• RawforLife website here
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• Contributions as an individual to raw food forums

• Raw Food Preparation Classes
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• Forthcoming Events: Raw Food Preparation Classes
• Feature Article: Thank God I'm not normal any more!
• SUPER Food of the Month: Red Hot Chili Pepper
• Recipe: RawforLife Rainbow Sprout Salad with Chili Dressing
• 'Pick of the Blog': How many raw foods do we need for a 'balanced' diet?
• Shop Around: Cuisinart Mini Food Processor
• Book of the Month: Hovannessian 'Raw-eating'

How about spending 26th June at my home, seeing a succession of raw meals demonstrated, chatting about raw food with like-minded people, and eating delicious raw food all day? Spend a little time in the RawforLife class shop, or simply browse through my selection of raw food books. And, at the end of the day, take-aways!

In the Spring, I ran the Alissa Cohen class in April, and it was sold out two weeks before class date. The RawforLife Experience was next, in May, and bookings were a slower, but we ended up with a full class just the same.

Now the strange thing is that this time it's the other way round. I still have five places left for the Alissa Cohen class in June, but the RawforLife Experience, in July, is almost sold out!

It's still me teaching both the classes. The main difference between the Alissa class and the RawforLife Experience is that it acts as the first rung towards teaching Alissa Cohen classes yourself - more information on the website at alissacohen.com. But, whether or not you'd like to do that at some point in the future, the class is an EXCELLENT raw food preparation class in its own right.

Please don't worry that you won't know anyone; RawforLife groups are small, informal and friendly. And, although all food served will be raw vegan, everyone is welcome, whether following a raw, cooked, vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore diet.

The comments of the last Alissa class attendees speak for themselves, and I do hope these will convince you that YOU should be filling one of the five places remaining. A raw food prep class is a lovely way to spend a day (I should know - I went to every one going in my first year of raw!), and I should say that I'm unlikely to be running any more day classes now until at least October. So don't delay if you're interested.

So, if you think you might like to join us on 26th June, click Alissa 26th June class for more details.

Thank God I'm not normal any more!

• I was 'slim'. At 5 ft 5 ins my weight would fluctuate wildly between 8 stone (112 lbs) and 9 1/2 stone (133 lbs) over 12-month periods, and could easily fluctuate by half a stone (7 lbs) over a period of just a few weeks. The red dress photograph is at the 133 end. People used to say to me 'You're lucky - you're one of those people who can eat what they like and stay slim.' But this wasn't true. Like most people, I knew that whenever I 'relaxed' and stopped monitoring daily my weight and food intake, the flab would accumulate. My waist would grow wider and clothes would tighten, and I'd then have to count calories and increase gym attendance to bring things down again. Then after a few months I'd 'relax' again and the fat would start creeping back on...., and I'd have to start all over again! There were clothes of all different sizes in my wardrobe - some just hanging there annoying me.

• I drank - a bit more than I should. I'd have 1-2 glasses of wine a day and often a g & t on top of that, and felt that I couldn't sparkle at a party without alcohol. (Fairly) NORMAL.
• I needed 7-8 hours of sleep a night. NORMAL.
• I'd often wake in the night, feeling thirsty. Increasingly, I found my bladder couldn't make it through the night and a loo visit would be necessary - eventually every night. I was told that this was NORMAL for a lot of women 'my age'...(aargh!).
• I'd wake in the morning a mass of aches. Since talking to others, I realise this is NORMAL for many people.
• Tea and coffee would be needed to 'get me going' in the morning. NORMAL.
• I'd need a cooked breakfast (OK - just toast, but cooked - in fact 'double-cooked'!) as if I didn't have this, I'd feel an uncomfortable gnawing in my stomach later. NORMAL.
• My mouth tasted yuk on waking. NORMAL.
• My gums used to bleed most time I brushed. Gum disease is increasingly NORMAL nowadays.
• I needed deodorant daily. NORMAL.
  (Oh, and speaking of 'smells', I'd need to warn people not to use the bathroom just after I'd been in there...)
  NORMAL.
• And occasionally I'd see strange little white balls in amongst my ... eliminations - maybe candida overgrowth?
  (Increasingly) NORMAL nowadays.
• All my adult life I'd had an intermittent acute pain (every few weeks) halfway down my left side. IBS symptom? (Increasingly) NORMAL nowadays.
• I'd usually have a couple of colds a year. NORMAL.
• I had hayfever. NORMAL.
• I had pain on the first day of my periods. NORMAL.

