Raw Living Foods Lifestyle - chiDiet.net

Healing our family diseases with raw living foods - Victoria Boutenko

Raw Foods Testimonial
by Victoria Boutenko and Family

Raw food has changed the life of our family. Eight years ago we all became very sick. Victoria had arrhythmia and was severely depressed. Igor suffered from painful arthritis. He had surgery scheduled for his hyperthyroid. Sergei was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and was suppose to go on insulin. Valya had asthma. All these illnesses are considered incurable by medical doctors. We also had many other problems, like indigestion, obesity, lack of energy, mood swings, dental problems and others.

However, after we all went on a raw diet, all four of us got completely cured.

Today we experience radiant health and constant happiness. We believe that our health is beyond what most people experience in present day. We don’t have any medical insurance because we feel totally in charge of our health and we continually experience a high level of energy. Each one of us can run for many miles. In 1998 we hiked across the United States on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Other people may have doubts, but we know all the changes in our health started to happen when we went on raw food.
---------------------------
You can read more about the Boutenkos, and order their fabulous books by going to www.rawfamily.com. We’d like to thank the Boutenko family for graciously allowing us to reprint this article.

Several of Victoria's motivating lectures are available on DVD and VHS at www.chidiet.com/tapes.htm.

10 Dr. Ann Wigmore Videos

I put together a 10 DVD set of the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw Living Foods lifestyle for a very, very special price.

Learn more: http://wigmorediet.com/

Enjoy!

Jim

Dealing with Diabetes

I am a diabetic (for 20 years), on 8 meds plus a small evening insulin shot. When I found info on the raw food lifestyle, I also found material on reversing diabetes. My doctor & endocrinologist are both supportive of my efforts, surprisingly.

I made it clear that my ultimate goal was to be off most, if not all of my meds. After 3 weeks of green smoothies, not even every morning, and some small changes in diet, I had lost 9 lbs. and felt like I had some energy again. This is definitely incentive!

Thank you for the info you are providing on the internet, and I hope that the legal issues are soon resolved.

Ruth

-----------------

Jim's comments:

If I had the money and the resources, it would be great to do one of those big studies like the pharmaceutical companies do of "typical benefits." I'd like to know just what percentage of people see a significant change in their blood sugar levels and energy levels when they convert to a Raw Living Foods program.

During my years as Director of Creative Health Institute every diabetic that went through the program reported a significant reduction in medication, usually within three or four days of starting the program.

The medical community says that treating diabetes is a matter of diet and exercise; well, that's what Dr. Ann Wigmore's Lifestyle Program is all about. It not only changes your diet, it also reduces your stress level and encourages you to get the proper types of exercise on a daily basis, "just what the doctor ordered."

Congratulations to Ruth and to the many others that email me stories about reversing their diabetes - even to the point of getting off their meds - with raw living foods.

One does not have to be sick, but you do need to "choose" to be healthy. Here's a link to our current, legally required "typical benefits and results" statement.

For more information about the Raw Living Foods program, here's the DVD version: http://chiDiet.com

Here's the same program in the green, online version: http://RawLife.org

How Raw Foods Saved my Life - by Jim Carey

What Dr. Ann Wigmore's Raw Living Foods Lifestyle Did, and Does, For Me

by Dr. James Carey, PhD (applied microcomputer technologies)

For 23 years I lived in Key West, Florida, and built several computer companies. In '98 I sold off the business, apartments, office building, house, and most of the stuff I'd accumulated. By January '99 I was 48 years old, free and financially liquid.

I took almost two years off and toured the United States, traveled 60,000 miles, first with an Airstream trailer, and later with a Bluebird motorcoach.

I also spent the time overcoming my addiction to cigarettes, something I'd been dependent upon since I was 14 years old.

By Spring of 2000 I was rested, collected, and tobacco-free. I'd relocated to rural Georgia, adopted a dog, and started building a house with my own hands. I also weighed 260 lbs. I'd been watching my weight creep up over the years, from my college weight of 165 to around 220 by '99.

I considered myself healthy because at 45 I could still shinny up a 30 ft. sailboat mast and repair the masthead while holding on with my legs. But a year or more of sitting behind the steering wheel substituting junk food and rich meals for the cigarettes I was trying to give up really put the weight on me.

Now I was almost 50, and single-handedly building a house. I considered myself to be in good shape, I was active and pain-free, but I sure was getting big.

Jim at 260 lbs.

Jim at 170 lbs.

So... January, 2001. New Year's Resolution - go on a diet. I read about health and nutrition, then put myself on a 1700 calorie-a-day vegetarian diet. I walked at least three miles a day, five times a week.

In four months I lost 20 lbs., bringing my weight down to 240. I kept counting calories in my little notebook, I kept walking 15 miles or more a week, and by Summer - still 240 lbs.!

I could not lose any more weight. Frustrating. If I went off my diet for a weekend in Savannah I'd gain 5 lbs. in two days, then take a week - or more - to get rid of it.

Back to the Internet for more research. I read about people who had been on one diet or another, but after initial improvements their health deteriorated and they were facing new health challenges because of the inadequacies of the dietary regime they'd adopted.

The deeper I dug, the more one program stood out. The Raw Living Foods lifestyle, taught by Dr. Ann Wigmore. It was old knowledge going back thousands of years, and she was the most famous of modern advocates. What impressed me most were:

1) Testimonies by people that have lived the lifestyle for 20, 30 and 40 years, and are thriving on it.

2) What does the founder look like today, or what did they die of? Dr. Ann died of smoke inhalation while fighting a fire, at 84. She was fit and healthy.

3) Other raw fooders have died as a result of sports accidents in their 80's and 90's, not of disease or medications. All maintained an active lifestyle up until their passing over.

4) Dr. Wigmore's Raw Living Foods Lifestyle combines raw living food, internal cleansing, body detoxification and plant-based supplementation. All of the elements of good health rolled into one.

5) There are hands-on training centers where one can go and experience the program for an extended period of time, and not just try to sort it out from books or weekend seminars.

6) Most hands-on centers are reasonably priced - I've paid as much for one night at a nice hotel for what they charge for a week's stay.

7) Dr. Ann Wigmore's program is educational, not "do this blindly because I say so." At the training centers they teach why the body isn't healthy, and what you can do about it. As an engineer and scientist, I appreciate this.

The more I looked at it, the more the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle stood out as being the program that would work for me - or for anyone!

Synchronicity also came into play. An old friend. When I mentioned Dr. Ann Wigmore's Raw Living Foods program she told me that she'd studied with Dr. Ann at Hippocrates Institute in Boston, and credited the lifestyle with changing her life.

August of '01 found me at Creative Health Institute, near Union City, Michigan. On a trip to visit family I stopped in for a three-day visit. I was so impressed with the personal experiences of the graduating students that I went back to Georgia, closed up the farm, and returned to Michigan to attend the two-week program. I still weighed 240 lbs.

In my first two weeks at Creative Health I lost 20 lbs. I never went hungry, I never missed a meal, I never counted a calorie. Indeed, I usually had seconds.

At the end of the first month I was down to 210 lbs. When I headed back for Georgia for Christmas I weighed 200 lbs. I'd lost 40 lbs. without even working at it!

Why did the program work so dramatically for me?

I was toxic. Not only did the organic, unprocessed food that Creative Health served reduce and eliminate the toxins in my body, Dr. Ann's program helped my body eliminate toxins that I'd been accumulating all of my life.

By eating processed foods, I'd been putting toxins into my body faster than my body could remove them. I learned that my body was storing these toxins in fat cells in order to protect me. Once I eliminated the toxins I was ingesting, my body was able to process the backlogged accumulation and dispose of it.

I also learned that I had a large amount of impacted fecal matter. Most people do. Enemas cleared out this backlog.

From '01 to '05 I spent three to six months of the year at Creative Health, helping out as a volunteer as I helped myself get healthier. I weigh 170 lbs. now.

The other reason I kept returning to Creative Health was the good feelings I felt when I saw others overcome their health challenges. I've seen people heal diabetes, obesity, arthritis, colitis, after-effects of chemotherapy, breast cancer, hepatitis, heavy metal poisoning, asthma, wounds that wouldn't heal, PMS, migraine headaches... all forms of health challenges.

I've seen people stop smoking, painlessly, in just a few days. They didn't even notice that they'd quit. Wish I knew that back in '99.

I've watched people perk up, heal, and get happy. Like Chantel from Zimbabwe. She came to Creative Health with rheumatoid arthritis, which she'd had since she was 16. She was 26. Upon graduation from the two-week program Chantel said, "I stopped taking my medication after I was here three days. I've not had any pain in more than a week."

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she added, "This is the best I have felt since I was 15 years old."

Some time later Chantel sent me an email: "While I am only 75% raw after these two years, I am not taking medication, and my pain has not returned. I am happy to tell you that I am now married and three months pregnant. Your program made this possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

What do raw living foods do for me?

Helped me lose over 70 lbs.,

Gave me an energy level that's like being 25 again (I even took up skydiving - at 54!).

