Bet Your Health on Raw

Bet your healthon raw foodPosted: 6:17 PM (Manila Time) Jun. 28, 2003By Eckard RempeInquirer News ServiceGift

MY JOURNEY into raw, living foods started a few days before Christmas 1993. I found a gift from my accountant on my office table, a book entitled "Why Christians Get Sick."
"Well," I argued in my mind, "why should we Christians not get sick like anybody else? Why do we always think we are better than others?"I viewed the book with reluctance and suspicion. Not exactly my kind of reading. Little did I know that my life, and the lives of the people very close to me, would be changed by it forever.

The morning after an enjoyable New Year's Eve meal at a friend's house, we departed for a few days at the beach. I threw the book into my travel bag, intending to read a few pages here and there in case my accountant asked me how I liked her gift.As soon as I read the first paragraph, I was jolted into a different mindset. I was unable to put the book down. By that afternoon, I was a changed person.My journey had started-a journey that initially brought pain, uncertainty and frustrations into my life. My relationships were put to the test, family ties were strained, friendships questioned, lifelong habits broken, religious beliefs challenged-and all because I had decided to become a raw vegetarian.Vegetarianism would not have raised anyone's eyebrows, but eating only raw food certainly would, especially since this was simply unheard of in the early 1990s.Giving up my German sausages, cold cuts, pork chops, pig-knuckles, potatoes and cakes, not to mention beer and wine, was initially unthinkable. And yet, from the moment that I made the decision, I have stayed the course.

Eating my favorite "healthy" breakfast grain or fruit muesli was suddenly a no-no, as were my fried or scrambled eggs in the morning. Even potatoes and rice were no good.What exactly was it that made me shift to a radically different lifestyle?"Raw" refers to all unprocessed fruits, sprouted seeds, vegetables, and nuts. I personally like the term "sunfood" better than "raw food" because it implies that the food is totally natural and has that all-important ingredient in it, "life-force energy." Bury an apple into Mother Earth and out comes an apple tree. But when the apple is cooked in a microwave oven, nothing comes out. The life force has been destroyed. Do we need to say more?

The same thing happens to processed or cooked foods: their key elements or enzymes are destroyed. Thus, our bodies no longer get maximum support for digestion and numerous other functions.In other words, food that is cooked is chemically altered and is no longer capable of providing the energy, vitamins and nutrients needed to sustain or provide superior health. What it actually does is set us up for disease, dehydration, malnutrition and premature aging.Only plant-based foods in their raw state contain the enzymes and life-giving chlorophyll that provide the building blocks for vibrant health and vitality.In fact, no other species on our planet eats by destroying its food first in the deadly forces of fire and heat. Only humans do. Now, just because it has been done for a long time does not necessarily mean it is right
.http://www.inq7.net/lif/2003/jun/29/lif_5-1.htm