Live Longer by Eating Less on a Raw Food Diet (Putting it All Together)

My body gives me very clear indicators when it goes through the transition period that most of us call "detox". I get tired. I feel achy. My nose starts to run. This is when I know my body is changing and healing.

Using these indicators, I have learned that I heal the most when my body is low on energy. I can be free of these symptoms for weeks on a 100% raw diet. Then, I go one day without eating and boom, it hits me. After the "healing session", I tend to permanently drop a few pounds and I feel even better than I did before.

My first point is that my body (maybe not all bodies) seems to achieve health when faced with a situation where it has fewer calories than it requires.

For my second point, I would like to bring up Luigi Cornaro. Luigi was an Italian nobleman that lived in the early 1500s. Here is a little snippet from his Wikipedia page:

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Finding himself near death at the age of 35, Cornaro modified his eating habits on the advice of his doctors and began to adhere to a calorie restriction diet. His daily initial self-allowance was 14 ounces (about 400 g) of solid food and 17 ounces (about 500 g) of wine. He later reduced his daily intake to no more solid meat than an egg.

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On a diet of cooked food, animal proteins and alcohol, Luigi Cornaro was able to gain back his health and live to the age of 98.

My hypothesis is that I eating fewer calories than we require kicks our bodies into a special mode where it tries to become more efficient. It gets smaller so you can live on less. It clears your head and makes you smarter so you can discover new food sources.

Hence, after decades of this conditioning, the body becomes so healthy and so efficient that our years can be extended. I think these are the effects that Luigi Cornaro was trying to tell the world about.

I would like to start wrapping this up by combining the concept of eating less with a nutritionally-dense diet of raw and living foods. Can you imagine how long Cornaro would have lived if he only ate raw and living foods? We know how detrimental cooked foods and alcohol are to our health. This guy lived 100 years (almost) eating the stuff. If we took his concept and applied it to a raw food diet, can you imagine what might happen?

If you get one thing out of this post, I want you to know that achieving great health will be hard if you are constantly eating. If you really want to go for it, put the food away, pick up your water bottle and balance your raw diet with a lifestyle that includes fasting.

I don't like the term detox at all. I think it is a false description of what is happening.
There has been a fair bit in our mainstream "quality" (I use the term advisedly) press about reducing the amount we eat to promote longevity. When the world population is about to become a real problem, living longer seems to be the opposite of what the world needs.

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My next point is all conjecture and probably will not sit well with a lot of raw foodists. I think Luigi Cornaro probably experienced "detox". Boom, I said it. "A cooked fooder cannot rid his body of toxins!," you scream. You are right. You cannot detoxify your body if you continue to feed it toxins. How, then, can some live so long in a toxic condition?

What you all like to call "detox" is probably just the body "going through changes". When a raw fooder of several decades does a deep fast and his body exhibits these detox symptoms, is his body ridding itself of aspirin he was given as a child? Probably not. What we call detox is probably a process that the body goes through when it sees the need to change. You present it fewer calories than it needs, hence, something has to change in order to survive. It gets trim and efficient so you can live on less. It clears your head and makes you smarter so you can discover new food sources.

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Detox IS real. The simple fact of the matter is that when you are not digesting, you are detoxifying. Therefore, you can still rid your body of lots of toxins by eating cooked food if you don't eat very much of it. Even just by eating less of the crap that most people call food these days you are saving your body a huge toxic burden.

It still shocks me that people deny the fact that toxins can accumulate in your body and impact your health. It's a scientific fact as well as common sense, and thousands upon thousands of people have dramatically increased their health and recovered from "fatal" or "incurable" diseases through smart detoxification protocols. But I don't have the time to argue about the reality of the accumulation of toxins and their effect on health. Anyone with the inclination to research the subject thoroughly will quickly discover the truth.

Digestion puts a massive burden on your entire system. Calorie restriction leads to a longer life span because it spares you much of that massive burden, as well as the free radicals that are created during digestion and nutrients required for digestion (just make sure you get enough nutrients in your diet - sprout + weed juices and algae are unbeatable in this regard), not to mention the fact that you get to avoid all of the toxic junk that is in most food these days.

