Recipe #3: Raspberry Fig-Date-Almond-Chia-Oat Dessert Balls

This tasty dessert is full of nutrient-dense foods that will leave you feeling full without the sugary rush and/or sluggishness of conventional desserts.  It is "nearly" raw (figs and dates are dried above 115F), and contains germinated grains, seeds, and nuts as protein sources that can help moderate blood-sugar impact of the dried fruit.  Fresh fruit can be added for taste complexity, however too much can alter the texture of the final product after freezing because of the water content.  I only use raspberries as an example, but any fruit can be used.

Equipment

• Food Processor (12 cups)
• Freezer
• Coffee Grinder (if using flax)
• Dehydrator (optional)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chia seeds (or flax)
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds
• 1 cup unpearled buckwheat or 1 cup rolled or sprouted oats
• ~20 dates (2 cups) - (vary for sweetness)
• 6-10 (1 1/2 cup) unsulfured figs
• 1 cup/package fresh organic raspberries
• 1 cup almonds
• 2 cups shredded coconut
• 2 tsp allspice (optional)
• 3 freshly ground cloves (optional)

Directions

Preparing Ingredients:

1. 8 hours prior to making the dessert, put almonds in a bowl and cover with filtered water.  After 8 hours of soaking, strain and rinse thoroughly with water.  If a crunchier texture is desired, start 16 hours before processing and allow 8+ hours for dehydration at 115F.
2. Soak buckwheat for 1 hour, then rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear.  Optionally dehydrate the buckwheat for 8+ hours  at 115F for a crunchier texture with minimal nutrition loss.
3. If using fresh, whole coconut, shave and dry at 115F, starting 8 hours before moist mix preparation.
4. Soak sesame seeds and quinoa for 8-12 hours, then rinse thoroughly and optionally dry before processing.

Moist Mix Preparation:

1. In a 12-cup food processor add fresh fruit and puree.
2. Add the allspice and cloves (optional), mix briefly
3. Add soaked almonds, seeds, grains, and oats and chop finely
4. Add figs then dates one at a time with the food processor running.
5. Add chia seeds slowly while processing.  Stop occasionally and mix manually with a knife or spoon if mixing appears incomplete.

Final Processing:

1. Fill the bottom of a small bowl with 1/2 inch of coconut shreds
2. Spoon 1/2 oz spoonfuls (any size, really) into your (clean) hand and roll them into balls.  Roll them in the coconut shreds until evenly covered, careful not to crush the coconut into the ball while handling.
3. Stack balls on a plate or in a bowl and place in the freezer covered in foil or with a lid and allow to sit for at least 2 hours, ideally 8 hours or more.

Variations

• Skip straight to the moist mix preparation if you don't use soaked nuts, seeds, grains, etc.  Rolled oats and hemp--both available dry--will help balance the dessert but at reduced nutritional density as compared to the full recipe above.
• Non-sorbate prunes or raisins or any dried fruit of similar consistency can be added instead of figs.
• Adding 1/4 of a medium-sized beet just after the fruit will give them a fiber boost and a color change.
• Adding a small amount of highly concentrated water kefir or other probiotic blend and/or plant-derived digestive enzymes just after the fresh fruit will help maximize bioavailability of the nutrient content.

Top 20+ Dietary Risks Facing America: Applying the 80-20 Rule for Better Health

The Law of the Vital Few

There exists an engineering and scientific principle, really more of an observation, that 80% of problems arise from 20% of the causes, and also 80% of rewards come from 20% of the time spent.  A few examples: 20% of patients incur 80% of healthcare costs, 80% of manufacturing errors occur in 20% of car parts, 20% of citizens own 80% of the land, and 80% of diet-related health problems result from 20% of the food ingredients consumed.  It is called the Pareto principle (after the Itallian economist Vilfredo Pareto), the 80-20 rule, or the principle of factor sparsity, and it applies to a wide variety of natural and artificial systems--including ecosystems, electrical and computer systems, software, biological systems, and more.

