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The Raw Gourmet Newsletter September 9 2008

Today's article is a repeat of an article that I first sent out to my newsletter list in April of 2002. It is the most controversial article I believe that I have ever written, and it is also the most highly received based on the many complimentary emails sent to me about it. I sent it out again about two years ago. I am sending it out today with some updated comments. So for all you new readers who have never seen this article before, and for my long-term newsletter friends I hope that you enjoy my Be Aware article.

After the article there are a few recipes for this season, and don't forget if you need some spectacular holiday or happy gathering recipes, my Book Raw Food Celebrations, co-written by myself and Sheryl Duruz is available here http://rawgourmet.com/all/37-main/94-raw-food-celebrations.html

For those of you attending Raw Spirit in Sedona AZ this coming weekend, I will be speaking on Saturday morning from 8:30-9, and again on Saturday night on the main stage, at 9PM-this will be a Nomi Unplugged No holds-barred Question and Answer Support Group and will run for 1.5-2 hours depending on the audience. Other times you can visit with me at Raw Spirit will be to visit me at the Book Publishing Company booth-where I will doing book signings for both The Raw Gourmet and Raw Food Celebrations.

For those of you unable to attend Raw Spirit Fest I will be offering some wish you were here specials on Thursday.

1. Be Aware of what I call "three week wonders"

Definition of a three week wonder: someone who has taken a three week class in raw food (or anything) and is now dispensing information, classes, written a book etc based on those three weeks. So much misinformation is being passed around by these well meaning but inexperienced people who pass themselves off as experts with limited knowledge and little if any real life experience.

For example, a while ago I heard an explanation of why we soak nuts and seeds. It seems according to this "teacher" that the part you soak off is what keeps animals from eating them. (Real reason: with soaking you are washing off the growth inhibitors (that if eaten in quantity are toxic) that keep the nut or seed from sprouting out of season if a few drops of rain fall on it-soaking and sprouting also change the nut or seed to a more digestible food as the fats are being broken down into fatty acids, the proteins into amino acids.)

Another less amusing example is a three week wonder becoming so enthusiastic about the wonderful results achieved from going raw (this may have been a bit more than three weeks, but not much experience, just a lot of enthusiasm); that they created educational materials and programs that many people purchased only to -after a few years- totally reverse their stand on raw food, now claiming that raw food is harmful.

What is wrong with this picture? First of all, they went into "business" with just a tiny amount of experience. They did not expand the variety of foods they ate, but ate the same things day after day, when they began to feel ill from lack of variety, perhaps developing deficiencies, rather than take a good look at what they were eating, they blamed "raw food". No food can make you healthy.

Not carrot juice. Not green juice. Not wheat grass. Not algae. What contributes to your good health is giving your body the chance to cleanse and heal itself. Raw Food can no sooner "make you sick" than fresh air can. One needs to exercise some common sense.

You always need a large variety of foods to be healthy. Think of the rainbow and eat foods of each color. Don't forget protein, don't forget fat. Don't forget carbohydrates. Don't listen to any one person about anything, including me.

Whenever you hear a story (being widely passed around on the internet) about sick vegan babies, sick infants of vegan moms, deficiencies on a raw diet, parents arrested because they only feed their children raw food, etc. Ask yourself: What exactly were they eating? That part of the story never gets told. Just because someone claims to be raw doesn't mean that they are doing it correctly, we all need protein, carbohydrates and fats. Feeding a baby nothing but raw lettuce and water (this happened a few years back if you will recall) is abuse and an act of insanity.

There is no defense for it. So, my advise is before you run around collecting money and defense attorneys for this raw family or that raw family who has "gotten into trouble with the law" that you first ascertain what exactly were they eating?

For answers to your questions and responsible teaching, there are many people who have been all raw or high raw for many many years (I started in 1987), these are the types of people who have the wisdom and experience to help others. I have been all raw or high raw for over twenty years. Have there been variations in the percentage of raw food that I eat? Yes, of course. My first year, as mentioned in my book, The Raw Gourmet I was 50% raw. The next 4-5 years I was extreme 100% raw, since then I have been anywhere from 75 - 80% raw up to 100% raw. Another way to state this is that I am 100% raw some of the time and a high percentage of raw all of the time.

