— Health from a biblical perspective —

Dear Health-minded Reader,

Some of this article’s material has been covered before, but the rest of it might be new to you. In any event, we believe the fourth learning “R” is “repetition”.  Because so many of health’s basics are foreign to today’s thinking, repetition is needed to help renew our thinking.

One of the most basic of today’s deadly dietary aberrations is the notion that foods, by and large, must be cooked.  Heating food above 1080 kills the life in it and imposes a very heavy penalty — sickness, disease and a shorter, health-impaired life.  We pray this article will help expand your thinking about the wonderfully delicious and healthy world of eating more foods raw.  Think of the energy and time-saving: much less cooking, pots, pans and “slaving over ...”  Also included is more about safe water and “juicing."

Eating In The Raw

More health basics¹

Of the many ways one can “miss it” nutritionally, the near universal habit of eating food without life tops the list.  Interestingly, humans are the only known creature to do so; all others eat it live, even pre-digested.  Food with its natural enzymes is termed live and without them, dead.  Other ways to express it are: organic vs inorganic, pasteurized or unpasteurized — cooked or raw.  Dead food is also termed “denatured” or “enzymatically inactive”.  Regardless of the name or method used, once enzymes are destroyed, food is deficient and less health supportive.  All cooked and processed “factory-food” is so rendered to increase its shelf life, reduce spoilage and to boost profits — quite understandable and desirable from a business view.

From a health perspective, ingesting dead food forces the body to use its own limited enzyme-making ability and energy to cover the shortage.  Habitually eaten, dead food requires the body to slow or cease other needful health activity, such as cleansing, disease-fighting and healing.  Ironically, fresh produce is complete with enzymes.  Eaten raw, it allows the body to devote more of its own supply to keeping it healthy — when processed, it robs the body’s health.  Once we leave a store’s produce department, we’ve entered its non-food section; the mausoleum where everything is dead.  Sad but true.

Can one survive on raw food?

To many, eating most food raw sounds perfectly horrible, if not impossible — untenable even to most vegetarians and vegans.  The reason raw food sounds so unworkable is because of unfamiliarity.  To the informed, raw eating is natural, easy, appetizing, delicious, satisfying and time-saving.  It’s not, as some might picture; gnawing on a cold, raw turnip, brussel sprout or broccoli for breakfast.  It’s more like drinking a sweet, banana, peach and mango smoothie.  Instead of a puny restaurant type side-salad for lunch, picture a plate of fresh orange slices, ripe strawberries and raw cashews on a bed of baby spinach — topped with a dressing made from avocados and fresh lime juice.  It’s beautiful and delicious!  Eating raw can be a whole new and very appealing adventure.

Rather than limiting one’s choices, raw eating expands them beyond the uninitiate’s comprehension.  For example: once we realize that a good salad dressing can be comprised of just one fat and one acid — the range of really tasty, live-food dressings becomes almost limitless.  From the vast array of plant foods, one merely blends a predominately acidic fruit or juice with another that’s heavy in natural fats or oils and, Voila! — a delicious and healthful dressing, devoid of health-threatening ingredients such as processed oil and vinegar.  Hundreds of live dressings can be so made and naturally seasoned, rather than being limited to S.A.D.’s2 detrimental droppings.

Fruits and vegetables

These make up the majority of a sound vegan diet.  In addition to eating plenty of them raw, ripe fresh and whole, we also cold-process many by machine-blending or extracting their juice for variety and to concentrate nutrients.  Fruits are high in vitamins and veggies are heavier in minerals.  The rule is to “juice” vegetables and blend fruit.  One of the reasons for not juicing fruit is to retain the fiber; quite the opposite rationale for juicing vegetables.  It’s important because of fruit’s higher glucose content; the fiber slows absorption and helps moderate blood sugar levels.

Training and experience has taught us there’s far more health virtue in  ripe fruit’s simple carbohydrates then some teaching suggests.  It’s  appealing appearance and aroma makes it very appetizing, helping prepare the body for digestion.  They are also high-energy foods because of their sugar content and are easy and efficient to digest.  More nutrients can quickly reach cellular level where they are ultimately needed,  and are loaded with life (enzymes).  It’s not uncommon for us each to eat 8-10 pieces of fruit a day.  Sometimes we make an entire meal of one type of produce; a “mono-meal.”  A quarter of a watermelon can make a delightfully nutritious and satisfying meal, eaten out of its hull or blended (less seeds) and sipped.  Mono-meals do satisfy if enough is eaten at one time.  Try it yourself.

How about “juicing”?

