(I prefer vegan fertilizers and compost that don’t contain a nimal products or manure.) People find this difficult to hear, but I also believe that if you live where farmer’s markets and organic ally grown tropical fruits are not available, you would do well to 
consider relocating. Of course, growing your own food would be best of all, and I hig hly recommend doing so, whenever possible. 2) We wash our produce. A hundred years ago, people tended to bathe once a week or less, on average, and they  did not concern themselves with 
fastidiously washing the surfaces of their fruits and vegetables  as they do these days. In part, this is another result of agrochemical 
food production, as people have been misled to believe that pesticide residues ca n be adequately washed off by rinsing or scrubbing 
the outsides of their produce. In the past, when people ate lettuce, celery, carrots, and other vegetable s fresh from the ground, the soil left clinging to the 
vegetables often contained vitamin B 12 . They also obtained the nutrient from the bacteria-laden dirt that acc umulates near the stems 
of apples, peaches, pears, and other core and stone fruits. But between the che micals we apply to the soils and our obsessive fear 
of germs and bacteria, we effectively eliminate this source of the n utrient, as well. 3) We cannot absorb the B 12  we eat. Meat eaters easily consume enough B 12  because the bacteria that make it, live in the digestive tracts of li vestock, and it is distributed 
in the muscle meats of the animals they eat. As described earlier, v egans who eat organically grown plants from richly composted 
soils, and who don’t compulsively wash their produce, should also get ple nty of the nutrient. In both of these cases, vitamin B 12  deficiency is usually only a problem if you lack a chemical calle d the “intrinsic factor,” 
which causes people to be unable to absorb B 12 . How does this occur? It seems that intrinsic factor production is reduce d as 
dietary fat increases. This is by far the most common cause of B 12  deficiency. Doctors can easily test whether a person has a normal 
ability to absorb B 12 . For those who do not, no amount of the vitamin in the diet will help. Thus, all of u s, vegetarians and meat 
eaters alike, are at risk of B 12  deficiency. A high-fat diet increases this risk substantially, for two reasons. F irst, the colonies of B 12 -producing bacteria in our intestines 
utilize carbohydrates for fuel. As the amount of fat in our diets goes up, t he amount of carbohydrate goes down, thus reducing the 
quantity of fuel available to the microbe. Less fuel results in a smal ler colony and an overall decrease in B 12  production. Second, the 
B12  uptake sites in our intestines become clogged when there is excess fa t in the diet, further reducing B 12  absorption. When 
reduced B 12  production is coupled with impaired absorption, the likelihood of B 12  deficiency becomes predictable. 4) Medical B 12  standards are artificially high. The situation is further complicated by the fact that many refi ned starchy foods are “enriched” with a synthetic form of vitamin B 12 . When doctors test for “normal” B 12  levels, their results are skewed towards the high end by the fact that  most people eat these 
foods (mostly grain products—cereals, breads, pasta, cookies, cakes, etc .) on a daily basis. People who eat a grain-free diet not 
supplemented by this poor imitation of the natural nutrient often  test “low” for B 12  even if their levels are healthy and they are totally 
asymptomatic. This is because their B 12  levels are being compared to those of people who are consuming a B 12  supplement in their 
food at almost every meal. How important is it to eat organically grown food? Organic produce is always to be preferred, but life is full of compromises an d choices. It may be better to eat commercially 
grown raw vegetables than to eat cooked or steamed organic vegetables, but i t is a difficult choice. Organically grown produce generally contains more vitamins and min erals than conventional produce (see the FAQ on vitamin 
B12  on page 254), and the fresher it is the better. Organic produce generally con tains little or no pesticide residue in comparison 
with conventional produce; nevertheless, the amounts involved are not  usually critical to health, and it is far more important to avoid 
the pathogenic effects from cooked food. To concern yourself with pesticide residues while eating cooked food is a prov erbial fire and frying pan situation. Neither is 
good for us. The best solution is to consume only organic raw plants. Otherwis e, the decision is much like choosing whether to shoot 
oneself in the foot or shoot oneself in the hand. In the case of cooked complex carbohydrates (grains, potatoes, corn, legumes), h owever, eating them both raw and free of 
synthetic chemicals has recently become a matter of grave concer n. Commercial agroscientists are scrambling to counteract the 
seriously negative press being caused by a recently discovered DNA-da maging carcinogen and neurotoxin called acrylamide. This 
potent chemical killer was found in high concentrations in the food supply  in 2002 by a Swedish researcher. Scientists at the World Health Organization and elsewhere origin ally attributed shockingly high levels of acrylamide (found 
most prominently in bread, chips, crackers, french fries, and other dry-cooked c arbohydrates) to the cooking process itself, 
because they found none to be present in raw foods. But we have since learne d that acrylamide is a building block for polyacrylamide, a surfactant added to enhance the effectiveness of M onsanto’s Roundup and other herbicide products used 
ubiquitously in industrial farming. Further research is in order to determine whether bread, pastries, and c rispy snacks made from organically grown plants 
contain this lethal chemical, but in any case the presence of acryl amide in these foods presents one more nail in the coffin of the 
standard American diet. If you still eat these foods, I urge you to do at leas t some reading about this profoundly toxic chemical. You 
can begin with the two articles referenced in the endnotes of this book. 85 
 
Do I have to do calculations every day? No. Y ou don’t have to calculate percentages every day to make sure you’ re eating properly . By eating primarily fruit, 
vegetables, and leafy greens, your diet is automatically close to the i deal of 80/10/10 . However, you may want to use a calculator to 
determine whether you are getting enough calories for the day to meet  your basic metabolic and exercise needs. The tools in Appendix D. Resources for Diet Analysis are especially h elpful to the newcomer, because it is common to 
undereat fruit and overeat fatty foods when beginning the raw vegan di et. I recommend that you input your food information into 
CRON-O-Meter or on Nutridiary.com, FitDay.com, or another similar websi te for at least a week, to make sure you have the 
relevant information about your calories and caloronutrient ratio. Very often, people simply do not eat enough because their stomachs are used t o accepting a certain volume of food each day, 
and raw foods are not as calorie dense as cooked foods. Therefore, to consume enough c alories, you need to train your stomach to 
accept more food, especially fruits. How do I eat so much fruit at once? It takes some practice to develop the ability to consume what, from th e raw perspective, should be thought of as “normal” 
amounts of food for a human. Somewhere in between “all you care for” and “a ll you can” there is a happy medium that will enable 
you to increase the amount you consume without overeating. The stomach  is very accommodating in this regard and will stretch 
quickly to allow you to consume normal/healthy quantities of fruit. At the same time, your image of what is a healthy amount, and your mindse t about quantities of fruit will grow to match your 
ability to eat it. The more you practice eating meals of just fruit, only  fruit, and nothing but fruit, the easier and easier it will become to 
consume appropriate volumes. If your fruit meal does not “hold” you until the next meal time, at least  three to five hours later, then you did not eat a sufficient 
quantity of food. With practice, it will get easier. Until then, feel fre e to add an extra fruit meal between breakfast and lunch, and 
again between lunch and dinner. What does “mono eating” mean? Mono eating is the practice of eating one particular food for an entire me al, in sufficient quantity to produce satiation until the 
next meal. This is the way that every nonhuman creature on Earth g enerally eats. I recommend eating monomeals for optimal 
digestion, absorption, and assimilation. A monomeal might consist of four or five bananas for a sedentary beginner  or twelve to eighteen bananas for a seasoned raw 
athlete. Another monomeal might be two or three mangos for the beginner , and four or more for the athlete. It is important to remember when reading about food volumes that a small in active woman may only eat a quarter of what an 
active male could eat. Do not be intimidated when you hear a low-fat raw ve gan athlete tell you that he ate a dozen or more bananas 
for lunch. Four or five may be sufficient to meet your needs if you are a sm aller, less active individual. Variety is obtained over time, throughout the seasons, not at every meal . In nature, if sufficient food is available, animals tend 
to eat one food at a time until they are full. What’s wrong with avocados, nuts, and seeds? Avocados, nuts, and seeds are extremely high in fat content, especially  nuts and seeds: 
 
Avocado (77% fat) : 4 ounces (about ½) = 200 calories; 165 fat. Almonds (73% fat) : 4 ounces (½ cup +) = 650 calories; 480 fat. Flaxseeds (58% fat): 4 ounces (¾ cup) = 560 calories; 325 fat. When it comes to fat, the source doesn’t matter so much; fat is fat. Fat t ravels from the lymph system directly into the blood. Too much fat will thicken the blood, causing the red blood cells to clump togethe r so they cannot deliver oxygen to the cells. Excess 
fat also blocks the action of insulin in bringing sugars to the cells, wh ich leads to diabetes and other blood-sugar problems. (Chapter 2 discusses this in detail.) It is best to eat only small amounts of avocados, nuts, and seeds (not more than  half of an avocado in a day or one ounce of 
nuts for a sedentary person; twice that for an athlete), and not to eat th em daily. Fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens contain 
adequate high-quality fatty acids (assuming we’re getting enoug h calories) to meet all of our needs. Eventually, it is best to free yourself from the desire to experience a  heavy feeling after a meal, as this is an indicator that the 
digestive system is being overworked. In order to feel satisfied, it is best  to eat large amounts of sweet fruit, which may pass through 
your stomach quickly, but will satisfy true hunger for hours. What do you mean by “true hunger”? True hunger is a sensation that occurs primarily deep in the low part of  the throat, much like the feeling of thirst, but a bit 
lower, about where the concave “notch” appears between the collar bones, at the bottom of the neck. The sensation might be 
described as resembling a dull ache. The stomach sensation we commonly associate with hunger is often th e result of its muscular walls shrinking after completing 
the digestive task of the last meal. If a perceived feeling of hunger i s accompanied by feelings of faintness, stomach pangs, 
headaches, or other discomforts, it is actually a sign of withdrawal from  harmful substances. A healthy person can skip a meal or two with no feelings of weakness or distr ess. When one is healthy, true hunger signifies no 
urgency for food, since the body knows it has reserves for its use in time of n eed. You should be at all times comfortable in your 
body. Is eating sea salt all right? Extracted sodium chloride, in any  form is an irritant and is toxic to the body . It deadens the taste buds’ a bility to sense sweet, 
sour, or bitter (which is why salt users often say that food has no taste w ithout salt), retards digestion and excretion, and upsets our 
critical natural water balance. W e must take care to distinguish here between extracted sodium chl oride “salt” (which is deadly), and the sodium and other 
mineral salts that occur naturally and abundantly in whole plant foods  (which are vitally important nutrients needed by every cell of 
our bodies). Eating a variety of vegetables, especially celery and tomat oes, provides all the organic salts and other minerals our 
bodies need in just the right amounts and combinations we require. Our cells rely on a delicately regulated ratio of sodium and potassium, wi th sodium residing outside the cells (extracellular) and 
potassium inside (intracellular). If the potassium/sodium ratio is a t all out of balance, cellular dehydration or super saturation result. Either of these conditions seriously compromises cellular function. If we lose too much sodium through exercise or any other effort that resu lts in perspiration, potassium is “pulled” out of the cell 
to maintain the proper ratio. Attempting to compensate by consuming salt  simply stresses the body even more, like trying to make 
up for lack of sleep by drinking coffee. The potassium within the cel l must be replaced in order for the cell to “hold” sodium 
extracellularly again. The salt in seawater causes dehydration regardless of how it is consu med. Ocean water is caustic and irritating, tastes vile, and 
causes people to vomit. In quantity, drinking seawater causes death with in days, even though it is diluted by a lot of water. When we extract salt and ingest it with our meals, we head in the sam e direction, only at a different speed. Removing the salt 
from seawater gives us sea salt, the very substance that causes  death by dehydration. Consuming sodium chloride of any kind— 
including sea salts and other highly marketed, pricey specialty s alts—is a self-destructive practice. Specialty salt produce rs expend 
great effort to convince you that you “need” the extracted minerals i n their products to offset a grave nutritional imbalance common 
in modern society. (Such deficiency may indeed exist, but in any case it  can be healthfully remedied only by eating an abundance of 
low-fat raw plant foods. To do otherwise only creates more nutritional imbal ances.) True, we need minerals … but we need to ingest them in the quantities and the form in which they occur in whole plant 
foods . Eating a highly mineralized form of poison makes no logical sense whats oever. Salt eaters who cease the practice can often take years to expel all of  the retained salt from their bodies. But take heart, as the 
bulk of salt (and cravings) diminish significantly within just a f ew short weeks of total abstinence. I cannot overemphasize the 
importance of making the commitment to wean yourself from this ubiquitou s poison. Can I use vinegar in my salad dressing? All forms of vinegar, including apple cider and balsamic, are highly toxi c to the human body. Vinegar is made by diluting one 
part acetic acid (a common poison found in any chemistry laboratory … in  a bottle with a skull and crossbones) with 19 parts 
water. Vinegar excessively stimulates the thyroid gland, leading to hyper thyroidism and eventually hypothyroidism and concomitant 
health issues such as endocrine disorders, calcium metabolic disorders , metabolic rate disorders, fat metabolism problems, body- 
weight issues, lethargy, headaches, and the classic bulging of the e yes. This stimulation also accelerates the aging process. The body pulls phosphorus from the adrenal glands to negate the effects of ac etic acid in the system. Depleted phosphorus 
results in impaired function of the adrenal glands and thus, again, the  entire endocrine system. The outcome of all this can include 
body odor, pains in the heart, rapid pulse, increased mucus production, chronic fat igue, and headaches. Repetitive use of vinegar 
will also result in hardening of the liver. Vinegar should not be cons idered “food.” 
