Raederle Interviews Lenny Revell | Eat Live; Live Well Radio Show

Raederle and Jay interview Lenny Revell on Eat Live; Live Well. To listen to the episode, click here.

Oxygen | Radio Show

Today, having a low blood oxygen level is a normal clinical finding for people with chronic diseases. Why is that?

In this episode, Raederle (me), Lytenian and Lenny Revell discuss oxygen, its function in the body, and why oxygen is critical in healing disease. To listen to the audio, click here.

The connection between oxygen and cancer

Dr. Otto Warburg, 1931 Nobel prize winner, discovered a connection between oxygen and cancer. His studies showed that part of the cause of cancer is related to oxygen-deprived cells. He found that cancer cells are anaerobic and thrive in an oxygen-deficient environment.

Warburg also discovered that a slightly alkaline pH in the body meant higher levels of oxygen uptake.

Breathing: How We Utilize Oxygen

When we inhale, oxygen from the air we breathe is diffused through membranes and into red blood cells. Oxygen-rich blood circulates throughout the body and finds tissues needing oxygen.

Enzymes in the body combine with oxygen and initiate metabolic/oxidative processes in the body. One waste product of oxidation is carbon dioxide, which we exhale. Carbon dioxide combines with hemoglobin and bicarbonates and is transported back to the lungs.

Aerobic Respiration

Glucose + Oxygen → Carbon Dioxide + Water + Energy

The above reaction occurs in mitochondria within cells. Aerobic respiration extracts the maximum amount of energy from glucose, because the molecule is completely broken down.

When the supply of oxygen is insufficient, there is a back-up system known as anaerobic respiration, that can release energy without oxygen, as shown:

Glucose → Lactic Acid + Energy

This reaction occurs in the cytoplasm of the cell. It does not put any extra pressure on the respiratory or circulatory systems, because it does not produce carbon dioxide. Enzymatic decomposition of glucose in the absence of oxygen is also known as "fermentation", though in humans the end result is the production of lactic acid, not alcohol, because we lack the enzymes to produce alcohol.

Oxygen & Detoxification

Good health, in short, is the efficient absorption of things we do need, and the efficient elimination of things we don't need.

Detoxification is the process of eliminating the things we do not need.

Removing waste is something all of our cells must do, and must continue to do to maintain health.

Cellular waste is removed from the body through the kidneys, skin, liver and colon.

Part of the waste is dissolved in water and transported through the lymph system and/or blood to the kidneys and liver for filtration. Waste is taken from the liver and kidneys to then eliminated through the urine and bowels. Toxins are also excreted from the body through perspiration.

Toxins even leave our body through nostril mucus, tears, breast milk and menstruation. However, none of these are methods by which the body is purposely disposing of large amounts of toxins, except perhaps menstruation.

Some of the most toxic poisons in the body can only be neutralized through oxidation. This is the job of oxygen-rich red blood cells that circulate throughout the body.

Minimizing your exposure to environmental toxins and restoring oxygen balance in the body is the path to cellular rejuvenation and disease prevention.

The Dangers In Lacking Oxygen

The heart becomes over-worked without adequate oxygen supply from the lungs. Over time, this puts you at risk for a heart attack.

Oxygen is required for collagen synthesis. Collagen is what allows us to heal wounds and keeps our skin healthy and looking young. Lacking in oxygen can lead to lacking in collagen which causes our skin to become wrinkly and less flexible.

Cancer cells have either wholly or partially switched to anaerobic respiration. The more our bodies lack for oxygen the more cancerous cells we have within our bodies.

Increasing Oxygen In Your Cells

Alkalizing Foods

Increase your intake of alkalizing foods. Alkalizing foods are leafy greens, and most fruits and vegetables at large. Acidifying foods are processed foods and most animal products. Dark leafy green vegetables are the king when it comes to get calcium-rich alkaline minerals. To get a feel for just how nutritious vegetables are, take a look at this chart shown to the right.

Hydration

For all aspects of health, it is important to keep hydrated by drinking enough clean water. Water is essential for the utilization of oxygen as well as for the transportation of nutrients and wastes within the body. Without enough water, every bodily function is impaired, including cellular respiration and detoxification.

Breathing Deeply

This one may be obvious: for adequate oxygen you must breathe properly. Deep, slow, steady breaths through the nose into the diaphragm (the belly area) increase the oxygen that is brought into the body. Contrary to what we would be inclined to think, rapid breathing does not increase oxygenation in the body.

Impact Exercises

Daily exercise is vital to oxygen utilization. Our lymph system only moves when we move. We have more than five times as much lymph fluid as we do blood, and yet our lymph fluid has no heart to pump it. Our exercise is the pump for our lymph. For people who spend a ton of time at home behind a desk (like I do), I highly recommend an indoor trampoline for several-minute bursts of lymphatic stimulation throughout the day.

Aerobic exercises such as walking, jumping, swimming, biking, and hiking stimulate all of the organs of the body. While I highly recommend yoga, pilates and Tai Chi, none of these have "impact" to stimulate the lymph system like jumping does. A combination of walking, rebounding (on a trampoline) and yoga (or a similar practice such as Qi Gong) come together to provide a holistic scope of health benefits.

Nature

Keeping plants besides the bed and on the desk is a powerful way to improve the quality of your life. Not only will there be more oxygen in the air (created by the plants), but also, you'll have something green and alive nearby to uplift you. Green has been shown to be the most pleasing color to the human eye. This makes sense, as in the wild it is the color green that indicates a habitat suitable for mankind.

For a particularly powerful boost to your blood-oxygen levels, keep a tray of wheatgrass or sprouts besides your bed and at your desk and eat sprouts and/or drink wheatgrass juice on a daily basis. They'll provide you with oxygen while they're growing directly, and indirectly when you consume them through their alkalizing minerals.

Turn off the heater and put on a sweater!

For incredible relief from dizziness and fatigue reduce use of the heater and air conditioner. Both of these temperature managers remove oxygen from the air, leaving your home and office stale and suffocating. "A breath of fresh air" feels so good because the indoor air has no source of oxygen.

If your home is running a heater/furnace or air conditioner for hours of the day, or all the time, and people are breathing inside, and yet there are no plants replenishing the oxygen indoors, then guess what happens? Your bodily cells begin to starve for oxygen no matter your healthy diet or deep breathing.

