I feel that bad food habits are the main cause for illness in our society today. Good nutrition is deservedly becoming more and more commonly linked to healing and preventing disease. If like most wild animals we consumed food in the way Mother Nature intended us to; in its raw form, we would most likely find that modern diseases such as Cancer would not exist.

The raw food diet is not a weight loss plan; it is a lifestyle, and a very beneficial one at that. The basis of this lifestyle is not, contrary to initial thoughts and suggestions, all about eating sushi and raw fish. This diet is based on fresh raw fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, seaweed and sprouts. Some people eat 100% raw food all of the time, whereas others may settle for a 70% raw – 30% cooked diet. When one is following a raw food diet all processed, cooked foods are avoided, this is because many valuable but fragile vitamins, enzymes and phytochemicals are destroyed. By adding fresh, preferably organic vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts to ones diet, ones nutritional intake is greatly enhanced.

If we take a look at the physical content of fruits and vegetables we can see that around 70% is made up of water. What do you think is the first thing that is lost when a vegetable is cooked? "Its water content".

Our bodies are between 60% and 70% water, therefore it would make sense for us to consume foods that also have a large water content. It is the large amount of structured water that is loaded into fruits and vegetables that better facilitates our biological processes.

Not only is water lost during cooking but more importantly, enzymes that are naturally present in food are destroyed when food is heated above 118°F and the life force and nutritional value is diminished. The enzymes in food assist in digestion and absorption, and the more living your food is when consumed the more alive you will start to feel.

Enzymes can assist with every chemical reaction that takes place in our bodies. Without them cellular division, immune system functioning, energy production and brain activity do not function and no vitamins or hormones can do their work.

Every item of raw food contains exactly the perfect mix of digestive enzymes in order for the body to break it down completely. If these food enzymes are destroyed during cooking above 118°F our bodies then have to work harder to generate the enzymes needed to digest food.

If raw food is not already regularly consumed in your day-to-day diet, try adding a little at a time, until you maximize your ratio of raw food to cooked food without suffering hunger between meals. By all means, experiment! By eating a combination and wide variety of both raw and cooked foods, you can still obtain a lot of good nutrition and start to see some benefits, such as:

• increased energy
• improved skin appearance
• better digestion
• weight loss
• reduced risk of heart disease

The mistake most people make to begin with is thinking that a raw food diet is boring and tasteless. However there are so many fruits and vegetables on the market other then your average apples, pears, carrots and potatoes that many are unaware of, that as one begins to eat more raw foods the availability of the full spectrum of fresh fruit and vegetables becomes more visible and noticeable. Not only is there a huge array of fresh fruit and vegetables on offer but there are also many ways in which to prepare these wonderful foods to make exciting dishes other then your average salad.

Specific raw food preparation techniques add more variety to the diet, these include:

• sprouting seeds, grains, and beans
• juicing fruit and vegetables
• soaking nuts and dried fruit
• blending nuts and seeds into pates
• blending fruit into smoothies
• dehydrating food to imitate cooked dishes

And so on and so forth.

Some useful equipment, which is handy for preparing delicious raw foods are:

• A dehydrator - this blows warm, not hot, air through food at a temperature of less than 118°F
• A good-quality juice extractor - for juicing fruit and vegetables
• A blender/food processor – for smoothies, nut pates, salsas and soups
• A sprouter - to sprout seeds, grains and beans to add to salads or dips

The Raw Greek Book is the perfect accompaniment for anyone eating a high raw food diet. Using simple and easily accessible ingredients this collection of recipes ties together traditional Greek flavours with modern methods of preparing raw food to create delicious and nutritious dishes that look and taste divine.

This book is a selection of innovative recipes that have been uniquely created using produce commonly found in Greece, Cyprus and around the Mediterranean. I have adapted many of my favourite traditional Greek recipes and invented my own exquisite interpretation of some of the more popular Greek dishes using only 100% raw, vegan ingredients.

The Raw Greek Book explains how fresh, raw fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, if largely incorporated into the diet, can decrease the risk of disease, greatly diminish symptoms such as lethargy, fatigue, depression and obesity and prolong the effects of aging.

The recipes are modelled to look and taste like your favourite Greek, normally cooked, baked or deep-fried, foods but contain all the nutrients, minerals and vitamins needed to increase health and vitality which are normally lost through cooking.