Ten Things to Be Aware of in the Raw Food Arena

Just been reading Nomi Shannon's post about the things to be aware of in the raw food movement. Though initially written in 2004, it is still relevant.
Her comments and advice make sense in relation to any aspect of life, not just how we eat. For example, Be Aware of People Who Tell You What To Do. And she adds, "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."
The one that resonates most strongly for me right now is . . . "Be Aware that there is more to life than the food you eat." It has been too easy to become absorbed in thinking about food, eating it, buying it, foraging for it, learning about it, growing it, talking about it with other raw-fooders. But, when food takes up so much of my time, what room is there in life for doing other things?

Implementing a Raw Diet

I like Susan Schenk's book Live Food Factor, but like Avril i prefer the first edition. In this online article there's a link to an interview with Susan where she discusses the specifics for going raw. There are so many ways of doing it, and so much of what the so-called "experts" say is quite similar. Here are the common themes (which are also backed up by my own experience):

• cooked foods are addictive and can be darn hard to manage when transitioning to a raw lifestyle;
• eating raw is not only good for your health, it is more economical and it is healthier for the planet;
• eating organic is definitely more important no matter whether it's raw or cooked. the nutritional profile is so much higher;
• eating less food is as important as eating more raw, vegan foods. the body uses enzymes to digest food and these enzymes are also important as building blocks for other organs in the body;
• a living foods diet is gives you more energy, puts a spring in your step and a glow to your skin;
  
• everyone is different, so depending on your type you may need to balance with either more nuts (oils) or more greens. this is individual, and it can change over time.

However, don't take my (or any expert's) word for it. Go find out for yourself. We are each individual and what may work for me, might not work for you.

10 Steps to Going and Staying Raw

Adapted from The Raw Food Blog, this outlines one way of approaching a raw food lifestyle. This might work for most people. Myself, the journey was more about really listening to my body and going with the flow. The point at which i made a significant shift was when i made my kitchen raw. Cleared out all the cooked foods, gave away my cooking gear and started using the oven as extra bench space. I had already been eating mostly raw, but this just nudged me over that point of no return.

1. Assemble the tools you need. A blender - any blender - a juicer, a dehydrator, some jars for sprouting, and a variety of raw recipes are the minimum requirements. If you can't bring it all together at once, then start with the blender and jars.

2. Assemble your list of suppliers. Where are you going to buy your food? Are you going be mostly organic? Will you be able to source from growers' markets or a food co-op? Find a supply of sprouting seeds - at least some alfalfa, sunflower and broccoli. The wider the variety the better. We've started the Living Foods Co-operative in Melbourne to support the raw community here.

3. Read your instructions. Do you know how to sprout, how to use the juicer?

4. Plan out what you're going to do. If you decide you'd like to make angel-hair pasta from zucchini, for example, you might find having a spiral slicing machine handy. This might put you back to step 1.

5. Set a starting date and create a support crew around you. Having a support group is the greatest. Check meetup.com for raw groups in your area. If you don't know any raw foodies in your area, find a raw chat group or two for support. A professional Raw Coach is ideal, if available.

Share with them what you plan to do, and the date you're going to start. You'll find yourself more successful this way, than if you "go raw secretly."

6. Stay inspired. So build a collection of books, videos, and CDs so you'll have lots of material as you go raw. This will help maintain momentum. Videos are good for motivation. There are many places online where these can be viewed, The Best of Raw Food, RawDoctors.com and YouTube are just some. There are also an increasing number of films being released. Check some of my previous blogs for these.

7. Eat consciously. Research shows that it takes 21 days for a new behaviour to become a habit. This is just as true for eating as it is for any other kind of habit. So exercise your consciousness when you are eating live foods and be aware of your attitude towards the food.

Victoria Boutenko and Gabriel Cousens have written a book on the subject of eating raw and breaking that dependency on cooked foods - 12 Steps to Raw Foods. Her book covers the subject in detail, but here are her 12 Steps to Raw Food:

Step 1 - I admit that I have lost control of my addiction to cooked food and my eating is becoming unmanageable.
Step 2 - I believe that live vegan food is the most natural diet for a human being.
Step 3 - I shall gain necessary skills, learn basic raw recipes and obtain equipment to prepare live food.
Step 4 - I shall live in harmony with people who eat cooked food.
Step 5 - I shall stay away from temptations.
Step 6 - I shall create a support group.
Step 7 - I shall find alternative activities or hobbies.
Step 8 - I shall let my higher self lead my life.
Step 9 - I shall make a searching and fearless inventory of the real reasons for seeking comfort and pleasure from cooked foods.
Step 10 - I shall let my intuition help me.
Step 11 - Through clarity I will gain happiness.
Step 12 - I shall provide support to other raw fooders.