Instead of sleeping 8-10 hours a night, I wake totally refreshed after only 4-6 hours of sleep.

My bowels are regular and move easily.

I'm happier - all the time. I have a more positive outlook on life. People say I "glow," and I smile all the time.

My taste buds have changed, and my cravings for snacks, sweets and caffeine have disappeared.

Most of all, I find my life more satisfying and rewarding than it's ever been before.

I try to help Creative Health in their mission. I've installed computers and a network, rewrote the website, taught classes, mowed the lawn, started a newsletter, served as Program Director, done public speaking, fixed toilets, painted, produced videos, answered the phones, stuffed envelopes, and told my story on TV and radio

When I was answering the phone at Creative Health I repeatedly heard people say, either:

1) I have the time to attend, but just can't afford it, or

2) Affording it is no problem, but there's no way I can take two weeks off.

For those reasons I created the Home Study Program. From a file cabinet with over three decades of research studies and student materials, and two decades worth of videotape, I spent my winters assembling the most comprehensive overview of the program I could.

I now administer the Raw Living Foods Home Study Program in order to help those who:

1) Can't afford to attend a center,

2) Want to have a comprehensive overview of the program to take home with them, or

3) Need training materials to help them share their wonderful transformation with others.

I'm finding it a great way to spend my retirement, and the second half of my life!

Jim Carey
Midville, Georgia
Learn more: http://chidiet.com

The unexpected benefits of being a raw living fooder

Reprinted by Popular Demand ---

Unexpected Benefits of Being Raw

by James Carey

I live out in the woods of east central Georgia. WAY out in the woods. My driveway is several city blocks long. You can’t even see the house from the road. Every summer I catch poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac at least a dozen times. Seventeen times, one year. Each case lasts about two weeks, unless I catch some more elsewhere on my body and have overlapping cases. I’ve found the Canadian Centre for Disease Control (CCDC) website has the most useful information, and I know all about urushiol and Technu and Clear Caladryl lotion. Did you know that one nanogram of urushiol (billionth of a gram) is enough to cause a rash, the name is derived from the Japanese name for laquer, dead plants can infect you even after five years, urushiol remains potent for several centuries, or that the name Poison Ivy was coined by Captain John Smith in 1609? I could go on…

I’m just careless about it, is all. I stop to admire the sunrise, then realize that the tree I’m leaning against is covered with PI vines. I go crawling under the house to fix something, and realize the next day that the pretty little plants I crawled over were poison oak. I go berry picking, and push right though the poison sumac to get to the blackberry bushes behind. I’ve even caught PI from the dog (the oil can be carried on their fur) and mowing the yard.

Invariably, two days later I start to itch, and when I backtrack my activities I find the cause of infection (the CCDC calls this “vectoring,” in case you were wondering.)

At least I never get PI on my feet or ankles. That’s because I always wear big, heavy boots around the farm. Of course, I’m constantly battling Athlete’s Foot. I wear two pair of white socks, change them at midday (dinner, not lunch), and have a collection of sprays, ointments and powders. I know almost as much about Athlete’s Foot fungus as I do about Poison Ivy.

It’s been different this summer, though. Here it is July already and the one case of PI I’ve had lasted only two days. And I haven’t had Athlete’s Foot since I left CHI last fall. Curious, no? I thought so, especially since spring came a month early and everything’s blooming even heartier than usual.

I mentioned this to Don Haughey, co-founder of Creative Health Institute and he said, “Oh, that’s because your body is more alkaline now.” I checked with a chemist at Georgia Southern University, and, sure enough, that’s correct. An alkaline body chemistry repels skin diseases.

Like the local girls say, “Well, ain’t that special?”

Jim Carey,
Herndon, Georgia

See chiDiet.com for the complete training program.

Here's a directory of Wigmore Educational Resources (all links open in a new window or tab):
AnnWigmore.com - The story of Dr. Ann Wigmore, and a listing of Wigmore Institutes
Dr. Ann Wigmore's Degrees and Awards - probably not a complete list
GrassyRoots.com - The 14-episode TV series I did about raw foods and the Dr. Ann Wigmore Lifestyle
chiDiet.com - The Home Study version of the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw Living Foods Lifestyle
RawLife.org - I put all of the videos from Grassy Roots TV and the Wigmore Lifestyle Home Study Program online
chiDiet.com/hs3.htm - The Dr. Ann Wigmore DVD video collection
GoRaw.net - Other raw websites I'm involved with or respect

- If you buy anything through these links our commission goes to keeping this website online.

Benefits of the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle

We have numerous testimonials from students who credit the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle with their recovery from:

• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• Breast cancer
• Cancer of the larynx
• Cervical cancer
• Malignancies, including uterine cancer
• Colitis
• Leukemia
• Hepatitis
• Gangrene
• Heavy metal poisoning
• Tuberculosis
• Peritonitis
• Pyorrhea
• Hemorrhoids
• Asthma
• Sinus infections
• Burns
• Cuts
• Menstrual irregularities
• PMS
• Constipation
• Headache
• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Halitosis
• Acute anemia
• Vericose veins
• Metastatic malignant melanoma

PLEASE NOTE: that we offer no cures - we treat and heal no one. We simply share information, developed by Dr. Ann Wigmore, about how a Raw Living Foods Diet and Lifestyle can benefit everyone, and how the body often cures itself with a proper diet.

Things the Program Can Do for You:

• Weight Loss
• Alleviate pain
• Prevent disease
• Combat disease
• Increase energy
• Cleanse the body
• Improve digestion
• Recharge your immune system

Visit chiDiet.com for more information.

Here's a directory of Wigmore Educational Resources (all links open in a new window or tab):
AnnWigmore.com - The story of Dr. Ann Wigmore, and a listing of Wigmore Institutes
Dr. Ann Wigmore's Degrees and Awards - probably not a complete list
GrassyRoots.com - The 14-episode TV series I did about raw foods and the Dr. Ann Wigmore Lifestyle
chiDiet.com - The Home Study version of the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw Living Foods Lifestyle
RawLife.org - I put all of the videos from Grassy Roots TV and the Wigmore Lifestyle Home Study Program online
chiDiet.com/hs3.htm - The Dr. Ann Wigmore DVD video collection
GoRaw.net - Other raw websites I'm involved with or respect

What You Can Expect in Benefits and Results

Expected Results & Benefits Disclaimer

EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO ACCURATELY REPRESENT THIS PRODUCT AND IT'S POTENTIAL. EVEN THOUGH THIS INDUSTRY IS ONE OF THE FEW WHERE ONE CAN CREATE THEIR OWN BENEFITS IN TERMS OF HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS, THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE ANY CHANGES OR BENEFITS USING THE TECHNIQUES AND IDEAS IN THESE MATERIALS. EXAMPLES IN THESE MATERIALS ARE NOT TO BE INTERPRETED AS A PROMISE OR GUARANTEE OF BENEFITS. RESULTS ARE ENTIRELY DEPENDENT ON THE PERSON USING OUR PRODUCT, IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES. WE DO NOT PURPORT THIS AS A "GET WELL OVERNIGHT," "MIRACLE CURE," OR ANY OTHER SCHEME.

ANY CLAIMS MADE OF ACTUAL BENEFITS OR EXAMPLES OF ACTUAL RESULTS CAN BE VERIFIED UPON REQUEST. YOUR LEVEL OF SUCCESS IN ATTAINING THE RESULTS CLAIMED IN OUR MATERIALS DEPENDS ON THE TIME YOU DEVOTE TO THE PROGRAM, IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES MENTIONED, YOUR MOTIVATION, KNOWLEDGE AND VARIOUS SKILLS. SINCE THESE FACTORS DIFFER ACCORDING TO INDIVIDUALS, WE CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SUCCESS OR BENEFITS. NOR ARE WE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OF YOUR ACTIONS.

THE USE OF SUCH WORDS SUCH AS “ANTICIPATE,” “ESTIMATE,” “EXPECT,” “PROJECT,” “INTEND,” “PLAN,” “BELIEVE,” AND OTHER WORDS AND TERMS OF SIMILAR MEANING IN CONNECTION WITH A DESCRIPTION OF POTENTIAL BENEFITS DOES NOT MEAN THAT SUCH BENEFITS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU.

MANY FACTORS WILL BE IMPORTANT IN DETERMINING YOUR ACTUAL RESULTS AND NO GUARANTEES ARE MADE THAT YOU WILL ACHIEVE RESULTS SIMILAR TO OURS OR ANYBODY ELSE'S, IN FACT NO GUARANTEES ARE MADE THAT YOU WILL ACHIEVE ANY RESULTS FROM OUR IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES IN OUR MATERIAL.

We offer no cures - we treat and heal no one. We simply share information, developed by Dr. Ann Wigmore, about how a Raw Living Foods Diet and Lifestyle can benefit everyone, and how the body often cures itself with a proper diet.

