Of late, we have noticed a growing trend in the health food industry toward more “raw” products. It seemed to us a good opportunity to discuss our thoughts on the differences between raw food and living food.

We have been on a crusade for our entire thirteen-year company history about the benefits of including living foods in your diet. It should go without saying that we believe that Mother Nature intended that living foods be at least part of our diet, and a diet that includes living foods is the best for you.

Let’s break down the hierarchy of foods:

Cooked or Processed Foods: Any foods that have been heated to over 106 degrees Fahrenheit. These foods are less healthy because many nutrients and enzymes have destroyed, diminished or removed. These foods can be tasty and certainly can keep you alive, but these foods are no longer in their natural state. Our feeling is that our natural bodies crave and thrive on foods in their natural state. Examples:

• Breads
• Pasta
• Baked & Mashed Potatoes
• Most powdered juices
• Pasteurized sauerkraut
• Roasted nuts

Raw Foods: Any foods that have not been heated to over 106 degrees Fahrenheit. These foods include most of the fresh fruits and vegetables you eat. When you have a salad, it is not really living food, it’s actually raw. It was picked days or weeks ago and transported to you. By the time you consume it, it is raw, but it is not alive. It may still have vital enzymes and nutrients because it has not been cooked or processed, but we feel that it lacks the essential ingredient for good nutrition: life. Examples:

• Virtually all store bought fruits and vegetables
• Raw powdered wheatgrass juice
• Other raw powdered juices
• Sprout Powders
• Raw nuts

Living Foods: Foods that are still alive and growing when you consume them. By technical definition, living foods are foods that are consumed within 48 hours after they are picked. We believe that smaller the interval between picking and consuming, the better. A tomato from your garden that is picked and served within minutes is fantastic! A tomato picked and served the next day is certainly good, but less optimal. Fresh picked living foods are at their absolute peak of freshness and are bursting with that vital and indescribable nutrient: life. We feel that food that is still alive when you eat it gives your body the absolute maximum nutritional potential that food can grant. Living food is what your body wants desperately. The more of it that you get, the healthier you will be and the better you will feel. Examples:

• Freshly picked fruits and vegetables
• Sprouts
• Microgreens
• Fresh squeezed wheatgrass & barleygrass juice
• Homemade Sauerkraut
  • The cabbage is raw
  • The trillions of beneficial bacteria are alive

If you have a garden or fruit trees you have access to amazingly healthy living foods. You should do your best to utilize these living miracles of Mother Nature during the seasons when they are available. Include as much of these living foods in your diet as you can.

What about the rest of the year? This is exactly why we are in the business of providing ways for growing your own wheatgrass, sprouts and microgreens indoors, all year long. Freshly grown and picked fruits and vegetables are only available for a limited season each year. Growing your own living foods indoors is fun, healthy and best of all gives your body the living foods it craves all year long!

We encourage you to review your own diet with a view to how much living foods you are getting. If you aren’t getting enough, please do your body a favor and treat it to more living foods.