There are other "three week wonders" who have propelled themselves into thriving raw food related businesses and, while they do a lot of good, in their limited knowledge and experience also perpetuate misinformation that could turn out to be harmful. For example one raw food proponent indicates that daily enemas are part of their ongoing daily routine. Enemas are useful, perhaps even lifesaving, while on the cleanse phase of a raw food program and for serious long-term programs such as the Gerson Therapy, which is closely monitored. But it is never a good idea to use enemas as part of a daily routine once the cleanse phase is over.

Lack of education and experience is starting to manifest itself all over the raw food movement. The very leaders you are looking up to perhaps belong to this category. Know where you information is coming from and don't put all your faith in just one source.

My last example today of a "three week wonder" (I am being selective, there are many more examples of misinformation coming from supposed 'experts' in the field.) is a self-published food preparation book that tells the reader to dehydrate at 98 degrees. This is erroneous and potentially harmful advice. Dehydrating at too low a temperature leaves the food open to developing mold. If you use common sense, you will realize that food does not become the temperature an oven is set at. Roasting a turkey (this is an example to illustrate my meaning only) at 350 degrees never results in the turkey being 350 degrees. Likewise, the dehydrator. You want to dehydrate at the highest temperature possible while keeping the food itself below 115 or 110 degrees.

When I dehydrate flax seed crackers, which are cold and very wet at first, I start the machine at 120 or 125, and as the crackers become dryer and I can feel that they are getting warm to the touch (don't forget how hot a 103 degree jacuzzi feels), then I turn it down. Dehydrators work differently in different climates. You can expect your food to be done sooner in dry hot Arizona than you can in cool damp England. Please do not make the mistake of creating moldy food just because some "expert" who wrote a book tells you to set your dehydrator at 98.

On a related theme, I am noticing every Tom Dick and Harry of raw food information (and misinformation) is now getting into the concept of offering "certification". Well, who is certifying you? What are their credentials? One such "certification" is adding up to close to $6,000.00 for about three weeks (this figure was written in 2002-this is not referring to a well-known culinary arts school or courses run by very well known raw authors and teachers). For that kind of money you can take the 9-week program at Hippocrates Health Institute which has been around for a long time and has a good history and track record.

Certification from someone who has a recognizable name and has been around for some time; with something that says something about their area of expertise such as a book, or someone who has been teaching for a long time might be worth your while, but don't waste your time and money on a "three week wonder".

3. Be Aware of people who tell you what to do.

There is no one pill, no one herb, no one diet or food that is right for all people. When you are being told that everyone needs this mineral or that herb or cream or liquid or supplement then suspect the person is either on an ego trip or looking to make money for themselves, or both. We are each so unique. If there were one right way for us all life would be so simple, wouldn't it?

If there were one right way to eat then I would be a very rich lady indeed. Do not ask your neighbor or me what they eat hoping to emulate and be just like them. What works for your neighbor or me may not work for you. Do not turn an expert into your personal guru, instead be your own guru, by experimenting over time with different approaches to see what works for you.

(Note: Some of my newsletters are about supplements that I think are the best on the market, but you must be the final judge on how your body reacts to anything anyone recommends.)

4. Be Aware, you need to do your own research.

Sorry, I know this makes things harder for you. But you are a unique person. You have strengths and weaknesses, and they are different than your neighbor, your sister, your cousin or your raw food guru. I am talking about physically here, but it is true about all aspects of YOU. There is really no expert that can tell you about you. Wouldn't it be so easy to just follow one way that you hear about from one person? If that worked, there would be far fewer "gurus" out there.

You need to understand what it takes to keep you the healthy vibrant person you want to be. Of course generalities like exercise, clean air, clean food, right livelihood and relationship all factor into what makes you you. But the fact is, you need to experiment, research, read, learn, try until you find the right combination that works for you. And over time that will change too!

