By Cali Ann Cutler
author, raw food chef, educator

Food. Ahh, the four-letter F word. Many of us are either having a tacit battle with food, or clandestine affair with it. Food gives us sustenance, energy, and of course, pleasure. But most of us are only getting one of those three benefits.

What if you could nourish your cells, elevate your energy potential, AND have the celebratory pleasure from our food all at the same time? And you don’t have to fake suffering through salads or choke down brussel sprouts to do it.The first fundamental aspect of health is not usually talked about. Usually we get caught up in calories and fat grams, instead of the composition and potential of the food as a whole. This aspect is that food has energy.

Without going into a verbose demonstration on food and physics; here are some visual images to stimulate your perception of higher and lower quality foods. The following pictures were taken with Kirlian photography, a form of photogram made with electricity. This type of photography is able to take a snapshot of more than what our naked eye can see. It is able to pick up the energetic properties of the infrared and the ultraviolet rays and show us a more complete picture of what food is. (Images from “The Sunfood Diet Success System” by David Wolfe, photography by Christopher Wodtke, www.kirlian.com)

Cooked Cabbage/ Live Cabbage

Raw, organic fig

raw, organic cacao (chocolate)

bean Hamburger from a fast food restaurantYou can think of it as a ‘food aura’ or the life force, an ancient name for the concept of spiritual energy. With that simple example, you can see with your own eyes the first reason you may not be feeling on par with your physical body: you are eating ‘lifeless’ foods.

Whether you believe it or not, at the smallest unit of measurement, smaller than the atom, there are higher frequencies and lower frequencies radiating from food (and from every particle.) Each cell is like a tiny battery, and raw living foods are like the bio-electricity that charges them. We can inherently feel how food from Mother Nature in our bellies is superior and lighter after eating them. Well, then why doesn’t everyone eat natural food? The most common answer is basically because to most people, it tastes like plumbing.

We have an announcement for all you salad-haters. You can make salivating, delectable food out of plant-based ingredients! Imagine eating a cheesecake that tastes exactly like a delicious cheesecake, and someone tells you it’s made from ingredients entirely from their garden? We have entered a new era. Too many people are sick and tired of being sick and tired. America and the world has become increasingly sick, an age of dying longer instead of living longer. However, genius chefs have merged with the vanguard of nutrition experts; bringing you the best of both worlds! The age of the victim is fizzling out into a new world of inspired individuals that are realizing they can and always have had the power to take their health into their own hands.

We can finally enjoy food, in every way. Try it out yourself! Snag a raw food recipe book from your local bookstore and enjoy entirely new flavors that fill you down to your toes. Here’s one I found from www.vegetariantimes.com to get you started.

Picture from www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10668 Ingredients
Serves 12

2 cups macadamia nuts
1 1/2 cups cashews
1/2 cup pitted Medjool dates 1/4 cup dried coconut
6 Tbs. coconut oil, melted (gently warmed) 1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup raw agave nectar
1/2 sun-dried vanilla bean *(or 1 tsp vanilla
extract)
3 cups mixed berries, such as blueberries
and raspberries

Directions:
1. Place macadamia nuts in large bowl, and cover with cold water. Place cashews in separate bowl, and cover with cold water. Soak nuts 4 hours, then rinse, drain, and set aside.
2. Pulse macadamia nuts and dates in food processor to a sticky crumb-like consistency. Sprinkle dried coconut on bottom of 8-inch pie pan. Press macadamia nut mixture onto coconut to make crust.
3. Place cashews, coconut oil, lime juice, agave nectar, and 6 Tbs. water in bowl of food processor. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into food processor bowl, and purée until smooth. Pour mixture onto crust, and freeze 1 to 2 hours, or until firm. Remove from freezer, slice while frozen, and transfer to serving platter. Defrost in fridge 1 hour, or on countertop 30 minutes; top with berries; and serve. Enjoy!