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Natural HealthCompilation

12 Articles That Will

Change Your Perspective

On Nutrition and Health

Dr. Grahams


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The One Car Theory

What if you only had one car? It would be issued to you by the government when you turnedeighteen- Any automobile of your choice. That auto would be your only auto and would have tolast you for an entire lifetime. If it wore out, it could not be replaced. Once gone, you wouldbe reduced to other methods of getting around, or borrowing rides from other people...One carand only one for your whole life.

Would you take care of your car or would you abuse it? Would you change the oil regularly, keepit clean, park it in a garage? Of course you would take the best care you possibly could of yourvehicle. No going out to the drag races on Friday nightOnly premium fuel for your motor. Tuneups, antifreeze, lubrications, maintenance, always you would choose nothing but the best foryour automobile.

Would you let your auto sit idly for ayear?...Never. Would you push it to the limits to

find out how fast it could go, or what the rough-est terrain is that is could possibly handle?

Absolutely not. If you were given only one carfor a lifetime of use it is clear that you wouldnever abuse it, you would always take the bestcare of it you possibly could. You would provideall the necessary maintenance and care your carneeded and deserved- Right?

What if you only had one body?

Empty Calories Part I of III K.I.S.S. - How Sweet It Is

Carbohydrates

Despite the disinformation spewing forth in a continual mass media marketing blitz, all sugarsare not created equally. There are, essentially, two types of plant sugars: simple and complex.Simple sugars (also known as simple carbohydrates) are easily recognizablethey taste sweet.

Complex sugars (also known as complex carbohydrates or starches) are usually very bland tothe taste. Our cells are fueled exclusively by the simple sugars glucose and fructose. Itappears that we come by our sweet tooth honestly and naturally.

Fruits, whose sugars are composed primarily of readily available glucose and fructose, digest

more easily than any other food and have the most universal appeal. In comparison, thecomplex carbohydrates found in tubers, legumes, grains, and unripe fruit are almost indi-gestible unless they are cooked. Once cooked, complex carbohydrate digestion is an energyintensive and relatively slow process. If form follows function, as most scientists artists andphilosophers believe, then the physiology of nutrition dictates the acronym, K.I.S.S. KeepIt Simple Sugar.

A more basic approach to clarifying the carbohydrate confusion is achieved by classing them aseither whole or refined. According to this concept, whole carbohydrates (both simple andcomplex) are the healthy choice because their nutrient packages are still intact. Certainly,


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compared to the absolutely empty calories (calories without nutrients) found in refined sugarand starch products, whole carbohydrates are a healthier alternative. However, as most phy-tonutrients, antioxidants, enzymes, coenzymes, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats arerendered either useless or harmful during the heating process, whole carbohydrates are notnecessarily our best choice. Logic dictates that not just simple sugars, but whole raw simplesugars exactly as they are found in fresh organic ripe fruits are our healthiest choices when it

comes to carbohydrate intake.

Nutritional Bankruptcy

The ongoing processes of cellular metabolism require a complex and ever changing choreogra-phy of thousands of micro and macro nutrients in conjunction with glucose. When a balance ofcatabolic processes (the division of complex structures into simpler ones) and anabolic process-

es (the creation of complex structures from simpler ones) is an achieved, the desirable condi-tion known as homeostasis (literally, a condition of staying the same) results. This is thepoint where growth and decay are in balance, the proverbial maintenance or steady statethat most people wish to experience throughout their adult years. Any carbohydrate sourcecan be used to supply the glucose required to fuel cellular metabolism. In fact, even proteinor fat can be converted to glucose for fuel via the body driven process known as gluconeogene-sis (the creation of new sugar).

However, when nutrients are not supplied by food in sufficient quantity to match the amountneeded to maintain homeostasis, bodily reserves must be utilized to make up the difference.The draining of reserves without the subsequent introduction of sufficient nutrients eventuallyresults in a nutrient deficit. Malnourishment is a condition that occurs when the body is low in

one or more nutrients. We can live relatively symptom-free with this nutrient deficit for awhile, but when it becomes severe enough the condition referred to by this author as nutri-tional bankruptcy can make itself known through the development of a wide variety of symp-toms. These include, but are certainly not limited to: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthri-

tis, kidney disease, visual dysfunction, various skin conditions and a wide array of other healthconcerns.

Not About Taste

A common response people make when they realize that starchy foods are not as healthful asthey have been led to believe is, But bread tastes so good! Sure it does, but so does amango, peach, grapes, or whatever fruit we are going to replace starches with. Others say,You mean I cant eat pasta anymore? Well, of course you can, just remember that you mustpay the price, and the price is...your health. If I had to give up all of my favorite foods andeat foods that tasted horrible to me simply to gain health I admit I might be a bit challenged.But everyone loves fruit. It is simply a matter of training yourself to the idea of eating a lot

more living foods, and especially fruit.

If you eat what everyone else eats you can expect the same health challenges that everyoneelse has. Be willing to develop constructive eating habits, such as training your sweet tooth

to rely on and appreciate fruits, and reap the harvest of exuberant health year round.


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Empty Calories - Part II of III KISS- Fats

Fats are probably the most confusing and misunderstood of nutrients. There are so many typesof fats: saturated, unsaturated, polyunsaturated, hydrogenated, mono and diglycerols, goodand bad fats, oils, omega 3s and 6s, LDL, HDL, VLDL, and certainly many others. In an effortto simplify our understanding of nutrition, in this article we are going to look at what happens

to a fat when it is heated, and which fats provide the best nourishment for humans. The appli-

cation of nutrition requires an ability to jump back and forth from macrocosm to microcosm asthe nutritionist switches roles between biochemist and chef. The biochemist is looking at foodsfrom the standpoint of their chemical makeup, from the tiniest constituents that are found inthe food. Bananas, the chemist might say, are a good source of potassium. This is well andgood, but who eats foods according to their nutrients? With over one million nutrients to beaware of, no person could possibly eat foods according to their nutrient contents, in an effortto stay balanced. It would drive any sane person crazy. The chef, on the other hand says,

Bananas are sweet.

Fats: you gotta have em. They taste really good. It seems they are everywhere, in almost

everything we love to eat. Yet everyone is making an effort to cut back on fat consumption.What is the skinny on fats, after all? There are fats of various kinds in almost all foods. Certainones known as essential fatty acids (EFAs) are critical to life itself. Lettuces, many fruits, andpractically all nuts and seeds contain EFAs. Most foods contain a mixture of saturated andunsaturated fats. The ratio of saturated to unsaturated (or polyunsaturated), is known as theS/P ratio. This ratio is considered to be optimum, according to most standard nutrition texts,

when it is approximately 20/80. Nuts and seeds generally have an S/P ratio of very close to20/80. Animal source fats usually have an S/P ratio of 80/20.

The application of heat results in many changes in fat. Hydrogen molecules are taken on, withthe result being known as hydrogenation. Saturated fats are literally saturated with hydro-

gen. Once saturated, they are no longer assimilable. Heated fats also lose oxygen. This is howthe process of rancidity begins. Once the oxygen is lost from a fat it is much more vulnerableto going rancid.

Antioxidants, long known as anticancer agents, are also lost when fats are heated. Whenantioxidants are destroyed, so is the anti-cancer activity which some fats are said to possess.Instead, heated fats are known to be carcinogenic. In every study that I have ever seen thatconsiders this factor the conclusion has always been that regardless of how they are heated,heated fats are cancer causers.

The fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K are also vulnerable to the ravaging effects of heat.They quickly lose their potency and become completely ineffective long before they are raised

to even low cooking temperatures.

Fatty Fruit

Fatty fruits such as jakfruit, akee, durian, avocado and olive provide the healthiest mix ofnutrients for human needs. Those with fat content levels from 13 to 19 percent of total calo-ries such as durian jakfruit and akee are almost the exact nutritional equivalents of mothersmilk. Raw nuts and seeds also provide acceptable nutrition, but tend to be much more difficult


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to digest. Nut and seed consumption often results in constipation, allergies asthma, sour stom-ach, and other symptoms of toxemia. Nuts and seeds also tend to be sources of too much fatsimply because it is so easy to eat too much of them.

So how much fat is enough? Low fat diets are universally recommended by health experts.Counting calories however is never a fun pastime. A safe guideline for fat consumption is to

keep total fat at about 15 percent of the total calories consumed, plus or minus five percent.

Eating a diet of predominantly non-fatty fruits and raw vegetables makes it easy to keep totalfat consumption at acceptable levels. Rather than reaching out for fatty foods whenever theurge strikes, develop the habit of satisfying your appetite with vegetables and non fatty fruits.In this way the addition of fatty fruits, seeds and nuts will keep the total fat consumption atacceptable levels. Eat and enjoy.

