12 Steps to Raw Foods Part 3

Chapter 9.

HOW MY FAMILY EATS.

"In this plate of food, I see the entire universe supporting my existence."

-A Zen blessing at mealtime.

Is it expensive to stay on raw food? Yes and no. Let me explain. In order to be understood correctly, I am going to pull out my receipts and share in detail exactly what I spend. For my family of four, I spend on average $45 per day. That comes to $1,350 per month; but if divided by four, it is only $338 per person. I would like to clarify that we spend this much money on food not because we are very rich, but because we do not have health insurance; and we consider our health to be the priority among all of our expenses. My intent is to not save money when it comes to nouris.h.i.+ng the body. I am aware that I need to receive adequate nourishment not only for today's performance but also to make up for thousands of days in the past when my body was malnourished. I would rather reduce spending on other things: furniture, clothing, household chemicals, fancy cars, and surely health insurance.

There were times when my family didn't have much money. Once, for two years, the four of us lived on a total budget of $900 per month. That included car insurance, gas, and the rest of our expenses. My children like to remember the Christmas of 1997 when Valya received a hair band for a present, and Sergei got a pencil. For some reason, they cherish the memory of that holiday more than any other. Even then, we managed staying on a high-quality raw-food diet. We discovered many different ways of obtaining good produce for little money or at no cost at all; we just had to spend more of our time sorting or gathering produce rather than buying it. Igor built a special attachment to our van for growing sprouts in jars, in two large coolers. We constantly had an abundance of fresh sprouts for the cost of pennies. We approached different organic farmers and offered our help in exchange for fresh fruits and vegetables. We bought marked-down organic produce from the health food stores. We learned to arrive at farmers' markets at the end of the day to get the best deals on their goods. By attending several wild walks with experts, we acquired foraging skills and started gathering wild edibles during most of the year. We went to countless U-picks and gathered anything from cuc.u.mbers to peaches. Finally, we offered help in picking fruit to owners of fruit trees who did not have time for harvesting. Many times people were curious about what we were going to do with so much fruit and were quite surprised that we considered persimmons or cherries to be an important part of our diet. We ran into families that lived in big mansions but who ate very poorly. We were poor, but we sure ate like kings and queens, or I should say, as "educated kings and queens."

Today all four of us work and we are happy to be able to buy all our food from health food stores and farmers. I am committed to obtaining only the best-quality, fresh organic produce, preferably seasonal and locally grown. During the warm seasons of the year, we buy most of our produce from farmers. I love talking to organic farmers. I consider them all to be heroes for their dedication to natural gardening despite tremendous challenges and hard labor involved.

I am fortunate to have a health food store two blocks from my house that I visit every other day (or three to four times a week) to buy food for my family. My husband and children like to help, but I do most of the food shopping. Typically, I bring with me several cloth bags that I fill with produce. In the wintertime, I alternate buying a case of apples or pears every week, to always have fresh organic fruit on hand at the house. Buying in bulk saves me twenty percent of the retail cost.

When I began consuming green smoothies and was looking for ways to increase the variety of greens, I went to the growers' market and spoke to at least ten farmers. I offered to pay each one of them $20 for bringing me a large box of edible weeds the following week. I believe that wild edibles are our true superfood. Two farmers became interested. Both of them have been bringing me chick-weed, stinging nettles, lambsquarters, thistle, plantain, dandelions, purslane, and many other different edible greens on a weekly basis since then. Because of this supply of the most nutritious greens, I stopped buying greens from the store almost completely from April to October. Encouraged by my support, these farmers offered edible weeds to our local co-op; and I was pleased to see these most nutritious greens there for sale.

During the rest of the year, I usually buy eight bunches (two days' worth) of different greens from the store, including but not limited to the following: dandelion, kale, chard, spinach, romaine, cilantro, parsley, scallions, collard, arugula, frisee, escarole, and endive. Once a week I purchase a bag of baby greens mix. For two days' consumption for my family, I usually buy twelve avocados, eight ripe, bright yellow lemons, and a bunch of bananas.