The reasons for the disproportionality of return to investment are that not all factors are equally influential on the outcome of events and causes in complex systems nearly always contribute to multiple effects and tend to "clump" with overlapping effects.  When applied to a dietary system for example, this means a relatively moderate set of fundamental changes to dietary intake can result in a greatly improved profile of both monitored and unmonitored health-related physiological parameters, with improvements disproportionate to the cost of changes made.  Likewise, 80% of waste can be reduced by changing 20% of the most wasteful practices.


Which 20%?

The 80-20 rule comes with a caveat, however; it is important to identify which factors under your control are most fundamental so that the cost-to-benefit ratio can be minimized.  Microsoft and Apple have a host of often very expensive tools for this purpose, including quality control monitoring, customer feedback, beta testers, expert reviews, error reports, etc, so they know exactly where to concentrate their efforts.  At home with limited resources, an individual must rely on other organizations or groups of individuals to perform this function in the form of published literature from reputable organizations.  Enough nutritional literature exists, overlapping in enough areas, that is is possible to establish a list of basic food nutritional problems and identify the most fundamental 20% that are likely complicit in 80% of healthcare costs resulting from dietary deficiencies (upwards of $300 billion/year in the US alone according to the NIH, not including lost productivity due to diet-related diseases and disorders).


Top 20+ Risks Posed by the American Diet

Below in order of approximate relative severity of impact are a couple dozen dietary factors that I believe are most important concerning individual health.  Many of these factors are interrelated, forming a web in a may-dimensional space when connected with relevant nutritional parameters, and when improved in combination with one another, they can result synergistic improvement of multiple regulatory systems relevant to overall health and well-being.

Minimizing all of these causes of diet-related disease within practical limitations using all resources available represents 100% effort.  By reducing some, others will be reduced by association, so efforts to improve naturally result in compounded benefits.  The principle is self-similar, so addressing the most fundamental 20% of the remainder of problems always brings you 80% closer to maximum benefit, regardless of the absolute amount of factors left to improve.  The first handful (5-6) is a reasonable representation of the 20% most problematic causes.

1. Excessive Consumption of Biologically Costly Foods
2. Genetically Modified Foods: [1]
3. Nutritionally Sparse Foods
4. Lack of Diversity (Particularly of Raw Foods)
5. Too Few Prebiotics and Probiotics
6. Animal-Based Foods
7. Refined Foods
8. Excessive Use of Hydrogenated and Saturated Oils
9. Large Portions / Overconsumption
10. Excessive Use of Concentrated Sugars
11. Excessive Salt
12. Excessive Fat
13. Excessive Use of Wheat
14. Too Few Antioxidants
15. Partial and Unbalanced Foods
16. Not Enough Fiber
17. Unsustainable Foods
18. Overcooked Foods
19. Use of Isolated Vitamins and Supplements
20. Excessive Ingestion of Insecticides, Herbicides, and Fungicides
21. Food and Water Contamination by Heavy Metals
22. Excessive Intake of Man-Made Contaminants
23. Packaged Foods
24. Artificial Additives and Sweeteners
25. Lack of Processing Alternatives to Heating

Inefficient Changes

Many changes are in fact only perceived changes because they don't effect output physiological parameters with much, if any, cost efficiency.  This is mainly because they represent changes mediated by a large number of products with small variations along a very few dimensions of formulation, such as the many varieties of a single flavor of juice or canned soup, each set with very similar but slightly different nutritional or flavor profiles and none of which are fully optimized to maximize health benefits.  Many of these changes are induced by fads or marketing and often fail to demonstrate a justification for the additional cost.  These may not be completely without merit, but they are not among the most cost-effective dietary improvements.  Additionally, they may simply exchange real health risks in an effort to minimize perceived risk (e.g. diet soft drinks).  Examples of perceived dietary improvements with very mild or adverse effects on overall health:

• Changing to organic dairy
• Changing from refined salt to unrefined sea salt or Himalayan salt
• Drinking commercial vitamin water
• Eating soy cheese instead of dairy cheese on some sandwiches
• Replacing all meat and dairy with soy
• Reducing salt intake from 5000mg to 4500mg daily
• Changing brands of isolated vitamin formulations
• Eating 6 turkey burgers rather than 6 porkchops
• Drinking diet soft drinks instead of regular
• Using Splenda, Equal, or "raw" sugar rather than sugar
• Switching to organic potato chips
• Choosing a product with 20% less sugar or fat

Recipe #2: Two-Stage Fruit-Water Kefir

Water kefir is produced by the fermentation of sugary solution into primarily lactic acid, a natural, low glycemic energy source with a tart citris flavor.  The final product of the two-stage process described below, when allowed to fully ferment, is low in sugar and a far healthier alternative to soda and alcoholic beverages.  Water kefir full of synbiotics (probiotics + prebiotics), soluble fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that are all absent from soda, beer, and wine.  Containing less than 1% alcohol, it can reduce mild cravings for alcohol without encouraging overconsumption.