Conclusions

Adequate oxygenation has a host of important functions. If you're currently suffering from a lack of oxygen in your body, then increasing the oxygenation of your body will have many benefits, such as increased level of energy and reduced stress.

~ Raederle Phoenix

and Lytenian and Lenny Revell

Quotes From My Sources

"Cancer cells also do not grow well in the presence of oxygen. When oxygen levels are low, cancer cells have more of an opportunity to thrive and multiple. When body tissues have a high alkaline level, they are able to hold much more oxygen as compared to tissues with a high acid level." ~ Alkaline Diet

"An oxygen-depleting diet would consist of one high cooked foods, red meat, sugar, saturated fats, white bread, processed and frozen foods, and carbonated beverages. Switching to an oxygen-rich diet often brings immediate energy and a more vibrant face, skin and positive attitude." ~ Breathing.com

"Oxygen is incorporated by two amino acids, proline and lysine, in collagen chain synthesis. Collagen cannot be synthesized by the fibroblast unless adequate amounts of both proline and lysine are hydroxylated with oxygen. Synthesis requires one atom of oxygen for every three amino acids in sequence. Oxygen is also required in increased amounts during the repair process to provide energy for protein synthesis." ~ Brian A. Youn, M.D.

"Aerobic cellular respiration creates about 30 ATP molecules from each glucose molecule, and anaerobic respiration creates only 2 ATP molecules. Anaerobic respiration releases only a small fraction of the available energy. Cancer cells must feel very tired!" ~ Alkalize For Health

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Spilling The Beans . . . About Beans

What's wrong with beans?

Beans are really hard to digest. Unlike many foods which contain mostly one of the three macro-nutrients (fats, carbs, protein), beans are balanced (and not in a good way), containing a fair amount of each. To complicate things, the carbohydrate in beans is in part in the form of starch.

Carbohydrates take less than an hour to digest alone, yet proteins and fats take multiple hours to digest, even when eaten alone. Macro-nutrients each require different digestive enzymes. Proteins mostly require acid enzymes, and carbohydrates and fats mostly require alkaline enzymes.

What happens when alkaline enzymes and acid enzymes meet in the stomach?

Your stomach must secrete pepsin to digest globular proteins. Pepsin can function only in a highly acidic medium, which must be maintained for several hours.

Ptyalin and other alkaline juices are required to digest starchy foods such as sweet potatoes.

The typical sandwich requires both alkaline and acidic enzymes for digestion. Bread is starchy, and meats and nut-butters are high in globular protein.

Acid and alkaline juices are secreted simultaneously in response to the incoming protein and starch, promptly neutralizing one another and leaving a weak, watery solution in the stomach. Proteins putrefy and starches/carbohydrates ferment.

This putrefaction and fermentation is one cause of disease. It leads to gas, acid reflux, bloating, constipation, and so on. However, you wouldn't have this problem if your gut lining was completely intact and you had plenty of healthy gut flora to break down the beans for you. The thing is, you – your human cells – can't digest beans on their own. You're not equipped to do so. However, friendly gut bacteria are. Unfortunately, few people today have intact gut barriers and gut flora.

Ironically, beans themselves are part of the problem. Not only are beans difficult to digest because of their balance of starch, protein and fat, but also because they are very high in lectins. To understand lectins better, let's look at one of the most toxic bean of all: the kidney bean.

Raw kidney beans contain relatively high amounts of phytohemagglutinin – a lectin – and thus are more toxic than most other bean varieties if not pre-soaked and subsequently heated to the boiling point for at least ten minutes. The US Food and Drug Administration recommends boiling for thirty minutes to ensure they reach a sufficient temperature long enough to completely destroy the toxin. Cooking at a lower temperature (below 80 °C / 176 °F) can increase this danger and actually raise the toxin concentration. Just a few raw kidney beans can kill a full-grown adult.

While most beans don't contain high amounts of phytohemagglutinin, specifically, that's only one kind of lectin that seeds contain to discourage animals from eating them. Gluten (in rye, wheat and barley) is another example of a lectin. These lectins actually contribute to creating leaky gut. Other contributors of leaky guy include candida, endocrine disruptors (BPA, polyester clothing, receipt paper, etc), NSAIDs (like ibuprofen) and genetically modified foods (most conventional papaya, alfalfa, soy, cotton, corn and yellow summer squash).

Many 'allergies' are a direct result of lectins, which are then exacerbated by poor food combinations. The bloodstream gathers toxins from the putrefied, fermented mess as it passes through the intestines, and these toxins in turn cause hives, headaches, nausea and other symptoms commonly branded as allergies. The average American male today carries about five pounds of undigested, putrefied red meat in his gut. Leave five pounds of meat in a dark, warm, moist place for a few days and see for yourself the results of putrefaction.

The solution is to heal your gut, restoring the lining of your small intestine.

In order to protect itself from lectins and other irritants, the colon secretes large quantities of mucus to entrap toxic particles before they damage the colon's lining. When this occurs three times a day the colon becomes lined with a constant thick mucal lining. This lining slowly seeps toxins into the rest of the body. Worse yet, all this undigested food, mucus and gas expand parts of the colon unnaturally. We call this diverticulitis (stretched out pockets of colon where food and bacteria remain for long periods of time). Diverticulitis can then lead to mega-colon, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and/or colon cancer.

Aren't beans one of the most efficient sources of protein?

"I would have to eat almost one and a half gallons of chopped watercress in order to get the protein I receive from ½ a cup of black beans. Isn't it more logical to have a diet that includes beans?"

It is absolutely true that it would take an absurd amount of watercress to get the same amount of protein from watercress as it would from beans – on paper. But in reality, most people are not digesting their beans. At least, not unless they're soaking their beans first and then pressure-cooking their beans. Unless the beans are pressure-cooked, there will still be significant lectins present. They may not be enough to kill you, but it will still be enough to damage the lining of your intestines. Unfortunately, gluten is a lectin that is not destroyed even through pressure-cooking. (Sourdough fermentation, however, does dramatically reduce gluten content – and this is the bread of our wiser ancestors.)