Information contained within this website is for educational purposes only. Statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

This information is neither medical nor dental advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease and should not in any way be used as a substitute for the advice of a physician or other licensed health care practitioner.

The unexpected side effects of a raw foods diet

Unexpected Side Effects of a Raw Living Foods Diet
- by Jim Carey, former Executive Director of Creative Health Institute

During the years I’ve been associated with Creative Health Institute I’ve seen dozens and dozens of people learn to control and heal their health challenges by adopting a Raw Living Foods diet. For one reason or another they’ve given up on American Medicine, they realized that there is no “Magic Bullet” for what ails them, and they’ve come to us.

We’ve shown them that the Magic Bullet is within them - it’s their own bodies. They can’t change it; they have to use it the way it is. A raw living foods diet, organic when possible, is the Magic Bullet that they’ve been seeking.

I’ve seen people reduce, and even eliminate, their need to take Insulin or other medication to control their blood sugar levels; I’ve seen them control their hypertension while no longer depending on drugs; I’ve seen tumors shrink and disappear; I’ve saw a young lady get relief from the rheumatoid arthritis that had plagued her for 16 years; I’ve read testimonies from former students that their symptoms of fibromyalgia and candida had gone away; people that obtained the relief that they had been seeking when they came to CHI.

But each and every one of them also obtained an unexpected side effect -they had shed lots and lots of excess weight.

Richard came to learn to control his diabetes -unexpectedly, he lost 20 lbs. during his two week visit. Another letter tells of shedding fifty excess pounds, over the course of one year, “easily.” Indeed, Don Haughey, co-founder of CHI, shed 55 unneeded lbs. when he transitioned to the Living Foods Lifestyle and cured his 7 diagnosed ailments.

I originally became involved with the program because I saw it as a healthier way to live; unexpectedly, I dropped 20 lbs. in the first two weeks, 30 lbs. in the first month, and 90 lbs. over the course of two years. I’ve gone from 260 lbs. to 170 lbs., from a 44”waist to 33”, and, like almost every letter we get states, “I feel much better, I have much more energy, and I sleep better at night.”

Gosh, these unexpected side effects are great!

What Dr. Ann Wigmore's Raw Living Foods Lifestyle Did, and Does, For Me

by Dr. James Carey, PhD (applied microcomputer technologies)

For 23 years I lived in Key West, Florida, and built several computer companies. In '97 I sold off the business, apartments, office building, house, and most of the stuff I'd accumulated. By January '99 I was 48 years old, free and financially liquid.

I took a year or so off and toured the United States, traveled 60,000 miles, first with an Airstream trailer, and later with a Bluebird motorcoach.

I also spent the time overcoming my addiction to cigarettes, something I'd been dependent upon since I was 14 years old.

By Spring of 2000 I was rested, collected, and tobacco-free. I'd relocated to rural Georgia, adopted a dog, and started building a house with my own hands. I also weighed 260 lbs. I'd been watching my weight creep up over the years, from my college weight of 165 to around 220 by '99.

I considered myself healthy because at 45 I could still shinny up a 30 ft. sailboat mast and repair the masthead while holding on with my legs. But a year of sitting behind the steering wheel substituting junk food and rich meals for the cigarettes I was trying to give up really put the weight on me. Now I was almost 50 and single-handedly building a house.

I considered myself to be in good shape, I was active and pain-free, but I sure was getting big.

Jim at 260 lbs.

Jim at 170 lbs.

So... January, 2001. New Year's Resolution - go on a diet. I read about health and nutrition, then put myself on a 1700 calorie-a-day vegetarian diet. I walked at least three miles a day, five times a week.

In four months I lost 20 lbs., bringing my weight down to 240. I kept counting calories in my little notebook, I kept walking 15 miles or more a week, and by Summer - still 240 lbs.! 

I could not lose any more weight. Frustrating. If I went off my diet for a weekend in Savannah I'd gain 5 lbs. in two days, then take a week - or more - to get rid of it.

Back to the Internet for more research. I read about people who had been on one diet or another, but after initial improvements their health deteriorated and they were facing new health challenges because of the inadequacies of the dietary regime they'd adopted.

The deeper I dug, the more one program stood out. The Raw Living Foods lifestyle, taught by Dr. Ann Wigmore. It was old knowledge going back thousands of years, and she was the most famous of modern advocates. What impressed me most were:

1) Testimonies by people that have lived the lifestyle for 20, 30 and 40 years, and are thriving on it.

2) What does the founder look like today, or what did they die of? Dr. Ann died of smoke inhalation while fighting a fire, at 84. She was fit and healthy.

3) Other raw fooders have died as a result of sports accidents in their 80's and 90's, not of disease or medications. All maintained an active lifestyle up until their passing over.

4) Dr. Wigmore's Raw Living Foods Lifestyle combines raw living food, internal cleansing, body detoxification and plant-based supplementation. All of the elements of good health rolled into one.

5) There are hands-on training centers where one can go and experience the program for an extended period of time, and not just try to sort it out from books or weekend seminars.

6) Most hands-on centers are reasonably priced - I've paid as much for one night at a nice hotel for what they charge for a week's stay.

7) Dr. Ann Wigmore's program is educational, not "do this blindly because I say so." At the training centers they teach why the body isn't healthy, and what you can do about it. As an engineer and scientist, I appreciate this.

The more I looked at it, the more the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle stood out as being the program that would work for me - or for anyone!

Synchronicity also came into play. An old friend. When I mentioned Dr. Ann Wigmore's Raw Living Foods program she told me that she'd studied with Dr. Ann at Hippocrates Institute in Boston, and credited the lifestyle with changing her life.

August of '01 found me at Creative Health Institute, near Union City, Michigan. On a trip to visit family I stopped in for a three-day visit. I was so impressed with the personal experiences of the graduating students that I went back to Georgia, closed up the farm, and returned to Michigan to attend the two-week program. I still weighed 240 lbs.

In my first two weeks at Creative Health I lost 20 lbs. I never went hungry, I never missed a meal, I never counted a calorie. Indeed, I usually had seconds.

At the end of the first month I was down to 210 lbs. When I headed back for Georgia for Christmas I weighed 200 lbs. I'd lost 40 lbs. without even working at it!

Why did the program work so dramatically for me?

I was toxic. Not only did the organic, unprocessed food that Creative Health served reduce and eliminate the toxins in my body, Dr. Ann's program helped my body eliminate toxins that I'd been accumulating all of my life.

By eating processed foods, I'd been putting toxins into my body faster than my body could remove them. I learned that my body was storing these toxins in fat cells in order to protect me. Once I eliminated the toxins I was ingesting, my body was able to process the backlogged accumulation and dispose of it.

I also learned that I had a large amount of impacted fecal matter. Most people do. Enemas cleared out this backlog.

From '01 to '05 I spent three to six months of the year at Creative Health, helping out as a volunteer as I helped myself get healthier. I weigh 170 lbs. now.

The other reason I kept returning to Creative Health was the good feelings I felt when I saw others overcome their health challenges. I've seen people heal diabetes, obesity, arthritis, colitis, after-effects of chemotherapy, breast cancer, hepatitis, heavy metal poisoning, asthma, wounds that wouldn't heal, PMS, migraine headaches... all forms of health challenges.

I've seen people stop smoking, painlessly, in just a few days. They didn't even notice that they'd quit. Wish I knew that back in '99.

I've watched people perk up, heal, and get happy. Like Chantel from Zimbabwe. She came to Creative Health with rheumatoid arthritis, which she'd had since she was 16. She was 26. Upon graduation from the two-week program Chantel said, "I stopped taking my medication after I was here three days. I've not had any pain in more than a week."

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she added, "This is the best I have felt since I was 15 years old."

Some time later Chantel sent me an email: "While I am only 75% raw after these two years, I am not taking medication, and my pain has not returned. I am happy to tell you that I am now married and three months pregnant. Your program made this possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

What do raw living foods do for me?

Helped me lose over 70 lbs.,

Gave me an energy level that's like being 25 again (I even took up skydiving - at 52!).

Instead of sleeping 8-10 hours a night, I wake totally refreshed after only 4-6 hours of sleep.

My bowels are regular and move easily.

I'm happier - all the time. I have a more positive outlook on life. People say I "glow," and I smile all the time.

My taste buds have changed, and my cravings for snacks, sweets and caffeine have disappeared.

Most of all, I find my life more satisfying and rewarding than it's ever been before.

I try to help Creative Health in their mission. I've installed computers and a network, rewrote the website, taught classes, mowed the lawn, started a newsletter, served as Program Director, done public speaking, fixed toilets, painted, produced videos, answered the phones, stuffed envelopes, and told my story on TV and radio

When I was answering the phone at Creative Health I repeatedly heard people say, either:

1) I have the time to attend, but just can't afford it, or

2) Affording it is no problem, but there's no way I can take two weeks off.

For those reasons I created the Home Study Program. From a file cabinet with over three decades of research studies and student materials, and two decades worth of videotape, I spent my winters assembling the most comprehensive overview of the program I could.

