Got Milk?

"We can see quite plainly that our present civilization is built on the exploitation of animals, just as past civilizations were built on the exploitation of slaves."   - Donald Watson

Milk is widely recognized as a nutritious drink for people of all ages — it's a good source of protein, calcium, vitamin D, potassium and other vitamins and minerals.

As all mammals do, human infants produce hefty amounts of lactose, an enzyme that allows the body to digest lactose — without lactose, babies can't digest their mothers' nutrient-rich milk. At around age 5, lactose production decreases, possibly to help facilitate weaning.

But about 7,500 years ago in Central Europe, a genetic mutation popped up, causing some people to produce lactose well into adulthood, according to a 2009 study in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. (The mutation is also believed to have evolved a few other times and places over the last several thousand years.)

How lactose tolerance initially spread isn't entirely clear. One theory suggests pioneering farmers and their families migrated out of Central Europe with domesticated crops that weren't suited for the new environment. With poor crops and possibly contaminated water sources, they increasingly turned to cow's milk for sustenance, making it a regular part of their diet.

Fundamentally, cow’s milk is a substance designed by nature for baby cows, not for humans. We are the only species that drinks the milk intended for the young of other species, and we are the only species that insists on drinking milk beyond the time of weaning. It seems we cannot bear the thought of growing up and leaving home. Perhaps we long for infancy and the peaceful oblivion of our mother’s breast, and if hers isn’t available, then we’ll use the breast of any lactating mother, even if she’s a cow and we have to kill her babies to get to it. Just as the complete unnaturalness of humans killing and eating animals is obvious if we contemplate trying to do it without implements, so is the drinking of milk.

Milk from a cow is as necessary as milk from a pig or a horse or a giraffe. Human breast milk is the perfect food for human babies, while cow’s milk is the perfect food for baby cows. Cow’s milk naturally contains the large amount of hormones and protein needed to turn a 80-pound calf into a 1,000 pound cow in one year. That amount of protein and hormones is not only unnecessary but unhealthy for humans. Because they occur naturally, these hormones are even found in organically produced milk.

In the wild, a cow, like all mammals, will produce milk after giving birth to a baby, and does so in a classic bell curve for about seven months, beginning at less than ten pounds of milk per day, climaxing at about twenty-five pounds per day, and then tapering back to ten pounds and then to zero as the calf begins to eat solid food. On today’s dairies the newborn calf is immediately removed from the mother, causing enormous anguish to both, and the mother is artificially forced to produce from 90 to 110 pounds of milk per day for a full seven to eight months. Dairy cows are impregnated at a much younger age than would ever occur in the wild, and are kept pregnant virtually continuously, even while they are lactating from the previous pregnancy. The enormous strain of being pushed so hard to produce such abnormally large quantities of milk quickly destroys the health of these cows. Though they would naturally live twenty-five years in the wild, after about four years of this dairy abuse their “productivity” drops off. They are then forced to endure the brutality of the slaughterhouse and be reduced to inexpensive hamburger meat, leather, and animal feed.

Because each dairy cow is forced to produce far more calves than can be used on the dairy, her calves are immediately slaughtered, auctioned to veal operations, or auctioned to build beef herds and killed at one to two years of age. In all these cases, parts of their bodies will end up at the rendering plant, mixed with the offal and unusable body parts of fish, pigs, poultry, road kill, laboratory animals, and euthanized dogs, cats, horses, and other animals, and then cooked, ground up, and added to corn, wheat, soybeans, and other grains to be fed back to the cows. Cows have thus been routinely forced to eat other cows, and quite possibly the flesh and organs of their own young, in their “enriched” feed. The only reason this may now be stopping is the outbreak of mad cow disease, a direct result of such mad agricultural practices. Although the FDA’s ban on feeding the flesh of ruminants to ruminants has reduced the likelihood of cows eating other cows, they are still fed pigs, chickens, turkeys, fish, dogs, and other animals. Considering the reputedly lax enforcement and inspection of this FDA policy, some are likely still forced into cannibalism. Talking about civilization, huh? 

The whole dairy business is founded upon stealing: forcibly stealing calves from their mothers and mother’s milk from calves. We have become desensitized to just how cruel this actually is, and how it underlies, perhaps in large measure, our culture’s basic repression, confinement, and exploitation of the female and the feminine principle.

