Brad's Raw Made Easy: The Fast, Delicious Way to Lose Weight, Optimize Health, and Live Mostly in the Raw

by Brad Gruno

proprietary dehydration system that cut our production time in half.

Digestion is the process by which what you eat and drink is broken down into molecules that can be absorbed into your blood so the nutrients can be carried to the cells throughout your body.

three categories of enzymes: digestive, metabolic, and food-based.

Something else to consider is that your body’s own enzyme output decreases as you grow older. This starts for everyone around the age of twenty, and your body’s enzyme production continues to decrease by 13 percent every ten years. In addition, as you age, your stomach produces less hydrochloric acid, which is a crucial component in the activation of the digestive enzymes there.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average American consumes 156 pounds of sugar per year.

average adult eater in the United States ingests thirty-one 5-pound bags of sugar in 365 days.

Whenever you eat anything, your pancreas releases insulin, the hormone that regulates how you metabolize sugar. Your cells can’t process sucrose, which is the ingredient in table sugar, so it must be converted to glucose, which is the sugar that fuels your body.

Simple carbohydrates are sugars such as sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, glucose, honey, malt sugar, and syrup. Though fruit contains fructose, a simple sugar, it is also nutrient-dense and contains fiber, which slows the digestion and absorption of sugar.

Complex carbohydrates include foods such as vegetables, legumes, corn, potatoes, rice, and grain products. Vegetables such as green beans, broccoli, and spinach have less complex carbs but contain a lot of fiber. The best complex...

Eating raw, living foods in the portions you will read about in part 2 will not cause your blood sugar to spike. You will not have sugar highs or lows, so you will not release extra insulin to compensate for them. Blood sugar levels will remain consistent and stable, allowing you to have maximum energy to fuel your day and maintain a clear and balanced mind.

The reason for this is simple: Whenever you eat a food containing complex carbohydrates as well as fiber and other nutrients, this food is digested slowly and only a minimal amount of insulin is needed to convert the sugar into glucose that will be gradually released into your bloodstream. The key component here is the fiber—it’s very difficult to eat a lot of fiber-rich food in one sitting, as your body will rebel! Portion control throughout the day will keep your digestive system working at maximum efficiency.

Eat simple carbohydrates in the form of packaged and processed foods laden with sugar, however, and the opposite happens. Your pancreas goes into emergency mode and pumps out a ...

As soon as your blood sugar spikes, your insulin levels plummet. You enter into a sugar low or crash, becoming sluggish and cranky, with low energy, often with your mind in a fog and nerves all jittery. You are probably already starting to feel hungry, too, especially for something that is sweet, because your body was primed to digest some real food when all that insulin was released, but it got nothing but empty calories. Yet if you eat more simple carbohydrates, you’ll trigger the release of even more insulin, and the whole roller coaster of blood sugar peaks and valleys will start all over again.

Sugar is disguised under many different names, such as turbinado sugar, lactose, maltodextrin, maltose, rice syrup, sorbitol, sucrose, fruit juice concentrate, galactose, ethyl maltol, dextrose, dextrin, date sugar, cane sugar;

One of the worst forms of sugar is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), derived from corn. Introduced to the food industry in the 1970s, it is cheap to produce and one of the most prevalent ingredients in all the minimally nutritious sodas, baked goods, cereals, processed foods, and snack foods you want to avoid.

HFCS is not metabolized by your body the same way naturally occurring food sugars are. It takes just one day for your body to fully digest the sugars that are found in fresh fruit and vegetables, but it can take up to four days to digest high-fructose corn syrup. Whenever you eat anything with sugar in it, enzymes in your digestive tract must break down sucrose into a 50/50 ratio of glucose and fructose, which are then absorbed into the body. HFCS contains glucose and fructose in a 45/55 glucose to fructose ratio in an unbound form. Since there is no chemical bond between the glucose and fructose, they are rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream. This triggers an insulin spike, and the whole blood sugar roller coaster I just described starts up again.

If you eat a lot of fat-free products, you’re also adding to your sugar load. What happens when you take fat out of a recipe? It has to be replaced with something in order to make it palatable. And what is it usually replaced with? Sugar.

artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose do not contain carbohydrates and do not have any effect on blood sugar levels. But the problem is that these artificial sweeteners are often paired with other artificial sweeteners that do have an effect—especially those that are sugar alcohols, which are a type of carbohydrate with a chemical structure that partly resembles sugar and partly resembles alcohol. You can identify sugar alcohols on food labels, as they usually end in -ol; look for sorbitol, xylitol, and maltitol. Ingesting sugar alcohols can lead to the same kind of blood sugar spikes I described earlier in this section, creating the same spike-crash cycle and hunger pangs for more sweets.