Empty Calories - Part II of III KISS- Proteins

Cooked protein it isnt a pretty picture. Like Humpty Dumpty, who couldnt be put backtogether again, heated proteins are irrevocably changed, and not for the better. The word we

use to describe this change is denatured.

Protein Is Denatured Naturally During Digestion

Not all denaturing is bad. The process of digesting dietary proteins exposing them to diges-tive chemicals and specific protein-splitting enzymes is one example of a necessary and natu-

ral form of denaturing. Raw, plant-based proteins are denatured by digestive proteases, pro-tein splitting enzymes, into proteoles (small proteinette chains of amino acids) and eventual-ly into amino acids. These can be recombined by the liver into functional proteins.

And Unnaturally During Heating

The story gets more complicated when proteins are denatured as a consequence of exposure toheat. Proteins denatured by heat become progressively nonviable as cooking time and tempera-

ture exposures increase. This means that they become progressively less usable by the body.Not surprisingly, the blood, lymph, and liver treat heated proteins as foreign invaders. Whiteblood cell (leukocyte) counts rise by as much as 600% after eating cooked proteins, signifying adirect assault on the bodys ability to maintain homeostasis. Leukocytosis, leukemia, and leuko-cytopenia all have been linked to the consumption of heated proteins.

The lymphatic system filters all proteins, and, stressed by cooked protein, can become clogged,resulting in sluggish lymphatic flow. Swollen or blocked lymph nodes often result from the con-sumption of cooked foreign proteins. The lymphatic system is responsible for the transport of

proteins and fats to the bloodstream. Sluggish lymphatic function can lead to a wide array ofhealth problems. The liver must work overtime to chemically defuse the harmful effects ofcooked protein, reducing its capacity to do its work of detoxification.

Nearly All Nutrients Contain Protein

There are only three caloronutrients (energy-containing nutrients): protein, fat and carbohy-drates. All other micronutrients (currently estimated at some ten million), with the exception


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of minerals, contain protein as an essential part of their structure. Therefore, the nutritionalimpact of heat upon proteins has profound and far-reaching implications.

And None of Them Function Properly When Cooked

Alter the protein structures in any nutrient and the functioning of that nutrient is rendered less

than optimal. Our likelihood of making proper use of heated

proteins is slim to none. Follow this logic, and it is easy to see that virtually all cooked-foodeaters suffer from malnutrition, no matter how well they think they watch their diets. And,because nearly all nutrients contain protein, this affects a broad range of nutrients.

But Where Do You Get Your Protein?

Where do you get your protein may just be the most common nutritional question asked ofraw fooders. The truth is, ask nearly anyone how much protein their body needs, and they will

have absolutely no idea. But they do know that we need a lot of protein. Certainly morethan the amount supplied by a vegetarian diet. Or do they?

Protein is not synonymous with meat or animal products. In fact, protein is structurally inte-grated into the nucleus of virtually every living cell on the planet in its genetic material,known as DNA. Consider the following:

* Fruits: All fruits contain protein, in amounts varying from 4 to 10 % of calories, approximately

perfect for human consumption. For example, a 50-calorie orange contains some 4 or 5 caloriesof protein, averaging about 8.5%.

* Vegetables: Vegetables also contain protein, and lots of it. Their protein content ranges fromthe (exceedingly rare) single-digit lows, such as acorn squash (8% of calories) and baby carrots(9%) to as high as 40% of calories (asparagus), 50% (spinach), and even 84% (watercress).

* Looking at these numbers, you can see that on a properly constructed raw-food vegan diet, itis difficult to consume less than 10 to 15% of total calories as protein. Even those who eat a

diet exceptionally high in fruit and some vegetables find it easy to consume at least 10% oftheir total calories as protein.

* Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds also contain protein, on average some 10 or 15% protein, andranging perhaps 5 to 25%. (Pecans run about 5% protein; almonds 15%; pumpkin seeds 25%.)

*Animal products: For comparison, here are the protein numbers on some selected meats and

other animal products. Meats run from about 24% calories from protein (fatty cuts) to about 60%(chicken) protein. Milk, eggs and dairy products tend to run about 30% protein, (except for low-fat cottage cheese, at nearly 70%).

Though many of us eat our vegetables raw (and I hope after reading this article that youre oneof them!), few of us eat our animal products raw (dont get me wrong, Im not recommendingthat either!). Make no mistake: cooked protein, be it from animal or vegetable sources, is notuseful, and is even downright harmful, for our bodies.

* Beyond the raw/cooked issue, remember that animal products come with a great deal of


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harmful fat (30 to 76% of calories). Vegetables, on the other hand contain perhaps 5 to 25%(good, or essential) fat. (Yes, believe it or not, iceberg lettuce gets 15% of its calories fat;arugula 23%. Remember, though, were talking percentage of calories, and vegetables dontyield even close to the number of total calories provided by animal products.)

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TABLE

Item % protein/calorie % fat/calorie

Top sirloin, lean and fat, 1/8 fat, select grade, broiled 47 50Swordfish, cooked, dry heat 65 30Chicken breast, roasted, skinless 75 20Turkey, light meat and skin, roasted 58 38

Ham, extra lean (approx. 5% fat) 59 34Cottage cheese, 1% low fat 68 13Parmesan cheese 36 59

Cheddar cheese 24 74Milk, 1% fat 31 23Scrambled eggs 26 66

Note: we do not recommend cooked or raw animal foods

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Delusion in Both Camps

But heres the clincher: Though it obviously varies from person to person, the SAD (StandardAmerican Diet) is not all that high in protein it counts as about 10 to 20% of a persons totalcalories. The reality is that human protein consumption doesnt really vary that much, regard-less of diet. Raw fooders eating large amounts of simple carbs (primarily fruits) are consuming

10 to 15% protein. The SAD diet is so high in fat, (often over 50%) and carbs (over 30%) thatthose who eat it also have a protein consumption of under 20%. Those raw fooders eating hugeamounts of vegetables also tend to eat a very high-fat diet, hence their diet is also not veryhigh in protein. (They generally consume far too many of their calories in the form of of oils,avocados, and nuts to avoid feeling hungry or empty all the time. A better alternative is to sub-stantially increase fruit, which is relatively more calorie-dense and then to exercise enoughto process the fruit adequately.) Vegans who concentrate on complex carbs and fat also dont

get much more than 10 to 15% of their dietary intake as protein.

Its an ironic state of affairs: in one camp are the SAD eaters, who operate under the falseassumption that theyre on a high-protein regimen. In the other camp are vegetarians, vegans,and raw fooders alike who have fallen into the trap of defending the low-protein lifestyle whileconsuming about the same amount of protein as the SAD eaters. Both are deluded. There is lit-tle evidence to support the commonly held belief that vegans eat a low-protein diet.

This may sound confusing, but lets put it in perspective. As we have stated above and will dis-cuss in detail below, high-single-digit protein consumption (up to 10% of calories) is ideal for


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humans. Only those consuming protein in the low single digits, say less than 4%, would be con-sidered to be eating a low-protein diet...and this is nearly impossible, unless a persons dietconsists almost entirely of candy or alcohol.

Lets Get Numerical.

Hmmm...this 10 to 15% range for protein consumption appears in both the SAD and the veggie

camps. Many would ask, Is that enough? In reality, as we will discuss below, the questionshould be is that too much? But first things first.

The amount of protein required for human well-being is, no doubt, a subject of great contro-versy. Even if you dont believe that the SAD numbers could be as low as those quoted above,follow along as we take a look at the numbers. The results just may surprise you.

* The USRDA for protein for adults is currently 1.86 grams for every hundred calories a person

eats. For a person who eats 2000 calories a day, wed have 1.86 x 20, or about 37 grams of pro-tein per day. (Based upon a suggested caloric intake of 15 times body weight, this person mightbe a 134-pound, highly active female: 15 x 134 = 2010 calories)

* Given that each gram of protein contains four calories, the recommended 37 grams of proteinequates to 4 x 37, or 148 of our hypothetical females 2000 daily calories. Thats 7.4 % of dailycalories from protein, according to the USRDA. And because it is expressed as a percentage ofcalories, this RDA some 7 or 8 % protein doesnt apply just to this one example, but rather

applies to all of us, regardless of weight or gender.

* Lets think about this number: 7.4% is very close to the 8% protein/calorie content of mothersmilk. We know that babies need more protein than adults to allow for their exceptionally highgrowth rate. So perhaps the 7.4% RDA is an artificially inflated target. A conservative six toseven percent is more realistic when looking for a protein percentage that is sufficient, byany standard.