 
Is it okay to eat frozen produce? Some damage to living foods occurs when they are frozen. Freezing can ex pand and burst cell walls, and the resulting 
oxidation diminishes the nutritional value of the food. However, nuts and s eeds, which are designed to survive through cold winters, 
are less damaged by being frozen. Generally, the lower the water and the  higher the fat content of a whole, fresh food, the better it 
will take to freezing. As for fruits and vegetables, the practice of freezing should be minimi zed but not necessarily eliminated, as it is one of the 
least-damaging ways to preserve foods (especially when a chest free zer is used instead of the frost-free variety). One advantage of 
freezing food relative to other forms of preservation is that freezing  introduces no known toxins. You should be aware that eating frozen and ice-cold foods damages the essen tial bacterial colonies that live in your gut and 
may be harmful to the bacteria that produce vitamin B 12 . Once again, we see that eating foods as we find them in nature proves to
be the most healthful … it is true every time. Are dehydrated foods OK to eat? Dehydrated foods are not whole foods; they have had their water removed. Unfor tunately, we have not been taught to 
recognize the vital value of water as it comes packaged in fresh plant foods. Fruits and vegetables are nature’s most pristine water 
filters, and the water we cook and dehydrate out of them can never be adequate ly replaced. Drinking water, no matter how purified, 
alkalized, or “structured,” just doesn’t compare. Dehydrated foods can never be as nutritious as the whole, fresh foods they s tarted as. Nutrient damage has been shown to 
occur, even if the water is replaced. The use of dehydrates is a personal de cision, but dried foods should always be considered at 
best a compromise, second in quality to whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic fruits  and vegetables. Current research indicates that vitamin B 12  changes to an analog and unusable form where it is found in dehydrated foods. This appears to be true, by the way, for spirulina, chlorella, algaes, and othe r pills and powders made from ocean plants. What about spices and condiments? In Natural Hygiene, there is a saying, “If you can’t make a meal of i t, it likely is not people food.” When people hear this 
statement, they often view it as draconian and idealistic, for it rule s out the consumption of virtually all spices, seasonings, and 
condiments. Yet, think about it: no creatures in nature season their f oods, nor even generally combine more than one food in a meal 
(at least not for purposes of gustatory pleasure). Y es, humans are undoubtedly different than the “lower” animals. W e h ave the dexterity and the equipment to mix up grand 
concoctions (“combo-a-bombs,” as R.C. Dini so aptly dubbed them), and we have  the ingenuity to create gloriously seasoned taste 
treats. But I promise you, our digestive systems have not kept up with  our creativity—not by a long shot. In fact, they are virtually 
identical to those of our ancient ancestors, as well as those of modern-day  frugivorous anthropoid primates. By design, we are 
meant to eat one whole plant food at a time, unadorned, until we have made a mea l of it. Herbs and spices like garlic, onion, curry, cumin, ginger, cayenne, chili  powder, and oregano contain alkaloids and other toxic 
chemicals. These seasonings stimulate our taste buds and nerves wh ile delivering toxins to our nervous systems. Their use should be 
avoided, or at least minimized. They act as irritants in the digestive  tract, often causing the body to produce mucus for protection. They also function to disguise the bland or noxious taste of cooked foods and seduce  us into consuming foods that would not attract 
us on their own. Like salt, spices provide such an intense “flavor hit” that our tas te buds lose their ability to recognize the natural but more 
subtle tastes of fruits and vegetables. The same holds true for the use  of all condiments, including mustard and ketchup. Can I drink coffee on the raw diet? The beans in coffee are roasted, making them no longer a raw food item. The fa tal dose of caffeine is 10 grams, the amount in 
approximately 70 cups of coffee. Caffeine is considered such a powerful drug t hat just three cups of coffee supplies enough caffeine 
to disqualify an athlete from competing in the Olympic games. Many people take one tenth of the lethal dose every day. I had one patient who dra nk over thirty cups of coffee per day. His 
health was failing, but it was regained when he stopped this noxious habi t, which he did overnight. Moreover, caffeine decreases the amount of pepsin in your body. Pepsin is use d in the digestion of protein. Ironically, many 
coffee drinkers on the standard American diet criticize the raw diet  because they believe they would not receive “enough” protein every day, while their daily intake of coffee impedes their absorption of th e very protein they claim they need. Caffeine is also known to deplete the body of water, calcium, potassium, manga nese, and the vitamin B complex. Caffeine is 
just one of many toxic substances that can be found in coffee. Should I continue taking my medications? The medical profession and its supporting industry, the medico pharmaceut ical cartel, operate from the theory that thousands 
of separate illnesses exist whose symptoms can be treated or suppressed by  ingesting synthetic chemical compounds. The Natural 
Hygiene approach is entirely different. We recognize that genetically inherited abnormalities exist, us ually arising from generations of poor dietary and lifestyle 
choices, and that very little can be done about these. Otherwise, however , we propose that there is only one illness: toxemia. This is 
a condition of unclean blood and tissues, caused primarily by improper diet and li festyle. Unchecked, toxemia and its attendant 
enervation (nervous exhaustion) get progressively worse over the y ears, leading to all manner of symptoms. People find this very difficult to comprehend, but we must remember that t he symptoms are not the disease. Rather, symptoms 
are actually the body’s methods of coping with toxemia. In order to “cur e” a disease condition, such as diabetes, cancer, or 
cardiovascular disease, one must eliminate the underlying toxemia  of which the “disease” is only a manifestation. As you begin to eat a healthy 80/10/10  raw diet, you will no longer overload your body on a daily basis with toxic residue
from food. Your body will begin to clean your blood, tissues, and organs of their toxic ity, and the medical condition(s) for which you 
are taking the pharmaceutical medicine(s) will fade away. Check wi th your doctor as your health improves, in time he or she will 
likely agree that your need to medicate will become obsolete. Generally, the younger you are and the less time the body has spent in th e toxic state, the more rapidly it will clean itself. An 
older person with more accompanying degeneration and accumulated toxici ty may take longer to cleanse and return to a healthy 
state. Nevertheless, limited only by its vitality level, the body will  respond positively to cessation of the daily insult of cooked foods 
and high-fat raw foods and to their replacement with whole, fresh, ripe, ra w fruits and vegetables. Still, food is only one part of 
healthful living, and proper eating will never result in health in  and of itself. Pharmaceutical medicines are toxic substances that you introduce  into your system at your own peril. Rarely are any claims 
made that a drug will cure any particular chronic disease. At best, th ey usually profess only to substitute one set of symptoms for 
another. The Myth of the “Cure” 
The very notion that “cure” is possible is preposterous. Healing , on the other hand is not only possible but is ongoing. The 
inborn healing intelligence of the body is always  at work, repairing us and compensating for the challenges we subject it  to. This 
healing occurs as quickly and efficiently as possible given our le vel of vital energy—and in a priority order we cannot comprehend. All attempts (both conventional and “alternative”) to aid this pr ocess through outside interventions or treatments or ingestion of any
external substances only shift symptoms and create greater problems  for the body in the long run. Healing comes through cessation of cause. We are never cured from a dis ease or symptom, for if we once again participate in 
its cause the body again begins the process of generating the symptoms i n response. The fact that pharmaceutical drugs are sold legally over the counte r or are prescribed by licensed physicians does not make 
them any less dangerous to health than street drugs. Over 100,000 people die eac h year from the side effects of these patented 
medicines. No one has ever died from eating an adequate supply of fruits and v egetables. The advice to continue or curtail a particular medication is beyond the s cope of this book. However, any reputable physician 
should encourage his or her patients to improve their underlying healt h so as to make the continued reliance on pharmaceutical 
medications unnecessary. How can I stay raw in the winter cold? Fortunately, most folks who live in colder climates have homes in which  to eat, sleep, work, and live. We maintain our homes 
at comfortable temperatures. People continue to drink cold beer and eat ice cr eam in the winter. They eat hot food in the heat of 
summer. Neither geography nor the seasons are valid reasons for us to ch ange our diet from 80/10/10 . If in cold weather a person finds that they need more food, it is perfectly ac ceptable to increase consumption. The 
caloronutrient percentages should not change appreciably, however, jus t as it does not change whether a person consumes 1,500 
calories per day or 4,500 calories per day. Of course, it is almost always a healt hy idea to take a winter vacation to a warm- 
weather climate if you live in a location where this season is parti cularly harsh. Is there such a thing as foods that heal? It is important to understand that foods don’t heal us; the body does all the  healing. Foods, cooked or raw, simply supply the materials the body uses to perform its various functions. However, low-fa t raw vegan foods provide the widest range of high-quality 
nutrients and are, therefore, more likely to furnish the perfect proporti on of raw materials needed by the body for healing. Beyond that, no specific raw food is better for “healing” than any othe r. Each supplies a form of raw material that the body 
may need and use. Unlike cooked foods, raw foods do this without leaving a toxic resi due that can overwhelm the body’s ability to 
maintain a healthy, balanced state. A good variety of low-fat raw vegan foods in the diet is more than adequate to a ttain, regain, or maintain health. It is always 
healthiest and most economical to emphasize in-season foods that are gr own locally, as these will likely be the freshest. It is best to 
seek out variety over the course of the year, rather than combining foods a t every meal, every day, or even every week. Is it all right to juice fruits and vegetables? With a few exceptions, it is preferable to consume the whole foods rather t han to extract and drink part of them. Drinking fruit 
or vegetable juice without the pulp being present to slow the absorption rat e of the nutrients can spike the blood sugar and throw 
your blood chemistry out of balance. One exception is fresh-squeezed citrus fruits, since a significa nt portion of the pulp is generally retained with the juice. The 
other “exceptions” are to blend fruits such as melons into a watery  slush or to make fruit smoothies out of fruits like bananas, 
strawberries, peaches, or mangos. Liquefying a blender full of whole frui t turns it into a thick smoothie, while keeping the entire 
nutritional package together. Blending whole tomato, celery, and orange m akes a thick, tasty, salad dressing. Do I need to take supplements? You have no need for supplements if you are eating a calorically adequate  low-fat plant-based raw diet, engaging in frequent 
