy, are different than those required for
health when one is attempting to regain health. Therefore,
according to the medical model approach, healthy children should
drink milk because it is good for them, but sick kids should avoid
milk because it will congest them. Drugs will make a healthy
person sick, but make a sick person well, or at least that is the
system utilized by the medical model. PN is relying upon your
acceptance of the medical model when suggesting that our
caloronutrient ratio should vary depending upon our health and
activity levels.

The health model asserts that the conditions required for health
when healthy and those required to regain health from sickness are
identical, and need only be modified to meet the needs of each
individual at any given time. Hence, we all need sunshine, fresh air,
exercise, sleep, etc, but in varying amounts at different times of
life. Had PN utilized this logical and proven health model, he would
see that the only variation required among adults is the total
calorie intake, and not caloronutrient ratio.

Regarding my personal fitness level, on average throughout the
year, I am lucky to get in one hour of physical activity per day.
Certainly this is not a prodigious amount of exercise. I have a
sedentary job, spend more time in the kitchen than in the gym
each day, and love spending time with my family. I do stay active,
and on a regular basis, but it is a small part of each day.

If PN has never met anyone as active as myself, he must live in a
very secluded world. I personally have met countless thousands of
people who are far more active than myself. Today, instead of
getting any physical activity at all, for instance, I have chosen to
write this response.

PN: Even so, being more active so you can eat more fruit is not a
wise idea.

DG: I certainly am not more active in order to eat more fruit, nor
have I ever recommended such an approach, but I do find that
being active leaves me with a greater overall calorie requirement
than if I was sedentary. Because I cannot obtain those calories from
greens and non-sweet fruity vegetables, and because I choose not
to obtain those calories from fat or complex carbohydrates, fruit
becomes the obvious and only healthy choice. Of course, eating
more total calories means that I take in more nutrients in total
than a person who eats fewer calories. In theory, consuming more
total calories in the form of whole fruits and vegetables, hence
more total nutrients, is a good thing in terms of overall nutrition.

PN: The real issue is overeating more than anything.

DG: Let’s look at the original question again, and then read the
above response.
“I was reading through a book from Douglas N. Graham and he
really supports the idea of eating a lot of fruit. He says that as
long as you also have greens and water you can eat as much fruit
as you want. I am a little confused here. I don't want to be a
fruitarian, but, I do believe that fruit is good for you and it should
be in your diet. I think a balance should be struck here. Dr.
Graham has a new book out supporting his 80/10/10 plan. I'm
sure you have heard of it. Do you have an opinion on this?”

Is the real issue, as PN suggest, “overeating more than anything”?
Or is switching the subject to a completely different topic than the
questioner wrote about simply an avoidance tactic? I see nowhere
in the question anything about over-eating, do you? In fact, I
believe the question either asks if PN has an opinion of The
80/10/10 Diet, or if he has an opinion about eating a diet of
fruits, vegetables and water. How did the real issue become over-
eating?

My weight has remained stable for the past 20+ years. I do not
believe I am over-eating, nor do I believe I am recommending that
anyone over-eat. I never eat till I hurt, and I never hurt myself with
my food choices. What type of over-eating is PN referring to? I am
not aware of there being any over-eating in The 80/10/10 Diet, or
any recommendations to do so.

PN: Most people can enjoy a few pieces of fruit each day (except
people with cancer or other sugar related issues) and be fine.

DG: The American Cancer Society recommends that people with
cancer eat all the fruit they care for, as does the American Diabetes
Association and the American Heart Association. I don’t know
what other sugar-related conditions PN might be referring to. The
National Candida Society does not seem to make specific dietary
recommendations, but exists solely to refer clients to treating
professionals. Certainly, had PN read The 80/10/10 Diet, he would
know that I took the time to address each and every issue and
opposition to fruit-eating, one at a time, in depth. I wonder what
information PN has access to that these esteemed organizations
and the hundreds of thousands of doctors, scientists, and
researchers that support them don't have that enables him to make
such sweeping diagnostic and prognostic statements

PN: But we have to be sensible out how much we eat and control
our sugar intake.

DG: What is sensible about a diet that is 65+% fat by calorie?
What is sensible about a diet that admittedly requires
supplementation in order to be considered nutritionally sound?
What is sensible about a diet that intentionally restricts fruit
consumption, on of the only foods that is universally considered a
health food?
What is sensible about a dietary approach that excludes fitness?

