The Fresh Network Blog

Interview with Anthony Anderson

Performed by Vitality Planet especially for The Fresh Network Blog

As he delved deeper into the holistic lifestyle, Anthony Anderson discovered the joys and profundity of gardening and realized that this just may be the panacea that will help heal humanity and planet Earth. Anthony's mission is to inspire others to plant paradise on the planet once again. He has founded www.GrowParadise.com to help inspire others to do just that: to grow their own food and create a paradise planet here and now. 'Grow Paradise' inspired projects are already underway internationally.

Cherry picked for modelling at 18, Anthony Anderson has been in constant demand as an international model since the age of 23. In his quest to hone his physique for his profession, Anthony came across Raw Food Nutrition - a huge change from the diet of processed foods he was raised on.

Delighted with the immediate positive physical changes, Anthony was also astonished to experience profound bursts of energy, happiness and mental clarity through his change of diet. His ongoing experience and success is documented on his hugely popular website www.rawmodel.com; his videos, which to date have been viewed 517,073 times on YouTube, and The Anthony Anderson show. He is also available for modelling ethically produced clothing.

Anthony now interweaves modelling with his greatest passion: spreading ideas and awareness about sustainable living and the growing of Paradise on Earth, through his project 'Grow Paradise' (www.growparadise.com).

Describe what you do in 2-4 sentences if that is at all possible?

Being based primarily in NYC, I use modelling and acting to help me raise funds for my three passions in life - eating amazing organic food, travelling the world, and planting forest gardens. I founded www.rawmodel.com and www.GrowParadise.com to help spread that passion of green living and paradise creation via the web through blogs and videos.

The raw world's top 5 most dangerous myths

Avoid some common pitfalls and you can really ramp up the results you get on your raw regime. Full of information on just that is Get Fresh! magazine editor Sarah Best's article "The raw world's top 5 most dangerous myths", posted on her new website a few days ago.

Here's an excerpt:

"Heat damages the delicate macronutrients, micronutrients and enzymes in food, as well as its subtle yet all-important energy field.

It begins its demolition job on all of these – and in many cases finishes it – at a fraction of the temperature at which most food is cooked.

In addition, heat causes the formation of substances which can damage our cells when they come into contact with them – and as these substances are not naturally occurring they add to our toxic load.

These are just some of the reasons it makes sense to eat as much of our food raw as possible.

But unfortunately there are a number of dangerous myths circulating in the raw food world. Get taken in by any of these and they can really diminish the results you get on your raw or high-raw regime.

At Get Fresh! magazine and its parent company, The Fresh Network, we've been well aware of these myths for many years and we resolutely keep them out of the magazine. We're the folks people call when it all goes wrong, so we witness first-hand the consequences of bad dietary advice. We're committed to ensuring that our readers get only the very best and most effective health information, and we're grateful there are so many ethical, knowledgeable raw food experts out there to join us in delivering it.

But back to those myths that are doing the rounds... Today I want to share with you the five I consider most dangerous, and why."

Go here to continue reading "The raw world's top 5 most dangerous myths"

Sprouting made simple, by Karen Knowler

One of the most healthful, economical and fun things you can bring to your daily diet are the nutritional superstars otherwise known as “sprouts”. To be clear, the term “sprouts” is not short for Brussels sprouts, but is a generic term which covers sprouted beans, nuts, seeds, grains, pulses and legumes – i.e. germinated, living foods.

When I first got into raw food back in 1993, sprouted beans and seeds quickly became one of my dietary staples, simply because that’s what the few books I had on raw food were talking about! Sadly, over the past decade or so, sprouts have become regarded as “hard work”, “boring” or “bland”, and most raw foodies are missing out on what I (and many other long-term raw and living food proponents) consider to be one of the most powerful food groups on earth.

I’m here today to inspire – or re-inspire – you to fall in love with one of the most potent sources of nutrition you can bring into your body. Far from being “dull”, these small but powerful bundles of pure life-force energy have the ability to help you feel vibrantly alive and full of energy like you have never known before.

