Why Add Raw and Living Foods into Your GFCF Diet?

What are Raw and Living Foods?

Raw Foods are any unprocessed foods that have not been heated above 115ºF. Research demonstrates that heating a food above 115ºF alters the food’s molecular structure, making it toxic and depleting the food of essential nutrients and enzymes necessary for digestion and creating excess burden on your organs and immune system, which are often already stressed in those with gluten and casein intolerances₁.

The Raw Food Diet includes unprocessed, unheated nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables, and sprouts of all types (including some sprouted grains). Some raw foodists also eat raw dairy, raw eggs, and raw animal flesh. Unless one chooses to eat raw dairy or sprouted grains, the raw food diet is a naturally gluten and casein free diet. A raw vegan diet, which includes no raw animal byproducts, lacks nutrients that are especially important for growing children. Specific supplements need to be taken to make a raw vegan diet nutritionally complete₂.

Living Foods are raw foods that have had their enzymes activated through soaking, sprouting, or fermenting. Living foods include sprouted nuts, seeds, and grains; unpasteurized and fermented vegetables; and unpasteurized and fermented kefir and yogurt made from coconuts and seeds, just to name a few.

What are the Benefits of Raw and Living Food Cuisine?

Raw and Living Foods Are Delicious: Raw and living foods, such as ripe seasonal fruits and vegetables, offer amazing flavor and texture while aiding in blood sugar regulation and satiety due to their high nutrient density and fiber content.

Cooked Foods are Depleted of Essential Enzymes: The natural digestion-assisting and life-giving enzymes in food, such as lipase which digests fat, are destroyed when cooked. Without these digestive enzymes, undigested food molecules leak from the gut into the bloodstream and digestive tract, leading to a myriad of health problems. Raw and Living Foods help restore the health of the digestive system and immune system through providing high doses of enzymes and essential nutrients in an easily digestible form₁.

Can a Raw and Living Foods Diet Help Me?
Below are a few benefits from incorporating a high percentage of raw and living foods into the diet that I have personally experienced or someone I know have experienced.

• Weight Loss (most raw foods are naturally low in calories and high in nutrients)
• Improved Concentration and Mental Clarity
• Improved Mood
• Improved Digestion
• Increased Energy
• Relief from Candida, Autism, IBS, CFIDS, Fibromyalgia, and other conditions

One Family’s Story of Success with Raw and Living Foods

I recently interviewed Gina Laverde who has recovered her son Dougie from autism, and does raw food coaching and energy healing with parents of children with autism. When Gina learned that she had Candida and her son began to display autistic traits after getting vaccinated, she experimented with a Candida diet prescribed by a holistic doctor to help herself and Dougie. Her lack of success with this Candida diet led her to find the Body Ecology Diet (BED), which greatly helped both her and Dougie restore themselves to good health. For further information on the BED, please go to the Body Ecology Diet web site. Gina has experienced significant success with combining a high percentage of raw vegan foods along with Body Ecology Diet principles, such as food combining and the use of cultured and fermented foods made with a controlled starter culture₃.

Digestive Challenges in Autistic Children & Raw Foods

Gina has transitioned her family from eating some organic meat when they began the BED to a now 90% raw vegan diet, with the occasional egg, butter, and cod liver oil supplements. She noticed dramatic improvements in Dougie’s behavior as soon as she began to incorporate raw foods such as green smoothies and select super foods into the family’s diet.

Gina emphasized that “The choice to not give Dougie meat was because he has such a hard time digesting protein in general and eliminating the toxins in meat. We have to give him sources of protein that are as easily absorbable as possible–foods he does not have to chew. For example, we put algae, hemp, chia seeds, or vitamineral green powder in his green smoothies. I notice a discomfort in his system after he eats flesh; if I give him a small piece of fish he gets hand flappy. His system has become more still and calm since eliminating flesh.”

Apparently, difficulty in digesting protein is common in autistic children. Gluten and casein have long been identified as problematic for autistic children, and both casein and gluten are proteins. Gina pointed out that “We give children meat on the GFCF diet because they are so malnourished, we have to give them something because some of these kids have so many allergies.” While some children on the GFCF diet may need meat, raw sources of protein such as hemp protein and chia seeds are a viable option well worth a trial.