8. Part of changing diet and lifestyle is detoxifying the body. Not as a one-time detox, but instead, we should be constantly detoxing. That's where Dr. Ann Wigmore's program comes in. She taught much more than a diet. In her books and videos she lays out the procedures for a continuous healthy detox, including the foods we eat, how we combine them, the usage of colonics or enemas, the uses of wheatgrass juice, and more.

The basics are laid out in her book, Why Suffer? How I Overcame Illness and Pain Naturally.

9. Be aware, not discouraged. You're going to backslide at times, and it's normal. Don't feel like you've "failed" if you happen to go out for your favourite cooked meal. Instead, think about how well you've been doing, how much better you're eating than you used to, and how much better you're feeling since you started going raw.

10. Experiment, experiment, experiment. Knowing that I have addictions to comfort foods, I found new comfort foods. For me that's fresh blueberries, raspberries, and bananas.

my new hippo

yes, last month my faithful Champion juicer died. the engine seized. i doubt this has to do with the amount of juicing i do daily. the juicer was second-hand and i'm guessing, more than 20 years old. i give it credit for lasting as long as it did. it is sitting on the lounge room floor awaiting a decent farewell. will be putting it on freecycle shortly unless one of my friends would like to take it in and resuscitate it.
meanwhile i have purchased a fabulous new Hippocrates coldpress juicer by Greenpower. The Hippocrates is one of those twin gear dudes and is actually quite a lot more silent than the Champion. it is especially good at juicing leafy greens.
the trickiest part of owning this juicer is the cleaning. it's a lot of work, however given how much better the juice tastes, i believe it's worth it. there's barely any fibre in the juice. i used to strain the juice from the champion and get 1-2 tsp of pulp per litre from the straining. there is nothing to strain with this juice. it also stays fresher longer. when i juice i do at least 1 litre and then put whatever i don't drink in a glass bottle in the fridge. the juice from this juicer still tastes fantastic and fresh 12 hours later. very little oxidation.
be interested to hear readers' views and experiences as there's been a lot of discussion recently amongst members of our raw food group.

Juicer Comparisons: http://www.juicercomparisons.co.uk/

Dr Tam Mateo and Miracle Green Tea

In my last post i mentioned (in the comments) that Polly had been to a seminar in Manila earlier this year where she first came across the idea of eating food in it's natural whole state. The seminar was one held by Dr Tom Mateo, who is considered a "miracle doctor" in the Philippines. He is apparently the first Filipino naturopathic doctor. Dr Mateo's promotes the use of a miracle tea which is aimed at cleansing the digestive system. From what I can make out this tea is the equivalent of doing colon hydrotherapy, though less invasive. Polly tells me there were a lot of people with cancer attending his seminar. From what i've learnt on my healing journey there are definitely two areas - on the physical level - that need attention. One, cleaning out the accumulated toxic gunk in the digestive system. And secondly, to make sure that what goes into the body is as clean and natural as possible. this means organic and raw and mostly plant-based. From what Polly tells me, this is the basis of Dr Tom Mateo's protocol. Similar in fact to the Gerson Therapy, and to what Ian Gawler suggests as an optimal diet for those with cancer. In his book The China Study, Colin Campbell goes further and believes that any chronic illness (such as diabetes, heart disease, etc.) can be reversed through a change of diet towards eating more plant-based foods. Gawler, Gerson and Dr Norm Walker all believe that colon cleansing is an important and integral part to any change in diet. Thanks to my earlier experiences this year, i can vouch for this. Eating nutritionally rich and clean raw foods leads the body into detoxing and when the detox moves faster than the body can reasonably eliminate toxins, that's when a colonic can be helpful. Matt Monarch talks some more about this subject in one of his articles.

simply raw :: reversing diabetes

Yes, it can be done. Last night i sat down with dad and Polly and we watched Simply Raw. And this isn't the first time i have come across the concept. Caroline duPont has also worked with people to help reverse diabetes through diet.

