It seems pathetic that we aspire to create a new product as "natural" as possible but destroy the very natural ingredients in the process. New packaged products appear on the market every day. Each time you try one of these new products, you are foregoing the old-fashioned fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. As a result, you will not get enough nutrients from your meal.

Researchers are excited whenever they discover new benefits in produce of particular colors. The bright vibrant colors of fresh produce, such as the deep green of leafy vegetables, the lilac of blueberries, or the red of strawberries are a sign that this produce is packed with antioxidants, called polyphenols.

The brighter the color of the fruit or vegetable, the more nutrient combatants it has to prevent degenerative diseases. Now picture what happens to the original rainbow of colors after cooking. The colors fade like old laundry. How can it not be more obvious to us: by tampering with natural products, we are losing something essential for our health and beauty.

Our body hosts two types of enzymes: metabolic enzymes, which run our bodies, and digestive enzymes, which participate in digesting our food. Only raw and living foods follow nature's design and come with their own food enzymes to aid digestion. They are responsible for the release of nutrients out of the foods we eat.

Dr. Edward Howell writes in his remarkable book Enzyme Nutrition that heat over 118° F kills enzymes. If food is cooked, it does not carry enzymes, and the body is forced to use up its own digestive enzymes.

Only living organisms, be it a human being, an animal, or a plant, possess enzymes. No one would ever argue that a dead person is the same as a living one just because the chemical composition of the body is the same. And yet we never think twice about allegations that cooked food is as good as raw food or better. The plant world possesses integrity and the "life factor." From an enzymatic approach, a picked up fruit or a cut off green is still alive, even though its own source of nourishment has been cut off. Seeds and nuts will reproduce if put into the soil, fruits will continue to ripen even after they have been picked from the tree, a vegetable--be it a carrot, onion, or potato--when put into the ground will sprout.

Natural food is seen as an enemy. The less the dish reminds one of the original ingredients, the prouder the cooks become. Raw produce is treated not like the divine food but as something to be mutilated and manipulated. It is even called "from scratch," as if it is a second-class product needing an upgrade. And yet, man is not capable of producing even a simple meal without using the basic ingredients he did not make. The talent of the cook should be applied elsewhere, because the basic fruits and vegetables he begins with are nutritionally superior to the most sophisticated creations he ends up with.

Traditional cooking alters the taste buds into being incapable of appreciating the flavor and taste of raw fruits and vegetables. We become more concerned with pleasing our perverted palate and satisfying our coarse sensation than with providing nourishment to our body.

By cooking our food, we are killing nutrients that keep us alive and healthy. After we grill or roast, bake or boil, sauté or stew, we produce some decadent matter with no nutritional value and only by using salt or sugar abundantly can we get it to pass our taste buds. All cooks rely on salt, sugar, and spices to have their creations appreciated. Cooking without spices is not appealing. Not surprisingly, spices were originally used to disguise decaying and decomposing food.