I agree, we should be sensible about how much we eat.
Maintaining a healthy body weight, and a healthy level of body fat,
are prime requisites to healthy living.
As mentioned previously, my weight has remained stable,
essentially unchanged, over the past 20+ years. Has PN maintained
his weight over the last decade, or has he steadily gained weight?
The director of HHI told me not long ago that he has gained over
50 pounds during the last decade from the 135-pounds that he
had maintained for the decade prior.

Why should we "control" our sugar intake, but not our fat intake?
We have an innate desire to eat sweets, but no ability to even taste
fat.
We have built-in blood-sugar monitoring systems in our body that
make it almost impossible for us to over-eat on sugar.
No such mechanisms are available to help us regulate or monitor
our fat intake.

I wonder, would PN recommend that chimpanzees “control” their
sugar intake?

Hope this helps,

Dr D

Sorry chocolate lovers...

2008-05-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is an old post by Dr. Graham about chocolate or cacao. I used to love the stuff, now I wouldn't go near it with a ten foot poll. Ever wonder why there are so many studies that show that women love chocolate more than sex? I used to think this was so cute and funny. Read on to find out why it's actually very scary.

rom: Dr. Doug Graham (DrGraham.vegsource.com)
Subject: Chocolate
Date: June 7, 2005 at 3:49 am PST

In Reply to: Naked Chocolate posted by Jamie Clark on June 5, 2005 at 5:35 pm:

Briefly, ever so briefly,

First, there is no raw chocolate being sold, anywhere. In order to taste like chocolate, cacao beans must be heated. I have lived in the tropics and have tried to bring out the chocolate taste in other ways, it simply cannot be done. There is no such thing as raw chocolate.
Even the chocolate that is fermented so said to be raw is eventually heated, and high enough to be cooked.

I am sure you know that heating the proteins in chocolate denatures them and causes them to become carcinogenic. I assume you are aware that heating the carbohydrates caramelizes them, adversely affecting their GI rating and also creating carcinogens. It made worldwide headlines three years ago that heating fats, even the fats in chocolate, results in the production of carcinogens, so that is no news to you, I am sure. It also results in the production of enzyme resistant protein bonds that are a causative agent in conditions ranging from arthritis to allergies, leaky gut, and many others. The double bonds of the fats in chocolate become triple bonds under the influence of heat making them physiologically nonviable for humans and adversely impacting upon our cholesterol levels.

As far as the components of chocolate, essentially it is a cocktail of toxic chemicals and drugs.
Cacao beans contain:
methylxanthines such as the stimulant drugs known as caffeine, theobromine, and theophyllin, all of which are known to produce permanent degenerative alterations in cellular protoplasm.
More tannin than tea.
Oxalic acid
Cannabinoids
Aflatoxins

There is not the time to go into the toxic impact of each of this drugs, but if you want such information I can supply it via a consultation. I am sure you can do a search on these substances to find their debilitating effects on human health.

So, chocolate is not raw, is defintely not health food, and cannot be considered a superfood. There is nothing about marketing chocolate that can be considered a positive except for the possible bottom line profits that it may offer.

Hope this helps,
Dr D

I, of course, agree with Dr. D., but I can also add from my own research that early natives only used to eat the fruit around the cacao beans and would never eat the seeds. I personally have tried this white delicious cacao fruit from a tree in Costa Rica. It is delicious, but not at all like chocolate.

Go 100%!

2008-04-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Go 811 100%

Even one cooked meal a week makes a difference. Imagine what one cooked meal a day does! My husband and I are perfect examples. I am 100% 811, no grains(rice, breads, etc.),no starches (potatoes, etc.), no cooked food whatsoever. I follow proper food combining, proper exercise, proper sleep, proper sunshine, etc, etc. He eats one cooked vegan meal a week, when he goes out with a friend. He can not lose his excess weight-he still has high blood pressure etc, etc. Re-read the 811 book. Go 100% with everything-it makes a huge difference!

p.s.

To quote Dr. D.: "The easiest transition is the quickest transition." Or here's another good quote: "In order to kill the cooked food cravings monster you must starve him to death. Every morsel of cooked food keeps him alive." (Awesome to be Rawsome's site). Like Dragon said, every time I've slipped up even with a non-fat, unseasoned, cooked meal-it took me days to recuperate. Every slip up is a cheat of your health and tremendously slows down the good of 811. With that in mind, however, we shouldn't beat ourselves up over a slip up, because that makes it all that much harder to recuperate from it. Get back on the horse and keep riding him properly-figuratively speaking of course-I am vegan afterall.

