In Case You Missed The Meeting

12/11/06 Raw Health and Happiness Society Meeting Notes

Leader: Roger Haeske

Topic: The Missing Link To Raw Food Diet Success... Are You Eating Enough Mineral Rich Foods? Most raw foodists think they do, but in all truth they probably get and or absorb only half or less the mineral rich foods they need.

* Learn What Fruits Are High In Minerals
* How To Absorb The Nutrients In These Foods
  In The Most Efficient Manner
* How To Make These Foods More Appealing.

Here is the handout I brought in to last night's meeting. We had a very nice meeting and discussion going. I think you'll find the chart below quite interesting. If you want to succeed with going raw, an easy way is to attend as many of these meetings as possible. Then you'll see from the more experienced raw foodists, that staying raw is quite easy when you've got the 100% raw food mindset.

** Learn All About Popeye's Super Food **

The first food I analyzed for its alkaline mineral content was celery. Then I analyzed spinach and found it was much higher than celery in alkaline minerals. In fact, spinach was high not just in minerals but in virtually every major beneficial nutrient as well. Maybe that is why Popeye was so strong when he ate his spinach.

Let me give you a quick rundown of the alkaline minerals in 25-calorie servings of celery, spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, banana, orange, cucumber and okra. Measuring by calories is the most accurate way to compare food nutrient levels. Keep in mind that when you eat fruit, you'll be able to consume many more calories of the food than green leafy vegetables. Ex) A meal of 6 bananas gives you 2,921 mg of potassium a whole 10 oz package of spinach yields 1,585 mgs of potassium.

I did my research at this website:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ Each food below is a 25 calorie serving.

As you can see, all of the green vegetables are alkaline forming foods, but spinach is the overall winner. Even celery is higher in alkaline minerals than kale is. That was a surprise to me. Spinach also has a better than perfect amino acid score of 119. Thirty percent of the calories from spinach come from protein.

It's high in dietary fiber and its sodium is of course in the organic form, which our bodies utilize naturally. It's the inorganic form of sodium which is toxic to us and every cell in the body.

Spinach is also very high in these vitamins: A, C, E, K, B6, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and folate. Spinach is quite high in these other minerals as well: iron, zinc, copper and manganese.

What many people don't realize is that per calorie, spinach has over six times more potassium than bananas do. In fact, most of the green vegetables I tested had a higher potassium level per calories than bananas.

This is not to say you shouldn't eat bananas, it's just to point out that we've been taught to think of bananas as the highest source of potassium when they really aren't. In fact, there are a number of other fruits that are much higher in potassium than bananas.

** No Need To Worry About The Oxalic Acid In Raw Spinach **

Some people are concerned that they'll leach calcium by eating spinach. It turns out this is quite unlikely to be a problem for most people. Here's a quote from Dr. Gabriel Cousens book "Conscious Eating," on this very point.

"In one extensive study on children put on a high-spinach diet and other high-oxalate foods, no evidence of any alteration of calcium, vitamin D, or phosphorous metabolism was found. It is possible, however, if a person has a low calcium intake or poor calcium metabolism, that a high-oxalate diet could cause a calcium deficiency."

Another factor is whether the spinach is cooked or raw. In the raw form it's believed the oxalic acid will not bind with the calcium. In other words, eat as much spinach as you want as long as it's raw.

Did you know that many other raw foods naturally contain oxalic acid? Foods like sesame seeds, nuts, citrus fruit, tomatoes, asparagus, beets, Swiss chard, dandelion greens and cranberries. So if you haven't been worrying about the oxalic acid content in these foods, I don't think you need to worry about it by increasing your consumption of spinach.

If you want to learn more about Green Smoothies, Blended Salads, Blended Soups and Puddings and how and why they'll improve your health then visit this link below.

==> http://www.HowToGoRaw.com/GreenCleanse.html

You'll also learn in detail the scientific reasons why this will improve your health. Make sure to read up on the Roseburg study in Victoria's book, "Green for Life," which you'll also get if you join our Green Cleanse. I think you'll find the information on the chimpanzees fascinating as well.

To Your Radiant Health, Happiness and Fitness, Roger Haeske

http://HowToGoRaw.com

http://RawFoodNY.com