Most people today (especially those of us in the United States) have serious digestive problems from eating so much toxic garbage (aspartame, corn syrup, agave nectar, splenda, MSG, colorings, artificial flavorings, hydrogenated oils, canola oil, and so on and so forth). These digestive problems make eating beans tantamount to disaster.

A weak digestion can not effectively pull beans, legumes, nuts, seeds or grains. Proteins in these foods are bound up balls of amino acids that are terribly hard to pull apart. Also, almost all seeds are rich in lectins as a protective measure. Dr. Weston Price warns against a diet rich in seeds (including beans) due to phytic acid, which is known as an anti-nutrient. He showed how cultures lost their healthy teeth when they converted from a diet of raw milk, fish, and vegetables to a diet rich in seeds (grains and beans) instead. Now, many decades later, Dr. Gundry has discovered the damaging effects of lectins in seeds.

Whether you're trying to build muscle, lose weight, improve your skin, or increase your energy levels – beans are not your friends.

Dense proteins have to be broken into amino acids and then rebuilt into proteins again in the body. When you consume amino acids that are not bound into proteins then you absorb them immediately and easily. The difference this makes for people with a weak digestion, or for athletes trying to build muscle is tremendous. Amino acids found in fruits and vegetables are not dense, bound or globular. Rather, they are readily assimilated by the body.

Many athletes are including more raw food because of the enhanced recovery time and the quicker muscle building. There are athletes who eat nothing but fruits and vegetables and are incredibly strong and healthy. You don't need seeds or animal products to be strong, energetic and healthy. However, most people wish to consume foods besides raw fruits and vegetables. For this reason, I recommend ground flaxseed which is relatively low in lectins, Green Pasture's Royal Blend (a mixture of fermented cod liver oil and butter oil) or perilla oil for vegans, only pressure-cooked beans (and only after you've healed your gut), millet (which is low in lectins and has no gluten), wild-caught fish, raw milk from A2 animals (not A1 cows) fed exclusively grain-free diets, and duck egg yolks from ducks who have never been fed grain.

Anyone with acid reflux, candida, weight issues, high toxicity exposure (like a smoker), IBS, diverticulitis or any colon complications should not be eating beans until healed. Healing fully from one of those conditions can take many years depending on treatment used and severity of the condition. Some people can heal in as little as six weeks when following strict gut-healing protocols, avoiding all lectins, consuming plenty of antioxidants, and long-chain fatty acids (DHA and EPA).

I've met few people in my travels who don't have at least one digestive problem. Even the Paleo diet does not recommend eating beans because our ancient ancestors would not have been able to harvest and prepare a lot of beans in a nomadic culture. Speaking of which, history shows a dramatic decrease in the average health of humans after the advent of agriculture. When we were foragers our diets were primarily raw fruits and vegetables with the occasional fish or other animal. After that, our diets became primarily seed-based.

Digestion Times

To understand why beans are so hard on the digestive system it is important to know about how long it takes to digest various food types.

Average digestion times for a very healthy digestive system (multiply up to 4x for unhealthy digestive systems):

Beans take six hours.

Meats, diary, nuts, avocados, seeds and eggs take around four hours.

Vegetables take around two hours.

Most fruits take about one hour.

Melons take around twenty minutes.

The above is altered by the volume of food consumed, your health, and any food combinations.

It's very important to let your stomach be empty between meals.

Problems that can arise by eating when your stomach already has food in it: gas, acid reflux, lack of nutrient absorption, stomach cramping, inability to lose weight, inability to gain muscle, hormonal imbalance and more.

If you mix fruit and beans at the same meal then the entire meal will take six hours or more to digest and will likely give your body a very hard time.

Someone with stomach ulcers, IBS, severe candida, etc, should not be mixing any of the above food groups in general, except with a few things like lemons and lettuce which can be added to almost anything safely.

Getting Beauty Sleep: Don't Eat Close To Bedtime

If you're not done digesting when you go to bed you won't sleep well. Personally I get circles under my eyes if I am not done digesting before I go to sleep. Hormones that replenish our bodies, burn fat, repair muscle, etc, do not release efficiently when insulin is present. Insulin continues to be present until we've finished digesting our food.

When we eat before bed we digest food instead of healing. This results in fatigue, sore muscles (that didn't recover/heal), aching joints, and so forth.

A very large portion of people never get good sleep and never detoxify their bodies because they eat heavy meals in the morning and in the evening. You will not detoxify your cells or get good sleep while digesting globular proteins found in beans, nuts, and seeds. Because beans take so long to digest, this means they should then optimally be eaten six or more hours before going to sleep. And, because eating something like fruit while the beans are digesting would cause fermentation, gas, and other problems, nothing then should be eaten until bed.

This makes beans seem rather impractical doesn't it? Eat (pressure-cooked!) beans at noon, and then eat nothing for the rest of the day. If you can do that, then sure, beans have an almost decent amount of nutrition for their amount of calories. In truth, eating one large meal a day is actually very good for you. It trains your body to burn fat instead of sugar, which is more efficient and prevents the fueling of cancer cells. Intermittent fasting (not eating for 14 to 22 hours out of each 24 hour cycle) helps your digestive system heal. However, beans are plainly inefficient nutritionally. They pose a hazard to your body while offering little nutrition-per-calorie. Regardless of how many meals you eat in a day, or when you eat them, you're going to crave a fairly similar amount of calories each day, so the important thing is to optimize your calorie intake for nutrition.

That said, what you take out of your diet and lifestyle will have a far greater impact than what you put in. If you remove lectins, refined sweeteners, processed foods, endocrine disruptors (BPA plastic, polyester clothing, etc), genetically modified foods, conventional (chemically sprayed) food, and drugs, you will have incredible results. It doesn't matter as much whether you're eating a high fat diet that is primarily avocados, wild-caught fish and hemp-seed oil, or whether you're eating a diet that is low-fat, high-carob that is primarily local, ripe, organic fruits and organic vegetables.

Calorie Sources

If someone really needs some more calories because they are absolutely too busy to eat enough vegetables then I recommend consuming organic, vegan yogurts based on coconuts or almonds. Fermented products are beneficial to the overall micobiome of your body, and coconuts, thankfully, are not a source of harmful lectins. (Almonds have some phytic acid and lectins, but it is primarily in their skins. By soaking and peeling your almonds, you're on the right track.) You can also snack on organic olives which are source of healthy fats, making them satisfying.