The Raw Spirit Festival=The Dark Side of Raw

2008-04-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

The Raw Spirt Festival is, in my opinion, the dark side of raw. Talk about marketing hype trying to pass for nutritional information. I checked out their list of presenters and associates. I could not find one that did not sell or promote some kind of "superfood", super "vitamin supplement", "miracle" bee pollen, "miracle" apple cidar vinegar, "essential" cold, pressed "raw" oil, etc., etc., etc. When making money becomes more important than telling the truth, this is what you get.

None of that stuff is needed for optimal health-none.

Dr. D., I've spent about 100$ on your books(two 811 because I want to share, and "Grain Damage", plus the "high Energy recipe book") and a t-shirt (I've made a bunch of my own 811rv t-shirts for pennies). Yet the SELF-EMPOWERING lessons I've learned from them are worth a million, if not much more. You've taught me that I can do it on my own, without any of that other nonesense. I can not thank you enough.

Raw video and concert

2008-04-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a neat video trailer and promo for a raw concert. I don't know this fellow, but he has an interesting and new perspective about how to get the raw message out there. Hope you enjoy it. Ciao

http://www.markusrothkranz.com/go_raw_now/raw_markus_video.html

Copy the address to be able to watch it.

I just checked out his site more thoroughly and it is definitely not 811. The irony is that in his video he compares apples which as he says can grow when put into the ground with cereal, bread etc. that comes in boxes which become mold if planted. His conclusion is to eat only the apple because it's alive. Yet, his recipes and the products he recommends are: celtic salt, nama shoyu, apple cider vinegar, luna flakes, sesame oil, high fat recipes (totally bad for humans, even if they're raw). Do any of those products grow into an apple tree if planted in the ground? I'm very disappointed-he still has a long way to go to start really walking his talk.

Update April 28th, 2008

Ok, I couldn't resist. I just had to write to him.

Here's what I wrote:

Dear Markus,

I just discovered your trailer to your raw video and concert. At first I was delighted because you seemed to be saying everything I agree with and practice. For example, in your video you compared an apple to boxes of cereal, breads, etc. You said accurately that the apple is the better choice because it is alive and when planted will become an apple tree;whereas, those boxes become nothing but mold if planted. How true!!! Yet, on your website you promote recipes and products such as celtic salt, apple cidar vinegar, nama shoyu, sesame oil, luna, dehydrated flakes in a plastic container (not even vegan-mostly protazoan lifeforms) and high fat foods-which even if they're raw are not healthy for humans. Are any of the above mentioned products natural or appropriate for human consumption? Will any of them grow if planted in the ground? In fact, they will kill life forms in the ground-especially the salt-which is even worse than becoming mold.

The raw message is so important because as you point out there are soooo many people who have health problems. Yet these products only promote more health problems and should not be used even in transition because as you rightly pointed out, our bodies don't just eat a pizza and then pass it out, it becomes us and our cells stop functioning properly. I thank you for your efforts in promoting the raw lifestyle, but I strongly urge you to reconsider promoting such products.

I personally practice the 811 low fat raw vegan lifestyle promoted by Dr. Douglas Graham (www.foodnsport.com). If you are interested in seeing my blog about my experiences here is the address: www.via811.blogspot.com

Sincerely

Perspective

2008-04-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a wonderful story I found. I don't know who the author is but it came from a blog called sunistacollection. I really liked it and had to share it. Enjoy.

Perspective

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what you learned from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night...
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."
Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.
Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!

You know you're an 811 raw vegan when...

2008-04-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I was surfing the net as they say and I came across awesome to be rawsome's blog (reallyraw.com) and she had a post titled "you know you're a raw fooder when..." Anyway, she had some of the funniest posts. I won't reproduce them here since I don't have her permission, but I thought it would be fun to start one of our own. So here goes it for me, please jump in and add your own.

You know you're an 811 raw vegan when:

Your smelly morning poo tells you for sure that you shouldn't have eaten that avocado yesterday...

You expect the question and know the answer like the back of your hand to "Where do you get your protein from?"...

Your dogs are almost, but not quite, as crazy for ripe bananas as you are...

Guys half your age check you out...(hehe, if they only knew I could be their mother)...

You click your tongue inside your head as you watch other people unload their shopping buggies...

You can't wait to check out vegsource everyday to see what your fellow 811ers have to say...

You almost squeal for joy like a little girl at the discovery of a new dragon fruit variety...

Airline security calls in the bomb squad because of the durian you've brought on board and you and your wife are left trying to explain what it is (Sorry Dr. D., but Dr. Klein posted this on his forum and I thought it was too funny not to share)...

Yes! The hummingbirds are coming back...

2008-04-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

I just got a great message from my sister about a lady who is in a hummingbird fly zone feeding them from her hand. Great picture! That means they're on their way here to Québec. I can't wait. When they arrive, I know summer is finally here-that and the croaking of the frogs too. Enjoy!