So, what if our assumption is off base: say there were reasons for adults to consume larger per-

centages of protein than infants after all. Perhaps the sheer volume of cellular maintenanceand repair that an adult must require is so great that extra protein is needed. Perhaps the typeof growth available to adults, predominantly muscle mass, requires the consumption of greaterprotein levels than is needed by infants. Or perhaps with age, protein metabolism becomes lessefficient, hence requiring greater protein consumption for the same result. The answers are notyet clear, but we do know for sure that sufficient protein is readily available, even on a fruit-based raw food diet.

In any case, having run the numbers, we see that all the talk about getting enough protein isan unfounded concern one started by the meat industry and swallowed whole hog by theAmerican public. In fact, protein insufficiency is so exceedingly rare that there is actually nomedical term for it (the term kwashiorkor was commonly used to signify protein deficiency,but it has been replaced by the term marasmus, which means calorie insufficiency as scien-tists have determined that people were starving for calories, not simply protein deficient). Nowits time to look at the other side of the coin: is it possible that were eating too much protein?You bet!


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More Protein Is Not Better

Excess protein has been linked with almost every human health condition with the exception ofgood health itself. Heart disease, arthritis, diabetes and cancer top the list. More is definite-ly not better in the case of protein. Osteoporosis is directly linked with the overconsumptionof animal protein, as the acids in the protein effectively leach calcium from the bones. In gen-

eral, as protein consumption rises, so does fat consumption, meaning that carbohydrate intake

becomes unacceptably low.

A Startling Conclusion.

Now, heres one for you: speaking of more protein, when we take into account the bioavail-ability of raw protein and the irrevocable damage done to cooked protein, we come to a star-tling conclusion. As I have often said, if Im eating more raw fruits and vegetables than you, Iam getting more protein than you. Try that one at your next cocktail party.

By now it should be readily apparent that sufficient protein is a complete non issue for vegetar-ians, vegans, and raw fooders and that, in fact, the protein issue is one that is of specific and

dire concern for followers of the SAD.

As there are only two other caloronutrients, we must come to terms with yet another basictenet of healthful eating, the dietary ratio of fat to carbohydrates and its nutritional and healthimplications. This will be the basis of my next article, The Nutritional Seesaw.

Reference: USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 13. See http://www.veg-source.com/harris/food_comp.htm)

Nutrition and Energy - How Well It Becomes You

When we breathe in, the oxygen in the air passes into our bloodstream effortlessly and immedi-ately. Upon drinking water, it is absorbed through the intestines and into the bloodstream in sec-onds. It takes just minutes for ripe fruits to be absorbed and yield up their nutrients. Raw veg-

etables only require an hour or two. Starchy foods can easily take over twelve hours. Proteinrich and fatty foods often take over a day to reach the bloodstream, as they are the slowest todigest and then must pass through the lymphatic system before entering the bloodstream. TypicalAmerican food eaten in complex combinations usually takes three days or longer to be properlyabsorbed.

Increasing the percentage of fuel consumed that is available for physical activity is a relativelysimple process. The process of digestion is the only place from which fuel use may be decreasedin order to free up more fuel for use by the muscles. It is all about how quickly and easily your

food becomes you.

The brain and central nervous system uses approximately ten percent of all of the fuel that the aver-age person consumes. The glands and organs that are not involved in digestion require about twentypercent of the total fuel consumed. These two fuel demanding systems receive the highest priorityfrom the body, in other words, they always get their fuel first. In order to free up more energy formuscular activity, we must reduce the amount of fuel used to digest the foods that we eat.


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The process of digestion uses an average of forty to fifty percent of the total amount of calo-ries consumed, leaving only twenty to thirty percent for activity. The amount of fuel used todigest food can rise to sixty and even seventy percent of total fuel intake, causing us tobecome sleepy and leaving nothing for activity. By lowering the fuel consumption of digestionto thirty or even twenty percent of total fuel consumed, considerable amounts of fuel willbecome available to the muscular system.

There are only two factors that influence fuel consumption as it concerns digestion: (1) theamount of time required to digest the foods we eat, and (2) the quantity or intensity of chemi-cal processes the body must perform in order to ready our food for absorption. Reduction offuel use naturally follows when we eat the amount and type of food that is right for us, whichrequires less time and fewer chemical processes for digestion.

Three conditions can increase the time and chemical intensity required for digestion:

1. Eating of foods to which we are not biologically adapted.2. Over eating.3. Eating combinations of foods that are incompatible, and therefore difficult to digest.

Eating of foods to which we are not biologically adapted

Comparative anatomists coined the rule of similars which states animals that are anatomical-ly and physiologically similar always thrive on similar foods. The great apes, or anthropoid pri-mates, are our closest anatomical, physiological and genetic cousins. All of them thrive on aplant based diet of raw fruits and vegetables. The consumption of foods to which we are notbiologically adapted necessitates a major increase in both the length of time and the number ofchemical processes required for digestion. We are biologically adapted to whole, fresh, ripe,

raw organic plants.

Over Eating

When we overtax our digestive abilities with too much food, digestion takes considerably longerthan usual. The body has to work that much harder and longer to fully digest a meal eaten inexcess of its requirements. Overeating refers to quantity, not to frequency.

Eating Difficult to Digest Combinations of Foods

In nature, animals tend to eat one food at a time, when hungry, until they are full. While vari-ety almost always leads to overeating, it also tends to make digestion more difficult. Starches

eaten with sugars will ferment and starches eaten with protein will lead to putrefaction.Simplicity at mealtime must be considered a prerequisite of good digestion, while varietythroughout the year is a requirement for optimum nutrition. The human body most efficientlydigests one food at a time. Food combinations will always take longer and require more inten-sive use of the chemical processes available for digestion, both of which will lower the quantityof fuel accessible to the muscles.


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How your fuel is used.

Brain Glands/Organs Muscles Digestion10% 20% 70% 0%10% 20% 60% 10%10% 20% 50% 20%10% 20% 30% 40%10% 20% 20% 50%10% 20% 10% 60%10% 20% 0% 70%

As the amount of fuel used for digestion increases, the amount that remains available for use

by the muscles decreases.

Half-Fast Metabolism

What is metabolism, anyway?

In this article, you will learn what, exactly, metabolism is. The record will be set straight con-cerning the facts of fast vs. slow metabolizers. The contradictions found in the many dietaryrecommendations that have to deal with metabolism will be brought to light. The reader willbe encouraged to draw his or her own conclusions.

There is a huge amount of misinformation being taught in the raw food world about metabo-lism. This is quite understandable, as most people do not even truly understand what theirmetabolism is. Some folks are teaching that the rate of your metabolism determines just

exactly which foods are best suited for you to eat. They teach that people are born as either

fast or slow metabolizers, and glorify the advantages of being a fast metabolizer. Theyassert that the fast metabolizers burn through fuel more rapidly than the slow metabolizers,making the fast metabolizers relatively more efficient at digesting their food. Actually, theopposite is really true. It is easy to understand if we use a car analogy. The car that gets moremiles to the gallon is more efficient than the car that gets fewer miles to the gallon. It isequally as easy to understand that the person who utilizes the least fuel to accomplish any par-ticular task, i.e., the slow metabolizer, is the most efficient.

Many raw food teachers currently say that if you are a fast metabolizer you must eat in a cer-tain way, that is, to skew your diet so that fats (nuts, seeds, oils, avocados, olives, etc.) makeup an exceptionally high percentage of total calories (60-80%). If you do not, they teach, you

are destined to fail as a raw fooder. They also say that if you are a slow metabolizer that youmay possibly do better to slightly increase your consumption of fruits, but that fruit (due totheir abundant simple carbohydrates) should still be minimized in the overall diet.

The fast metabolizers, it is taught, will only thrive on a high fat diet, as fruits will prove to be

insufficient in terms of fuel density, leaving the consumer constantly hungry and suffering fromthe maladies (mistakenly) associated with the overconsumption of fruits sugars. Only the slow-est metabolizers, it is taught, could even hope to have a chance at possibly succeeding, health-wise, by utilizing fruit for fuel. Often, athletes are brought into the example. If you are a seri-


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ous athlete, then you might be able to use more fruit if you are a very slow metabolizer, it issaid, but otherwise, it is too easy to overeat on fruit and it really should simply be avoided.

First, lets begin with a few terms. The term metabolism represents the sum of all of thecatabolic and anabolic processes that go on within your body. The anabolic activities in yourbody are those whereby simpler structures are united to form more complex ones. Anabolism

represents the building processes in your body: growth, repair, and all of the recombinant

chemistry that goes on at the cellular and visceral level. Catabolic activities are those wherebycomplex structures are broken down into simpler ones. Digestion, osteoclastic activity (cellsthat break down bones), and the conversion of glycogen to glucose are examples of catabolismin action. Metabolism is not, in and of itself, a single function, but rather a representation ofthe sum total of anabolism and catabolism that is going on in the body at any given time.