vigorous activity, and otherwise living a healthful lifestyle. A ll the vitamins, minerals and nutrients any body needs are amply suppli ed 
through the variety of fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens found in a  healthful diet. That said, the health of each individual always takes priority over any  philosophical position. In individual cases, it may be 
necessary to supplement the diet nutritionally during the initial  phases of lifestyle change rather than risk potential health damag e. One 
example of this is a possible need to supplement B 12 . If you experience extended periods of extreme stress, are nursing, eati ng too 
much frozen food, are in transition, or your food is not grown in healthy soil, su pplementing this nutrient for a short period of time 
may be beneficial. Supplementation would be done solely to allow time for the be nefits of correct living to accrue or for extenuating 
circumstances to pass. Nonetheless, the amount of nutrients that we require, across the board, i s far less than conventional guidelines would have us 
believe. When the body is in a fit and healthy state and all systems are  working optimally, we experience superior absorption and 
utilization and overall greater efficiency in every aspect of cel lular function. When we slow down and gum up the works with fat, 
however, it’s a different story . And supplement vendors capitalize on  this fact to your detriment. People have come to equate nutrition with pills, powders, and potions, rather th an with whole foods from nature. Ironically, 
you generally won’t find a single food of any kind in most “health-food” store s. Their products, no matter how “whole” or “natural” 
the ingredients, may shift symptoms but do not and cannot  create true health. If “health foods” were truly whole and natural, they would contain all of  the water, fiber, and other vital components that 
nature provides them with, and their sale would require no packaging or labe ls. (The profit margins would also dwindle, as whole 
produce doesn’t carry the markup of “nutritional” products.) No pill or powder that has had any of its water removed can properly be called a “whole-food” supplement, and anyone who 
markets their dehydrated product as such is kidding themselves, as well a s you. The water in our plant foods is simply too critical for 
our cellular health to be compromised, and no drinking water of any kind can eve r adequately make up the difference. When the 
water is removed, the oxidative process that occurs has a degrading impac t on the nutrients that remain, leaving supplements far less 
nutritious than their whole-food counterparts. When people follow the nutritionally unsound advice of supplement s alesmen selling fractional, isolated “foods,” they shouldn’t 
be surprised when they end up not feeling their best, with a naggi ng sense that “something” is wrong. This opens the door wide for 
the salesman to then sell supplements to “correct” the dietary and n utritional insufficiencies their own advice occasioned. I’m always dumbfounded when I hear about the money people spend on nut ritional supplements. It seems there is no high-end 
limit to the amount of product recommended by supplement salesmen. In convey or-belt fashion, they roll out a bewildering array of 
“newly discovered” miracle “foods,” while at the same time replacin g older products with newly reformulated versions. Such antics 
essentially amount to an open admission that yesterday’s silver bullet, which they touted so highly , really didn’t work as well as their
sales pitch had promised. Most of what comes from the world of nutrition these days is no more than sli ck marketing disguised as education, in the form 
of infomercials and edutisements. The marketer informs the audience  that some nutrient is good for a particular condition and then 
follows up with a strong push to convince the audience to buy lots of it. Of course, the marketers neglect to mention that too much of that nutri ent is harmful in a variety of ways, not the least of which is the inevitable imbalances that result when we consume suppleme nts of any kind. Most supplements are concentrated from plant 
foods, and despite our American “more is better” mindset, the body does not  appreciate these unnatural concentrates and has to 
work to expel them similarly to the way it has to eliminate toxic residu e from cooked foods. Like an amateur barber who finds himself trimming each side of the  hair to make things “even” until his client is bald, a person 
who supplements with single nutrients (or any formulation or combinat ion of extracted nutrients) inevitably creates greater and more 
confounding imbalances, whether or not the cause and effect are discer nible in the short term. It is always better to correct the diet 
than to supplement it. On a healthy diet, supplements are not needed. On a le ss-than-healthy diet, supplements do not make up for 
the nutrition that is lacking. Is the raw food concept flawed? Every creature on this planet has a specific diet for which it is desi gned. All animals get their nourishment exclusively from the 
foods present in their natural environment—one food at a time, when th ey are hungry , until they are full. Simplicity at meals ensures
optimum digestion and nutrition. Animals do not use or demonstrate any nee d for supplements or condiments. Nature provides 
adequately for all life forms, and humans are not an exception. Like all other primates, we were made to function perfectly on the amount  of nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, in the 
quantities that we would eat those foods whole. Juicing, dehydrating, concentrating, and refining those foods introduce s excesses 
and nutritional imbalances that our bodies were not designed to deal with. I maintain that the optimal raw food diet consists of whole, fresh, ripe , raw, organic plants—in the 80/10/10  caloronutrient 
ratio—period. The raw food kitchen need not include jars, bottles, boxes, c ans, bags, capsules, powders, remedies, potions, pills, 
or tinctures of any kind. So many eager new raw fooders find themselves in the unfortunate sit uation where some nutritional “guru” guides them to “the 
world’s most nutritious diet” and then convinces them that the diet is  inadequate and requires supplementation. The ultimate 
promotion strategy, this ploy is as old as marketing itself: First you cre ate a problem, then you sell the solution. How many mom- 
and-pop grocery stores were vandalized by the very men who were the re to sell them “security”? How many people became 
patients for life by following the advice of their medical doctors? The problem, in the case of raw foods, is that people do not feel great when they e at insufficient carbohydrates or when they 
continually under consume total calories. They experience voraciou s hunger, and they binge, falling off the “raw food wagon” 
repeatedly. They develop uncomfortable and unhealthy relationships wit h food. Their health deteriorates as their diet becomes 
erratic. I choose to acquire my learning on any topic from organizations and individu als whose clear and explicit intention is to educate 
me. I steer away from information sources that include an obvious and m otivated “back-of-the-room” sales table filled with 
consumables and repeat products that will, if they have it their w ay , have me coming back for more … for years to come. If the only way to be truly well nourished is to consume vitamins, miner als, oils, enzymes, medicinal herbs, white powdered 
pharmaceuticals such as MSM, refined isolates such as lecithin , “super” foods such as algae and sea vegetables, and other 
purportedly “nutrition-enhancing” substances, then the raw food c oncept is flawed. Appendix C. Personal Success Stories with 80/10/10 
 
Mark Squire, St. Petersburg, Florida 
Back a few years ago, a struggling raw food friend of mine referred me to th e work of a guy named Doug Graham. I had 
never heard of him before, so I began to educate myself a bit on the me ssage he brought to the table. My first reaction? “This guy is 
a damned fool!” However, I had become so frustrated with my current raw f ood program (which was about 50% fat) that I was 
willing to give anything a shot. I started eating larger and larger portions of fruit, but still neglec ted other important aspects of healthy living. Now my initial 
stance was solidified: “This guy IS a fool and his suggestions are ins ane!” Y et, for some reason, I continued on. Why , I do not 
know. Slowly but surely , Doug’s teachings made more and more sense. The more  consistently I applied Doug’s program (with a little 
dash of Squire mixed in) I began to notice miraculous things happening. Not  only was my health improving dramatically, but I was 
also getting stronger and faster, and my endurance was skyrocketing. I h ad been lifting weights on a raw food diet for three years 
prior to 811 and had nothing to show for it. Roughly one full year later, being 100% dedi cated to keeping my fruit intake high, I was 
nearly 30 lbs. heavier, all of which was muscle. Over the next year, I adde d an additional 10 lbs. of muscle, bringing my total up to 
40 lbs. The added muscle isn’t the main benefit of being on a raw food diet. The best part of the whole journey has been my childlike 
energy levels, my blissful state of joy, and my ability to tune into natu re, all of which were amplified measurably. When I was about 
to give up on raw foods once and for all, Doug steered me back on the right track. The program isn’t easy , but with enough inner strength and per sistence, you will undoubtedly experience a radical 
transformation in every aspect of your life. As much trash as I tal ked about Doug in my learning process, it’s because this 811 
program was changing me down to the core. My belief system was threaten ed, and I fired off about him, as a defense mechanism. It 
was quite a struggle getting to the point I’m at now, but now I see as  clear as day that Doug is an amazing person, and I have 
nothing but the utmost respect for him and what he does. My stamp of approval is  all over this book, and all over Dr. D. himself. Thanks a million, brother! Cyrus Khambatta, San Francisco, California 
I’ll never forget the first time I exercised with Dr. Graham. I was  half his age, in the prime of my athletic life, fueled by a 
combination of years of soccer training and an ever-growing dose of athl etic hubris. I thought to myself, “I’ll show this guy what it 
really means to work out.” It took only fifteen minutes to realize that I h ad completely underestimated Dr. Graham. I was so wrong, in fact, that there was nothing I could do that Dr. Graham cou ldn’t. I was flabbergasted that a man as old as 
my father could jump higher, run faster, balance longer, react quicker, pu sh harder, lift more, breathe slower, and still have more 
energy at the end of the day. What was accounting for an athletic abili ty that I had witnessed in only a handful of other athletes in my 
life? How could he recover faster than me when he was more than fifty  years old? What was he fueling his body with that I wasn’t? The truth is, at the age of twenty-two I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes , a life-changing condition that not only changed 
my relationship with food, but was silently crippling my body . Havin g implemented the recommended Atkins-esque “low-carb” diet, 
I had reduced my insulin intake by 25%. I thought that I had taken steps to ensu re my long-term health. Instead, I was taking steps 
in the wrong direction, further exacerbating the autoimmune react ion by consuming grossly high levels of animal protein and fat. I did exactly what the cookbooks instructed me to do: I eliminated breads and pasta s, routinely consumed more fish, and 
increased my consumption of chicken, beef, eggs, and dairy. A few times a we ek I snacked on fruits and vegetables, but only when 
the dairy and meat drawers in the fridge were empty. The low-carb approach  seemed quite logical; if carbohydrates are responsible 
for spikes in blood sugar, limiting their intake should regulate blood-sugar  levels throughout the day. I bragged to my friends and 
family about how I had “figured out” diabetes, and how I was able to control m y blood sugar better than most. Despite this, I failed to make the connection between the low-carb diet an d my ailing athletic health. I rationalized that 
