Back in 2007, I made the biggest lifestyle change for me ever.  I say “the biggest” because making this one change gave me the most profound results.  I was finally able to rid myself of anemia…and in only a few short weeks!

So what was this big change?

Did I eliminate animal products from my diet?

No.

Did I start exercising?

No.

Did I stop consuming junk food?

No again.

I stopped consuming grains.

Even though I had already made the above lifestyle changes and had seen good results, nothing brought upon the health and wellness that giving up grains brought for me.

My Quest for More Energy

As I’ve mentioned before, I struggled with anemia for many years.  In 2005, I started exercising in order to lose weight and maybe increase my energy.  I definitely lost weight, but I still felt tired.

In 2006, I stopped consuming junk food on a regular basis.  Still tired.

By 2007, I had cut out animal flesh and animal by-products.  Again, still tired.

While I did see some signs of improved health (i.e. weight loss, clear skin, better hair, etc.) with all of these changes, my energy level barely budged.  I couldn’t help but feel defeated and just, well…tired.

Finally in late 2007, I stumbled upon the low fat raw vegan diet.  Only then did I realize the huge role that grains had played in my life, especially since becoming a vegan.

Before going raw, a typical day looked like this:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with fresh fruit, orange juice
• Lunch: Vegetable sandwich, rice crackers, fruit
• Snack: Whole wheat crackers with hummus and salsa, fruit
• Dinner: Vegetable stir-fry with brown rice, raw veggies
• Dessert: Fruit and rice crackers

As you can see, every meal features some sort of grain.

Every.  Single.  One

This was a huge wake-up call for me.  I couldn’t believe I was eating that much wheat!  I decided then and there that it was time for me to give raw a real shot.

Giving Up The Grains

Giving up grains was not easy for me.  In fact, aside from eliminating salt, I’d say it is the hardest dietary change a person can make.

One reason most grains are so enticing is because they contain the protein gluten.  In Grain Damage: Rethinking the High-Starch Diet, author Dr. Douglas Graham writes:

Gluten, a protein found in many grain products, has been named as a causative factor in several psychoses and neurological disorders. It has been proven to chemically contain fifteen different opioid sequences, or morphine-like molecules.  Opioids that come from outside the body are called ‘exorphins.’

Exorphins are labeled by scientists as addictive and neurotoxic.  They have psychoactive properties and cause related behavioral problems such as addictive eating patterns.  Since the mid-1960s, scientists have repeatedly linked gluten consumption to learning disorders and schizophrenia.

Perhaps this explains why it’s so hard to eat just one cookie or a single slice of bread.

Another reason it is hard to give up grains is not necessarily because of the grains themselves, but what we mask them with.

As I’m sure you have experienced, grains on their own are extremely bland.  And RAW grains?  You’d have to be, well…a BIRD to eat those!

To give them some flavor, we like to add certain salts, spices, and other condiments.  Many of these “flavor enhancers,” such as aspartame and MSG, are more harmful than you might think.

In Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, Russell L. Blaylock, MD, provides shocking evidence that these substances (called “excitotoxins”) are highly addictive and actually lead to the destruction of certain brain cells!

In regards to the dangerous effects of excessive monosodium glutamate (MSG), Blaylock writes:

Within fifteen to thirty minutes after being exposed to high doses of MSG, neurons suspended in tissue culture are seen to swell like balloons.  Under the microscope you can see degeneration of the small structures within the cell, called organelles, and also clumping of the chromatin of the nucleus.

Within three hours these neurons are not only dead, but the body’s defense mechanisms begin to haul away the debris.  Under experimental conditions using animals, this degenerative reaction is seen when MSG is either ingested in the diet, injected into the abdominal cavity, or applied directly to the neurons in tissue culture or into the brain by way of cannula or tube.

In short, you may love grains and their accompanying “flavor enhancers,” but they sure don’t love you back!

How To Make Things Easier On Yourself

Often the reason people struggle so much with eliminating grains is because they make up such a huge part of the diet.  It is important to replace them with another calorically dense food if you want to keep the cravings at bay.  This is something that many raw foodists fail to do.

