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Karen Knowler

Tonya Zavasta

Markus

Philip McCluskey

Dave the Raw Food Truck Driver

Amazing Healing of Bethany

Sherif Kamal

Preparation

We will now cover everything you will need to to begin the transition.
There are many ways to prepare to become a raw vegan. The following methods worked great for me. I will begin first with the health and motivational tools I used. There will also be a list of food preparation tools.

Tools for Monitoring Your Health

     1. Blood Pressure Monitor
     2. Blood Glucose Monitor (optional)
     3. pH Strip Monitors
     4. Home Cholesterol Test Kit (optional)

                                              Tools for Food Preparation

     1. Blender
     2. Juicer
     3. Food dehydrator (optional)
     4. Air-tight Plastic or Glass Storage Containers
     5. Pure Drinking Water

                                                  Food Shopping List

     1. Fruits and vegetables
     2. Flax oil (preferably Barleans)
     3. Various raw nuts and seeds
     4. Barley Grass Powder (optional)

     Why do I list these particular items? You would't actually have to have any of them to get started except for the food and water. Having the home testing items is a great way to determine your beginning state of health without having to spend a lot of money. Also, the information you get from performing these home tests will give you scientific medical proof of the improvements you are making in your health as you go along. Later, if you feel the tempatation to give up, you can refer back to these improvements.
     For example, if your blood pressure was 145/85 in the beginning and after a few weeks it is 118/75, you would certainly have to evaluate if it would really be wise to begin eating hamburgers and french fries and have your pressure return to the previous high level.
     As far as the cholesterol and blood glucose monitors, these would not be necessary if you know you are not having problems in these areas.
     The pH test strips are very inexpensive and will tell you a lot about your health in general. If your body is in a state of acidity, you are setting yourself up for various physical and emotional problems. The same is true for a body that is too alkaline. pH strips can be found in almost any medical supply store and sometimes in a regular drugstore.
     An inexpensive juicer is great for juicing fruits and vegetables and is especially useful for preparing carrot juice. Any brand will do but I happen to prefer the Breville Juicer because some of the juicers I've used in the past have thrown food particles everywhere and the Breville doesn't. You can purchase them at nearly any Foley's Dept. Store.
     I consider a blender to be mandatory because, because you can prepare fruit smoothies, vegetable smoothies, green smoothies, liquid salads, and various shakes, nearly anything you can do with a juicer but with more fiber, which is very important, especially for colon health. I personally use a VitaMix blender. they are expensive but they will blend anything and they will last for years and years.
     A food dehydrator is not absolutely necessary in the beginning but later on you might want one to make dried fruit bars, granola bars, or just dried snacks in general.
     The flax oil is important for many reasons which I will not list here, except to say that including flax oil is one of the healthiest ways to make sure you are getting an adequate intake of omega 3's and phytonutrients. You can read more about flax oil here. I have no great preference as for brands of flax oil but I have always found Barlean's Flax Oil to be of the finest quality and always fresh. I purchase it from Whole Foods which you can find in nearly every city. Whole Foods or Sprouts are both great sources for the items you will need for the raw food lifestyle that you can't find at a regular grocery store.
     The air-tight containers are simply a way of keeping juices and smoothies fresh and to maintain their nutitional value. Some people prefer mason jars because they seal so well, but inexpensive plastic jars with screw on lids function just fine.
     The Barley grass powder is very healthy as you can see from the following article taken from, “Barley Grass”, by Betsy Block, NATURAL HEALTH Magazine - Oct 1999 pg. 44.

On the Medicinal Benefits of Barley Grass Powder

This Nutrient-packed "Green Food" May Fight Several Types Of Cancer, Clear Up Skin Problems, And Heal Ulcers.

WHAT IT IS - Barley grass (Hordeum vulgare) is the seedling of the barley plant. It is usually harvested about 200 days after germination, when the shoots are less than a foot tall.

NUTRITIONAL VALUE - A concentrated source of nearly three dozen vitamins and minerals, barley grass is particularly rich in vitamins A, C, B1, B2, folic acid, and B12; calcium; iron; potassium; and chlorophyll. Unlike most plants, barley grass provides all nine essential amino acids (those which your body can't produce).

HEALING CLAIMS - Barley grass is a powerful antioxidant that is believed to help the body kill cancer cells and overcome a variety of ailments, including acne and ulcers.

HOW IT WORKS - An antioxidant called alpha-tocopherol succinate - a potent relative of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) may be responsible for much of the plant's anti-tumor action, according to Allan L. Goldstein, Ph.D., head of the biochemistry department at George Washington University's School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., who has studied barley grass. Though its mechanism is unknown, alpha-tocopherol succinate seems to inhibit several types of cancer, including leukemia, brain tumors, and prostate cancer.

According to Yoshihide Hagiwara, M.D., a researcher in Japan and author of the book "Green Barley Essence" (Keats, 1985), barley grass helps cure skin diseases and ulcers by promoting the growth of new cells. It is not known exactly how this happens, although barley grass is high in chlorophyll, an antibacterial green pigment.

THE EVIDENCE - There have been no clinical trials of barley grass. In an experiment at George Washington University, Goldstein and his colleagues exposed leukemic cancer cells to dehydrated barley grass extract. The extract killed virtually all of them. Encouraged, the researchers then subjected brain cancer cells to the extract. It eradicated 30 to 50 percent of these cells. In a third trial, the extract inhibited the growth of three types of prostate cancer cells by 90 to 100 percent.

In Japan, where barley grass extract is popular, there is anecdotal evidence that it helps the body heal from many illnesses. In one informal study, a Japanese dermatologist observed a group of 7.5 patients with skin diseases ranging from melanosis (darkening of the skin) to eczema. The patients who took barley grass extract healed faster than did those who did not. They also noticed improvements in appetite and bowel regularity.

HOW TO TAKE - Barley grass is widely available in powder or pill form and is best taken on an empty stomach, 30 minutes before or two hours after a meal.

For disease prevention, Hagiwara advises taking 2 to 6 g of powder - dissolved in water or juice - two or three times a day. To treat skin or stomach ailments, you may need to take up to 12 g of powder two or three times a day. Expect improvements within three months.

CAVEATS - People with eczema or acne may notice some skin aggravation when they first take barley grass. Also, barley grass may initially cause nausea, diarrhea, or constipation. If any of these symptoms occur, you may want to cut back to 1/2 g twice a day, then slowly increase your dosage until your body adjusts.

NUTRIENT PROFILE

BY WEIGHT, dehydrated barley grass has 11 times the calcium of cow's milk, 5 times the iron of spinach, and more protein than sirloin steak. About 2 teaspoons (6 g) of barley grass powder contains the following*;

CALORIES 17
PROTEIN 1.4g
CALCIUM 30mg
IRON 3mg
POTASSIUM 170mg
VITAMIN A 3,120 IU
VITAMIN B1 15 mcg
VITAMIN B2 140 mcg
FOLIC ACID 52 mcg
VITAMIN B12 1.7 mcg
VITAMIN C 19 mg
CHLOROPHYLL 32.6 mg

This article shows how important it is to use barley grass powder in the beginning. After a while, some people discontinue its use because they realize that they are more experienced with their daily food intake and are careful to include an adequate amount of greens in their daily regimen in the form of salads, green smoothies, etc. I still take one teaspoon of barley powder three times a day because I feel better and have more energy when I do.
I usually use BarleyMax which is produced by Hallelujah Acres which can be found at www.hacres.com. This particular brand is a combination of barley grass powder and alfalfa.

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