because I was past my eighteen-year-old athletic prime it was norma l to be constantly fighting injury. I settled for the explanation 
that my physical health was on a course for the worse. After all, I was  in constant receipt of a pessimistic outlook from medical 
professionals. I learned of the 80/10/10 philosophy through a fortunate series of events invol ving a friend in the San Francisco area who had 
unsuccessfully tried a raw food diet. Because his diet was high in nut s and avocados, and thus high in fat, he did not gain long-term 
benefit from his raw food experience. Having listened to his troubles, I wa s curious about how to make a raw food diet work, 
especially in the context of improving diabetic health. A few days into learning about 80/10/10 from Dr. Graham himself, I remember  thinking to myself, “eating fruits and vegetables 
—what a novel idea.” Why had it never occurred to me before that the ans wer to my ailing health could simply be in the food that I 
wasn’ t  consuming? I always knew that fruits and vegetables were good for you, but  as far as I knew, athletes were unable to sustain themselves without animal protein. From the first time I was taugh t the food pyramid in second grade to the depths of the varsity 
soccer locker room, it was always reinforced that animal protein was a ne cessity for developing musculature, speed , and athletic 
endurance. After all, how can you perform without protein? My first inclination was to reject the 80/10/10 philosophy as a lifestyle t hat only sedentary people could maintain successfully. Only because I was desperate to find a better solution to overall health, I  decided to give Dr. Graham and the 80/10/10 idea a shot. If anything, his lifestyle had instant credibility based solely on hi s athletic prowess. At the moment I officially adopted the 80/10/10 regimen, I decided that I would giv e up meat. I also decided that I would give 
up grains and dairy. It would be hard, but perhaps there was a benefit in this r adical approach to nutrition. I was told by family and 
friends to “be careful,” that giving up meat could have severe rami fications for my health. People understood my desperation, but 
few were truly accepting of the low-fat raw foods approach. It has been more than two years now, and I can safely say that the benefi ts of being on the 80/10/10 diet are more numerous 
than I could have ever imagined. My body has completely changed. My skin is s ofter, my fingernails look normal for once in my life, 
I am almost always well hydrated, my gums don’t bleed when I brush my  teeth, and I sleep more efficiently . For the first time in my 
life I am able to compete in endurance athletics, supported by an enhanced a bility to uptake, transport, and utilize oxygen. On long 
bicycle rides, my heart rate stays unusually low, which allows me to pu sh harder than I previously could, and for longer periods of 
time. Most important, I am able to consume more calories during the day on a fracti on of the insulin I was previously taking. The 
formula I use to monitor my progress is the ratio of the number of grams of ca rbohydrates to the number of units of insulin. On the 
Atkins-esque approach I had maximized this ratio at 16 grams of carbohydrate s per unit of insulin. By eating 80/10/10, I am now 
capable of eating 68 grams of carbohydrates per unit of insulin when I parta ke in regular periods of endurance training. This means 
that I am now able to eat larger quantities of food, use less insulin, and fr ee myself physically and psychologically from an insulin 
pump. One unexpected benefit of the 80/10/10 diet that I have welcomed with open arms  is a seeming inability to get sick. Having 
transitioned to this form of nutrition at the end of the autumn season, I w as unknowingly providing my body with an influx of vitamins, 
minerals, enzymes, sugars, fiber, coenzymes, phytonutrients , etc. that (in combination with regular exercise and other elements  of 
healthful living) would help build an immune response capable of mountin g an arsenal against a collection of the worst maladies in 
years. I live in an apartment with three other people, and work in an office buildin g with over one hundred and fifty others. The winter 
months brought a series of illnesses that absolutely crippled my househ old, stopping each housemate in their tracks for at least one 
three-day period each. One of my housemates suffered from three colds and/ or bouts of influenza, not only infecting my remaining 
housemates, but touching bowls, cups, plates and silverware with almost n o regard for common hygiene. At work, a number of 
coworkers suffered from sicknesses that kept them from the office for a nu mber of days at a time. Without exception, almost every 
colleague produced symptoms at some point between the months of November and Ma rch. During this extended winter season the symptoms I produced were as follow s: I coughed on one occasion for about a minute, 
and sneezed a grand total of four times. That’s it. Nothing more. Never on ce did I feel groggy , run down, suffer from a headache, or 
feel nauseous. I surprised even myself. And because I am playfully com petitive by nature, I challenged my family and friends to a 
contest in trying  to get me sick. So far no one has succeeded, and quite frankly I don’t believe t hat anyone will. Before becoming an 80/10/10 raw foodist, I had heard numerous allegations that e liminating grains could increase mental 
clarity and create a heightened sense of consciousness. I remained s keptical, wary about the change in mental perception that could 
be brought about by a change in diet. I failed to make the connection between food a nd systemic  human health, ignorantly asserting 
that food has a limited capacity to affect any more than the function of  the digestive system. I didn’t believe that nutrition possessed
the power to change the way I think. I didn’t believe that the 80/10/10 diet  could change my emotional state. Simply stated, I didn’t 
believe that eating differently could change any part of my conscious ness. I was always taught to believe that consciousness was 
governed by my genetic blueprint, and that it could only be affected by eithe r a drastic change in environmental conditions or an 
intensely traumatic experience. Once again, I was proven incorrect. Within the first month of eating 80/ 10/10, I began to experience the ability to remember 
people’s names and faces, recall events from several years bac k, and revisit playful ideas that I thought had escaped forever. Throughout college my friends had labeled me as “the guy who has too much  going on to remember anything.” I used to invite 
friends to come and dine with me, forget about the invitation, and be surprise d when they showed up only a few hours later. I used 
to tell people the same stories while they pretended to listen for the fir st time. A few times I seriously believed that I suffered from a 
mild form of anterograde amnesia, a condition in which an individual wande rs through life unable to form new memories. In the same 
way that I rationalized an athletic decline, I reasoned that it was n ormal to experience mental deterioration in life, and that perhaps I 
was experiencing it earlier in life simply because I was diabetic. Now, however, I have a significantly improved memory . I can recall pe ople’s names after only a single brief meeting. I rarely 
forget an appointment or a commitment . I am more productive in my job, and can work for longer periods of time in a single s tretch. I realize that I now have a memory more closely resembling that whi ch I’m supposed to have at my age—one that works, and one that works well. My days of using diabetes as the generic scapegoat for an y mental or physical health symptom are officially over. Learning the 80/10/10 philosophy has helped me develop a holistic understanding  of nutrition that opposes the basic desire to 
obsess about the intake of a subset of nutrients. Nutrition education in th is country makes it almost impossible to know where to 
look for essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, and calcium, to na me a few. It is also difficult to know how much of each 
nutrient one should aim to consume on a daily basis. After all, the recomm ended daily allowance values change almost every year, 
and intake values seem to change constantly, in a seemingly arbitra ry fashion. There seems to be little logic to this system. Many Americans ponder about what the best source of omega-3 fatty  acids is, whether it’s necessary to consume bran flakes 
to keep “regular,” whether organic produce is really worth the pri ce differential, whether dairy products are the best source of 
calcium, and whether supplementation is really necessary. One day y ou read an article in the newspaper that claims one point of 
view; the next day you read an article in a magazine that contradict s it completely. The information comes from hundreds of sources, 
most of it is confusing, and almost nobody knows what to believe. It wasn’t until learning the 80/10/10 philosophy that I finally lea rned how to filter mainstream nutrition information to achieve 
optimal health. Dr. Graham’s coined statement, “Increase the pe rcentage of whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic fruits and vegetables in
your diet” was so simple and so sensible that I felt like a fool for not under standing it previously . In fact, after feeling the difference 
that whole fresh, ripe, raw, organic fruits and vegetables made in my body, I  never stopped to question my nutrient intake. I stopped 
obsessing about individual nutrients and started focusing on creating  holistic health. The message that I’ve taken from the 80/10/10 lifestyle is simple: eat ing a low-fat vegan raw foods diet makes me feel like a 
natural human being. Besides feeling like a million dollars every ti me I awake from deep slumber, I enjoy a feeling of simplicity that 
was never present in my life on a cooked food diet. My perception of the world has ch anged for the better, and I am more at peace 
with my friends, family, and daily routine. At first I thought that in order to become a raw food vegan you had to have a rea son, an ailment, or a condition. I thought that 
you had to be a cancer patient, a diabetic, or someone suffering from chronic f atigue syndrome. After all, why else would anyone 
want to deprive him- or herself of the good food they grew up loving? Today, however, I realize that the only reason you need to adopt the 80/10/10 lifest yle is that you want to feel like a natural 
human being. If you’re already athletic, be prepared to experie nce increased performance and a shockingly efficient ability to
recover. If you’ve lost track of what’s important in your life, be pre pared to experience the simplicity of all that life has to offer. If 
you suffer from a clouded mental state, be prepared to experience a n ew sense of clarity . And if you’re like me, and have a 
condition like diabetes, be prepared to look to the future with an overwhelming s ense of hope, a gift that both the 80/10/10 
nutritional philosophy and Dr. Graham have taught me to never give up. Justin Lelia, Miami, Florida 
Dr. Graham is the strongest, most humane and effective health educa tors I know. His level of happiness and his high-energy 
diet inspired my turnaround. Before Dr. Graham’s program, I weighed 190 p ounds, had chronic joint pain, worked in a fast-food 
restaurant, and experienced dangerous levels of depression. Now, I play ten nis and basketball, have ridden my bike over 6,000 
miles in three years, have lost close to fifty pounds, and I work at an outdoor  organic farmer’s market. Dr. Graham’s emphasis on practicing a low-fat dietary regimen i s particularly noteworthy . Raw fats may be healthier than the ir 
cooked counterparts, but high-fat diets remain unhealthy no matter how w e slice, dice, or soak them. The standard of health Dr. Graham upholds is humbling; indeed, it’s inc redibly challenging, and for this he remains unpopular 
with medically minded raw fooders. They overestimate the power of food, and can  often be heard giving others prescriptions, 