I consider that the fruit variety is not perfect in any of the stores because most of the fruit has been picked unripe. I also find it frustrating that I cannot enjoy seeded grapes anymore. I always buy the fruit that is the ripest of all, and sometimes I ask the produce manager if he has riper fruit in the back. Typically I buy one pound each of three to four different fruits, such as mangoes, pineapples, papayas, grapefruits, kiwis, figs, persimmons, or whatever is in season. I always buy a lot of berries, as they are less hybridized, riper than other fruit, and rich in many essential nutrients. I usually buy four to five pints of different berries. I almost never buy watermelon, except when it is in season, because I only buy the best organic seeded watermelons directly from farmers.

I usually buy a dozen ripe tomatoes, two to three firm cuc.u.mbers, and a couple of red or yellow bell peppers. I never buy green bell peppers, as they are unripe. Once or twice per month, I buy several carrots or beets to shred them in our salad. Approximately once a month, I buy a bag of dates, choosing a different brand each time.

About every other month, I place a bulk order for a five-pound bag of sunflower seeds, a five-pound bag of almonds, a two-pound bag of chia seeds, and a twenty-five-pound bag of flax seed (that might seem like a lot, but we share a large portion of our flaxseed crackers with friends).

I do not buy chocolate or raw cacao beans. I also do not buy any kind of salt but only sea vegetables: kelp, dulse, nori, arame, and others. I do not buy oil, as we stopped using oils altogether a while ago. However, I cannot guarantee that we will stay away from oils forever. In my family, we are following our intuitive guidance rather than other people's recommendations. We attempt to consume fats in a more natural form rather than using oil-for example coconuts, avocados, occasional durians, and a small amount of seeds and nuts. I especially enjoy sea buckhorn berries that I pick in August through September in a local garden. I consider sea buckhorn berries to be a wonderful source of healthy oils, folic acid, B-vitamins, and many other important nutrients.

Often people ask my family to describe what we eat in the course of a day. I will tell here what I eat.

I always have one quart of green smoothie for breakfast, around 8 a.m. If I remember, I snack on a piece of fruit around noon. In other cases, I get so busy with work, which I love, that I forget about my snack.

We have a tradition, almost a ceremony, to eat green soup with our friends and family every day at two o'clock in the afternoon. Whether at my office or at home, one of us quickly prepares green soup, which consists of just four ingredients, in a Vita-Mix blender. This soup is incredibly satisfying, and it is the most essential meal of my day.

When I come home at 7p.m., I have another smoothie accompanied by either a bowl of greens and veggies without any dressing, or a bowl of fruit. Another option for my dinner is a bowl containing a pint of berries topped with a spoonful of raw almond b.u.t.ter, which we grind ourselves. I really would like to not eat anything else, but I do eat an apple or two later in the evening.

I am providing this information only as a means of sharing and not as recommendation. Please do not try to copy me-keep in mind that it took me more than twelve years to come to this way of eating, and it is continuously changing. Follow your inner guidance and treat yourselves as if you were well-educated kings and queens.

Chapter 10.

BACTERIA-NATURE'S BRILLIANT INVENTION.

"It is about time we take a closer look at the Bacterial Kingdom, with capitals. For a Kingdom it is, biologically speaking, and the ancient lineage, diversity, and evolutionary power of its inhabitants deserve royal treatment rather than disgust."

-Trudy Wa.s.senaar, PhD, a molecular biologist.

I want to share my amus.e.m.e.nt with and appreciation for bacteria. Maybe your respect for them will grow after reading this chapter. Bacteria are the world's greatest recyclers. By transforming all dead organic matter into soil, bacteria recycle useless garbage into the source of all elements. Bacteria are unique; they are tiny and huge at the same time. Smaller than any living cell, bacteria can instantly increase their power by multiplying into "zillions" more. Each bacterium is capable of producing 16 million more in just 24 hours.1 Therefore, whether bacteria need to decompose ten dead elephants or one dead ant, bacteria will always have plenty in their army; and no rotting will be delayed due to the lack of little critters. Bacteria are nature's brilliant invention and gift to us all. We are constantly trying to destroy as many bacteria as possible because we don't understand their purposes on Earth. Let us imagine life without bacteria. There would be rocks but no soil in which to grow food. All dead trees, animals, birds, insects, snakes, human bodies, or other organic matter would be piled into huge mountains. What a ma.s.s of clutter that would be!