I now administer the Raw Living Foods Home Study Program in order to help those who:

1) Can't afford to attend a center,

2) Want to have a comprehensive overview of the program to take home with them, or

3) Need training materials to help them share their wonderful transformation with others.

I'm finding it a great way to spend my retirement, and the second half of my life!

Jim Carey
Midville, Georgia
December, 2007

The living foods lifestyle, home study version

The Dr. Ann Wigmore Living Foods dietary education program is also available in a home study version. In the series of 15 training lessons, each one consisting of a lesson plan, class notes, videotapes and books, you’ll learn all about the Wigmore Program, internal cleansing and food preparation. Authors and presenters include Dr. Ann Wigmore, Dr. Lorraine Day, Victoria Boutenko, Paul Nison, Mary Moore, Hiawatha Cromer, Don Haughey and others. For more information see www.chiDiet.com.  Best of all, you’ll have the information available for reference for years to come!

“The most exciting thing in the Living Foods Movement since Dr. Ann Wigmore.” – Don Haughey

“Wonderful packaging. Fast delivery.” – Molly Ruffino

“I’m really enjoying the information, and look forward to each month’s lesson.” – Darlene Shule

“Great service.” – Brenda Dunne

“Worth devoting my life to.” – Jim Carey

“Wonderful. Incredible.” – Larry Meggs

“Long Overdue.” – Sara Thompson

Thoughts from Within

Woody Harrelson's thoughts on diet, living raw, and the Standard American Paradigm:  http://www.voiceyourself.com/03_thoughtsfromwithin/03_movie.php.

Why Raw, by David Wolfe

Why Raw?
by David Wolfe

Every culture seems to have a story about how human life began on Earth. Most describe a story where humans showed up here living in paradise.

Everything was perfect for long ages of time, until something happened. Some consider that "something" to be the flood, or to be "the knowledge of good and evil," or a shift in the ages, etc. What was it? Why is it that humans live life on Earth so differently from the other creatures here?

Raw-food eaters such as myself believe (actually know) we have found the answer. The great change came over the life of humans on this planet when we discovered fire and began experimenting with cooking our food. Let's use our best sense: no other creature on the planet cooks or tampers with its food in any way. Here is an experiment: Let's feed a tribe of gorillas coffee and donuts for a few generations and let's see what happens! Because cooked food is part and parcel to civilization we have been trained never to question it.

What constitutes the basis of human nourishment? Is it pills and supplements coming out of the roaring jaws of factories? Is it the flesh of animals being churned out by factory farms? Is it the milk of cows which was intended for baby calves? Is it cooked and processed food?

The basis of human nourishment is obvious: it is RAW PLANT FOOD which is presented to us in abundance in nature. All this talk about this diet or that diet or "natural" this or "natural" that is all nonsensical. There is only one normal diet: a raw-food based diet.

Going raw recreates you in your original form. Eating raw transforms you back into an intuitive natural creature < it returns to you lost animal powers. Eating raw plant food radically naturalizes you and puts one back in touch with the material and spiritual flow of nature. Because of this effect, eating raw grounds you in the natural world and also provides you with more awareness of the spiritual world  which is really also part of the natural world.

You are a work of art in progress. Each meal is a cloud or a tree or a flower a piece of the painting that you are becoming. Every bite of food you put in your body should be adding to your perfection, to your beauty.
You are what you eat is a cosmic law. It is known in every culture and throughout every civilization throughout history. Every person knows that saying. Give your body the highest quality food possible. Eat organic and homegrown food.

I have made my life's work a study on how to help people succeed and prosper with the raw-food lifestlye in spite of the monotonous routine world's peer pressure. The best way to succeed in any area is to educate yourself. I hope you will take a moment to enjoy and absorb the information in my books: The Sunfood Diet Success System and Nature's First Law: The Raw-Food Diet.

For more information on the raw-food approach, please visit our web-site at:
http://www.rawfood.com  or write to: Nature's First Law, PO Box 900202, San Diego, CA 92190 USA, please request our free catalog.

The Journey - Steven Gibb

- by Steven Gibb, former Director of Creative Health Institute

Hello friends…

When we see, hear or learn something in life we have to make a decision what to do. One decision is to ignore what we have learned. Another is to take head to this information and truly discover what and how it may play a part in our life. On another note we are right where we are supposed to be in life but that doesn't mean our friends can't plants seeds. So, here I am planting the seed that you may take heed to consider what you place in your mouth.

I was once well and became violently ill due to the things I placed in my mouth. Much of that was cooked food and from fast food joints like McDonalds! I am now on a life looooong journey to once again achieve total wellness.

Even though it has been an interesting journey I wouldn't wish it upon an enemy if I had one.

You health is the best thing you have going for you… take it from someone who lost it.

You are a living organic organism and your fuel is “living food." Its not up for discussion… there’s nothing to discuss… get the facts! End of story…

Warmly,
Steven

Dare you click here to discover some more truth??? http://www.mcspotlight.org

Why Switch to a Living Foods Diet

Courtesy of Roxanne's Raw Restaurant, Larkspur, California

Living foods are the key to our health and longevity. They allow our bodies to perform as they were meant to. Our bodies have evolved over a four million year period. For 3,950,000 of those years we ate only raw, living foods. It is only recently that we have begun eating cooked food. When we look at other mammals in nature, we do not see any significant incidence of the diseases that have become pervasive in humans. No cancer, heart disease, strokes or diabetes.

Before discussing why Living Foods are so critical to our health, lets examine what cooking does to food. The first thing that is lost when you cook something is its' water content. Our bodies are between 60% and 70% water. Vegetables and fruits are loaded with water, and it is structured water that better facilitates our biological processes. Cooking denatures the proteins in our food, rendering them harder to digest and utilize.

Cooking destroys 50 percent of the protein in our food. Between 50 and 80 percent of the vitamins and minerals are also destroyed. Pesticides break down into more toxic compounds, which are more easily assimilated into our bodies. Oxygen is lost and free radicals are produced.

Most importantly, enzymes are destroyed when food is heated above 118 degrees. Enzymes are the catalysts of every chemical reaction in our bodies. Without them, there can be no cellular division, immune system functioning, energy production nor brain activity. No vitamins or hormones can do their work without enzymes. There are two different types of enzymes in our bodies, metabolic enzymes and digestive enzymes. We produce over 100,000 different enzymes, each doing a unique task.

Interestingly, every food contains exactly the perfect mix of digestive enzymes to break it down completely. These are called food enzymes. Nature in its never-ending perfection sees that all food whether flesh, fruit or vegetable, decomposes and returns to the earth from which it came. But cooking our food above 118 degrees destroys its enzymes, leaving our bodies to generate the enzymes necessary to digest it.

There are two main problems with this enzyme destruction. First, our bodies cannot produce enzymes in the perfect mix to metabolize our food as completely as the food enzymes nature creates. This results in partially digested fats, proteins and starches that will clog up our body's intestinal tract and arteries. The Eskimos are a remarkable example of this. Eskimo means, "one who eats raw." While living for centuries on a diet that consisted primarily of whale or seal blubber, Eskimos developed no arterial sclerosis. They had almost no heart disease or stroke, and no high blood pressure. Established nutritional doctrine would predict a high incidence of these ailments, but even raw blubber will digest itself completely if it is not cooked and its enzymes are not destroyed. But once you heat even the finest olive oil above 118 degrees, you will not be able to digest it completely. It will clog you up.

More importantly, it has been demonstrated that our bodies produce a finite lifetime supply of enzymes. Every cooked meal we eat causes enzyme production that draws on our finite reserve. A living food meal does not cause this drain.

This can help us understand why an 85 year old has only 1/30 the enzyme activity level of an 18 year old. Aging is really nothing more than running out of enzymes. Cells stop dividing, our immune system fails to handle challenges it managed easily when we were younger. Our enzyme reserve is depleted over a lifetime of eating cooked food. In 1930, Dr. Paul Kouchakoff found that when we eat cooked food, our bodies attack it with leukocytes, the white blood cells that are the cornerstone of our immune system. These cells bring enzymes to the cooked food in an attempt to break it down and get rid of it. Our bodies actually treat cooked food as a foreign invader. No leukocytes are produced when living food is eaten. It is a tremendous burden on our body to produce digestive enzymes and leukocytes. It takes ten metabolic enzymes to make one digestive enzyme. The pancreas of humans and our domesticated animals is twice the size as a percentage of body weight, as mammals in nature. This is a direct result of the overwork we place on it to create digestive enzymes. It's no wonder we feel so tired after eating a cooked meal. We actually burn close to half of the calories we consume in a cooked meal just to digest it!

In nature, all mammals live eight to ten times their maturation age. Humans, and our domesticated pets and farm animals that eat cooked, processed food only live four times our maturation age. In the famous Pottinger cat study, it was demonstrated that cooked food diets result in shorter life spans, congenital abnormalities and eventually, loss of reproductive capability. In lab experiments, mice fed a living food diet live fifty percent longer than mice fed cooked food.