In addition, eating or drinking foods with fake sugars often doesn’t give you the same satisfaction as the real thing. You don’t get the same “mouth feel” and you don’t get the same satiety factor, and so you may end up craving the sugary food you wanted to eat in the first place with even more urgency. My advice is to stay away from any artificial sweeteners in anything you eat or drink. You will find many great natural sweetener options in chapter 7, including coconut nectar, maple syrup, honey, agave, and green leaf stevia.

A protein contains amino acids (there are twenty-two) and can either be complete or incomplete.

A complete protein source contains all nine of the twenty-two essential amino acids your body can’t produce on its own;

an incomplete protein source may not contain all the essential amino acids, or have too little of one, which limits the ability of the food to make its other amino acids available to you. This is why many cultures combine foods with incomplete proteins, giving your body all the amino ac...

The daily recommended allowance of protein ranges from 41 to 61 grams, depending on your body mass and the amount of ...

recommended allowance of protein is 50 grams.

Bear in mind, however, that protein needs vary. If you are an endurance runner your protein intake should be much higher than that of a sedentary person, and if you are pregnant or nursing your protein needs will also increase.

It’s been estimated that in America the average eater consumes 50 percent more protein than the daily recommended amount.

Two cups of milk, for example, contain 16 grams of protein;

a small tin of sardines contains nearly 20 grams; and one cup of canned beans contains 18 grams. If you consume them in one meal, you likely will have met your protein requirement for the day. But what about the other two meals, or snacks? What happens to all that extra protein? Your body isn’t capable of storing protein the way it stores fat, so the excess is excret...

Take a look at the vegan protein sources listed here. I was surprised when I started reading about raw foods to see how many plant-based sources of protein there are. So rest assured that when you are eating a balanc...

Dairy cows can produce only a certain amount of milk each day, so to meet our country’s growing demand for milk and milk products, most farmers give their cows bovine growth hormone (BGH) to make them mature faster and produce more milk. There is grave concern from groups such as the Consumers Union and the Cancer Prevention Coalition that this practice is harmful to humans. Here’s why: Cows given this hormone are more prone to udder infections and reproductive problems. How are they treated? With antibiotics. Where do the antibiotics go? Into the milk the cows are producing as well as into our ecosystem when they’re excreted. Who drinks the milk or eats the cheese or drinks the water? You do.

Overuse of bovine antibiotics has devastating implications for your health and for global health. Over time, bacteria that cause illness can develop a resistance to these antibiotics. We’re seeing this already with tuberculosis and some sexually transmitted diseases. We’re also seeing this in hospitals with the rise of superbugs that are lethal to patients who are already seriously ill and can’t fight off infections. (Needless to say, you should never, ever take antibiotics unless you truly need them, and if and when they are prescribed, you must follow the directions on the

pill bottle and always take all of the medication; taking less kills only the weakest bacteria. You never need antibiotics if you have a virus, such as the common cold or the flu, since antibiotics are effective only a...

Another serious concern with injecting BGH into cows is that it may cause them to produce more of another hormone called insulin-like growth factor–1, or IGF-1. Animal studies have shown that elevation of this hormone could increase the risk for certain cancers in humans, particularly breast and colon cancer. If you are going to incorporate milk into your diet from time to time, make sure you read the label carefully and purchase only milk that clearly states it is BGH-free. Something else to think about is that dairy might not be such a good food for your body, even though it contains calcium and protein and other trace nutrients. (Bear in mind, too, that unless they are fat-free or reduced fat, milk and cheese contain a lot of fat, along with little fiber, which is why you can unwittingly eat a lot of cheese without it filling you up.) Many people have a degree of lactose intolerance without even realizing it. For them, eating or drinking dairy products can cause unpleasant and uncomfortable gastrointestinal symptoms, such as bloating, cramping, gas, and diarrhea, ranging in severity. Estimates on how many people are lactose intolerant vary ...

life threatening.) Casein, the most abundant protein in cow’s milk, is also used to make adhesives such as glue. If casein can help make objects stick together, think about what it is doing to your body! If you are experiencing bloating, cramping, gas, or diarrhea, an easy way to test your intolerance levels is with an elimination diet. Stop eating all dairy for seven days. Then, introduce one kind of product, such as milk or cheese, at a time. If you are lactose intolerant you should notice symptoms within thirty minutes to two h...

it might be to start looking for equally delicious and satis...

