Ten Questions for David Wolfe

Asked by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition December 2006

Copyright www.TheBestDayEver.com

1.

How do you feel about whole grains? Where do whole grains fit into the raw food diet? As someone who chose to convert to a 100% raw diet, do you believe that whole grains are not an essential food? DW: Whole grains are part of the grass family. They are grass seeds that have been through thousands of years of human breeding. I believe from experience eating wild grasses in many different climates all over the world that grass is a natural human food and therefore so are grass seeds. Every major world army from the beginning of history all the way until World War II was a grainfed army. Standard rations included a pouch of raw grain (wheat berries, etc.) worn on the belt for every soldier. If you ran out of food, then each soldier would eat the grain raw. No cooking. No sprouting. Eat the grain raw. This is the truth about grain. They, like every other food, are meant to be eaten raw. You simply put the raw grain in your mouth (e.g. hard winter wheat berries) and start chewing. At first the grain is hard, but it quickly softens; then becomes chewable and ultimately digestible. It actually tastes pretty good. Eating any kind of green vegetables and/or wild plants after chewing up raw grain is fine. However, eating fruit after chewing up raw grain will cause problems because the raw grain has an amylase inhibitor that inhibits your bodys ability to produce the sugar splitting enzyme amylase.

2.

Im wondering how to incorporate raw foods during the winter season. Can you suggest a few raw winter recipes?

DW: Winter raw foods: Honey Nuts Seeds Roots (onions, garlic) Apples Sauerkraut Dried Fruits Cured Fruits (olives) Seaweed Sprouts (grow them in your windowsill) Certain Fruits (citrus is in season in the winter) Recipes? Hmmmwell that is not my strong suit as I am a blender chef, so Ill give you one recipe for food and one for drink: Starving In A Wood Cabin In The Forest Sauerkraut-Garlic Delight: Makes 1 Bowl for 1 Person: Garlic (1 or 2 diced cloves) Sprouts (2 or 3 heaping tablespoons) Sauerkraut (1 or 2 heaping tablespoons) Hempseed Butter (1 or 2 tablespoons) Hempseed Oil (2 or 3 tablespoonsI like a lot of oil) Walnuts (6 walnuts) Hot Chocolate with Raw Cacao: Makes 1 Pitcher for Several People: Make nearly a pitcher of your favorite tea. I personally like herbs from the Amazon and/or Central American forests (i.e. Pau DArco, Cats Claw, Vanilla, Cacao skins, etc.) due to their familiarity with cacao which is from the same region. Blend your favorite tea into the following: Cacao Nibs (3 tablespoons) Cacao Butter (1 tablespoon) Honey (1 or 2 tablespoons) Maca (1 or 2 teaspoons)

Almond Milk (rawuse as you like) 3. While you recommended eating cucumbers while traveling, I'm sure there's more you eat at these times. Can you give us some real specifics for how to do the 'raw' lifestyle while traveling and when visiting others? DW: Here is a list of the raw foods I typically travel with: Cacao beans (with skins) Cacao nibs Goji berries Schizandra berries Cacao butter Vanilla beans Nori seaweed Cucumbers Oranges Here are some other things I take with me: Medicinal Mushrooms Aged Garlic Extracts (Kyolic Vegetarian formula) Camu Camu berry powder MSM (methyl-sulfonyl-methane) powder Krill Oil (best overall source Salt (Celtic, Himalayan, Eden Hot Springs, etc.) Daily Routine while traveling: Usually when I wake up in the morning I drink a liter to a liter and a half of the best water I can find. Sometimes I will add pinch of Celtic sea salt, Himalayan salt or Eden Hot Springs salt to my water. During my next round of water (breakfast), I will add dried herbs and/or herbal extracts to the water, mix it and drink that. Ill snack on seeds (usually pumpkin) and fruits (usually low in sugarsuch as goji berries) throughout the day. If I am really stretched thin on food, Ill eat cacao nibs, goji berries, raw cacao butter and schizandra berries. Sometimes vegetables too, if they are of good quality.