The best advice I can give is to eat lots of sweet fruit.  Sweet fruit is both calorically dense AND high in volume.  This means that you will feel satiated after your meal for many hours.  You won’t find yourself back in the kitchen an hour later searching for some starchy sweets.

You just have to remember to eat a lot!  Put it this way: a cup of cooked brown rice is about 216 calories.  A cup of sliced peaches is only 66 calories!

But really this is a great thing.  What other diet allows you to eat as much as you want and still be healthy and lose weight?

It Was Worth It

The fact that I was able to eradicate my fatigue made all the effort worthwhile.  Thanks to giving up grains, I could actually drive somewhere in the middle of the afternoon without worrying about falling asleep!

Might sound crazy to you, but it was a lifesaver for me.

You Can Do It!

It might be tough at first to give up grains, but I know you can do it!  If you do go raw and find yourself craving grains and other complex carbohydrate concoctions (e.g. bread, pasta, cereal, cakes, etc.), the first step to take is to make sure you are consuming enough sweet fruit.

Keep adding on fruit to your meals until you can remain satiated for 3-5 hours after eating.  That means not even considering eating until meal time arrives.

And remember, you don’t have to go 100% raw right now!  There is no reason why you can’t gradually replace all your staple grain dishes with raw ones.  For instance, if you usually have oatmeal or toast for breakfast, try a couple of juicy melons instead!

Yes, that’s right.  I said TWO whole melons.

Find an approach that works for you and giving up grains will be fun, enlightening and, maybe for you, even life-saving.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. For more information on the harmful effects of consuming grains, raw or cooked, check out my article:

Should You Eat Grains on a Raw Food Diet?

Before I went low-fat raw, I suffered from jarring pain in my knee.  About once a month, my left knee would become sore and tender.  This would last for a few days to a week and made everyday activities like exercise or even sitting in place miserable.

On top of that, I had restless leg syndrome.  Basically, whenever I would try to be still for more than 5 minutes (e.g. lying in bed or sitting in a theater), my legs would feel like I just *had* to move them.  It’s hard to explain, but it’s kind of a tingly sensation.  Almost painful, but not quite.

AND I experienced severe muscle cramps, called Charley horses, in my legs and feet on a weekly basis.  These usually occurred in the middle of the night while I was attempting to sleep.

Needless to say, my sleep wasn’t exactly deep and restful.

No More Pain!

A couple years ago, it seemed that nothing would help with my pain.  I tried all kinds of stretches and relaxation techniques.  No change.

I tried changing my diet from SAD to “healthy” SAD and then to Vegan because a vegan diet was supposed to be the healthiest diet ever!  No change.

In late 2007, I gave low-fat raw a try.  Within just a few weeks, my pain was *completely* gone.  No pain in my knees.  No creepy-crawly in my legs.  No muscle cramps.

I could even do high intensity cardio on an 8-inch step without even so much as a twinge of pain!

Why the change?

High-Fruit = Hydration

One of the top benefits of eating a diet high in fruit – which I discuss in my free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet – is that fruit is water-rich.  Many fruits are comprised of 90% water!

Not only are these food satiatings, they are *hydrating*.  If you are getting enough calories from fruits and veggies and not consuming dehydrating foods like garlic, onions, salt, etc, you will be much more hydrated than if you ate a predominantly cooked food diet.

Before I went raw, I simply did *not* have enough water in my body to transport nutrients to my joints and muscles.  I drank a lot of water, but not enough to undue the damage of the food I was eating.

This meant that the everyday wear and tear of the cartilage in my knees was not being replaced by vital nutrients transported by the water in my body.  My legs and feet were simply becoming exhausted from the lack of water, resulting in cramping.

Stay Hydrated

If you are suffering from joint or muscle fatigue, get hydrated!

Eat lots of yummy water-rich fruits and veggies, drink lots of water (and only water), and stop your consumption of dehydrated cooked foods and toxic raw foods like onions, garlic, and salt.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

* What’s New: Jackfruit, My New Love

* Feature Article: A High Carb Diet for Raw Success

Jackfruit, My New Love

I was lucky enough to experience a new fruit this weekend…jackfruit!  Jackfruit is a large, spiky, tropical fruit that can weigh in as much as 80 pounds!  Mine was only about 12-15lbs, which is still huge!