treating foods as if they were drugs. Doug refuses to promote fragmented nutrition, superfoods, supplements, flus hes, and other concepts designed to compensate 
for people’s lack of willpower, persistence, and responsibility;  he refuses to encourage the medically brainwashed. He has taught  me 
that the best way to help others heal is through friendship and attenti on, and by inspiring them with outstanding levels of 
performance. Dr. Graham is in a league of his own … another stratosphere. His humani ty is alien-like in a world that is often categorized by 
greed and impatience. The amount of time and energy Doug has graciously  and patiently volunteered in order to help me and others 
climb out of the hole we’ve dug ourselves into blows my mind. Sometimes I  think he’s too human for the world. Janie Gardener, Kauai, Hawaii 
I first came into contact with Dr. Graham through his VegSource onli ne discussion board about raw foods and sports nutrition. My visit there was prompted by my decision to eat raw again. The first time I tried going raw I did it a differently—high fat, low fr uit with ferments, condiments, oils, and the like. It worked 
better than any other diet I’d tried, but my body wanted me to do what Dr. Gr aham’s program is all about, even though I did not 
know Dr. Graham or his program back then. Too bad I didn’t have the guts to just go with it like he did. I’m glad I found my  way back. Thank goodness I came across that discussion board and found out about Dr. Graham’s 80/10/10 low-fat raw veg an diet. It has made all the difference in the 
improvement of my health, well-being, and life. The differences are ra dically beyond anything I had experienced before, beyond my 
hopes and expectations, and into a whole new realm of health and vitality. Autoimmune Disease 
Prior to starting back on raw, I could see my health rapidly deteriorating be fore my eyes. In the summer of 2001, I was diagnosed 
with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. This autoimmune condition literal ly means that you have antibodies that are attacking your 
own phosphorus fats. Symptoms are mostly related to a tendency of the blood to clot a nd/or bleed excessively but also include 
heart attack, stroke, and easily bruised and sunburned skin, as well as misc arriages. The condition is found in lupus patients, but 
does not always develop into lupus or in all lupus patients. I had at least four miscarriages and a host of other health problems before  it was diagnosed. I spent some time following my 
MD’s suggestions (aspirin), then my chiropractor’s suggestion s (fish oil), and a mix of alternating between the two, but it was j ust 
getting worse—and I had the side effects of the “medicine” to deal with  as well. I tried eating more EFA-rich foods like salmon, 
flaxseed oil, walnuts, etc., but that didn’t help either. When I switched to Dr. Graham’s program, I decided to stop all of the fish  and fish oil, flaxseed oil, and aspirin I had been 
taking. I started working on eating the 80/10/10  raw vegan way in June of 2002. At first I misunderstood the 10% (or lower) fat 
recommendation, thinking it referred to overt fats, not all fats, as I coul dn’t imagine not eating much overt fat. I had been eating a 
very high-fat diet all of my life, including when I ate raw/living  foods the last time around. Thus, I started out by keeping my overt fat intake down to not more than 10% of c alories (about 20% overall), which isn’t 
quite 80/10/10 . This 
intermediate step allowed me to get things going well enough to experie nce fantastic results and inspired me to keep on going. About six months into it, I discovered my mistake and adjusted my diet and acti vity level so that I was able to meet the 
recommendations soon afterwards. I don’t think I could have done 80/10/10  without this transition, even if I had understood it from 
the beginning. I had enormous improvements in my first six months, even with my 20%-ish  fat intake. The improvements were way beyond 
those I had experienced eating any other way (including other varian ts of the raw/living-food diet). I am now doing 80/10/10  fully, 
have taken no supplements or medications of any kind since the beginning, a nd I feel great! All of my symptoms have improved and 
in some cases, disappeared! I am wonderfully pleased  with the results! Four Miscarriages 
Backing up a bit, in college I became a vegetarian, and eventually a veg an, trying various versions of both. At the age of twenty- 
three, on a cooked vegan diet, I gave birth to my son and raised him on cooked vegan food. I  discovered Natural Hygiene and 
living foods when he was a toddler and worked toward eating a vegan raw/livi ng-food diet. When my son was about seven years old, my husband and I decided to birth another c hild. It took a few years before I 
became pregnant. Unfortunately, I miscarried. My family and I had been f ollowing the living-food diet for about a year and a half. During that time, I was eating for nutrients and even created a cus tom Microsoft Access database to track my nutrient intake. This 
enabled me to compare my intake with the requirements for a pregnant woma n, and assure myself that I was meeting all of the 
RDAs. Some people, including my midwife, blamed my diet, assuming a lack of protein or “something,” although my OB/GYN (an 
MD), upon seeing my diet, did not think it was diet related. Even though my data base indicated I was getting plenty of protein, I was 
unsure, as my husband was concerned about protein overall, and we had a friend who’d failed on raw claiming lack of pr otein as the 
culprit. (We now realize it was due to other conditions.) I also was not listening to my body’s desire for a diet like 80/10/10 , as I was surrounded by fruit-fearing, living-food 
misinformation. I was eating for nutrients rather than health, an d I was not feeling as vital as I could have on raw, as a result. Since I 
had my son while eating a vegan diet (including cooked), I decided to temporari ly go back to cooked vegan (with raw) in order to 
have another child, and planned to go back to raw afterwards. Too bad I didn’t  know Dr. Graham then. I could have saved a lot of 
time and heartache. Going back to cooked vegan, of course, did not work, and I ended up having another miscarr iage a year later. I decided to 
add in dairy and eggs and had another miscarriage the year after that. I n the meantime I saw people who ate all sorts of diets and 
lived unhealthy lifestyles having children left and right. From m y farmer’s perspective, I figured that maybe it was similar to t he way 
plants go to seed when stressed, in order to continue their genetics be fore they die. I thought that perhaps I’d have a baby more 
easily if I was less healthy, and then I could regain my health afte rwards. I was grasping at straws, trying whatever I could to have a 
baby. During that third miscarriage I tried adding in poultry and fish an d stayed on that diet to try again. I didn’t get pregnant for 
some time and thought, maybe I just couldn’t anymore. Y ears later, at  the age of thirty six, I became pregnant again—unexpectedly 
—and again miscarried. It wasn’t until this fourth confirmed miscarriage that additional  blood work led to a diagnosis of antiphospholipid antibody 
syndrome. I gave up on birthing another child, because I did not want to take the  drugs or risks involved, nor subject a child to 
them, either. In retrospect, it seems clear to me that my high-fat die t caused this condition and/or greatly contributed to it. After 
following Dr. Graham’s raw vegan program, including the reduced fat , which I feel is key, my observable symptoms of the 
autoimmune condition have either reduced or completely disappeared. And th at is amazing. Since our son is now an adult, we are not sure if we will attempt to birth an y more children at this point. But at least I feel like 
it is a viable option again. Now that I am enjoying the best health and vit ality of my life, I am confident that I would have a successful 
pregnancy and a healthy child, if I were to become pregnant while followi ng the 80/10/10 plan. Symptoms Gone Since 80/10/10 
My condition tended to make my blood clot more readily, which affected my periods (a nd also caused the miscarriages). I no longer 
get the clots with my periods, nor the weird hormonal “off” feelings I’ d get from ovulation through menstruation. I no longer bruise mysteriously and easily with the littlest of b umps or pressure. In fact, it’s hard to get a bruise these days, 
even if I have some pretty major thing happen. Lesser events gave  me major hematomas before. I also don’t get the “restless leg 
syndrome” all night anymore, or that pain in the veins and arteries  of my legs that felt like a clot was forming (that got worse with 
aspirin or fish oil taken too late in the day). I don’t know if it’s all gone yet, but I definitely know my condition isn’t g etting worse (as it was when following the instructions 
of my MD and chiropractor). I do plan to get my blood tested when I can for th e numerical proof; however, I don’t really think I 
need it anymore. I am fairly convinced that the condition is gone, or lowere d to such a degree that it is not a problem anymore. Unexpected Gains and Benefits 
Dr. Graham’s program has improved my life not only in the ways I had ho ped for, but also in ways I never imagined were possible. I have eaten 100% raw, low-fat vegan for more than four years so far, and thi ngs are still getting better every day . It’s amazing— 
absolutely amazing. When I first read about Dr. Graham’s program, it made total sense to me  and had the “ring” of truth. I had some questions 
about the volume and frequency of food at first, but soon learned (from my body) tha t my body agreed with even those 
recommendations. Admittedly , I tend to lean toward Natural Hygiene, an d Dr. Graham’s recommendations are about the simplest 
and most efficient way of following Natural Hygiene I’ve found. With every other diet change, my results were much more subtle tha n this. I’ve eaten variations of the standard American diet 
(SAD), SAD with no red meat, lacto-ovo vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, v egan, vegan macrobiotic, vegan Natural Hygiene, and even 
raw (the living foods way), and others. I felt improvements with each die t change in different ways, but nothing came close to what 
I’ve experienced with Dr. Graham’s low-fat 80/10/10  diet. It’s worlds—no, universes—no, even more than that—different, and
better. I just can’t begin to describe the difference. My health has far  surpassed the condition it has ever been in for as far back as I 
can remember. I have experienced improvements in my energy, vitalit y, abilities, attitude, and appearance that I never even imagined 
were possible. I don’t get so w orn out at the end of the day anymore, and I sleep much more restfully. I have  a new level of joy in 
my life, and I experience daily the plain enjoyment of being aliv e. I’m feeling less shy and more adventurous socially as well, so I’m 
more outgoing. I am back to the clothing sizes I wore once I reached my adult height at th e age of thirteen, yet am firmer and stronger than I 
was then. The stretch marks from the pregnancy of my now eighteen- year-old son have become firmer and less saggy—even when 
I’m on my hands and knees. I now get regular and varied exercise and plen ty of recreation. I have greater strength, power, agility , 
muscle, and overall physical and mental abilities than ever before. I recently broke a toe 90 minutes into a terrific Ashtanga yoga practic e session, while I was doing a jump-through on a cement 
floor and didn’t quite lift enough (as I’m still a beginner)—oops! I h ad broken that toe on the other foot before 80/10/10  and had 
such a rough time with it back then. This time, even though it took a lot m ore to break the toe, it hardly swelled up, so it didn’t really 
hurt afterward. I am also more in touch with my body, so the toe healed much mor e quickly and smoothly than before. Last time I 
had to tape the toes together, wear a special shoe to walk, and keep it up for s everal weeks, in pain. This time my toe “said” it 
didn’t want taping.