Carrot juice is a great source of calories on a detoxifying raw vegan diet. One measuring cup of carrot juice provides 100 calories, as well as 17% of all the nutrition needed for the entire day (including amino acids). That one cup of carrot juice also provides more than a day's supply of beta-carotene, a powerful and important antioxidant. Visit my Appliance Recommendation Page to see which juicers I recommend.

You may also eat sweet potatoes and cassava flour as sources of lectin-free calories. Of course, virtually any ripe, organic fruit can be consumed for calories.

Why am I talking about sources of calories? Because that is what beans are. We have stored beans, nuts, seeds and grains for thousands of years because they weren't as perishable as fruits and vegetables. They allowed us the bare needs for survival through winter, famine and failed crops. In fact, new evidence suggests that we started incorporating more seeds because they helped us fatten up, and thereby helped more of us make it through the winter.

"Staple foods" are just foods that we can store easily and consume for calories so that we don't die in extreme conditions. Unfortunately, most "staple foods" consumed in excess on a daily basis cause disease. Too many potatoes will cause constipation, too many beans can cause gastritis, too much meat can cause an array of cardiovascular problems, too much grain (especially brown rice, rye, barley, oats and wheat) can result in bacterial problems and leaky gut. Interestingly, our ancestors always removed the hull. They were on to something! The hull is where most of the phytic acid, lectins and other undesirable stuff is. Turns out that white rice is actually better for you than brown rice. Nevertheless, it is still a source of calories – not nutrition.

When it comes to high-calorie foods it is best that we rotate sources. If you feel that you should consume some beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and so forth, that's fine – if you use a pressure cooker and limit the quantities you consume. What is important is that these foods are not consumed in high volume or too frequently. I suggest a single nut a day, a tablespoon of seeds (preferably flaxseed or sesame seed) per day, and if you choose to include beans or lentils, then consume them once a week to once a month.

Who Can Eat Beans Healthfully?

Beans are great for people with absolutely no digestive problems who are very active. If you never have muscle cramps, low energy, depression, stomach aches, headaches, hormonal problems or skin problems, then feel free to eat as many pressure-cooked beans as you feel like eating. If your health is that good, the chances are that you're very in touch with your intuition. Related Article: How to tell the difference between cravings and intuition.

People who are out and about all day along (breathing in fresh air), on their feet, and don't eat any processed foods whatsoever can eat beans daily if they like.

Many traditional cultures knew to soak their beans thoroughly and rinse them several times to remove all the enzyme inhibitors (which are present in all seeds to prevent them from spoiling before it is time to sprout). Enzyme inhibitors inhibit digestion. Just like they also knew the benefits of hulling their grains and fermenting most seeds before consuming them. Soy beans are fermented into natto, miso and temeph. Wheat is fermented into sourdough bread. Natto, as it turns out, is one of the highest sources in the world for vitamin K₂ and subsequently, the culture that consumes natto on a daily basis has zero instances of hip fractures in their elderly.

Note that vitamin K₁ and vitamin K₂ are very different. Vitamin K₁ coagulates blood. Vitamin K₂ tells your body where to put calcium by being the critical factor in creating the transportation mechanism for calcium. Without enough vitamin K₂ you end up with calcium in your arteries (high blood pressure) and not enough calcium in your bones (cavities, bone loss).

When vitamin K₁ is consumed in tremendous quantity, you can convert vitamin K₁ to vitamin K₂. Eating two to seven pounds of leafy greens per day is considered sufficient for keeping bones healthy. If you don't have time to eat a huge salad each day, add leafy greens to a smoothie in the morning and have a large salad with dinner. Or, more realistically for most people today, you can supplement or find a source of raw diary that comes from grass-fed animals. In my case, I make an order for raw goat cream and other products from an Amish farm every six weeks or so. Look for buying clubs or opportunities to buy a share of an animal herd, as it is not legal to sell raw milk in most of the United States. To up my intake of vitamin K₂ even further, I also supplement with Wiley’s Finest Vitamin K₂ supplement which is also a source of long-chain fatty acids required for building healthy brain cells and intestinal lining. There is also some K₂ in the supplement I mentioned earlier in this article, Green Pasture's Royal Blend as well as vitamin D and performed vitamin A.

If you adopt this process of soaking and pressure-cooking beans, lead an active lifestyle and following the practices listed in the next section, you can be someone who can eat beans healthfully.

How To Eat Beans Without Gas

Beans are notorious for giving people gas. After reading the above, now you know why. In order to enjoy beans without gas (or other unfortunate side effects), you must do several things:

Eat beans at least six hours before going to sleep.

Eat beans on an empty stomach (after any previous meals have digested).

Do not eat any other foods for at least six hours after eating beans. (Assuming you're consuming one or more measuring cups of cooked beans. The wait-time in hours can be less with small servings of beans.)

Soak dry beans for two days before cooking. Soak beans in drinking water, rinse thoroughly after twenty-four hours, soak in fresh water for another day and rinse thoroughly again before consumption.

Cook beans thoroughly in a pressure-cooker, so that they are quite mushy.

Do not cook with salt, as this will inhibit the breakdown process and the beans will never become mushy.

Why Have We Been Told That Beans Are Healthy?

There is this myth that doesn't want to die . . . This myth that we must need lots of protein to be healthy. This idea has people looking for concentrated sources of protein like beans, nuts and seeds. Dr. Tel, and many others, are actually now putting together evidence that a high-protein diet is part of the reasons why disease is on the rise. For more information on that, watch the videos on this page. Because of how efficient our bodies are at recycling protein, the average person only needs ten to thirty grams of protein per day – including highly active people. Many people believe they are craving protein when they are actually craving fat. For example, want some almonds? The chances are you're craving fat. Want some chicken? The chances are that you're craving fat. Healthy fats are more useful to your body than protein. You'll get plenty of protein even if you only eat vegetables all day. (But not if you do nothing but drink fruit juices, which would not be a healthy option.)

The other reason the health benefits of beans are touted is because many traditional cultures, such as Native Americans, ate a lot of beans. They did this for survival through drought and blizzards, not because beans are some magical food.

