Clarifications

---

1. How to determine which raw food is good?
2. On raw food, I feel hungry all the time.
3. What is detoxing and how to overcome the same?
4. Is combining of fruits a good idea?
5. Is raw milk, food of a natural human being?
6. How to grow 2-3 fruit trees per house with no garden space at all?
7. Raw food is very expensive. Thoughts?
8. Are fermented foods raw, curds, wine for eg?
9. Where do we get our calcium from, if milk is forbidden?
10. Where do we get our protein in a raw food?
11. Thoughts on purified water consumption ?
12. Why is cooked food so good in taste?
13. An apple a night keeps the dentist away?
14. Comments on Quality of raw food?
15. Infants and raw food - how does that work?
16. Old people and raw food - how does that work?
17. How do you handle going out for lunch with work folks or friends ?
18. Exercising - is there an easy option?
19. After a 10 day 95% raw and 4 weeks on 50% raw I (40+ woman) GAINED 5 lbs. What is wrong?

How to determine which raw food is good?

Comments like, "carrot has Vitamin A and is good for eye", or "orange has vitamin c and is good for fever" may be true but may not be complete unless we understand every aspect of human body. A cow eats only grass and still produces healthy calf. Perhaps the body has a mechanism to create what it needs just from protons and electrons? Who understands the complete power of nature?

We study one nutrient out of context. That’s the way we do research — one vitamin at a time, one mineral, one fat. It is a narrowly focused way. We should not be thinking in a linear way that A causes B. We should be thinking about how things work together. It’s a very complex biological system. The body is always trying to restore health every microsecond of our lives.

Human beings have an ability to infer if a particular fruit/vegetable is edible and we do this based on looks, touch, smell and taste in that order. If by chance the tongue fails to figure out the danger, the stomach will detect it and give it out as a vomiting. If the food is partially acceptable, the vomit will be replaced by loose motion instead. I am not advocating that we go and eat strange fruits, though I have started doing that, of late. I believe that every fruit that is sweet is edible.

In nutshell, I believe, Nature's intelligence manifests in growing the right type of foods based on time and location. By consuming varieties of local and seasonal foods, we get all the ingredients that our body needs. We need not be aware of which food is good for which part of the body.

On raw food, I feel hungry all the time

Hunger is a good sign when on raw. Some people feel hungry on the very first day while some may take upto 10 days to start feeling hungry. TO me hunger is a signal whereby the body is telling to take in more of nutrient rich raw food. The cells use the nutrients to get rid of the toxins and also to heal themselves. By keeping a generous amount and variety of raw food available wherever we are will help us eat whole heartedly. Listen to the body (and not the brain). If it says it is hungry, then feed it with good food. If it says it is thirsty, give it water. On raw food however, the need to drink water is greatly reduced as the raw food is already rich in water content.

What is detoxing and how to overcome the same?

On raw food, body gets more nourishment than it used to get. It now has the strength to heal itself, first by removing poisons from the body and later fixing/healing the cells. When the poisons come out of the cell, they come back in contact with the nerves. This irritates the nerves and we feel it! When we first let the toxin into our body, our body gave us a sign that something was wrong. Maybe we had a headache or a runny nose. By ignoring that sign or taking some kind of medication to "cure" the symptom, we weren't allowing our body to heal itself.

Over the years more and more toxins are getting stored into our cells resulting in problems from a simple cold to something more serious like cancer. Now, because we are eating nutrient rich food, our body has the power to rid itself of the toxins! Unfortunately as the toxin leaves the body, those signs are going to come back! It is important at this point to allow our body to go through the whole detox process! Detoxing takes time. The older we are, the more toxins we have stored in our body.

Common Detox Symptoms

Symptom	Description	Solution
Cravings	We will most likely crave the most toxic foods for our body. Everybody is different. It's similar to a smoker trying to quit smoking or an alcoholic trying to stop drinking. That's all our body wants both physically and mentally. It's the same with food!	Continue eating raw food. Drink water to excrete toxins
Fatigue	When our body is fighting the toxins, all our energy goes into healing. This can leave us feeling exhausted.	Take rest
Irritability	This is mostly mental. We are not hungry, but may be used to eating something out of boredom. This causes stress and irritability.	Go for a walk in sunlight
Physical pains	These include aches and pains, nausea, headaches, runny nose, gastrointestinal disturbances, and sleep problems.	Take rest and listen to body

Is combining of fruits a good idea?

I believe when we combine fruits that are local and seasonal, we should not have any problems. If we see how a chimpanzee eats, it gets on to one tree and tries to satisfy its hunger based on the fruits on that tree. If the fruits are not good or to its liking, it then moves on to another tree. How many types of trees would it visit for a given lunch - one two or perhaps three. It is possible that all those trees are of the same fruit or in the worst case, 3 types of fruits.

Is raw milk, food of a natural human being?