Dark green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, kale, and collard greens have absorption rates of more than 50 percent, compared with about 32 percent for milk. These veggies also contain

beneficial phytochemicals and antioxidants that dairy products do not.

In addition, according to a 2005 study, “Calcium, Dairy Products, and Bone Health in Children and Young Adults: A Reevaluation of the Evidence,” dairy products can also increase the risk of urinary excretion of calcium; this is due to the sodium, sulfur-containing amino acid, and phosphorus content of dairy products. In short: Eat your dark leafy greens, and if you’re still worried or have a family history of osteoporosis or other bone issues, be sure to discuss your concerns with your physician to see if a supplement might be warranted. Don’t use calcium as an excuse to scarf down lots of sugar-laden ice cream!

William Castelli, M.D., was one of the directors of the Framingham Heart Study, the longest-running clinical study in medical history. It has been tracking health information about the heart disease of adult participants since 1948. The researchers meticulously document the data about each participant’s lifestyle, especially their dietary and exercise habits. Dr. Castelli was famously quoted about the heart disease epidemic in this country: “If Americans adopted a vegetarian diet, the whole thing would disappear.” There is plenty of research to support Dr. Castelli’s theory. In February 2005, for example, a major study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology confirmed the link between animal products and heart disease, concluding that among twenty-nine thousand participants, those who ate the most meat were also at the greatest risk of heart disease. Dr. Linda E. Kelemen, the scientist who led the study, concluded that not all proteins are created equal. Her colleagues found that a high intake of protein from non-animal sources—such as nuts and beans—lowers the risk of heart disease by 30 percent.

The connection between meat and heart disease is cholesterol, a waxy substance found in fats and in all the cells of your body. It is transported in your bloodstream. Everyone has it in varying levels, as cholesterol is necessary for your body to function. The two kinds of cholesterol that are typically measured during a routine exam

are LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and HDL (high-density lipoprotein). HDL cholesterol is considered “good” cholesterol, as it transports fat lipids to your liver (and away from your heart) to be rep...

LDL is considered the “bad” kind, since it can form fibrous, fatty deposits called plaque. When too much plaque builds up inside the walls of your arteries in a condition kno...

According to the National Cholesterol Education Program, borderline high cholesterol is a total cholesterol level of 200–239.

Anything that registers as 240 and above is considered very high.

When looking at LDL levels only, borderline high LDL levels are 130–159; high levels are 160–189; and 190 and above is considered very high. The average meat eater...

What causes excess cholesterol to be formed? There are many factors, including heredity (which you can’t control), inactivity (which you can control), and your diet (which you can also control), particularly if you consume a lot of food and drinks containing saturated fat. Saturated fats are fatty acids that are solid at room temperature, such as Crisco, lard, or the marbled white streaks and chunks you see in a raw steak.

Every human body has a normal pH (derived from power plus hydrogen) level in their blood, which is the balance between acid and alkaline.

7.4,

You can also get free test strips from my website; I will mail them directly to you at no charge. The test can be done with saliva or urine, and results will appear within fifteen seconds. As always, follow package directions when testing for pH so the results will be accurate. A diet that is high in acidity will decrease your body’s ability to absorb minerals and other nutrients, decrease the energy production in your cells, and decrease your ability to repair damaged cells. If your body is very acidic, it will not be able to take in and use available oxygen to stay healthy. If, on the other hand, it’s more alkaline, oxygen will be delivered to the cells as needed. Because most people don’t eat enough high-alkaline fresh fruits and vegetables, their bodies become too acidic. This adds an additional layer of stress, as the body will always strive to maintain a normal pH level.

If your body is too acidic, you might have some or many of the following symptoms: low energy, chronic fatigue, excess mucus production, nasal congestion, frequent colds and infections, nervousness, stress, irritability, anxiety, headaches, muscle pain or joint pain, arthritis, weight gain, and kidney stones. I had a lot of these symptoms until I went raw and got my own pH levels back on track.