What are Living Foods?

Living foods are those that are full of life energy. The scientific explanation at this time is that they contain enzymes. Living foods are very beneficial to our health.

List of Living Foods

• wheat grass juice
• fresh raw vegetables - especially leafy greens
• ripe fruit
• raw vegetable juices
• soaked and sprouted nuts and seeds
• sprouted beans - Some pulses (eg kidney beans and soy beans) are toxic unless cooked, and should not be eaten raw. Often people find sprouted beans easier to digest if they are cooked lightly.
• sprouted grains
• sauerkraut (unpasturised)
• sun-dried fruit
• rejuvelac - an enzyme rich drink made from the soak water of sprouted grains.
• kombucha - an enzyme rich drink made from tea and a special "culture".
• kefir - a sort of thin sour yogurt, that is created by adding another type of culture to milk.
• miso (unpasturised)
• apple cider vinegar (unpasturised)
• raw honey

How do Living Foods differ from Raw Foods?

Not all raw uncooked food is full of active enzymes. Raw foods that are not living foods include raw unsoaked:

• nuts
• seeds
• grains
• pulses

Raw nuts, seeds, beans, and grains, all contain enzyme inhibitors whose purpose is to prevent them from sprouting and growing in unsuitable conditions. To deactivate the enzyme inhibitors, and turn them into living foods, they need to be soaked in water. This enables them to then sprout. Young sprouts are packed full of enzymes and nutrients.

Fermented Foods

It is possible to add enzymes back into cooked food using the process of fermentation. Raw foods can also be fermented, which is a traditional way of storing vegetables over winter, and makes tough vegetables such as cabbage easier to digest. The fermentation process produces beneficial lactic acid and predigests the food. Fermented Living Foods include:

• sauerkraut - fermented raw cabbage, carrots, and beets
• apple cider vinegar - fermented apples
• rejuvelac (see above)
• miso - fermented cooked soya beans and grains
• kombucha (see above)
• kefir (see above)

Healing with Living Foods

In healing diets there is usually a focus on green foods and wheat grass juice which are very high in nutrients, and excellent at removing toxins from the body.

The Living Food diet

A living foods diet is made up of food that is both rich in nutrients, and easy to digest. It is used to successfully treat a wide range of diseases, including allergies, arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. It provides an abundance of easily digestible nutrients, and enables the body to heal. One living foods diet pioneer was Ann Wigmore. In the 1950's she cured herself of colon cancer. Wheat grass juice and sprouts play a major role in a living food diet. The living food diet is based on the philosophy of Hippocrates of Cos (approx 400 B.C.) - "Let Food be your medicine and medicine be your food". Along with Viktoras Kulvinskas she set up the Hippocrates Health Institute in the U.S.A. to heal people and teach them about benefits of living food.

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