It is amazing to see how all animals in nature maximize their enzyme reserve. If you give a squirrel a raw nut, it will not eat it, but always will bury it. It will only dig it up when the nut has sprouted. They have found sensors in squirrels' noses that can identify a sprouted nut. Raw, unsprouted nuts have enzyme inhibitors that prevent the nuts' food enzymes from digesting it. Only when it sprouts are these inhibitors deactivated.

When our bodies eat the living foods they were meant to, our entire bio-terrain operates in optimal health. All of our cells, organs and systems are able to do the jobs they are capable of in perfect balance. A healthy bio-terrain requires proper enzyme capacity, acid-base balance and a healthy digestive tract. These can be achieved through a living foods diet. With a healthy bio-terrain, our bodies manage all health challenges quite effectively. This is why we rarely see disease in mammals living in nature. It is what we put into our bodies that prevent them from doing what they are capable of. Cooked food destroys our bio-terrain. Living foods support a healthy bio-terrain.

A living food diet leads to a longer, more energetic life. Think of how you feel after a Thanksgiving feast. The burden of digesting a cooked food meal drains our energy. This does not happen with living foods and the extra energy allows the body to focus its resources on cleansing and rebuilding. Less sleep is needed and it is more restful. Only when we eat food that our bodies evolved eating, we will produce the right balance of hormones and brain neurotransmitters.

When Roxanne and I began eating living foods, we thought we would give it a try for one month. After one month, our bodies just went "Wow!" The change was undeniable, and we couldn't believe our energy level and reduced need for sleep. Our vision even improved. We listened to our bodies, and they were right. We hope you will give your bodies a chance to tell you what they want and need.

Congratulations and Thank You

James,

Thank you for the always inspiring letter, but this time you have outdone yourself. It is fantastic to read all these personal testimonies of real people and their experience by going raw. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You are changing the world a letter at a time, making this world a better place.

Love and appreciation from

Hilde Bedsvaag from Norway

Feedback - Gena

Hi Jim!

I've been researching the raw food lifestyle for years now and even put it into practice back in 1993, when faced with life threatening liver disease, it worked. Since then, I haven't taken very good care of my bod and am paying for it, big time! Anyway, I've been searching for simple and quick recipes as I transition and as much info as I can get my hands on... I have done several searches on the internet and today, NIRVAVA! I came across yours! Nothing is by coincidence :o)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love your site! I will be searching it daily!

Many Blessings to you!

Gena T.

Eating well the raw food way

(Haleakela Times) "Raw food is the only diet I have found that simultaneously nourishes the mind, body and soul. I know I am eating in a way that has minimal impact on the planet. It really is in harmony with the environment, the natural order, and it lets me support my community eating local organic produce," says Dave Elberg of Makawao: http://www.haleakalatimes.com/news/story2061.aspx.

One Woman’s Powerful Story

Being a mother of four kids (ages 17, 15, 13, and 11) has motivated me to eat better despite the fact that my children don’t want to hear about healthy eating most of the time. I started to have some health problems after my last child was born. I had migraine headaches every day. My doctor wanted to put me on medication and gave me free samples. One time I seriously thought about it as I sat and cried over the pain which also took my attention away from my children. I read about the side effects and threw the samples away. They sounded worse than what I was already dealing with.

Deep inside myself I knew that my body was lacking some nutrients. My hair was not growing well and was turning gray while I was only 30. At that time a friend recommended to me a diet of fruits, vegetables, and brown rice. This helped tremendously. After about a year, I decided that I was “healed” and went back to my old way of eating. To keep myself awake I drank a lot of coffee. To relax in the evenings I would drink a couple of beers. The headaches came back right away, accompanied by varicose veins and a lump in my breast. I was extremely tired all the time and my hair had gotten thin. I started to develop problems with my blood sugar level. I often became irritable, sweaty, and panicky. Life just wasn’t fun.

At that time I began working at the health food store where I began to receive answers to some of the questions I had about my problems. Alternative health practitioners told me that I had no hydrochloric acid and terrible digestion. They said I was in cancerous condition and extremely toxic. I also had dark spots on my face. At this time I began to read books about raw foods and started incorporating them into my diet.

At first it was very hard. I lost a lot of weight and was told I was too thin by many people, including my family. My friends asked if I was doing the right thing.  The most difficult thing was to cut coffee and beer. I switched to herbal coffee and only drank beer on Saturdays. This ended up feeling like torture. It was extremely hard to focus on Mondays because I would be tired from a bad food weekend. It took until Wednesday before I would feel better again. The body would have three days to heal before I put in on the roller coaster ride again.

One day I realized I needed to get off beer and coffee entirely. I got a dog so that we could jog together. This was very helpful. I could really tell when I wasn’t eating well because I simply couldn’t jog as much. I asked my husband not to drink in front of me. That was hard. We used to always have a beer together when he got home from work. It took me six months to get over drinking beer. Now I don’t care if someone is drinking around me. I don’t crave beer anymore.

After being completely raw for a month I would sometimes lapse into letting myself have some cooked food, usually popcorn. Only then would I be reminded of the taste of beer. I feel once you have done wrong it is as if you have let yourself down and then you get into a pattern of punishing yourself and let all the good intention go. I began to rely on a number of raw food books as a personal support system.

It has been three years now since I first got started eating raw. After being thin for a while I have miraculously returned to my ideal weight. I am at the weight I was when I was a teen, only more fit.

One of the most important things I learned was how to deal with the healing crisis that I would experience on several occasions. I am glad that I had read about them in several books otherwise I may have been turned away from the good I was doing for my body. On three occasions my tongue turned charcoal black, which I learned was a result of a deep detoxing. I had many strange things happen. My breasts expelled dark green stuff. I refrained from calling my doctor despite the fact that I was a bit worried. Then the lump in my breast started to go away. I went through a time where I had such extreme gas that my family avoided being around me. I understand that this was a result of the awakening of my digestive system and luckily this period went away quickly. On another occasion I had a strange boil come up in my mouth that lasted for about four months. As I drank more greens it went down and now it is gone. I have learned not to worry when these strange healing events happen.

I learned how to grow greens like Ann Wigmore and made energy soup according to her recipe as much as I could. It didn’t taste the best and it was a little hard to stay with. Then I heard about green smoothies. I tried it and it was good. They tasted so good that I got my son to start drinking them even though he hates vegetables and greens. He felt so energized from them that we have made them a regular breakfast. Now one of my daughters is drinking green smoothies and loves them too. I have three more in the family and hope they will try them someday soon.

I feel better than I ever have before. I’ve learned to like greens. They satisfy me and now I feel more content with my diet. When the body receives what it needs the cravings go away and you start to focus on the things that make you feel better. You truly do get in touch with your body if you choose to listen to it.

Kay L., Missouri

- testimonial courtesy of www.rawfamily.com.

90% of all deaths in America are caused by the foods we eat

It all began with a young mother suffering from migraines, colitis, and psoriasis covering 90% of her body. Christy Wade began questioning God about her illnesses, and researched the role food plays in our physical health and well-being.

After an extensive change in her diet, she experienced the amazing truth that God created our bodies to be self-healing, when given the proper nutrients: http://www.globaltalkradio.com/shows/wakeupamerica/.

-Thanks to VegMichigan.org for sharing this.

"Beginnings," by Bill Cowley

by Bill Cowley
October 8, 2006

It has been almost two years since I stopped eating meat and started the journey toward raw foods. As I reflect back on this time, which started with a two week stay at The Creative Health Institute in Michigan, I realize that, more than anything, this period has represented a beginning toward a new outlook and lifestyle. While there is still much to learn and accomplish with my diet, I would like to share where I stand at this time.

I don't get ill symptoms in the same way that I used to get them. Before, I was very susceptible to colds, sinusitis, flu, headaches, and joint pain. Now I do not get colds, sinusitis, or the flu. When such symptoms begin to appear, they quickly dissipate and never fully develop. Instead, my energy level falls, and I get some mucus lodged in my throat.

Other times I get this mucus when my diet slides and I get a buildup of mucus from the foods I have eaten, as the mucus is produced by my body to envelope the hard-to-assimilate proteins and fats it has been given. In fact, many of the improper foods that contain hard-to-digest proteins and fats produce a congestive paste that is itself congestive. I also get mucus in my throat as a result of it breaking up and becoming dislodged from my tissues. This is long-standing impacted mucus that comes loose over time as a result of an improved diet.

However, while I don't get sick like I used to, I do still get headaches and joint pain. They are very predictable, and recur according to the success or failure I have in maintaining a correct diet of fruits, vegetables, and nuts and seeds. When I give in to the cravings for foods other than these, or when I get cravings that lead me to eat too much of even the right foods, headaches and joint pain are for me the eventual, inevitable result.

My body, though far from being totally free of toxic matter, has nevertheless - as a result of changing to more easily assimilated foods - gotten cleaner to the point that it now has the ability, due to increased metabolic energy, to immediately confront and eliminate the foods that it before would have to store because of a lack of metabolic energy that resulted from the continual difficult digestion of foods incompatible with human physiology.