• Weight - I'm now 7 1/2 stone (105 lbs). I expect this is below what is considered NORMAL for my height on a standard chart. However, when I consider that the big fluctuations are long behind me, that my weight hasn't budged, up or down, in a nine month period, that I still have a female shape, and that I eat all I like (and I do eat for pleasure - I love my food!), and as well as fruit, leaves and seeds I eat plenty of nuts, avocados, 'milk'shakes and raw chocolate, I must conclude that 7 1/2 stone is the ideal weight for me. I'm not 'too thin' - weight charts are based on a NORMAL (that's UNHEALTHY!) population. And strong fit animals show their ribs when they move. Weight is something that I never have to think about any more, I've cancelled my gym membership (I do Tibetan Rejuvenation rites now) and the £60 pm I've saved has been diverted to detoxyourworld.com! And I buy clothes knowing they'll always fit me, as long as I stay raw.

• I don't drink alcohol any more. Some raw fooders do, as wine is technically raw. But, as my body became cleaner, wine started to taste to me as it did when I first tasted it as a child - not nice.
• I sleep 5-6 hours a night, and never have to get up to go to the loo any more. I don't wake a mass of aches, my mouth tastes fine, and I don't need tea or coffee to get me going. I'm bright in the morning and start the day with juice.
• The 'gnawing' sensation that I used to mistake for hunger? I still had it at 75% raw; I used to have a salad and feel 'ravenous' shortly afterwards. But after moving to 95%, then 100% raw, the gnawing stopped, and I NEVER experience it now. It all made sense when I read William Hay MD describe the gnawing as due to the acidic contents of the stomach following cooked food.
• My gums stopped bleeding and have never bled since.
• I no longer routinely use deodorant, and, on that related subject I touched on earlier, I used to criticise Dr Gillian McKeith on 'You Are What You Eat' for sniffing the bathroom after people had used it. I used to say she was disgusting. Now I know who was disgusting. Mine are now either odourless or very mild, and never bad - hooray! And I never see what I think was probably candida overgrowth any more. That went with my raw food diet (and I didn't cut down on fruit either).
• I never had the IBS-type pain, EVER AGAIN, after switching to a high-raw diet. Wonder what it was!
• The first winter of raw, my family all had coughs and colds. I didn't. The second winter of raw - same thing.
• I've had no hayfever.
• No period pains.

And...the dreaded menopause? Well, I think I'm probably in it, as I don't have a period every month, and I'm 50 this 9/11, but Nothing Awful has happened. Not one 'symptom'. Feel great! And 'vital statistics' - my BP is 100/60 and resting pulse 48.

Space doesn't permit me to list all the non-physical ways in which my life has changed radically over the last eighteen months. Perhaps that will be another article one day. Until then, I'll wrap up this personal account, so you can get on and try that excellent salad, by saying:


THANK GOD I'M NOT NORMAL ANY MORE!

I've chosen chili pepper (red ones - the green are unripe) as 'Super Food of the Month' as it's a key element in the RawforLife Rainbow Sprout Salad. But, chili is...quite controversial. However, this alone qualifies it to take the spotlight this month and I'll present the different arguments to you - see what you think.

Chili peppers (chili can be also be spelt with a double 'l') have been part of the diet of South and North Americans for thousands of years. A few hundred years ago they found their way to the West Indies, and Christopher Columbus's crew brought them to Europe. Now chilis are cultivated all around the world.

The chili in the picture is a 'cayenne chili pepper'. The substance that gives chili pepper its intensity is CAPSAICIN. When consumed, capsaicinoids bind with pain receptors in the mouth and throat responsible for sensing heat. These send a message to the brain, which responds by raising the heart rate, increasing perspiration and releasing endorphin, the painkilling chemical. The white flesh and seeds contain the highest concentrations of capsaicin, so removing these reduces the heat of the pod.

Chilis are good for us

As well as being (like all peppers) high in Vitamin C, A and B vitamins, studies at Nottingham University, UK, have shown that capsaicin can kill lung and pancreatic cancer cells (grown in labs). Also, it has been found that the amount of insulin required to lower blood sugar after a meal is reduced if the meal contains chili. Chili has also been shown to reduce LDL/bad cholesterol. And it can provide relief from rhinitis symptoms by thinning and clearing mucus.