Authors note: It is the impression of this writer that slow in the sense it is used by most rawfood teachers seems also to be associated with negative themes such as uncoolness and men-

tal slowness. The imagery used in association with fast metabolizers is sexy and fun, as in; fastcars and fast blondes.

Physical activity, or lack of it, determines metabolic rate

The term metabolism does have a useful meaning for us, however. We use it with referenceto the phrase, basal metabolic rate, or BMR. We use the two terms almost but not quite assynonyms. The basal metabolic rate is a measure of the amount of fuel a person utilizes, perunit of time, when awake and totally at rest. It does not include such functions as physicalactivity, daily household chores, or even digestion. When we use the word, metabolism weuse it to mean BMR plus all the activities of the day. We might say, He has a fast metabolismand she has a very slow metabolism. By this we would mean that a person with a fast metabo-

lism requires more fuel to perform the same amount of anabolic and catabolic processes as theperson with a slow metabolism. This makes the fast metabolizer less efficient in their use of

fuel. Either way, however, the difference is not very much, as the BMR rarely varies much morethan about plus or minus 5% from person to person of similar body size and design. Body surfacearea, it turns out, is the biggest factor affecting BMR. BRM in humans accounts for the use ofaround 1000 calories per day.

What does affect fuel use is the amount of physical exertion one performs. A sedentary person

may only use 200 calories per day in performing their daily functions whereas someone goingfor a vigorous 4-hour hike could use 2000 calories. Professional athletes often use 4000 caloriessolely for their daily training and Tour de France riders are known to use over 10,000 calorieson certain days of this grueling competition. Hence it becomes easy to see that differences in

BMR, or metabolism, as it is commonly referred to, plays an exceptionally small role in totalcalorie usage, usually representing less than 100 calories out of 2,000 to 4,000 or even more.

The truly fast metabolizer is one who uses more calories per hour, throughout the day, than theaverage person does. The more calories one utilizes in the course of the day, the faster would

be their total metabolism. It can safely be said that a fit woman of average physique usesabout 1800 calories per day and the average-sized fit man about 2400. Using the man for thisexample, it would mean that he averages about 100 calories per hour. We could thereforeassert that a man who uses more than 100 calories per hour would be termed a fast metaboliz-er and a man who uses less than 100 calories per hour would be a slow metabolizer.


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How much fat is optimum?

The concept that fast metabolizers must consume more fat per calorie than slow metabolizershas been taught as fact in raw food circles for many years. This is contrary, however, to all weknow about human health and nutrition. The Director of Nutrition for the United States OlympicTeams says, the amount of fat (as a percentage of total calories) required for the athleteremains the same, regardless of sport. The only thing that varies, sport by sport and athleteby athlete, she asserts, is the total number of calories required. Vegan doctors McDougall,Pritikin, Ornish, Campbell, Klaper, Harris, Heidrich, Barnard, and many others, all international-ly renowned for their forward stance on nutrition are in agreement that 10% of calories from

fat is the outside, high-end acceptable human limit.

In the field of raw nutrition, it is generally agreed that foods consumed in their raw state pro-vide a greater amount of viable nutrients as well as nutrients that are more accessible, henceless food is needed than when one consumes cooked foods. This should mean, therefore, thatless total fat is required to fill the essential physiologic roles it plays when we consume ourfoods in the raw. Why then are raw fooders told to eat more fats? The excessive consumption offat (cooked or raw) has been incontrovertibly linked to the development of cancer, heart dis-

ease, and diabetes. The more fat we consume, the higher the rates of these dread conditions.It has been shown that when we consume more fats than we require we almost invariably con-sume less carbohydrates than we require. Insufficient carbohydrate consumption will result infeelings of fatigue, loss of strength, and a general lowering of vigor and vitality.

Mind bending contradictions

At this point we have come to an unbridgeable contradiction. Fast metabolizers, those who uti-lize the most fuel per hour, are supposedly the very people who will thrive on the highest fatlevels in their diet. While we are being told that only athletes can get away with the highcarbohydrate (fruit-based) diet, we know that athletes are the very people who have the

fastest metabolisms. Meanwhile, scientific research unwaveringly asserts that the more fat youconsume the worse it will be for your health.

Small cows eat small amounts of food relative to large cows. Active cows eat more food thantheir sedentary counterparts, yet all cows eat primarily the same food. Fruits and vegetableshave been touted as the ultimate health foods for humans for over a century, and have beenthe primary food of humankind throughout our existance. Whether you are small or large,active or sedentary, fruits and vegetables remain as the foods of choice for building humanhealth. If one person needs to consume a greater quantity of calories than another person, itsimply means that they must eat a greater quantity of food, not completely different foods.

The Director of Nutrition for the US Olympic Team states that the relative percentages of fat,

protein and carbohydrates in the athletes diet should not vary; regardless of whether the ath-lete runs the mile or the marathon, lifts weights or plays table tennis, or shoots skeet or putsthe shot. This author can only conclude that the low-fat, raw, vegan diet of whole, fresh, ripe,raw, organic, plants remains the best and healthiest choice for all of us.

In case that is not enough of a contradiction to try to puzzle out, work on this one. It has beenrepeatedly asserted that most raw fooders would do their best, healthwise, using a diet that is

composed primarily of fats. This assertion is based on the assumption that most people are fastmetabolizers. The Law of Averages says that as we are working with a bell curve, only about


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10% of the people would be truly classed as fast metabolizers, 10% would be slow, and the restwould fall in the middle, somewhere.

Resistance to change is futile

Do not be misled by half fast metabolism mumbo jumbo. Track your fat intake on any givenday and see for yourself just exactly how much of it is in your diet. There are many web sitesthat make such monitoring of your caloronutrient intake quite easy. I have foundwww.fitday.com easy to use. Its primary advantage is that you can store your records there withthe option of making them available for public or private viewing. Most people are shocked and

amazed to discover that their diet is upwards of 50% fat by calorie. On average, I have foundthat raw fooders consume approximately 65% of their calories from fat, and only 25% from car-bohydrates. This in light of the fact that less than 10% fat is the recommended amount and80+% carbohydrates is near ideal. Is it any wonder that people have trouble sticking to their all-raw diets or that they find cooked carbohydrates alluring?

What do you eat? Where do you get your protein? Dont you get tired of the lack of variety?These are the three common questions that vegetarians are asked by their Standard,

Westernized Diet friends. Eventually, the vegetarians learn good answers. The same threequestions are asked when we go vegan, this time, by our vegetarian friends. We eventuallylearn appropriate responses. Go raw, and the same questions come up again, this time from ourvegan buddies. Why do they ask us these questions? The answer is simple: your friends dontwant to give up their old dietary habits and so they are trying to prove you wrong. Is it anywonder that raw fooders resist switching from the high fat diet they are following to a low fatraw version? Is it any wonder that they ask the same questions? Do you have any doubt that thefoot dragging is caused by deeply rooted old habits, rather than a newfound thirst for health?Raw fats are unquestionably better for us than cooked fats, and plant fats better than animal

fats. Still, the evidence is overwhelming that the high fat diet inevitably leads to many diseasestates including but not limited to cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Raw fooders are not

immune. Do not be fooled. Fruits and vegetables are health foods. Everything else is just condi-ment.


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Do you find this stimulating?

The IOC has banned literally thousands of substances for their supposed performance enhanc-ing impact. While a few are painkillers, several are antihistamines, and some are anabolicsteroids, most of these banned substances fall into the category referred to as stimulants. Howdo stimulants work? Do they increase or drain your energy? Why do we feel more energy after

using stimulants? What impact do they have on performance? Do stimulants affect your health?

Are all stimulants the same? Do stimulants foster peak performances? Is meat an essential fooditem for athletes or just another stimulant?

How do stimulants work?

First is it important to express a basic concept; stimulants do not stimulate. That would be anaction, and stimulants are not capable of action. Only living being are capable of undertaking

actions. Stimulants do not do work and they do not act; the body does all the work and takesall the action. The only possible action on the part of a stimulant is chemical action. Forinstance, if there is an acid in the stimulant, it could burn you.

When a stimulant is introduced into the body, the body acts upon the stimulant. The actiontaken by the body is relatively predictable in the case of substances classed as stimulants.Raises in blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and respiratory rate are expected. The adrenalglands respond with a surge of adrenaline that results in increased uptake of sugar from thebloodstream to the muscles. The smaller, peripheral blood vessels constrict, while the deep

large ones dilate. Various aspects of our special senses are prepared for flight or fight affect-ing our sense of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste. The function of large muscle groups isenhanced at the expense of fine motor control.