Here is the damage that was done to the first half of the fruit, as well as the second half on the right:

Here is everything edible that I got out of it:

Not bad, huh?

Apparently, jackfruits have two different textures: crunchy and soft.  The fruit I have is definitely crunchy.  I think I could have let it sit for just a few more days to ripen more, but it is still delicious.  The fruit has the craziest texture and tastes eerily similar to juicyfruit gum!  I love it!

You might be wondering where you can find this crazy fruit.  I located mine at a local Hispanic market.  Asian markets are known to carry them as well.

What new and/or delicious fruits have you been dining on?  I’d love to know!

Swayze

A High Carb Diet for Raw Success

Anyone who has ever eaten a meal of raw fruit knows how intensely pleasurable this can be.  Fruit requires little to no preparation (all you need to eat a banana is opposable thumbs).  It is easy to eat and digests quickly, usually in just 30 minutes.

Best of all, fruit tastes great and completely satisfies the sweet tooth in the most healthy way possible.

Just like avocado and nuts, fruit is calorically dense.  However, fruit is also high in volume, like vegetables.  This means that a meal of fruit both provides enough calories AND enough volume to leave you completely satiated until the next meal.

Just Fruit?!?

The idea of eating only fruit for a meal is very strange to people.  Much of this confusion stems from the fact that we grow up thinking of raw fruit as a snack or part of a dessert.  The idea of eating more than a couple pieces of fruit in one sitting is completely foreign to us.

As a result, people who are new to a low fat, high fruit raw food diet often under eat on calories at first.

To make the transition easier for you, here is a simple example of a sufficient fruit meal…

*Fruit Meal*

Let’s say you need 2000 calories a day and you like to eat 3 meals a day.  If each meal is divided equally, one meal would be between 600-700 calories.

One medium banana contains about 100 calories.  In order to consume 600-700 calories in one meal from bananas alone, you would have to consume 6 to 7 bananas.

And that’s it!  It really is that simple.

Of course, if eating a meal of only one type of fruit seems much too boring to you, there are many alternatives.  You can combine your favorite fruits into a nice fruit salad.  A popular choice for beginners is to blend fruits into a smoothie.  This is an easy way to get enough calories from fruit.

Here is a delicious smoothie you can make in just a few minutes…

*Two Pears in a Peel*

5 bananas
2 pears
1 cup of water

Blend ingredients together and enjoy!

There are many different combinations you can make.  You can also add greens, which will add some nice variety and counterbalance some of the sweetness.

Problems with Fruit

Many raw foodists believe that fruits should be severely limited, or even eliminated, because they contain simple sugars like fructose and glucose.  These simple sugars are believed to lead to such ailments as diabetes and Candida.

First, I want to clarify that the sugar in fruit does not cause sugar metabolic disorders.  It is an excess of fat in the body that coats the insulin, blocking it from reaching the sugar molecules.  The excess sugar in the blood leads to a high blood-sugar level.

Without the excess fat, the insulin will reach the sugar molecules and transport them out of the blood and into the cells.

Second, there is a huge difference between the simple sugars found in fruit and the simple sugars found in processed foods.  These refined sugars have been removed from whole foods (i.e. fruit, sugar cane) and further processed.  They no longer contain any nutritional value whatsoever.

On the contrary, the sugars in whole fruit have not been processed and are accompanied by necessary water, fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, phytonutrients, etc.

How Much Fruit?

I recommend that the majority of your calories come from fruit.  The best way to determine how much is to simply eat sweet fruit until you are full.  As a general guideline, our closest relatives the bonobos consume 95% of their calories from sweet fruit.  The other great apes consume between 70-90% of their calories from fruit.

Dr. Douglas Graham, a well-known leader in the raw food movement, recommends in The 80/10/10 Diet that 80% of our calories come from simple carbohydrates in the form of fruit.  You can check out this excellent book and the rest of Dr. Graham’s top-quality catalog at FoodnSport.

On average, I consume between 85-90% of my calories from sweet fruit.

Take Action

You can get started today by simply eating all fruit for your next meal.  Many people prefer to wait until breakfast, as it is the easiest meal to transition.

