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The best perspective for your health

7 The Transition to Raw Food

Various methods to cleanse the colon, our primary defense organ against diseases. Importance of intestinal flora. Colonoscopy.

Wicker basket with freshly picked vegetables and salad.© CC0, congerdesign, Pixabay
The 10 articles relating to raw food were revised in 2014. All of the other articles are new.

Summary

Before you start on a raw food diet, you should prepare your entire digestive system (digestive tract) so that you can more safely benefit from your efforts.

The gut is the system of organs that takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients.© Public Domain, BMK / LadyofHats, Wikipedia

There are several ways to do this, one of which I will recommend here.

I find the others to be mostly unpleasant.

Raw food can, of course, be introduced gently, but colon cleansing is a proven method. See also detoxification.

If you started with the first article in this series about raw food, you have already read why the intestine is probably the most important “health organ” for your immunity against diseases.

Given its important immune functions, it is well worth the effort to cleanse the colon. Afterwards, it will be better able to promote a healthy environment of microorganisms.

You probably are also familiar with the fact that enzymes in the mouth, stomach, and intestine (duodenum and small intestine) break down food, and the body absorbs suitable elements in all of these organs. I assume you understand the benefits, functions, and importance of the gut flora (or gut flora of the colon), which is also called the gut microbiota.

You are familiar with the three phases of transitioning to a raw food diet: the adaptation of the digestive system, your sense of taste, and your body. Changing over to a raw food diet is voluntary; you should not begin until you are convinced of the benefits of doing so.

My recommendation for colon cleansing

If you have a family history of cancer (colorectal cancer), it is very important to get a colonoscopy as this is an important preventative measure. And, for example, if any colon polyps are found, these can be removed directly. You will receive important information about the condition of your colon. Colon cancer at its early stage can usually be taken care of with surgery. Advanced stages of colon cancer are fatal.

How do I start with raw food?

1. Switching to raw food is an important step

You might have heard good reasons to change over to a raw food diet, but you may also have heard of disadvantages. Do you know what own health condition is and have you learned how to get advice? If you still have concerns, simply take the time to weigh the pros and cons.

A colorectal polyp in the lining of the colon (ileum) prior to removal.© Public Domain, J. Guntau, Wikipedia

Colonic polyp in the sigmoid colon (ileum) before removal. Such early detection and removal is an important measure to prevent cancer (cancer prevention).

The link includes information on the great importance your diet has in preventing cancer. Cancer protection would be the positive result and animal-based products certainly do not contribute to that!

Meat promotes colon cancer and stomach cancer, a fact that you can now even read on Wikipedia.

Why not spend time in a raw food clinic or at a raw food hotel and meet people who have experience eating a raw food diet? Not quite so personal, but perhaps just as interesting would be to ask questions in a raw food forum on the Internet or follow these types of forums. But then you will really need to have the ability to recognize what is most important and have a good understanding in order to identify recurring themes.

1.1. The switch in general

When switching to raw food, you should know that an existing massive fungal infection in the gut (e.g., candidiasis) reacts differently than with cooked foods since raw foodists often consume quite different types of food. In the beginning, it is important to watch out for enzyme weaknesses or metabolic disorders. Although these may be rare, they do occur. If you think you could have irritable bowel syndrome, you should get an examination.

You can usually tell right away from the way you feel whether a specific type of food agrees with you. If you have difficulties, you may need advice. Through the Internet, you can meet people who are in the same situation. They usually enjoy helping out.

Trust, but be careful whom you trust

Animation of Missing square puzzle.© Public Domain, Trekky0623, Wikipedia

Something on the topic of reason and logic although at first glance it appears very paradoxical. There is a good reason for the empty square even though the individual interchangeable shapes appear to be exactly the same in both cases.

An animated solution to this optical illusion can be found at the end of this article.

In fact, your body weight will automatically return to its “biological ideal weight” within about four to six months of eating a raw food diet.