Do stimulants increase or drain your energy?

Essentially, under the influence of stimulants, finesse is traded off for power, neurological con-trol is traded off for endurance, but overall there is a net loss in efficiency. We measure human

energy use in calories. Stimulants, as a rule, come in forms that supply no calories, thereforethey can supply no energy. There are calorific foods that also have a stimulating effect. Thestimulation comes not from the calories themselves but from other specific substances in thefood. If the calories supplied stimulation, all calorie sources would stimulate to some degree,yet this is definitely not the case. Stimulants, it must be concluded, act as a drain upon thebodys reserves of energy.

Why do we feel more energetic after using stimulants?

The release of vital reserve energy brought about by the consumption of stimulating substancesadversely affects bodily homeostasis. The human body is constantly attempting to maintainhomeostasis (a condition where things remain relatively the same) or to reinstate it if condi-tions, substances, influences or forces result in change. When we consume or are exposed to astimulant, the body must deal with that impact. It does so in the physiological ways mentionedearlier in this article. Effectively, the body recognizes a situation that must be dealt with, andmakes the clearing out of the stimulant a priority, an emergency, if you will. Therefore, bodilyvitality is directed towards the task of neutralizing the stimulant, or in some fashion ridding the


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body of it. This focused attempt by the body to free itself of the damaging stimulant influenceis perceived as energy. It is not energy supplied by the stimulant, however, but simply bodyreserve energy that is stored exactly for such emergencies. In the same way that we feel moreenergy if we touch a hot coal, get a cut, or have a car accident, the energy that is releasedfrom the use of stimulants is false.

What impact do stimulants have on performance?

There are at least four major considerations in regard to stimulant use and sports performance,all of them negative. First, we must pay attention to the loss of motor control. Second, thereis the Law of Dual Effect. Incresased propensity for injury is a major concern. Finally, theaging factor must be mentioned.

Loss of Motor Control

Small losses of neural function are not as noticeable when affecting large muscle groups as theyare when impacting upon the smaller muscles, as the latter are used for finely controlled move-ments. Neural function pertaining to all muscles is compromised because of stimulant consump-

tion. The all-too-rapid nerve function generates incomplete firing of the muscles. This resultsin shaking, tremors, unsteadiness, loss of balance and coordination and a general fumbling. Foran athlete requiring ball control, pinpoint accuracy, reliable reflex actions, or any of therefined neural abilities of his/her sport, stimulants are definitely a negative influence.

Law of Dual Effect

What goes up must come down, goes the time honored phrase. The same truth holds for ourphysiology. Simply stated, the Law of Dual Effect states: for every bodily response to a sub-stance, influence, force, or condition there will be an equal but opposite secondary response.The primary response will be the more acute, and shorter lasting while the secondary responsewill be less acute but longer lasting. For the athlete, this means that the use of stimulantsmay provide the desired lift during performance but will also yield a predictable crash atsome point after the primary effect has worn off.

The intensity and length of the crash period, essentially recovery from the stimulant use, repre-sents a delay in recovery from the performance itself. Delays in recovery are associated with,but not limited to: impeding effective and efficient training, increased risk of injury, increasedlikelihood of athlete burnout, disinterest in sport, dread of training, lassitude, staleness, andinconsistencies in both training and performance.

Increased Likelihood of Injury

Injury is considered by many coaches to be the athletes worst enemy. Personally, financially,and professionally they bring nothing but setbacks to the athlete. A well-rested athlete has nocause to reach for or even consider the use of stimulating substances. Fatigued, an athlete maybe willing to use stimulants in the vain attempt to overcome the fatigue. (S)he may pushbeyond healthy bodily limits. The number and the intensity of injuries are known to increasewhen we perform athletically in the presence of fatigue, however. Stimulant use also increasesthe likelihood of injury. A doubly dangerous situation results when fatigue is combined withstimulant use.


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The Aging Factor

The drain of vital reserves utilized to process stimulants is a predictable factor but the damageis not always perceptible to the young athlete. Lack of experience combined with high levels ofvitality gives the young athlete a generally bulletproof self-perception. The damage fromstimulants takes its toll, however, as a drain on vital reserves, which has impact on the meta-

bolic ratio of anabolism to catabolism. Stimulation results in an increase in the rate of catabolic

processes. Anabolic processes proceed best when the body is at rest. When the ratio ofanabolism to catabolism favors anabolism, growth is experienced. When the ratio favors catab-olism, decrepitude results. Acceleration of the catabolic processes through the use of stimu-lants is tantamount to speeding the aging process. The athletes career is thus shortened viathe use of stimulants.

Do stimulants affect your health?

The body runs itself perfectly, and has done so from before the egg and sperm united to formthe beginnings of what eventually became you. It runs itself in your best interests, too. Thebody directs all functions of the body: maintenance, repair, digestion, absorption, assimilation,

elimination, etc. It determines priorities, and allots energy to various bodily processes accord-ing to those priorities. When stimulants are consumed, the body must make adaptations in itsplan in order to deal with the emergency created by the stimulant. Effectively, the bodysagenda must be reorganized to allow for the introduction of stimulants, creating a new agendathat puts the original priorities further down the bodys list. This may have been something

important, such as cleansing the liver or lungs of toxins that would have resulted in cancer. Thenew priority of dealing with the stimulant may have delayed time sensitive functions such asthe elimination of an infectious agent before it spread, or the dissolution of calculus materialsbefore they hardened into kidney or gall stones. Every toxic exposure, and stimulants count astoxic exposure, can only be considered a setback in terms of overall health.

Are all stimulants the same?

There are two types of stimulation: compensated and uncompensated. An example of a com-

pensated stimulation is playing a game of tag. There is lots of excitement, lots of running, lotsof fun. All the physiological signs and symptoms of stimulation are noted. Afterward, the glowof stimulation lasts for a while, recedes, and is followed by the secondary effect of tiredness.During the resting phase, the body initiates an anabolic response to the physical activity knownas the training effect. The stimulation was earned. Uncompensated stimulation, on the otherhand, is not earned. Eat food containing the adrenaline of another animal and you feel stimu-lated. The physiological responses of stimulation occur, but there is no training effect as there

was no training. The predictable crash follows, nonetheless, and the stimulant is slept offlike any drug would be. Uncompensated stimulation is an aging factor of the highest degree.

Do stimulants foster peak performances?

Many athletes rely upon stimulants, others swear by them. If an athlete is improperly prepared,not fully rested, or lacking the skills necessary to bring about maximum mental and hormonalfocus, stimulants will not make up for the lack. They will, however, elicit a heightenedresponse from the athlete in certain specific aspects of sports performance while cripplingother aspects of performance, on any given day. The extreme nature of devitalization that


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accompanies stimulant use will inevitably compromise the performance of any athlete. If ath-letes only had to think about their immediate performance and not their career or their entirelife, a reasonably good argument could be made in favor of the stimulant delusion. Since ath-letes are people and must live a life outside of sports, stimulant use must be looked upon withthe same view that we would any other recreational drug.

Is meat an essential food item for athletes or just another stimulant?

In the 60s, carbohydrate consumption became all the rage for endurance athletes. Eventually,over a period of several decades, meat consumption has been all but phased out by this groupof athletes. Through most of the 20th century, meat made up the major portion of calories forall athletes. As endurance athletes switched their preference to carbohydrates, meat eating didnot phase out for power athletes, or in society in general. Meat eating athletes continue todefend their turf with a vengeance, claiming that meat is essential for their performance. Letslook at a few facts.

Fiber is essential to good health. Meat contains no fiber.Vitamin C is essential to good health. Meat contains no Vitamin C.

There are no essential nutrients in meat that cannot be obtained from a well-constructed rawvegan diet.Carbohydrates fuel every cell of the body, regardless of sport preference. Meat supplies no car-bohydrates.Before an animal is killed, it goes through intense trauma, releasing massive quantities of

adrenaline. When we eat the animals flesh, we take on this adrenaline and feel the stimula-tion from it.Protein consumption in levels that surpass our needs function in the body as a stimulant.Human requirements for protein average between 5-10% of total calories consumed. Meatsprotein levels range from 30-70% of calories from protein.When protein levels exceed human needs it becomes impossible to meet our carbohydraterequirements.Lack of sufficient carbohydrates leave the athlete feeling sluggish, fostering the desire to lookfor the stimulation of meat, a vicious and self-defeating cycle.