For example, this week a friend made a smoothie out of nut milk, nuts, bananas, plus three other kinds of fruit. That would be digestive and caloric disaster for me. Currently my smoothies are made out of lots of greens with some fruit juice and 2 other fruits. We are very different from one another and what works for one does not work for the next person.

Stop looking for "the answer" from outside of yourself, it is a futile quest. Stop thinking that this one person, or book (or pill) is the one right answer for you. Do not be lazy about looking after your own health. No one can care as much about you, or know as much about you as you do!!

5. Be Aware that some people treat Raw Foodism as a religion. Avoid them.

I hope that you understand this without a big long explanation.

6. Be Aware that there is more to life than the food you eat.

I hope you understand this without another big long explanation. 7. Beware of Extremism.

All or nothing at all isn't necessarily a healthy or logical approach. If someone tells you that eating 95% of your food raw isn't good enough, or that you are literally poisoning yourself if you eat some cooked food- those are rather extreme attitudes. It is my observation that those who take these philosophies to heart often feel like failures if they can't be "perfect" and so slide back completely to a SAD diet.

I personally would rather see a person consume 50% raw food for the rest of their life than be 100% raw for three weeks. Don't allow extreme attitudes or the all-or-nothing-approach to make you feel like you can't cut it, that you are a failure or less-than in your raw food attempts. Any amount of raw food that you eat daily is better than none at all. Perhaps you could shoot for never any less than 50% daily. Don't allow yourself to feel a sense of failure if you do not follow some ideology perfectly. The greatest cause of depression is striving for perfection and feeling bad when it is not attained. Please re-read item #5.

Please do not think that what I am saying is that it is OK (healthy) to eat a lot of cooked food and or junk. What I am saying is striving for 'perfection' can create a lot of unhappiness and feelings of failure which almost always results in giving up on the goal so that you don't have to feel those bad feelings. When someone is telling you that 95% isn't good enough, they are telling you that unless you are absolutely perfect you are not doing it right. This message often boomerangs and results in many people giving up on raw food entirely. Do your best!! Choose Happiness!! Do not judge yourself (or others).

If you maintain your happy outlook, treat your food as just that-your food, not your religion, you will find that sticking to your goals is much easier. If you can't be all raw, all the time, you can still be high raw most of the time, all raw some of the time and happy with it all of the time.

8. Be Aware of some Strangers

Be aware of people you don't know who want you to pay them large sums of money to teach you how to: live a raw food lifestyle, cleanse and heal, fast, or set up a raw food restaurant, home or health retreat. Call three or four well-known people, such as myself, to be sure that this unknown person has a good reputation. Increasingly more and more people are coming into raw food as leaders, please re-read item #1 about "three week wonders".

The raw food community is a small one. Check the credentials and most of all the reputation and history of anyone you are thinking of working with, or of allowing to live in your home that you don't know well. Ask for references. Demand them.

9. Be Aware that there are people with eating disorders

Be aware that there are people with eating disorders (anorexia and bulemia) who use raw foodism to mask their problems. Being a raw fooder is not going to cure an eating disorder. Anorexics and bulemics have serious psychological and physical health issues that need to be addressed by trained personnel.

A recent example. A young woman came to visit me, who has been raw for about a year. She was very thin, too thin. She brought with her a photograph album and proceeded to show me pictures of herself, as she put it, early on in her raw food program when she was eating only fruit which she said "made her very sick'. It was a social setting so I didn't say to her what was on my mind when she showed me those pictures. In them she looked as though she was about 2 weeks away from death she was so severely emaciated and ill looking. Had we been alone, I would have said to her in my characteristic blunt way: Do not delude yourself into thinking eating raw food made you look like that, those are photos of a severely ill anorexic and or bulemic person. This girl was playing games with herself and her family, but it was very easy to see the truth as an outsider: she was using the concept of being a raw fooder as an excuse for her very serious illness.

That in everyday life, preaching to others is unwelcome, and an ineffective way to introduce the concept of raw foodism to anyone. Wait to be asked. Create ways that invite people to ask.