My experience

People who are truly “poisoned,” such as heavy smokers or people who consume a lot of protein may experience different symptoms. The body begins a kind of detoxification, which may temporarily make preexisting problems worse or bring new problems to the surface.

However, if you have problems during the transition period, I would advise that you find a doctor who has experience with raw food diets. If this isn’t possible, you should look for an understanding doctor who can assist you and, if necessary, check out any “strange symptoms.” Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to provide a list of such physicians.

In this age of the Internet, it is even easy for beginners to share their experiences. Share your experiences with us or the readers at the end of this article, perhaps also your experiences with doctors. We would specially like to list physicians who are interested in raw food as doctors are not allowed to recommend themselves.

1.2. Switching at an older age

When the body has been abused for decades, the transition to raw food is often difficult. Some people are only able to give up old familiar habits and plunge into an adventure after they face a life-threatening health crisis. In addition, many of these people suffer from dental problems, digestive difficulties, enzyme weaknesses, and also a less than optimal gastrointestinal system caused by decades of cooked food.

Make a compromise

Book cover of "The Raw Gourmet", Nomi Shannon. See also the article.© CC-by 2.0, Nomi Shannon, Foundation Diet and Health

Numerous books are available on how to prepare delicious raw food.

There is currently a lot more pressure for people to change their diet in the United States than in Europe since the majority of Americans have poorer eating habits. Most people there eat to satisfy their palate, not the needs of their body.

2. Gut flora and nutrition

Few people know how extremely important the gut flora is for the human body. Dysbioses (dysbacteriosis) and intestinal mycoses, in particular, cause immune deficiencies and a lack of vital substances.

Bacteria — friends or foes of humanity?

In any case, a healthy person has a very different type of gut flora as part of their microbiome as compared to an unhealthy person. But even in healthy people, there are a number of reasons why variations are common.

Colonization by bacteria at birth occurs quite differently for a caesarean (caesarean section) than for a natural birth. After this, the nourishment the infant receives, its eating habits as a child and adult, and some additional factors are of great importance.

There are approximately ten times as many microorganisms in the intestine than there are cells in the human body

A poor diet and/or the wrong type of gut flora occasionally lead to putrefaction in the colon. Such putrefaction occurs because the passage time for food from the mouth to anus with the “Western diet" is between 7 to 60 hours for men and 10 to 70 hours for women. This information was provided by an internist (internal medicine). Another internist stated that half a day to four days is normal.

The time the food spends in the individual sections

Nuts in their shells: walnuts, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, brazil nuts..© CC-by 3.0, Kazvorpal, Wikipedia

Culinary nuts stay good for a long time if they are stored properly, even for years. This image shows nuts in shells, walnuts, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, and Brazil nuts.

Nuts and similar products do not spoil when stored in a dry place for several weeks or months. Fresh fruit, on the other hand, takes only a few days to weeks to rot. But the differences between various types of fruit are enormous. Vegetables do not stay fresh as long, but even so it takes a few days before there are visible signs of the decay process.

But unrefrigerated milk, meat, and fish spoil much faster. An egg would also be attacked very quickly by microorganisms if there were no protective shell or packaging. Cooked food usually spoils faster than raw food.

These processes are also much faster because the temperature inside the body is much higher than normal room temperature. And animal products tend to move through the intestines much slower than plant-based products.

It is not without reason that the colon has to be cleansed

3. Colon cleansing

You now know the reasons and advantages of doing a colon cleanse before switching to a raw food diet. It will help you to avoid the problems described above.

Gray wrote: Long-term malnutrition can disturb your digestive system so much that just eating an apple can cause problems. The digestive system should be able to adjust to the much shorter passage time of raw food within approximately one week.

Reasons and advantages of doing a colon cleanse

3.1. Overview of the different methods

For Gray, deposits and sediments in the intestines play a big role. He believes that a colon cleanse before the actual transition to raw food is valuable. Some authors recommend enemas, fasting, and teas made from dandelion or thyme. This is not always enough, says Gray.