Human being is the only animal that drinks the milk of another mammal. I would say that milk is NOT our food. Cow milk promotes cow development. Human milk promotes human development. And we wean our kids of breast milk much too early from social pressures. The best time to wean a child from breast milk should perhaps be around 5 years, because that is how long chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas nurse their young. The immunity and nourishment provided by breast milk gives a life time protection against diseases.

How to grow 2-3 fruit trees per house with no garden space at all?

I completely understand that real estate is becoming an issue and to grow fruit trees is not a viable option to many people in urban areas. While aspects like roof garden are not infeasible, it does require dedication and commitment. I am not advocating that people living in apartments with no ground, grow fruit trees. I will restate my suggestion to grow 1 fruit tree for every 150 sq feet of unbuilt ground area. To me Saalu Marada Thimakka is a great inspiration. So is Piyush Manush, who is converting barren lands into fruit forests, near chennai.

Raw food is very expensive. Thoughts?

Totally right. I have noticed raw food and organic raw food can be 2-3 times as expensive as normal food. However, we may want to think for a moment. If spending on this will give us great health for a life-time, is it not worth it? We need not go for expensive fruits. Or we can talk to people who have fruit trees in their backyard and see if we can buy fruits from them at a cheaper cost. Likewise, when fruits are in season, we can buy them in bulk.
Sometimes vegetables can be less expensive than fruits. I find salsas and sprouts excellent raw foods. Even if all these fail, eating our regular cooked food with something raw (onion, radish, sprouts or cucumber) helps. We can do chutneys raw - there is no need to roast the peanuts or saute the vegetables. The important aspect is making the shift and seeing the benefits. Mind becomes very clear and so does the thought process. In that refined state of mind, we will be able to find our own new solutions.

Are fermented foods raw, curds, wine for eg?

I would like to say that natural man would not have made curd explicitly. First, because he would not drink milk of another species. Second, he would not have a storage mechanism to hold the milk. However, because curds has live bacteria in it, I would like to consider that it is raw food. If curd is considered raw, eating raw food is so so so so so easy. :-)

Anyway I decided to let my body figure it out. Usually on raw food, I never get the full or bloated or sleepy feeling. The fullness is the first stage and the bloatedness is the second stage and drowsiness in 30 minutes is the final stage. In the full stage, there is a feeling of contentment. In the bloat stage, it is uncomfortable. In the drowsy stage, we just feel like sleeping. With curd, I experienced the "fullness" feeling but not the other two. Technically, curd is made from boiled milk. That is why the results are mixed perhaps. I guess I should try doing curd from raw milk, next time.

I think that naturally fermented wine can be considered raw, provided there is no man made processing.

Where do we get our calcium from, if milk is forbidden?

“Milk from calcium” is a myth that is created by us and our institutions or the nutritional "experts", to whom we have handed over our body's intelligence. We as a species have to now awaken to experiencing simple self-evident truths of how the body functions optimally. Ph is an indicator of the acid/base nature of a substance and is a scale that is between 0 and 14, 0 being strongly acidic and 14 being strongly basic. The ph. of normal blood is around 7.3, i.e it is slightly basic. When milk enters the stomach, it becomes acidic. The body immediately tries to restore the alkanality by adding alkaline calcium to this. This calcium is obtained from the bones. This will thus deplete the calcium content of the bones. See the irony? If we want calcium, greens and sprouts are the best and excellent sources.

Where do we get our protein in a raw food?

Do you want protein or do you want to be so healthy that you should be able to climb mountains without any support gear? Please watch this documentary to see what raw food can give in terms of what the label called protein gives.

Thoughts on purified water consumption ?

The whole business of drinking purified water has its base in business and profits. Tap water (or if we have bore-well water) creates initial rejections/corrections by the body to build immunity. After that, they will not affect us. I grew up drinking water straight from the tap. If we are visiting a new location for a short trip, with not enough time to allow for the correction, we obviously will use common sense to stick to purified water.

Regarding how much water to drink, our body is intelligent and will give signals when it wants water. There is virtually no need to drink water with raw food at all. With cooked food, we will get thirst signals, based on the weather and the food we eat. Likewise, if we hear intently to our body, our observations of what to eat in a given season would be appropriate. But it takes a lot of cleansing and purification before our body gives the right signals and we are able to tap into the same.

Why is cooked food so good in taste?

We are addicted to cooked food because the chemical structure of cooked food (specifically carb based) and cocaine are similar. Thus cooked food has the same addictive effect as drugs. When we make a shift to raw food, the cravings will make us crazy and our own empathy for a drug addict will increase. ☺

However, after about 2 weeks of intense detoxifying symptoms and cravings, we will start feeling great with raw food. The cravings will stop. We will start recognizing the subtle messages given by our body. In other words we will for the first time understand body-intelligence and the language it is communicating to us in. When we reach this stage, we can give ourselves a 'doctor' degree, for we become our own doctors. ☺

An apple a night keeps the dentist away?