The grains, also called Japanese water crystals or Tibicos, are a spongy mass of complexed sugar molecules covered in dozens of populations of bacteria and yeasts (collectively called the biomass), many of which have demonstrated probiotic actions in laboratory tests.  The grains are obtained from other people who have and use them.  Because they double in volume roughly every 1-2 weeks and produce antimicrobial agents that preserve the grain populations, the culture is never exhausted by the process of fermentation if the growth medium regularly is maintained.  The diversity of species that persist on the grains allows for the fermentation of a wide range of foods but is best suited for sugary fermentation.

The following recipe describes a two-stage process that maintains separation between primary and secondary fermentation.  Although the growth medium can be consumed directly, it's advantageous for several reasons to first ferment a growth medium consisting entirely of dissolved nutrient-rich sugar solution that is optimal for growth, then use the fermented growth media as an innoculent for the fermentation of pureed sugary fruits, sprouts, and other nutrient sources with more diverse nutrition profiles.  The separation keeps the grains independent of the final product to yield a wider range of final products with less risk to the grains from preservatives and fruit acids.  It also allows for the rapid fermentation of purees without progressively contaminating the grains with food particles from incomplete separation.


Equipment:

• Blender
• Mason jar (1/2 gallon wide-mouth works well)
• 1 gallon glass jug (~$4 at any wine/beer supply store)
• Airlock for glass jug (~$1 at any wine/beer supply store)
• Steel or silicone fine-mesh strainer

Materials

• Water kefir grains
• Evaporated cane juice, unrefined sugar and molasses, or grade B maple syrup
• 1/2 lemon
• 3-6 cups figs, dates, prunes (all fruit must be free of sorbate and other preservatives)
• 1-2 cups fresh fruit
• Filtered water

Stage 1

1. Obtain water kefir crystals.  Do NOT rinse grains, especially in tap water.
2. Wash and sterilize the glass jar and lid using boiling water, hydrogen peroxide, or ethanol.  Rinse well after sterilizing with chemical agents.
3. Add 1/2-2 cups of water kefir grains (the amount is not very important)
4. Add 4-5 Tbsp of Sucanat or 1/3 cup of Maple syrup (more or less is fine, too)
5. Fill jar with water to within about 1" from the top.
6. Allow to stand for 24-48 hrs with the two-part mason jar lid tightened then slightly untightened to release carbon dioxide as it is produced by the fermentation.
7. To harvest the primary fermentation product, pour the kefir growth solution through a fine-mesh strainer to catch any floating grains.
8. Return grains in the strainer to the jar and repeat the process starting with Step 4 for up to four cycles.  Remove the grains and clean the jar before every 5th cycle.

Stage 2

1. Clean and sterilize a 1-gallon glass jug, a plastic funnel, and an airlock for the jug.
2. Using a blender, puree all dried and fresh fruit and 1/2 lemon with enough water to blend easily until smooth but not excessively heated from blending.  Preservative-free dates, figs, and prunes are good choices because they are high in sugar and nutrients the kefir populations need to reproduce and generate beneficial acids.
3. Optionally add powdered Astragalus root, molasses, or milled bean and grain sprouts to diversify the nutrients available to the biomass.
4. Add the product from Stage 1 to the puree and blend on low to mix well.
5. Pour the puree through a funnel into the glass jug.
6. Fill the jug to 80% of the total volume, leaving a space at the top for foaming.
7. Attach air lock and allow to sit for 2-3 days, swirling contents twice a day to redistribute nutrients and the biomass.
8. Remove airlock and loosely attach a lid to the jug for storage in the refrigerator for a week or longer.

