As hard as we try, we cannot improve on the foods nature provides. Vital nourishment is lost through the process of preserving, pickling, stewing and changing food's natural state. Devitalized foods cannot build good blood, strong bodies or help us to maintain a youthful appearance. Disease can develop from the lack of nutrition in lifeless foods.

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FREE RADICAL DAMAGE

Beta-Carotene, for example, is one voracious phytochemical found in raw yellow and orange fruit and other vegetables. These raw foods have proven to be beneficial in reducing damage to cells caused by free radicals. Free radicals work to damage cells, fueling the aging process through cell mutation and cell death. One molecule of beta-carotene can kill up to one thousand free radicals.

Research is also mounting on alpha lipoic acid. As an antioxidant, alpha lipoic acid is very powerful. For the past thirty years throughout Europe it has been used to stabilize blood sugar in treating diabetes. Dr. James B. LaValle, R.Ph. CCN, ND and author of Cracking the Metabolic Code, recommends six hundred to nine hundred milligrams daily as an antioxidant.

USE RAW AND WHOLE FOODS TO REVITALIZE HEALTH

Diet is one of the best ways to maintain our youth or reverse the aging process. The nutrients in raw and whole foods, accompanied with various supplements, are the chemical elements used by the body to ward off disease and maintain health. The combinations of deficiencies of vital nutrients, toxicity from the environment, and a poor diet contribute to disease. Eating whole and raw foods may be issues for some people, but for those who can digest whole foods the benefits are enormous.

People are constantly trying to get life from lifeless food. All enzymes are destroyed by heat, diminishing the life force in food. Enzymes are wiped out when temperatures start to reach 118 degrees. Once 140 degrees is reached, enzymes are lost. Our body produces certain enzymes, but the burden upon our systems would be greatly lessened with a plentiful supply from our diet. The body does its best but will eventually fall short without a replenishing supply.

FEED YOUR GLANDS TO STAY YOUNG

When the diet is deficient in a particular chemical element required by a specific organ or gland, our bodies will be vulnerable to disease. We are only as young as our glands. Glands need whole foods such as nuts, seeds, sprouts, egg yolk, and sardines (with the bones), hard cheese, whole grains and algae. Nuts and seeds are among our most complete foods. They contain hormone value for both the male and female glands. They are small but mighty, loaded with glandular elements, vitamins, minerals and proteins. Almonds are the king of nuts and sesame seeds are the king of seeds. However, sick people do not handle cold proteins well. For this reason, nut and seed drinks, butters, meals and soy milk powders are recommended. Sprouts contain auxins, a substance which promotes plant growth. A diet high in sprouts will provide the auxins for cell stimulation and life force. People from cultures whose diets are plentiful in sprouts typically retain their youthfulness and vigour well into their advanced years.

THE HIDDEN HEALTH BENEFITS OF FIBER

Fiber is another whole food highly recommended for stimulating peristalsis and moving food along our intestines. Studies show that when bile acids are retained by fibre the body absorbs less cholesterol. There is growing evidence that fibre in the diet will lower your blood fats and may protect against degenerative diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis and diabetes. In addition, case studies show that a patient's blood sugar is not as high following a meal of high fibre as compared to a meal of processed low fibre food. Blood sugar is lowered when the fibre slows down and smoothes out the absorption of sugars from the intestine.

JUICING: GREAT SOURCE FOR NUTRIENTS AND ENZYMES

Juicing is another excellent source for supplying the body with live foods rich in nutrients. If you are tired, sluggish or stressed, fresh juice will give you a boost. Though it may be better to eat the whole plant, juicing is the next best thing for those who have difficulty digesting whole foods, raw vegetables and citrus fruits. Also, the amount one is able to consume in a day may be an issue. Fruit juice is a great source of vitamins and vegetable juice is higher in the chemical elements which build and tone our bodies.

USE ORGANIC SODIUM TO STAY YOUTHFUL

Organic sodium is one of our ?youth elements?. It is found in our joints, ligaments and our stomachs. If we want to stay youthful and pliable, we need organic sodium. The highest form is found in whey powder, while other sources are goat milk, celery, okra, most fruits except for citrus, dark leafy vegetables, fish, black olives, lentils, dulse, barely and sesame seeds. Organic sodium keeps calcium in solution, preventing osteoarthritis and cataracts. This beneficial sodium should not be confused with table salts, which leach the good organic sodium from our bodies.

Another consideration to maintain our youth is to keep our bodies alkaline. Our blood pH is highly alkaline: twenty percent acid and eighty percent alkaline. For optimum health our diet should match our blood balance. Organs and glands need alkaline secretions. Essentially, all vegetables and fruit are alkaline with a few exceptions. Citrus fruit is acid, although lemons have an alkaline ash. All starch and protein are acid forming foods. Dairy products are for the most part acidic. However, yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, raw milk, whey and acidophilus culture are considered alkaline.

We should also eat a variety of fruits and vegetables when they are in season and plentiful - all colours of the rainbow. Fruit is natures? cleanser and meant to be eaten in more abundance following a long winter season of heavy food. Chlorophyll, the green juice found in vegetables and plants has the ability to clean and heal, inside and out. When it comes to our overall well-being and state of health, we must look to the source from which the elements in our bodies come. Foods in their natural state can heal us, feed us and keep us forever young.

=== IN CONCLUSION ===

Balance throughout the human body is what we seek to sustain in holistic health.

Health is not found in a miracle pill, it is a way of life. Nutrition rebuilds and regenerates tissue without poisoning some other part of the body. The right biochemical elements accelerate health and the reversal process.