The Morning Call, a Pennsylvania newspaper, published an article about Arnold's Way Vegetarian Raw Cafe. If you live near Landsdale, PA and you're a raw foodist, you've got a new restaurant to try out. Unfortunately, I don't live near PA, but for those who do…this is for you…

Raw Restaurant Offers Tasty, Inventive Vegan Fare
By Pervaiz Shallwani
Of The Morning Call

Veggies, I like. But a Lansdale eatery that prepares traditional all-American dishes using only raw vegan ingredients?

Will it be tasteless? Or will the dishes be a throwback to the scrumptious eats I encountered during a short stay in the country's unofficial vegetable mecca, San Francisco?

Gotta find out.

My friend Steve and I head to investigate Arnold's Way Vegetarian Organic Raw Cafe. If nothing else, Steve's puerile personality could make for an amusing afternoon. (He was puzzled and disgusted by a self-help book on display about the healthy benefits of consuming your own urine.) This tiny cafe and cluttered health food store sits tucked inside a shopping mall on W. Main Street. It is designed to be a one-stop shop for healthy, earth-friendly living, complete with organic toothpaste, sandals and shoes.

Customers flutter through in a steady stream, some eating wraps — rolled with seaweed, not a flour tortilla — others sitting on a love seat with a "banana whip" or chocolate mousse, which actually is carob, bananas and dates ''served a la chocolate Sunday style." (It was not my favorite.) One thing is clear: Owner Arnold Kauffman is serious about raw, organic, vegan cuisine. Seated, we are greeted with a sample of flavored banana whips, a sweet treat of frozen and pureed bananas that create the smooth consistency of ice cream or frozen yogurt.

"Yogurt?" Steve asked after the first spoonful.

"No yogurt, ever," Arnold blurted from behind the counter.

"Why not?

"Don't go there."

Arnold is convinced "the No. 1 reason for all diseases is based on dairy products."

Arnold, 57, has been experimenting with a raw diet ever since a heart condition forced him into a hospital more than 13 years ago. He had stuck to it 100 percent but has slipped to 95, including some boiled potatoes. "When I was 45, before I knew I didn't know anything, I started developing chest pains." The pains got so bad that Arnold had to make a hospital detour while driving his daughter to school one day. "I didn't think I was going to make it."

Obviously, Arnold did make it, but he wanted a healthier lifestyle. Thirteen years ago that quest led to the original Arnold's Way in the glitzy Manayunk section of Philadelphia. "[Eating raw] is hard for people to do. What you eat for breakfast, what you eat for lunch and what you do for dinner has to be re-evaluated," Arnold preaches.

"The thing that turned me on the most is that if you change the way you eat, you can pretty much reverse the aging process," swears Arnold, who looks his age and a little wiry.

He is trying to regain sight in one eye by drinking 80 to 100 ounces of carrot juice daily. He was accidentally poked by his grandson. Doctors told him surgery would cure the problem in a half-hour, but Arnold is waiting eight months, hoping to fix it naturally. Arnold moved to Lansdale in 2002 because "I live around here and my rent had skyrocketed four times."

The recipes were developed by Arnold and his daughter, Maya, many of which while doing mundane chores. A meatless ''stake," surprisingly red and close in texture to steak, and with its own juicy flavor, came about while driving down Bethlehem Pike. "I thought I need something red because a steak is pinkish in color," Arnold said. "You want a juicy steak. Beets and carrots are for color and consistency and cashews help hold it together."

The wraps: Arnold was in line at the restaurant supply store and the restaurant owner in front is "famous" for them. Immediately, he thought "nori" — paper-thin seaweed used to roll sushi. The "living bread" is a variation of a recipe that includes "a little oil and salt to make it Americanized." It's made using pulp after a carrot is juiced. The pulp is mixed with flaxseed and buckwheat that has germinated for a night. Together they make a loaf, which tastes moist and looks fittingly compact. The menu, unheated and uncooked, has grown to more than 60 dishes including burgers, pizza, spaghetti, nachos and the region's gastronomical staple sandwich, cleverly spelled "cheze stake."