Variations

• Coconut water can also be used for the growth medium but is substantially more expensive than other sugar sources.
• Pureed coconut or hemp can be used in Stage 2, but milk kefir grains are supposedly better at fermenting fatty substrates.  Milk kefir grains are similar in principle to water kefir but differ in appearance, biomass populations, and growth media.
• Changing the growth media can result in appearance and biomass population changes to the grains over time.  Presumably changes to the growth media could change the efficiency of second-stage fermentation, depending on the similarities in the two media and the species that dominate.

Refined Foods: Bane of the Undiscriminating

Refined products are ubiquitous in every developed and many developing nations. Refined does not mean sophisticated as it might imply; in the case of food preparation, refined means "reduced in nutritional content." Flour, sugar, white rice, juices, and soy protein are examples of refined products. They are the result of thermal, chemical, mechanical, and radiation treatments (i.e. standard food processing). Among the worst refined foods is wheat, or commonly just called flour. It is in over 60% of all packaged foods, it is virtually devoid of all nutrition other than simple starches, and many people do not recognize the link to onset diabetes as with sugar and don't take steps to modify their consumption beyond considering total intake of "carbs", a classification that also includes healthy varieties of macromolecules. Mechanical separation of calories from nutrition (micronutrients, fiber, etc.) in the refining of wheat is also more complete than most other refined products, an obvious disadvantage for the health-conscious consumer.

Diagram of a wheat grain kernel. Notice how visually complex the layers of

bran and germ appear compared with the calorie-rich endosperm.

Processing after removing the most beneficial parts of the grain destroys

the vast majority of the already-sparse micronutrients in the 

white, starchy product known as white flour.

The term "enriched flour" is used to give consumers a false sense of security when buying a low-quality product. What they add are just the most basic nutrients necessary to prevent the worst symptoms of deficiency. Of the hundreds of chemicals removed, only a handful is returned. It's not enough to achieve optimal health or reduce risk of many chronic diseases--just enough to prevent obvious conditions like goiters that you would associate with extreme malnutrition. Not only that, the isolated (free) forms are not identical to the complexed nutrients found in unprocessed plant food. Research indicates that absorption of these kinds of isolated vitamins and other nutrients is only appreciable and beneficial when the body is very near a state of deficiency. They can also be toxic to some systems while relieving deficiency in others, which is why your body will only use them as a last resort.


Wheat is not a particularly healthy food to begin with (so I avoid it altogether), and "enriched" wheat even less so. So, if you are relying on these nutrients for health, you're headed for eventual catastrophic system failure like diabetes and cardiovascular disease and others that commonly claim most lives in developed countries, and the downward spiral of medicated symptom control is not far off. In kids the levels of nutrients found in processed/white flour are insufficient to prevent some developmental issues like weak ligaments and inhibited neurological development.


In a whole vegetable foods, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, starches, fats, etc. as well as a large number of unidentified chemicals collectively called phytonutrients exist in very precise ratios and form complex structures that we have evolved to assimilate, often in a synergistic manner. They are basically the yin to our digestive system's yang, developed over hundreds of millions of years, with the trace nutrients acting as cofactors for digestion, absorption, catabolism, anabolism, waste excretion, blood-sugar balance, blood pH regulation, blood purification, and a host of other processes. Science is nowhere near being able to identify and catalog all of the phytonutrients and their complexes and cofactors present in any whole food, understanding their functions, or being able to reproduce those ratios with the right material and chemical properties to digest with minimal systemic stress at every level of digestion and metabolism. In other words, the foods that are best suited for maximum nutrient delivery can currently only be produced through natural plant-mediated processes far beyond our technological means. If these processes are altered, such as with the use of pesticides, refining (whitening), genetic modification, or artificial fertilizers, the balance is thrown off, and it is no longer optimally suited for consumption. Even most multivitamins and supplements in general, unless they are whole foods, are mostly unused in their free form and excreted except in cases of deficiency, adding more strain to the kidneys and liver.