The Solution

Sleep is the solution to the stimulant problem. Many of the worlds top athletes attribute get-ting sufficient sleep as one of the major factors in their success. It is common for athletes tosleep as much as twelve hours per day and more during phases of intense training. Anything lessthan enough sleep must be considered, not enough. How do you know if you got enough

sleep? A simple test is this: if you would rather roll over than roll out, you havent gottenenough sleep. Here is another test that is even easier; if you can sleep, you need the sleep.Insufficient sleep cannot be made up for by the use of stimulants any more than food or drugscan make up for insufficient training. If you would like to see more gaining in your fitness andless overtraining, replace meat with fruit.


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Cool Running

When a piece of machinery is running efficiently and is properly cared for, we do not expect itto overheat. Something must go very wrong before overheating became a problem. The humanbody works in much the same fashion. Properly cared for, our temperature never reaches thedanger zone we call fevered.

Medically speaking, a person is in a fever when body temperature rises above 99. Above 100,and we begin to feel poorly. So we do all we can to avoid fever, or so we are told.

The conflict comes, apparently, with the introduction of physical activity. We are told thatphysical activity should begin with a warm up. What exactly is a warm up, you might wonder?Well, according to sports physiologists, the warm up occurs when one raises core temperatureby any amount beyond 1 degree F. Sweating does not indicate having achieved a warmed up

state. Sweating is one of the bodys many methods of avoiding getting warmer; it is actually amethod of cooling. Only by overcoming the bodys ability to maintain a steady temperature dowe achieve a truly warmed up state, which brings us to our problem.

Normal body temperature, we are told, is 98.6 F. Warm up just half of one degree and wehave reached the beginnings of a fever. Complete a comprehensive warm up, more than 1degree F, and we are into a full blown fever. As we begin our workout in earnest, we raise tem-perature even more. The danger of this practice is easily demonstrated by simply counting thenumber of young athletes who die of overheating every summer on the football fields of the

United States.

People who are suffering from high fever are known to have visions, hallucinations, and other-wise impaired mental abilities. Yet this is the exact state we achieve as our athletic endeavorsintensify, even though at crunch time we are likely to need our mental powers even more

than ever. The last two minutes of a basketball game can get so hectic that the play isdescribed as being, at a feverish pitch. Not good if we are hoping that our team will demon-strate clear level headedness.

On a low fat raw vegan diet, a typical athlete will have a resting temperature of around 93degrees. (S)he can warm up as much as desired, play as intensely as possible; the true feverwill likely never be reached. Clear thinking becomes the norm, rather than the exception.Efficient functioning is most readily achieved when body temperatures run healthfully, in thelower 90s.

On a global scale, global warming trends are also indicators that all is not running efficiently,that our Earth is not being properly treated and cared for. Deforestation, construction, develop-

ment, misuse of public resources, etc., all contribute to the problems, with very few peoplecontributing to the solutions. Merely realizing that 90% of all wood burned world wide is beingburned to cook food points out a huge segment of our problem.

Homeostasis, a condition where all things remain relatively the same, is the key to efficient andeffective running of the human body. The same can be said for our planet. If we actively work tobring the trees back onto our earth, we will be heading in the right direction. Picture every treebeing to the earth as each red blood cell is to you. How many would you want to give up?


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The macro and micro worlds are intricately related. Environmental activities are only truly ethi-cal if they represent the best choice. We often look to better choices as being our answer.Best choices, however, are the only truly sustainable solutions. Low-fat raw vegan diet is thebest choice when it comes to human nutrition. It represents the most beneficial impact thathumans can have on their environment, foodwise and healthwise. Become part of the solution,and keep running cool.

The Body, Beautiful Part 1, Developing the body of yourdreams

We all love human beauty

Human beings are, at least to human eyesand senses, the most beautiful of all crea-

tures. Sure, the other animals and plantsare gorgeous too. Heck, even a good rock

or cloud formation can be bedazzling.Humans, and the human form, however,are what we are most attracted to. Wewatch sports and the performing arts inorder to humbly appreciate humans inmovement, and possibly at their best. Lets

face it, we go gaga over the human form.Beauty contests, body building events,sports of every kind, fashion, art and even commercials all focus on it. How did we let ourforms deteriorate from the god or goddess that our parents saw in us as children, and what can

we do about it now?

Most of us know the answer to the first part of the question, and it is unique to each individual.It is the second part that really needs answering, and is the focus of this article.

Body sculpting is easier than you think

Your body is wonderful in its adaptability. It responds wholeheartedly to any and every influ-ence, condition and force to which it is exposed. Lift heavy weights at near maximum exertions

and develop bigger muscles. Do high repetitions of lower intensity exertions for relatively longperiods of time and develop endurance. Stretch with frequency and you become more flexible.

Your body constantly gives you what you ask for; there is no time out.

This is why you will notice that athletes from various fields of endeavour tend to have very spe-cific body types; their bodies have adapted to the use they give it. You can often simply look ata person and guess quite accurately what physical activities they perform. Sprinters are builtcompletely different from long distance runners, even though both run as fast as they can. The

sprinters, however, rely more upon strength whereas the harriers focus more upon endurance.Gymnasts tend to be thicker in the upper body compared to skaters and cyclists who are thickerin the legs. Dancers are light on their feet and graceful, hockey players lumber from side toside, tennis players develop unilaterally in the forearms, arms and shoulders, and sumo


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wrestlers, well, you know. Not only do the body parts being used develop according to the waythey are being used, but the rest of the body also develops (or atrophies) according to the man-ner in which it is (or is not) being used.

No effort is specifically put in to make the cyclists thighs hypertrophy, it just happens as aresult of cycling. Weight lifters dont have to try to develop bigger biceps; these muscles simply

grow in response to the use they get when weightlifting. You may have your own agenda per-

taining to the way you would like your body to develop, but you must respect your bodys agen-da, and intelligently give in to its priorities. By choosing activities that align your bodysresponse agenda with your body sculpting agenda, you can have your proverbial cake and eat it,too.

So what is the trick to developing the physique of your dreams? Most people are convinced thatit takes far more effort than they are willing to put in, so they dont even try. This approachnever works. Most people do not know how to get what they want from their body. This is

because they do not understand the simplest basics of physical training. Once one learns toutilise just two vital training elements, the training effect does all the rest, and rather effort-lessly. Here are the two key elements that must be addressed if one wishes to develop the body

beautiful: efficiency and effectiveness.

Making training efficient

Efficient training gets the job done in the least amount of time. After all, who has excess timeon their hands, or even wants to spend more time than necessary in physical pursuits? The firstpart of making training efficient requires fully determining what you want to be training for.The next is to learn to cut the wasted time out of your training regimen. The final part involveseliminating the unnecessary aspects of your training from your program.

So, can you decide what you want to be training for? Do you want bigger shoulders or narrower

hips? Are you looking for better overall definition or more power? Is flexibility your goal or areyou hoping to simply improve your golf, tennis, or football? Do you study a specific type of mar-shal art? Are you a runner? Do you desire total and well-rounded fitness? Only you can makethese decisions. If you are an Aries, like me, you may want it all.

Reducing the wasted time in your training sessions is usually easy. Many folks find that when

they train with partners, they spend more time talking than they do training. While this maysatisfy some of your other life goals, it definitely detracts from physical pursuits. You musteither learn to train with less talk time, or plan to train on your own. One way to reduce thetalk time is to play games rather than simply train. Two folks out for a walk may stop quite

often to talk. When you are kicking a ball around, or playing badminton, however, there tendsto be a lot more play and a lot less talk. Another would be to set goals in advance of each ses-sion. For instance, if you decide to walk 4 miles with a friend, talking wont detract from yoursuccess. If you add a time element to the goal, talking may hinder you both from finishing with-in the limits you have set for yourself. Some people prefer to wear a heart rate monitor to help

them keep from slowing down too much. You can set the monitor so that it alerts you whenyour heart rate slows down, or speeds up, from within the parameters that you set for yourself.This is an effective tool to use until you learn to maintain the pace or intensity level that youdesire.


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Transition is another huge time waster. Moving from apparatus to apparatus, or from one typeof exercise to another usually eats up more time than people think it does. Changing and fool-ing with your clothes, water fountain breaks, tying your shoes, adjusting the equipment; theselittle interruptions cut efficiency. Plan in advance by wearing the appropriate clothing. Use awater bottle you can carry with you. Learn to tie the better bow or use speed clips on yourlaces, and whatever else you must do so that your equipment doesnt slow you down.

When we are at play, the one thing we do not tolerate well is an interruption. Conversely, mostpeople will create their own interruptions if they perceive themselves to be working at some-thing they do not enjoy. It is important that you address your fitness needs with a playful atti-tude and spirit. It is also likely that you will play more intensely and wholeheartedly than youwill work out.

It is important to remember that as you make your training sessions more efficient, you arelikely to also increase the intensity of the training. Be sure to make the appropriate allowances

by either increasing your recovery and sleep time, or reducing the overall length of the trainingsessions, or by cutting back in some way to compensate for the increased intensity.