The Pick-Me-Up soup — pureed carrot, celery, broccoli and red cabbage — is a forest green hue with a little spice to give it heat. It was OK. The Polynesian delight, a salad with frozen mango and pineapple mixed with shredded coconut and chopped almonds, is crunchy, sweet and pleasantly exotic in appearance and flavor. A "cheze burger" has "cheese sauce" of pureed sunflower seeds, but who would have thought a burger could be served at room temperature? It's a little dry, but the plate was cleaned, although I still don't like raw mushrooms.

Sally's red salad, a mound of minced beet, red pepper, tomato, carrot, red cabbage and green olives served on a bed of lettuce, looks like a mini red hill that Steve swears was "great." Yogurt or not, he had another whip. He just about licked it clean on the drive back.

Reversing the aging process? OK, maybe. But we'll pass on "Urine Therapy: Nature's Elixir for Good Health."

"Even if I lived 200 years, I am not going to drink my own urine," Steve remarked.

Neither would Arnold.

"That's where I draw the line."

This morning I went to the local farmers' market in the town I live in. I met the owners of an organic farm. They're not certified organic because they're too small and it costs $500 every year plus scheduled inspections by state agents, but the owners use organic farming methods and they do NOT use synthetic fungicides, pesticides or herbicides on the crops. The husband and wife seemed to be very aware, and I enjoyed talking with them.

Thus far in my life, I've never had the opportunity to talk with (or meet) the people who grow the food I eat. That's pretty sad, but I guess it highlights the modern, disconnected society we live in. The owners encouraged me to come visit the farm, as they give free tours. While I don't have the time (or inclination) to visit the farm, it's good to know that if I wanted to, I could have a look at how the food is grown.

With the sole exception of talking to the owners of the farm mentioned above, I found my town's farmer's market to be rather disappointing. The organic farm mentioned above offered only lettuce and cabbage for sale, along with lots of antibiotic free meat. (They raise free-range, grass-fed poultry and cattle). Since I wasn't interested in buying meat or eggs, that left cabbage and lettuce, which were also for sale. So, I ended up buying two bags of locally grown, pesticide-free lettuce.

The owners of the farm told me that they'd have sweet bell peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes within the next five weeks. So, I'll head back down to the town farmers' market in five weeks for the veggies. But I won't be going back until then. There's just not enough organically raised produce there.

Next Saturday, I'll be heading down to the state farmers' market in the city, which is a LOT bigger, and should have some organic produce. (Let's hope so, at least.) I want to buy produce in bulk/volume.

I have considered moving to Winter Park, FL (right outside of Orlando), partly because the organic produce at the Winter Park Whole Foods store is spectacular. According to the Whole Foods website, the Winter Park store has "the most abundant organic produce selection in Central Florida, with a minimum of 80 organic fresh fruits and vegetables daily." Now, that's a great selection! Plus, there's no state income tax in Florida, which is always nice! :-) Right now, moving is not an option, but eventually I would like to live in another area of the country.

News article published via TimesUnion…

Raw Power: Uncooked Food Diet Blends Health, Taste and Texture Into a Way of Life

Teshna Beaulieu typically starts her day with watermelon or sliced avocados and cucumbers topped with lemon juice, sea salt and tomatoes. Her beverage of choice is fresh coconut milk. The East Chatham chiropractor's routine doesn't change much as the day goes along. She eats a variety of salads for lunch and dinner, often adding fresh vegetables or seaweed. She snacks on nuts. Beaulieu almost never uses her oven or stove. The blender is the kitchen appliance she turns to most.

Welcome to the raw food diet. Beaulieu prefers to call it the raw food way of life, because diet implies a weight-loss program. For Beaulieu, who started eating raw foods 15 years ago, and many others, it's a lifestyle choice. "As the years go by I do it more and more. I feel better with it," she says. "When I eat raw food I don't feel tired after a meal. When I eat cooked food, I feel heavier and more tired." Raw food means exactly that — almost. Proponents of a raw food diet primarily eat uncooked fruits and vegetables. They also consume nuts and grains, oftentimes made edible with soaking that in some cases causes sprouting. However, many raw food enthusiasts use a dehydrator to "cook" certain foods.