Not only that, but by bringing more sprouted beans, seeds, grains and pulses into your diet you will automatically take care of one of the most common problems encountered in raw food diets today – that of an over-dependence on nuts and other fats to satiate you. Great news for those who don’t want to eat nuts and/or are trying to lose weight.

London has a new raw hot spot

By Sarah Best.

The UK capital lags obdurately behind major American cities when it comes to raw dining options - and vegan dining options in general, for that matter. But fans of healthy plant-based cuisine will be delighted to hear that Phong and Mui - founders of the highly popular Vita Organic on Wardour Street - have just opened a new, and much larger, restaurant - Vantra. (Vita Organic continues at the same location under new management, and a new name - Vitao).

So what is different about the new place? Well, it is a lot bigger - it seats 90 to Vita Organic's 20. You can find the same innovative selection of fresh raw juices, smoothies and salads, and Phong and Mui's trademark smorgasbord of vegan food from Asia, India, Africa and the Mediterranean (no frying or microwaving, no harmful fats, all pulses sprouted prior to cooking, and everything heated to the lowest temperatures possible).

What Vantra will offer in addition is:

• a vastly expanded menu of raw gourmet foods, including a sushi counter
• a selection of packaged raw foods
• a dessert bar which will be 100% vegan, and which will offer many raw choices
• a selection of wines and other alcoholic drinks and a "Vespresso" bar - a vegan coffee bar offering a wide selection of coffees and healthier substitutes (choices include Rooibos Chai Cappucino and Maca Ice Latte).

We tip this to be London's top raw dining spot by the end of the year. Why? Because the food is as good as it gets, yet also healthy and energising. Phong and Mui's approach to raw food is firmly rooted in offering gourmet delights without sacrificing on health principles, so here is a place you can enjoy raw restaurant food that is not loaded with nuts, oils, salt and agave. It is ideally located in the heart of W1, and it's a fantastic space for a long lunch or an evening with friends.

Vantra quietly opened its doors just a week ago and when we visited, the following day, the food on offer was its sumptuous vegan buffet, with choices including several delicious raw salads. For just £7 per (very large) plate there is no cheaper, nor healthier, feast to be found in the capital.

As they are still getting up and running they are not yet offering the raw menu - that is planned for next month. They are also not set up to do juices and smoothies, but we enjoyed something even better - fantastic fresh young coconut water. The dessert bar is not open yet, either, but they had two fantastic raw desserts on offer - chocolate cake and apple cake.

Vantra is currently open from 12 to 8pm but once they're in full swing it will also be open for breakfast and for dinner.

Vantra, 12-13 Soho Street, London W1D 3DJ (two minutes walk from Tottenham Court Road tube)
Telephone: 07834 535999

Dairy didn't work for me, says Debbie Took

2010 has been a year of fierce debate among raw food fans about whether or not our optimal diet is a vegan one. We first chimed in on this topic in January with our article Why the shift away from veganism in the raw world?, and again in February when Doug Graham and Thomas Billings debated the topic in the article Is 100% raw vegan our optimal diet? Later that month we revisited it in Are YOU getting enough vitamin D?

Popular raw food blogger Debbie Took contributed interesting material to the debate in March and April when she announced that she had tested below the normal range in vitamin B12 - B12 being one of the biggest deficiency risks among vegans. 

A raw vegan for around three and a half years at the time, she was forced to choose between taking supplements - something she didn't believe in - and compromising on the vegan part - something else she was dead set against doing. She tells the full story around this tough decision in her articles Debbie Does B12 Part 1 and Part 2.

She eventually decided that compromising on the vegan part was the lesser of two evils - largely because it was the more natural solution of the two - and she added a little soft cheese to her diet. However, she found raw cheese near impossible to source, and as for ethically produced - that unfortunately does not exist at this time. So she was forced to compromise not only on (1) her vegan diet but also on (2) her raw diet and (3) her strong desire not to cause suffering to other sentient beings. Nonetheless, for a while this decision still seemed to be the best option available to her.