Anyway, a sproutarian diet is by far the best, because it not only gives you the best nutrition possible with a minimal amount of toxins, it also allows you to survive and even thrive on a minuscule amount of food and save your system lots of digestion. And there are many other benefits too that you'd have to experience to believe.

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When the world population is about to become a real problem, living longer seems to be the opposite of what the world needs.

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Contrary to what the media would have you believe, the world can support a population much larger then our current one if we would stop being so wasteful in terms of space, food, energy, and destroying the environment. If we lived in harmony with the Earth it could easily support billions more then the present world population.

The population isn't a problem at all, it's merely the way that the population chooses to live that is the problem.

I agree that detox is real. I also believe that toxins accumulate in the body and that they are expelled in this healing process that occurs when we are not digesting. We are on the same page in that regard.

Detoxification, however, is one of the tasks being performed during this period. Multitude of tasks are being performed during this time. Does that task set always include detoxification? Early on, I am sure getting rid of toxins is high on the list of priorities. But with anything, the need to detoxify should attenuate as fewer toxins are present and no new toxins are being introduced. We have given this ugly term that really does not describe a beautiful and wonderful process that does SO much more.

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Originally Posted by Living Food

Anyway, a sproutarian diet is by far the best, because it not only gives you the best nutrition possible with a minimal amount of toxins, it also allows you to survive and even thrive on a minuscule amount of food and save your system lots of digestion. And there are many other benefits too that you'd have to experience to believe.

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I am a believer, trust me. I frequently think our forum's resident sproutarians, the benefits they boast about why their bodies are so vibrant and healthy. In the above quote, I have bolded the reason why I think this is the case; it allows you to live on less (just like the Italian guy). The only thing better than sprouts would be juiced sprouts and grasses. That would require EVEN LESS digestion. I think you and Mr. Raw are living proof that hypothesis.

I have no doubt that eating a minimal amount of food on a sproutarian diet is the best way to gain health. I think we need to acknowledge, however, that there are other ways. Drinking juiced fruits and vegetables would certainly require very little digestion. Eating minimal food on an 881 diet would improve health. Eating a minimal amount of food on a 100% raw diet would also improve health.

Obviously, these methods are different rates of healing due to the amount of digestion required and the density of the nutrients. The best method being juiced sprouts, greens and grasses.

I personally have given thought to eventually living on mainly grass juices, juices from micro-greens, juices from sprouts and supplementing other foods (as little as possible) if I cannot get everything I need from the juices. To be honest, I am not ready to take that plunge. As a result, I have not done the research. It is possible that I could live 100% on a diet of juiced grasses and sprouts. (I will get there eventually, I have no doubt.)

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Originally Posted by Living Food

the world can support a population much larger then our current one if we would stop being so wasteful in terms of space, food, energy, and destroying the environment. If we lived in harmony with the Earth it could easily support billions more then the present world population.

The population isn't a problem at all, it's merely the way that the population chooses to live that is the problem.

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Totally agree with that but the majority don't want to down size like I have.

I love this thread. There is much information to ponder. Thanks!

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Multitude of tasks are being performed during this time.

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Yes.

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Does that task set always include detoxification? Early on, I am sure getting rid of toxins is high on the list of priorities. But with anything, the need to detoxify should attenuate as fewer toxins are present and no new toxins are being introduced. We have given this ugly term that really does not describe a beautiful and wonderful process that does SO much more.

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Even after years on the raw food diet you will still be detoxifying. The amount of toxins that end up in our bodies is horrifying. You know how when you start exercising you tend to make large progress at first, but then slow down until you are making progress at a much slower rate? The same happens with detox. Frankly, we'll never be done detoxifying, because even if you eat the cleanest diet and drink the best water possible there will be lots of environmental pollution to deal with, no matter where you live.

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I have no doubt that eating a minimal amount of food on a sproutarian diet is the best way to gain health. I think we need to acknowledge, however, that there are other ways. Drinking juiced fruits and vegetables would certainly require very little digestion. Eating minimal food on an 881 diet would improve health. Eating a minimal amount of food on a 100% raw diet would also improve health.