This newly formed process of immediate confrontation and elimination, though beneficial in the long run, causes me short-term distress and gives me the headaches and joint pain that seem so debilitating, if only for a period of days. My body, instead of being forced to store foods because of being digestively overtaxed, now immediately lets me know that the wrong foods have come into it.

The body reacts differently as a result of effective dietary change because symptomatic illness and disease vary according to the level and location of toxic residue in the body. It is our areas of weakness and prior injury that often become points where we feel the effects of these toxic residues.

It is, in reality, a matter of cause and effect that is not understood because it seems an oversimplification. Those in the medical community, since they traditionally focus on symptomatic alleviation, deal unnecessarily with complex diseases and cures because the control group - the human population - on which they base their hypotheses and conclusions is in the process of creating diseases that are largely hidden from doctors by time and the body itself.

Thus, doctors generally view disease as an exterior attack rather than an interior process. We, as well, are deceived into believing that disease is mysterious and complex, as we are all locked into a scenario that is both long-standing and pervasive. This deception, far from being an overt act by doctors, is in fact accomplished spiritually. As the Bible tells us (Ephesians 6:11), although we struggle in the flesh, it is not against the flesh that we struggle, but against spirits in high places. Human society - the result of the developed sum total of human history - is merely the means by which such spirits, under Satan's control, accomplish such persuasive training. As a result, because we allow ourselves to be locked into this control by our own selfish desires, we come to believe that it is the developed history of the world by which we are to live - and this history includes belief in the types of food that have been developed over the course of thousands of years to feed increasingly sedimentary populations.

Food has been, and still is, used as a way to gain power by controlling its means of production and distribution. As this avenue has developed over the course of time, those who profit by controlling the means of food production exert influence politically by their wealth, and socially by information and advertising, so that that their influence is not undermined.

The individuals and groups in control become deceived into believing in both the importance of their power and in the rightness of their views. When confronted with truth, whether from others or in their own hearts and minds, they circumvent this truth in order to maintain the power they have secured. They become both deceived and deceiver.

In fact, such a scenario relates not only to food, but to any avenue by which worldly wealth and power are secured - whether it comes from land, air, food, or water, and whether it involves construction, instruction, politics, the military, information services, or other various means. We are all both affected by this scenario and take part in it as well, to the extent that we develop personal agendas that are related to it.

Worldly agendas, then, can, and do, affect every part of our lives; but nowhere has this effect become more sinister, pervasive, and subtle than in the foods we eat - particularly in the enslavement we have to cravings for foods that putrefy within us and poison us because they are not suited to human physiology.

Cravings are, without a doubt, the biggest hurdle I have encountered to creating optimal health. I believe that these cravings are both physically and spiritually driven. Physically they are connected to the toxins that my new diet causes to be released into my bloodstream, and spiritually they are connected to the things of this world that I continue to possess or desire to possess.

These physical and spiritual motivations are, in effect, so interrelated that they are virtually one and the same, and I must overcome both if I am to overcome the food cravings they fuel. Gluttony and greed have the same master, and I am not free of that master. It will be only through focusing my faith on Christ and putting on the full armor of God that I will defeat them.

Nothing is more basic to human existence than physical sustenance. My life, as well as yours, revolves around this reality. The path that God provided for us in this regard is clearly laid out in the book of Genesis. However, even when the day comes that I obtain the clarity that a cleansed body supplies, I know that love, not just clarity, is the ultimate goal; and it must be obtained spiritually, not physically.

Moreover, where the works that love entails are reflected in the physical, they originate in the spirit by the grace of God. The effect of proper food is to maintain the purity and clarity of the physical temple God has given us. Our temples are the means by which we accomplish the spiritual work God has for us in this physical world. The spiritual world itself is a new challenge altogether. Where our dietary quest has the wonderful payback of optimal health, great vitality, and spiritual and mental enlightenment that clarifies knowledge, Satan's legions still work to overcome all of this by yet again fueling our cravings.

The “gloves come off”, so to speak, because while we are no longer deceived by our physical diet, we can still be tempted. Clarity, no longer deceived, is now threatened by temptation. Jesus knew this threat well in His own life, for as clarified as He was, Satan still tried to tempt Him by granting Him the power of this world. Satan does no less to us. This selfish being, granted dominion over the things of this world because of both his selfish sin and ours, still has ways to persuade us against our clarity if that clarity is not grounded in non-doubting faith in Jesus Christ. Satan, then, can use even our clarified body against us. What we have to combat him is the spirit of Christ, as we are told that we are to live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Our spiritual food now becomes more important than our physical diet; but it was really that way all along.

As a final note, I believe there are people who, though deceived by diet, may be as clarified, and perhaps in some instances more clarified, in spirit than those of us not so deceived. They are so because they have so much of the love of God in them that it counteracts the deceiving power of Satan. We have all known people like this. Though deceived, their hearts live in Christ; and He grants that their hearts are not hardened or deceived, though their minds might be.

Thus, it is greater to have a non-deceived heart that loves others in Christ than it is to just have a clarified mind and body through diet. The sum total of our sin as humans precludes knowledge and wisdom to anyone in all areas, but our individual faith in Christ guards against the unpardonable sin of a hardened heart. Where God pardons us, He also decides to whom He gives specific gifts and abilities. All else we must take to Him in prayer.

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Feedback - Carol

Jim,

Wow, Gloria's testimony. Praise God. How exciting to see we can still take responsibility for our own bodies and not believe or wait for the words: chemo, radiation, cancer, death.

I'm excited for the staff for believing in their "work." Just imagine "what if" Gloria was the typical patient and went for chemo, etc. after being healed. I have no doubt the "return of the cancer" would be back.

Wow.... made my day without even knowing Gloria.

Carol

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Reni

What I have noticed is that on raw food is that I, too, feel true hunger very seldom. I could easily eat only 2 small fruit meals and a salad a day and be satiated. This goes to show just how little we really need! Imagine if everyone ate raw food. The quantity they'd eat would be far lower and this way there'd be more to go around for everyone.

- from Reni, on http://www.thegardendiet.com/.

Victoria Boutenko; a medical study

Lapis' notes from a recent lecture in Vancouver by Victoria Boutenko, a raw foodist who has healed her failing health and become an expert in the raw food movement in doing so. In this lecture Victoria discusses a medical study Miami physicians did on her and her husband: http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=26&i=76.

This woman is 56 - so what's her secret?

(The Herald - UK) If you had met Suzi Grant in the 1980s, "anti-ageing expert in the making" is probably not the impression you would have come away with. A broadcast journalist working the back shift with ITV's TVam breakfast show, she would often get home at 4am and got through the "huge pressure" of constant deadlines by indulging her cravings. "I actually looked rougher then than I do now, and it was 15 years ago," she says. "I smoked and drank a lot, as we all did at that time. The job was very enjoyable - but incredibly stressful too."

"I started reading up about health and found that you could avoid all the degenerative illnesses of your 40s and 50s if you took your life in your hands. I was 42." http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/65189.html

Connie

When I arrived here at CHI I was so ill that I was concerned for my life. I was in a great deal of pain, my arm had deteriorated (the cuff is gone and inoperable as well as my spine) and I'm also diabetic and have neuropathy really bad. When I arrived I couldn't walk without the walker, or bathe myself. I am now able to do both and within a week I was able to start living on my own, which I never thought would again be possible. I believe there is hope that I can get better, not just a little by that I can get well. I'm 73 years old, and becoming young again.

-- Connie

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Jackie & Gideon Graff

Teaching raw food preparation began because we wanted to share with others the new life that we had received by eating Genesis 1:29 foods. Eating these raw plant foods enabled us to personally absorb the powerhouse of energy and vitality from the sun, air, and water.

This living nutrition has allowed our bodies to self-heal, during which time we have lost 150 pounds of fat and toxins between the two of us. After eight years on living foods, we now have boundless energy, with normal blood pressure (off all medications), have reduced cholesterol, no more depression or hot flashes or allergies, and have a sense of peace, which we have never had before in our lives.

God has given us the desire to bring this knowledge to others.

- Visit their website at http://www.sproutrawfood.org.

The top seven diets in America

Top Seven Diets in America
From www.MedicalNewsToday.com

The seven diets below are not in order of popularity; they are just the seven most popular diets.

RAW FOODS
THE SCIENCE: Cooking food destroys its nutritional value: Enzymes begin to degenerate; the body has to use its own enzymes to digest food, hastening aging and sapping energy.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Animal protein, and anything heated past 118 degrees.

RAW FOODS IN NEW YORK: Unless you've got a personal chef able to whip up coconut-meat noodles, familiarize yourself with one of the city's three Quintessence restaurants, which serve raw-vegetable soup, raw 'pasta' (thin strips of squash), even raw wine.

READING UP: Raw (came out May 2003), by raw-food guru Roxanne Klein and four-star chef Charlie Trotter.

