Improve Your Condition Through Raw Food

Interviewer:  You're basically on a raw food diet all the time now, is that correct?

Paul Nison:  Yes.  100% raw, vegan diet.

Interviewer:  Okay.  When you talk to other people and speak at conferences about that, what have you heard from your experiences that other people have been able to be cured from using that same kind of diet?

Paul Nison:  Well, I'm always clear to say that the raw food diet or no diet is a panacea.  There's no one food or one way of eating that's going to say that this can alleviate all disease and illnesses.  So being clear to say that first, and make that clear with people.  People aren't expecting miracles by oh, I'm going to switch to eating a raw food diet and get better from my disease.  But I will guarantee that it will improve their condition because you're eliminating a lot of the issues, a lot of the things in the diet when you go to eating the raw food diet.  So, they're not as surprised.  And I'd say a raw food diet 100% might not be for everyone.  So I'm very clear to leave it open for people to do the best they can do for their situation and what they're willing to do.

Interviewer:  Um-hmm.

Paul Nison:  Not everyone's willing to stop eating cooked food, and they don't have to.  Cooked food is not poison.  And there's no special power of raw foods.  It's a whole lifestyle and it's a whole diet in general that's going to make the change, not one food or one way of eating.

Interviewer:  When it comes to raw food, what's the underlying reason that that's beneficial?  Why is that good for our body?

Paul Nison:  Well, there's several reasons.  The first thing we have to understand is health doesn't begin with what we add to our diet, it begins with what we eliminate.  So we're eliminating a lot of the mucous forming foods that take place when there's a chemical change by heat in the foods.  Not every food, but a good amount of food. 

For example, fats.  There are some raw fats, vegetable fat specifically, that can digest pretty well.  But when you heat them, the body can't even recognize them.  They become so damaged.  And it creates mucous in the body and affects our digestion.

The other thing is enzymes.  When you cook a food over a certain temperature you destroy the enzymes in the food and the enzymes is what gives the body life.  That's why the call raw food live food.  So now when you're eating a food that do not have it's enzymes in it, it's known as dead food.  And they say you are what you eat, so you have live food or dead food.  

So enzymes are the most important thing.  A lot of people mistakenly think that if we cook our food we're destroying the vitamins.  Not necessarily.  A lot of vitamins are preserved even when you cook them.  But it's the enzymes and the fats that are really destroyed when you start cooking the food.

Interviewer:  Are there different levels of destruction, I guess, for lack of a better word?  Because a lot of people say, well what about steaming and compare that to baking?  Can you do a little of bit of that?

Paul Nison:  Absolutely.  Absolutely.  Basically if you go over a hundred and, some people say 108, some people say 110 degrees you start destroying the enzymes in food.  Now, yes.  Frying and microwaving are by far the worst you can do to the food.

Interviewer:  Um-hmm.

Paul Nison:  So if you are going to cook your food, steaming and baking wouldn't be as bad as frying and microwaving.

Interviewer:  Okay.

Paul Nison:  But in all, it's still not raw and I believe raw is the best way.  Now some people say, you know there are studies that say if you cook something like a tomato you might get more nutrients out of them.  Well, on the other hand, tomatoes are the most acidic food on the planet.

Interviewer:  Um-hmm.

Paul Nison:  So in my research, a raw food diet is the, for digestion is a great way to eat food if somebody's healthy.  Now, if somebody has a disease or an illness, it's a completely different story.  In certain cases cooked foods might be better for them than raw foods.  So you've got to look at each person on an individual basis.  But if somebody's just looking for a diet that can give them what they need or get the most out of the food, raw would be the way to go.  Because I believe one of the key important parts of health when it comes to diet is looking for foods that are going to give us the most, using the least amount of energy.  And that would be raw food.  It has the most nutrients that are not destroyed.  It digests pretty easily.  And so on.

Now cooked food will give us the least while making us work the hardest to get it.   So that's why I don't believe it's the best, ideal thing for us to have a lot of cooked foods in our diet.  

So I don't necessarily recommend everyone has to go 100% raw, but the more, the better.