Interesting Notes On Digestion & Enzymes

Digesting Proteins & Dairy

Proteases are enzymes that digest proteins. Examples of proteases that are used in the human body include Pepsin (an enzyme in the stomach) and Trypsin (an enzyme in the small intestine) which digest proteins into amino acids, or polypeptide chains composed of amino acids.

Casein (a protein in milk which makes up about 80% of the protein in cow's milk and 40% of the protein in human milk) is 4.6 (on the pH scale), for example. Casein A1 has been shown to be one of the large reasons people struggle with dairy consumption today. The other factors are the milk being cooked, and the animals being fed unnatural grain-rich diets. To consume milk healthfully, opt for milk that is casein-A2 (from brown cows, sheep, goat, etc), raw, grass-fed, and full-fat.

Digesting dense globular proteins requires pepsin enzyme production in the stomach which requires a very acidic envirnment over many hours for full assimilation.

Digesting Carbohydrates & Starch

Alpha-amylase enzyme facilitates digestion of amylose and amylopectin, two types of carbohydrate. Amylose and amylopectin are starches, or polysaccharides, consisting of thousands of chemically-joined glucose (sugar) molecules that must be disassembled into single glucose particles in order to be used by body tissues. The initial activity of salivary amylase is limited to the time food spends in the oral cavity.

Amylase is active at a relatively neutral pH, around 6 on the pH scale.

Ptyalin is an alkaline enzyme used to digest starch.

Digesting Fats

Lipase enzymes are the kind that digest fat. The lipase enzyme created by the pancreas is alkaline, although there are also some forms of lipase that are acidic.

Facts About Food

Average fruit: 5% calories from protein (as amino acids), 5% calories from fat

Average vegetable: 20% calories from protein (as amino acids), 10% calories from fat

Some fruits that are far away from the average:

Pomegrantates: 11.8% from fat, 6.8 from protein

Avocados: 77.3% from fat, 3.9% from protein

Olives: 88.1% from fat, 2.4% from protein

Apples: 2.7% from fat, 1.7% from protein

Pineapple: 2% from fat, 3.8% from protein

Cucumber: 5.9% from fat, 10.3% from protein

Zucchini: 15.7% from fat, 17.4% from protein

Mulberries: 7.5% from fat, 11.1% from protein

Kiwano Melon: 24% from fat, 13.6% from protein

Some vegetables that are far away from the average:

Cabbage: 3.3% from fat, 12.5% from protein

(Cabbage juice is partly so great for stomach ulcers because the low fat and protein is easy on a distressed stomach.)

Watercress: 7.6 from fat, 50.7% from protein

Spinach: 14.1% from fat, 30.1% from protein

Beet Greens: 5% from fat, 24.4% from protein

Potato: 1% from fat, 7.3% from protein

Alfalfa Sprouts: 25.1% from protein, 42.3% from protein

Fresh Rosemary: 37.5% from fat, 6.2% from protein

The above examples are far from average in either fat or protein or both. However, most fruits and vegetables we commonly find at grocery stores land within 3% of the average. So most vegetables get 17% to 23% of their calories from protein. By combining a healthy mix of fruits and vegetables, you can get enough fat and enough protein without any other foods. It is possible to eat a completely raw diet of just fruits and vegetables and meet all of your needs even "on paper."

A note of caution however: unripe fruits and nightshades are also sources of lectins. They don't contain as much lectin content as seeds, but if you're seeking a raw food diet to heal your digestive system, steer clear of tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, ground cherries and eggplants. Focus on kim chi, sauerkraut, lettuce, and ripe in-season fruits.

I have compiled the nutritional information from the USDA on over one hundred different produce items in comparison charts that compare things by their type. (Fresh herbs is one chart, cruciferous vegetables another chart, root vegetables another, and so on.) It is way more information than one can simply memorize, which is why I made super easy reference charts so that you can find the answers to complex nutrition questions in seconds. These charts are exclusively available in my book The Ultimate Nutrition Reference.

If you're really convinced you must eat more protein, you can get extra amino acids from sprouts (but avoid bean sprouts), spinach, watercress and kale. One can even emphasize protein-rich fruits such as mulberries (available dried and raw from Nutiva's Naturals) and raspberries. However, it is unlikely that you need to emphasize protein, as I explain in my article all about protein.

Photo by Raederle Phoenix, April 2012

Summary

Beans aren't needed for their protein content on a vegetarian, vegan or raw vegan diet. In fact, I've had clients whose main issues stemmed from bean consumption.

Historically beans were very valuable as a food source because they could be kept for times of drought or other hardship. Their role in helping people fatten up also helped them become a staple food. Today, living in a world with wide distribution of fruits and vegetables, we don't have the need for beans anymore. (For some, in food deserts, pressure-cooked beans may still be a great food option when fruits and vegetables are not available.)

The majority of Americans are suffering from some gastric distress, and for these people I don't recommend eating beans at all. It worsens conditions such as constipation, IBS, candida, diverticulitis, stomach ulcers, colon cancer and colitis. If you have symptoms such as gas, abdominal pain, acid reflux, bloody stool, or painful bowel movements then you should not be eating beans – or any lectin-rich foods, which includes most seeds, grain/seed-fed animal products, nightshades and under-ripe fruit.

All of that said, pressure-cooked beans are still a a healthier option than conventional breads, pizza, soda, candies, aspartame, canola oil, conventional meats, conventional dairy, and processed foods. If you have to choose between a typical pizza and a plate of pressure-cooked lentils, especially if this is a conventional pizza versus organic lentils, then absolutely go for the lentils.

If you experience irritable bowel syndrome, gastritis, gas, bloating or acid reflux, here are some other possibilities:

• You eat too many nuts. Click here to learn why nuts can be aggravating to a weakened digestion.
• You eat genetically modified foods. Click here to read about the impact of genetically modified foods on the body, including the nine main genetically modified crops. This article also includes other information related to calming a disturbed digestive system.
• You eat too much globular protein. Click here if you're unfamiliar with what globular proteins are.

Sources

The sources for this article include: The Plant Paradox by Dr. Gundry, Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel Pancreatic Juice, Pancreatic Lipase Enzyme, About Protease, Wiki on Protease, Food Combining, Digestion & Enzymes, Casein.