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There are plenty of ways to gain the benefits of eating very little. We've seen that even people who eat cooked foods can experience those benefits. The difference is that the sproutarian diet is absolutely loaded with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, hormones, oxygen and other phytonutrients that you could never get in the same quantities anywhere else, and most important of all is the vital energy of these foods (whether you "believe in it" or not). I don't think that anyone should allow themselves to constantly be hungry just to gain the benefits of eating less, unless they are fasting. On the sproutarian diet, you will slowly experience a decrease in appetite to the point that you can eventually live on sprout juices with no hunger whatsoever. I doubt that any other diet allows you to decrease the amount of food you need while you are still eating plenty. It's the beauty of sproutarianism - on any diet you can decrease your food needs to some degree just by choosing to eat less and forcing your body to become more efficient, but as a sproutarian your food needs will be decreased even if you stuff yourself at each meal, until you find that you just don't need much food at all. Your body becomes far far more efficient all by itself.

I think that other raw vegans also experience a decrease in appetite eventually, but nowhere near to the same degree as a sproutarian does.

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The only thing better than sprouts would be juiced sprouts and grasses.

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Absolutely. Try to juice 32 oz of green sprouts and 6 to 8 oz of grass juice every day and you will find your appetite decrease dramatically no matter what else you are eating. And the health and spiritual benefits are beyond amazing.

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The best method being juiced sprouts, greens and grasses.

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Yes.

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(I will get there eventually, I have no doubt.)

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This makes me so happy to hear. You will experience amazing benefits living on grass and sprout juice (I'm not even there yet but my life is 1,000 times better then it ever was). But don't wait until some future date to get started, start today even if only with 2 oz of grass juice a day, and slowly build your way up to higher amounts. See the sprouting for juicing thread. The sprouting! thread has tons of good information, but sadly it's so big that it's almost impossible to find any one specific bit of information in it anymore. If you read the whole thing start-to-finish you will learn lots from it, though (I read the whole thing and that's what influenced me to become a sproutarian. It was half the size then that it is now, but I would have gladly read the whole thing even if it was 10 times as long as it is now. I actually wish it was :D).

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I personally have given thought to eventually living on mainly grass juices, juices from micro-greens, juices from sprouts and supplementing other foods (as little as possible) if I cannot get everything I need from the juices. To be honest, I am not ready to take that plunge.

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That's why you should start (slowly) incorporating sprout juices into your diet right now. You will never be able to comfortably live on sprout juices alone unless you drink lots of them until they start to decrease your appetite and requirement for food tremendously (they can do that for many reasons), or unless you go on an extensive series of very long water (and to a lesser degree juice) fasts. I personally believe that very abruptly forcing your body to live on much less food then it has been (via lots of very long fasting sessions) is far less healthy then allowing your body to decrease its food requirements on its own (sproutarianism with lots of green sprout juices). You don't even have to be a sproutarian if you have lots of sprout juices (those give the main benefits), although being a sproutarian would give you the most benefits the quickest.

Apparently, my subscription to this thread didn't work. Kinda odd.

The benefits of wheatgrass are immensely attractive. I think the 8 oz you recommended yields enough B12 that I wouldn't need to use nutritional yeast. Also, the vitamin C is off the charts so my daily "couple o' oranges" would no longer be a requirement. I think it also has vitamin E which eliminates the need to ensure I have almonds or sunflower seeds everyday. I think protein, interestingly enough, is in there too. It just goes on and on like that. Drinking 8oz of wheatgrass juice a day would literally cut the list foods that I "need to eat" every day in half.

I have some research work ahead of me to learn how to do it, but wheatgrass juice is first on the list. I plan to start at a low daily amount and work my way up like you suggested in another thread.