Once you know what it is, exactly, that you are training for, and you have cut out the wastedtime, it is time to drop the unnecessary elements from your training as well. For instance, inthe crawl stroke, swimmers get over 90% of their forward propulsion from their arms. It wouldbe foolish for a crawl stroke swimmer to put even 10% of total training into the legs. Bicyclists,on the other hand, rely almost totally upon their legs. Upper body training for a cyclist should

be cut to the barest minimum.

Making training effective

Effective training is the key that allows you to achieve what you are striving to achieve. In muchthe same way that an effective set of directions makes it easy for you to reach your destination

without getting side tracked; effective training makes it that much easier to reach your fitnessor performance goals.

Lets say that you would like to develop large muscular arms. This requires a specific type oftraining regimen, one that focuses effort on using the arms in heavy resistance activities.Bicycling would be an extremely ineffective choice whereas mens gymnastics would fit the bill

beautifully. Running would be an ineffective choice in trying to develop flexibility, juggling wouldbe a good choice in developing hand-to-eye co-ordination.

It is a very common occurrence for a persons fitness and body development goals not align with

his/her activity choices. Runners looking for muscular development are going to have to spendsome time doing heavy resistance activities instead of just running. Many people would love todevelop their abdominal musculature to the point that it is noteworthy. This is achieved in twoways: lose excess body fat so that the musculature is visible and hypertrophy of the abdominalmuscles via high resistance, low repetition strength activities. It is amazing the number of peo-

ple who hope to develop washboard abs that do endurance activities such as high numbers ofabdominal crunches, rather than a strength activity such as prone extensions.

As you hone in on your specific body development goals, and refine your activity choices tomeet those goals, you will develop towards the body of your dreams. Become more efficient


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and effective in your training approach and your body will hasten in its development of theexact physical features that you desire. With patience, consistence and persistence, you willsoon be proud to show off your newly developed physique.

The Body, Beautiful Part Two Maintenance

Most people have fitness goals. Few people reach them. On the occasion that one does actually

achieve a fitness goal, it has usually been replaced by grander and more far-reaching goals.This is the nature of growth, and it is not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, remembering to

congratulate ones self along the way is very important.

Basic maintenance of the human frame is relatively simple. Health needs must be met, ofcourse. These include, but are not limited to, providing such conditions, influences, and sub-stances as:

Sufficient daylight and sunlightAdequate fresh clean airMaintenance and continual reinstatement of emotional poise

Clean pure waterGenerous quantity of high quality rest and sleepAppropriate food choices

Consistent doses of invigorating physical activities

In this article, we will consider primarily only the last of these issues; physical activity.

Maintaining the body of your dreams is really a lifetime endeavor, as:

A.) You will always want to make minor improvements once the major work is done.B.) The meter keeps running, that is, you keep getting older. While aging, per se, does not

cause one to lose fitness, it does often make it more difficult to find friends to play with.Hence, once you arrive at the body beautiful, there is plenty to do, simply to attempt tostop the clock and maintain your position.

C.) Life has a way of inflicting itself upon us with myriad injuries, setbacks, distractions,interruptions, dings, and other priorities that challenge us in keeping to our regimen.D.) You wouldnt want to achieve a dream body and then lose it. Life takes a lifetime.The entire concept of maintaining your dream body requires that it be kept for a lifetime.E.) As you age, your idea of a perfect body will change. This adapting and changing viewwill definitely make maintaining your dream body a lifetime pursuit.F.) Along the way, you may realize that the perfect body is just a meager exterior faadeand that your truly most valuable possession is that of optimal health.

Still, rising to the challenge of successfully maintaining a healthy and impressive physique is atask that most, if not all of us are up to. It is made increasingly difficult when one does not

really understand the principles involved in doing so.

There are two major considerations worthy of serious attention when discussing the task ofphysical maintenance. These are:1. The difference between maintenance activities and growth/development activities.2. Understanding the various aspects of your fitness well enough so that some of them do notslip away prematurely.


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Keying in on the training effect

Positive physical adaptations arise when the body is posed with feasible physical challenges. Ifthe challenges imposed are well within the bodys ability to cope with them, then no physicalchanges will take place. Conversely, if the challenges are too great and therefore an unreason-able expectation, the result is typically loss of technique and consequent injury. It is only thosedemands that are challenging-that place a realistic and reachable demand upon the bodys abil-ities-that result in the desired training effect.

Your physical abilities are multifaceted and interdependent

There are many aspects to a comprehensive training program. All of them are necessary foroptimum physical development, no one more important than another. For certain sports activi-ties, one may choose to focus on specific aspects of training while putting less attention on oth-ers, but all of the facets of fitness are important to all of us. After all, your fitness can only beas good as its weakest link.

We need all aspects of fitness in order to reach our fullest fitness potential. Much as we would

like to separate them from each other, putting our attention at the moment on, for instance,speed, and later putting it on strength, all of the facets of fitness interrelate. Balance is almostalways at play to some degree. All movement requires some amount of muscular strength, evenif it is simply the strength required to overcome the resistance of friction and gravity. We namethe five facets of fitness according to their predominating feature, understanding that, in anygiven activity there are aspects of all five, to some degree, in practically all human endeavors.These components are: flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, neuro skills, and car-diovascular activities.

The old saying that you are as old as you are flexible has a great deal of truth in it. People whoare rigid in their ideas are often equally as inflexible physically. Flexibility training is quite

rewarding, too, as progress is often quite dramatic. Stretching should be done towards the endof a training session, once one is fully warmed and limbered up. There are many methods ofstretching; static and ultra slow being the most risk free.

Developing muscular strength is an important training tool for keeping muscles and bonesstrong. There are no supplements that will strengthen bones; they develop along with the mus-

culature. Strong arms and legs help to keep you from overloading your back, as well.Strength activities are usually done at very low repetitions using the highest weight that can besafely lifted 4-8 times, sometimes even less. Strength activities do not necessarily require theuse of weights. Your own body weight is often quite sufficient to challenge your strength,

depending upon the position it is in. Most people are quite challenged to do pull-ups, for exam-ple. There are many positions that challenge strength. The following are a few examples ofsimple strength builders that require no weights. Try going down stairs, slowly, two at a time.Just before you touch the step, try to stop your momentum, or even reverse it and step backup. From a pushup position, try walking your hands forward, until you are fully outstretched,

and back. Or, sit on the floor, legs outstretched. With hands between the knees, can you pushthe floor with your hands in order to raise your feet and calves off of the floor? If you can, tryit with your hands closer to your feet. As you move your hands progressively closer to your feet,the movement will require increasingly more strength.Muscular endurance is developed when we repeat an action that requires little strength, and in


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an ongoing fashion. Bicycle riding, swimming and running are examples of muscular enduranceactivities, as are painting the ceiling, carrying groceries, and holding a half-squat position.Every aspect of training is specific, so having good muscular endurance as a runner does nothelp you develop the muscular endurance required by a swimmer, as different primary musclesare used.

Neuro skills are perhaps the most interesting to develop. Balance, agility, coordination, proprio-

ception, (the ability to sense movement and posture of the body) and kinesthetic awareness(the ability to sense position of the body) are all neuro skills. These develop with the same typeof training technique as all other aspects of fitness: specific overload coupled with adequaterecovery. They are often more interesting to perform because the mind body connection is sobrightly highlighted and body awareness is significantly enhanced when performing them. Formany people, this also makes the development of neuro skills tremendous fun. Circus acts arecommonly performed by people with highly developed neuro skills. Juggling, tightrope walking,acrobatics, and mime are practical examples of neuro skills.

Cardiovascular training requires the uptake, delivery and utilization of oxygen, hence are oftenreferred to as aerobic activities. Certainly, they get you breathing, but in a specific, sustained

fashion. Anaerobic activities, which can all be done while holding the breath, will also get youbreathing. They are so difficult to perform that you cannot sustain the activity for very longbecause of the severe oxygen debt you develop, hence they are done in spurts. Rowing, skat-ing, and cross country skiing as well as running, swimming and cycling are considered classiccardiovascular activities.

It may have already become apparent that there is often overlap between activities, or thatone activity may be appropriate to meeting many fitness needs. Running, for example, willdevelop both cardiovascular as well as specific muscular endurance abilities. Depending uponthe type of running, it may also require and develop strength (on steep hills, explosive starts,and changes of direction) and neuro skills(moving around a specified course, followinga ball, or responding to the movements ofother people). Most dedicated runners recog-

nize the need to do separate flexibility train-ing, as their running will not address thataspect of fitness.