The mothers of all mammals feel terrible emotional stress if their newborn offspring are endangered and will do everything in their power to protect them. Human mothers know how deep this feeling is, and how devastating it would be to have their children taken from them. Mother love will often give its own life for its child. We can see this deep maternal caring in dogs, bears, elephants, monkeys, deer, lions, whales: in all mammals it is a defining and obvious characteristic of mothers. For scientists, agribusinessmen, or theologians to deny this, or discount its importance, only shows how reduced their intelligence and sensitivity have become through their cultural woundedness and consequent skill in disconnecting.

Of all the mammals, it is the cow whose maternal instinct has been perhaps the most obvious and celebrated: her gentle and patient eyes, her natural mothering way with her calf, licking and feeding and watching over her baby, and her loud lamenting when the calf is taken from her. She cannot fight the hands that steal her offspring away, or speak to us in human words, telling us how deeply it hurts her. But it is obvious to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear. For us to ignore her suffering, and the suffering of her calf—hundreds, thousands, millions of times over—is to ignore and deny our own decency. There is a deep and terrible transgression in this, the unnatural coveting of the calf’s mother’s milk several thousand years ago, and the building of a whole culture around the stealing of milk, the killing of the mother and her children, and justifying the whole horrific thing by mythologizing it: the Lord promising us the land of milk and honey. This violent theft of milk from enslaved mothers planted seeds of war and exploitation that are tragically almost completely invisible. Today, our culture takes milk for granted! It is aggressively promoted around the world. How can we ever hope for peace when we practice such shameful violence on such a massive scale? So yeah, if you can not give up cheese and milk, try to give up animal cruelty instead. Be civilize, people!

Sources: Animal Rights (about.com), Non Human Slavery (nonhumanslavery.com), This Vegan Life (thisveganlife.org)

Dewi is an Operations Manager at Divine Earth - an Organic Vegan Cuisine in Seminyak, Bali - Indonesia.

My Rawsome Green Life

Congratulation, you are now a vegan! That was my boss' reaction when he knew that I passed my 3 weeks "No Meat" diet challenge. Now what? Like millions other people, I have taken a huge step in an effort to improve my health, minimize animal cruelty, and perhaps become closer to religious beliefs and ideologies, or possibly all of the above. But making the decision to became a Vegan wasn't the most challenging part for me, but maintaining the Vegan Diet was prove as the most demanding thing. I, myself, were always on the edge of failing it for most of my time.

People are drawn to vegetarianism by all sorts of motives. Some of us want to live longer, healthier lives or do our part to reduce pollution. Others, including myself, have made the switch because we want to preserve Earth’’s natural resources or because we’ have always loved animals and are ethically opposed to eating them.  

Thanks to an abundance of scientific research that demonstrates the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based diet, even the federal government recommends that we consume most of our calories from grain products, vegetables and fruits. And no wonder: An estimated 70 percent of all diseases, including one-third of all cancers, are related to diet. A vegetarian diet reduces the risk for chronic degenerative diseases such as obesity, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain types of cancer including colon, breast, prostate, stomach, lung and esophageal cancer.

So why go veg? Chew on these reasons:

You’ll ward off disease. Vegetarian diets are more healthful than the average American diet, particularly in preventing, treating or reversing heart disease and reducing the risk of cancer. A low-fat vegetarian diet is the single most effective way to stop the progression of coronary artery disease or prevent it entirely. Cardiovascular disease kills 1 million Americans annually and is the leading cause of death in the United States. But the mortality rate for cardiovascular disease is lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians, says Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss. A vegetarian diet is inherently healthful because vegetarians consume less animal fat and cholesterol (vegans consume no animal fat or cholesterol) and instead consume more fiber and more antioxidant-rich produce——another great reason to listen to Mom and eat your veggies!

You’ll keep your weight down. The standard American diet—high in saturated fats and processed foods and low in plant-based foods and complex carbohydrates——is making us fat and killing us slowly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a division of the CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics, 64 percent of adults and 15 percent of children aged 6 to 19 are overweight and are at risk of weight-related ailments including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. A study conducted from 1986 to 1992 by Dean Ornish, MD, president and director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, found that overweight people who followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet lost an average of 24 pounds in the first year and kept off that weight 5 years later. They lost the weight without counting calories or carbs and without measuring portions or feeling hungry.