80_10_10_Diet_-_Douglas_Graham.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        (I prefer vegan fertilizers and compost that don’t contain a nimal products or manure. ) People find this difficult to hear, but I also believe that if you live where farmer’s markets and organic ally grown tropical fruits are not available, you would do well to 
consider relocating. Of course, growing your own food would be best of all, and I hig hly recommend doing so, whenever possible. 2) We wash our produce. A hundred years ago, people tended to bathe once a week or less, on average, and they  did not concern themselves with 
fastidiously washing the surfaces of their fruits and vegetables  as they do these days. In part, this is another result of agrochemical 
food production, as people have been misled to believe that pesticide residues ca n be adequately washed off by rinsing or scrubbing 
the outsides of their produce. In the past, when people ate lettuce, celery, carrots, and other vegetable s fresh from the ground, the soil left clinging to the 
vegetables often contained vitamin B 12. They also obtained the nutrient from the bacteria-laden dirt that acc umulates near the stems 
of apples, peaches, pears, and other core and stone fruits. But between the che micals we apply to the soils and our obsessive fear 
of germs and bacteria, we effectively eliminate this source of the n utrient, as well. 3) We cannot absorb the B 12  we eat. Meat eaters easily consume enough B 12  because the bacteria that make it, live in the digestive tracts of li vestock, and it is distributed 
in the muscle meats of the animals they eat. As described earlier, v egans who eat organically grown plants from richly composted 
soils, and who don’t compulsively wash their produce, should also get ple nty of the nutrient. In both of these cases, vitamin B 12  deficiency is usually only a problem if you lack a chemical calle d the “intrinsic factor,” 
which causes people to be unable to absorb B 12. How does this occur. It seems that intrinsic factor production is reduce d as 
dietary fat increases. This is by far the most common cause of B 12  deficiency. Doctors can easily test whether a person has a normal 
ability to absorb B 12. For those who do not, no amount of the vitamin in the diet will help. Thus, all of u s, vegetarians and meat 
eaters alike, are at risk of B 12  deficiency. A high-fat diet increases this risk substantially, for two reasons. F irst, the colonies of B 12 -producing bacteria in our intestines 
utilize carbohydrates for fuel. As the amount of fat in our diets goes up, t he amount of carbohydrate goes down, thus reducing the 
quantity of fuel available to the microbe. Less fuel results in a smal ler colony and an overall decrease in B 12  production. Second, the 
B12  uptake sites in our intestines become clogged when there is excess fa t in the diet, further reducing B 12  absorption. When 
reduced B 12  production is coupled with impaired absorption, the likelihood of B 12  deficiency becomes predictable. 4) Medical B 12  standards are artificially high. The situation is further complicated by the fact that many refi ned starchy foods are “enriched” with a synthetic form of vitamin B 12. When doctors test for “normal” B 12  levels, their results are skewed towards the high end by the fact that  most people eat these 
foods (mostly grain products—cereals, breads, pasta, cookies, cakes, etc. ) on a daily basis. People who eat a grain-free diet not 
supplemented by this poor imitation of the natural nutrient often  test “low” for B 12  even if their levels are healthy and they are totally 
asymptomatic. This is because their B 12  levels are being compared to those of people who are consuming a B 12  supplement in their 
food at almost every meal. How important is it to eat organically grown food. Organic produce is always to be preferred, but life is full of compromises an d choices. It may be better to eat commercially 
grown raw vegetables than to eat cooked or steamed organic vegetables, but i t is a difficult choice. Organically grown produce generally contains more vitamins and min erals than conventional produce (see the FAQ on vitamin 
B12  on page 254), and the fresher it is the better. Organic produce generally con tains little or no pesticide residue in comparison 
with conventional produce; nevertheless, the amounts involved are not  usually critical to health, and it is far more important to avoid 
the pathogenic effects from cooked food. To concern yourself with pesticide residues while eating cooked food is a prov erbial fire and frying pan situation. Neither is 
good for us. The best solution is to consume only organic raw plants. Otherwis e, the decision is much like choosing whether to shoot 
oneself in the foot or shoot oneself in the hand. In the case of cooked complex carbohydrates (grains, potatoes, corn, legumes), h owever, eating them both raw and free of 
synthetic chemicals has recently become a matter of grave concer n. Commercial agroscientists are scrambling to counteract the 
seriously negative press being caused by a recently discovered DNA-da maging carcinogen and neurotoxin called acrylamide. This 
potent chemical killer was found in high concentrations in the food supply  in 2002 by a Swedish researcher. Scientists at the World Health Organization and elsewhere origin ally attributed shockingly high levels of acrylamide (found 
most prominently in bread, chips, crackers, french fries, and other dry-cooked c arbohydrates) to the cooking process itself, 
because they found none to be present in raw foods. But we have since learne d that acrylamide is a building block for polyacrylamide, a surfactant added to enhance the effectiveness of M onsanto’s Roundup and other herbicide products used 
ubiquitously in industrial farming. Further research is in order to determine whether bread, pastries, and c rispy snacks made from organically grown plants 
contain this lethal chemical, but in any case the presence of acryl amide in these foods presents one more nail in the coffin of the 
standard American diet. If you still eat these foods, I urge you to do at leas t some reading about this profoundly toxic chemical. You 
can begin with the two articles referenced in the endnotes of this book. 85 
 
Do I have to do calculations every day. No. Y ou don’t have to calculate percentages every day to make sure you’ re eating properly. By eating primarily fruit, 
vegetables, and leafy greens, your diet is automatically close to the i deal of 80/10/10. However, you may want to use a calculator to 
determine whether you are getting enough calories for the day to meet  your basic metabolic and exercise needs. The tools in Appendix D. Resources for Diet Analysis are especially h elpful to the newcomer, because it is common to 
undereat fruit and overeat fatty foods when beginning the raw vegan di et. I recommend that you input your food information into 
CRON-O-Meter or on Nutridiary. com, FitDay. com, or another similar websi te for at least a week, to make sure you have the 
relevant information about your calories and caloronutrient ratio. Very often, people simply do not eat enough because their stomachs are used t o accepting a certain volume of food each day, 
and raw foods are not as calorie dense as cooked foods. Therefore, to consume enough c alories, you need to train your stomach to 
accept more food, especially fruits. How do I eat so much fruit at once. It takes some practice to develop the ability to consume what, from th e raw perspective, should be thought of as “normal” 
amounts of food for a human. Somewhere in between “all you care for” and “a ll you can” there is a happy medium that will enable 
you to increase the amount you consume without overeating. The stomach  is very accommodating in this regard and will stretch 
quickly to allow you to consume normal/healthy quantities of fruit. At the same time, your image of what is a healthy amount, and your mindse t about quantities of fruit will grow to match your 
ability to eat it. The more you practice eating meals of just fruit, only  fruit, and nothing but fruit, the easier and easier it will become to 
consume appropriate volumes. If your fruit meal does not “hold” you until the next meal time, at least  three to five hours later, then you did not eat a sufficient 
quantity of food. With practice, it will get easier. Until then, feel fre e to add an extra fruit meal between breakfast and lunch, and 
again between lunch and dinner. What does “mono eating” mean. Mono eating is the practice of eating one particular food for an entire me al, in sufficient quantity to produce satiation until the 
next meal. This is the way that every nonhuman creature on Earth g enerally eats. I recommend eating monomeals for optimal 
digestion, absorption, and assimilation. A monomeal might consist of four or five bananas for a sedentary beginner  or twelve to eighteen bananas for a seasoned raw 
athlete. Another monomeal might be two or three mangos for the beginner, and four or more for the athlete. It is important to remember when reading about food volumes that a small in active woman may only eat a quarter of what an 
active male could eat. Do not be intimidated when you hear a low-fat raw ve gan athlete tell you that he ate a dozen or more bananas 
for lunch. Four or five may be sufficient to meet your needs if you are a sm aller, less active individual. Variety is obtained over time, throughout the seasons, not at every meal. In nature, if sufficient food is available, animals tend 
to eat one food at a time until they are full. What’s wrong with avocados, nuts, and seeds. Avocados, nuts, and seeds are extremely high in fat content, especially  nuts and seeds: 
 
Avocado (77% fat) : 4 ounces (about ½) = 200 calories; 165 fat. Almonds (73% fat) : 4 ounces (½ cup +) = 650 calories; 480 fat. Flaxseeds (58% fat): 4 ounces (¾ cup) = 560 calories; 325 fat. When it comes to fat, the source doesn’t matter so much; fat is fat. Fat t ravels from the lymph system directly into the blood. Too much fat will thicken the blood, causing the red blood cells to clump togethe r so they cannot deliver oxygen to the cells. Excess 
fat also blocks the action of insulin in bringing sugars to the cells, wh ich leads to diabetes and other blood-sugar problems. (Chapter 2 discusses this in detail. ) It is best to eat only small amounts of avocados, nuts, and seeds (not more than  half of an avocado in a day or one ounce of 
nuts for a sedentary person; twice that for an athlete), and not to eat th em daily. Fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens contain 
adequate high-quality fatty acids (assuming we’re getting enoug h calories) to meet all of our needs. Eventually, it is best to free yourself from the desire to experience a  heavy feeling after a meal, as this is an indicator that the 
digestive system is being overworked. In order to feel satisfied, it is best  to eat large amounts of sweet fruit, which may pass through 
your stomach quickly, but will satisfy true hunger for hours. What do you mean by “true hunger”. True hunger is a sensation that occurs primarily deep in the low part of  the throat, much like the feeling of thirst, but a bit 
lower, about where the concave “notch” appears between the collar bones, at the bottom of the neck. The sensation might be 
described as resembling a dull ache. The stomach sensation we commonly associate with hunger is often th e result of its muscular walls shrinking after completing 
the digestive task of the last meal. If a perceived feeling of hunger i s accompanied by feelings of faintness, stomach pangs, 
headaches, or other discomforts, it is actually a sign of withdrawal from  harmful substances. A healthy person can skip a meal or two with no feelings of weakness or distr ess. When one is healthy, true hunger signifies no 
urgency for food, since the body knows it has reserves for its use in time of n eed. You should be at all times comfortable in your 
body. Is eating sea salt all right. Extracted sodium chloride, in any  form is an irritant and is toxic to the body. It deadens the taste buds’ a bility to sense sweet, 
sour, or bitter (which is why salt users often say that food has no taste w ithout salt), retards digestion and excretion, and upsets our 
critical natural water balance. W e must take care to distinguish here between extracted sodium chl oride “salt” (which is deadly), and the sodium and other 
mineral salts that occur naturally and abundantly in whole plant foods  (which are vitally important nutrients needed by every cell of 
our bodies). Eating a variety of vegetables, especially celery and tomat oes, provides all the organic salts and other minerals our 
bodies need in just the right amounts and combinations we require. Our cells rely on a delicately regulated ratio of sodium and potassium, wi th sodium residing outside the cells (extracellular) and 
potassium inside (intracellular). If the potassium/sodium ratio is a t all out of balance, cellular dehydration or super saturation result. Either of these conditions seriously compromises cellular function. If we lose too much sodium through exercise or any other effort that resu lts in perspiration, potassium is “pulled” out of the cell 
to maintain the proper ratio. Attempting to compensate by consuming salt  simply stresses the body even more, like trying to make 
