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)
Written by Tristan Anderson
The History Of Raw Food
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.
Energetic Qualities Of Vegan Raw Food
Vegan raw foods retain the original matrix of energy that was patterned by the forces of the earth, sun, water, air, and the universe. If eaten in its raw state these energetic qualities are transferred in their natural state to the being who is eating them. In this way humans can connect with the forces of the universe. In fact, food is our most dominant and sensual way of interacting with our environment. The saying, “you are what you eat,” is in fact one of the most profound truths. What we eat is what creates our bodies, gives us the energy to think, move, and be alive.
Vegan raw food is nourished by the soil, transferring essential nutrients and pure earth energy. The energy of vegan raw foods is in perfect resonance with the healing forces of the earth. Many vegan raw foodists claim that meat and dairy are too hard to digest, and lack the vitality and life force of vegan foods, and therefore are not considered healing foods.
Most vegan raw foods consist mainly of water, especially fruits. A cucumber is over 90 percent water. This water is highly charged from the life force of the food. Many raw foodists claim that the water in organic vegan raw foods is the purest water we can get on earth at this time. The energy of this water is extremely healing. Many people juice fruits and vegetables to allow the body to easily absorb this charged water.
Sunlight is absorbed by chlorophyll in plants and converted into many nutrients. It also nourishes all raw food with its energetic qualities and allows them to flourish. By eating vegan raw food we can directly transfer this sunlight energy into our system and be healed by it.
Vegan raw foods are highly charged with oxygen. Oxygen is often thought of as energy that we get only from breathing. However, food is also a source of oxygen. Many raw foodists consider oxygen to be one of the greatest healing components in raw food. It is interesting to note that there is more oxygen in the soil than the atmosphere. Raw food is nourished from oxygen both above and below.
Many spiritual traditions speak of a universal energy that is the root of all other forms of energy. It is also known as the life force, chi, prana, etc. Through a modern technology called Kirlian photography, it is now possible to actually see the life force within raw food. It is photographed as a luminous field of energy that is within the food and surrounds it. Mainstream nutritionists have yet to explain the properties of this life force and its healing properties. However, spiritual traditions throughout the world have emphasized the important role that the life force brings in terms of healing and increased awareness.
Many raw food advocates claim that most, if not all, of these energetic qualities are altered if the food is cooked, irradiated, frozen, or sprayed with chemicals. When cooked, food loses a significant amount of water and nutrients, the earth and sun energies are said to be disrupted and disorganized, oxygen molecules are lost when the water decreases, and the life force is decreased or completely gone. This has been proven through Kirlian photography of raw and cooked foods. The raw food shows a significant field of light, while the cooked food shows little or no light within or around it.
Pros & Cons Of A Raw Food Diet
The benefits of a raw food diet, according to advocates, are vast. Some of the major benefits are increased energy, better digestion, weight loss or gain to reach an optimal size, reduced risk of disease, and increased spiritual awareness. Other benefits are increased intake of water, increased connection with the earth, and a general feeling of lightness and well-being.
There are many who question the benefits of the raw food diet, though, and even claim that it can be very detrimental. According to Gabriel Cousens M.D. in Spiritual Nutrition (2005), one of the major criticisms is that a vegan raw food diet does not supply the body with B12, an essential vitamin in the production of DNA, RNA, normal red blood cells, and other important physiological functions, which according to Gabriel Cousens is indeed true for most of us. However, Gabriel suggests that to be a successful vegan raw foodist it is essential to take a B12 supplement, and there is even a live B12 supplement on the market. Other ways to get B12 on a vegan raw food diet are to eat plenty of wild food. B12 is created by bacteria that live on plants. Once the food has sat in a grocery store or been washed, the B12 is gone.
Other criticisms of the raw food diet are that it can be difficult to obtain all the necessary nutrients. Raw foodists point out, though, that cooked food has been proven to lose nutrients when it is cooked and that raw food retains all its nutrients. Also, raw foodists have shown that all essential nutrients can be found in raw foods, and as with cooked food nutrition, it takes understanding of what you need and then how to achieve it.