links and things

Hi there everyone!

First and foremost, thanks for coming out to HMC last night to talk about raw food with me. That was probably the most questions I've had in a 1-hour setting and I loved it. So much fun. Here's the great part: because we're emailing, we're able to continue the conversation. If you had a question that didn't get asked or answered, please feel free to contact me. You can call me as well: 229-4496. 

Reminder: tonight is a raw food potluck if you want to come. From 6:30 - 8:30 pm. Location: 18 Worcester Village Rd (Rt 12) in Worcester. Bring a dish to share and bring a plate and utensils for your dish and with which to eat. Looking forward to seeing you!

Calendar for future classes, potlucks and workshops

It was asked last night, "what did you eat today." So I thought I'd include what I ate so far today:
breakfast: smoothie of 2 bananas & 2 oranges
had a *wonderful* massage this morning then walked to help with the local food order (see below for the Tree of Life buying club.)
I ate a lara bar while helping at the local food order. I drank a liter of water on my drive home.
For a late lunch: I had two small sprouted grain tortillas that was filled with a nut cheese from Alissa's book, spicy radish kimchee (DELICIOUS!) and some avocado sliced over top. This was absolutely delicious. I also had a little spoonful of the "chocolate" turtle candy from last night's workshop. 
Tonight is the potluck and I'm marinating some kale as we speak!

Some links:
here's a link to the raw cacao so you can see what it looks like: We talked a bit about raw cacao last night. Again, when you start looking at info about raw cacao, you'll find people for it and against it. Read for yourself and make your own decisions. It has caffeine and that's reason enough for some to abstain. For me, it was/is the best way to get myself off of coffee which I have been drinking for about 20 years...

here's a link to the Tree of Life buying club in Montpelier: - last night we talked about utilizing buying clubs for buying the high-priced nuts and seeds, etc. You can contact Peter Clark for ordering information: peterclark@juno.com - he'll set you up! A local food order happens during the winter months. I am PSYCHED for my local organic parsnips, kale, shallots, turnips and wheat berries, to name a few... (if you or someone you know is interested in the one that's coming here to Worcester, please let me know - I'll get you that info separately.)

here's links to some talk on the digestibility of raw food: - last night the question was raised, "why is cooked food more easily digestible vs. cooked food." So here are some links. You'll also find lots of people that will say that lightly steaming SOME veggies brings out some more vitamins in them. Raw fooders will say that a lot gets destroyed in order to bring out those 1 or 2 vitamins. Carrots always seem to be the veggie that people highlight in that discussion. You'll find pros and cons to whatever you are researching. You'll find studies that promote or deny one way vs. another. The proof is in the raw pudding, I say. Try it for yourself. See how you feel. Start slowly and remember that's it's totally fine to be skeptical. I was very scared when I first started learning about raw food. I think it's really funny now - scared of fresh fruits and veggies? But really, this is all about finding out what works for you. I totally support you on your own journey.

How Cooked is Too Cooked  - "There is enough evidence to show that the more food is cooked, the more difficult it is to digest and metabolize. The higher the temperature that food is cooked, the longer it stays in the gut. This makes it more difficult for the food to absorb and work on a cellular level where it needs to work."

"Raw food vs. Cooked Food"

http://www.annwigmore.org/ - talks about how living food is easier to digest than raw food... also talks about the reason why Ann Wigmore started to eat raw/living food: deficiency and toxemia. Nutritional deficiency in cooked foods and toxins stored in the body due to cooked foods...

Edward Howell, M.D. - "Enzymes are the catalyst for the hundreds of thousands of chemical reactions that occur throughout the body; they are essential for the digestion and absoption of foods as well as for the production of cellular energy. Enzymes are essential for most of the building and rebuilding that goes on constantly in our bodies. Among the many thousands of species of creatures living on this earth, only humans and some of their domesticated animals try to live without enzymes. And only these transgressors of nature’s law are penalized with defective health. It is not surprising that dogs (and cats) have many human diseases since they are given only canned or packaged, heat treated, enzyme free food" Dr. Edward Howell MD is the author of Enzyme Nutrition 

Information about FDA reports on cooking at high temps... I had mentioned that the FDA has some studies on cooked food being carcinogenic. Here are some links on that. You can read specifically what it says...

Here (part of an interview with Doug Graham on some dude's blog. Doug Graham recently wrote a book called 80-10-10 - he's always interesting to listen to. Always has a viewpoint that I haven't considered. To some, he'll be considered radical or arrogant - I've heard a lot of labels attributed to lots of raw fooders. I'll let you make up your own mind with regards to him and all that you'll read out there...)

* What happens to fat when you heat it?

Dr. Graham: Heating fats to a high temperature creates acrylamide which is a known carcinogen.

(In April 2002, researchers in Sweden discovered that cooking at high temperatures could create acrylamide in many types of foods, particularly starchy foods such as french fries, potato chips, bread, rice, and processed cereals.

Scientists know that acrylamide causes cancer in laboratory rats. They also know that contact with large quantities of acrylamide can cause nerve damage in humans. But no one knows whether the tiny amounts of acrylamide in cooked foods can cause cancer or have any other harmful effects when ingested by people. "As soon as we heard about this problem, we took action and laid out a solid plan to learn more about acrylamide and to reduce exposure to it," says Terry Troxell,
Ph.D., director of the FDA's Office of Plant and Dairy Foods and Beverages.")

Fats normally have single or double bonds on the molecular level. Heating fats creates indigestible triple bonds. These heated fats produce an extreme adverse impact in our ability to uptake, transports and utilize oxygen and sugar.

The higher you heat a food, the worse the damage is.

* What happens to carbohydrates when they are cooked?

Dr. Graham: Caramelization which is a known carcinogen. For instance, when you make toast, that is caramelization. The blacker it gets, the more carcinogenic it becomes.

(My Notes: Caramelization produces six different levels of chemical reactions in the sugar molecule. When you cook you are actually practicing chemistry. In a typical soup, millions of new molecules are created in the cooking process. This is called a Maillard Reaction. Boiling a potato creates 420 new molecules in the
potato that did not exist before it was cooked.)

Caramelization also makes sugars much more readily available. This increases their glycemic index or how quickly and how high the food raises your blood sugar levels. Eating these kinds of foods can cause dangerous spikes in your blood sugar levels.

You don't want to have large spikes in your blood sugar; it is very difficult on the body. Fruit sugars however give a quick but mild rise in blood sugar.

* How much can a food be heated before it starts getting damaged?

Dr. Graham: How much can you heat your hand? Whatever your hand can take is approximately how much your food can be heated before it becomes damaged.

also read: http://www.cspinet.org/
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/acryplan.html
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/acryfaq.html
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/acrydata.html

Take good care and happy holidays to you all. Somewhere I read (which made me giggle) "Happy Christmakwanzukah"
Linda