You could also begin your next meal with as much fruit as you can eat, and then finish the meal with your regular fare.  Just be sure to wait at least 30 minutes between your two meals so that your body has time to fully digest the fruit.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

* Feature Article: The Truth About a High Fat Raw Food Diet

* Your Questions Answered: What Causes Tummy Bloat?

The Truth About a High Fat Raw Food Diet

What if I came to you and said,

“I have the absolute best diet in the world. You will lose weight, you will have more energy, and you will prevent and even reverse any and all diseases. AND you get to eat 60% OR MORE of your calories from fat!”

You would probably a) laugh in my face, b) turn and run, or c) ask if I were a raw foodist.

That’s right, folks. The average raw foodist eats 60% of his or her calories from fat! That’s over HALF of one’s daily calories, all from fat!

Are you surprised? I know I sure was when I went raw. I could not believe that there were people actually promoting a high fat diet when all the evidence for a healthy diet pointed to the exact opposite!

So why are so many raw foodists eating so much fatty foods? What it boils down to is the “If It’s Raw, It’s Healthy” fallacy.

If It’s Raw, It’s Healthy

Many raw foodists will argue that raw fats are much healthier than cooked fats and do not result in such problems as heart disease and atherosclerosis. As long as it’s raw, you can eat as much avocado, nuts, and seeds as you want.

Yes, it’s true that raw fats are much better than cooked fats. Cooked fatty foods have had the majority of the water removed and many necessary micronutrients along with that water (not to mention all the nutrients that are destroyed by the heat alone).

Once fats are cooked, they quickly go rancid and produce harmful carcinogens. The more oxygen that these foods come into contact with, the more rancid they become and the more dangerous carcinogens they produce.

The Problem With Too Much Fat

However, eating an excess of either cooked or raw fats produces a host of problems for the consumer:

#1: Fat takes a long time to digest and it remains in the bloodstream for a long time. When too much fat is consumed, the excess fat in the bloodstream interferes with insulin production from the pancreas. Under normal circumstances, the insulin would attach itself to sugar molecules within the blood in order to carry them to the cells. With the fat in the way, the insulin does not reach the sugar. The pancreas becomes fatigued from producing extra insulin. The blood-sugar level becomes elevated because the sugar cannot be transported out of the blood by the insulin. As you can see, sugar metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes and Candida are not caused by a lack of insulin or too much sugar. They can be directly linked to an excess of fat.

#2: An excess of fat in the body slows down digestion of other foods that are eaten. Fruit, which normally takes minutes to digest, now has time to ferment inside the body. This results in uncomfortable bloating and gas.

#3: Too much fat in the bloodstream also interferes with the red blood cells’ ability to transport oxygen. A low oxygenated body is a perfect environment for cancer cells to thrive.

#4: Excess fat consumption is linked to numerous physical and mental ailments, such as:

• Heart disease
• Atherosclerosis
• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Diabetes
• Candida
• Hyperglycemia
• Hypoglycemia
• Anemia
• Arthritis
• Depression
• Bipolar Disorder

How Much Fat?

Dr. Graham, author of The 80/10/10 Diet and a leader within the raw food movement, advocates a diet of 10% fat or less. Personally, this is the guideline that I follow and recommend as well. Anymore fat than this and it is likely that you are not consuming enough simple carbohydrates in the form of fruit.

10% of calories from fat is surprising to many people. However, many reputable sources (including the world-renowned Pritikin Center) recommend that only 10-15% of calories come from fat.

Many people around the world eat diets low in fat. In The China Study, the longest nutritional study ever conducted, Dr. Campbell studies people living in rural China who eat as low as 6% of calories from fat!

It is not surprising that in these areas you find much lower rates of heart disease, atherosclerosis, breast cancer, etc. compared to more industrialized places like the US and Britain.

On most days, I do not eat any overt fats and on those days I average about 5% of my calories from fat. I’ve never experienced any adverse reactions from limiting my fat intake.

In fact, I have only experienced great benefits since limiting fat, such as weight loss, increased energy, deeper sleep, mental focus, and improved digestion.

Take Action!