I borrowed the DVD from my friend Donna. This documentary tells the story of six diabetics who switch to a diet consisting entirely of organic, vegan, uncooked food to reverse diabetes without the use of prescription drugs. Most of the participants had been told by their doctors "you will be on insulin for the rest of your life". They came from a range of cultural backgrounds aged from 26 to 68, and were challenged to give up meat, dairy, sugar, processed and packaged food, and even cooked food for 30 days.
The film follows their journey through this process and captures the medical, physical, and emotional transformations.

It includes additional wisdom from Morgan Spurlock, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Robbins, Rev. Michael Beckwith, and Doctors Fred Bisci, Joel Fuhrman, David Wolfe, and Gabriel Cousens.

Even though i have been eating 100% raw for six months now, i was impressed by the moments captured in this film. The statistical results alone are astounding. These people were able to go off all medication within 3 days of eating in this way. But even more incredible were the emotional transformations. With one of the guys you could see the sparkle in his eyes, the spring in his step. He said he hadn't felt so good in years and he looked good too.

In my own journey I have come to take this for granted now. But it is no small thing to be feeling constantly cheerful and in a positive mood, feeling good every day and having energy in reserve. Until recently, i had grappled with depression for many years. But no longer!

i don't have diabetes but i have no doubt that eating in this way has helped me on all levels to live a much higher quality of life than the way i was before. my mind is clearer and my body is healthier. but as one of the people in the film says, why wait - as so many people do - until you have a life-threatening disease before doing something about it.

And yes, there is a Facebook page Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes
If you want to watch the YouTube film trailer or share it with friends, go to this link.
Dr Gabriel Cousens has written the book, There Is A Cure for Diabetes.
He is also filmed at Hippocrates Health Institute, talking about reversing diabetes.
See a later post on Cousens and (not )microwaving for health.

anand and runi :: their raw blog

some entralling reading here from anand (and runi). their blog contains some really interesting posts about the 80/10/10 diet, the green smoothie challenge and photos too of what a raw body looks like (thanks anand).

Anand runs classes on raw food preparation. Though i have not personally attended any of his classes yet i hear that they are good.

today i am still trying to recover from eating too much raw cacao (theobroma cacao - food of the gods). it's powerful stuff and my head feels as though it is still in outer space. i do hope i'll be able to sleep tonight. i have a real weakness for chocolate coconut butter.

BigTree and CultureLab :: Beginner's Guide To Going Raw

Had a wonderful day at Springwood, catching up with Taffy and Glenys, then a leisurely late lunch with Paul. My mountains friends are a diverse bunch, but one thing that we all have in common is a certain passion and delight in food - not to mention our desire to see fresh organic food made available to as many people a as possible, and with a commitment to sustainable principles.


I had seen Taffy's video of the solstice circle, but today i got to experience it and what a magnificent ly crafted structure it is. i shot some footage of Taffy talking about CultureLab, and then we got to talking about raw food. CultureLab, by the way, is the food co-operative in the lower Blue Mountains which runs a food box scheme for it's members and customers. i love the model they have chosen, which is similar to a Japanese model i had read about. It involves staying small - a group of no larger than 50 - and "expanding" by helping other groups form along a similar basis. I like working in groups of 50-80, because at that size it is possible to know everyone in the group. Cohesiveness is possible.



both taffy, glenys and paul were curious about raw food and there are always questions. what do you eat? where does the protein come from? what difference do you notice when eating raw?


there is much already written (on the web and in many great books) but whilst riding on the train back to katoomba, i gave some thought as to what my key thoughts were on eating raw. mainly in answer to the question of what eating raw foods looks like. \



What Does Eating Raw Look Like?
i like to keep it simple. think of food in three main food groups. 1. fruit 2. vegetables 3. nuts, seeds and oils. eat mostly fruit and vegetables, with small amounts of nuts. fruit has a cleansing action on the system, so it is best eaten in the morning and ideally, not eaten at the same time as vegetables. i personally don't mix my fruit and vegetables, though some raw foodists do. i soak nuts before eating them. put in a bowl and cover with water, then leave overnight (or soak in the morning and rinse in the evening). rinse them the next morning (do not use the soaking water) and then eat. raw vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals and are enzyme-rich. these foods have a nourishing and enriching effect and are the building blocks of the body. two things that i do in the vegetable realm are 1. juicing and 2. sprouting. Vegetable juices, especially green juices are a way of getting large quantities of trace minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, etc. directly into the bloodstream. Sprouting - lentils, mung beans, and buckwheat are my current favourites - is a great way of eating living food.

that's it really. i soak dried fruits, make my own nut milk (usually almond) and use the blender for smoothies, soups and sauces. everything i eat is a variation (an experiment, actually) on these principles.

