Restoring Wellness with Food

Raw cuisine in its real form is organic, from the earth and uncooked. It is blended, cultured and made into easy-to-digest nourishment. All raw recipes are vegan (no eggs, no diary) and definitely no meat or fish. ‘Living’ food are fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, roots and seeds - everything edible that grows from the earth and that has not been cooked.

Easy-to-digest nourishment with ample enzymes is key to restoring and strengthening a weakened immune system. Such food allows the cells to fully absorb the life-force energy produced by the enzymes. Besides providing energy, the food also contributes to spiritual growth.

Seeds become ‘living’ food when they are soaked and when they start to sprout. These little nutrient storehouses sprout to life and are on their way to become plants. Eating the sprouts when enzymes are released is when human have access to the benefits of the seeds.

Advocates of raw food claim that adding raw foods into one’s meals has considerable health benefits. Many have reported that it

- helps to build a sturdy immune system

- improves physical and mental states

- helps in weight loss

- stops and reverses many chronic diseases

- improves emotional poise and sexual potency

- optimizes one’s health

Ann Wigmore, the founder of the Hippocrates centre, reportedly healed her cancer eating a raw diet. She and many raw foodists believe that all diseases originate in the colon. In fact, diseases start in the mind with toxic and negative thoughts and emotions and then progress to the colon. And a diet of highly processed, refined, deficient in fibre, irradiated and genetically modified food leaves the colon with little chance of functioning properly. If the colon is not working the body is filled with toxic waste and becomes deprived of nourishment.

We are what we eat, and therefore what we put into our bodies through our mouth determines the state of our health. Hippocrates the father of medicine said “Let food be your medicine, let medicine be your food”. One can achieve optimum health through food. Many health conditions /aches can be traced back to a toxic colon, bad foods and stress. Removing toxicity in the body can rebuild a healthy internal terrain and restore wellness.

People become addicted to food such as alcohol, sugar, processed food and that could be fatal as they can’t stop having them. White sugar and processed food don’t have much nutritional value and can cause imbalances in the body in a permanent way.

The body can be healed by treating the causes rather than the symptoms of the dis-ease. Besides eating healthy food like ‘living’ raw food, adding superfoods such as Goji berries, raw cocoa that contain high amount of anti-oxidants, we should consider eating less meat and cleaning the colon. Improperly digested food can cause impacted fecal waste that can become a toxic waste dump with putrefying, decaying material – yeast, parasites and bacteria.

Living and Raw food is not a new diet fad but the original way of eating for humans and it is the diet of many animals living in the wild. There is a difference between raw food and living food. Raw food lovers believe that raw vegetables alone do not nourish our bodies as living food does. Living foods has a “spiritual quality” as it is alive with enzymes. People who eat this type of food claim they have boundless energy and seem to have amazing psychic clarity.

Enzymes are killed by cooking. When foods are heated above 105 degrees F they lose living enzymes and other nutrients. By 118 degrees F, most food is dead. Vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats and proteins are still there, but in a greatly altered state.

Adding living Sprouts that are rich in enzymes will help the body digest the food better. Our body’s ability to produce enzymes diminishes with age. The raw grains or seeds when soaked release the enzyme inhibitors and the enzymes are released into the food thus beginning the miracle of life. When we eat these living sprouts we enjoy boundless energy.

Cooked foods are missing some very vital elements like enzymes, oxygen, hormones, phyto-chemicals, bio-electrical energy and life-force for optimal functioning. However, many of us prefer the taste of cooked food and it is ok to combine living foods with cooked food.

TIPS ON HOW TO INTEGRATE Living Foods into your life

1. Organise to have fresh sprouts in your refrigerator and add to your salads

2. Read the labels of the food that you buy, avoiding foods with harmful preservatives and colouring

3. If you are a meat-eater, reduce the intake of meat and choose quality organic meat

4. If you choose to be vegan do not worry about insufficient protein. Seeds and sprouts are a rich source of protein and supply an abundant source of the 8 essential amino acids. Alfalfa sprouts has 37%, mung beans and sunflower seeds have 27% protein compared to 23% in lean beef and 21% in chicken

5. There is no need to become obsessive and fanatical about your food choices. Your body will tell you what is good for you. Start to include living foods in your cooked meals and add more living food choices over time.

6. Enjoy your food and chew well. DON’T feel guilty when you have an occasional off day of eating badly. It is about balance and loving yourself that you put the best nourishment into your body.

7. Learn how to prepare gourmet style living foods, invest in 1-2 books on raw and living food or visit websites for raw food*

Chan Cudennec

Chan was a banker, business coach and she blends her experience in the corporate world with her deep and profound knowledge of preventative healing modalities in providing comprehensive and integrated solutions to wellness. A practitioner in Sekhem energy healing, Kinergetics, Yoga, Hypnotherapy and Nutritional Counselling, she conducts Living food preparation classes regularly.

Chan is holding a 3-Day Intensive City Detox from Nov 17 - Nov 20. For more details, please click here. 

*Sources: 

Conscious eating by Gabriel Cousens; Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe; Raw Secrets By Frederic Patenaude

www.rawfood.com ; www.living-foods.com ; www.livingnutrition.com