up for lack of sleep by drinking coffee. The potassium within the cel l must be replaced in order for the cell to “hold” sodium 
extracellularly again. The salt in seawater causes dehydration regardless of how it is consu med. Ocean water is caustic and irritating, tastes vile, and 
causes people to vomit. In quantity, drinking seawater causes death with in days, even though it is diluted by a lot of water. When we extract salt and ingest it with our meals, we head in the sam e direction, only at a different speed. Removing the salt 
from seawater gives us sea salt, the very substance that causes  death by dehydration. Consuming sodium chloride of any kind— 
including sea salts and other highly marketed, pricey specialty s alts—is a self-destructive practice. Specialty salt produce rs expend 
great effort to convince you that you “need” the extracted minerals i n their products to offset a grave nutritional imbalance common 
in modern society. (Such deficiency may indeed exist, but in any case it  can be healthfully remedied only by eating an abundance of 
low-fat raw plant foods. To do otherwise only creates more nutritional imbal ances. ) True, we need minerals … but we need to ingest them in the quantities and the form in which they occur in whole plant 
foods. Eating a highly mineralized form of poison makes no logical sense whats oever. Salt eaters who cease the practice can often take years to expel all of  the retained salt from their bodies. But take heart, as the 
bulk of salt (and cravings) diminish significantly within just a f ew short weeks of total abstinence. I cannot overemphasize the 
importance of making the commitment to wean yourself from this ubiquitou s poison. Can I use vinegar in my salad dressing. All forms of vinegar, including apple cider and balsamic, are highly toxi c to the human body. Vinegar is made by diluting one 
part acetic acid (a common poison found in any chemistry laboratory … in  a bottle with a skull and crossbones) with 19 parts 
water. Vinegar excessively stimulates the thyroid gland, leading to hyper thyroidism and eventually hypothyroidism and concomitant 
health issues such as endocrine disorders, calcium metabolic disorders, metabolic rate disorders, fat metabolism problems, body- 
weight issues, lethargy, headaches, and the classic bulging of the e yes. This stimulation also accelerates the aging process. The body pulls phosphorus from the adrenal glands to negate the effects of ac etic acid in the system. Depleted phosphorus 
results in impaired function of the adrenal glands and thus, again, the  entire endocrine system. The outcome of all this can include 
body odor, pains in the heart, rapid pulse, increased mucus production, chronic fat igue, and headaches. Repetitive use of vinegar 
will also result in hardening of the liver. Vinegar should not be cons idered “food. ” 
 
Is it okay to eat frozen produce. Some damage to living foods occurs when they are frozen. Freezing can ex pand and burst cell walls, and the resulting 
oxidation diminishes the nutritional value of the food. However, nuts and s eeds, which are designed to survive through cold winters, 
are less damaged by being frozen. Generally, the lower the water and the  higher the fat content of a whole, fresh food, the better it 
will take to freezing. As for fruits and vegetables, the practice of freezing should be minimi zed but not necessarily eliminated, as it is one of the 
least-damaging ways to preserve foods (especially when a chest free zer is used instead of the frost-free variety). One advantage of 
freezing food relative to other forms of preservation is that freezing  introduces no known toxins. You should be aware that eating frozen and ice-cold foods damages the essen tial bacterial colonies that live in your gut and 
may be harmful to the bacteria that produce vitamin B 12. Once again, we see that eating foods as we find them in nature proves to
be the most healthful … it is true every time. Are dehydrated foods OK to eat. Dehydrated foods are not whole foods; they have had their water removed. Unfor tunately, we have not been taught to 
recognize the vital value of water as it comes packaged in fresh plant foods. Fruits and vegetables are nature’s most pristine water 
filters, and the water we cook and dehydrate out of them can never be adequate ly replaced. Drinking water, no matter how purified, 
alkalized, or “structured,” just doesn’t compare. Dehydrated foods can never be as nutritious as the whole, fresh foods they s tarted as. Nutrient damage has been shown to 
occur, even if the water is replaced. The use of dehydrates is a personal de cision, but dried foods should always be considered at 
best a compromise, second in quality to whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic fruits  and vegetables. Current research indicates that vitamin B 12  changes to an analog and unusable form where it is found in dehydrated foods. This appears to be true, by the way, for spirulina, chlorella, algaes, and othe r pills and powders made from ocean plants. What about spices and condiments. In Natural Hygiene, there is a saying, “If you can’t make a meal of i t, it likely is not people food. ” When people hear this 
statement, they often view it as draconian and idealistic, for it rule s out the consumption of virtually all spices, seasonings, and 
condiments. Yet, think about it: no creatures in nature season their f oods, nor even generally combine more than one food in a meal 
(at least not for purposes of gustatory pleasure). Y es, humans are undoubtedly different than the “lower” animals. W e h ave the dexterity and the equipment to mix up grand 
concoctions (“combo-a-bombs,” as R. C. Dini so aptly dubbed them), and we have  the ingenuity to create gloriously seasoned taste 
treats. But I promise you, our digestive systems have not kept up with  our creativity—not by a long shot. In fact, they are virtually 
identical to those of our ancient ancestors, as well as those of modern-day  frugivorous anthropoid primates. By design, we are 
meant to eat one whole plant food at a time, unadorned, until we have made a mea l of it. Herbs and spices like garlic, onion, curry, cumin, ginger, cayenne, chili  powder, and oregano contain alkaloids and other toxic 
chemicals. These seasonings stimulate our taste buds and nerves wh ile delivering toxins to our nervous systems. Their use should be 
avoided, or at least minimized. They act as irritants in the digestive  tract, often causing the body to produce mucus for protection. They also function to disguise the bland or noxious taste of cooked foods and seduce  us into consuming foods that would not attract 
us on their own. Like salt, spices provide such an intense “flavor hit” that our tas te buds lose their ability to recognize the natural but more 
subtle tastes of fruits and vegetables. The same holds true for the use  of all condiments, including mustard and ketchup. Can I drink coffee on the raw diet. The beans in coffee are roasted, making them no longer a raw food item. The fa tal dose of caffeine is 10 grams, the amount in 
approximately 70 cups of coffee. Caffeine is considered such a powerful drug t hat just three cups of coffee supplies enough caffeine 
to disqualify an athlete from competing in the Olympic games. Many people take one tenth of the lethal dose every day. I had one patient who dra nk over thirty cups of coffee per day. His 
health was failing, but it was regained when he stopped this noxious habi t, which he did overnight. Moreover, caffeine decreases the amount of pepsin in your body. Pepsin is use d in the digestion of protein. Ironically, many 
coffee drinkers on the standard American diet criticize the raw diet  because they believe they would not receive “enough” protein every day, while their daily intake of coffee impedes their absorption of th e very protein they claim they need. Caffeine is also known to deplete the body of water, calcium, potassium, manga nese, and the vitamin B complex. Caffeine is 
just one of many toxic substances that can be found in coffee. Should I continue taking my medications. The medical profession and its supporting industry, the medico pharmaceut ical cartel, operate from the theory that thousands 
of separate illnesses exist whose symptoms can be treated or suppressed by  ingesting synthetic chemical compounds. The Natural 
Hygiene approach is entirely different. We recognize that genetically inherited abnormalities exist, us ually arising from generations of poor dietary and lifestyle 
choices, and that very little can be done about these. Otherwise, however, we propose that there is only one illness: toxemia. This is 
a condition of unclean blood and tissues, caused primarily by improper diet and li festyle. Unchecked, toxemia and its attendant 
enervation (nervous exhaustion) get progressively worse over the y ears, leading to all manner of symptoms. People find this very difficult to comprehend, but we must remember that t he symptoms are not the disease. Rather, symptoms 
are actually the body’s methods of coping with toxemia. In order to “cur e” a disease condition, such as diabetes, cancer, or 
cardiovascular disease, one must eliminate the underlying toxemia  of which the “disease” is only a manifestation. As you begin to eat a healthy 80/10/10  raw diet, you will no longer overload your body on a daily basis with toxic residue
from food. Your body will begin to clean your blood, tissues, and organs of their toxic ity, and the medical condition(s) for which you 
are taking the pharmaceutical medicine(s) will fade away. Check wi th your doctor as your health improves, in time he or she will 
likely agree that your need to medicate will become obsolete. Generally, the younger you are and the less time the body has spent in th e toxic state, the more rapidly it will clean itself. An 
older person with more accompanying degeneration and accumulated toxici ty may take longer to cleanse and return to a healthy 
state. Nevertheless, limited only by its vitality level, the body will  respond positively to cessation of the daily insult of cooked foods 
and high-fat raw foods and to their replacement with whole, fresh, ripe, ra w fruits and vegetables. Still, food is only one part of 
healthful living, and proper eating will never result in health in  and of itself. Pharmaceutical medicines are toxic substances that you introduce  into your system at your own peril. Rarely are any claims 
made that a drug will cure any particular chronic disease. At best, th ey usually profess only to substitute one set of symptoms for 
another. The Myth of the “Cure” 
The very notion that “cure” is possible is preposterous. Healing, on the other hand is not only possible but is ongoing. The 
inborn healing intelligence of the body is always  at work, repairing us and compensating for the challenges we subject it  to. This 
healing occurs as quickly and efficiently as possible given our le vel of vital energy—and in a priority order we cannot comprehend. All attempts (both conventional and “alternative”) to aid this pr ocess through outside interventions or treatments or ingestion of any
external substances only shift symptoms and create greater problems  for the body in the long run. Healing comes through cessation of cause. We are never cured from a dis ease or symptom, for if we once again participate in 
its cause the body again begins the process of generating the symptoms i n response. The fact that pharmaceutical drugs are sold legally over the counte r or are prescribed by licensed physicians does not make 
them any less dangerous to health than street drugs. Over 100,000 people die eac h year from the side effects of these patented 
medicines. No one has ever died from eating an adequate supply of fruits and v egetables. The advice to continue or curtail a particular medication is beyond the s cope of this book. However, any reputable physician 
should encourage his or her patients to improve their underlying healt h so as to make the continued reliance on pharmaceutical 
medications unnecessary. How can I stay raw in the winter cold. Fortunately, most folks who live in colder climates have homes in which  to eat, sleep, work, and live. We maintain our homes 
at comfortable temperatures. People continue to drink cold beer and eat ice cr eam in the winter. They eat hot food in the heat of 
summer. Neither geography nor the seasons are valid reasons for us to ch ange our diet from 80/10/10. If in cold weather a person finds that they need more food, it is perfectly ac ceptable to increase consumption. The 
caloronutrient percentages should not change appreciably, however, jus t as it does not change whether a person consumes 1,500 
calories per day or 4,500 calories per day. Of course, it is almost always a healt hy idea to take a winter vacation to a warm- 
weather climate if you live in a location where this season is parti cularly harsh. Is there such a thing as foods that heal. It is important to understand that foods don’t heal us; the body does all the  healing. Foods, cooked or raw, simply supply the materials the body uses to perform its various functions. However, low-fa t raw vegan foods provide the widest range of high-quality 