Benefits of Eating Raw
Ahhh, well this is the bit i love. Not only are you doing your body a favour, but the planet benefits as well. Eating raw is even more sustainable than being vegan. Not only are you consuming plants and therefore not contributing to the energy that goes into producing animals and animal products for food, but you are not eating processed (vegan) foods which use energy in the making. And to top it all off, by preparing raw food you are saving on the energy that is used to cook a meal. And if you grow your own food organically, there's a further saving on transportation (food miles), and on artificial inputs - petro-chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
As for the health benefits, some raw theorists say that for every month a person is eating 100% raw they are healing one year of eating cooked food. As a result the body becomes regenerated at a cellular level and you experience the effect of becoming younger. i personally have seen this both in myself and others. Symptoms are, an increased level of energy, clearer and more focussed mind, more tone in my skin and clearer skin, loss of those tree-trunk thighs (storehouses of waste that the body is unable to process and eliminate immediately).

mid-winter raw

tonight, a gathering of raw foodies at my place to celebrate mid-winter solstice.

i so enjoyed hosting this. we had some great conversations about a whole range of things. and there was a general feeling that we'd continue to hold meetings monthly at people's homes. this is definitely a more convivial atmosphere.
i love learning about new foods and tonight it was the jicama which donna had managed to find at Prahran markets. i'd read about it in Alissa Cohen's book. in australia the jicama is grown in queensland.
we discussed our favourite films, putting together some ideas for next month's meeting - a delicate balance, farmer john, the power of community, the future of food. next month we're gathering at katherine and ben's place in east brunswick for food demos, films and more shared food.
talking of which, joy's thai soup was a treat with the rich, warm flavours so suited to winter. and you had to be really fast to get one of Thoran's "balls". donna made beautiful banana ice-cream using the champion juicer. a real treat. and thoran had the pesto that packed a punch (4 cloves of garlic. really!).
we heard tales from our adelaide cousins via Thoran (who has lived in adelaide). and a lot of discussion around the usual topics, which is the best blender to get? dehydrator? a recipe for toothpaste. do we really need to keep using colgate? it is always so refreshing to spend time with people who live a raw lifestyle.

raw film fest

if i had a wish for my 50th birthday, it would be to attend this raw film festival. how wonderful would that be, to be in the company of rawfoodies committed to sustainable living and enjoying film and festivities.

matt and angela in Thailand

i have been following Matt and Angela's adventures in Thailand. seems like they're having a great time. funny how durian can be so cheap and plentiful when the media is so full of woe about dwindling rice supplies and rising food prices.

can you imagine, walmart is rationing rice. this is happening in the US. could be that the world's population may start to get healthier when large quantities of cooked food no longer become an affordable option. however it is not nice to think of people starving because they cannot afford to buy food.

but on the positive side, in cuba the health of the population improved to match and almost exceed that of the US population after 10 or so years of oil embargoes. this forced the country to change it's agricultural practices and now, more than 90% of cuba's food supplies are produced by organic farming methods. the percentage of fresh fruit and vegetables consumed has increased, and much of the urban food supply is grown within the city centres.

raw foodies talk :: matt and angela in melbourne

When I first heard that Matt and Angela were coming to Melbourne I did what most people do and googled them. After watching Matt’s vids on YouTube, and reading about Angela on her blog. I was doubtful about spending an entire afternoon listening to a young guy from California, sporting dreadlocks and a tanned body, talk about his great adventures eating raw. Angela; well, her story sounded good, but I didn’t have a weight problem and have always been wary of D*** word.