This entails separating a plant’s juice from its solids with an extractor — referred to as a “juicer” (not to be confused with a blender).  There are many models to choose from but only 3 basic types, here listed in descending order of speed: centrifugal, masticating and triturating, or gear type.  Though each has its virtues, the features most important are thoroughness, low temperature, long life and ease of clean up.  Most machines eject the juice and pulp into separate containers — juice to be drunk right away and the pulp for composting; though some pulps can be used in other raw dishes.  Also, by doing  it over ice cubes, pouring it into 8-oz covered containers and placing  them in a freezer immediately, juice can be kept nutritionally intact for hours.  A real time-saver, reducing the frequency of having to juice.

The reason for this process is to gain a ready supply of nutrient-dense food that can reach cell level very quickly — in minutes.  Because the fiber has been removed, it’s partially predigested; in effect, one pays the electric company to “digest” it.  Consistently drunk on a long-term basis, the extra nutrient energy gained can cleanse, heal, restore and invigorate the body.  Juicing allows many vegetables to be combined and served as very tasty, health-supportive and satisfying drinks to be sipped between meals.  This way food truly becomes medicine to the body — without the nasty downside of pharmaceuticals.

Carrots are the primary veggie used because of their glucose, broad range of nutrients and tastiness.  Carrot juice alone is delicious and nutritious, and it combines well with other vegetables to intensify the resultant drink’s potency.  Adding parsley, celery, kale and apple makes a favorite combination.  Many books are available with hundreds of juice recipes to help taylor a blend to any particular health need.  The juicing (also blending) of raw plant-based foods opens up whole new vistas of live and tasty meal opportunities.

Don’t drink your water “raw”!

Raw water is that which comes out of the tap.  Much like the problems associated with animal-based foods, water, as provided to our homes can be detrimental to health.  Though federal standards require local water to be bacteriologically safe and not exceed established levels of certain inorganic components, it still can carry a serious risk.  Conspicuous is the verified negative impact of the poison used to kill bacteria: chlorine.  Then there’s fluorine!  Tap water may also contain chemicals not even tested for but which are toxic and raise havoc with our health.  There are contaminants contributed by the plumbing itself; copper, lead, etc.  It’s best to drink only distilled water or that which has been run through a quality reverse osmosis system.

Keep in mind, water is the body’s main transport medium and used in every metabolic process.  Also, make sure you get enough of it.  Most people are not only mal-nourished and constipated but also dehydrated; 64 ounces a day is not unreasonable, more if one perspires a lot.  Once a person gets used to drinking pure water, the raw stuff is instantly recognizable because it tastes so bad.  By the way, don’t forget to use only purified water for making ice cubes, washing produce and in your food preparation.  Bon apetite!

More practical health tips, including “How to anchor at your perfect weight” are covered in Hallelujah’s new book, Health Can Be Yours!

1 Health Can Be Yours!, by Hallelujah Living
2 “S.A.D.” — the Standard American Diet

— From our readers —

I’m eating much better now, including raw organic almonds.  I first soak them overnight in distilled water; they plump up and are really crisp, like water chestnuts; lots of living enzymes and are a good snack.  — Virginia Beach, VA

The book, “Intuitive Eating” was very timely as I have been feeling very poorly for quite awhile; I began reading it the same day it arrived.  I read the book through that week and then did the detox.  In the past, I could not with a plan that called for all raw fruit and vegetable juices because of an irritable bowel.  I couldn’t eat only raw fruit in the morning on an empty stomach, but this diet seemed better to me so I gave it a try.  I had no problem with my stomach or bowel.  PTL!  Now I’ve begun “Stage 1”, doing the best I can with what foods are available here.  — Flemington, NJ

Being a Pastor, I changed my diet from the world’s, back to God’s 8 months ago to deal with some health issues.  Not only have they been resolved, I also lost 25 pounds!  — Sarasota, FL

Food prep has become a lot simpler and faster in our progression to mostly fresh foods.  It’s hard to believe I am eating this way and really enjoying it!  When we began, I shuddered at the idea of having no chicken on the menu!  Praise God, He has helped me to change; I couldn’t have done it without Him.  Now that I have come down this lifestyle track, I can see how satisfying and health-beneficial it really is.  Not only this, but one’s thinking gets renewed; the taste buds too!  God made our bodies so wonderfully; I’m amazed at how much abuse they can put up with before getting broken down and sick.  Even with all the “junk” we ingest, our bodies will try to heal themselves.  — Prescott, AZ

Disclaimer: The Hallelujah Health NEWS newsletter emphasizes nutrition-related health issues, to educate, encourage and provide lifestyle information.  There is no intent to diagnose, treat, prescribe for, cure or prevent disease.  The author or publisher assumes no responsibility for the use or effects of said information.  Hallelujah Health NEWS is a free public educational service, solely to promote a healthier lifestyle.

ABOUT US:  Founded in 1993, Hallelujah Living Ministries is a donation-based, non-denominational Christian outreach to uplift, inform and challenge followers of Jesus Christ.  For more information or a copy of our always-free print newsletter, please include a  postal mail address along with your comments and prayer requests. Thank you for visiting  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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