Perhaps you have noticed that in a natural setting, bacteria in the rotting cycle do not cause an offensive odor. In the forest, n.o.body rakes the leaves or buries the animals; everything is just left in the open. The droppings of animals and birds are left where they've fallen. You would expect the forest to smell bad. Yet the last time you were in the forest, did it smell bad? I bet your answer is "no." In fact, when we go to the forest, we breathe in and say, "Ah, it smells so good!" If bacteria don't produce smell in the natural habitat of the forest, then why do we a.s.sociate rotting with odor?

Healthy soil contains a large percentage of "good" bacteria. Friendly bacteria manufacture many essential nutrients for the plants that grow in this soil. Such "good" or aerobic bacteria flourish in the presence of oxygen and require it for their continued growth and existence. "Good" bacteria thrive in the soil with a large amount of organic matter, such as parts of plants and dead animals. When there is a lack of oxygen or organic matter in the soil, "bad" bacteria take over and begin to multiply, causing an extremely offensive odor. These pathogenic bacteria are anaerobic and cannot tolerate gaseous oxygen. While pathogenic bacteria create offensive odors and may cause disease, they serve their own imperative purpose. That is why in nature there is a balance of "good" and "bad" bacteria, with a significant dominance of "good" bacteria. "Good" bacteria can be easily destroyed by countless factors, such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides in soil, and in the human body by antibiotics, a poor diet, overeating, stress, etc.

That is why, in the civilized world, bacteria create foul smell. Bacteria have a hard time decomposing the unnatural substances we create. To test this statement, you may conduct your own experiment. Put raw fruits and vegetable sc.r.a.ps into your compost. You will notice that they will rot and disintegrate without a bad odor. Now add to your compost some cooked food such as cooked noodles, chicken soup, or mashed potatoes. After a few days, you will notice an unpleasant odor emanating from your compost. The smell could be so bad that your neighbors might complain.

Bacteria play a major role in growing nutritious produce. The main difference between organic and conventional gardening is that "Conventional agriculture attempts to feed the plants while the organic method nourishes the microorganisms in soil."2 In simple words, conventional farmers ignore the microorganisms in the soil and aim their efforts at supplying pota.s.sium, nitrogen, and other chemicals for the sake of plants, while organic gardeners take care of feeding the living things in the soil, which provide harmoniously balanced nutrients to the plants. Just as humans cannot live on chemicals instead of food, microorganisms in the soil cannot survive when fed artificial fertilizers only. When all microorganisms get destroyed with chemicals, the soil turns to dust. No plants can grow in dust, no matter how rich in various chemicals this dust is.

Through the plants we eat, we receive essential nutrients that were created by microorganisms in the soil. The more organic matter or "humus" present in the soil, the more nutritious is the food grown in this soil. We humans have inherited many feet of beautiful, fruitful topsoil all around the globe with zillions of happy microorganisms thriving in it. In their best-selling book, Secrets of the Soil, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird state: "The combined weight of all the microbial cells on Earth is twenty-five times that of its animal life; every acre of well-cultivated land contains up to a half a ton of thriving microorganisms, and a ton of earthworms which can daily excrete a ton of humic castings."3 As a result of our "highly technological" gardening, most of the soil at agricultural farms in the USA contains less than 2% organic matter, while originally, before the era of chemistry, this figure was 60100%. According to David Blume, an ecological biologist, perma-culture teacher, and expert, "Most Cla.s.s-1 commercial agricultural soil is lucky to hit 2% organic matter-the dividing line between a living and dead soil."4 By applying permaculture gardening techniques to a field of extremely depleted soil, which consisted of cement-hard adobe clay, David Blume was able to bring the organic matter to the 25% level within a couple of years. From this field, he harvested the crops at a rate "8 times what the USDA claimed is possible per square foot."5 We cannot successfully feed soils with chemicals because "biology does not equal chemistry."6 In other words, chemical fertilizers are missing live enzymes, which contribute to the most productive and unique qualities of all soils.