There is always a cost when nutrition is less than optimal, and that cost eventually equates to a loss of usable time and/or quality of life (shorter prime, more discomfort). Aging occurs because adult stem cells can divide only a certain number of times, after which the genetic material both in the nucleus and the mitochondria is too degraded to allow new cells to survive and perform their intended function. By keeping all cells and tissues and organs as happy as possible you can extend the average cell life-span--particularly in the organs and tissues that suffer the most strain trying to regulate body's internal environment--and delay excessive cell divisions that eventually lead to system failure through DNA degradation, potentially by decades.

Recipe #1: Meal-Replacement Crackers

These meal replacement crackers will keep you going longer than fruits and vegetables alone and have a broader nutritional and amino acid profiles than nuts at a fraction of the price.  There are two components to these: dry mix and puree.  The dry mix serves an oxidation protection layer for the puree and absorbs moisture to create a gel that hardens to form a crispy texture.

I prefer whole buckwheat, rolled oats, and chia seeds as the principle dry mix ingredients in a ratio of about 1:1:2 along with a fair amount of coconut when making a fruit version. Flax seeds can be substituted for chia seeds to reduce cost, but they must be ground unlike chia seeds.  Also flax oils will eventually go rancid after grinding, whereas chia seeds do not require grinding and oil rancidity is not a limiting factor in product shelf life.

Raw Fruit and Grain Chip Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups whole organic chia seeds (or ground flax)
• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1-2 cups chopped raw mixed nuts and/or seeds, soaked for 8 hours and dehydrated for 24 hours
• 1 cup organic coconut shreds
• whole fruits of any kind (frozen or fresh)
• 5-10 dates
• 1 cup cranberries
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 cloves (optional)
• 1 tsp stevia extract or 1 Tbsp whole stevia leaf (optional)

Equipment:

• Blender or food processor
• Spatula
• Dehydrator with thermostat

Protocol:

1. Mix 1 cup oats and 1 cup chia seeds with cranberries, nuts, nutmeg, and other spices in a bowl.
2. Spread half of the dry mix evenly on several dehydration trays to cover the bottom.  You can optionally grind oats into a flour and put that on the trays before the dry mix to prevent any sticking or spray the trays with olive oil.
3. Blend fruit into a puree with 1-2 cups of water (if needed) along with stevia and any other "soft" or powered ingredients you want to add.
4. Add dates a couple at a time and enough water (if needed) to get them into a thick puree or thin paste when the dates are well chopped.
5. Add 1/2 cup chia seeds and 1/2 cup rolled oats and blend on low to mix.
6. Pour the puree on the dehydration trays on top of the dry mix and spread with a spatula.
7. Cover with more dry mix and press down with a clean, dry spatula or another tray.
8. Dehydrate for 32-40 hrs at 115F, cutting (or perforating) the trays into small wafers with a butter knife after 12 hours, and flipping after 24 hrs or solid enough to flip with a knife.
9. Refrigerate and optionally vacuum seal product for extended storage.

Variations:

1. The recipe can also accommodate vegetables.  Just start with a recipe for a salad or spread you like (hummus, tabbouleh, guacamole, etc.) and substitute the ingredients in place of the fruit in about the same ratio as your recipe.  Exclude coconut unless you are going for an Asian flavor.
2. Soak seeds such as sesame, quinoa, and amaranth, pumpkin, and sunflower to blend with the fruit.  Small soaked seeds are digestible and have vitamin content similar to fruits and vegetables.  They can reduce the cost and increase nutritional density of the chips.  They also help to balance out sugary fruits.
3. Add probiotic (fermented) drinks such as rejuvelac or kefir to the puree for a more digestible product.  Water kefir is excellent for this purpose.  Add additional dried fruit to account for the sugar lost to continued fermentation during dehydration.

16 Reasons to Avoid Meat That Have Nothing to Do with Animal Rights

Many people have asked me over the years why I believe meat is not part of an optimal diet and insist that I must surely be wasting away without all that necessary animal-derived protein. Here's the short list of my top health concerns with frequent meat consumption (>1 serving/week):

1. Too much saturated fat and cholesterol. Saturated fat will metabolize to LDL cholesterol and, in excess, will deposit on blood vessels. A small amount may have some protective effect against toxins in the blood and possibly other biological roles, but too much causes blockages and lowers vascular elasticity, effects that raise blood pressure and increase risk of stroke and heart disease. Too much fat also decreases the absorption of water-soluble nutrients you've eaten with the meat, inhibiting those phytonutrients from buffering the stress associated with the metabolism of meat.

