Raw Food Nutrition
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
The History Of Raw Food
Written by Tristan Anderson
Through billions of years of evolution on this planet, raw food has been created to sustain all forms of life which dwell on the surface. Without this raw food, life as we know it would not be possible on earth. Raw food is alive! Raw food is natural, organic, non-GMO, un-cooked, and retains its full life-force. Raw food is generally fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, seaweeds, roots, algaes, meat and dairy, yet is also anything on the face of the earth that could be eaten. A simple, yet profound, question to ask one’s self is, “If earth spent this long creating life-sustaining food, is there really any need to alter it?” For raw food nutrition proponents, the answer to this question would be “No.” The basic belief is, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”
Raw food nutrition has been the diet for humans for most of its history. Until the application of fire to food, which indeed has been thought to have occurred relatively recently in our history, humans as well as every other living creature on earth, ate food as it was found naturally: raw. Cooked food slowly began to become enticing to humans as it allowed them to preserve their food for longer and allowed them to populate regions of earth that otherwise would have been uninhabitable. Throughout human history over the last 5,000 years it is clear to see that humans have thoroughly taken advantage of cooking food, and have amassed huge amounts of preserved food as well as populated almost every conceivable area of earth. For some, this has made the case of cooking food an incredible discovery that is well justifiable. However, for many raw foodists they believe that cooking food has led to extreme overpopulation of the earth (which would not be possible with raw food nutrition because humans would need to live in small groups in areas that were already bountiful with raw food or had the ability to be cultivated). Cooking food has also led to the over production and unequal distribution of food, and obvious evidence of lack of health in humans, with new diseases being developed every year.
Even though cooked food nutrition has become a dominant force in these last five thousand years of history, there still remains groups and individuals who have continued the old way of raw food nutrition. One of the most famous raw foodist groups, according to ancient writings found by Edmond Szekely, a modern religious scholar, were the Essenes. The Essenes were an esoteric Judaic group that lived near the Dead Sea in Palestine from around 150 B.C.E. to 70 C.E. The Essenes lived in small communities, were completely vegetarian, ate only raw food, were said to live to 120 or older, and dedicated themselves to living a spiritual life. In the Essene Gospel Of Peace, which is supposedly the teachings of Jesus, Jesus recommends a completely raw food diet for health of the body and mind, and for increased ability for divine communion.
Other raw foodists were many of the ancient Taoist and Buddhist practitioners. They often lived in secluded mountain regions and ate a diet consisting mainly of herbs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. They found that this diet increased their ability to commune with nature, as well as quieted the restless mind. Many ancient yogis from India followed a raw food diet, as it increased their prana and helped to stimulate the awakening of Kundalini. Pythagoras in Greece was said to recommend a vegetarian raw food diet to his disciples.
The roots of the raw food movement in the U.S. began at the turn of the 19th century, when a group of vegan raw foodists from Germany settled in Southern California. They came to the U.S. to recreate a Garden of Eden scenario. This meant they lived completely nude, ate a raw food diet of mainly fruit, and worshiped nature.
Later other raw food advocates such as Ann Wigmore and Victoras Kulvinskas began creating raw food centers where people could come for nutritional healing. Now, in 2006, there are raw food centers in almost every state, many raw food restaurants, and an ever growing number of people adopting this diet.
Types Of Raw Food Diets
Living Foodist: one whose diet is vegan, organic, and consisting mainly of raw sprouts, fermented foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Any food that has its life-force still intact is considered a live food.
Sproutarian: one whose diet is mainly raw sprouts. Those eating this diet are extremely rare.
Fruitarian: one whose diet consists mainly of raw fruit. Many fruitarians also eat small amounts of raw vegetables, sprouts, nuts and seeds in order to maintain balance.
Natural Hygiene: there is varied descriptions of this diet within the field, but is typically a raw food diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sometimes raw dairy.
Mono-eating: this is a raw food diet in which a person eats only one raw food at a time. It is claimed that the body is better able to digest food if there is only one type to digest.
Essene: this diet is based on the teachings of Jesus in The Essene Gospel Of Peace. It is a vegetarian diet, consisting of raw sprouts, wheatgrass, vegetables, fruits, and often raw dairy products such as milk and yogurt.
Primal Diet: one whose diet consists of raw meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. It is claimed by people following this diet that it is most likely the diet of ancient humans.
Metaphysics is an interesting field to discuss health. Raw food is a way of life in which nothing cooked is eaten. Raw food consumers consider themselves raw foodist s. The above list of different diet types shows the diversity of edible human food out there. The advantage of living food is usually the microbes. Hear testimonials that say the live lifestyle is energizing. Live diets may not be healthy for a baby so be careful when switching to the raw diet. Are bones considered raw? Eat raw food now delivery is easy, the sun plus CO2 equals food. Complete nutrition can not be achieved with raw foods, unless raw meat is consumed. The raw menu is healthier and larger than most think. Take a retreat from the norm stop cooking away the nutritional value of your food today.