Dismissed by some as a fringe fad or extreme vegetarianism, raw food entered the mainstream during the past decade when exclusively raw food restaurants began popping up in California and New York. Raw food received a ringing endorsement in 2003 when heralded Chicago chef and restaurateur Charlie Trotter co-authored a gorgeous cookbook called "Raw" (Ten Speed Press). A celebration of food in its natural state, "Raw" contains 70 color photographs of beautiful, mouth-watering dishes that were prepared without cooking.

"I believe that in the not-too-distant future all serious chefs and home cooks will have a decent understanding of how to prepare raw and living foods and have at least several raw dishes in their repertoire," Trotter writes in the introduction to the cookbook. "This is a way of eating that embraces healthful living, of course, but it is also a wonderfully exciting approach to food preparation that opens up fresh ways to celebrate flavor and texture."

An Alternative

While considered cutting edge, the raw food movement has in fact been around for half a century. Ann Wigmore, a self-taught nutritionist, began promoting it at her Midwest alternative health institute in the 1950s. It wasn't until the past decade, however, that raw food proponents found themselves on the covers of national publications like the Sunday New York Times Magazine. It always helps, of course, when celebrities are on board. Supermodel Carol Alt, musician Wynton Marsalis and actor Woody Harrelson are among the most prominent names touting the benefits of raw food. Raw food is actually more involved than its name implies, especially when the goal is to prepare dishes that are as appealing to the eye as they are to the palate.

The recipes in "Raw," for example, can't be considered easy to replicate. Even if you do have access to fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, try whipping together a dinner of stuffed squash blossoms with curried parsnip puree and tobacco onions the next time you're yearning for a quick meal. In addition to blenders and juicers, most raw food advocates employ a dehydrator to "bake" bread and other foods. Nothing is heated above 118 degrees, however. This is critical to the raw food way of life. The theory is that essential enzymes are destroyed at temperatures above 118, and these enzymes need to be properly digested. This is where raw food proponents run into trouble, so to speak. As pure and impressive as fruits, vegetables and nuts are in their unadulterated state, the nutritional benefits of not cooking is controversial at best.

Katherine Tallmadge, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, has called the diet "dangerous." She believes certain segments of the population — pregnant women, children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems — would be well advised to limit their intake of raw foods. "The idea that cooked food is toxic is absurd. There's absolutely no science to back that up," Tallmadge says. "The (raw food) diet is protein-deficient and nutrient-poor." [This is not true or accurate.]

A Long Debate

Try and convince a raw food enthusiast of that and you may be in for a long debate. Alexandra Miller is a private chef in central Vermont who learned the art of raw cuisine while working as a spa chef in the Caribbean. She adopted it for herself, but during a recent pregnancy found that she couldn't maintain an exclusively raw diet. Dry toast was one of the few foods she could keep in her stomach during bouts of morning sickness. Now that she's breast-feeding she's back to a full-fledged raw diet. "I get all of my iron and calcium through seaweed and nuts and nutritional juices. There's a lot of calcium in lemons and yellow and red peppers."

Miller believes she can tell a raw food follower when she sees them. It's that obvious. "When people are all raw they tend to glow. Your energy level is so high because your body's not clogged up trying to process all this food," she says. "You see things and see things clearer." The restaurateur most credited with making raw food popular is Roxanne Klein, the co-author with Trotter of "Raw." In 2002, the Californian opened a high-end raw food restaurant north of San Francisco in Larkspur called Roxanne's. It quickly became one of the most difficult reservations in a restaurant-rich region and was the most serious raw-food restaurant in northern California. The following year, Klein added a to-go outlet to the restaurant which became even more popular than Roxanne's. Last August, she closed "Roxanne's" while keeping open the raw food to-go venture.

