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Eat Smart, Eat Raw, by Kate Wood $15.95
Raw foods are enjoying increasing popularity, particularly now many
Hollywood stars are discovering how a diet based on fresh fruit and
vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts and juices, leaves you feeling and
looking so great. Recently, Donna Karan, the fashion designer attracted
media attention when she lost two stone on a raw food diet, and Demi
Moore went raw to train for her role in the last Charlie's Angels
movie. So is the raw food diet "the new Atkins"?
Well, no. Raw foods are much more than the latest fad. The practise of
eating uncooked foods has a long and venerable history, dating right
back to Biblical times. In The Essene Gospel of Peace, a reputedly
overlooked book of the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples, "if you eat
living food, the same will quicken you, but if you kill your food, the
dead food will kill you also". There have been many different raw food
movements across the world during the twentieth century, most notably
Anne Wigmore and the Hippocrates Health Institute, who promote a living
foods diet with an emphasis on green juices and wheatgrass, and have an
amazing track record of healing people with life-threatening illnesses
such as cancer, heart disease, and obesity. In the 1990's a whole new
generation of raw foodists came on the scene, in particular David Wolfe
and Nature's First Law (http://www.rawfood.com/), operating out of
sunny California. In this country, Susie Miller founded F.R.E.S.H.
(Fruitarian and Raw Energy Support and Help), in 1992. Susie produced a
regular newsletter and drew together like-minded individuals until
1998, when Karen Knowler took over and took Fresh to new heights. Fresh
now sells books, foods, juicers and other equipment by mail order, as
well as organizing lectures and events across the country, and
producing a quarterly magazine (http://www.fresh-network.com/).
Of course, eating raw is not a magical cure-all. It is just as possible
to be an unhealthy raw foodist as an unhealthy carnivore. Far better,
holistically, to eat cooked vegetables that have been organically and
locally grown, than a mango which has been heavily sprayed and shipped
across the world. Too much fruit can cause havoc with the blood sugar
and damage the teeth, too many nuts are mucus-forming and hard on the
liver. Another common pitfall is yo-yoing; going all raw for a period,
then giving in to temptation and going overboard on all the cooked
treats you had been missing. This puts a huge strain on the body and
can be more damaging than not trying to be healthy at all! Best to
introduce raw gradually. For example, you could start your day with a
smoothie instead of cereal: blend up one banana, one piece of fresh
fruit, a glass of water and some flax oil or tahini, for a nutritious
and filling breakfast. Or have a raw side dish with your dinner every
day. This way you're not missing out on your favourite foods; you don't
have to give up cheese, potatoes, or whatever it is you love, just eat
them with a large green salad. And if you have a sweet tooth, there are
no shortage of yummy raw recipes for cakes and biscuits.
Eat Smart, Eat Raw is the first raw food recipe book to come out of the
UK. Filled with over 150 recipes, these are the dishes that I use to
feed my family on a daily basis. As such, they are easy to follow,
practical to make, and tasty enough to tempt reluctant husbands and
children! Including such delights as Thai soup, falafel, cheesecake and
garlic crackers, this is a wonderfully useful book for anyone who wants
to eat healthily.
"Eat Smart Eat Raw makes raw foods easy and fun as Kate's gentle and
reassuring words guide you on your voyage. There are days, weeks and
months of recipes here, so just get more and more excited as you try
Kate's creations. Raw food cuisine pushes the boundaries of creativity,
and Kate's cuisine shows this off, wonderfully, simply and
consistently. Her recipes and her style are pure joy, created from the
heart."
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