You’ll live longer. If you switch from the standard American diet to a vegetarian diet, you can add about 13 healthy years to your life, says Michael F. Roizen, MD, author of The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger with What You Eat. ”People who consume saturated, four-legged fat have a shorter life span and more disability at the end of their lives. Animal products clog your arteries, zap your energy and slow down your immune system. Meat eaters also experience accelerated cognitive and sexual dysfunction at a younger age.”

Want more proof of longevity? Residents of Okinawa, Japan, have the longest life expectancy of any Japanese and likely the longest life expectancy of anyone in the world, according to a 30-year study of more than 600 Okinawan centenarians. Their secret: a low-calorie diet of unrefined complex carbohydrates, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and soy.

You’ll build strong bones. When there isn’’t enough calcium in the bloodstream, our bodies will leach it from existing bone. The metabolic result is that our skeletons will become porous and lose strength over time. Most health care practitioners recommend that we increase our intake of calcium the way nature intended——through foods. Foods also supply other nutrients such as phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin D that are necessary for the body to absorb and use calcium.

People who are mildly lactose-intolerant can often enjoy small amounts of dairy products such as yogurt, cheese and lactose-free milk. But if you avoid dairy altogether, you can still get a healthful dose of calcium from dry beans, tofu, soymilk and dark green vegetables such as broccoli, kale, collards and turnip greens.

You’ll reduce your risk of food-borne illnesses. The CDC reports that food-borne illnesses of all kinds account for 76 million illnesses a year, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths in the United States. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), foods rich in protein such as meat, poultry, fish and seafood are frequently involved in food-borne illness outbreaks.

You’ll ease the symptoms of menopause. Many foods contain nutrients beneficial to perimenopausal and menopausal women. Certain foods are rich in phytoestrogens, the plant-based chemical compounds that mimic the behavior of estrogen. Since phytoestrogens can increase and decrease estrogen and progesterone levels, maintaining a balance of them in your diet helps ensure a more comfortable passage through menopause. Soy is by far the most abundant natural source of phytoestrogens, but these compounds also can be found in hundreds of other foods such as apples, beets, cherries, dates, garlic, olives, plums, raspberries, squash and yams. Because menopause is also associated with weight gain and a slowed metabolism, a low-fat, high-fiber vegetarian diet can help ward off extra pounds.

You’ll have more energy. Good nutrition generates more usable energy——energy to keep pace with the kids, tackle that home improvement project or have better sex more often, Michael F. Roizen, MD, says in The RealAge Diet. Too much fat in your bloodstream means that arteries won’’t open properly and that your muscles won’’t get enough oxygen. The result? You feel zapped. Balanced vegetarian diets are naturally free of cholesterol-laden, artery-clogging animal products that physically slow us down and keep us hitting the snooze button morning after morning. And because whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables are so high in complex carbohydrates, they supply the body with plenty of energizing fuel.

You’ll be more ‘regular.’ Eating a lot of vegetables necessarily means consuming more fiber, which pushes waste out of the body. Meat contains no fiber. People who eat lower on the food chain tend to have fewer instances of constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticulitis.

You’ll help reduce pollution. Some people become vegetarians after realizing the devastation that the meat industry is having on the environment. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is responsible for more than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is one of the greatest threats to water quality today. Agricultural activities that cause pollution include confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting.

You’ll avoid toxic chemicals. The EPA estimates that nearly 95 percent of the pesticide residue in the typical American diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products. Fish, in particular, contain carcinogens (PCBs, DDT) and heavy metals (mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium) that can’’t be removed through cooking or freezing. Meat and dairy products can also be laced with steroids and hormones, so be sure to read the labels on the dairy products you purchase.

You’ll help reduce famine. About 70 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the American population. “If all the grain currently fed to livestock were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million,” says David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University. If the grain were exported, it would boost the US trade balance by $80 billion a year.

You’ll spare animals. Many vegetarians give up meat because of their concern for animals. Ten billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year. And, unlike the farms of yesteryear where animals roamed freely, today most animals are factory farmed: —crammed into cages where they can barely move and fed a diet tainted with pesticides and antibiotics. These animals spend their entire lives in crates or stalls so small that they can’’t even turn around. Farmed animals are not protected from cruelty under the law——in fact, the majority of state anti-cruelty laws specifically exempt farm animals from basic humane protection.