Neither Beaulieu nor Miller is actively trying to convert friends to a raw food lifestyle, although each is raising her child on a raw food diet. "When people come to my house, they know they're going to get a big salad," Beaulieu says. "For dinner, I might make some winter squash for guests or some steamed greens. I don't like cauliflower and broccoli raw too much. I prefer them a little lightly steamed. Asparagus, too. But all of these can be eaten raw."

Corn-Jicama Salad with Avocado Puree

Makes 4 servings
From "Raw" by Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein (Ten Speed Press)

Ingredients

SALAD:
1/4 cup jicama cut into 1/8-inch cubes
1/4 cup sweet corn kernels
1/4 cup unpeeled English cucumber cut into 1/8-inch cubes
1/4 cup peeled Asian pear cut into 1/8 -inch cubes
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

AVOCADO PUREE:
1/2 avocado, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup filtered water

LIME VINAIGRETTE:
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 lime segments, membrane removed and cut into thirds

GARNISH:
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons micro mint leaves
2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

Directions

SALAD:
Combine jicama, corn, cucumber, pear, oil, lime juice, jalapeno, mint, and parsley.

AVOCADO PUREE:
In a high-speed blender combine the avocado, lime juice, water and puree until smooth.

LIME VINAIGRETTE:
Whisk lime juice and olive oil in a bowl. Stir in lime segments.

ASSEMBLY:
Spoon a line of puree down the center of the plate. Spoon 2 additional lines, perpendicular to the first line across the plate. Spoon some of the salad parallel to the first line, left on where the lines intersect. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and around the plate. Sprinkle with the parsley, mint and lime zest.

There is way too much emphasis placed on protein by so-called "nutritionists." Surprisingly, research reveals that too much protein compromises the immune system and is detrimental to your health.

A great book on the dangers of excess protein, and the importance of the acid/alkaline balance is Your Health, Your Choice by Dr. M. Ted Mortmer. In addition, "Your Health, Your Choice" has one of the most simplified, easy-to-understand explanations of the digestive process.

Cancer and other diseases thrive in an acidic state within the body. Many people do not know that all food eaten leaves a residue of acid-ash or alkaline-ash in the body. The human body will do whatever it takes to counteract the acid-ash residue left from the SAD (Standard American Diet) we are used to–this includes pulling calcium from the bones to neutralize the acid in the system.

Drinking homogenized milk only aggravates the acidity (milk leaves an acid-ash residue which must be neutralized). According Mortmer, the ideal PH of the body is 7.5 which is alkaline, and the human body goes through ENORMOUS lengths to maintain this PH level. Alcohol, coffee, flesh-based protein (i.e. meat), and stress all create acidity within the body and should be avoided.

Since flesh-foods leave an acid-ash residue, it's best to get your protein from plant-based foods which leave an alkaline-ash. Unfortunately, many people are ignorant and believe that you can't get protein without eating meat. This is entirely false. Read more about The Protein Myth.

According to a recent news article, a West Virginia woman placed second in a national recipe contest using a (mostly) raw food recipe. The article below was published in The Charleston Gazette on May 18th. The woman featured in the news article isn't totally "raw," but at least she's headed in a healthy direction.

In the Raw: Local woman’s mostly uncooked recipe places second in national contest

Stacey Angel entered the world of raw foods preparation and dining after a pamphlet caught her eye. It explained the concept and gave a telephone number for further information. She called it and hasn’t looked back. The Charleston woman recently talked about her initiation one year ago into this new way of eating and viewing nutrition: “I took Sally Miller’s raw foods class that she conducts in her home in Sherwood Forest. It was four hours of a broad overview of raw foods. Sally is a wonderful resource and great mentor. I went to her because, after looking at all the food fads out there, I was confused about what could be considered ‘good’ for you. The safest and single–most universally agreed–upon approach seems to be fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Angel acknowledged that she’s not always totally in the raw. She applies some cooked food to a basic uncooked recipe to appeal to a wider range of palates. And to her own. “In winter it’s hard to convert cooked to raw because we all want warm food, especially after a difficult day,” she said. “Everyone loves homey, comfy food and the feeling we get when we enjoy it. My cooked noodles with raw vegetables may offer the best of both worlds.” She developed the recipe after she and her husband, Brooke Brown, had a craving for “something Thai.” She kept playing with ingredients until the dish was perfected. So perfect, in fact, that it’s a recent national award winner.