For dinner, it will be either a cacao-based superfood smoothie containing about 10-15 ingredients (coconuts, cacao, goji berries, spirulina, honey, bee pollen, maca, medicinal mushrooms, etc.) or a salad with lots of variety (parsley, lettuce, olives, hemp seeds, dulse, kelp, olive oil, avocados, tomatoes, cucumber, etc.). It depends on where one is traveling and what is available. 4. Where can we get a copy of that very disturbing pesticide list you were reading from? What is it called? DW: My very capable assistant Dianne found it a few years ago and luckily printed it, before it later disappeared. Now you might be able to find it onlinegood luck! The document is called: Food and Drug Administration Total Diet Study Summary of Residues Found Ordered by Food Market Baskets 91-399-1 September 2000 5. What are some foods that you would suggest for a raw baby (besides bananas & avocados)? DW: Hemp seeds Soaked goji berries Soaked or fresh figs Blueberries Lettuce Cold-processed Coconut oil Cold-processed Olive oil Homemade apple sauce Spirulina (after one year) Small infants (under two years old) do not have a completely developed liver, so they are far less capable than adults in their ability to digest bitter compounds found in many plants/herbs. Also, raw honey is a no for children under one, but a definite yes for children between 5-10. Young children, under one, cannot detoxify a certain very

rare toxic organism that is found in some honeys. Children between 5-10, who eat honey, have higher IQs. 6. With all of the oceans and seas becoming increasingly contaminated, should we be at all concerned about consuming sea vegetables? DW: Yes, you should be concerned. I mainly use Maine Sea Coast Vegetable products. They are certified organic seaweed and they routinely test their seaweed for industrial contaminants. Other than Maine Sea Coast, I get my seaweeds from Quebec or Iceland. 7. I noticed that a lot of the raw foods are dehydrated. Other than the obvious decrease in water content, does this alter the mineral and antioxidant composition? DW: Dehydration probably has no effect on the two items mentioned in the question: minerals and antioxidants. Vitamins can be destroyed by dehydration. B vitamins, due to their water solubility, may also be affected. Enzymes are not affected by dehydration. 8. What are the benefits of juicing vegetables rather than eating them raw? DW: Juicing is like taking a supplement. Within 20 minutes of drinking a fresh vegetable juice, the nutrients are in your arteries and veins. Also, the absorption rate of juice is 99%, whereas, even the best human digestive systems in the world are claimed to only absorb 40% of the food value eaten daily. Therefore, juices can recharge and rejuvenate quickly; whereas when we eat food, energy is required to digest (digestion is the number one zapper of energy) and less than 40% of the food value will be liberated. Blending food is also valuable as it breaks fiber down, making digestion easier. The entire premise behind digestion is turning our food into a liquid. We often hear that cooking tomatoes increases the

available lycopene antioxidant content by five times. Blending tomatoes also increases the available lycopene antioxidant content by five times. Blending however avoids the heat/oxidation, as well as water and enzyme damaging properties of cooking. 9. Can you explain how, as a vegan, you came to eat ants? Do you feel like you would eat other animals if they had the nutritional value that ants do? DW: The research on Vitamin B12 and veganism is clear and well documented. I had been a strict vegan for the better part of 15 years and I didnt have a Vitamin B12 deficiency (no symptoms), but was at a level that was considered low. I think laboratory-created supplements are great for some people, but I was personally never really comfortable taking them (too artificial). Due to studying herbal medicine and ants in general, I came to discover that in many herbal systems (especially Chinese medicine) certain varieties of ants are given the highest rankings as food-herbs (as high or higher than ginseng, goji berries, reishi mushroom, etc.). I enjoy the ethics of Daoism and the great Chinese herbalists who had a desire to preserve life and avoid killing whenever possible, but there is an awareness that everyone is unique and needs certain types of nutrition at certain times in ones life, this may include animal food. Built into the herbal backbone of Chinese medicine is this important life preserving ethical consideration. Although considered an animal, ants (to me) do not rank in the field of consciousness where mammals rank. I personally would not kill a mammal, reptile or bird to live. Killing conscious animals creates bad karma. 10. For someone who would like to adopt a 100% raw diet for the first time, what are some easy transition foods that

you recommend? DW: Transition to Organic food first. Second, transition to as much raw food as you feel is comfortable and/or do a raw-food cleanse. Third, here are some helpful foods to add: Goji berries Cacao Green juices Young coconuts (really fun) Organic fresh salads Celery juice Vegetable snacks (cut up carrots, celery, etc.) Seaweed (especially kelp) Blended soups (avocado, lemon, pumpkin seeds, parsley, bell pepper, dulse, olive oil, sea salt, etc.) Foods to be careful of overeating during transition: Nuts Dried Fruits Nut butters Bread or bread-like products (e.g. pretzels, potato chips, tortilla chips, etc.) Below is a list of great transition dishes you can find in some raw-food recipe books and in most raw-food restaurants : Raw Vegan Ice Cream Raw Pasta Raw Lasagna (incredible!) Raw Pizza