Another interesting fact is that all living things have a strong immunity that doesn't let bacteria enter the body of plant, animal, or human until this organism dies. Bacteria can never disintegrate anything that is still alive. For example, gigantic redwood trees can exceed two thousand years of age, yet they remain free of decay. Their roots are always in the soil, yet bacteria do not touch them. However, as soon as the tree dies, the bacteria move in to return the tree to its source-the soil. Bacteria can tell what is living and what is dead, and they are only interested in dead matter.

We can find many more examples in nature of how different parasites can attack only plants or animals with a weakened immunity. For instance moss, mistletoe, and lichens don't live on strong, healthy trees. Healthy, balanced soil in organic gardens results in st.u.r.dy plants, which deter slugs and insects. Tree mushrooms grow mainly on fallen logs or dying trees in the forest. Similarly, bacteria and parasites don't live off healthy flesh. Since immunity is the only existing barrier for parasites, why not put all our efforts into strengthening our immunity, instead of trying to poison bacteria? The same applies to any parasite. If we keep our body clean, healthy, and nourished, parasites cannot live in our body ecology, and even mosquitoes won't bite us.

Maintaining personal hygiene is essential; but at the same time, we are unable to control the presence of all bacteria in every place, no matter how well we clean and how many chemicals we apply. With much effort, strict law, and financial investments, we have now gained almost complete control over spreading bacteria through public bathrooms. There are high-tech hand dryers and sophisticated toilet seat covers. One can go through the entire visit to a public restroom without touching anything. Yet there are still plenty more places where humans could encounter "bad" bacteria that are next to impossible to control. For example: shopping cart handles, car doors, pens at the post office, store, or bank, handrails in the public transportation system, escalators, and elevators, money, serving utensils at all-you-can-eat restaurants, automated bank machines, and many more, including food containers such as cans, buckets, and boxes. In comparison to the enormous task of destroying all "bad" bacteria in our environment, improving bodily immunity seems a lot more sensible and doable.

Ironically, all antibacterial agents that we apply to our bodies destroy not only the "bad" bacteria but also the "good" microorganisms, which are an important part of our natural immunity against "bad" bacteria. I see in this action more damage than worth. To me, it is like cutting a finger off just because it has a splinter in it. Instead, let us be afraid of our cleaning supplies, most of which are poisonous chemicals. Bacteria cannot harm us if we follow the laws of nature, but chemicals eventually will kill all of us if we do not drastically reduce their utilization. Therefore, if we are afraid of infectious disease, the best thing we can do is strengthen our immune system through eating nutritious food, exercising, applying stress-reducing techniques, and using other natural ways of healing.

Chapter 11.

WHAT ABOUT.

INSECTS?.

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."

-Oscar Wilde.

Presently, I am not for or against eating insects. However, I would consider myself an idealist if I didn't address this subject. Furthermore, I have been asked the question about insects at almost all of my lectures. Thus, despite being vegan for many years and feeling a personal repulsion towards the very idea of consuming bugs, I decided to share with you what I have found.

The chief fact to consider is that most, if not all, human groups or tribes throughout our history have consumed insects. Almost all ancient people, including Native Americans, considered insects a wonderful food source. To some, insect food was a matter of survival; to others, a delicacy.1 According to a Purdue University study,2 at present time, 80% of the people in the world consume insects deliberately and on a regular basis; and 100% eat them unintentionally. There are 1,462 recorded species of edible insects. Dishes that include different bugs are served in many gourmet restaurants in j.a.pan, France, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and other countries. Edible insects are and have been traditionally an important and nutritious food for people in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America for centuries.3 The natives of southern Africa have used a number of insects as food, including caterpillars, locusts/gra.s.shoppers, ants, termites, and beetles.4 Many people consume crawfish, lobster, crab, and shrimp, which are part of the insects' biological phylum-arthropods.