“My mother, Mary, is a big fan of QVC shopping network,” Angel said. “She got me hooked. I suffer from insomnia and find that QVC is a good cure—it’s repetitive, therefore comforting to me. However it was Mom who saw the cooking contest invitation and encouraged me to enter. It wasn’t one for raw foods, but I sent my Thai recipe anyway and just received the letter from QVC telling me that I placed second.” Angel said as much or as little raw food can be incorporated into your daily diet as you desire. Those who embrace it 100 percent are 100 percent vegans.

Why raw foods? She explained that there are enzymes in raw vegetables, fruits and nuts. When heated beyond 115 degrees, those enzymes are lost and, in order to digest, our body has to produce enzymes, making it work harder. If you cause less stress to your body, there’s more energy for it to perform other tasks. Allowing consumed enzymes to meet the challenge of digestion, giving the body a slight rest, seems in direct contrast with popular cooked-food diets that would have your body toiling to burn excess undesirable stored material. Two of Angel’s three daily meals are raw.

She saves semi-cooked dinners to have with her husband in their East End apartment. He is supportive of her efforts and shares her enthusiasm for the dishes she prepares. Has she totally conquered most no-no cravings? Not quite. She cheerfully confessed her weakness for unsanctioned foods. Her particular downfalls are pancakes, once-a-week salmon, French baguettes and an Endangered Species-brand extreme dark chocolate bar called “Black Panther.” Angel says it’s so good and deeply chocolate that she has recommended it to others and now they are addicted. It’s sold at Healthy Life Market in area Drug Emporiums, along with white and milk chocolate varieties.

She hasn't turned a cold shoulder to commercially prepared hot dishes, either. For eating out, Sitar of India is her most tempting restaurant and the biggest treat. She indulges in their cooked vegetables as her cooked meal of the day. Delish on McFarland Street also gets her nod as having excellent vegetarian items. To prove her cuisine doesn't consist of one salad after another, Angel, a spirited home cook, developed a recipe for chocolate truffles. They're made from raw cocoa nibs, ground to powder and processed with soaked walnuts, dates and coconut. The mixture is shaped into balls and rolled in cocoa powder or coconut. She pointed out that all nuts have to be soaked 8 to 12 hours, then dried before using because they naturally contain enzyme inhibitors. Soaking removes the inhibitors.

From macadamia nuts, she makes a cheese substitute that has the consistency and texture of a ricotta. Her frozen-fruit pie is an amalgamation of two recipes: a raw banana-coconut ice cream to which she adds fresh pineapple; and a maple-walnut crust. Raw zucchini or yellow squash “noodles” may be substituted for the cooked pasta in the Thai recipe. Put the squash through a spiral slicer or cut long, thin strands by hand.

Angel graduated from George Washington High School in 1988, and later from Marshall University with an anthropology degree. She works for Bryan Boyd Creative Group — a marketing and ad agency — as director of client services. She wants to enhance her education and cooking interest by attending The Living Light Culinary Institute in Ft. Bragg, Calif. It's a three-week focus on gourmet raw foods. “If I'm going to do it [raw foods], I'm going to learn how to make it taste good,” she joked. There's only one slight impediment. The 21-day intoroductory course and chef training/certification costs $4,000. Her plans aren't completely funded at the moment, but she's saving to go to the small-town school north of San Francisco.

“Food is a big part of pleasure in life,” she said. “It brings us together. I want to make it pleasant for my friends and family through these classes. I'd like to work as a raw foods chef where I get to be creative and have fun. I think raw lends itself better to experimentation than cooked — no spoiling, no cross-contamination. I introduce people to raw food when I have the opportunity by bringing something to a gathering for everyone to taste.” For those who want to learn more locally about raw foods, there is Sue Miller's $75 basics class. In addition, Miller holds specialty $50 hands-on cooking classes with themes of “Raw Lunches,” “What's Raw for Dinner?” and “Sprouting.” A potluck meal support group meets the first Sunday of every month with a guest speaker each session. Membership is open.