You can take action right now by simply limiting your consumption of fatty foods to 10% or less. A good way to do this is to replace these foods with high-calorie, low-fat sweet fruits.

For instance, if you usually eat avocados with your greens, try peaches sliced up on top instead. You can even make completely fat-free dressings from fruits and veggies. Here is a personal favorite of mine:

*Tangy Tomato Dressing*

• 2 cups of pineapple
• 1 cup of tomatoes
• 1 cup of cucumber

Blend all of the ingredients together.

The best way to track your fat consumption is to use www.nutridiary.com. There are many more sites that allow you to track your calories, but this is the site I recommend. It is easy to use and easy on the eyes.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

What Causes Tummy Bloat?

Bloating can be caused by many different things.  If you are new to eating lots of fruit, it is very likely that the lining of your stomach has not fully adjusted to the increased volume of food.  Keep working at it and your body will gradually become accustomed to the food intake.

If you’ve been eating a low fat, high fruit diet for a while yet you still experience “tummy troubles,” you simply might be eating too much in one meal.  Try splitting your meals up into smaller meals throughout the day.

Another reason for bloating is poor food combining.  Are you eating fruit and fat in the same meal?  Do you eat a diet that is too high in fat?  It is important to keep sweet fruits like bananas separate from fatty foods like avocados and to limit your fat intake to at least 15% (ideally 10% or less).  For most people, half an avocado or 1-2 tbsp of nuts is a sufficient quantity of overt fats for the day.

Swayze

* What’s New: Very first Peachy Keen issue!

* Feature Article: Everything You Know About Protein is Wrong

This ezine!

That’s right.  This is the very first issue of Peachy Keen Ezine.  This is a weekly ezine that’s full of practical tips and tricks for going raw and being fit.  You can expect updates like this, relevant articles like the one below, answers to your most burning questions, special offers, reader comments, and more in issues to come.

Be sure to check out the feature article below and, of course, let me know what you think!

Swayze

Everything You Know About Protein is Wrong

Thanks to modern medicine and ultra-biased media outlets, there is a lot of fog surrounding the issue of protein.  People simply do not know what protein is or what it does.

What everyone *does* seem to know is that we all need a lot of protein and this only comes from eating vast quantities of meat, eggs, dairy products, and other protein-enriched packaged goods.

The result of this obsession with protein is that people brand new to a raw food diet are very concerned with their protein consumption.  In fact, many raw foodists turn to so-called “protein-rich” foods such as nuts and seeds because they think they need more protein to be healthy.

Because these foods are actually rich in fat, the average raw foodist ends up consuming a very dangerous high fat diet.

But it doesn’t have to be this way!  I’m here to show you why you can eat a low fat raw vegan diet and still get plenty of quality, easy-to-assimilate protein.

First, let’s start with the basics.

What is Protein?

Protein, along with carbohydrates and fats, is a macro-nutrient necessary in the human diet.  There are over 100,000 types of protein in the human body and each type is made up of chains called amino acids.

Why Do You Need Protein?

Modern medicine has done an excellent job of leaving the general public utterly ignorant when it comes to the use of protein.  Some people believe protein gives us energy.  Some believe that it makes us strong.  Others think that it only comes from animal flesh.

And unfortunately, the vast majority thinks that protein deficiency is a rampant health problem.

Fortunately, the function of protein is actually very straightforward.  Protein is necessary for everyday growth, repairing of tissues, and replacement of cells within the human body.

Yep, it’s that simple.

Protein Demystified

I know what you’re thinking: so how much protein do we really need?

Don’t worry, we’ll get to that!

Before we do, here are a few little facts that will help to demystify the protein issue.

#1 Everything Contains Protein

Contrary to what mainstream health outlets want you to think, every single thing that you eat contains protein.  Whether it’s meat, nuts, rice, or even fruit.  Everything contains protein.

Obviously certain refined substances are pure carbohydrates and do contain any protein. But I’m sure you have no intention of living off of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and agave nectar, right?

#2 Human Breast Milk Contains 5% Protein

That’s right.  Only 5% of calories from protein is necessary at the time when human development is most rapid and crucial.

To say that fully-grown humans require more protein than a growing infant is to completely ignore nutritional science, human anatomy and physiology, and just plain common sense.