You’ll save money. Meat accounts for 10 percent of Americans’’ food spending. Eating vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the 200 pounds of beef, chicken and fish each non-vegetarian eats annually would cut individual food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.

Your dinner plate will be full of color. Disease-fighting phytochemicals give fruits and vegetables their rich, varied hues. They come in two main classes: carotenoids and anthocyanins. All rich yellow and orange fruits and vegetables——carrots, oranges, sweet potatoes, mangoes, pumpkins, corn—owe their color to carotenoids. Leafy green vegetables also are rich in carotenoids but get their green color from chlorophyll. Red, blue and purple fruits and vegetables——plums, cherries, red bell peppers——contain anthocyanins. Cooking by color is a good way to ensure you’re eating a variety of naturally occurring substances that boost immunity and prevent a range of illnesses.

It’’s a breeze. It’’s almost effortless these days to find great-tasting and good-for-you vegetarian foods, whether you’re strolling the aisles of your local supermarket or walking down the street at lunchtime. If you need inspiration in the kitchen, look no further than the internet, your favorite bookseller or your local vegetarian society’’s newsletter for culinary tips and great recipes. And if you’’re eating out, almost any ethnic restaurant will offer vegetarian selections. In a hurry? Most fast food and fast casual restaurants now include healthful and inventive salads, sandwiches and entrees on their menus. So rather than asking yourself why go vegetarian, the real question is: Why haven’’t you gone vegetarian?

Sources: Vegetarian Times, Veg Kitchen, Wikipedia

Dewi is an Operations Manager of Divine Earth, an Organic Vegan Cuisine Restaurant in Semiyak, Bali - Indonesia. 

like millions of others, have taken a huge step in an effort to improve your health, minimize animal cruelty, and maybe become closer to religious beliefs and ideologies, or possibly all of the above. Making the decision to become vegan isn’t the challenging part for the majority.
Read more at http://www.vegkitchen.com/nutrition/more-transition/#BG1OlKTPApbZLIZY.99

Congratulations! You are now a vegan! Now what? You, like millions of others, have taken a huge step in an effort to improve your health, minimize animal cruelty, and maybe become closer to religious beliefs and ideologies, or possibly all of the above. Making the decision to become vegan isn’t the challenging part for the majority.
Read more at http://www.vegkitchen.com/nutrition/more-transition/#sr574CZ02MQ5D3F8.99

Congratulations! You are now a vegan! Now what? You, like millions of others, have taken a huge step in an effort to improve your health, minimize animal cruelty, and maybe become closer to religious beliefs and ideologies, or possibly all of the above. Making the decision to become vegan isn’t the challenging part for the majority.
Read more at http://www.vegkitchen.com/nutrition/more-transition/#sr574CZ02MQ5D3F8.99

Be The Change You Want The World To Be

Do you believe you can change the world? It might sound scary, but you really don’t have to be a superhero to make a difference. Sometimes it’s the little things that we do in everyday life that send ripples of change around the globe.

As everyone knew and as said in my previous blog, I decided to go Vegan started since last month. FYI, Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, as well as following an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of sentient animals. A follower of veganism is known as a vegan.  

Distinctions are sometimes made between different categories of veganism. Dietary vegans (or strict vegetarians) refrain from consuming animal products, not only meat but, in contrast to ovo-lacto vegetarians, also eggs, dairy products and other animal-derived substances. The term ethical vegan is often applied to those who not only follow a vegan diet, but extend the vegan philosophy into other areas of their lives, and oppose the use of animals or animal products for any purpose. Another term used is environmental veganism, which refers to the avoidance of animal products on the premise that the harvesting or industrial farming of animals is environmentally damaging and unsustainable.

As a new comer in this such a healthy habit, I found out that after a while, this habit really get into you like no others. For example, this morning while driving to work, I happened to saw this pick-up truck loaded with hundreds of chickens heading to the butcher place. Not that I was upset to see that, but surprisingly, I felt sick in my stomach. Just thinking of having them in my meal makes me feel like vomiting. Like honestly. I am really starting to question the way human being not only do what we want with animals because we can, but our right to use them at all for anything. How cruel.