However, Debbie privately emailed me an update recently, and I asked her permission to share this information with you, as it is written with such honesty and openness. At a time when there is still so much we don't know about optimum nutrition, all such accounts have something to teach us, and I know this one will resonate with many of you. Debbie kindly agreed to have her comments made public, and you can read them by clicking below. Thank you, Debbie, for sharing your experiences with me, and with our readers.

Vitamin D supplementation - a reader's experience

In February we wrote about the high risk of vitamin D deficiency for vegans living in locations which don't get year-round sunshine. If that description applies to you, this article contains essential information.

Reader Angie Bedson shared her experiences here back in April and she recently sent us a helpful update, which we share below with her permission.

First, a brief explanatory note. Angie mentions the half life of vitamin D. The half life is the length of time it takes for half of the amount ingested to be eliminated from the body. Vitamin D has a half life of approximately four weeks. The advantage of this is that as long as the body has adequate stores of it, you can go without it for this period and not run into a deficiency. The disadvantage is that if, on the other hand, you're supplementing it, you can build up too much of it and run into problems of excess. When we're getting our vitamin D from sunshine this never occurs. It is also hard to get too much from food sources. But when we're taking supplemental vitamin D, overdosing is a risk, as Angie discovered.

"Dear Sarah,

Sorry if this e-mail is a bit long but I promised to keep you updated on my vitamin D progress.... To recap, I had a result of just 12 on my first hydroxy vitamin D test [The Fresh Network notes: according to The Vitamin D Council a healthy level is at least 50] and I have been using 2,000 IU of ‘Sunshine Mist’ [a vitamin D supplement] for a total of 3-4 months now.
 
Firstly, I believe that the raw food community will only progress positively if we all remain as honest and open about our experiences as possible. In some ways we are pioneers and, some might even say, guinea-pigs – but I happily accept this if it will benefit others in their quest for optimum health.
 
Secondly, I want to point out that I fully agree with your stance that vitamin D is vital to good health and that raw fooders, especially those of us in Northern latitudes, are at great risk of being deficient in this nutrient.

Appetite, by Marissa-Catherine Carrarini

How is it that if a baby is happily gulping his mother’s milk he has a healthy appetite we all admire, but if an adult was to eat an extra large bowl of food (or two) that same healthy appetite becomes something to question, something to frown upon, and even something to fear?

Appetite is the body’s way of ensuring that it has all the nutrition and energy it needs to prosper and thrive. It is an instinctive emotional and mental desire for food. Taken further it can be seen as a desire for wellness and a desire for life.

Listening to our natural appetite is fundamental to health. Our desire for food is vital to ensure that we get all the important nutrients and energy we need. An untainted appetite helps us understand what foods we should be eating and when. If we have been skimping on a vital component of our diet, a healthy appetite should ensure we won't be missing it for long.

However, in today’s society appetite is a concept so distorted that we have lost our innate understanding of it. We have forgotten that a healthy appetite is a positive sign and should be valued. Instead, in our culture that craves thinness more than it craves nourishment, we see a diminished appetite as a sign of strength and health. At the same time, we have forgotten how to listen and respond to our own appetites. No longer are we the baby suckling at our mother’s breast who knows exactly when we are full and when we are hungry again.

Let food be thy medicine

Dr Brian Clement makes the case for eating for health, not recreation.

From the time we are babies, food is presented to us as a mechanism for pleasure and emotional sedation. The first drug pushers we meet are most often our parents. When we please them, they offer us sweets. When we disappoint them, these addictive foods are withheld. When we go out into the world on our own, most of us continue the learned unhealthy pattern of eating to pacify uncomfortable feelings. Consciously or unconsciously, we use food as a tool for veiling the emotional brokenness that we suffer.