OTHER RESOURCES: Why Suffer, by Dr. Ann Wigmore; Eating without Heating, by Sergei and Valya Boutenko; Raw Family by Victoria Boutenko; Twelve Steps to Raw Food, by Victoria Boutenko.

www.annwigmore.com, www.chidiet.com

WEIGHT WATCHERS
THE SCIENCE: Foods are assigned point values based on their number of calories, grams of fat, and grams of fiber. Eat anything you want, but stay inside your daily point limit.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Five-course tasting menus and supersize McDonald's meals.

WEIGHT WATCHERS IN NEW YORK: There's a Weight Watchers group for everyone: Creative types meet at 14th Street; fashionistas migrate to 38th and Broadway; at 51st and Sixth, you'll find folks from NBC; and so on.

READING UP: Weight Watchers Stop Stuffing Yourself; www.weightwatchers.com

ATKINS
THE SCIENCE: The body metabolizes carbohydrates first; cut down on carbs, and your body will burn fat. So you can eat all the protein and fat you want and still shed pounds.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Sugar and carbs. After a stringent regimen during the first few weeks (including no more than twenty grams of carbs a day), gradually up your carb intake and ease into a diet low in trans fats, sugars, refined flours, and processed foods.

ATKINS IN NEW YORK: The Atkins Center is located right in midtown. There, an Atkins counselor will develop a personalized regimen for you (212-758-2110).

READING UP: Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, by Robert C. Atkins; www.atkinscenter.com

THE ZONE
THE SCIENCE: Balance the basic food groups: 40 percent carbs, 30 percent fat, 30 percent protein.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Caffeine, artificial sweeteners, one-dimensional meals.

THE ZONE IN NEW YORK: Zone Gourmet delivers three prepared meals and two snacks daily—all perfectly balanced according to the 40-30-30 ratio (800-diet-308; $34.95 per day).

READING UP: The Zone, by Barry Sears; www.zoneperfect.com

PERRICONE PRESCRIPTION
THE SCIENCE: Pounds are shed and wrinkles prevented by eliminating foods over 50 on the glycemic index and by increasing your intake of antioxidants (dark leafy greens, blueberries, cantaloupe) and omega-3 fatty acids (nuts, olive oil, salmon).

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Rice, pasta, bread, refined sugars, potatoes, and juice.

PERRICONE IN NEW YORK: Dermatologist Nicholas Perricone practices in Meriden, Connecticut; if you can't make the trip, pick up his antioxidant skin-care line, Cosmeceuticals, at Saks Fifth Avenue and Sephora.

READING UP: The Wrinkle Cure and The Perricone Prescription, both by Nicholas V. Perricone; www.perriconeprescription.com

LIFE CHOICE
THE SCIENCE: The antithesis of Atkins: a low-fat diet that comprises fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and soy products in their natural forms.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Cut back on meat, sugar, alcohol, and high-fat foods.

LIFE CHOICE IN NEW YORK: Dean Ornish, the man behind Life Choice, is 3,000 miles away. But if you need hands-on coaching, the Avon Salon & Spa's nutritionist, Gayle Reichler, is an Ornish guru (212-310-6363).

READING UP: Eat More, Weigh Less, by Dean Ornish; www.ornish.com

MACROBIOTIC
THE SCIENCE: Eat only when you're hungry, chew slowly, and divide your daily proportions along these lines: 10 percent brothy soup; 30 percent veggies, 10 percent beans and sea vegetables, and 50 percent whole grains—plus a bit of seafood, fruit, and nuts. And lots of twig tea.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Meat, dairy, artificially or chemically treated foods, and caffeine.

MACROBIOTIC IN NEW YORK: Keeping a macrobiotic kitchen can be a full-time job. Restaurants like Souen, Ozu, and Angelica Kitchen can ease the burden. Or contact the Natural Gourmet Cookery School to hire a personal chef, available full-time or for the occasional dinner party (212-645-5170, extension 103).

READING UP: The Macrobiotic Way, by Michio Kushi; www.macrobiotics.org

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Karen Fussell has introduced the "Living Foods Program" to several staff and patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on October 19, 1998. This healthful eating concept was well received and her presentation very dynamic! Thank you for your part in her bringing us this very special program today.

Sincerely,
Sharalyn Davis, RMT
Creative Arts Therapist
Department of Veterans Affairs
Battle Creek, MI
October 19, 1998

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Raw living food story - Dr. Ann Wigmore

Through the American eating habits I developed cancer of the colon, arthritis, hernia, migraine headaches, blood poisoning, depression and gray hair by the time I was fifty….

I knew the only thing to do was turn back to nature….

So gradually I developed the Living Foods Lifestyle and returned to nature. It took me about three years to regain my health.

Today I have improved the Living Food Lifestyle which means being able to regain health in only several months rather than several years...

Dr. Ann Wigmore

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

The benefits of raw foods, by Paul Nison

By Paul Nison

And God said, "I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food."  Genesis 1:29

My interpretation: Eat fresh, ripe, organic raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. These foods and these foods alone were meant as fuel and nutrition for our bodies. In addition to fresh air, sunlight and water, they're all the body needs to thrive. Interfere with this process, and the body will go into survival mode. In this article, I will not focus on the survival mode
eating cooked foods entails. Instead, I'll focus on the benefits that accrue to us when eating the foods we were told to eat by God.

We've all heard about calories, protein, and fat. When we eat the way God instructed, we  wouldn't care about any of them.  If counting calories, burning fat, and eating high protein foods were so important, why are Americans engaging in these practices the most overweight, disease-ridden people in the world?  Listening to God, and getting back to our true body design will keep us healthy.

The way to do this is with raw foods. What are the benefits of a raw food diet? Major benefits are preserving energy and keeping your vitality level as high as possible. Overcoming major and minor diseases are common benefits, and feeling like Superman/ Superwoman is often mentioned.

Healing with raw foods: If you feel sick, weak, lazy, tired, or have a disease, eating raw foods can help you begin to overcome all that. What caused these poor bodily conditions is having supplied the body with low quality food. That produced low quality blood, or poor quality blood leading to the problems mentioned above. Eating the highest quality food will keep your blood clean and reinstate your health. All these negative bodily actions are caused by a lack of oxygen, a result of eating food that allowed
the body very little oxygen. In other words, you are suffocating yourself to death when you eat foods lacking in oxygen. Raw foods contain an abundance of oxygen in mineral form. They are loaded with air for your suffocating body.

Thriving on raw foods: Your body takes much time and energy to digest non-raw foods. If you overwork a machine, it will get old fast and breakdown. A raw food diet is enzyme rich which preserves the body's energy. The more enzymes in the food, the less the body has to work to digest the food. The enzymes go right to work to assist the body in doing the job. What to do with all this energy? Thrive! That's what we'll do on a raw food diet.

Other amazing benefits of a raw food diet:

Cost efficiency:  People often tell me it costs too much to eat healthfully, or it costs too much to eat a raw foods. I used to think so too at one point in my life, but now I just laugh at that since I found raw foods are the least expensive you could ever buy.  They can even cost nothing and often do. What costs more, a banana or a candy bar? An apple, or a slice of apple
pie? Raw fruits and vegetables are the least expensive foods. Then, there are wild foods which can be found all over, and all wild foods are free to enjoy. They're the highest quality foods, the least expensive, and they're 100% raw.

Real fast food:  Does it take longer to eat a banana, or a banana split? An orange, or a hamburger. When it comes to fast food, McDonald's and Burger King can't hold a candle to fruits and vegetables.

The biggest selection of foods to choose from:  Did you know you could eat one new variety of fruit every day for the rest of your life and still not come close to eating all the varieties in the world? Most people in this country limit fruits to apples, bananas and oranges, but there are tons of other fruits sold in markets all over. Exotic fruits are everywhere these days. Enjoy a nice chocolate pudding fruit, or some jack fruit. Or how about a durian? Are you thinking you don't know about these fruits? Did you know that there are over 50 kinds of bananas, 50 kinds of apples out there? Try them all; then you'll realize there's so much to choose from.

Enhancing mind power:  It's a known fact among raw fooders, eating raw foods helped them develop mental powers they never knew they had. It's a scientific fact: more oxygen to the brain will help improve mental capabilities, and we already spoke about how eating raw foods brings more oxygen into the body. Many people had some form of depression until they ate more raw foods; then, their depression lifted or subsided.

Connecting with God:  This is the major benefit of a raw food diet. The more you eat foods God told you to eat, the better relationship you'll have with Him. It's simple. If your parents told you to do something when you were a little kid and you did it, you pleased them and had a good relationship. But if you said no to them, they wouldn't be happy with you. The more you
listened to them, the better they could guide your learning about life. God works the same way. Listen to God and you will have a great relationship with Him. And God said, "I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food."  Genesis 1:29.

The more raw foods you eat, the more you'll experience all these wonderful benefits and so many more. You'll also start to enjoy a personal relationship with God that will enhance your whole life. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Give it a go and eat raw foods!