The May discussion was of attempts to start a vegetable co-op and instructions on growing organic wheat grass, an important component of a raw foods diet. Angel gets most of her ingredients from Miller. She says Miller also stocks delicious raw cookies, crackers and snacks at her business, Eats of Eden. Miller's e-mail address is eatsofeden@charter.net. Angel's email is s-angel@verizon.net.

“I want to get the message to others that there are classes, ingredients and a support system for raw food enthusiasts. Even though I don't do raw foods exclusively, I can tell the difference in how I feel when I eat more uncooked foods. I feel better. There's enough of a difference in my body to make me want to continue this eating lifestyle.”

According to the book, Patient, Heal Thyself:

"Ground-breaking research on health and regeneration shows that sleep before midnight is up to four times more beneficial than sleep after midnight. The book goes on to state, "It is important to note that in Biblical times, and throughout ancient history, people would rise and retire with the setting of the sun. I believe this is the healthiest way for us to function today, resulting in improved digestion, immune system health, and mood. It is my experience that the amount and quality of your sleep, as well as the times you retire and rise, are as important to your health as diet, supplements and exercise."

That's quite a statement, and I agree with the author, Jordan Rubin. Rubin is not a raw foodist; however, his company, Garden of Life, emphasizes the importance of enzymes and the health of the gastrointestinal tract. I've read lots of different health/nutrition books over the years. About a year ago, I read Patient, Heal Thyself because it arrived free of charge with a Garden of Life order that I had placed through Nutrition Warehouse Outlet.

Frederic Patenaude also emphasizes the importance of sleep in his book, The Raw Secrets. Here is a brief excerpt:

"Sleep and rest are essential to recharge our nervous energy. Our physical, emotional, and mental balance depends on the quality and quantity of our sleep. Work and play are great, but it also puts a demand on the body, dissipates our energy, and fills our tissues with toxins. Rest is the only thing that recharges these 'batteries' and allows for proper elimination of metabolic wastes (toxins)." Frederic lists "lack of sleep" (or lack of quality sleep) as one of the most common mistakes made by raw foodists.

Going to bed too late at night is a bad habit of mine.

Other Common Mistakes Made by Raw Foodists (According to Frederic Patenaude):

• Eating too many nuts
• Drinking large quantities of juices
• Sleeping not enough or at irregular hours, thinking that because they are raw-foodists they will escape the consequences.
• Eating a lot of oil
• Eating too many avocados
• Constantly worrying and thinking about food
• Overeating acid fruit
• Overeating dried fruit (causes cavities, causes blood sugar to rise)
• Paying no attention to digestion, dismissing hygienic food combining and eating complex mixtures (i.e. super-fancy raw food recipes).

I really enjoy reading Frederic's material because he's refreshingly honest and tells it like it is. I especially like the fact that he emphasizes simplicity (in raw food recipes–no "combo-abombos") and proper food combining.

More information on Frederic's book, The Raw Secrets.

Herbert Shelton's thoughts on sleep:

"The mode of living in this age produces such a waste of power and such a sense of weariness that only the limited few ever know the supreme delights and the enviable luxury of power in reserve. They keep up their semblance of vigor by means of stimulation and seldom take sufficient time to re-charge their vital or nervous batteries. Nights are turned into day, while mental and nervous poise is exceedingly rare. All poison habits, all excesses, the indulgence of any or all the passions constitute distinct drains upon the vital resources, and are sources of diminished vitality, crippled usefulness, and shortened life."

–Herbert Shelton (published in Orthobionomics, and republished in The Raw Secrets).

At 10:00 a.m. this morning, I drove to the state farmers' market in the city (approx. 25 minutes from my house) in search of fresh, organic produce. The search proved very interesting.