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Send Fear Into Exile

We come into adulthood with ideas about who we are and where we are going. These ideas invariably guide our actions, and somewhere along the line, one or more of these childhood precepts trips us up. We step back and wonder, where did I get this idea? or why do I feel this way? and it is times like this that we become our most powerful and true self. Through introspection we discover more than books and school alone can ever teach.

Introspection: A Look At My Childhood Concepts

“Women who are too muscular are not feminine.” That was a statement I heard several times as a child. I was also given the false belief that being moderately active would make me muscular and would prevent me from growing voluminous breasts. These arbitrary beliefs were just straws on the back of the camel that was my health, that broke fully at the age of sixteen.

I was fearful of not being feminine enough, beautiful enough, or good enough to have a loving husband when I grew up.

“Don't suck your thumb because it'll make your teeth grow in crooked and then you'll never find a good husband.” That was the statement that made me finally stop sucking my thumb. I stopped out of the fear of never having the love of a man when I grew up.

“I will be very rich when I grow up,” I said several times between the ages of eight and eleven. If you asked me why I would be very rich, my answer would change depending on my mood. Sometimes the reason was because 'I would never let myself be poor.' I had the same logic about being fat, and said, 'I wouldn't let myself get fat.' As if I could somehow will things to be other than they were. Sometimes I reasoned that I would be rich because I would marry a rich man. Sometimes it was because I would have a very lucrative career as a mathematician.

What strikes me about these childhood beliefs in retrospect was that some part of me wouldn't even contemplate that I might be anything other than fiscally rich at the age of nine. What was I so afraid of not having due to lack of money? Who gave me the idea that money meant happiness?

Or did I think that money would give me authority?

I resented being a child because of my lack of authority. I was denied the ability to make my own decisions too frequently to feel safe. Being denied the ability to make a decision once in a month is too much for me.

I balked at anything resembling the usual child-slavery. (The usual behavior of mankind where children are told what to do with no room for their own opinions, feelings, etc.) If I was told to do something there had to be a reason. I would not simply obey.

Resentment From Fear

If you are made made to do something out of fear then you would resent the person who forced you. That is perfectly just. Why shouldn't someone feel resentment? Why shouldn't a child resent someone who is forcing them to do something in fear? Why should anyone, at any age, ever be made to go against their ethics, beliefs, emotions or comfort zone because someone is making them afraid of doing otherwise?

If you have a strong desire to paint, but your mother is a musician and insists you ought to sing... That is all well and good if she sings to you with love, and brings you to music classes with love, and you come because you love your mother and are curious about music. It is entirely different if she says she will spank you, take away your toys, ground you, or prevent you from seeing your friends if you paint, or if you refuse to sing.

Let's say someone is dirty, and they feel that washing is wrong. They are unpleasant to be around because they smell bad and make you nervous. Nobody should say, “You have to spend time around this person or else I will reject you.” And nobody should say to that dirty person, “If you do not clean yourself I will throw you into the river.” Instead, that person could learn that most people will not choose their company if they are dirty, but that it won't be hard to find love if they are clean. If the dirty person must be removed physically from a situation because they are causing health concerns for others, then that is just, but that is different because in that case it is affecting the health of other individuals.

If you are strongly against something, such as abortion, you should not be made to help another person have an abortion under the fear of losing your job. If you are strongly pro-choice, you should not be made to keep a child you do not want to keep out of the fear that society will reject you.

Domestication Of Children Today

Yet as children we're told that we're not old enough to make decisions, and that we do not have the right to choices.

We are given candies that give us cravings for more sweets, but then made to eat soggy steamed vegetables that now taste bitter by comparison. Instead of saying, “Here, take this sweet and be happy [or else]” and then following that with, “Here, you must eat this or else you'll be stunted in your growth,” we can encourage children to make the right choices. We can say, “If you love your body as much as I love mine then you must want to eat this healthy food that will nourish you. If you choose to eat something that is bad for you I won't stop you, but it's not a very kind thing to do to your wonderful body.”

The way in which we're raised is domestication, allowing us to be ready for the adult life where we are continually doing things we dislike, things we don't believe in, and working a daily nine-to-five job where we'll slave away doing things we may even be violently against if we were given enough free will to think about it.

Free Will

We may cling to the idea that we have free will, but do we?

Is it free will you have to go to that job to make that paycheck to get enough money to get by? Are there really other options if you don't get enough time off work to seek another job?

Well, of course there are, but it is very hard and very unpleasant to break out of a box that is so small and so uncomfortable that you can not even turn around within it. It is difficult to garner strength in this crouched position that causes more cramps the longer you're in it. After a while you're in too much pain to want to consider what your real condition is.

You'd rather drink (or smoke, or eat and eat and eat) and be numb and through self-destruction find a little mental peace away from the awareness of the small box you're closed within.

Everything we believe is a chain that keeps us in a pattern. If I strongly believe that I absolutely must eat a certain way to be healthy, then I am trapped.

Instead of putting myself in a box, I want to retain my free will. I do not want to be stuck with one option. I want many options. To attain many options I must educate myself. In the instance of food, if I want to be able to have options then I must learn many ways to eat that create a healthy body, and not become bogged down by one dogma. This is why I've broken out of the vegan norms and forged my own path. I am not subject to vegan dogma, or raw food dogma. I am thinking, reasoning individual. In my article, Beyond Veganism, there is a deep exploration of common vegan myths, health myths, core values and the ethics driving our actions.

Even if I do limit myself in action, it is important that I do not limit myself in thought. I may choose to to make the same choice again and again, but I do that only through my personal experience as to what is best for me. I remain empowered as long as I continue to feel free to reexamine my values and choices.

Education, ultimately, in all circumstances, is what allows us to retain empowerment and freewill.

As soon as something becomes “the only way” you become trapped. If “the only way” to survive is to keep your day job then you're stuck a slave to your boss. He can abuse you, curse at you, disrespect you and humiliate you and you may put up with it because “it is the only way” to survive.

It doesn't magically become easy to change just because you understand that you must change to be healthier and happier.

“Only when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing do we change.”

It is so very true. I didn't become a raw vegan because everything was all happy-go-lucky in my life. I began making dietary changes because my choices were thus: change or suffer horrifically each day unto death.

However, I am not as dogmatic as many vegans or raw vegans I've met. These values I hold are not "the only way" to create peace, prosperity and health on this planet. They are great powerful aids that I am joyful to share with others, but they are not the only way.