-- reprinted with permission. Paul's websites are:
http://www.RawLife.com
http://www.TheRawWorld.com

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

A Few Words From Dr. Jim's Producer

Dear Dr. Jim,

I just wanted to take a moment to put in writing my appreciation and admiration for the work you do. I have learned a great deal from working with you to produce the first season of Grassy Roots and truly look forward to the next season of “eye-opening” information.

As you know, I am currently re-editing each episode and as I review and “re-listen” I become more convinced that what you teach and promote has a truth deeper than many may see. We, as a species, have gotten so off path when it comes to taking care of the holy temple of our body, failing to ‘hear’ what comes natural to other creatures, due partially, I suppose, to the gift of free-will and that nagging self-god, the ego, who can be so easily deceived.

But I am no theologian, so will stick to the facts.

When we first began production of Grassy Roots, I had never even heard of the term, “raw vegan”, but quickly became “raw curious” as I began background research, both from your websites, and others.

At that time I had tendonitis in my right elbow and left wrist, from carrying camera equipment and such. I was also plagued with severe intestinal pains frequently, had been for years, so thought it normal. Now, five months later, having done nothing but increase my intake of raw veggies and fruits significantly and all but eliminated meat and dairy, (may have chicken or fish once a week), there is not even a memory of the pain I once felt in my joints.

If my intestines do revolt and give pain, I usually can link it to ingestion of something cooked that I ate only hours before, making me think back to the episode in which we discussed the 12 Steps to Raw Food and the challenges anyone would face in changing to a more natural diet in this day and age.

As a side effect of these dietary changes, something unexpected has also happened. A new Passion has grown! Not just for my life and how I approach living it, but also a strong desire to help others see what is so important about all this. We ARE what we eat and NO other person or corporation controls what we eat unless we ALLOW it. Ultimately, what we put in our bodies, in our minds, in our hearts, is determined by our OWN choices, choices that should be made with only one goal… to live a life fully open to and appreciative of the abundance available to us with the gift of life itself!

I could go on and on, but will stop here. Again thank you so much for your efforts to share this information with the world.

Beth Overgaauw
Capricorn Projects, LLC
GrassyRoots.com

Who is responsible for your health?

A good answer to those who think we're fanatical:

Your answer to this question can increase or decrease the quality and length of your life, so consider carefully: Who is responsible for your health?

Your instinctive response may be that you are, with the help of a few experts. But put even a little thought behind it and you realize it's a loaded question. Because it depends on what is meant by "responsible." Does that mean who is to blame or praise for your current state of health? Does that mean who should be watching out for your health? And for that matter, what is meant by "health" itself?

The rest of the article: http://www.mercola.com/2003/jul/9/health_responsibility.htm.
- submitted by Helen Terry

Smoking and Raw Foods

"This isn't earth shaking and only the latest in a line of personal successes. I smoke .. I know - ugh - and it is past cleaning time for the teeth. I really looked at them this morning - there was NO STAIN from tobacco & coffee on the inside of the lower teeth. Absolutely none - they look just like after a cleaning, only better, in that the "clean" is more uniform & natural looking. I know my mouth - they would be stained at this point in time. And furthermore, they literally "squeak" when rubbed .. obviously no plaque! I'm forever being surprised with little things like this that I didn't expect. We take about 1-2 oz/day, I guess, all said & done. The spraying of the mouth GOOD before bed is to me, the most important of all & done religiously."

- C.T.

Raw, Living Foods Really are Good and Tasty

Reno News and Review: “Raw, living foods really are good and tasty."

First suggestion: You can make a salad by grating those carrots, onions, and garlic in your basement. They might not be leafy greens, but they’ll give you that raw foods energy burst. That’s what they do in Siberia, since they can’t run to the store like us tender-skins and get watercress, romaine, and baby spinach. Actually, that does sound pretty good.

Second idea: consider growing sprouts. Many seeds and grains, from mung beans to sunflower seeds to quinoa to wheat, will easily sprout, and the sprouts have the chlorophyll and vitality of spring shoots.”

Read more: http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=606306

Leafy Healing

The modern food diet of cooked, de-mineralized, de-vitaminized food accompanied by poor elimination, produces a great deal of acid poisons which bathe the cells of the body causing pain, swelling, and inflammation. When accompanied by a lack of organic sodium, calcium tends to settle in the various parts of the system, for sodium is the mineral which helps to keep calcium in proper solution so the body can utilize it.

When this calcium settles in the joints, we have the condition known as arthritis. When it settles in the gall bladder or the kidneys, then we have gall stones or kidney stones. And when it settles in the walls of the arteries, then we have high blood pressure or hardening of the arteries.

So in light of these facts you can see how important it is for us to consume green leafy vegetables which are abundant in organic sodium.

From http://www.TheGardenDiet.com

Thanks! - Judy B

Thanks, Jim.  I need some inspiration right now! After having been 100% raw for 21 months now, I'm still not feeling that great.

It helps to read testimonials about folks who went raw and experienced detox symptoms.

Judy B

Survived the 30 Days

Renata on Raw

So, I survived the 30 days trial period as James' Personal Assistant. And trials we had, minor ones in the office, major ones outdoors.

I survived about 8 snakes, fire ant attacks, combat exercises of the navy planes, and the heat, and the heat and the heat. Yes, we have a/c in the cabin where the computers, tapes and books are located. James was not kidding when he mentioned there is only the cabin on the farm, built originally past the civil war, after Sherman’s devastating walk through the south.

And no, there is no luxury suite tucked away in the woods. It’s rural living at its best.  I like it still. The commute is rather pleasant, about 100 yards from my hideaway. No fumes, no irate drivers, no rush hour, no high gas prices, just a peaceful, short walk through the woods.

I grew up in Munich and have lived over 20 years in the States. Since 1992 I have worked as a massage/colon therapist in various states (CT, SC, MT, NV). I am a CNHP, a certified natural health practitioner. However, the benefits of raw living foods were nowhere mentioned in the studies. The emphasis was on finding out which vitamins are missing in the body, how to test the body for it and then paying good money for them on top of the grocery bill. At times, even dairy and meat were propagated in the teachings.

So, how did I get introduced to raw living foods? I noticed in the last few years that my joints were getting rigid, and over time my fingers and toes were quite stiff in the morning despite of consuming a heap of vitamin pills on a daily basis. My whole body ached. Not a good thing for a massage therapist.

Last July I started a serious juice fast which alleviated the discomfort somewhat. Discomfort is the body talking to you, like the lights on the dashboard in your car - time for a check-up. One has two choices: turn off the lights and pretend nothing is wrong, relevant to the body: take some pills and pretend your health is fabulous. However, sooner than later the body sends out more serious signals. That is definitely the time to act instead of ignoring and covering up the signs. A serious disease simply does not develop overnight. The body has an innate wisdom and tells us in many ways we are off course and adjustments are called for.

To make a long story short, I switched my diet completely to raw living foods, my joints are flexible again, no more aches and pains, a clearer mind and a much more pleasant attitude towards ageing. I feel so much better at 55 than at 25. Is it magic? Absolutely not, just the right fuel for the body. You would not want to put acid into your car tank, why put the wrong fuel into your body? Spare parts for the body are just so hard to come by.

Renata Dorner

Jodi Mardesich

Jodi's journal of going raw at the Ann Wigmore Institute in Puerto Rico. Journal starts on November 3, 2003: http://www.slate.com/id/2090570/entry/2090637/.

Raw journals

Here's a website that can be a resource for raw-interested people; people who are sharing their raw journey, through daily (to every-few-days) journal entries: http://fromsadtoraw.com/RawDailyJournals.htm. (check out Annette, who's lost 117 lbs. being raw, as of July, 2006.)

Before and after going raw - photos

Here are some neat before-and-after photos of people going to the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle and how it affected their appearance: http://www.paulnison.com/beforeandafterpictures.htm.

Inspiring before and after pictures of raw living fooders

Some new raw transformation pictures can be found on Tonya Zavasta’s site, "Beautiful on Raw," at:
http://beautifulonraw.com/html/transformation.html.

Victoria Boutenko and friends

There are a number of testimonials that you'll enjoy on their website, www.RawFamily.com. This family of four reversed all of their health challenges with the Wigmore Raw Living Foods lifestyle after spending time at Creative Health Institute.

Dr. Lorraine Day

Dr. Lorraine Day, MD, had such success curing her cancer with the Wigmore Diet that she made a video about it, "Sorting Through the MAZE of Alternative Medicine."

Dr. J. Glenn Kox

For 46 years I suffered with severe allergies and at the age of 44 developed tricuspid valve problems in my heart. I discovered the Ann Wigmore Program four years ago... Within two months on the program my heart was no longer pounding and on examination no abnormality of the valve is detectable.

As an added surprise, I have found no allergies for several years now. This way of living is the most powerful I have ever found. I have seen it reverse serious illness and just make life better and more enjoyable for those who use it.
-- Dr. J. Glenn Kox, BA, DC