To live a long, natural, happy and balanced life is your birthright. It is not rocket science or something you can get from a practitioner, doctor, expert or prescription. Somewhere along the way we have been misled, conditioned, and distracted from what is essential; we have lost touch with our innate knowing, naturalness and bliss. Animals (in nature) eat only whole living foods and don’t consult experts on how to live healthy, active lives, they also don’t suffer the widespread chronic and degenerative diseases humans do.

My experience is that people who eat a high percentage of living, organic foods are also free of most illnesses, have greater mental clarity and higher energy levels. Our bodies are not designed for processed and over-heated foods and by consuming these manmade foods we pay with our health for ignoring nature’s laws.

From a scientific viewpoint food which has been over-heated is devoid of enzymes which are vital for the absorption and digestion of food. Enzymes are the life force or energy contained in living food and are essential for all the chemical processes within the body. Once heated above 45°C enzymes begin to be destroyed and when we boil food for just 3 minutes at 100°C the enzymes are totally destroyed. Eating enzyme-dead foods places a burden on your pancreas and other organs, overworking them, and eventually exhausting these organs. Many people gradually impair their pancreas and progressively lose the ability to digest their food after a lifetime of ingesting processed foods.

In addition to this 78% of vitamins and minerals are destroyed through cooking as well as 95% or more of the phytonutrients which are nature’s anti-inflammatory and anti-aging agents. In short, by overheating our food we are literally cooking away many of its medicinal properties which our bodies require for health and longevity.

In 1930, under the direction of Dr. Paul Kouchakoff, research was conducted at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry in Lausanne, Switzerland. The effect of food (cooked and processed versus raw and natural) on the immune system was tested and documented. Dr. Kouchakoff's discovery concerned the leukocytes, the white blood cells. It was found that after a person eats cooked food, his/her blood responds immediately by increasing the number of white blood cells. This is a well-known phenomenon called 'digestive leukocytosis', in which there is a rise in the number of leukocytes - white blood cells - after eating. Since digestive leukocytosis was always observed after a meal, it was considered to be a normal physiological response to eating. No one knew why the number of white blood cells would rise after eating. This appeared to be a stress response, as if the body was somehow reacting to something harmful such as infection, exposure to toxic chemicals or trauma.

Dr Kouchakoff’s researchers made a remarkable discovery. They found that eating raw, unaltered food did not cause a reaction in the blood. In addition, they found that if a food had been heated beyond a certain temperature that was unique to each food or if the food was processed this caused a rise in the number of white cells in the blood. The researchers renamed this reaction 'pathological leukocytosis'. They tested many different types of foods and found that if the foods were not refined or overheated, they caused no reaction. The body saw living foods as 'friendly foods'.

To me a living food lifestyle is a not just a new diet. It is about self-empowerment and taking my health and well-being back into my own hands and returning to an easier more natural state of equilibrium. If this resonates with you the good news is there are now so many amazing delicious living food recipes available you will be able to eat better than ever before without the slightest sense of deprivation – it’s just a matter of changing some habits and saying yes to life.

If you would like to find out how you can begin to improve your health right now, one bite at a time, we have developed a 12 month online education program called the LiFE Challenge which will show you how to prepare mouth watering living food dishes and support you in transitioning to a healthier way of being. For more information click here

Enjoy a radiantly healthy, happy life!
Anand