There is much historic evidence of the human consumption of insects throughout history: The ancient Romans and Greeks dined on insects. Pliny, the first-century Roman scholar and author of Historia Naturalis, wrote that Roman aristocrats loved to eat beetle larvae reared on flour and wine.5 Aristotle, the fourth-century Greek philosopher and scientist, described in his writings the ideal time to harvest cicadas: "The larva of the cicada on attaining full size in the ground becomes a nymph; then it tastes best, before the husk is broken. At first the males are better to eat, but after copulation the females, which are then full of white eggs."6 The Old Testament encouraged Christians and Jews to consume locusts, beetles, and gra.s.shoppers (Leviticus 11:2123). St. John the Baptist is said to have survived on locusts and honey when he lived in the desert (Matthew 3:4).

Insects are regarded as the most successful group within the animal kingdom. More than 80% of all living animals are insects. About one million species of insects are known; and at least 7,000 new species are discovered and described every year. Prominent reasons for their success are as follows: the ability to live in and adapt to diverse habitats, a high reproductive capacity, the ability to consume different kinds and qualities of food, and the ability to escape quickly from their enemies.7 According to William F. Lyon of Ohio State University, If Americans could tolerate more insects (bugs) in what they eat, farmers could significantly reduce the amount of pesticides applied each year. It is better to eat more insects and less pesticide residue. If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would relax the limit for insects and their parts (double the allowance) in food crops, U.S. farmers could apply significantly less pesticides each year. Fifty years ago, it was common for an apple to have worms inside it, bean pods with beetle bites, and cabbage with worm-eaten leaves.

Most Americans don't realize that they are probably already eating a pound or two of insects each year. One cannot see them, since they have been ground up into tiny pieces in such items as strawberry jam, peanut b.u.t.ter, spaghetti sauce, applesauce, frozen chopped broccoli, etc. Actually, these insect parts make some food products more nutritious.8 Professor Lyon speculates that "Many insects are far cleaner than other creatures. For example, gra.s.shoppers and crickets eat fresh, clean, green plants whereas crabs, lobsters, and catfish eat any kind of foul, decomposing material as a scavenger (bottom water feeder). According to the Entomological Society of America, by weight, termites, gra.s.shoppers, caterpillars, weevils, houseflies, and spiders are better sources of protein than beef, chicken, pork, or lamb. Also, insects are low in cholesterol and low in fat."9 According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, author of Total Health Program and several other popular books: "Many insects have vitamin B12 ... for example, five termite species contained large amounts of B12 (.4553.21 mcg/mcg)."10 To compare, the USDA daily recommendation of vitamin B12 is 2.8 micrograms for adults.11 This may help explain how primitive humans could have obtained B12 without needing to rely on large amounts of meat.

In 2002, twenty people were competing for $50,000 in a reality show, The Last Hero. One of their tasks was to eat a bowl of live worms and beetles. In their interviews after the show, the partic.i.p.ants shared how they were surprised that they actually liked the taste of those insects and were even looking forward to eating more.

Virtually everything we eat has insects (entire bugs or parts of them) within; indeed, there are government standards as to the maximum number of bug parts per unit for each type of food permitted. U.S. regulations allow for 75 insect fragments per 50 grams of wheat flour, two maggots per 100 g of tomato sauce or pizza, 20 maggots for canned mushrooms, 60 fragments per 100 g of peanut b.u.t.ter, and so on.12 These levels are set because it is not possible, and never has been possible, to grow in open fields, harvest, and process crops that are totally free of natural defects.

The alternative to establis.h.i.+ng natural defect levels in some foods would be to insist on increased utilization of chemical substances to control insects, rodents, and other natural contaminants. The alternative is not satisfactory because of the very real danger of exposing consumers to potential hazards from residues of these chemicals, as opposed to the aesthetically unpleasant but harmless natural and unavoidable defects. "Noting the widespread use of pesticides in industrial agriculture, people are poisoning the planet by ridding it of insects, rather than eating insects and keeping artificial chemicals off plants that we eat."13 According to Gene DeFoliart, a professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, "In our preoccupation with cattle, we have denuded the planet of vegetation. Insects are much more efficient in converting bioma.s.s to protein."14 Insect farming is arguably much more efficient than cattle production. One hundred pounds of feed produces 10 pounds of beef, while the same amount of feed yields 45 pounds of cricket.15 I speculate that the prejudice towards insects started in Western countries with the discovery of bacteria. When the public developed fear and disgust for microbes, these emotions were spread onto insects.

