Raw Food in the News in Maine

Excerpts from a raw food news article published in The Kennebec Journal (a local newspaper in Maine)…

Enthusiasts Flock to Raw Food, Saying It Contains Health Benefits
by Mechele Cooper

A cool breeze floated in through the windows as the group of food enthusiasts sat down to a gourmet meal.The breeze was welcome, but not because these food groupies had been slaving over a hot stove. This group — gathered as part of Northern Botanicals Lifestyle Center's wellness retreat — were enthusiasts of raw food. A raw-food diet consists of uncooked vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, and cereals. None of the food is cooked, processed or animal-based. No sushi here. No steak tartare, either. Going raw, when it comes to food, is a growing trend in the United States, but it's relatively new to Maine, according to Bob and Pat Manning, owners of the lifestyle center on Cobbossee Stream.

Raw-food advocates say heating foods destroys the enzymes that aid in digestion and diminishes the food's nutritional value. They claim that raw foods help "detoxify" the body, prevent cancer and fight obesity. But detractors, including some nutritionists, say those who subscribe to a steady diet of raw vegetables and fruits miss out on essential proteins and minerals. And they don't buy the argument that cooking destroy's food's essential value. For some, the diet is no mere lifestyle choice. "I have a health condition, growths growing in my brain and right eye, and I'm hoping to shrink them down," Loran Griffin, 47, of Manchester said.

THE RETREAT

As the West Gardiner table was set and covered in a white linen tablecloth, glass serving bowls were set out, showing off the contrasting colors of the raw concoctions. The menu: apple, carrot and celery juice in stemmed wine glasses; zucchini and yellow squash spaghetti; pesto; fresh tomato marinara sauce; cashew pimento cheese; flax chips; and a mixed romaine salad with alfalfa sprouts, cucumber and red cabbage. For dessert, we can have banana-and-strawberry ice cream topped with a raw sweetener made from the agave cactus, and we have some dehydrated fruit cookies," said Pat Manning, who sat at the head of the table next to her husband.

The ice cream was made from frozen chunked fruit run through a Champion juicer with the solid slide in place. Equipment deemed essential for eating a raw food diet includes a Vita-Mix blender, a juicer and a food dehydrator. All the preparations share a key fascination: Preserve the enzymes. "Enzymes are like the spark that get all the other metabolic actions going," Pat Manning said. "(Eating raw food) helps you lose weight and have more energy. People who go through this program say they have so much more energy."

Besides five-day retreats, the Mannings also open their home once a month to an average of 40 raw foodists from as far away as Massachusetts. For $10, they serve up a raw-food gourmet meal that would command five times the price in a major metropolitan area.

INTEREST FROM AWAY

Friends told Carol Shain, 59, of Haverhill, Mass., about the program. "I used to be a vegetarian and wanted to get back into it," Shain said. "I know this is the way to live, even if I don't do it all the time." Pat Caggiano of Veazie and her 22-year-old son, Brian, a New England Culinary Institute student, came to the retreat together. Caggiano, a registered nurse, thought she could share what she learned with students in the healthy lifestyle classes she teaches in Bangor. "People want to feel better and lose weight," Caggiano said.

"There's a whole phenomenon with vegetables and raw foods that's happening in other states, and I think before long it will catch up here. We do have a high rate of illnesses in Maine,"she said. Raw-food enthusiasts point out that studies in rural China support the benefits of plant-based diets. Christopher Maloney, an Augusta naturopathic physician, said studies of Chinese diets also show proper nutrition could have a dramatic effect on reducing and reversing heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity. He said a raw food diet can decrease calories, lower cholesterol levels and improve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms significantly.

"Eating raw foods shows longtime anti-cancer effects and really counter balances the obesity epidemic in America," Maloney said.

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