How glad I was then to have decided to go after all. OK, so I am already eating 100% raw, but have only been doing it for a short time. Matt is into his eighth year of eating only raw foods, and Angela has been eating raw for six. I wanted to find out what to expect whilst going through those first few years of transition. I knew, from having given up alcohol in my late twenties, that it doesn’t just stop the day you have your last drink. I suffered immediate detox, but for up to 12-18 months later my body continued to release toxins.

in his search for more information, Matt turned to the work of Dr Fred Bisci, who has been 50 years on a raw food diet. Dr Bisci, now in his 80’s spends most of his time supporting people healing from degenerative diseases (cancer and the like). The transition diet that Matt recommends in his first book is based on Dr Bisci’s work.

Matt and angela are examples of two completely different approaches to going raw. Matt, a self-admitted extremist ( I would count myself in that category), went 100% raw overnight. He said it happened after he read Dr Norman Walker’s book, Becoming Younger. I’m a fan of Norman Walker as well, and his juicing book is my juice bible.

Angela on the other hand, started eating raw when her weight reached 120kgs. For her the detox effect was so great that she slowed her transition by eating about 70% raw. Even whilst eating 30% cooked food, she lost 50kg in her first year of this diet. Mind-boggling. That is equivalent to my current bodyweight! Angela now eats 100% raw, having transitioned gradually on a combination of raw and cooked foods.

Matt Monarch
Matt’s key message was “you don’t have to eat 100% raw to achieve the benefits of a healthier body”. And angela underscored this with “you don’t get a halo for eating 100% raw”. Yes, it is easy at the beginning to think that anything less than 100% is failure. Being a perfectionist, that was my initial thought. At the beginning I really did think that a completely raw diet was too big a mountain to climb. But taking one step at a time has given me an opportunity to enjoy the journey along the way.

The Food Groups
These are the groups that Matt explains in his most recent book, Raw Success.

• Refined sugar (as found in sweets, bakery items, cakes, biscuits . . . you know)
• Animal protein
• Processed starches (the most common are bread, pasta, cereal)
• Dairy
• Raw vegan foods (fruit, vegetables, nuts, sprouts, seeds)

Interesting to me (a vegan who understands the dangers of animal protein; read Colin Campbell, The China Study), Matt’s view (and Dr Fred Bisci’s) is that the TWO most damaging food groups are refined sugar and processed starches.

Matt gave us three core principles for raw food eating. These come from his own experience and from studying Dr Fred Bisci’s methods.

What you leave out of your diet completely and without exception is the way to ultimate health
In other words, even if you ONLY cut out (completely) refined sugar and processed starches from your diet, and didn’t eat entirely raw foods, Matt believes you will still see significant health benefits. This is important. I realise now I learnt this in one of my dietary adventures 3 years ago, but didn’t recognise it at the time.

Colonic irrigation
Essential when on 100% raw diet to assist with removing the build-up of waste. This has to be the most useful message I got from the afternoon’s talk. People on 100% raw food diet are detoxing quickly and waste is being eliminated at a cellular level from the entire body. Years and years of waste and toxins. The body’s normal elimination channels – the skin, bowel, lungs – are not capable of clearing the toxins out of the body fast enough. So we need a little help in the form of colonics. This prevents us from becoming ill and experiencing the side effects of de-toxing, or autotoxic (forcing the body to re-absorb its own waste) reaction. Read matt's article on "the missing link".

Green vegetable juices
Being an avid juicer for several years, this was not news. Fresh organic vegetable juice (in particular the green juices) is the way to ensure that the body receives enough minerals to remain completely nourished and keep the system alkaline. On a raw food diet, it is simply not possible to get that level of nourishment from eating the vegetables. Juice goes straight to the bloodstream, bypassing the digestive process. Smoothies vs juicing is an interesting conversation that raw foodies have, and matt’s views of this are in his article "juicing vs blending". Norm Walker followed this principle and I tend to agree. I experience the vitality and health that comes from drinking juice daily.

This is just the summary of matt’s talk. Woven into these core principles matt also discussed enzymes, the cleansing properties of fruit, use of supplements, some good juice combinations, the gas diffusion principle (explained fully in raw success), bowel bacteria, water and much, much more.

There are many reasons for eating raw, and for most, it is focussed around better physical health, which of course is a good place to start. One of the beautiful outcomes of eating more raw food is that it raises the body’s vibrational levels and increases awareness of and receptivity to nature and our spiritual being. Personally I was glad to hear Matt talk about the spiritual changes in his life, including the opening of his third eye and solar plexus chakras. Joe Alexander (a blatant raw foodist) also makes reference to this in relation to his creativity. As a visual artist, he discovered that eating raw food sharpened his sense of colour and enabled him to draw more vibrant and lively compositions.