Since I have been vegan for many years, I decided to ask my friends whom I regularly meet at our vegan potlucks what they think about eating insects. We had a buzzing discussion with a wide array of opinions. At first everybody said that we should not hurt any other living things at all. However, after going deeper into the subject, my friend Mike came up with some unexpected observations. The following are his main considerations. If humans would consume insects: They will be compelled to use less pesticides, and fewer insects will be killed as a final result.

Consumers would not be afraid of insects in their food, such as fresh produce, pasta, or chocolate, and as a result they could expect less pesticides in their products.

Non-vegetarian consumers would consume less meat from animals that have nervous systems and which experience profoundly more suffering.

Organic gardeners, who handpick large volumes of beetles off the plants in vegan gardens, could eat or sell their insects rather than destroying them.

In summary, if people in Western countries will simply feel more comfortable around insects, it would benefit many larger animals, help insects on a larger scale, and support ecology in general, apart from any potential benefits to human health.

Part 2.

HUMAN.

DEPENDENCY.

ON COOKED.

FOOD.

Chapter 12.

IS IT REALLY A.

DEPENDENCY?.

"We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings."

-Ovid, Roman poet, 4318 BC.

When my family went on a raw-food diet, I was surprised how difficult it was for me to stay on a strict raw regimen, especially during the first two weeks. At first, I thought that my cravings for cooked food were caused simply by my love for home cooking. My longing for cooked cuisine lasted approximately two months, then little by little I forgot about the mere existence of cooked delicacies and I became content with my family's new way of eating. My husband experienced distress similar to mine and it also took him two months to settle into a raw-food diet. Our children's conversion from cooked to raw food seemed to happen much faster and smoother than ours. Later, when I began teaching raw-food cla.s.ses, I discovered that transitioning to raw food is not easy for the majority of people. There seemed to be a contradiction. On one hand, there was a lot of interest in learning about the raw-food diet and my cla.s.ses were full. On the other hand, many of my students revealed to me that staying on a raw-food diet even for one or two days was amazingly challenging for them. The contradictory feedback that I heard over and over again was that people loved how they felt while eating only raw food-energized and youthful, better than ever before-but they couldn't remain on this diet because of strong cravings for cooked food that emerged right away. For instance, I remember two sisters; both of them suffered from hypoglycemia. They were so excited about becoming raw-foodists that they stayed after my lecture and asked me to help them with their raw-food plan. However, the very next day, when I accidentally ran into them at a health food store, the sisters greeted me by nodding while hiding their hands behind their backs. As they were pa.s.sing, one of them dropped ... a m.u.f.fin. Apparently they underestimated the power of those m.u.f.fins.

In order to explore the effectiveness of my teaching, I conducted a survey among partic.i.p.ants of my workshops. I discovered with amus.e.m.e.nt that in one month after my lectures, only 2% of my students were still eating 80% or more raw food. In disbelief, I conducted another survey, which happened to fall on January, right after the holiday season. Naturally, there were no raw-fooders left among my students at all.

Initially I decided that it was my fault as a teacher and that I should make my nutrition cla.s.ses more engaging. I tried my best to be a fun teacher. I even sang Russian folk songs in my cla.s.ses, told hilarious jokes, and shared my best raw-food concoctions with the cla.s.s. Nonetheless, the outcome was still the same: most people who signed up for my cla.s.ses enjoyed how they felt on a raw-food diet but were unable to stick to it.

One day, my friend Gerry invited me to his AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting. I'd never been to an AA meeting before and I was deeply touched by the sincerity of people when they spoke about their addictions. At this meeting I was struck by the idea that maybe cooked food is also an addiction. In fact, if cooked food were not an addiction, people would sometimes accidentally miss cooked meals and would live a day or two once in a while totally on raw food. However, that never happens in one's entire life except for the occasions when one is lost in the woods or something similarly dramatic happens. Just as a smoker doesn't miss a day without a cigarette, people who habitually eat cooked food feel a need to consume at least some cooked food daily. No wonder most people believe that cooked food is essential for human health.

