Here's a simple, quick, and great-tasting raw food breakfast recipe for you. I threw this together this morning.

Quick & Easy Breakfast Smoothie

• Throw 1/2 a quart of organic strawberries into the blender. (I think it was 1/2 a quart. The container holding the organic strawberries didn't say what size it was.)
• Add two organic bananas and 1/2 a cucumber (leaving the cucumber skin on).
• Blend all ingredients together in the blender.
• Add a small amount of water if necessary (to make the mixture more smooth).

Initially, I didn't add the cucumber. I only blended the bananas and strawberries. However, the smoothie was too sweet for me, so I added the cucumber. I've noticed that I have a higher sensitivity to sugar after eating mostly raw for a year. What I used to consider not sweet (bananas and strawberries) now seems extremely sweet to me.

I'm still participating in Frederic Patenaude's raw food cleanse/challenge. It's going very well. I have managed to avoid all fat so far.

The raw food event listed below was published in The Beachcomber, a daily newspaper for Vashon Island and Maury Island in Washington (just outside of Seattle).

Enjoy Raw Food At The Village

The Village invites Islanders to join them for a raw food event at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 11. Guests should bring all the ingredients for one or two raw dishes, and then everyone will prepare the food together, share recipes and ideas about living food and then enjoy a shared meal.

The event is free to Village members. Non-members pay $2/person or $4/family. The Village is at 9412 Gorsuch Road. For more information, call Jessa Zimmerman at 567-5804.

The following information about food combining is from Frederic Patenuade's raw food newsletter. I found the information very helpful, and I hope you find it helpful, as well…

Food Combining Simplified:

In my book, “The Raw Secrets,” I have simplified food combining to a few simple rules. Let’s take a look at those rules again…

1.) DO NOT COMBINE FAT WITH SUGAR

This is probably the most important rule to follow. The combination of fat (or protein) with sugar encourages fermentation. Some authors allow combining an acid fruit (such as an orange) with a fat (such as nuts or avocado). Although this combination isn’t the worst, it still isn’t
optimal and often creates digestive problems.

Examples of this combination: dates with nuts, dried fruits with avocado, avocado with sweet fruits, a fruit salad with coconut, etc.

2.) DO NOT COMBINE ACID FOODS WITH STARCH

Acid with starch is a pretty bad combination. The acidity literally stops the digestion of starches, or makes it much more difficult (and sometimes painful).

Examples of this combination: mixing tomatoes with (cooked) potatoes, the classic tomato-sandwich, but also mixing bananas with oranges. Oranges contain much acidity and bananas still contain starch, even when they are ripe. Bananas combine better with fruits that contain less acidity (sweet apples, mangoes, etc.).

3.) DO NOT COMBINE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FATTY FOODS WITHIN ONE MEAL

Fatty foods are quite difficult to digest. When many of them are present within a meal, digestion is considerably slower.

Examples of this combination: nuts with avocados, nuts with an oil, coconut with avocado, coconut with other types of nuts, etc.

That’s it! Those are the rules when eating a raw/hygienic diet. Of course, we could come up with more rules, but they would be for combinations that wouldn’t be appealing. For example, I doubt that fibrous vegetables (such as broccoli) would mix well with fruits (mangoes, etc.), but this combination is naturally unappealing, so it’s useless to discuss it."

The following is from a South African publication about raw foods, including raw meat eating. Seems hard to believe that anyone could even consider eating raw meat. I've omitted the parts of the article that discuss raw meat eating. That's just unsanitary (certainly not hygenic!).

Those Cavemen May Have Been Onto Something…
By Steve Boomfield

Cavemen may have thought nothing of sinking their teeth into the raw flesh of a freshly slaughtered animal, but things have progressed somewhat since then. Boiled, baked, griddled and grilled, almost everything we eat has been cooked in some way before it reaches our lips.
But all that is set to change. The raw food revolution has swept the United States – and now it is spreading around the world.

Forget the low blood sugar GI diet and the fry-up friendly Atkins. The only rule for the raw food diet is that nothing is cooked — whether it be beef or beetroot, lamb or leeks. A-list Hollywood actresses such as Uma Thurman, Demi Moore and Natalie Portman are devotees. A plethora of "cookbooks" is also being launched to promote the advantages of a raw food lifestyle, and several nutritionists and food experts have launched courses in how to make the switch to raw.

The fad became mainstream in the diet-conscious US after the appearance of a raw food restaurant in Sex And The City. There are now more than 30 eateries without ovens across the US — a trend set to take off internationally. The health benefits of going raw are, claim its proponents, numerous. Raw food has live enzymes that help provide more energy. If food is cooked at above 47,8°C, the enzymes die. Raw food will increase your energy levels and, according to those who eat only raw, will cut down the amount of sleep you need each night.

Gillian McKeith, who presents Britain's Channel 4's You Are What You Eat, and has written several books on healthy eating, said more people were beginning to include raw food in their daily diet. "The message is starting to get through because it really works. When you eat only cooked food you do not feel as alive. You will notice a huge difference. I have seen people who have complained of headaches and digestive disorders. They have started eating raw food with their cooked meals and suddenly realise such a difference in their health."