2. Too much of the wrong kind of iron. The heme (blood-derived) iron found in meat is absorbed too quickly and can oxidize cholesterol to increase the rate of deposition on vessel walls. Research has shown a direct relationship between heme iron intake and risk of heart disease, whereas iron from plant sources does not increase risk even at many times the intake levels a person would typically consume. Pre-menopausal women and blood donors can tolerate this kind of iron better because they are shedding the excess regularly, but there are plenty of plant sources for iron sufficient to meet nearly everyone's dietary needs.

3. No fiber. Because our digestive system is very long compared to carnivores, it takes a substantial amount of fiber to move food through the digestive system before it begins to putrefy and breed undesirable kinds of bacteria which can lead to digestive problems and possibly cancer or nutrient deficiencies. It has been shown that meat can remain in the intestines for a month or longer, many times having rotted before excretion.

4. No antioxidants or phytonutrients. Without cofactors to buffer and modulate the absorption of iron and protein, rapid assimilation of these and other nutrients creates stress on the body. Most of the stress goes unnoticed because the body compensates, especially in kids, so it's easy to believe that you've escaped the problems of meat until your eating habits are well-established. After habits are cemented, most people will defend them almost to the death until a doctor specifically tells them continuing will kill them.

5. Too much concentrated animal protein hurts bones. Protein without soluble fiber is absorbed very rapidly. In it's catabolized form (amino acids) it can begin to lower pH. To compensate, the body releases calcium from the bones to form CaOH with water. Over time, this leads to microfractures in bones that can weaken them to the the point of breaking. This is a problem shared by milk in it's pasteurized form (all commercially produced milk in this country); although there is more than enough calcium in milk, the cofactors are not present in the right forms to make use of it before it is removed by the kidneys. The removal by the kidneys of the calcium sourced from diet and bones after neutralizing the acidity can cause kidney stones to form. Calcification in other organs and glands can also occur.

6. Natural carcinogens are produced by cooking meat. All meat except sushi must be cooked to reduce the risk of parasites. Heat is destructive to all biological materials, reducing nutritional content and changing the food chemistry. It generally makes things more digestible by breaking down starches and such, but in the case of meat, chemicals such as known carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are produced within the meat itself and heat sources such as gas or charcoal used in grilling can deliver a significant amount of polycyclic hydrocarbon carcinogens to the grilled food. http://www.cancerproject.org/survival/cancer_facts/meat.php

7. Most animals are raised in poor conditions, increasing disease risk. Ethics aside, poor living conditions, treatment, and food for animals results in low-quality meat, detrimental to human health. Lack of exercise, fresh air, or a diverse diet, along with hormones, disease, and sometimes cruel slaughtering methods, produce a buildup of stress hormones. Because our physiology is so similar to the most common types of meat, except seafood, stress hormones in our food can create stress responses in our bodies, leading to a cascade of biological changes that ultimately effect health and immune function on some level.

8. Meat is too energy-dense (and nutrient-sparse). Energy sounds good, but in this case it actually causes a problem because of it's relationship with metabolic stress. Nutritional density is defined as a ratio of nutrition (vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, etc.) to energy content and can be used as a rule of thumb to qualify good foods from bad. Because of the large amounts of fat, even the leanest meat is less nutrient-dense than the fattiest whole vegetables. As calorie restriction research indicates, calorie intake is not only a factor for weight control but also plays a role in lifespan because of the direct relationship between calorie intake and systemic metabolic (oxidative) stress. Since our nutritional needs remain largely the same from day to day, the only way to reduce our calorie intake while continuing to meet all dietary requirements is to lower the average energy density of our food, essentially replacing energy-dense foods like meat and dairy with nutrient-dense high-protein vegetable foods.