After all this reasoning, I went to the library in our town and checked out about thirty books on addiction. The librarians looked at me with pity. They must have thought I had a big problem.

I found a lot of helpful information in those books. I learned that people with an addiction suffer from an irresistible need to use a certain substance despite knowing the serious physical or emotional results. I found out that the three main symptoms of addiction are: denial that there is a problem; the feeling of needing the substance to function normally; overuse of a substance (alcohol, food, tobacco, or other).

These descriptions reminded me of my own remarkably similar relations.h.i.+ps with cooked food. Now I understood why my transition to a raw-food lifestyle was so difficult. I realized that my suffering was not caused by eating raw food but by not eating cooked food. And my cravings for cooked dishes were nothing but a sign of withdrawal from cooked foods. I now saw why my teaching had not been very effective. I taught only about the benefits of raw food and how to prepare delicious raw recipes, but failed to provide a most needed understanding of the addictive nature of cooked food. I had to come up with some coping techniques to enable my students to overcome their cravings for cooked food.

Therefore I decided to create a program called "12 Steps to Raw Foods." Of course, cooked food is different from drugs or alcohol. For example, eating a slice of pizza or cake doesn't immediately and radically change one's behavior but if consumed day after day, cooked food may slowly ruin a person's health. Furthermore, consuming cooked food is not yet commonly recognized as a dependency; on the contrary, it is widely accepted and appreciated in society. That is why some of the steps in my program are different than in AA. I interviewed lots of members of various 12-Step programs, especially people from Overeaters Anonymous. These conversations helped me to create many coping techniques that I have since successfully applied in my workshops.

My first 12 Steps to Raw Foods weekend workshop was held in Portland, Oregon, in December of 1999. One month after this workshop I phoned all the partic.i.p.ants. I was thrilled to find out that in spite of the holiday season, all forty-three people were still eating primarily raw food.

Since then I have conducted 192 weekend workshops called "12 Steps to Raw Foods" in many states and countries. These workshops became so popular that often I had more than a hundred people in the audience, sometimes two hundred. This program has proven to be considerably more effective than my initial lectures about the benefits of raw food. I felt delighted when, returning to the same town a year later, I found my students still staying 100% raw-only now they looked as if they were their own younger brothers or sisters.

12 Steps to Raw Foods workshops became profoundly important not only for my students but also for me. These gatherings have never been merely educational events, but rather are powerful healing and learning episodes. As you may imagine, during these weekends both partic.i.p.ants and I shared our sincere thoughts on many sensitive issues related to food. I learned a lot from these revelations. Usually, as a result of our deep communication, we all began to feel like one big family, and we even called each other "in-raws." I am so glad that I found the time to rewrite this book and to add some of the most valuable ideas that I acquired during the years of my teaching this program.

Chapter 13.

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT.

TO BE 100% RAW?.

"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."

-La Rochefoucauld.

Eating a 100% raw-food diet is optimal for human health and therefore, it is important. However, eating a 100% raw diet is not always possible. Being raised in Russia and having visited many countries, I can testify that the opportunity to eat a 100% raw vegan diet is a luxury. I feel fortunate to be able to eat this way. For example, I have translated my books into Russian but cannot publish them in Russia because many fruits, vegetables, and especially greens are unavailable there even in the summer. I find it strange that kale originated in Russia but now it is unknown to Russian people. In the Russian version of my book I call it "wild cabbage," which can be misleading but I couldn't find a better name for it.

I also observed people unable to consume an all-raw diet due to countless other challenging situations, both in poor and wealthy countries. The following are the toughest circ.u.mstances for raw-fooders that I have encountered: being dependent or handicapped; being responsible for preparing cooked meals for other family members; having to eat meals prepared by other persons; working in a restaurant or other food-related business; having a severely limited availability of produce; dining with co-workers during business conferences; traveling with a group that has a pre-arranged, mostly cooked diet; staying in a hospital, nursing home, at war, or in prison.