Example: I know a person who actually walks up to strangers in the grocery store and verbally attacks them about what is in their grocery cart! I mean really! That is no way to make friends and influence people.

A New Be Aware of-we'll call it 11. Be Aware of food cravings.

Not all food cravings are created equal. You can pretty much know that if you are craving a Big Mac or a chocolate bar that you should not go with that craving...the body does not crave what it wants or needs when it is filled with toxins and non nutritious foods. In fact it craves what it is addicted to, high fructose corn syrup, salt, processed fats..and these cravings can go on for some time after you change your diet, and they can revisit you many years into a healthy diet, it is part of the magnificent detoxification ability our body has. As your body releases old stored up toxins, you will temporarily experience old cravings...know them for what they are.

When your body starts telling you to get home so you can have a huge green salad, or if you would rather eat a fresh pineapple than anything that comes from a package, then you will know that, finally, you have cleansed and healed to the point that your food cravings might actually be telling you what your body needs...then you can listen to it.

For some wonderful recipes and party and entertaining ideas, check out my new book Raw Food Celebrations by Nomi Shannon and Sheryl Duruz.

http://rawgourmet.com/all/37-main/94-raw-food-celebrations.html

Lemon Cups (From my book The Raw Gourmet)

I chose this recipe for its attractiveness and simplicity. Kids love this.

4 lemon halves (after juicing)

2 cups finely grated carrots

1 tablespoon lemon juice or more to taste

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (the yellow part only of the lemon very finely grated)

1 teaspoon olive oil or flax oil

Optional: stevia or maple syrup

Grate carrots; toss in remaining ingredients (except the lemon halves of course). Fill the lemon halves with the carrot mixture, to overflowing. See the picture on page 69 in my book for serving ideas.

Salad

Here are two variations for salad with the same dressing for both.

Salad 1: Endive, basil strips and strawberries

Salad 2. Alternate pink grapefruit sections with slices of avocado.

Berry Dressing

4 hulled strawberries

8-10 raspberries

2 teaspoons honey or 1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon olive oil or flax seed oil

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 fresh basil leaf

Optional sea salt to taste

Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. Pour over salad and serve. Serves 1-2.

Nomi Shannon, "went raw" in 1987 and had never looked back. A well-known proponent of natural health and healing, Nomi is the author of the best-selling book The Raw Gourmet as well as the recently (8/08) published Raw Food Celebrations, Party Menus for Every occasion, by Nomi Shannon and Sheryl Duruz. A Certified Hippocrates Health Educator since 1995, Nomi has broad training in numerous alternative health modalities, including Reiki, Iridology, herbology, homeopathy and others, although her main focus is on teaching and writing about raw food, from therapeutic to gourmet. As a live food lifestyle coach, Nomi provides counseling, teaching, and consultation services for individuals and groups the world over who wish to improve their health one bite at a time.

Besides her books, Nomi also has a set of three DVD's where she demonstrates many raw food recipes. You can view clips from each of her DVD's at http://www.rawgourmet.com/videos.html Nomi also has written two booklets: The Little Book of Raw Soups and Raw But Not Naked, The Little Book of Salad Dressings. For kitchen equipment, Nomi sells everything one needs for a raw food lifestyle from simple kitchen gadgets like the saladacco spiral slicer, mandoline plus and Toss & Chop, to larger items like the K-tec HP3A blender, juicers and the Excalibur dehydrator. View all of these items at http://www.rawgourmet.com along with free articles, free recipes, and a free newsletter archive.

Please go to http://www.rawgourmet.com to order or call for information about juicers and blenders, or to inquire about wholesale purchasing. Nomi is available from 12-5 EST at 888-316-4611, or you can email her at nomi@rawgourmet.com Soon Nomi will be living with Rocky the Dog in Bonsall, California, surrounded by avocado and citrus trees. Nomi has two children: Douglas W. Shannon and Laura (LJ) Shannon and one grandson, Seth Shannon Taylor. To learn more about Nomi Shannon and her teaching schedule both virtual and live, go to www.rawgourmet.com http://rawgourmet.com/about.html