If that's not enough, there are also a (big) handful of major environmental and sociopolitical problems with raising meat:

9. Meat is too resource- and land-inefficient to produce enough for the whole world without deforestation.  Forests are where 50-75% off all species live along with their respective valuable natural biotechnologies. A Nobel laureate demonstrated in the mid 90's that for every $1 that is spent on rainforest preservation, at least $4 are saved in biotechnology research and other non-destructive uses of those resources.  That estimate does not include the benefit of jobs created by preservation projects.   This ratio was recently substantiated by North Carolina's investment in conservation of state natural resources (http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20110223/NEWS/302230065/Report-NC-conservation-trust-funds-bring-4-every-1-invested).

10. Fertilizer runoff for feed grains destroys fragile freshwater ecosystems. Fertilizers run into rivers and streams, causing an explosion of bacteria which consume oxygen needed by fish, also causing food shortages for anything that feeds on those fish. Waste parts from billions of slaughtered animals are composted into fertilizer which frequently seeps unregulated into the groundwater and other bodies of fresh water, creating large dead zones where nothing can live for miles.

11. Rainforests in third-world countries with leaders looking to cash in on their fragile ecosystems are clear-cut to make room for cattle.  Because they lack the infrastructure to study and make use of the biotechnology found in exotic plants, animals, and insects in their own backyard, undeveloped nations have a predisposition for liquidating forests rich with unique species to make room for cattle. Plants increase biodiversity when farmed responsibly and support rich ecosystems, while animals typically destroy them, especially during conventional meat production.

12. Meat production is responsible for large amounts of greenhouse gases. Cattle are a considerable source of methane and carbon dioxide, both greenhouse gases, and the oil used to produce feed for them and care for them contributes to sulfur and hydrocarbon emissions, many of which also contribute to global warming in addition to cancer. The same amount of food produced by plants (especially tree fruits and nuts) actually has a net reduction of greenhouse gases because plants act to purify air by consuming CO2 and moving more into the soil. Fertilizers and decomposing refuse biomass from also directly release greenhouse gases.

13. Most of our water is used to raise meat. Our tax money is used to treat 3x the water we actually consume as human customers, even during shortages. This effectively subsidizes the production of meat by placing a heavy purification demands on municipal water systems, supported with your tax dollars. Meat takes 10x the amount of water to raise (2500 gallons/lb) as plants (~250 gallons/lb). Going green by conserving water and energy has never been easier or more effective than simply avoiding meat.

14. Far more fossil fuel calories are used to raise meat than is obtained from the meat itself. Every level in a food chain is associated with a drop in energy content in of at least one order of magnitude (90%).Growing vegetables results in a small but usually positive net caloric gain over the oil used (net gain of 0-300%), whereas meat production requires more than 35 calories of oil to produce 1 calorie of meat (a net loss of 3400%). The chemicals used to treat animals, prepare fertilizer for feed crops, treat waste, and produce medical support supplies account for an estimated 30-40% of all energy costs associated with food production.

15. Meet production facilities are responsible for antibiotic resistant bacteria superstrains and viruses such as the H1N1. Crowded animal compounds, poor living conditions, excessive antibiotics to improve yield, and improper sanitization practices create the perfect storm for new strains of bacteria and viruses to propagate.  Occasionally they jump to humans either in the production facilities while handling the animals or after the consumption of contaminated meat by consumers.

16. Feed subsidies artificially increase demand for meat. Meat is so cheap in this country because of the government's subsidies for feed crops like corn and soy. This artificially increases demand by lowering the price to consumers while forcing vegetarians to pay for the price reduction through taxes. The production of vegetables, even after the cost of transportation and loss to spoilage, is so naturally efficient, no subsidies are necessary. This means we are basically paying tax dollars to have to have our environment and bodies destroyed so a very few can profit. The problem was caused by a combination of a natural human craving for meat and meat industry lobbyists spending hundreds of years and billions of dollars to influence lawmaking.

