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To Your Health ID 1155 May 16, 2008

Last year Namronsoar.com was introduced to what is known as the raw vegan diet and we even tried it for awhile. The movies and info that we watched made it sound like the answer to everything dietwise. We even ran a feature like every born-again diet freak and it claimed the cure for all diseases, cancer included and you may read it here . It ran for a couple of months and then we began to have second thoughts about it. Eating nothing but raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, whathaveyou was just not something that any of us could keep doing for any length of time so the preaching of this gospel had to end and the banner was withdrawn. The article was really over the edge as you can see.

More people on this earth are eating meat and the number of grain-fed cattle is increasing to make this supply. I don’t wish to alarm you but the way we take care of farm animals these days is a recipe for disaster (spelled cancer) and the incidence of this disease is growing but we are learning to live with it and still living longer and healthier regardless. Best to avoid meat as much as you can and limit it to one meal a day, unless you can give it up altogether which I found to be not possible. Also I was unable to stop cooking partly because it was winter and the stove had to be on anyway and partly because I really like cooked cabbage and potatoes. Cabbage also makes good salad as cole slaw but I don’t know of anyone that eats raw potatoes or things like pasta uncooked. The Raw vegan idea is obviously the best answer for the sake of health and there is no doubt about that whatsoever but there are a few things that did come out of the experience that can help to improve one’s general eating habits.

Westerners carry on about not being able to get enough protein if you are a vegetarian and this is just not true. Most people that believe that and live in Canada and the US eat many times the amount of animal protein than they need and much more than is healthy. Many studies have proven that if you eat less you live longer and healthier. Pigging out all the time is the first and most popular way to ruin your good health. The second most popular way is to sit on your fat ass all the time and do nothing. Exercise is beginning to be a lost art. About three years ago my car broke down and I was really beginning to hate feeding the thing more and more expensive gasoline, license fees, insurance and repairs and since I was retired or almost so, I was in a position to decide whether or not I really needed a car. The thing sat there for about a year and a half while I decided and in the mean time I simply rode my bike wherever I went. I only live about three miles out of town so it wasn’t impossible to get groceries, just a bit more difficult, but way cheaper. It actually started to be quite a challenge and also a lot of fun because where I live it gets down to 20 below in the winter and you have to dress correctly to ride a bicycle in that kind of weather. It’s been three years now and I always get my exercise because I just don’t have any other way of getting around. I’m also 65 and touch wood never go to the doctor. There now that I started bragging about it I’ll probably get something right away and have to rewrite this whole blurb. The fact is I do get ill now and then and I usually have to look carefully at my diet and exercise routine to figure out just where I’m going wrong but then on the other hand I have an exercise routine and have always had one, right from my childhood so fitness is on my side.

When the car busted, I was already bicycling regularly as I have done for the last 30 odd years and before that I used to run or jog as they say but it has always been a bit of a hassle to get the exercise in and now that the car is gone it’s really not a problem any more. Think about that. Get a way to force yourself to exercise. Learn to create the habit and learn self control or do something like I did, place yourself in a position where you must exercise. It’s the best advice you will get.

As far as eating is concerned there are several things that I have discovered over the years that you might be able to do. Do you think that you are getting fruit juice when you buy it in the store? Well shock of shocks you aren’t. You are buying something that was oxidized in the juicing equipment months ago, stored in a poisonous container (that’s right, poisonous, more on that later) had non-food additives added as preservatives and fake vitamin chemicals, most likely had several forms of sugar added and probably some fake flavor and worst of all has had all the goodness boiled out of it in a process prescribed by law called pasteurizing. You are even fooling yourself if you get the so-called fresh stuff from the cooler that costs twice as much. It’s not fruit juice anymore! It’s just tastes like it. Buy the fruit and juice it yourself. A simple glass orange or grapefruit juicer works wonders on citrus. You just cut the grapefruit in half and twist it around for a minute or two and pour the juice into a glass. Carrots and apples can be juiced in an electric juicer and they can be mixed as they go together real good. Carrot juice is actually sweeter than apples and is very good for your eyes. Fresh carrots are much better for you than cooked ones and a juicer makes it easy for you to go through a half a pound of carrots a day with ease. A good juicer to choose is one that allows the pulp of the carrot to go through into the juice. I’m going to experiment with a blender now because the juicer seems to waste a lot.

In the Raw Vegan movie there was a part that showed the nutrients that were in a cooked apple pie and those that were in an uncooked apple pie and it was just amazing to see how heat can ruin all the necessary enzymes and vitamins that are so essential to good health. This is the end of the article for now but there will be more added as time goes by.

Nsoar