Raw Food Explained: Life Science
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4. Foods Must Not Contain Toxins
All refined foods and all flesh foods contain drug-like stimulating qualities. Like all stimulating substances, the stimulation will eventually lead to depression and enervation.
The normal response of the stomach to food is called stimulation. This increased activity of the stomach is necessary for digesting food and it is normal action. But the food contributes to the renewal of the organism and therefore adds more than it takes away.
Dr. Shelton outlined three types of stimulants:
- Those substances and forces—light, air, water, food—which supply the materials of renewal and prepare the body for increased activity.
- Those kindly influences—warmth, coolness, good motives, good feelings, joy, enthusiasm, ambition, determination, will, etc.—that invite or inspire increased action; inspire the body to exert its power and means in a given direction; enable it to mobilize, organize and redirect its forces.
- Those substances, forces and influences that provoke or excite defensive action.
The first two are renewers and are beneficial while the last are irritants and do not provide any nutriment or benefit to the individual.
In order for the foods to result in a beneficial renewal of our cells and tissues, they must not contain any toxins.
4.1 Condiments
Dr. Shelton says, “Nature has arranged that natural, unseasoned foods, eaten when required by the body and under proper mental or emotional and physical condition, will occasion the secretion of the digestive fluids in a perfectly natural way and the stimulation they afford is never sufficient to impair the functional vigor of the digestive glands. Artificial ‘stimulation’ is not necessary, and it is harmful.”
All condiments artificially stimulate the appetite due to their irritating quality. The desire for food normally arises out of a real physiological need for food. When there is no need, hunger will be absent. Also, in the absence of hunger, the body is not ready to digest food. Appetite should never be stimulated by the use of condiments.
The use of condiments leads to overeating that eventually leads to a number of problems when excess food is taken. In order to recover from any addiction, you must be sure that your food does not contain such artificial and health-impairing stimulants.
All condiments act as irritants and, as a consequence, induce inflammation in the digestive tract. Their continued use results in hardening of the mucous lining of the digestive tract. This hardening renders the membranes less sensitive to the irritating qualities of condiments but cripples the efficiency of digestion. So the real effect of condiments is just the opposite of what it is thought to be. They result in depression and hinder rather than aid digestion.
Mustard, pepper, pepper-sauce, horseradish, cayenne, and other hot and stimulating substances are highly poisonous due to certain oils that they contain. The first effect is stimulation of the stomach due to increased action but latter the gastric juice secretion is lessened and decreased activity of the stomach follows.
Spices, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, mustard, and all irritating sauces and condiments result in the same kind of impairment and do not improve digestion. Food addictions can result from the artificial stimulation through such additives to our food. Just as the drug addict and alcoholic are seeking stimulation, so is the person who is addicted to such stimulating foods.
So we must be sure that our food does not contain destructive stimulants but is eaten as nature has prepared it for us. Once you break away from the habit of using condiments, you will be pleasantly surprised at how good your food tastes without them.
Dr. Shelton quotes Dr. Oswald and he says, “The carnivora digest their meat without salt; our next relatives, the frugivorous four-handers, detest it. Not one of the countless tonics, cordials, stimulations, pickles and spices, which have become household necessities of modern civilization, is ever touched by animals in a state of nature. A famished wolf would shrink away from a ‘deviled gizzard.’ To children and frugivorous animals our pickles and pepper sauces are, on the whole, more offensive than meat, and therefore, probably more injurious.”
The addict must strive to eat only those foods that do not contain toxins. It is well known that cooked foods are less valuable than raw foods and the cooked foods also contain toxins.
4.2 Cooked Foods
Protein digestibility is decreased by cooking because the protein molecule is so deranged. Sensitive amines are saponified by heat. The amine group is replaced by the hydroxyl group in the foodstuffs and it has been shown that the hydroxides cannot be reaminized by the animal body.
The organic phosphates in the protein foods are transformed into inorganic and therefore become unusable and toxic. While the body is capable of taking the more complex phosphates and reducing them to lower stages, it is unable to reverse the process. Only plants can do this.
The application of heat to fats and oils of all kinds develops free fatty acids which are not only nonassimilable, but are also toxic. This applies not only to free fats, but also to the fats that are present in all foods. There is a small amount of fat in even vegetables and cooking these foods always renders that fat toxic. Likewise, the minerals and vitamins in the foods are changed from their organic and usable form to inorganic form when heat is applied. Since these inorganic minerals are nonusable, they are toxic.
It becomes clear that cooked foods are not suitable for human consumption. It is even more imperative that the addict not consume these foods since his body is already to very toxic. The body must be given every possible chance for complete recovery and we must provide the correct conditions and not add more poisons to interfere with this healing process.
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Stimulation Effects
- 3. An Illusion
- 4. Foods Must Not Contain Toxins
- 5. Idealfoods
- 6. Overeating
- 7. Fasting
- 8. Vital Force
- 9. Beaware
- 10. Questions & Answers
- Article #1: Coffee, Tea, And Cocoa By Dr. Herbert M. Shelton
- Article #2: Effects Of Stimulants By Sylvester Graham, M.D.
- Article #3: The Great Delusion By Dr. Robert Walter
- Article #4: Drug Addiction By Dr. Herbert M. Shelton
Raw Food Explained: Life Science
Today only $37 (discounted from $197)