The first raw food restaurant in Britain has already opened, in London's Primrose Hill, and more restaurants are planned in the next two years. Katia Norain, the co-owner of the Little Earth Café, was converted to raw food after spending time in Hawaii with friends who ate nothing but uncooked. "It is an amazingly interesting way of preparing food; it is good to have live enzymes in your system and, most important, it is yummy," she said. "This is not carrot sticks."

Evangelists for the raw food diet are spreading the word through one-to-one coaching sessions and food preparatory courses. Karen Knowler, director of The Fresh Network, an organisation that promotes raw food, said interest in the diet had increased as awareness had grown of the dangers of obesity.

"The word 'raw' puts some people off," she said, "but it is about much more than lettuce or apples. Interest in raw food has increased enormously over the past two or three years. More people have a desire for a healthy diet these days. "The best thing is, you do not need to fuss about calories — you can eat as much as you want."

Below you'll find a press release about the 2005 Organic Athlete Conference…

Vegan Athletes Flex Their Muscles
The OrganicAthlete Conference will highlight examples of successful vegan athletes.

In a recent interview, Olympic track star Carl Lewis, who was a vegan during his best years, says he believes that “most athletes have the worst diet in the world, and they compete in spite of it.” Members of OrganicAthlete’s “Vegan Pro-Activist” team are out to prove that a plant-based diet is the best diet for optimal health and performance, and that they can succeed at high levels in sports because they are vegan.

Many people are resistant about becoming vegan because of dietary myths like not getting enough protein, but elite vegan athletes and health professionals are participating in the 2005 OrganicAthlete Conference to dispel these myths. Scheduled for September 24th, the goal of the conference is to share information about the benefits of a plant-based diet. “At first other athletes told me I should really start eating meat,” says Brendan Brazier, a professional tri-athlete and vegan for six years. According to Brazier, those same friends now realize, based on his outstanding athletic example, that a vegan diet is optimal for high performance athletes.

The conference schedule includes talks from endurance athletes like Brazier and Christine Vardaros, a world class cyclo-cross racer, who has risen to the top of her sport as a vegan. But even in the protein-crazed sport of bodybuilding vegans are finding success. Kenneth G. Williams, a bodybuilder who placed 3rd at the 2004 Natural Olympia, and Charlie Abel, a raw vegan muscleman and personal trainer, will both speak at the event.

Leading nutritionists Dr. Doug Graham, Rozalind Gruben, Dr. Ruth Heidrich and Dr. Rick Dina will join the athletes in explaining the science of vegan nutrition. Dr. Graham, who has trained many Olympic caliber athletes, explains: “Every nutrient known to be essential for human health is available, in proper concentration, in plant foods. This is not so with animal-based foods, as there are many essential nutrients totally absent in them.”

The conference will be held at Sports Basement’s Presidio store. The $65 fee includes all educational seminars, food demos, training sessions, lunch and a gift certificate to Sports Basement. The World Vegetarian Day Celebration will be held the following day in Golden Gate Park.

More information about the OrganicAthlete conference. You can also call 707-360-8511 to find out more information about the event.

An introduction to the world of Raw Foods from Happy Cow…

What is Living and Raw Food?

Plant-based foods in their original, un-heated state are considered raw & alive. Raw foods may include fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts, grains and legumes in sprout form, seaweeds, microalgae, and fresh juices. These live foods contain a wide range of vital life force nutrients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, oxygen) and live enzymes. Their nutritional properties are essential to the proper maintenance of human bodily functions.

Who Are Raw Foodists?

"Raw-foodists" (also called "Rawists") are those who thrive on live food energy by consuming a diet of mostly un-cooked whole plant foods — usually at least 75% though some say 100% is the only true path. Some contemporary famous raw foodists include raw chef & author Juliano, actress Demi Moore, and raw entrepreneur & author David Wolfe.

Raw enthusiasts proudly proclaim their break from an addiction to cooked & processed foods. They tell us that incorporating a few raw meals a week is a good start that will bring immediate changes to the body to feeling better and having more energy. Even if you have a busy schedule, you can still find easy to prepare raw & whole foods at your local health & natural food markets.

Why Go Raw?

Raw foods are easy to digest, and they provide the maximum amount of energy with minimal bodily effort. Studies have shown that living foods have healing powers that can alleviate many illnesses from low energy, allergies, digestive disorders, weak immune system, high cholestrol, candida, to obesity & weight problems, etc… Research and real life experiences have also shown that a person can prevent a body's healthy cells from turning into malignant cancerous cells by consuming a diet consisting of mostly raw & whole foods.

What's Wrong With Cooked Foods?

Heat changes the chemical makeup of food. Foods that have been heated have lost all of their life force, and their beneficial enzymes are destroyed. The digestive system has to work harder and longer to process cooked foods to get nutrition & energy from it. Once cooked, a food can lose up to 85 percent of its nutritional value. Raw foodists call that "dead food." Since we are essentially what we eat, consuming the dead energy of dead foods make our bodies feel heavy and stagnant, and contribute to increased illnesses.