Enema, colonic irigation, clay

Photograph of a psyllium seed husks pile.© CC-by-sa 3.0, Bastique (Cary Bass), Wikipedia

However, clay minerals should not be used for too long. Since psyllium seed husks decimate the lactobacilli (alt = lactobacteria), daily use should not exceed two months [249-118].

Coffee enemas (Gerson Therapy) are an especially common method of colon cleansing in the United States.

Taking medicinal herbs is more effective in handling mucoid plaque

If you do not want to “endure” enemas and have to gather together numerous active ingredients, then fasting will only result in partial success. There is also a less complex procedure, which I explain after the section on therapeutic fasting.

3.2. The simple detox cleanse

A simple detox cleansing (mechanical intestinal cleansing) with Glauber’s salt or Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) generally suffices. You can get these, for example, at your pharmacy. Glauber’s salt is the common term for sodium sulphate decahydrate (hydrates) and is considered a simple laxative. It accelerates defecation and works against constipation. Laxatives should not be used regularly, unless they are so prescribed by a physician.

Colon cleansing can cause problems — particularly true in the case of children — because of the stress on the kidneys (glomerular filtration rate, GFR). Bowel obstruction, stenoses, unexplained abdominal pain, heart failure, renal failure, or electrolyte imbalances would also be reasons not to do a colon cleanse.

Epsom salts
Glauber’s salt

Tip: Before starting a detox cleanse, give your body two days without any overly acidic foods such as meat, cheese, milk, white flour, sweets, alcohol, coffee, black tea, and green tea. You should eat only fruits and vegetables to give your digestive system a break. To get a real detox process started in your body, this would be followed by a week or two on a strictly vegan diet with lots of fruits and vegetables.

4. Alternative therapeutic fasting

Fasting has long been a method of disease prevention and has many other therapeutic purposes. There is also an explanation for its effect on the body. As part of the metabolism, intermediate degradation products (intermediates) are created in a stepwise process from protein, fat, and sugar molecules. By combining these degradation products with oxygen (oxidation) or with the help of enzymes, a healthy body breaks them down relatively quickly to the end products carbon dioxide, urea, and ammonia.

The kidneys, intestines, lungs, and skin excrete these substances. With many diseases, this degradation and the subsequent excretion slow down. The body then accumulates intermediate metabolites. Fasting breaks this vicious circle by reducing the supply of food greatly or, in the case of a complete fast, stopping it all together.

To maintain normal metabolic activities, the body has to make greater use of the stored substances. As a result, “unimportant” substances are increasingly broken down and excreted. The body cleanses itself this way. Fasting is not only used for curing existing diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, and allergies), but also for preventing diseases — for example, as part of a spring detox.

Juice fasting, tea fasting, olive oil fasting, fast with betonite
Two glasses of mint tea from fresh leaves. Tastes great and promotes good health.© CC-0 1.0, congerdesign, Pixabay
Peppermint tea made with fresh leaves is delicious and promotes good health. Chamomile is known to have even more effective healing benefits, but is less popular. Melissa tea, on the other hand, is generally well liked.

If regular bowel movements do not start shortly after completing the fast, water enemas will help. After you break a fast, it is best to start by eating half a banana and then choose a very bland diet as a transition. A bland diet consists of easily digestible foods, which can also be raw food.

5. Alternative juice fasting

Another easy method is to take apple cider vinegar and combine this with a juice fast. The biotin contained in apple cider vinegar is required for the synthesis of fatty acids. And for this reason, it is effective in cleansing the colon.

Apple cider vinegar flushes out any deposits stuck to the intestinal mucosa, and, thanks to its antiseptic action, it protects the intestines against infections. In addition, pectin absorbs toxins created by putrefaction before they enter the blood.

It is recommended that you drink two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water; the vinegar can also be mixed with juice from artichokes, carrots, radishes, or beets. The vegetables should be raw, for example, as a fruit vinegar vinaigrette.

