Bernando LaPallo just turned 109 years young and credits the raw diet for his long life. He is living proof that eating a mostly fresh, whole raw food diet as the way nature intended slows the aging process and allows you to live a long life without illness. This is uncommon in our world today, but Bernando lives unlike most, he has eaten a mainly raw vegan diet for over 100 years, 2/3's of his diet consists of fresh greens, he walks daily, drinks pure water and doesn't believe in stress. He has outlived some of his children, has never been sick and is more alive at 109 years than most others in the 60's, 70's or 80's.

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Recently, the only co-op in the Phoenix area, Gentle Strength, and a leader in locally grown, organic produce, went out of business.

Why?

Bottom line... not enough shoppers.

Sure there were probably a few other reasons, but the main one was lack of business.

It's funny, though, everyone I talk to in the area is disappointed and saddened by the closing (as I was). However, I believe there was too much talk and not enough action.

If we want to have better, fresher, organic and locally grown choices, we have to support those organizations. Support them with our shopping dollars and with our help in letting others know about the organizations.

Personally, I'll miss the co-op and the friends I've made there. They were the -only- central place to get fresh, locally grown greens and other produce. All the produce sold was organic and as much as possible was sourced locally. The only choices now are the national chains including Whole Foods and Wild Oats (now owned by Whole Foods), a few smaller chains and some traditional grocery chains that now carry some organic produce. I'm happy that they're all carrying more organic foods, although little, if any, is locally grown. Whole Foods advertises 'local' although a quick walk through shows just a few locally grown out of over 200 produce items.

Alternative sources include farmers markets and visiting farms directly. I've found a few farms and frequent farmers markets on weekends and can find some of the same items. Although not as convenient, it's a solution for now.

Find the local co-ops in your area and support them. It's a fact, traditional companies will continue to market non-organic products and source all over the world unless we 'vote' with our dollars. Using as much locally grown organic produce not only supports your community and the environment, the food is also more nutritious and benefits your health.

We can make a difference.. just do it!

To your best health!

Mark

It's intuitive for children to naturally want fresh fruits as they are growing up, they reach for it, ask for it if you make it available. We teach them to like cooked and processed foods by feeding it to them, otherwise they'd reject it. Nursing is the first step
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A 15 year study following approximately 30,000 postmenopausal women found that by substituting vegetable for animal protein (effectively removing or reducting meat and dairy consumption from their diet), their risks of coronary heart disease and cancer dropped 30%.

This shows a direct relation to the benefits of increasing consumption of vegetables and removing red meat and dairy, essentially a vegan diet.

Read more at:
Associations of dietary protein with disease and mortality- PubMed

We know how delicious and good fruit is for you. Here's a study showing another benefit... seeing.

A recent study published in the June 2004 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology indicates that eating 3 or more servings of fruit per day may lower your risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary cause of vision loss in older adults, by 36%, compared to persons who consume less than 1.5 servings of fruit daily.

In this study, which involved over 70,000 women and over 40,000 men, researchers evaluated the effect of consumption of fruits; vegetables; the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E; and carotenoids on the development of early ARMD or neovascular ARM, a more severe form of the illness associated with vision loss.

Food intake information was collected periodically for up to 18 years for women and 12 years for men. While, surprisingly, intakes of vegetables, antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids were not strongly related to incidence of either form of ARM, fruit intake was definitely protective against the severe form of this vision-destroying disease.

To your best health,

All good things!

Mark

If you're wondering why eating more raw and living foods is beneficial, view this insightful video from Brenda at Living Foods Institute and find out about cancer, doctors, prescription drugs and more. Select 'click to play' below. Enjoy!

Mark

Do you know whether the almonds you buy are raw or not?

The label may say 'raw' but because of a new mandate by the Almond Board of California, which oversees almost 100% of the almonds grown and eaten in the United States, will falsely label almonds that have been pasteurized as 'raw'.

The reason for this mandate seems to stem from 2 outbreaks of salmonella in almonds in 2001 and 2004. From my sources, these incidents didn't involve organic almonds. Why mandate all almonds, both conventional and organic? There have been dozens of salmonella or other outbreaks in other meats and vegetables, should we pasteurize and cook all meats and vegetables as well? Is this overkill?

It's widely accepted that foods heated over 108 degrees are not considered raw. Pasteurization heats foods in temperatures that range from 150-280 degrees for varying time periods. The purpose is to kill micro organisms, but unfortunately it's not a selective killer. It also kills the enzymes and nutrients in the food which are then considered 'dead'.

It's a scientific fact that foods heated over 108 degrees lose their nutrient quality and the amount of nutrients available are significantly diminished. Studies also show that these heated foods also transform and mutate and cause distress to the human body, in particular blood cells. Some studies also show carcinogenic effects of heated foods.

In as early as 1930, research was done in Switzerland showing what processed and cooked food did to the leukocytes, the white blood cells in humans. Prior to this research it was noted that upon eating there would be an immediate increase of the white blood cells which was called "digestive leukocytosis." Digestive leukocytosis means that there is a rise in the number of white blood cells after eating.

It was not know why the cells would increase after eating and this increase usually meant that the person had been exposed to a harmful substance such as toxic chemicals, a trauma or infection.

Then at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry, Dr. Paul Kouchakoff found that eating unaltered, raw food or food heated at low temperatures did not cause a reaction in the blood. Kouchakoff also found that if the food was processed or heated beyond a certain temperature it caused a rise in the number of white blood cells. He found that foods that had been refined, homogenized, pasteurized, or preserved causes the greatest increase in white blood cells.

Of course, there's the issue of truth in labeling.

If a food is pasteurized, it certainly isn't raw. The definition of raw (from the Random House dictionary) is:

1. uncooked, as articles of food: a raw carrot.

2. not having undergone processes of preparing, dressing, finishing, refining, or manufacture: raw cotton.

Mislabeling is not only wrong, but can be criminal. Consumers ought to have an informed choice, to know how the food was altered, or not altered. This seems to go against any 'truth in labeling' movement and deceives the public.

The mandate is planned to take effect in the fall of this year (2007). Enjoy your raw and living almonds now, after the fall they may not be available. To contact the Almond Board of California and share your views, visit their web site at:

http://www.almondboard.com/utilities/FORMContactUs.cfm

or call them at: (209) 549-8262

Also, the Weston Price Foundation has put together a great background and list of people to contact.

To your BEST health!

Mark

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