Question Answers

4. Question & Answers

Can you name any safe salt substitutes?

If I were hitting you in the head with a hammer, would you ask me to stop or to use a softer hammer? Seriously, you don’t need a substitute for a poisonous substance. By using such items as potassium chloride salt, kelp, herb seasonings, and other substitutes, you’re still keeping the salt-shaker habit alive, and you’ll never be able to develop an appreciation for the natural flavors of wholesome foods. When you eat fresh foods in a mostly raw state, you’ll have absolutely no desire for salt or for any “substitute.”
Now, I’ll give you a second answer. Yes, there are some alternatives to salt and seasonings that you can use as you are becoming established on a fresh food diet. Freshly squeezed lemon juice stimulates the taste buds like salt, but without the irritating and harmful effects. A little lemon juice over nonstarchy foods is a permissible alternative to salting until your taste buds come back alive.
You might also consider eating those fruits and vegetables that are high in organic sodium and mineral salts. Celery, beets, carrots, cabbage and dried figs are high in organic mineral salts, particularly sodium, and may help you away from the salt habit. A salad with chopped celery and lemon juice, for example, creates s very salty taste.
After you have been off salt for a few weeks, you won’t miss it all. If you start using “substitutes,” however, you’re still perpetuating the seasoning habit and it may make it more difficult for you in the long run.

What about black pepper? You didn’t discuss this in the lesson.

Black pepper is not an actual pepper, but is made from the dried berries of a tropical shrub. Whereas hot peppers like cayenne and chilies are primarily stimulants, black pepper is chiefly an irritant. It has particularly harmful effects on the intestinal tract.
Allegedly, black pepper is 47 times more detrimental to the functioning of the liver than is alcohol. White pepper, often used by gourmets, is simply the ripened berries of the pepper shrub.

I guess I can see how you would need few if any seasonings on a raw food diet. Fruits are delicious without any salting, etc. But what about raw vegetable salads? These are so boring without some kind of interesting dressing.

A raw vegetable salad can be made very flavorful and enjoyable without any condiments. The secret? Eat your salad whole. Don’t cut it up into a hundred pieces and then mix it all up. Simply eat each vegetable, like a tomato, broccoli stick, etc., as a separate piece. When you cut, chop and mix your salad, you are losing the individual flavors of each vegetable. By the third bite, the whole salad tastes the same—there is no flavor or texture contrast.
A whole salad, uncut, requires no dressing. Take one bite of one vegetable, then a bite of another, and you
can be suitably “entertained” without spicy and oily dressings. You can also eat a few nuts, seeds, or avocado with your salad—also in their whole form if teeth permit-along with the whole vegetables. Believe me, when you eat a “finger salad”—all whole vegetables—you get more enjoyment and less vitamin loss than if you chop and mix everything up in one big bowl.
Condiments, dressings, etc are usually desired when the original flavors and integrity of a food are lost. Eat your foods whole, and you can appreciate all the wonderful subtle flavors that are there.

It seems that since we use such small amounts of seasonings that they couldn’t be all that harmful, I mean, a little pinch of something couldn’t hurt you that much.

You can only use a “little pinch” because condiments are such potent and strong nonfood items. This should tell you something. Even a very small amount of a condiment will disrupt the natural digestive processes. The human organism is very sensitive to all toxins and poisons. As you refine your diet, you’ll begin to notice the undesirable effects of even those “small amounts” that you previously used.