Juice fast

In addition, I would recommend that you drink apple cider vinegar as described above. This is a way to avoid colon cleansing with enemas or actual fasting, which most people find to be unpleasant. It is very important not to eat anything during this time.

However, most raw foodists likely do not do any colon cleansing or juice fasting before starting on their raw food diet as they were not informed about the benefits of these. However, I try to provide as thorough of information as possible.

"Green Star" juicer with different vegetables suitable for juicing.© CC-by-sa 2.0, Ernst Erb, Foundation Diet and Health Switzerland
There are a number of different types of vegetable juicers (juicer for fruits and vegetables) available, from manual devices up to this very expensive machine (an older model).

6. Robert Gray method

I am actually opposed to methods for which an author also sells ingredients or tablets. But after reading Robert Gray’s booklet titled "Das Darmheilungsbuch, Gesundheit durch Kolon-Sanierung" (Book on healing your intestine, achieving health through colon cleansing), I came to the conclusion that he has successfully conducted this treatment for several years and that it is well thought out. His method avoids colonic irrigations.

In my opinion, he does make some dubious conclusions, (e.g., lymph mucilage) and describe a few procedures that I am skeptical of. For example, I am skeptical of his eye diagnosis or rather iridology. However, I would still like to introduce his method here in a little more detail.

A simple but effective method for “stressed Westerners”

Gray believes that the colon is the key organ responsible for excretion of mucoid substances (mucus-forming) from the lymph and writes that is the case even if this idea may be new in orthodox medical circles [249-38]. He justifies his concept with the observation that large amounts of light-colored, mucoid substances are found in the colon after manual lymphatic drainage or brush massage.

Mucoid mucus

Gray combines the positive effects of herbs and seeds with other measures. The brush massage helps the lymphatic system to better eliminate the released substances. It is much more effective than the best medicinal plants lobelia and English plantain, which are, for example, recommended by Dr. J. Christopher.

He recommends iceberg lettuce, yeast, and cabbage and other vegetables with a lymph-cleansing effect. Lemon balm tea does the same.

Left bowl with soybeans, right pitcher with soy milk.© CC-0 1.0, bigfatcat, Pixabay
“Soymilk is produced by soaking and puréeing dried yellow soybeans in water in a ratio of about 10:1. To remove the remaining digestion-inhibiting toxins (trypsin inhibitors) from the mixture soy has to be cooked for about 20 minutes. Traditional Chinese and Japanese preparation methods differ.” (Wikipedia)

In addition, Gray strongly recommends a strict vegan (plant-based) diet since animal-based products (especially dairy products) increase mucus production in the digestive tract and hinder the cleansing program. He recommends continuing this diet after the course of treatment in order to continue to support optimal digestion.

You may eat as many fruits and vegetables as you want, but if you also consume relatively small amounts of dairy products, tofu (soybean curd), white flour products, and other mucus-forming foods, the accumulation of rotting waste in the colon will continue. The few people who truly eat a mucus-free diet will also have to remove accumulations of waste material that have collected prior to their change in diet [249-29].

6.1. The components of this course of treatment

Gray recommends cleansing herbs consisting of plantago, barberry root rind (berberine), fennel seeds, bark of the alder buckthorn (buckthorn bark as an effective laxative for the colon, glucofrangulin), ginger root, myrrh, raspberry leaves, rhubarb root (because of anthraquinones such as emodin and rhein), peppermint (menthol), sorrel, Devil’s Walkingstick root (probably aralia spinosa), and lobelia.

In addition, he integrates other herbs including alfalfa (lucerne), dandelion root (bitter compounds), horsetail (for silica and flavonoids), chickweed, marshmallow root (mucilage), sorrel, rosehip (galactolipid), "hawthornberries", Iceland moss, seaweed, and licorice (e.g., because of glycyrrhizic acid — see also problems with high blood pressure), as well as amylase and cellulase as enzymes. All of the necessary vitamins, minerals, and trace elements are found in these.