nutrients and are, therefore, more likely to furnish the perfect proporti on of raw materials needed by the body for healing. Beyond that, no specific raw food is better for “healing” than any othe r. Each supplies a form of raw material that the body 
may need and use. Unlike cooked foods, raw foods do this without leaving a toxic resi due that can overwhelm the body’s ability to 
maintain a healthy, balanced state. A good variety of low-fat raw vegan foods in the diet is more than adequate to a ttain, regain, or maintain health. It is always 
healthiest and most economical to emphasize in-season foods that are gr own locally, as these will likely be the freshest. It is best to 
seek out variety over the course of the year, rather than combining foods a t every meal, every day, or even every week. Is it all right to juice fruits and vegetables. With a few exceptions, it is preferable to consume the whole foods rather t han to extract and drink part of them. Drinking fruit 
or vegetable juice without the pulp being present to slow the absorption rat e of the nutrients can spike the blood sugar and throw 
your blood chemistry out of balance. One exception is fresh-squeezed citrus fruits, since a significa nt portion of the pulp is generally retained with the juice. The 
other “exceptions” are to blend fruits such as melons into a watery  slush or to make fruit smoothies out of fruits like bananas, 
strawberries, peaches, or mangos. Liquefying a blender full of whole frui t turns it into a thick smoothie, while keeping the entire 
nutritional package together. Blending whole tomato, celery, and orange m akes a thick, tasty, salad dressing. Do I need to take supplements. You have no need for supplements if you are eating a calorically adequate  low-fat plant-based raw diet, engaging in frequent 
vigorous activity, and otherwise living a healthful lifestyle. A ll the vitamins, minerals and nutrients any body needs are amply suppli ed 
through the variety of fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens found in a  healthful diet. That said, the health of each individual always takes priority over any  philosophical position. In individual cases, it may be 
necessary to supplement the diet nutritionally during the initial  phases of lifestyle change rather than risk potential health damag e. One 
example of this is a possible need to supplement B 12. If you experience extended periods of extreme stress, are nursing, eati ng too 
much frozen food, are in transition, or your food is not grown in healthy soil, su pplementing this nutrient for a short period of time 
may be beneficial. Supplementation would be done solely to allow time for the be nefits of correct living to accrue or for extenuating 
circumstances to pass. Nonetheless, the amount of nutrients that we require, across the board, i s far less than conventional guidelines would have us 
believe. When the body is in a fit and healthy state and all systems are  working optimally, we experience superior absorption and 
utilization and overall greater efficiency in every aspect of cel lular function. When we slow down and gum up the works with fat, 
however, it’s a different story. And supplement vendors capitalize on  this fact to your detriment. People have come to equate nutrition with pills, powders, and potions, rather th an with whole foods from nature. Ironically, 
you generally won’t find a single food of any kind in most “health-food” store s. Their products, no matter how “whole” or “natural” 
the ingredients, may shift symptoms but do not and cannot  create true health. If “health foods” were truly whole and natural, they would contain all of  the water, fiber, and other vital components that 
nature provides them with, and their sale would require no packaging or labe ls. (The profit margins would also dwindle, as whole 
produce doesn’t carry the markup of “nutritional” products. ) No pill or powder that has had any of its water removed can properly be called a “whole-food” supplement, and anyone who 
markets their dehydrated product as such is kidding themselves, as well a s you. The water in our plant foods is simply too critical for 
our cellular health to be compromised, and no drinking water of any kind can eve r adequately make up the difference. When the 
water is removed, the oxidative process that occurs has a degrading impac t on the nutrients that remain, leaving supplements far less 
nutritious than their whole-food counterparts. When people follow the nutritionally unsound advice of supplement s alesmen selling fractional, isolated “foods,” they shouldn’t 
be surprised when they end up not feeling their best, with a naggi ng sense that “something” is wrong. This opens the door wide for 
the salesman to then sell supplements to “correct” the dietary and n utritional insufficiencies their own advice occasioned. I’m always dumbfounded when I hear about the money people spend on nut ritional supplements. It seems there is no high-end 
limit to the amount of product recommended by supplement salesmen. In convey or-belt fashion, they roll out a bewildering array of 
“newly discovered” miracle “foods,” while at the same time replacin g older products with newly reformulated versions. Such antics 
essentially amount to an open admission that yesterday’s silver bullet, which they touted so highly, really didn’t work as well as their
sales pitch had promised. Most of what comes from the world of nutrition these days is no more than sli ck marketing disguised as education, in the form 
of infomercials and edutisements. The marketer informs the audience  that some nutrient is good for a particular condition and then 
follows up with a strong push to convince the audience to buy lots of it. Of course, the marketers neglect to mention that too much of that nutri ent is harmful in a variety of ways, not the least of which is the inevitable imbalances that result when we consume suppleme nts of any kind. Most supplements are concentrated from plant 
foods, and despite our American “more is better” mindset, the body does not  appreciate these unnatural concentrates and has to 
work to expel them similarly to the way it has to eliminate toxic residu e from cooked foods. Like an amateur barber who finds himself trimming each side of the  hair to make things “even” until his client is bald, a person 
who supplements with single nutrients (or any formulation or combinat ion of extracted nutrients) inevitably creates greater and more 
confounding imbalances, whether or not the cause and effect are discer nible in the short term. It is always better to correct the diet 
than to supplement it. On a healthy diet, supplements are not needed. On a le ss-than-healthy diet, supplements do not make up for 
the nutrition that is lacking. Is the raw food concept flawed. Every creature on this planet has a specific diet for which it is desi gned. All animals get their nourishment exclusively from the 
foods present in their natural environment—one food at a time, when th ey are hungry, until they are full. Simplicity at meals ensures
optimum digestion and nutrition. Animals do not use or demonstrate any nee d for supplements or condiments. Nature provides 
adequately for all life forms, and humans are not an exception. Like all other primates, we were made to function perfectly on the amount  of nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, in the 
quantities that we would eat those foods whole. Juicing, dehydrating, concentrating, and refining those foods introduce s excesses 
and nutritional imbalances that our bodies were not designed to deal with. I maintain that the optimal raw food diet consists of whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic plants—in the 80/10/10  caloronutrient 
ratio—period. The raw food kitchen need not include jars, bottles, boxes, c ans, bags, capsules, powders, remedies, potions, pills, 
or tinctures of any kind. So many eager new raw fooders find themselves in the unfortunate sit uation where some nutritional “guru” guides them to “the 
world’s most nutritious diet” and then convinces them that the diet is  inadequate and requires supplementation. The ultimate 
promotion strategy, this ploy is as old as marketing itself: First you cre ate a problem, then you sell the solution. How many mom- 
and-pop grocery stores were vandalized by the very men who were the re to sell them “security”. How many people became 
patients for life by following the advice of their medical doctors. The problem, in the case of raw foods, is that people do not feel great when they e at insufficient carbohydrates or when they 
continually under consume total calories. They experience voraciou s hunger, and they binge, falling off the “raw food wagon” 
repeatedly. They develop uncomfortable and unhealthy relationships wit h food. Their health deteriorates as their diet becomes 
erratic. I choose to acquire my learning on any topic from organizations and individu als whose clear and explicit intention is to educate 
me. I steer away from information sources that include an obvious and m otivated “back-of-the-room” sales table filled with 
consumables and repeat products that will, if they have it their w ay, have me coming back for more … for years to come. If the only way to be truly well nourished is to consume vitamins, miner als, oils, enzymes, medicinal herbs, white powdered 
pharmaceuticals such as MSM, refined isolates such as lecithin, “super” foods such as algae and sea vegetables, and other 
purportedly “nutrition-enhancing” substances, then the raw food c oncept is flawed. Appendix C. Personal Success Stories with 80/10/10 
 
Mark Squire, St. Petersburg, Florida 
Back a few years ago, a struggling raw food friend of mine referred me to th e work of a guy named Doug Graham. I had 
never heard of him before, so I began to educate myself a bit on the me ssage he brought to the table. My first reaction. “This guy is 
a damned fool. ” However, I had become so frustrated with my current raw f ood program (which was about 50% fat) that I was 
willing to give anything a shot. I started eating larger and larger portions of fruit, but still neglec ted other important aspects of healthy living. Now my initial 
stance was solidified: “This guy IS a fool and his suggestions are ins ane. ” Y et, for some reason, I continued on. Why, I do not 
know. Slowly but surely, Doug’s teachings made more and more sense. The more  consistently I applied Doug’s program (with a little 
dash of Squire mixed in) I began to notice miraculous things happening. Not  only was my health improving dramatically, but I was 
also getting stronger and faster, and my endurance was skyrocketing. I h ad been lifting weights on a raw food diet for three years 
prior to 811 and had nothing to show for it. Roughly one full year later, being 100% dedi cated to keeping my fruit intake high, I was 
nearly 30 lbs. heavier, all of which was muscle. Over the next year, I adde d an additional 10 lbs. of muscle, bringing my total up to 
40 lbs. The added muscle isn’t the main benefit of being on a raw food diet. The best part of the whole journey has been my childlike 
energy levels, my blissful state of joy, and my ability to tune into natu re, all of which were amplified measurably. When I was about 
to give up on raw foods once and for all, Doug steered me back on the right track. The program isn’t easy, but with enough inner strength and per sistence, you will undoubtedly experience a radical 
transformation in every aspect of your life. As much trash as I tal ked about Doug in my learning process, it’s because this 811 
program was changing me down to the core. My belief system was threaten ed, and I fired off about him, as a defense mechanism. It 
was quite a struggle getting to the point I’m at now, but now I see as  clear as day that Doug is an amazing person, and I have 
nothing but the utmost respect for him and what he does. My stamp of approval is  all over this book, and all over Dr. D. himself. Thanks a million, brother. Cyrus Khambatta, San Francisco, California 
I’ll never forget the first time I exercised with Dr. Graham. I was  half his age, in the prime of my athletic life, fueled by a 
combination of years of soccer training and an ever-growing dose of athl etic hubris. I thought to myself, “I’ll show this guy what it 
really means to work out. ” It took only fifteen minutes to realize that I h ad completely underestimated Dr.
The author prefers vegan fertilizers and compost that do not contain animal products or manure.
What is the author's stance on the use of animal products in fertilizers and compost?
The author suggests that if farmer's markets and organically grown tropical fruits are not available, it would be better to consider relocating.
Why might someone need to relocate to grow their own food?
The author believes that supplements are not necessary and that one should focus on a healthy diet rather than relying on external substances.
What is the author's opinion on the use of supplements?
The author advises against the use of spices and condiments, as they are unnatural and can cause harm to the body.
What is the author's stance on the use of spices and condiments?
The author advises against the use of frozen produce, as it can damage the essential bacterial colonies in the gut and potentially harm the body.
What is the author's view on the use of frozen produce?