Once a dentist asked me if I brushed my teeth twice a day. I responded, "Do animals brush their teeth?". To which he said, "This is an excellent point. The need for brushing is only because we eat cooked food. Cooked food is sticky unlike raw food. The dental records of prehistoric men before the advent of cooking show that they have excellent teeth. However the records after advent of cooking show cavities. In fact, if you eat an apple every night, the acid in it will brush your teeth naturally". Thats some apple for thought.

Comments on Quality of raw food?

With the globalization and advances in technology, raw food is not guaranteed to be preservative free and infection free. Even if it is a little expensive, I hence try to buy from farmer's market for several reasons. I know the source of the food. The food comes to me without entering a fridge. To a reasonable extent, the produce is pesticide free and hopefully not modified genetically. I get to speak to the farmers and establish a bond with them. I get to taste the samples. I know what is in season and end up buying produce in season. I get exposed to several new varieties of fruits and vegetables. I know that I am buying what is grown local.
I do not really have a great idea to make good quality raw food available to everyone. I would like to hear from people who have ideas in this regard. I think making sprouts a stable component of our everyday food is an inexpensive way of having quality raw food. I also think that if an average house has 3 or more fruits trees, world hunger can be eliminated and also health of people in general can be improved.

Infants and raw food - how does that work?

I struggled a lot to know what is the right time to wean a child. While I have no definite answer even now, based on the lives of chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos, I would say that around 5 years is the right time. These apes are born much more developed than human babies and their life span is little less than ours. So five would be the minimum and could probably be more than that too.
For new borns, 100% breast milk is best till they get their teeth. After that the breast milk can be supplemented by fruits, soft pulpy ones to begin with and one fruit type at a time, till the child gets acclimatized to the fruit. I would stick to local and seasonal fruits. When the child is able to talk and communicate, I would perhaps introduce raw vegetables. Based on the eating habits of the family, the child will start asking for cooked foods and it can be introduced when they ask. I would strongly recommend instilling the 'chewing' habit when cooked food is introduced. Breast milk may be continued up to 5 or 6 years.

Old people and raw food - how does that work?

Making a shift to raw food at old age can be additionally difficult if the teeth are not in good state. Pulpy fruits would be my best recommendation. A juicer can come handy in extreme cases. If cooked food needs blending or mashing, the correction factor of 'eat liquids' is strongly recommended.

Exercising - is there an easy option?

Walking is definitely the best option. A 38 inch trampoline is a one-time worthy investment because it really takes us back into a child's world. I put this in my living room and hop onto and out of it many times in the day. I dont make exercise a disciplined activity.

How do you handle going out for lunch with work folks or friends ?

When I go to friends place with whom I am free, I try carrying my own food or ask the host to give me fruits. In all other plaes, I use the 5-point correction to eat regular food. We are social animals. So we like to be part of the crowd. In general, I try to do my best and accept deviations if any without resistance. Resistance of any sort puts the cells in a stressful mode and the benefit of the raw food can be compromised in the process.

After a 10 day 95% raw and 4 weeks on 50% raw I (40+ woman) GAINED 5 lbs. What is wrong?

For some people gaining weight is common with raw diet. I can give my own explanations for the same, though they are just explanations and cannot be verified to the core. Eventually, the body comes back to its ideal weight. We may be talking about 6-12 months time frame. I lost about 20 lbs over a 2 year period.

• I trust that you are listening to the body, eating when hungry, getting enough of sun light, exercising 30-45 minutes a day. Your body is doing what is right for you. Focus on all aspects of you. Weight change is a symptom. How is your hunger, sleep, bowel movement, mental clarity, energy levels e.t.c
• When a body has excess sugar, it converts it into glycogen and stores it in liver, skeletal muscles and fat tissues. However, if the food was not digested well, the converted forms are bulgy. If the food is digested well, the converted forms are compact. One reason for weight gain could be because the converted forms are more dense now than what it was before. This weight gain is good. It means you now have stronger bones
• If you are not eating enough, the body tries to store more worried that it may not get enough food.
• Are you exercising enough? I personally like jumping on trampoline as it doesn't put unwanted pressure on the body. The zero gravity state it offers makes exercise so much more fun and easy. It saves me time, allows me to watch my favorite videos, no knee impacts, no need to change my dress, no need for shoes, is very portable and needs no electricity. It exercises all parts of the body and is one exercise equipment I recommend. I dont feel that I take effort at all with this type of exercise.
• Women approaching menopause may have hormonal changes affecting the weight gain. Unless any of the symptoms is totally intolerable, trust that this food will only help you. Hopefully all the numbers in your latest blood test are in the allowed ranges there.
• Stress can be one attribute affecting weight gain. In general, Dr. Bruce Lipton summarized that in a negative environment (stress included), body does not work towards reaching its ideal state. It is instead just trying to fight the negative energy. Finally, watch this initial weight gain on raw food . I agree to what she says to a large extent.