Prominent raw fooder David Wolfe believes chilis are effective in destroying parasites/harmful bacteria in general. 'I believe we need to send hot raw plant food through our digestive system to clean it out of parasites every so often.' And: 'Hot peppers contain phytoantibiotics that wipe out harmful bacteria, thus aiding our immune system...powdered cayenne has been shown to protect against water-borne amoebic dysentery.'

And here's an interesting one: psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilis is an example of a 'constrained risk', like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful, letting people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm. (So who needs extreme sports when we have chili?!)

Chilis are bad for us

According to Wikipedia, a high consumption of chili is associated with stomach cancer (and as research suggests high consumption of very hot drinks can increase the risk of cancer of the oesophagus that would make sense). Franz J Ingelfinger MD claimed that hot and highly seasoned foods destroy enzymes and destroy the stomach lining, affecting our ability to absorb nutrients. Also, chili has been shown to aggravate anal problems, such as fissures and haemorrhoids.

Raw fooder and natural hygienist Nora Lenz says that chili (as well as onions, garlic and ginger) contains toxic acids and alkaloids that irritate tissues and harmfully excite nerve endings, depleting the body of energy as it tries to eliminate harmful substances.

So...good for us or bad for us?

Having read the arguments above (and I'm sure many of you will have additional information and if so, please let me know), you'll need to make up your own minds. In my cooked life, I did sometimes consume chili dishes that were way too hot and I do remember that these used to make my nose run. I'd suggest that if our noses run when eating chili that's an indication that we're having too much and that our bodies are trying to expel it (unless of course we have rhinitis, where perhaps the chili might have a medicinal role to play). When I had a bowlful of the RawforLife Rainbow Sprout salad, my heart rate didn't increase, I didn't perspire, and my nose didn't run. For me, the arguments for (just) a little chili slightly outweigh the arguments against, but it's clearly an area where we should be exercising caution, and be thoughtful. My own policy at present is to have a small amount of chili occasionally in the hope that I can obtain the claimed beneficial effects without the claimed negative effects (and it sure does make the RawforLife Rainbow Sprout salad taste good!)

• PALE GREENS (eg lettuce, Chinese leaves, courgette, cucumber, celery)
• MID GREENS (eg spinach, cabbage, Swiss chard, broccoli, parsley, basil)
• DEEP GREENS (eg curly kale, Cavolo Nero/dinosaur kale)
• PURPLY-RED (eg Lollo Rosso, radicchio, red cabbage, red onion)
• RED (eg tomato, sun-dried tomato, red bell pepper)
• ORANGE (eg orange bell pepper, carrot)
• YELLOW (eg yellow pepper, yellow tomatoes)

The main RawforLife website, at www.rawforlife.co.uk is the 'base' - full of information about raw food, 'before and after's', and details of classes. The RawforLife Blog, at www.debbietookrawforlife.blogspot.com, is the 'newsy' site - updated 2-3+ times a month with news, articles and occasional recipes. As the e-zine and Blog subscriber lists are not identical, I do hope those who do subscribe to both will not mind my reprinting one Blog article here each month. If you would like to see all past Blog articles and receive articles by e-mail as soon as they are published, do visit the Blog site, enter your details in the Feedblitz panel on the Blog site, then follow very carefully the instructions for subscribing.

How many raw foods do we need for a 'balanced diet'?

The standard cooked diet has all sorts of tentacles with which to draw the newbie raw fooder back in, and I felt concerned a while ago to hear that someone had reverted to a normal' (ie part-cooked) diet because she felt that a 'varied' cooked-food diet was better than her 'limited' raw one.

Was she right to be concerned?

We are told from schooldays onwards to make sure we're getting a 'balanced' diet, that we need to eat a wide variety of foods in order to obtain sufficient vitamin this or that, mineral this or that, protein, calcium, etc. We' re told to eat from various 'food groups', to put meals together on that basis, or at least ensure we're eating from all within a day, within a week...it can not only seem quite complicated, but this advice is still ringing in our ears when we embark on a radical change of diet, to raw.

