have raw cake and eat it
It is true to say that raw cake features as a highlight of this website and I am indeed suggesting that you can have raw cake and eat it. However, the most important foods in a raw food diet in my opinion are raw greens. We eat them in large quantities daily in soups, sauces, smoothies, juices, dips, salads and puddings. I believe that raw greens have made more difference than any other foods to our continuing health. Not only are they a source of chlorophyll, they also alkalise the blood, which can help prevent and even cure many diseases including cancer. Many of our raw recipes include green leaves, some of which make them more palatable for children and people who are not keen on greens.
If you have ever wondered how to get more greens into your diet without having to eat salads continually, the green smoothie is a great solution. Victoria Boutenko wrote ‘Green For Life’ after inventing the ‘green smoothie’ to solve many of the problems presented to her with a raw food diet - particularly her family’s dislike of greens. It is in fact a throughly researched account of the many health benefits of greens including their ability to protect from cancer, delay aging and increase hydrochloric acid in the stomach to improve digestion. It is a reassurance to find that breaking down the hard cell walls of greens in a high powered blender in fact enhances absorption of nutrients.
Juicing is also a highly recommended way of consuming greens. Gabriel Cousens (2008) recommends starting the day with a green juice in his book ‘There is a Cure for Diabetes’ and continuing to include greens in each meal and snack throughout the day. Diabetics find that they benefit significantly by taking green juice, which alkalizes the small intestine, which in turn, regulates the passage of glucose through the intestinal barrier. The small intestine needs to be alkaline in order to regulate the passage of glucose through the intestine. The benefits of regulated blood sugar are many, including potential weight loss, increased energy, and higher metabolism.
GREEN RAW FOOD AND ALKALISING
The Gerson Institute uses regular juicing to help people recover from cancer using natural methods. They recommend the expensive Norwalk two step juicer for this purpose. However, a combination of the Champion Juicer for grinding and then a juice press for making the juice is another recommended option for those who find the Norwalk unaffordable. The Health Steam Juice Press seems to be the best option in the UK that I can find to combine with the Champion for a cheaper option than the Norwalk Juicer which needs to be imported into the UK and is very expensive. Gerson (2009) offers solutions in her book in the form of a precision-built nutritional programme that eliminate the underlying causes of disease, leading to lasting cures,with green juice as an integral part of the programme. The Gerson Institute suggest that just using a masticating juicer is suitable for people who do not have cancer and wish to juice for improved health.
Boutenko (2006) shares some fascinating information about acidity and alkalinity and cancer:
“Today we have an ocean of confusing information, articles in which different experts state many different reasons for illness. However, I think that the main reason for illness was stated very clearly in 1931! Over 75 years ago, Otto Warburg was awarded the Nobel prize for his discovery that cancer is caused by weakened cell respiration due to lack of oxygen at the cellular level. According to Warburg, damaged cell respiration causes fermentation, resulting in low pH (acidity) at the cellular level.
Dr. Warburg, in his Nobel Prize winning study, illustrated the environment of the cancer cell. A normal healthy cell undergoes an adverse change when it can no longer take in oxygen to convert glucose into energy. In the absence of oxygen, the cell reverts to a primal nutritional program to nourish itself by converting glucose through the process of fermentation. The lactic acid produced by fermentation lowers the cell pH (acid/alkaline balance) and destroys the ability of DNA and RNA to control cell division. The cancer cells then begin to multiply. The lactic acid simultaneously causes severe local pain as it destroys cell enzymes. Cancer appears as a rapidly growing external cell covering, with a core of dead cells.
Dr. Otto Warburg finished one of his most famous speeches with the following statement: “…nobody today can say that one does not know what cancer and its prime cause is. On the contrary, there is no disease whose prime cause is better known, so that today ignorance is no longer an excuse that one cannot do more about prevention.
Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize for showing that cancer thrives in anaerobic (without oxygen), or acidic, conditions. In other words, the main cause for cancer is acidity of the human body.”
If you drink green juice regularly, you will often see a strengthening of the gums, a cessation of bleeding when brushing or flossing, a reduction of plaque and cavities. And most importantly, by normalizing the pH of the oral cavity of the mouth, then we find that we are capable of eating foods that are better for us and enjoying them. I used to suffer from bleeding gums and found my consumption of large quantities of greens resolved this. In addition to this I found that my often broken nails were much stronger.
Certain ecology of the body must be alkaline in order for humans to be healthy. The most notable example is the human blood which must a pH of 7.4. If human blood does not have enough alkalinity, then it will begin to steal alkaline potential from other ecology of the body. The various parts of the body that should be alkaline include the blood, the mouth, the small intestine and at times, the urinary tract. When our blood does not get enough raw materials to keep it in a healthy alkaline state, then it literally will borrow or rob alkaline potential from the other ecology of the body.
I am convinced that is was the introduction of raw greens and the result of alkalising our bodies which had the greatest impact on resolving our health problems. Now I feel I want to consume greens every day in all forms such as green smoothies, green juices, raw pasta sauce, raw puddings and more.
References
Cousens, G, MD, (2008) There is a Cure to Diabetes, Berkeley, California, North Atlantic Books.
Boutenko, V, (2006) Green For Life, US, Raw Family Publishing.
Gerson, C, (2009) Healing the Gerson Way, US, Totality Books.