Primer on Germination, Sprouting, and Fermentation

A major hurdle for raw foodists and the reason most raw food diets fail to meet all nutritional needs is the limited digestibility of many foods in their natural states. The standard method of improving digestibility of raw foods is the application of heat, which is known to destroy vitamins such as B6 and C, in addition to leaching or degrading an array of water-soluble nutrients, depending on the preparation and cooking methods used. Most raw plant foods also contain varying amounts of heat-sensitive enzymes that can assist with digestion once cells are broken if processing temperatures remain low enough. However most packaged food is processed and preserved in a way that sacrifices nutritional content for shelf-life. Since nutritional content is not immediately apparent and people generally prefer the taste of high-calorie foods to light alternatives, many naturally nutritious food products such as fruits and vegetables have been replaced in the post-industrialization diet by nutritionally-devoid high-calorie heat-treated alternatives such as chips, crackers, processed meat, cheeses, etc. Even restaurant foods prepared from healthy ingredients from scratch are flavored with oils, salt, and other additives and are provided in excessive portions that encourage over-eating. In addition, vegetables are typically overcooked for improved flavor at the cost of nutritional content.

To combat these trends, and the multitude of health risks associated with them, it is critically necessary to move toward a self-prepared diet based on primarily or entirely on high quality plant matter, balanced for optimal macro- and micronutrient intake and prepared for digestibility. Ideally, preparation methods for replacing the use of heat as a digestibility enhancer should be used to improve overall cost effectiveness and nutritional profile of vegetable foods. Among these are germination, sprouting, and fermentation, which work on a wide variety of readily available foods. In addition to addressing the digestibility problem with many foods, these methods can also expand nutritional content by producing vitamins and other beneficial substances while the increasing bioavailability of others.

Germination is the activation of viable seeds, legumes, nuts, and other plant reproductive units. It is triggered when there is enough water to support the enzymatic reactions that break down the onboard caloric payload. During this time, starches soften and begin to decompose in a controlled fashion to produce sugars for use by the growing plant. Water-soluble enzyme inhibitors that keep molds from developing on the dried seed are also washed off, further improving digestibility. For these reasons, nearly every nut, seed, grain, and bean should be germinated (soaked) before preparation. When used on small seeds and grains, germination alone is enough to produce an edible product suitable for salads, cereal, eggs, and prepared raw foods. Examples of fully digestible foods after germination are buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and all nuts. For larger seeds, nuts, and beans, germination either reduces cooking time or serves as the first step in sprouting and/or fermenation.

Sprouting continues the life cycle of the young plant after germination. More substantial support structures (stems, leaves, and roots) are produced during this time, further utilizing the calories available after germination to create fiber and a wider array of enzymes, pigments, vitamins, proteins, and other beneficial compounds. Sprouting can continue for up to two weeks in some cases, but usually produces an optimal product within 5-6 days for most varieties of sprouts under most conditions. Medium sized grains, seeds, and beans such as lentils, rice, wheat, rye, mung beans, adzuki beans, alfalfa greens, clove greens, wheat grass, oinion seeds, garlic seeds, and roughly 60 other foods can be eaten raw after sprouting. A small handful of varieties are available in health food stores, but the markup is substantial because of the limited shelf life.

For more on germination and sprouting, including how-to guides and sprouting materials, check out http://www.sproutpeople.com. They provide seeds selected especially for sprouting, but most bulk organic grains, beans, and seeds can be germinated and sprouted at about 1/3 of the price of seeds labeled for sprouting.

After germinating or sprouting, digestibility can be improved further using microorganisms. The process requires a substrate (vegetable matter), an inoculant (source of microorganism), and a temperature-controlled oxygen- and contamination-free environment. Most strains used for fermenation are lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and are also considered probiotic (beneficial for human health), however a small number of yeasts are also used in non-alcoholic fermentation. In short, fermentation breaks down starches and other molecules into smaller, more readily usable nutrients while producing vitamins using materials found in the vegetable matter. Additional benefits of fermentation include detoxification of food (absorption of toxins by bacteria), improved digestive function (with implantable strains), and preservation of food for long periods of time without chemical preservatives. Virtually all vegetable matter, including fully mature vegetables and fruits, can be fermented unless they contain substantial amounts of antimicrobial agents.

Germination reduces cooking time by 50-70% for most foods, sprouting or fermenting in addition can reduce the final cooking time to 0-10% of the initial dry product cooking time. Using any or a combination of these methods, cooking can be heavily reduced or even fully eliminated with a reduction in preparation time and carbon footprint (heat use) and an increase in nutritional content and bioavailability. The only real drawback is that clean water and sanitation methods are critical for preparing raw foods, a major obstacle for much of the world.