Some of us are later provoked into leaving the standard fare of our heritage. If we are lucky, we springboard into the universe of natural whole foods and if we’re luckier still, we eventually arrive at the realm of raw foods. But unfortunately, our unhealthy emotional patterns around food often continue to prevail. Rather than traditional white refined sugar, we use sugar called agave (or other concentrated sweeteners, or bags of dried fruit). When these foods are consumed habitually, they create much the same disconnected consciousness refined sugar does.

The same goes for fats, which we formerly consumed from meats, gravies, butter, ice cream, and so on, and now derive from large amounts of oils, nuts and seeds, often mixed together in heavy concoctions. And raw chocolate, in my opinion, is like methadone for chocoholics. 

As of now we're no longer selling agave syrup - here's why

Since you’re reading this, chances are you consume as little refined sugar as possible – if you even consume it at all. But what about agave syrup (also known as agave nectar)? That’s completely different…isn’t it? If you’re anything like the average raw food fan you’ll be regularly adding agave to your recipes in the belief that it’s a natural (and therefore healthy) sweetener. You’ll be buying and eating foods that contain agave without thinking for a moment that these foods may be as bad for you as the processed foods you used to eat in their place. You may even believe that agave has “beneficial properties”.

When raw agave came on the market six years ago, it sounded like the answer to every sugar-loving raw foodist’s prayers. It is mainly fructose, which is both much sweeter than glucose, and much lower on the Glycaemic Index. So here at last was a sweetener that was sugary enough to satisfy the sweetest of tooths, yet that would not cause those undesirable blood sugar spikes. Better still it had the delicious consistency of a runny, easily pourable syrup that worked like a dream in a huge range of recipes – and yet it was completely natural! It sounded almost too good to be true – and there was a reason for that.

Having looked into agave, we now believe it is very far from the health food it’s so often marketed as. It is, in our opinion, a synthetic, chemically refined sugar with the ability to seriously harm health if consumed regularly and long term.

In fact, all things considered, in our opinion agave is no better than regular refined sugar. We’ll go a step further – we’re no longer even convinced that the lower-quality brands are any better than high-fructose corn syrup. We realize what a shocking statement that is, but we believe that if you read this article to the end and then do some research of your own on this topic, you will be similarly unconvinced. And since we wouldn’t sell regular sugar, we can’t continue to sell agave.

Vitamin D in the UK

By Sarah Best.

We recently wrote about the risks of vitamin D deficiency, especially for vegans living in the UK or anywhere with a similar climate. You can read our article here. Take a look at the comments, too, where a number of readers share their opinions and experiences.

This one just came in - we share it with you now as it is a story we've heard again and again from customers, and the reason we highlighted this issue. "Thanks so much for posting this article. How many raw food vegans in the UK knew about the latitude problem? I had been thinking about Vit D supplementation due to my age (nearly 50) and the risk of osteoporosis now increasing and was researching Shazzie's recommendations of Ortho Bone Vegan. After reading your article, I realised that I MUST be low in Vit D and so had a nutritional blood analysis test via my doctor. All was OK with PTH, thyroid, B12 (after 11 years raw and supplementing B12) but the separate Vit D result came in at an alarmingly low 12! [...] Thanks again for bringing this issue to light - I hate to think what might have happened to me had I gone on assuming the UK sun was providing enough Vit D for me."

You are more than welcome, Angie, and thank YOU for sharing. If your comment encourages even one other reader to get their D levels checked you'll have done them an invaluable service.

April 29 addendum to the above comment: "Sarah, I omitted to point out in my original post the following 2 facts: (1) I had absolutely no symptoms of D deficiency; I'm very energetic - a busy wife and mother, I work, I run, I hike! (2) I WAS taking a D supplement so had presumed I was OK.  However, this was of the D2 (not D3) variety and only around the UK RDA of 400 IUs. Also my supplementation was a bit erratic - especially around summer when I thought the UK sun was providing my vit D!"