excitotoxins

Here is a great interview on excitotoxins:

http://downloads.truthpublishing.com/Aspartame_Truth.pdf

faint-at-heart

811rv is not for the faint-at-heart.  One thing I have discovered is that it can be extremely difficult, and expensive at times. 

For example, when I go out to dinner with my family I start to crave the cooked foods everyone else is eating.  The smells can get to you.

Sometimes I taste other peoples cooked foods too.  Tasting it is probably the wrong thing to do because it just messes with your head, and your taste buds.  I should probably avoid going to dinner at all, but sometimes that's what the family and friends want to do.

I have been eating tons of banana's because they are high in calories, and fairly inexpensive.  All the comments from people about banana's gets old really quickly though.

It is expensive for me to go backpacking now because basically all I eat are dates.  It takes about 50 dates to meet my caloric needs for one day of hiking (about 3000-3500 calories).

One case of dates is about 11 lbs, and can last a few days if I eat other stuff as well (nuts, low-temp dried banana's and other fruits, etc..).  The current cost of a case of dates from Whole Foods is about $85.  Sometimes I even bring an avocado, or two.

I am getting excited because many fruits and veggies are back in season again.  Hopefully prices will go down a bit as a result.  I had my first watermelon in several months, this morning.

Excitotoxins

As a follow up from my last post here is some good info on excitotoxins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitotoxicity

Books

I have been getting a lot of questions from people asking what books I recommend. Here are a few great books, which I have read and highly recommend.

The China Study
by Dr. Campbell

GrainDamage
by Douglas Graham

80/10/10 Diet
by Douglas Graham

12 Steps to Raw Foods
by Victoria Boutenko

Seeds of Deception
by Jeffery M. Smith

Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills
by Russell Blaylock

I have read many others, but these are at the top of my recommended list.

Enjoy!

naive people

I am constantly amazed at the statements people make. The other day someone started harassing me about my lifestyle. I never met this person and was having a conversation with several others. This person just jumped into our conversation and started blabbering.

This person then made the following statement, "You are probably one of those people who believe all the fish have mercury in them too." This is very strange, I thought the fact the fish in our oceans are contaminated with mercury was common knowledge.

This person also made several comments on how organic produce is no different from conventional. Continuing on she/he mentioned most organic crops have conventional crops planted right next to them anyways.

My suggestion to this person is to do some homework. The truth is out there, you just have to be willing to read. Heck, you could probably even get enough info from watching the news.

Great Recipes

I have been experimenting a bit more and trying to come up with some good recipes. The best one I have so far is my Orange-Sesame-Tahini dressing.
2 tbsp raw organic tahini
juice from 1/2 - 1 Valencia Orange

Mix the ingredients in a blend, and serve on a salad. I have not tried it on fruit, but it is likely pretty good. This recipe is a spin off of Doug Grahams Lemon Tahini dressing from, "The High Energy Diet".

A favorite recipe, of mine, out of Doug's book is the red pepper, celery and tomato soup.
1.5 cups red pepper (I like a little bit more for a stronger flavor)
1.5 cubs celery
1 cup chopped tomatoes

Blend the pepper, and celery in a blender to make the soup base. Then dump the tomato chunks in and enjoy!!!! This is a fantastic recipe. There are many variations of it as well.

Organic vs. Conventional

Many people ask me what the big deal is about organic. There are various issues with conventional produce (non-organic). The first issue people think of is the pesticides on the fruit, and insist you can just wash your fruit/veggies. Unfortunately, washing does not remove the pesticides. The chemicals absorb into the produce and get into your body when you eat them. However, washing does remove some residue from the surface.

Think about it this way. If you took a can of RAID and sprayed your fruit, would you eat it? That is exactly what happens on commercial farms. The only difference is that it is sprayed more than once. Think about what these chemicals are doing to the environment, and our drinking water.

Probably the bigger issue with conventional farming is that these chemicals kill the soil. This is a major problem for us humans who then eat the fruit. Plants absorb their nutrients via their roots, which in turn is used for nutrients for humans. When all the nutrients (good bacteria) do not exist in the soil, the plants are malnourished. Thus, we are malnourished as a result of eating food that is lacking in essential vitamins, minerals, and beneficial bacteria.

As a result of these toxic cocktails being sprayed on the soil, there are some known vitamins and minerals that are missing from conventional produce, such as, B12. There are probably millions of others we feeble minded humans are not even aware of. So what else is destroyed when the soil is destroyed???????

B12 is a very well discussed topic and I leave it to you to do your own research on this. Doug Graham does a great job covering this topic in, "The 80/10/10 Diet".

My advice is to grow some of your own food in your own garden, and buy organic when you can.

I buy as much organic as I can every week.

Where do you get your protein?

Since this is the number one question people ask me about my diet, I figured I would address it here.

Dr. Douglas Graham, the author of, "The 80/10/10 Diet", recommends asking the following questions to individuals who ask, "where do you get your protein?".

1) How much protein do you think you need?
2) How much protein do you think you currently eat?
3) What exactly is the function of protein?
4) Have you ever met anyone with a protein deficiency?

I found it quite interesting to learn that the uses of protein, for the human body, are as follows:
Growth (adults are done growing so their bodies use less protein than children's bodies)
Replacement of damaged, or dead cells
Injury recovery

If you do a little homework you will soon learn that you only need 6% protein (dv) in your diet.

It isn't even necessary to increase this amount when you are an athlete; according to the Institute of Medicine/Food and Nutrition Board.

If bodybuilders supplement more simple carbs (fruits and veggies), their protein needs decrease and their muscle growth/energy increases, as stated by Dr. Doug Graham in, "The 80/10/10 Diet".

You can get all the protein you need by eating plenty of fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds. Also, it is best to keep your daily protein intake at 10% (dv), or less.

High Energy Diet

I have finally found a recipe book worth buying. It is not full of high fat recipes, and spicy, salty unhealthy junk. It is titled, "The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide" by Doug Graham.

I have not tried a single recipe I did not like. The soups in this book are great. There is a great one, which combines mango, and cucumber. It is simply wonderful. There are dozens more wonderful recipes. I highly recommend this book for any serious low fat raw foodist.

I also started reading my copy of the 80/10/10 diet. So far it is the best nutrition book I have ever read.

Salad Mania

Well, I have been working extensively to improve my salad making skills. Everyone keeps telling me they look like a work of art, so I figured I would post a photo above.

Recently I have been continuing with my research in nutrition. I have also been working on making ideal meals for low-fat (10%) raw vegan backpackers. It is much more difficult than I realized. I will post some results when I have some. I may also post more info in my backpacking blog.

Whole banana's turn out well on a dehydrator at 105*F for a few days. They turn out much better than banana chips. Also, they are mighty tasty. I am going to experiment with banana chips and coconut oil because the lemon juice doesn't work very well.