We are kind of getting off topic here, but it's nice to see people pondering the idea that eating less can improve your health. It is kind of a weird connection and I don't think a lot of people get it. Hence, they try to raw food diet, eat constantly and never reap the full benefits and never get "hooked". In the back of my head, that's kind of why I would recommend a 30-day juice fast to people who are interested in raw food. 30 days "eating" very very little food should surely produce the benefits required to blow their mind.

ive got to leave for work right now , but i just saw thread title ' live longer by eating less ' and wanted to say THATS RIGHT ON THE MONEY IMO

My subscriptions aren't working at all. Only helpful thing is the tick on the unread threads lists. Helps me pick them out from all the dross.

This thread has lots of useful info and dare I say, food for thought. Calorie Restriction has lots of benefits including longevity - this is a well researched scientific fact that I wish more people knew about. Most people even think fasting is bad for you. IMO raw food followers generally tend to be more holisitc health conscious and in touch with their bodies so its not surprising to see this here.

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Originally Posted by Dirkg

Calorie Restriction has lots of benefits including longevity - this is a well researched scientific fact that I wish more people knew about.

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It's funny. This fact came up on one of those *other* raw food boards where the diet consists of 3000 calories of food everyday (they eat a lot as opposed to a little).

The response on that board (because they eat so dog gone much) was that these studies and the science that established these finding were based on cooked food diets. Therefore, cooked fooders eating less makes them live longer because they are consuming fewer toxins.

I think if every raw fooder lived into triple digits, we would have heard all about it. It seems that people who have been raw for many years and have exposed their bodies to fewer toxins should live longer, if the above argument is correct. To me, it seems that this is not the case. Raw Fooders tend to live a typical number of years.

I think eating all the time (even if it's raw food) will slow the rate of healing and detoxification.

The culture I live in seems to condition people to eat eat eat. 12pm is lunch. 5pm is dinner. You just woke up? It's time for breakfast. Because of this, I'm not sure I even know what hungry feels like. I've tried fasting but I encounter feelings that I associate with hunger and cave in.

Anyway, I just wanted to bring the topic up. See if anyone else has thoughts on the topic.

I'm enjoying the discussion here.

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I think eating all the time (even if it's raw food) will slow the rate of healing and detoxification.

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It will.

That's one reason that sprout juices are so important, they give you the absolute best nutrition you could possibly get and they require virtually no digestion (hardly any more then water), + once you've made them a large part of your diet for a while then you can easily be satisfied with just a glass of sprout juice + some algae. I find that if I get a little hungry, a glass of sprout juice fixes that. But if I'm busy and kept away from my sprouts for hours and get really hungry, a glass of sprout juice with algae fills me up just like a big meal.

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The culture I live in seems to condition people to eat eat eat. 12pm is lunch. 5pm is dinner. You just woke up? It's time for breakfast. Because of this, I'm not sure I even know what hungry feels like. I've tried fasting but I encounter feelings that I associate with hunger and cave in.

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Frankly, when I went sproutarian I ate as much as I wanted, sometimes too much. But after I reached the point where I was drinking lots of sprout juices everyday my hunger was dramatically reduced and if I'm not exercising heavily I can easily get by on 2 meals a day.

Once I reached that point, fasting became quite easy. I just finished fasting on sprout juices and algae for the past 5 days and I felt INCREDIBLE! Virtually no hunger at all, and when I did get some I just had some juice with algae. And the mental clarity + energy was amazing.

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Raw Fooders tend to live a typical number of years.

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True, and yet I think most of them have a better quality to those years then do most cooked fooders, due to less toxins in the diet and eating food that still has enzymes. But eating a lot does put a lot of stress on your body, whether it's raw food or cooked (raw food obviously being better).

But just eating raw fruit, vegetables, and unsprouted nuts and seeds has nothing on the sproutarian diet. If everyone went sproutarian the life expectancy would shoot up and Big Pharma would be out of business because no one would ever get sick (and lots of other things would happen too - no wars, for example). If everyone went raw their quality of life would be greatly improved but nothing like if they were sproutarian (I've been "standard raw" and a sproutarian, I know).

...Not that I'm recommending a diet other then what Alissa says, of course...that would be against the rules...*wink*

and of course longevity has a lot to do with your own genetic make-up as well. Some people just go on and on and on living even though they have a "dreadful" lifestyle.