And you should also take liquid bentonite (healing earth). This acts like a magnet or sponge and absorbs toxic filth in the entire digestive tract. Bentonite is believed to be able to bind one hundred eighty times its own weight in toxins, bacteria, and parasites.
It should be taken together with psyllium husk powder

Manual lymphatic drainage, self-executed.© Public Domain, Nazareth, Wikipedia

6.2. Specific steps

Since you might want to know what you are getting into, I would like to provide a review of the main points of the program here. For a certain length of time, you would take purification tablets, an intestinal bulking agent, and lactobacilli. Per teaspoon of intestinal bulking agent, you drink a cup (250 mL) of liquid. You continue to eat your regular diet, but ideally you would eat a diet of raw vegetables and fruits.

More information

Gray offers three different types of intestinal bulking agents (Massebildner), one of which is called Intenstinal Bulking Agent III (Massebildner Normal), 340 g.

This intestinal bulking agent is a prebiotic soluble plant-based carbohydrate that supports, promotes, and nourishes lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, the probiotic microflora in our gut.

Intenstinal Bulking Agent III

Gray divides the treatment into the dosage levels A through I; the first five levels (A–E) last for three days each, the next two (F and G) last for two weeks each, and level H lasts three weeks. The final level (I) does not have a set time frame.

You take only bulking agents as follows

At the beginning of the cleanse, you may experience reactions. If this happens, go back to a more tolerable level. Then go through the following levels again. The days indicated denote the minimum time. If constipation occurs, you should drink more liquids or even better yet, get an enema or colonic irrigation. If you take the bulking agent on an empty stomach, discomfort or heartburn may occur shortly thereafter. This can also happen if larger quantities of softened toxic material return to the alimentary canal.

Chronic inflammatory bowel disease and medicines

After three to five weeks, in particular, the same bowel movement can contain feces of different colors. This occurs if instead of putrefaction-forming substances, putrid material is excreted. If undetected intestinal parasites are present, they will also be excreted.

The program should not exceed three to five months so that sensitivity to the herbs is maintained and homeostatic resistance does not develop [249-138].

6.3. Brush massage

Colon cleansing can be intensified with a brush massage. Take a bath brush with a long handle and plant bristles. The brush does not get used for bathing, but is kept dry. Don’t brush back and forth, but instead brush lightly from all parts of the body toward the abdomen. You, for example, brush the neck, shoulders, and torso with sweeping movements.

Brush the arms and legs toward the abdomen. The procedure takes about four minutes and is very pleasant. The brush massage can be done daily, but you should reduce it to only twice a week after three months, so as not to produce a habituation effect.

6.4. Rejuvelac

This beverage, which you can easily prepare yourself, is recommended by various raw food authors, including Dr. Ann Wigmore. Her successors maintain an informative raw food website [living-foods.com]. Most authors use grains as the starting product.

Beverage Rejuvelac in glass, fermented from buckwheat sprouts. You can make Rejuvelac yourself.© CC-by-sa 3.0, Veganoo, Wikipedia

Rejuvelac is relatively well known in the United States. You sprout grains such as quinoa, barley, millet, buckwheat, or rice or use fresh seedlings. You leave these in clean water for two days at room temperature.

Then you compost the seedlings and use only the ready-to-drink liquid. An additional drink can be made from this first batch within the first 24 hours, but only once because otherwise it spoils.

In Romania, it is common to make bors from wheat bran. In other Eastern European countries, borscht is a raw or cooked soup, with or without natural fermentation of beets.

There is a long list of products available that are spontaneously fermented. But few of them are raw and made without soy or milk. List of fermented foods. See kombucha as an example. Marinating or pickling are ways of preserving foods.

Prepare your Rejuvelac

7. Theory and practice

If you have read through my writings on colon cleansing, you’re either convinced by a method or you might ask yourself What’s all this ‘magic’ for — why not just start straight away with a raw food diet? The following is a response that could be expected from an internist: Within three days before an intestinal surgery, the colon gets cleansed. I have seen a lot of colons from the inside and after this they are clean.