Of course, 99% of life-forms don't appear to have such problems. Most animals eat just one or two sorts of food (perhaps varying by season) and, somehow... seem to make everything they need for their bodies from these foods. But then of course, they are eating their foods whole, and don't cook them.

Of course, the obvious retort to that is that we're not animals. Is it the case that it's all a lot more complicated for human beings?

Time and time again, in the cooked-food nutrition world, we hear that health and longevity are linked to very simple, rather than very complex, diets - diets consisting of a small number of foods rather than a large variety. We hear of those in other parts of the world managing to be strong and healthy, and relatively free from the diseases that plague people in the UK, without seemingly worrying about whether they're eating a balanced meal or getting enough of certain nutrients. What does appear to be common to all these accounts is that these people are eating a far higher proportion of their food whole and raw (if not all of it) than even the average 'healthy eater' in this country.

But when we damage and destroy our food by cooking it, boy do we make things complicated!

Here are some accounts of human beings, apparently living healthily on very 'limited' diets. To my knowledge, not one of these accounts is backed up with testimony of 100 witnesses, scientific evidence, etc, so I'll leave it to the reader as to whether to attach any credence to them. But, it would be reasonable to guess that, in these cases, the foods spoken of are raw.

The Roman poet, Horace, describes his diet: 'As for me, olives, endives, and smooth mallows provide sustenance.'

(The olive is a fruit containing all sorts of great things for us, including fat - see RawforLife Blog article here. Horace was combining this with green leaves.)

John The Baptist is reputed as living on 'locusts and wild honey'. I researched this some time ago and found evidence to suggest that 'locusts' was, before translation/edits, the 'locust-tree', another name for the carob tree. Many raw fooders will know carob as a highly nutritious pod with a chocolatey flavour.

Arnold Ehret, raw fooder, ate mainly apples, raisins and green leaves. Although, in Ehret's time, raisins had seeds, so he would have been consuming some fat within these.

From Hotema's 'Man's Higher Consciousness'

'Dr Evens said 'Among instances of longevity, we have the ancient Britons who, according to Plutarch, 'only begin to grow old at 210'. Their food consists almost exclusively of acorns, berries and water.'

Herodotus:

'The oldest inhabitants of Greece, the Pelasgians, who came before the Dorian, Ionian and Eolian migrations, inhabited Arcadia and Thessaly, possessing the island of Lesbos and Lokemantos, which were full of orange groves. The people, with their diet of dates and oranges, lived on an average of more than 200 years.'

Should we believe these claims of longevity? We know that the Bible talks of men living 700 years plus in the distant past. Perhaps all these accounts are fictitious, perhaps people in those days measured time in a different way, perhaps they couldn't count... perhaps...

Raw fooder David Wolfe ('Sunfood Diet Success System') describes how he lived on a grapevine for a week once after a horse ate his food. Well, I'm wondering if the grapevine could sustain us for a lot longer than a week...the vine in my greenhouse produces thousands of grapes each September/October, and, of course, vineleaves. The leaves don't taste good this time of year, as the vine is still in the early stages of growth, but in the early autumn I can eat the leaves, the fruit, and because I always eat the pips in grapes (see RawforLife Blog article here ) I get green leaves, fruit and fat from just one plant (note - please campaign to have the seeds put back into our fruit!).

People on a standard cooked diet will indeed find their bodies prompting them to eat lots and lots of different foods, in a frantic search for all the things that have been cooked out of their foods - our bodies know! But of course they will often eat and eat in vain, and be piling in those toxins that lead to illness.

And, despite sensationalist TV programmes on people purportedly living solely on chips, jam sandwiches, whatever, I haven't seen any credible evidence of people existing healthily in the long-term, on 'limited' diets consisting of a small number of cooked foods, and it concerns me that the grain we send to people who have very little to eat is often then cooked.

But it appears to be the case that the more raw, ie undamaged, foods in our diet, the fewer foods we need to obtain everything necessary for our bodies. My hunch is that if all our food is whole and raw we can actually meet our bodies' needs on perhaps two or three foods only, varying by season.

I'm a long way from that right now, as I still make many 'rawcuisine'-type meals, for myself and others, as a transition from the multi-food cooked diet.