Why do we crave authority and riches?

Back to why I wanted to be rich so that I could have authority...

I believed that if I had authority I would have more free will. If there were no people with more power than myself then I would have full command of my actions.

I would never have to go against myself. I would never have to run a race when my body felt like it was falling apart (...thank you so very much you egotistical crass gym teachers...), and I would never have to sing with a dry, itching, swollen throat (...thank you so very much you very disobliging vocal teachers...), and I would never be scolded for being too slow when running or too raspy when singing because I'd never be made to do things so very inappropriate for my condition!

We're often made to feel that life is toil, toil, toil, but I've always felt that was absurd. I still do.

Of course, as a child I didn't think to myself, “I want to be rich, so that I may have authority, so that I will not have to fear anybody anymore.” Of course I didn't. I just thought, “If I were rich I could have lots of dolls, a big house, rich friends and anything I wanted would come easily.”

But I did crave authority and riches. I still do, but now I crave these things so that I can make a better life for myself and for my family and for anyone who wants to learn from my mistakes. I no longer desire these things out of fear, but out of love.

I didn't know I wanted those things out of fear. Most of us do not realize why we want something until much later, if ever.

Honesty In Relationships

I didn't realize until recently why I always wanted to be able to be fully honest in my relationships (including feeling inclinations towards being with other men, or having fantasies, or disliking my partner's friends). I now understand that this desire for full honesty was because I wanted to be able to give and receive full respect for who I am. I didn't want to have to be an image of myself, always pretending to be a certain way in order to be loved. That isn't love at all. That is being fake and being rewarded with small deposits of kindness in exchange for being fake.

What is a relationship worth if you can't be yourself in that relationship? If you're not even you in the relationship, is there a relationship? And if there is a relationship, what is it made of if your half of the relationship isn't even real? And what if their half isn't the real them either?

Then you're playing some sort of game where you both make an image and see if they can play nice together. You might as well play Sims online if that is what you'd like to do. Get into role playing if you can't be you and stop pretending that your image is you when it is not.

That is what it means to live a lie. Every time you do something that is against what you really want to do or say, then you are being an image for the sake of someone else, and you are lying to that person and to yourself. And when you do it for the sake of that other person, are you doing them any favor? If you tell someone your favorite color is blue when really you dislike blue and your entire house is filled with red and black, but you tell them this because they like blue, have you done something good for your relationship? Perhaps it may seem so at first, but it isn't good when they buy you a blue shirt for your birthday and then are so generous that they knit your a blue scarf for another holiday.

And now you're trapped. If you tell them, “I lied and said I liked blue to please you,” now you will be exposed for a fake and the trust in your relationship will be diminished. You will be embarrassed because they were so kind as to make you a scarf with their time and effort and you don't even want to wear it because it doesn't match any of your favorite clothing.

You didn't really lie to please them. What pleases someone is being around loving joyful people. You lied because you were afraid of not being accepted.

And what about that trust? Can you trust someone more than you feel they ought to trust you? If you feel that you have been disloyal and dishonest it is easy to believe that they are lying to you. So now everything they say becomes suspect. They say they create comic books in their spare time, but are they just saying that to impress me?

And as soon as you say to someone, “I'm not sure about my friend, I think she may be making things up just to impress me...” now you've revealed yourself. You doubt your own friends, and perhaps they ought to doubt you in return?

I am not saying that just one instance of doubting somebody automatically shows that you are not a trust-worthy person, but people who lie often have trouble believing that others do not lie often.

Of course, those who eat cooked food every day have trouble wrapping their mind around my diet, and that I do not generally cook food. The first time I ever met a vegan I didn't understand or comprehend what it meant not to eat animals or anything that came from them.

Back when I could hardly walk a quarter mile I found it impossible to believe that I could ever be athletic, and people who were athletic were as alien to me as green marsh-men that live in pineapples at the bottom of the ocean.

Perhaps it is always hard to bend our minds to something different from our own experience. All the more reason to be honest, so that we can rely upon someone's words to convey to us a set of experiences different from our own.

With my husband, I can be fully honest. I can say anything at all that occurs to me and he never loves me less, or becomes jealous. And the reverse is true. He can confide in me about his doubts, and come to me in his moments of weakness. While I might say, “I don't think that is very prudent of you,” there is still love and warmth in my voice. I do not remove human compassion and affection from our relationship because he is hurting or mistaken. Instead of judging each other we kindly prod each other to think about the real causes for our actions.

The Root Cause: Remember To Question "Why?"

How often do most people think about the root cause of something?

Not too long ago someone told me, “When my stomach hurts I eat a particular food to settle it and then it feels better.”

I began to speculate and try to conclude why that was. When I began to tell this person why that might be the case, they said, “Let's not dwell on it. I'll just eat that particular food when I don't feel well and leave it at that.”

I was honestly quiet aghast. How could they not want to know the reason why? This is their own body, and they didn't want to figure out why their choice affected it?

If the stove burns your hand, don't you wish to understand that the stove is hot and how to know if something is too hot? You don't simply live in fear of the stove and never go near it. You seek to understand and control your actions and their outcomes so that they may be desirable.

If you do not question “why?” then you will not be empowered with the knowledge of why something happens. And without that empowerment you will not be able to change what happens.

Without understanding why you are poor, you can not stop being poor.

Without understanding why you are sick, you can not stop being sick.

If someone had been able to explain all of my various conditions to me when I was sixteen and given me the knowledge of what was wrong with me I would have had a lot less years of research to do before I could have cured myself. I had to start with, “What is wrong with me? Why is this happening?”

You can not start with the question, “How can I be rich?” You must first ask, “Why am I poor?” And then it may be wisest to progress to, “Why do I want to be rich?” If you can answer these two questions, “Why am I poor?” and “Why do I want to be rich?” then you will be able to find fiscal wealth, or discover the real wealth which you crave.

I crave the wealth of free will.

I can not have free will if I am not empowered with knowledge. Only when I can say, “This choice will make me happy,” and “This choice would make me unhappy,” can I make the right choice.

Sometimes there is no way to find out without taking a risk and finding out the hard way. This is why the biggest risk in life is to avoid all risks. You must find answers somehow, and one of the most effective ways to find answers is to take risks.