I myself did a juice fast for a good 10 days when I first changed my diet although at the time, I didn’t even know about the “necessity” of a colon cleanse. I’m sure that did the job. After that, I developed a bread substitute for breakfast called Erb Muesli, which contains a lot of fruit. But even before this, I didn’t eat too much bread.

My experience

One more thing. The acidic environment in the stomach serves two purposes: one is to dissolve substances that are soluble by acid and the other is to kill microorganisms. The stomach acid then can also kill the lactobacillus during passage through the stomach.

The industry has developed stomach-resistant capsules that release the desired microorganisms once they get to the intestine. However, writers such as Gray state that these are dead microorganisms. I have not yet been able to get clarification here since there are conflicting opinions even within conventional medicine.

The views of Viktorus Kulvinskas, a well-known enzyme researcher

7.1. Enzymes and raw food

Enzymes are catalysts that are involved in all metabolic processes. Without enzymes (via peptides and polypeptides made up of amino acids), your digestive system cannot metabolize vitamins, trace elements, and minerals efficiently.

Enzymes in our food are many times more sensitive to temperature than, for example, vitamins. Light and oxygen also destroy and inactivate them.

So what good is it to take vitamins that don’t contain the necessary enzymes [224-12]?

Dish with colorful beans salad. Legumes contain a lot of proteins.© CC-by-sa 2.0, Paul Goyette, Wikipedia

The human intestinal mucosa does not have the enzymes needed for the very complicated splitting of oligosaccharides found in cooked legumes. Oligosaccharides are medium- to long- chain sugars. Many carbohydrates remain in the intestines and only bacteria and fungi break them down further. This breakdown leads to the formation of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane. You may experience bloating, discomfort, or gas.

However, sprouting legumes such as lentils, mung beans, or chickpeas transforms the almost indigestible oligosaccharides into digestible monosaccharides. Sprouting activates life; cooking destroys life [224-14].

7.2. When will you have successfully switched your diet?

I divide the change to a raw food diet into three phases: adaptation (adjustment) of the digestive system, taste, and the body. Of course, it depends very much on how you go about making the change.

If you have a serious illness, I would recommend “letting your body feel” an immediate 100 % change. If you are switching because of a change in viewpoint, then you could go about making the change more slowly. The first step is to cut out all “bad substances.”

By this I mean “artificial products” such as coffee, chocolate, sweets, cooked meats, fried or grilled foods, and au gratin. At the beginning, you might still eat steamed vegetables and possibly boiled potatoes, but no bread or baked goods. Erb Muesli can serve as a bread substitute. Perhaps as time goes by, you may even cut out all animal products. You would then cleanse your colon using one of the methods above. Next you would switch to a completely raw food diet.

Only now will your digestive system begin to adapt. You can support this process, for example, by eating raw sauerkraut. This provides the intestines with the very important lactobacillus bifidus. This “plant bacteria” is also available in enteric-coated tablets to be taken orally.

How important healthy gut flora is
Raw Natural Food with Guacamole Dip in Whole Foods Market, USA, Spring 2013.© CC-by-sa 2.0, Ernst Erb, Foundation Diet and Health Switzerland
I highly recommend making your own guacamole because that makes eating raw food more of a pleasure. There are a number of ways to prepare it and it’s easy too. Personal image, spring 2013.

The first transition phase may sometimes be hard at first, especially if other family members around you continue to eat cooked food.

Only if you strictly adhere to the diet for the first two weeks, will you stop craving certain foods, for example, sweets. Your sense of smell will slowly change and the raw fruits and vegetables will become more and more flavorful.

Vegetables, in particular, such as carrots, beets, celery, celery root, chicory (endive, frisee, raddichio), broccoli, and tomatoes provide for a wide range of taste experiences.

7.3. Insurmountable difficulties

It can take three months (see the book review on Salt Sugar Fat regarding salt) for your sense of taste to adjust. Positive changes will occur in your body, and exercise and physical activity will only add to the effect. When you look at “before” and “after” photos, you will see what I mean.