There must be a lot of sick people out there...

2008-04-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

I don't usually watch tv much, but today I put on the boob tube for about an hour. What really struck me is that at every commercial, almost every ad was for some kind of medecine, treatment or supplement. There were ads and pills for impotency problems, cholesterol problems, allergy problems, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, diabetes etc., etc., etc., For companies to spend that much money on advertising on network television is a strong indication that there is a huge market for such products. Otherwise it wouldn't pay to advertise so much. This really brought home the fact that many, many people are not healthy. How sad...

Since reading and implementing the lessons learned from "The China Study", "The 80/10/10 Diet" and Natural hygiene litterature, I've come to understand why we're in such a state and what we can do to change things. I'm so happy for myself, that my own life and health has improved. I wish I could give that gift to everyone. The best way to do that, of course, is to be the change you want to see in the world like Ghandhi said. Or like one of my mentors, Harley, recently said: Do the right things, be patient, have faith. I'm still travelling the road...and I'll leave you with a jest said in much earnest.

Preventive medicine belief
Mary: My daughter believes in preventative medicine, doctor.

Doctor: Oh, really?

Mary: Yes, she tries to prevent me from making her take it!

We should listen to our children more.

Vitamin supplements may increase risk of death...

2008-04-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

Vitamin supplements may increase risk of death
James Randerson, science correspondent
Article history
The Guardian, Wednesday April 16 2008 Article history

Vitamin supplements taken by millions of people do not increase life expectancy and may raise the risk of a premature death , according to a review of 67 studies with more than 230,000 subjects.

The review, by the Cochrane Collaboration which regularly pools data from trials to evaluate drugs and treatments, found supplements vitamin A, vitamin E and beta-carotene are detrimental to health. In 47 trials with 180,938 people and a low risk of bias, the "antioxidant supplements significantly increased mortality", the authors wrote. When the antioxidants were assessed separately and low risk of bias trials were included and selenium excluded, vitamin A was linked to a 16% increased risk of dying, beta-carotene to a 7% increased risk and vitamin E to a 4% increased risk.

Evidence for vitamin C and selenium was more equivocal, suggesting there was no benefit to taking these pills compared with a placebo.

"The bottom line is current evidence does not support the use of antioxidant supplements in the general healthy population or in patients with certain diseases," said Goran Bjelakovic, who performed the review at Copenhagen Universityhospital in Denmark. "There was no indication that vitamin C and selenium may have positive or negative effects. So regarding these we need more data from randomised trials."

All the supplements are categorised as antioxidants; research has suggested these chemicals underlie some of the beneficial effects of eating fruit and vegetables because they soak up harmful byproducts of metabolism which can damage cells and cause aging.

While the evidence of a beneficial effect of a diet rich in fruit and veg is solid, the Cochrane data suggest antioxidant supplements are either useless or detrimental.

Bjelakovic's team evaluated 67 randomised clinical trials with 232,550 subjects; 21 of the trials were on healthy subjects, while the rest tested patients with a range of diseases. The evidence suggests it would be safer to obtain the chemicals not as supplements but by eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.

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Background: your vitamins explained

Have your say: are pills doing us any good? NOPE

Here's a great article to be found at www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/16/medicalresearch

Questioning 80/10/10

2008-04-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Why oh why do people question 80/10/10? I look at what is the healthiest, most natural, instinctive, scientifically and anthropologically sound diet out there and yet there are people asking if it can be good, if they will get deficiencies etc. etc. How could you get deficiencies with this? If the guys eating pizza (raw or cooked) don't get deficiencies, why would you?
For those naysayers, who say we should have fats or cooked starches instead of fruits, is there ANY scientific basis for this? Is there an instinctive basis?? NONE, not that they have told me anyway!!
I for one know how much I dislike fats, not that they taste bad, but because of the way I feel, so drugged and sleepy. My hormones go crazy. I feel depressed, I get moody and crazy. Mr. David Wolfe had fat man tits when I last saw him, his skin was NOT glowing, in fact, I wouldn't even call him a raw foodist. To the people questioning 811, WHERE is there a model in nature for high fat raw? WHERE is the science behind it? etc. etc. etc. Step OUT of your mind and step INTO your body for ONCE in your life, and then you will KNOW, beyond a doubt, that 811 is the ONLY way to eat. Only thing I add personally is green juices, I believe in those benefits for myself, don't want arguments, I am IN my own body. Thanks for letting me vent.

This was posted by Hanan today on vegsource and I couldn't agree more!