I am really starting to question the way human beings not only do what we want with animals because we can, but our right to use them at all for anything.” - See more at: http://www.theveganrd.com/2009/12/promoting-veganism-finding-the-message-that-works.html#sthash.j52iSBAO.dpuf

I am really starting to question the way human beings not only do what we want with animals because we can, but our right to use them at all for anything.” - See more at: http://www.theveganrd.com/2009/12/promoting-veganism-finding-the-message-that-works.html#sthash.j52iSBAO.dpuf

I am really starting to question the way human beings not only do what we want with animals because we can, but our right to use them at all for anything.” - See more at: http://www.theveganrd.com/2009/12/promoting-veganism-finding-the-message-that-works.html#sthash.j52iSBAO.dpuf

I am really starting to question the way human beings not only do what we want with animals because we can, but our right to use them at all for anything.” - See more at: http://www.theveganrd.com/2009/12/promoting-veganism-finding-the-message-that-works.html#sthash.j52iSBAO.dpuf

Veganism has come a long way: once reserved for peace-loving hippies, interest in a totally animal-free diet is at an all-time high, with celebrities like Bill Clinton, Alicia Silverstone, Jay Z, and Beyoncé leading the charge. 

I am really starting to question the way human beings not only do what we want with animals because we can, but our right to use them at all for anything.” - See more at: http://www.theveganrd.com/2009/12/promoting-veganism-finding-the-message-that-works.html#sthash.j52iSBAO.dpuf

When news spread in November that Al Gore had recently started eating a vegan diet, reports expressed curiosity about his motivation as Gore has not shared his reasons, but he has plenty of celebrity company for any of the factors, with many other prominent individuals announcing in the past year that they have adopted vegan practices. Most speculation about Gore's decision concluded he's motivated by concerns about being kind to the planet. His Live Earth benefit concerts promote going vegan, so perhaps he's decided to practice what he preaches.

Alright, I have to admit it to you guys that the only reason I went Vegan was because I want to have my flawless skin back. Yup, because of my mobilities due to my work, I somehow got this some kind of allergic reaction toward weather in some country that damaged my skin. And when I went to see a doctor, he suggested me to change my diet. He then specifically told me to eat more vegetables. And yeah, I took it in an extreme way then decided to go Vegan.

Anyway, whatever your reasons for following or considering a vegan diet, you can probably find inspiration and ideas from coverage of the celebrities' practices. Gore seems to be staying quiet about it, and you probably won't share James Cameron's challenge of transforming a 2,500-acre personal farm from dairy to crops, but you just might find your next meal on Beyonce's Instagram profile.

Sources: Wikipedia, Washington Post, PETA

Dewi is an Operations Manager of Divine Earth, an Organic Vegan Cuisine Restaurant in Seminyak, Bali - Indonesia.

Raw Is Real

At the beginning of my new job managing an Organic Vegan Cafe, I decided to go Raw for 30 days. I’ve always been interested in eating a raw diet, but never had the guts to completely jump in and do it. I would eat raw for breakfast and lunch most days but would break down at dinner time and eat cooked food. I was eating about 60-80% raw, I just needed the extra push to move to eating 100% raw vegan food. I got that push after seeing these amazing before and after eating raw photos.

I decided the best way to know if something is all it’s cracked up to be is to try it. At the very worst if it doesn’t work out you can always go back, right?

What I found is that eating raw is not only easy to do, but makes you feel amazing. It wasn’t easy to resist eating cooked foods at first. Just like breaking any habit, it takes time and persistence. Most of all, it helps to simply take it one day at a time and focus on only one goal. 

And here are just a few things I’ve learned:

1. Live foods. It’s common sense right? A cooked seed won’t grow, but a raw seed will. Heating food over 118 degrees Fahrenheit destroys much of the nutrients in your food. Cooking food also diminishes the natural life energy. I’d rather put living food in my body.
2. Enzymes. Cooking food destroys much of the natural enzymes (your body can also create enzymes, but can only do so much) in your food that are needed to break down nutrients. Eating raw eliminates this problem.
3. Insane energy. You won’t know this unless you try it for yourself, but eating raw gives you an amazing boost in energy. I used to get tired around 2 or 3pm during the day. Now I simply don’t have that problem. When I do get tired, it doesn’t last nearly as long and an orange or apple will recharge me within a few minutes.
4. Better sleep and less sleep needed. I’ve slept better than ever while eating raw. But most importantly, I don’t wake up feeling tired or groggy anymore. On most days, I wake up feeling full of energy.
5. Increased mental clarity. Eating raw has helped me focus on the things that are important and made me more emotionally in tune with others. I feel like a wall of fog has been removed in my mind. It’s easier to think clearly and focus for long periods of time.
6. Eat as much as you want. This isn’t really a health benefit, but it is pretty awesome. I never get that uncomfortable full feeling eating raw. You know where you have to unbutton the top button on your pants and take a nap? I don’t get that. I can eat as much as I want, and while I will feel full, I don’t feel weighed down or tired.
7. Less cleanup. Simply put, there aren’t many dishes to wash when you eat fruit and vegetables. Although if you do compost (like I do), you’ll probably have to do it more often.
8. No packaging. Eating raw means less packaging all around (well, I guess you could argue that banana and orange peels are “packaging”). This means less trash in a landfill and more room in your cupboards. Win/win for everyone.
9. More regularity. You should naturally have around two to three bowel movements a day. If you’re going less than that, it probably means your intestines are unhealthily clogged. A raw diet gives you more than enough fiber to keep you regular.
10. Connection with the earth. Eating food that’s been freshly picked just feels different. You feel more connected to the earth and more grounded. Eating lots of processed foods — frozen or from a box — makes creates more of a gap and leaves you feeling disconnected from the earth that sustains you.

So what is raw veganism?

First, a primer: Raw veganism is a plant-based diet that involves no cooking. No food is heated above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). Foods are eaten fresh, dehydrated with low heat or fermented.

A core tenet of the diet is that heating food above 104 degrees not only diminishes its nutrients, but also makes the food toxic and less digestible. In raw vegan parlance, cooking is killing. Many raw vegans speak of "live" foods versus "dead" foods, and they aren't talking about sushi, so fresh it still wiggles.

Live or uncooked foods are said to be filled with vital life energy. In this way, raw veganism is an extension of the vegan appreciation for animal welfare, with the added spirituality of a life force, called chi or prana. Dead or cooked foods are said to be depleted of their life energy, as well as most of their nutrients.

Juicing and blending "green smoothies" often are key elements of this diet.

If you’re interested in pursuing a raw diet, here are a few great resources to get you started:

• Renegade Health – Great daily videos on eating raw and organic.
• Living and Raw Foods – Vast archive of information and resources for eating a raw diet.
• 30 Day Raw Trial – Steve Pavlina’s introduction to his 30 day trial eating only raw foods.

It should be noted that you don’t have to go 100% raw to see the benefits of eating this way. My transition to a raw diet wasn’t a quick process. I’ve been vegetarian for seven years and in the past two, started eliminating most dairy as well.

You don’t have to drop out and becoming a complete raw foodist right away. Any increase in raw foods in your diet will give you noticeable, immediate results.

 So, want to give it a try?

An increasing number of celebrities — most recently, tennis sensation Venus Williams — swear by this diet as the best way to prevent and reverse diseases and to stay young and vital. Testimonials from ordinary folks are endless, boasting advantages along the lines of having more energy, better skin, improved relationships with woodland creatures and so on. 

A raw food diet is not just good for you - it’s also good science! You don’t have to take my word for it, have ‘faith’ or trust the latest nutrition guru. Science now proves that cooking not only destroys nutrition and enzymes but chemically changes foods from the substances needed for health into acid-forming toxins, free-radicals and poisons that destroy our health!

Two common myths are that eating raw is expensive and that it takes a lot of time to prepare. Nothing could be further from the truth! But when you do it correctly, a raw food diet is actually one of the easiest, most convenient and most economical ways you can live. Remember, raw foodists eat mostly organic food, which is 80% to 300% more nutritionally dense (click for article on Organic Food) - loaded with available electrons/energy. As your body learns to absorb this additional nutrition and energy you'll be less hungry, getting more energy from what you do eat, and eat less. This ultimately can reduce your food costs, as well as your health care costs, far below what is was when you were eating empty calories filled with the acidic toxins. Raw, live food and water is the ultimate health care plan!

Sources: 10 Reasons Eating Raw is Healthier For You and The Planet - Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead; Raw Food Life - The Science of the Raw Food Lifestyle.

Dewi is an Operations Manager at Divine Earth - An Organic Vegan Cuisine Restaurant in Seminyak, Bali - Indonesia.