#3 All of the Great Apes Consume Low Amounts of Protein

None of our closest primate relatives eat the 30% protein that is recommended by the RDA.  Even the mountainous gorilla’s diet, which is comprised of more protein-rich vegetable matter than the other primate diets, still does not meet the 30% requirement.

And, if given the choice, gorillas actually prefer to eat lower-in-protein sweet fruit instead of greens!

#4 Our Body Pools Amino Acids to Create New Proteins

It was once believed that to get all of the essential amino acids, you would have to eat complimentary proteins at each meal in order to create “complete” proteins.

It is now known that our body actually recycles its own proteins.  We have an amino acid “pool” from which new proteins are created.

This means that receiving all the essential amino acids in a meal, or even in a single day, is unnecessary.

#5 Physical Activity Does Not Affect Our Protein Needs

Are you listening, all you hardcore bodybuilders that I’m sure are reading this  “pansy” raw vegan blog?

I’ll repeat it, just in case you were too busy idolizing your cooked food inflated biceps.

Physical activity, including weight lifting, does *not* affect protein needs.

No matter how much you workout, or what activity you participate in, your protein requirements will not change.  The amount that is required for muscle development is so small as to be negligible.

In other words, protein shakes and “power” bars are completely useless, not to mention toxic.

#6 Protein Deficiency is Simply Calorie Deficiency

The issue is not with protein but with total calories consumed.  If you are eating enough calories from *anything* (remember, every food contains protein), you are eating enough protein.

If you are not eating enough, then you are not only lacking in protein.  Your body will also be deficient in all of the macro-nutrients, micro-nutrients, phyto-nutrients, etc.

On the other hand, there is a very real problem today with too much protein.  With the over consumption of processed foods like meat, cheese, dairy, and so-called “whole” grains, the average American is eating way too much protein on a daily basis.

And because this protein is cooked and comes from inappropriate nutritional sources (i.e. meat, eggs, grains, etc), the protein itself cannot be broken down into simple amino acid chains.  What remains is both useless and harmful to our bodies.

#7 Cooked Protein is Harmful to the Body

Cooked protein is denatured, meaning that the molecular structure of the protein has been destroyed.  When heated, the amino acid chains of the protein fuse together.

Our bodies do not have the ability to fully breakdown the protein once the chains have been melded together via heat.  The protein is now not only useless, it has become extremely toxic to the body.  Consumption of cooked protein is linked to kidney failure, allergies, and even arthritis.

That’s why eating food in its whole, raw state is the absolute best way to get your protein.  Not only will you be receiving adequate protein, you will be eating protein that can be fully broken down into its amino acid chains and easily used by the body

So…How Much Protein?

Now that we know the truth about protein, this is an easy question to answer.  As long as you are eating enough calories, you will be getting enough protein.  And if your calories are coming from appropriate sources such as raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, than you will be receiving quality protein as well.

Still think you need more protein?

Did you know that Dr. Colin T. Campbell, author of The China Study, advocates only 5% protein?  And this 5% is considered completely adequate for the average full-grown person!

This means that on a diet of raw peaches alone, which provide 8% protein, you will be receiving more protein than is actually necessary to be healthy.

All from a diet of just fruit!

And speaking of 5% protein, Dr. Campbell actually conducted an experiment in which he gave one group of rats aflatoxin (a toxin in mold linked to liver cancer) and a 20% protein diet and another group the same amount of aflatoxin but only 5% protein.

After 100 weeks…

All animals that were administered the same level of aflatoxin and fed the regular 20% levels of casein [a protein found in dairy] either were dead or near death from liver tumors…All animals administered the same level of aflatoxin but fed the low 5% protein diet were alive, active and thrifty, with sleek hair coats at 100 weeks.”

Final Words

I tried to make this article very content rich, but still easy to understand.  I want you to walk away feeling like you truly understand protein and are no longer afraid of it.

If you are still worried, see for yourself the benefits of a healthy raw diet.  Give a raw food diet your all for at least 30 days.  I guarantee after you experience some of the awesome raw results, protein deficiency will be the furthest thing from your mind.

You’ll be too busy wondering how to show off your new fit on raw bod.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze