From LivingNutz.com

Raw and Living Foods are foods that contain enzymes. All cooked food is devoid of enzymes. Cooking food changes the molecular structure of the food. In general, the act of heating food destroys enzymes in food. Living and raw foods also have enormously higher nutrient values than the foods that have been cooked.

This belief is based on the work of Artturi Virtanen, a biochemist, and on the research of Dr. Edward Howell, an Illinois physician born in 1898, who researched how enzymes played a role in a person’s diet. He concluded that eating cooked food leads to health problems. In 1985, Howell published a book in which he claimed that laboratory rats fed cooked foods had an overly large pancreas size. Some raw food diet proponents believe that Howell’s book shows that the pancreas is forced to work harder on a diet of cooked foods and that food enzymes are just as essential to digestion as the body’s self-generated enzymes.

Professor Karl Eimer, director of the Medical Clinic at the University of Vienna studied the effect of a 100% raw diet on athletes. He placed his subjects on a two week program of intense physical training while they continued to consume their usual cooked diet. Their athletic performance was monitored and evaluated. They were then put on a 100% raw diet and continued their training. Without exception the athletes demonstrated improvements in reflex speed, flexibility and stamina. Eimer, and his colleague Professor Hans Eppinger, concluded that raw foods increase cellular respiration and efficiency. Their findings were reported in the July, 1993 edition of Zeitschrift fur Ernahrung entitled Klinik Schwenkenhacher.

Anthropologist Peter Lucas of George Washington University in Washington, DC, was reported in NewScientist magazine on 19/2/2005 as having the theory that man being the only mammal with chronic poor dentition and the only mammal to significantly process and cook his food, are causally linked. He believes that the adoption of food processing and cooking reduced the size of our jaw through evolutionary processes, but not the size of our teeth. Hence the expanding science of orthodontics. Conversely, the research suggests that a diet of unprocessed and uncooked food is more likely to promote health.

The benefits of going raw-vegan are boundless. Raw foods are easy to digest, and they provide the maximum amount of energy with minimal bodily effort. Studies have shown that living foods have healing powers that can alleviate many illnesses from low energy, allergies, digestive disorders, weak immune system, high cholesterol, candida, to obesity and weight problems (weight normalization), etc.. Research and real life experiences have also shown that a person can prevent a body’s healthy cells from turning into malignant cancerous cells by consuming mostly a raw food diet and whole organic foods!

©iStockphoto.com - SharonDay

For a quick healthy meal, try this delicious spinach salad with figs and walnuts.

Spinach is a green leafy vegetable with abundant vitamins. It offers many health benefits with its rich nutrients like iron and fiber. It also contains very good amounts of magnesium, potassium, iron and calcium. Copper, phosphorous, zinc are all found in good amounts in spinach. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - kcline

What’s a backyard barbecue without potato salad? If your normal recipe calls for hard-boiled eggs or other ingredients you don’t have prepared and ready, tossing a side dish together could be a two-day chore. Instead, try this simple recipe. It’s kid-friendly, fast, and delicious!

Use waxy potatoes with the skins left on; the potatoes won’t break apart and the skin adds extra fiber and protein. If you want a little more excitement, it’s easy to dress up this salad with diced bill pepper, scallions, roasted corn kernels, or even some grilled veggies. For a vegan version, use non-dairy sour cream. (continue reading…)

After a long winter of eating root vegetables the first greens of spring are a breath of fresh air. Dark leafy greens are also one of the most nutritionally sound foods that people can add to their diets. Just one cup of kale provides 6% of the recommended daily value of iron, 9% calcium, 134% Vitamin C, and 206% of your daily dose of Vitamin A!

Kale is a hearty plant; it can be found in most regions from June through November, can withstand cold temperatures (even frost) and is easy to grow in a home garden. Whether you grow your own or buy kale from the grocery store or farmer’s market, it’s an amazing food to incorporate into your meals. It’s great sauteed, braised, made into chips, or stirred into soups. One of my favorite ways to prepare it is raw in a salad. Take it to a potluck or barbecue and improve the health of your family and friends one salad at a time! (continue reading…)

©iStockphoto.com - Floortje

A small amount of sugar is necessary in quick breads to ensure a moist loaf, but this whole grain quick bread gets most of its sweetness from raisins. For the moistest bread and the richest banana flavor, use bananas that have turned brown.

Make this recipe vegan by increasing the mashed banana to 2 1/4 cups and omitting the egg and yogurt, while using a vegan granulated sweetener like beet sugar, date sugar or maple sugar instead of the raw sugar.

(continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - Hatman12

While strawberry season is almost over in California and Florida, most of the country is just getting ready for these delicious signs of sunshine and long-awaited warmer weather. Strawberries have very thin skin, and conventionally grown berries absorb those chemicals when sprayed with pesticides. Always opt for organic berries when possible and try to find a local source for the easily-bruised fruit since they have a short shelf life.

My favorite place to find juicy, ripe berries is at a pick-you-own berry farm. Bring your own containers and pay by the pound for the best sun-ripened strawberries. Fresh berries don’t last long at our house. However, if I have some left I love to make chocolate-covered strawberries. Those expensive ones for sale at high-end chocolate shops are conventional berries ripened with gas, not sunshine, and coated in chocolate mixed with wax! A little time and a piece of waxed paper can give you your own organic gourmet dessert with no added sugar. While I provide temperatures for the process, I have never used a thermometer for this method and it has worked every time.

Don’t be scared by the length of the directions! The process is quite simple, though I explain in detail to avoid problems. (continue reading…)

These two recipes call for frozen spinach, but you can just as easily use fresh, cooked spinach in either one.

Special Mushroom Spinach

If you are a mushroom lover, you will surely like this combination of spinach and mushroom with cheese, pepper and broth. This recipe can easily be made in large portions for parties and potlucks. (continue reading…)