12 Steps to Whole Foods

Making Salad the Star
Why Maximize Raw Food?
I have many friends who eat only raw plant food, and they are the healthiest people I know. I have several times
eaten a 100% raw diet for a few months at a time and never felt better! But for most of the past 15 years, I have
eaten a 60-80% raw diet, and I have noticed something interesting.
The 60-80% raw goal is rather easy to achieve. The differential between 60-80% and 100%, however,
represents an enormous leap in terms of time spent. It reminds me of getting a B+ or A- in college, versus
getting an A: the time/commitment differential is most significant at that level. It’s especially hard to feed an
entire family 100% raw. Even my kids—who have been fed whole foods their entire lives—resist it. I believe
part of the reason is that eliminating bread is terribly hard when you’re feeding teenagers, because bread is so
filling and requires less time than most all-raw recipes. So when you’re making one thing for yourself and
another for your family, you may find you’re spending too much time in the kitchen.
Since I am interested in teaching things I believe to be achievable by anyone, I don’t set the bar that high. If
you wish to do that and are capable of it, I applaud and encourage you, and I have listed my favorite raw books
in Appendix B to help you continue.
But, to you who want a very manageable plan, I believe that a 60-80% raw diet is adequate to supply the
enzymes needed to break down the 40% of the diet that is cooked whole food. Most of the healthiest
populations of the world do eat cooked food along with raw food. But some caveats come along with this
counsel to get 60% raw.
First, you should aim for 60% raw in every meal or snack. Remember that a fully cooked meal will draw on
your body’s enzyme reserves. So, if you are drinking a quart of green smoothie every day, you may wish to
drink half of it before the cooked part of your lunch, and half of it before the cooked part of your late-afternoon
snack, for instance. This would be preferable to drinking nothing but the entire quart of smoothie for lunch, and
then three hours later eating a cooked snack. Then, eat a big green salad as at least 60% of your dinner. You
have supplied your daily enzyme needs and lengthened your own life (and/or supplied your existing years with
more vitality). Breakfasts that are largely raw are a step we will take later in the year. Getting a raw breakfast is
easier, since people often want a “hot meal” for lunch or dinner.
Second, if you are suffering from serious illness, including cancer, you may wish to undertake a 100% raw diet.
I have a large handful of friends, including my grandmother, who eliminated “deadly” cancers with an all-raw
diet. Cancer cannot live in the presence of oxygen, and raw plant foods oxygenate the blood and tissues.
Third, if 60% of your diet is raw and the other 40% consists heavily of dead, denatured foods rather than whole
foods, that 60% may be insufficient for you to experience vibrant health. The 60% advice assumes that your
consumption of the very worst foods (meat—especially processed meat, soft drinks, sugar, white flour, and
refined oils) is minimal, and that the other 40% of your diet is mostly whole grains, legumes, etc.
Try to keep animal products and refined foods like white flour and white sugar under 10% of your diet, if you
feel you must eat them occasionally to live in the “real world” and avoid feeling deprived. Also consider that
you can live a “normal” life while still having a few foods you simply never eat.
At my house, we never eat (even at a party) three foods: (1) processed meat like hot dogs and bacon, (2) sodas,
and (3) pork. Processed meat is full of the most carcinogenic food additives ever approved by the FDA
(nitrates/nitrites). The risk is not worth it. Sodas, as we have mentioned before, are full of nasty ingredients:
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 57