Now, I'm not saying you should jump off a bridge to learn about gravity, broken bones and possibly death. That would obviously be folly.

However, some things can not be so easily learned from others' mistakes. You can not learn, for example, if you like to sing if you never sing. You can not learn if you like to draw if you never draw. Nobody can show you what is in your heart except you. Someone else might be an aid, but ultimately, your experience of life comes from your own actions and perceptions.

Living In Fear

Up until recently my actions and perceptions were very much a product of fear. This is true for most people that we encounter in the world today.

We exercise from fear of fat. We don't exercise from fear of not being feminine. We exercise too much from fear of being called lazy. We restrict our singing voices for fear of sounding bad. We don't plant a garden for fear that it will not thrive under our care. We avoid relationships because we fear rejection. We avoid personal conversations because we fear discovering the fear in our own hearts.

How absurd we can be!

Wouldn't it make more sense to exercise because you love to swim, dance, or run? Wouldn't it make more sense to eat well because we love ourselves? Wouldn't it make more sense to sing because we love singing or to not sing because it does not interest us? Wouldn't it make more sense to try having a garden and put our love into it and continue or not based on the amount of love that poured out of us as a result of planting a garden?

Isn't it better to be yourself and be rejected for being yourself than it is to create an image and have that false non-existent person loved? You can not receive somebody's full love if they are loving an image that is not who you are. You can not respect that person and love that person in kind because they love something that is not you. If you make an image and someone loves that image you may feel guilt, anger, contempt or disgust. These emotions will be a poison to your relationship.

When we're afraid of making the wrong choice, then we are doomed to make the wrong choices.

If you are constantly restricting your child because you're afraid they'll end up just as messed up as you are, then you're making them just as messed up as you are.

If you are constantly restricting yourself because you're afraid of rejection, then you are rejecting yourself and thereby are already suffering worse rejection than can be offered to you from other people.

I have a poem about this topic, and it is as follows:

Send Fear Into Exile

I am angry with you,
Because I'm afraid that you're right.
I am angry with you,
Because I'm afraid that you'll leave.
I am angry with you,
Because I'm afraid of myself.

I am feeling sad today,
Because I am afraid of tomorrow.
I am feeling sad today,
Because I am afraid of yesterday.
I am feeling sad today,
Because I'm afraid to fade away.

You are making me jealous,
Because I'm afraid you love her more than me.
You are making me jealous,
Because I'm afraid that she's prettier to see.
You are making me jealous,
Because I'm afraid that you'll set me free.

I have been struck sick,
Because I'm afraid about finances,
I have been struck sick,
Because I'm afraid of losing friends,
I have been struck sick,
Because I'm afraid.

You have forgiven me,
and I feel love.
You have given me truth,
and I feel love.
You have smiled with me,
and I feel love.

I accepted your forgiveness.
I have forgiven myself.
I accepted your truth.
I have found truth within myself.
I accepted your smile.
Now I smile for myself.

You showed me love,
and I freed myself from fear.
I am not afraid.
I live love.

~ Raederle Phoenix
January 2012

Notice that it was I who set myself free from fear. Someone else can empower you with knowledge and lend you their love, but you must ultimately love yourself and banish fear yourself.

How To Get What You Want

If you want authority, you must ask, “Why am I powerless?”

If you want love, you must ask, “Why do I feel unloved?”

If you want to be accepted you must accept yourself.

If you want to be loved and respected you must love and respect yourself.

If you want change in your life you must not balk when things fall apart, but instead you must build yourself a strong foundation with the bricks raining down upon you.

If you want to be happy you must stop living in fear. Fear is the root of most problems. It is the stem to the anger which causes us to reap a harvest of bitterness and regret. Fear is the root to the tree that bears fruit of jealousy, betrayal and anxiety.

Yet if we sow the field that is our life with love... We find that the fruit is sweet with kindness, the seeds are rich with compassion, the branches are strong with honesty, the trunk is fortified with virtues and the sun that smiles on us is warm and pleasant with love in return.

Because we love we are patient when we choose what nutrients to suck up from the land that our roots are planted in. Because we are patient and not afraid of being too slow we choose carefully and correctly. Because we love we are not afraid that we have wasted our time because we know our branches have sheltered many with compassion, and that our fruit has blessed many people with joy.

In love there is no need to fear death. When you live love there are always people who will care about you and want you to smile as you make them smile. These people will be there for you in life and in death. And why fear leaving a life well loved and lived? You will die with a smile on your face knowing you have left the world a happier more loving place than when you entered it.

In love there is no need to fear anything at all. Strong love and strong fear can not exist in the same person simultaneously. You are either living love or living fear. And no action made in love can be regretted.

The Law of Attraction

This truth is the basis for The Law of Attraction, which simplifies emotions into “good” and “bad.” I dislike an aspect of this view, which is that to call something good or bad is to judge it. We need not be judgmental. We must choose for ourselves what we like and dislike. In other words, we should discern, not judge. The difference? To judge is to find someone or something guilty. To discern is to discover the causes behind the actions. Love brings joy, and we may choose to call this good. Fear brings misery, and we may choose to call this bad.

If you wallow in fear, you reap misery.

If you bask in love, you reap joy.

This is why I strive to send fear into exile.

~ Raederle Phoenix

Originally written on Febraury 5th 2012
Edited, updated, and graphics added on September 21st 2012

Sources of inspiration: The Secret (documentary), Eyes of Horus and Lord of the Horizon (a fantastic duet series taking place in ancient Eygpt with the heart of the book being about sending fear into exile) by Joan Grant, The Art of Happiness (a practical guide to finding happiness) by Howard Cutler and the Dalai Lama, The Mastery of Love (a Toltec wisdom book) by Don Miguel Ruiz, The Continuum Concept (a book that shows us why we are the way we are and how to raise our children to live without fear), Sugar Blues (a book that shows us how to love our bodies by how to avoid some serious poisons present in today's food supply) by William D, and Many Lifetimes (a book that shows us how to stop being afraid of death) by Joan Grant.

To see all the books I recommend, click here for my habitually updated book recommendation page.

To send your own fear into exile, click here to learn about my free e-mail course with lessons that focus on overcoming fear, cravings and vices and reaching your goals.

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