Angela Stokes
Angela’s story of morbid obesity began with an underactive thyroid at age 11. After transitioning to raw food, she is now half the size she was, and certainly twice the person. Angela’s skin literally glowed with health. She talked about how so many people try eating raw, often jumping in to 100%, then hit some kind of detox wall . . . only to go back to cooked food. Her philosophy is to start with where you are, but more importantly: start NOW! By start, she means at least 50% raw. Eating at least 50% raw is all you need to do to see some benefits.

What does 50% raw mean?
Percentages are rife in the raw food community. Angela explained thus. If you have a dinner plate, and half of the plate has spaghetti and meatballs on it with the other half containing a few leaves of lettuce, some tomato, and cucumber, let’s say. That is 50% raw by VOLUME. But the spaghetti and meatballs weight more than the lettuce leaves. So when we talk about 50% raw, it means by WEIGHT.

Top ten tips for going raw
Angela gave us her top ten tips for going on to a raw food lifestyle.

• Start now
• It is a lifestyle, not a diet
• Eat whole foods
• Do it for yourself. There is no need to convert other people
• Have a supportive social network
  (raw food communities are popping up everywhere – even Melbourne!)
• Dry skin brushing helps remove dead skin and stimulates the lymph system, aiding elimination
• Chew your food well (matt talks about Fletcherising in his book raw success)
• Have your greens (1 green juice every day)
• Structure – recognise it is always changing (what Angela eats now is different from what she ate 18 months ago, 6 months ago)
• Seaweed is important for minerals; sprouts are the best form of live food; and, water, drink plenty of it and as pure as possible (matt discussed the benefits of distilled water)

Angela talked about her recent Juice Feasting experience, eating (drinking) nothing but raw juices for 92 days. There’s a global movement (excuse the pun) of juice feasters. This is something I’d like to try. One day. According to the geneticist on ted.com, it is possible to change your genetic structure within 90 days.

Thanks Matt and Angela. I’ve come away from this talk inspired to make some micro-adjustments to my current raw lifestyle. 1. Start the colonics next week. My body is wanting it. 2. Today I started straining my juices – and wow, I can really taste the difference. 3. Attempt to avoid snacking between meals and no eating late. This has always been hardest for me, but I know the benefits. 4. Go back to doing a green juice in the afternoons. I gave that up over a year ago when I returned to full-time work. It’s a chore to clean out the juicer twice a day, but now I have so much more energy . . .

And wow, it was so great to meet other rawfoodies, plus one or two familiar faces from our rawfood meetup group. Check out Joanne's postings on the rawmom website.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome. After many years of toying with blogs, fiddling behind the scenes and staying too attached to my paper diaries (and the wonderful experience of hand-writing them), i realise it is now time i started publishing these gems. Here, the greatest obstacle has been (as has always been the case with my written diaries) how to organise the blog (s)? Do i have one blog, or many? Do i organise them by personal and professional, by topic or how? As an information management consultant, it seems ironic to be held captive to the classic dilemma of the "cobbler's children". Whatever. So today, in the spirit of a "do it now" impulse, i am launching this raw blog.

It's raw because i want to gather together my thoughts on how i live. This is the journey of my experiences with food. Occasionally it digresses into related areas; growing food (permaculture, community gardens), housing (sustainable living practices) and other sustainable practices (eating vegan, buying local, food miles, sustainable transport); but the theme is food and the food is primarily raw and living.

What is raw? The raw foodists call it food that has not been heated above 45 degrees celsius. Below that temperature, the food is still "alive". It still contains living enzymes, minerals and has a high nutritional value. Heat it above that level and the enzymes, minerals and highly nutritional things die. Raw food is not processed. Unless the label says so, all processed (generally, food that comes in a packet; including drinks) food is cooked or pasteurised. Cold does NOT equal raw. In essence raw food is whole, un-processed, fresh and as close to nature as is humanly possible. Some raw foodists include (fresh) raw animal flesh and other raw animal products (e.g. milk) in this category. As a vegan, I don't.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings. I hope you'll contribute your thoughts.