Include all five aspects of physical develop-ment in your training in order to insure thatyour approach to fitness is well rounded,

interesting, and varied. Keep strengtheningthe weakest links of your program for themost return from the least effort by utilizingthe training effect. Pay attention to thedetails of your physical development butremember that the big pictures in life arealso important.


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Now that Ive gone raw, Im so skinny

Is raw really that different?

Americans generally have two features in common: they are overfat and undermuscled. Thereare good reasons for both of these unhealthy conditions. Going raw can help with both, but in

both cases, going raw is simply a start.

People are overfat because they consume more calories than they burn. It is that simple,almost. They are also overweight because they hold on to excess water. In the body, the solu-tion to pollution is dilution. One method of coping with those toxins that are more than thebody can eliminate is to dilute them in water and store them. This excess water weight is eas-ily lost, and is not the issue of this article.

Overfat people usually tell me that they dont eat that much, really. They are probablytelling the truth, when it comes to the actual volume of food they consume. The SAD hasthree main features that make it easily recognizable: low water, low fiber, and high fat. Each

of these three features reduce the total volume of food while increasing the number of caloriesper bite. It therefore takes very little food volume to provide more than enough calories forthe day, hence people gain, on average, a few pounds every year.

The SAD, vegetarian, vegan and most raw diets tend to have these same three features in com-mon: low water, low fiber and high fat. As raw fooders we find a meal of fruit unsatisfactory

because we are hungry soon after consuming it. This is no fault of the fruit. Any meal whereinsufficient calories are consumed will leave the eater hungry soon thereafter. We have shrunkour stomachs to the point of deformity through the continual consumption of concentratedfoodstuffs. By removing the fiber (juicing), by removing the water (cooking or dehydrating),and by increasing the fat levels above 10% of total calories consumed (cooked or raw, plant or

animal, fat is fat), we mimic the SAD with many of our raw food dishes. This is surely anunhealthy practice. Both water and fiber are essential nutrients. Therefore removing themfrom our food must be to our detriment. All health experts worldwide agree that we must

make dramatic decreases in our fat consumption if we ever hope to achieve health.

The solution to the shrunken stomach problem is to eat more volume of fruit, but this takespractice and determination. It requires, essentially, that you go on a flexibility training pro-gram for your stomach, allowing it to enlarge to the point of being able to comfortably accom-modate the food volume required for a proper meal of fruit. Most folks find that within a fewmonths they can easily double and often triple the total amount of fruit they can consume at ameal, without consuming anywhere near as many calories as they used to consume from morecalorically concentrated sources.

We go on the raw food diet and lose weight like champions. This is a mixed blessing. Most ofus have weight to lose and are pleased at the initial weight loss. However, if we are losingweight consistently and dramatically we must be drastically under consuming calories. At somepoint we must learn to eat enough volume of raw foods to satisfy our caloric demands, else wefail as raw fooders. Unfortunately, this form of failure on raw foods happens all too frequently.Usually, we blame the addictiveness of cooked food or our own weaknesses rather thanacknowledging that we were eating a nutritionally unbalanced and unsustainable raw food diet.


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Along the way, various unhealthy habits can develop such as overeating of fatty foods, occasion-al bingeing on cooked foods, relying on refined and concentrated food sources, and the seden-tary lifestyle that often accompanies the malnourished state.

We are crippling ourselves

Labor saving devices have become the standard in America. Shopping carts, rolling luggage,

moving stairways, vacuum cleaners, automatic doors, household conveniences such as automat-ic hot water; we use these things without giving them a second thought. Even our labor savingdevices often have labor saving devices. (Ex. - Power windows, steering and brakes for ourcars, remote controls for television, sit down lawn mowers, battery powered toothbrushes andscrewdrivers). Using them has had disastrous effects upon our fitness. Never before in histo-ry have we, as a people, been so unfit, overfat, or unhealthy. In both test case and real lifescenarios we have found that a significant percentage of our population is too unfit to make itdown a few dozen flights of stairs, even if it means saving their own life.

The inertia of the sedentary lifestyle must be overcome if we hope to achieve better healththrough raw living than that which we brought to it. Losing excess fat certainly is a step in the

right direction. Eating foods that require less fuel for the digestive process frees up more fuelto use for activity. Still, I am asked all the time, what do I eat to gain weight?

After discerning that the requested weight gain is not to be in the form of fat or water, thequestion is refined to, what do I eat to gain muscle? The answer is, There is no food that

will cause one to gain muscle. This can only be achieved by performing the appropriatestrength demanding activities. Unless demands are placed upon the muscles, the brain willperceive no reason to direct growth of the muscles and the muscles will likewise acquire noreason to hypertrophy.

I went raw but I got so skinny that I went back to eating cooked, I hear again and again. Ican only reply that most people are skinny, they just hide that fact under a substantial layer offat. We have become used to seeing fat people, they are the norm. So used to it, in fact,that people who are not fat look abnormal to us. They look too skinny. Though for my height

I am absolutely a normal weight (510, 150 pounds) I have been told that I am thin, skinny,too trim and once even, emaciated. (This last by a man 510, 300 pounds).

We know the shape that we think humans should be, what appears to us as normal. Theundiscerning eye usually does not differentiate between a person with a low degree of muscula-ture whose body fat levels are double or triple normal from one with adequate muscular devel-opment whose body fat level is healthy. They look basically similar, especially when they are

inactive and even more so in street clothing. The telltale indicators of low fat with musculardevelopment; well defined vascularity and the shredded or ripped look to the musculature, aresimply not noticed or even visible until bodies go into action.

Muscular development takes time. It is rare for a body builder to gain more than one pound ofmuscle in a month. By the same token, barring a total cessation of physical activity, muscularloss of size also is a slow process. Of the three caloronutrients: carbohydrate, fat and protein,the body will always use carbohydrate and fat before consuming protein for fuel. Hence, whenwe switch our diet to raw, the likelihood that the body will consume its own muscle tissue forfuel is practically zero. At least, that is, until starvation is initiated, which is not until all


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available carbohydrate and fat sources have been utilized. When people say to me that theygot so skinny on the raw food diet, I can only smile and say, You have probably always beenskinny, you just couldnt tell because you were fat, too. Congratulations on losing the fat, forit was only then that you noticed how undermuscled you are.

If you do what everyone else does, you will get what everyone else gets. For uncommonly

healthy results, one must be willing to live an uncommonly healthy life. Anyone who puts in

the effort involved in building muscle will see the muscular development and will reap the con-comitant rewards.

Everything About NothingHow did raw fooders get mired in minutiae?

Interested in nutrition? Sure, thats a huge part of why we made dietary changes. Concernedabout nutrition? Yes, thats why we are committed to improving our regimen. Would the words,worried about nutrition (in a healthy way, of course) describe us? Definitely, we are worriedabout nutrition, or so I am told, and that is where we become vulnerable.

In reality, it is our neighbors, eating their devitalized, nutrient-free foods that need to be con-cerned, and yes, even worried, about their nutrition and health. Their unsustainable cooked-food diet is greatly responsible, both directly and indirectly, for not only their damaged healthbut for the destruction of the entire ecosystem.

Raw fooders should, theoretically, be able to relax in the land of simple, worry free, healthfuleating. But alas, simplicity rarely sells. For the most part, leaders of the raw movement haveled us into a nutritional maze. Ever-increasing doses of ever-smaller micronutrients are neces-

sary to shore up our inherently flawed diet, we are told. It is time to step back from the minu-tiae and view the big picture once again.

INTO THE RAW RABBIT HOLE

Most of us have gone through worlds of dietary transitions. From junk food and java to vegetari-an (with maybe a sojourn into the macrobiotic world), vegan, and a wide variety of raw

dietswe have tried them all. In its time, the current diet was itthe be-all, end-all bestdiet. Each time, we learned a little something. Each time, we grew a little wiser. Each time,we accommodated to the new program, calling it a transition, and each time, we found thatthere was morea better way.

We learned that vegetarianism wasnt as animal friendly as we had originally thought, not reallymuch more so than the Suicide American Diet. We learned that the common vegan diet was as

nutritionally devitalized as practically any other cooked-food approach. We learned more andmore about nutrition, focusing on ever-smaller aspects of the dietary picture. As we did so, thegap between food and nutrition grew wider. We started eating bananas for their potassium,vegetables for their chlorophyll, and spices for their minerals. We started consuming oils fortheir component parts. Food was no longer food, but a list of nutrients.

No longer was the caloronutrient (protein-fat-carb) ratio enough to evaluate our diet. No longerdid the macronutrient index provide an accurate picture of our nutrition. Not even micronutri-ents were all that important anymore. We left this all behind for a more intriguing world, a

world we do not even understand: the world of micromolecular nutrition. In this world, chem-

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