Here is a short but interesting article by Sarah Morgan interviewing famous raw foodist Jinjee of www.thegardendiet.com
JinjeeJinjee visits Curezone's Raw Vegan/Vegetarian Forum from time to time.
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Demi Goes Full Throttle For Raw Food Rejuvenation!
By Sarah Morgan
How is it that 40-year old Demi Moore makes a Hollywood comeback with a roll in which she bares almost all in a bikini next to 20-something actresses and looks just as good, if not better! Complaints have been circulating that Demi stole the show from the "stars" of the much-hyped Charlie's Angels sequel "Full Throttle". Demi's secret? The raw food diet! Although the diet has been criticized by the medical and scientific community as nonsense, recent studies have brought to light that all heated and most processed foods do indeed contain carcinogens, a brand of toxins that are often cancer-causing in tests on mice and rats. (See www.FDA.gov and type in "toxins in cooked foods" in their sarch engine for hundreds of related articles).
What exactly IS the raw vegan diet? It is a diet that consists of unheated and unprocessed fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds....everything preferably organic and as fresh as possible. I caught up with Jinjee Talifero, co-ordinator of the International Raw Vegan Network to answer my many questions.
Me: What is the raw vegan diet good for?
Jinjee: its not just that the diet doesn't contain toxins, but it is also extremely nutrient dense. In heated foods almonst all of the nutrients are destroyed or damaged. So when you eat an all-raw diet you are getting 1000's of times more nutrients than you would otherwise get! This very natural diet is what we'd all be eating if we weren't in "civilization" anway! So it makes a person seem supernaturally young, beautiful, fit, healthy, glowing, vital and energetic - as in the case of Demi Moore. But you have to realize that this is our natural state. Demi should be the norm for a 40-year young woman. We're now just comparing her to a society that is radically un-natural and unhealthy, where we eat about 90-100% cooked and processed (denatured) foods.
Me: Is this scientifically proven?
Jinjee: New scientific studies show that we should be living until at least 160 years of age. But we've been caught in this cooked food trap for many thousands of years since humankind first discovered the ease of hunting meat compared with growing things. And we lived on meat and it helped us survive in cold climates. And we learned that if we heated up foods it made the foods last longer which helped us survive the winters in cold climates. But the reason the foods lasted longer is because we killed them. We cooked them and this killed the enzymes in them. Enzymes make the food ripen and enzymes make the food decay and go back to the earth after its season is passed. So cooking the food took that death out of it. However it also took the life out of it. So we got used to eating food with no life-force. But in today's society we are really fortunate because we are able to get fresh organic foods all year round! So there really is no longer any need to eat these dead denatured foods! Except that we are addicted to them. Toxins are highly addictive (toxins are what drugs, alcohol and cigarettes all have in common), and these foods are full of toxins!
ME: Don't you get bored on the raw vegan diet?
JINJEE: There are 100s of different kinds of fruits and veggies. If you combine only two or three at each meal, then you can literally eat a different combination of foods at each meal for the rest of your life! Then your taste buds become very sensitive. And then you don't need to eat as much, so your body really uses all the food you eat, so you actually get hungry between meals - which is the best spice! Nothing tastes as good as simple food when you are truly hungry! I'd like to see restaurants add a "frescada" section to their menus, the way they now have "vegetarian" sections. I think Frescada sounds much nicer than Raw. But even now you can always have a salad or fruit salad and many restaurants also serve fruit smoothies.
You do have to eat a balanced diet. Our food groups are vegetables, nuts/seeds, and fruits. You should have approximately equal amounts of these in your diet. If you have your kids on the diet as I do, you have to make sure they eat a lot of bulk. A lot of fruits and veggies. And a lot of nutmilks from sprouted almonds and sunflower seeds. A variety of fruits and veggies. There's a wealth of information available online. If you decide to do this diet is it important to study it. I think of it as an extreme diet. There are extreme benefits such as a body that isn't subject to any of the common causes of death today, and longevity. But as with an extreme sport, you have to be prepared and trained, because there are potential dangers.
ME: What are the risks involved?
JINJEE: This is brand new territory. I mean, its been done sinse Pythagoras (who made his students do a raw food diet for a month before he would teach them so that their minds would be clear!), and Jesus (see http://www.essene.com for more information on Jesus' take on the raw food diet, from a biblical text that was removed from the bible!). But now for the first time the diet is becoming of interest to the mainstream of society. And nobody wants to spend any money to study it properly. So its like you have to take a leap of faith. Its for people willing to think for themselves and act on their own findings and studies. Some of the pitfalls are eating too many unsoaked nuts and dried fruit (hard on teeth), cutting out one of the three raw-vegan food groups completely for long periods of time, and worrying too much about whether you are getting enough nutrition. Of course you are! You are getting thousands of times more than you ever did before. But people can make you worry yourself sick. They just don't understand.
ME: Where can people find more information about this diet online?
JINJEE: We have a resources page where we list and link to every important raw vegan resourse we can find, including 1000's of free recipes, articles, online raw food stores where you can buy equipment and produce, raw food journals, books, events, retreats, raw food restaurants, online support forums, and consultants and practitioners at www.thegardendiet.com (click on "links").
ME: Why are you so passionate about this?
JINJEE: The raw food diet has benefited me so much personally. I lost 45 lbs., got rid of a lump in my breast, and overcame depression, acne, candida and chronic fatigue. I have seen it help so many people. And beyond all this, I think it is the only diet that will sustain the growing population of this planet! If everyone adopted a raw-vegan diet it would be beneficial in so many ways, cutting down on pollution, preventing deforestation, helping people to become more peaceful, making our countryside more beautiful, and solving our crime, healthcare and social security dilemmas. It will naturally be a very slow process, but I think that ultimately this will be the diet that helps us bring this planet to a state of light and life.
For more information see http://www.thegardendiet.com or email info@thegardendiet.com