But, I'm looking towards a far simpler diet in the future. I have in the garden the vine, which just keeps growing each year, with no upkeep needed save cutting back once in the winter. There's a mature hazel-nut. I've just planted an eating-apple tree, sown mallow, and nibble 'fat hen' (edible 'weed') when gardening. My baby olive tree, against a wall (the garden faces south), has lasted a winter that's included thick snow. A fig hasn't done much to date, but a friend has a mature tree, which is encouraging. And, if it does well, I'll be looking into methods of drying.

I believe we can meet our bodies' needs from a relatively small list of foods, that can be obtained from the land around us, as long as they're eaten whole and raw, and suggest that if you eat all your food raw, as long as you're including green leaves, fruit and a little fat in your diet (eg from seeds), you can probably stop worrying about whether you're getting a 'balanced' diet.

And, if anyone's worried about the economy, look in the garden. And if you don't have one, move out of the city.

Cuisinart Mini Food Processor

Now, here's a very useful little gadget. I used to grind seeds and grains in a coffee grinder. But there were two problems: firstly it didn't hold much, and secondly the blade section couldn't be removed for washing. (And then it stopped working). My raw preparation is now much easier with the Cuisinart mini food processor. It has two controls - 'chop' and 'grind'. The 'chop' will chop onions etc, and the 'grind' will grind all your nuts and seeds/grains into a fine meal! I also use it to make the 'dough' for my daily single portion of Essene bread, and for small quantities of salad dressing. So highly recommended.


Amazon.co.uk 'Used and New' (condition - 'new') - £44.99 (just checked - one left!)
Kitchenware.co.uk - £49
Amazon.co.uk - £49.99
JohnLewis.com - £69

Note there's no significant price difference really, as I believe John Lewis still operate their 'never knowingly undersold' policy and should do a price match.

Hovannessian 'Raw-eating'

'Raw-eating', by A T Hovannessian, is in my opinion the best book on raw food ever published.

Hovannessian lived in Iran in the Sixties. His first two children died from (Hovannessian believes) drugs, medical intervention generally, and cooked food. He then researched extensively, went on to transform his own health and that of his family with ra food, and his third child, Anahit, by the age of ten had 'never consumed a single morsel of cooked or other degenerated food in her life.', and in contrast to the first two children, enjoyed perfect health.

Hovannessian was uncompromising in his views. He believed that 'all diseases are caused by the introduction of cooked food and other poisonous substances into the organism.', that 'cooking deprives natural food of its nutritional properties and converts it into poisonous and harmful substances, that 'all scientific data relating to the nutritive values of proteins, vitamins, minerals etc are absolute misconceptions, and that 'it is the worst of crimes to accustom the newborn child to cooked food.' Of course, Hovannessian's message didn't go down well with everyone, but then prophets don't tend to win popularity contests.

After years of ill health, Hovanessian was rejuvenated, had enormous energy, and was climbing mountains in his sixties. Sadly, after that he was imprisoned, and internet research suggests that this was for campaigning for clean drinking water. He died in prison and one can only speculate on the diet he would have been forced to endure there. I haven't been able to find out what became of Anahit.

However, Hovanessian's spirit lives on forever, through the writings of latter-day raw food leaders, and I'm pleased to be able to tell you that his original book has been republished and can be obtained from sources in the US for $8.95. UK readers - that price is very low and even if you have to pay a few quid shipping and have to wait a couple of weeks of delivery, believe me..it's worth it.

Try Rhio's site at rawfoodinfo.com first, and if by any chance they're sold out, try Paul Nison's site at rawlife.com(and I've been assured that, if the pic shows another book, it is nevertheless Raw-eating you are ordering!)

• For those suffering from premature hair loss: according to David Wolfe, rubbing the oil of crushed chili pepper int the area will help dissolve waxy deposits that may have sealed off hair follicles, and will enliven dormant follicles. Apply olive oil a few minutes after to soothe (note - I am not qualified to give medical advice, etc etc - this is just what DW says, and doubt it's scientifically proven!)

• Dr Norman W Walker, advocate of juicing, fasting, and inspiration to well-known raw fooder Matthew Monarch, didn't live to 119, or even 109, as is often quoted. He died at 99. But that's still JOLLY GOOD!

• some experts on jaw formation believe that those brought up on raw instead of cooked, mushy food will maintain firm jawlines into old age, as the muscles in that area will not have been deprived of the exercise obtained from chewing (so don't go overboard on the smoothies!).