Gina explained that many kids with autism have type A blood, and that many people with type A blood produce low levels of Hydrochloric Acid (HCL). HCL is responsible for breaking down food in the stomach. Thus, low HCL levels can make it hard for autistic children to break down any food, not just protein or flesh. Gina noted that it is unknown why many autistic children are have Type A blood or why people with Type A have low levels of HCL.

Tips to Incorporating Raw & Living Foods from Gina Laverde

1. Give Your Body Detox Assistance: Raw and Living foods are powerfully detoxifying. When you put highly nutritious foods in your body, such as green juice or kefir, it will cause die off of bad bacteria (i.e. Candida). You want to open up every avenue for detox through either colonics or enemas. This is why Gina advises her raw food coaching clients to get colon hydrotherapy with implants or do home enemas and implants. There are various types of implants, so Gina recommends seeing a colon hydrotherapy professional to get started. Other detox tips from Gina:

• Develop a Daily Detox Routine: Integrate daily one or more of the following: Rebounding (jumping on a mini-trampoline), Yoga, Skin Brushing, Epsom Salt baths, Castor Oil Packs, or Infrared Red Sauna Sessions.
• Take it Slow: To control the pace of your detox, start with small amounts of raw and living foods each day and build from there, taking careful note of your body’s reactions.
• Water and Sleep: Drink lots of pure, filtered water and get as much rest as possible.

2. Eat Probiotic Foods: To heal the digestive system and re-colonize it with healthy bacteria, Gina promotes the use of probiotic foods like coconut kefir and fermented veggies made using starter cultures from Body Ecology. Second best to probiotic foods are probiotic supplements. There are many probiotic supplements being sold today, and in the past most of these products were of low quality and ineffective. Companies are now developing better probiotic supplements. Gina uses and recommends the following two probiotic manufacturers: Dr. Ohhira and Vsl#3. Again, it is important to start slow with probiotic foods and supplements, taking care to note your body’s reactions.

3. Develop A Positive Attitude towards Healing: Gina has an attitude of total confidence that she is on the right path of recovery for her son. Gina said her confident attitude: “…has to be that way. If you are doubting starting the raw and living foods diet, don’t do it. Step into it slowly. If you are hearing this and feel ‘the raw foods or Body Ecology Diet won’t fit me,’ maybe it won’t. You have to see yourself well. There are many ways you can get well.”

Gina emphasized that “You can’t have fear. You can’t fear eliminating a certain food is going to hurt your child. Think of it like spring cleaning – sometimes when we clean up we make a mess. My son is still a little bit underweight but is developing really quickly now and will be fine, he will be absolutely fine.”

4. Learn How to Do EFT: A great way to learn how to take control of your attitude is through using a form of energy work called the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Energy work such as EFT and Reiki has been a key part of Gina and Dougie’s healing. Gina recommends EFT as a great way to get into energy work and show you how your thoughts impact your overall well-being. She says “I do it on myself with the intention for helping Dougie, or I can do it on Dougie, and Dougie can also do it on himself. If he is having a meltdown and I can not touch him, I will do it on myself with the intention of helping him. For moms with children with autism I can work on the mom and she will tell me ‘You know you can’t touch my kid’; and I totally understand they can’t be touched. I say ‘Don’t worry, I will work on you,’ and it does work.”

For further information on raw and living foods and the Body Ecology Diet you can contact Gina via e-mail: gina [at] healartfullydotcom, and through her web site: http://CertifiedOrganicWoman.com. Or go to the Body Ecology Diet Web site: http://www.bodyecology.com

References:

1. Kouchakoff, Paul, M.D. of The Institute of Clinical Chemistry, Lausanne, Switzerland. The Influence of Food Cooking on the Blood Formula of Man. Proceedings, First International Congress of Microbiology, Paris, 1930. Retrieved August 24, 2009 from http://www.seleneriverpress.com/media/pdf_docs/37_INFLUENCEOFCOOKING.pdf.
2. Shazzie. Evie’s Kitchen. Rawcreation Limited, 2008.
3. Gates, Donna and Schatz, Linda. The Body Ecology Diet. BED publishing, 2006, 9th edition.