You can practically “feast” on vegan raw food, especially if you place a special emphasis on vegetables. For someone who is not yet a raw foodist, this can be hard to imagine. I understand. Please take pictures of yourself before starting with a raw food diet and then again six months later. Wear only a bathing suit, swim shorts, or underwear and stand in the same position for both photos.

If you are less than 22 pounds (10 kg) overweight, you will reach your new weight within six months. Further weight loss will depend on your current BMI.

It would be great if you could send me your success story, if possible, with pictures — especially if I may publish it. Please, however, try to include a lot of information that might help others on their path. Please use the comment section below (also the option to select “internal”). Thank you.

But if you can’t manage a complete transition, then at least begin to eat a raw breakfast by trying Erb Muesli. At lunch, you can eat fruits, berries, and nuts of all kinds. A snack can consist of apples. For dinner, you could steam well-seasoned vegetables and forego pasta and bread.

If you or your family can’t get along with only vegetables, then instead of potatoes, eat organic brown rice. Eating avocados also helps you to feel full. Plant-based foods without any animal products lessen the problems described above, especially when you alternate between raw and cooked food. For the evening, try first eating a variety of raw vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, and celery with homemade guacamole. Eat dinner as early as possible and nothing else after that.

7.4. Cancer prevention

Here are a few reasons for a vegan lifestyle from the German Wikipedia article on cancer prevention. Interestingly enough the article on the English Wikipedia site is rather short and incomplete.

Some of the measures and habits are scientifically proven in their effectiveness by a number of epidemiological and retrospective studies. ... Approximately half of all cancers are estimated to have been avoidable simply by lifestyle. ... Cancer screening however is not part of cancer prevention. ...

Foods that have cancer-preventing effect
Natural asparagus, organic cucumbers in vinegar infusion, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, avocado.© CC-by-sa 2.0, Ernst Erb, Foundation Diet and Health Switzerland
Natural asparagus is good raw, as long as it isn’t too big. It isn’t raw in this image, and the organic cucumbers in vinegar probably aren’t either. But this type of food still has protective effects, even if not as effective as raw food. Personal image.

As part of the EPIC study, which has been in progress since 1992 in ten European countries, eating habits, body weight, size, and body fat distribution of about 519,000 participants (all healthy at the beginning of the study) are being statistically recorded (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition).

Some of the initial findings

Abstaining from tobacco use and avoiding alcohol works wonders. I am therefore including the whole quote here from Wikipedia (German version):

Statistically, 25 to 30 % of all cancer-induced deaths in developed countries are attributable to long-term tobacco smoking. Between 87 and 91 % of all lung cancers in men and 57 and 86% in women are caused by smoking cigarettes.

The link between smoking, alcohol consumption and lung cancer

The tabloid press and media are still filled with well-packaged advertisements, which serve as trend setters. For example, the public listens to the tales about how good red wine (instead of grapes) is a reason why the Mediterranean diet is so healthy, which is unfortunately not true. Other types of deaths not caused by cardiovascular problems are simply more common.

To find answers to the questions, “How do I start with raw food” “How do I eat raw food” and “How do I prepare raw food,” you may have looked for a raw food cookbook. As a thank-you present, an emeritus professor from Munich recently sent me a small cookbook that I highly recommend. It is called "Rohvegan, mein 4-Wochen-Selbstversuch (Raw vegan, my 4-week experiment") by Claudia Renner (German only, 2014).

There are also numerous English-language raw food cookbooks available on amazon.com. You just need to search “raw food recipes.” The website living-foods.com also offers a number of interesting recipes.

Missing Square Puzzle - Solution as animated GIF© Public Domain, Fibonacci, Wikipedia

Solution: The slightly different course of the hypotenuse makes more space when the masses of the total triangle are apparently equal even though the shapes are differently arranged.

The small triangles have a slightly different angle. The illusion can be seen at the end of construction.

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