I questioned (nicely and politely) five different farmers. "Do you use pesticides on your crops?" All five said yes–they HAD to spray the crops. There was no other way to keep the bugs off.

Or so I was told.

"But what about farmers who grow organic produce?" I asked. "How do they keep the bugs off their crops?"

"I don't know, honey," said an old farmer with a strong southern accent, white hair, and yellow, crooked teeth. "I been farmin' for twenty-FAHV years and everyone I know of sprays. If ya don't spray, the bugs'll eat up everything."

"Is there anyone here who sells organic produce?" I asked.

"Not that I know of," he replied.

There were only five farmers selling vegetables such as zucchini, squash, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, etc. The rest were selling fresh flowers, baked goods, honey, plants (azaleas, marigolds, herbs) or strawberries. It seemed nearly everyone was selling strawberries. There were pints of strawberries everywhere I turned. I asked about spraying the berries with pesticides, and everyone I asked said that they sprayed…they said they HAD to spray.

The Specifics of Spraying Strawberries

I learned that the spraying is typically done to the strawberry plant in March and this keeps the bugs from eating the plant and destroying the fruit. Here's an interesting fact for you: Strawberries and bell peppers contain some of the highest concentrations of pesticides. So, knowing this, I avoided buying the pesticide-laden strawberries. According to the EPA, over 70 pesticides now in use are probable cancer-causing agents. (See my earlier post on pesticides.)

I was surprised that not a single farmer I talked with knew how to farm WITHOUT spraying. Organic farming was a mystery to the local farmers. It was something that they could not explain.

It's amazing how much knowledge our civilization has lost. Ironically, our "modern" lifestyle is contributing to our illnesses and our problems. Ironically, cancer rates are higher in "developed" countries than third-world countries. Ironically, ancient civilizations knew more about organic farming practices (and sustainable agriculture) than the majority of "modern" farmers.

My experience today makes me want to learn the basics of organic farming methods. Are organic farmers working miracles? In the eyes of conventional farmers, they are. In the eyes of conventional farmers, these organic farmers are doing the "impossible."

It reminds me of an old Chinese proverb…"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it."

"Your food determines in a large measure how long you shall live–how much you shall enjoy life, and how successful your life shall be." –Dr. Kirschner

"Success is an accumulation of practicing fundamentals each and every day. Eating is a daily activity of vital importance which cannot be overlooked." –David Wolfe

"A consistent habit of making excellent food choices is an absolute necessity for a successful life."–David Wolfe, The Sunfood Diet Success System.

There is a strong correlation between health and success in life. How many successful people do you know who are weak, constantly sick, and lacking in energy? Not many, right?

Success and physical health are undeniably linked. A strong physical body and a healthy immune system provide the foundation needed for achievement.

Eating Fruit

"Always eat fruit on an empty stomach; wait three hours after a salad meal. Best is fruit in the morning."

– Rene Beresford, Coordinator of the Fruitarian Raw Food Network

Local Raw Food Update:

This morning, I stopped by the town farmers' market (not the one in the city) and picked up fresh, pesticide-free broccoli and sugar snap peas from the husband and wife that I met two weeks ago. The peas are great, and the broccoli goes nicely in salads. It's nice to have access to locally grown food.

Raw Food 5-Day Challenge:

Beginning on Monday, I will be participating in Frederic Patenaude's 5-day "Spring Cleanse." The guidelines of the cleanse (challenge?) are as follows…

• For 5 days, I will avoid all fats–eating nothing but fresh fruits and vegetables. "No fat" means not eating avocados, nuts, seeds, or oils.

• I will not use any condiments–just raw fruits and vegetables, eaten straight or blended in smoothies, soups, etc.

  [No problems here. I rarely ever use spices or sea salt.]

• For 5 days, I will not eat any dried fruits or dates.

[No problems here, either. I never eat dried fruit or dates. Too sugary, and dried fruit contributes to cavities and tooth decay.]

The challenge begins on Monday 5/30 and ends on Friday 6/3. Join me if you like. Simply make a comittment to the guidelines stated above.