The Urban Permaculture Farm Magazine

Monica has been an asset on the Urban Sustainable Living website for some time now and I’ve seen some of her articles and where she has been cited in others:  Honolulu Weekly’s Raw Meal article and The Raw Vegan Network article Raw Nutrition plus the Natural Health article advocating a no GMO world, to name a few.

The general response to most of my writings is “You’re insane,” and I’ve gotten used to hearing that.  But keeping with the natural order and natural design of things has benefits.  It’s far more logical than it may at first appear. One of the things that attracted me to Patti Moreno was how she set up her raised beds and her chicken tractor and how she moves things around.  Patti realizes that the chickens poop on that area and that it will be good for the plants going into that space in the following season.  It is just the natural order of things.  She understands how these things work and she is living it!  And at first I was humiliated by this because I know this but I don’t live it.  So, Patti has been inspirational to me, motivating me to actually do what I know!

Monica, how long have you been a nutritionist, and raw foods advocate?

I got my nutritionist license in 2002.  But somewhere towards the end of my training I was required to do a practicum. I was working with people with cancers and started looking into dietary means to fight cancer.  I discovered a common link between dietary measures used to reverse cancers, and they all have a core of raw foods.   I began to do extensive research into raw foods at that time.

Why is a raw food diet so important?

The fundamental reason is, that’s how all natural creatures eat.  With the exception of human beings and the animals we domesticate, all creatures eat a raw/living foods diet, and they all eat a biologically appropriate diet for their species.  It’s not just a matter of these creatures not having the intelligence to cook food, it’s a biological imperative.  Dr. Pottenger demonstrated this by studying four generations of cats – ordinary house cats.  A control group received a biologically appropriate diet of being weaned from their mother’s milk to raw foods like fish or chicken.  The experimental groups received diets which incrementally got more “cooked,” if you will.  The first group got raw cow’s milk, the second got pasteurized cow’s milk, the third got evaporated condensed cow’s milk, etc.  What was noted in the study is the increasing rate of disease, from neurological disorders to cancer, in a rate that corresponded to how devitalized and denatured their diets were.  What he noted was that ultimately the study could not continue beyond a fourth generation for the animals receiving the “cooked” diets.  There was no fourth generation.  The animals failed to thrive.

They do a lot of comparative anatomy in raw food.  Anatomically speaking we humans are considered a primate, somewhere between an orangutan and a gorilla, our digestive anatomy is right in there.  An orangutan is about 98% vegetarian and a gorilla is 99% vegetarian.  The larger the primate, the more vegetarian you get.  You think about the foods they eat and the seeds and how seedy these foods are they eat.  They are getting very little fat and a whole lot of fiber.  They are getting their protein from seeds and greens.  They are getting a very complete diet, which has been demonstrated by researchers, who follow primates in their free-ranging territories, gathering everywhere they have been, and taking these back to a laboratory to do tests on everything that are eating.

Their diet, like all natural creatures, is specifically keyed to their anatomy.  While it may look random to us, it is a very complete diet.  They are being led by their own anatomy.  When you stop to consider dietary choices as being led by your anatomy, you’re talking about a five fingered hand, an upright posture, eyes that face forward.  Primates are designed to see and grasp a bright fruit off a tree.  We are not structured to do much more than to gather a low hanging fruit.  We don’t have true fangs, or talons, or triangular teeth for ripping and tearing, we are not true carnivores.  Just because we can put it in our mouth doesn’t mean that we should.

What is your favorite raw food recipe, you know for people that might not be able to let go of their deep fried or processed food?

Oh there are so many raw food recipes books out there.  I’m not a really much of a raw chef.  It’s another area of my life in which I know, but do not do, unfortunately.  But, even I could take a yellow squash or a beet and take a spiral slicer and make the “noodle” to create a pasta dish.  I’d make a sauce out of sun dried tomatoes that I’ve reconstituted and add some fresh tomatoes in there too.  If I wanted to get real fancy, I’d add some olives and mushrooms to add some saltiness or a more distinctly Italian spin on it.  Olives and mushrooms are a good meat substitute because they have very strong flavors.  They round it out so that you don’t feel your missing anything.  It gives that mouth feel you’re used to.  That is just a super easy thing to throw together.  Everyone thinks raw food is salad but that isn’t the case.  You can even make a raw soup.  Start by soaking sunflower seeds over night in the fridge, and then drain them the next day.  Into the bowl of a blender or food processor, throw a handful of drained sunflower seeds with some dill and celery and some cucumber and some red onion and a small clove of garlic, juice of half a lemon.   I use English cucumber because they have small seeds.  Of course, if they bother you, you could scoop those seeds out.  Add a touch of olive oil. Whip that up in the blender.  It will be white and creamy and like a raw cucumber soup.  That was a favorite at my house.  There is, of course, no end to smoothies.    Another thing I like to play with are raw coconuts.  I just love them. Raw foodies use a food dehydrator like it was an oven, making crackers and “hamburger patties” out of seeds and nuts and fruits and vegetables.   You can find a lot of recipes on a lot of raw food websites.

Is that why you garden?  

A lot of that is to get into the flow and harmony of nature, the passing of the seasons, smelling the earth and taking ownership of what I put in my body.  A large part of it is taking responsibility for the choices that I make.  A lot of it, too, is the sheer joy of gardening.  What type of lettuce I want instead of pre-selected for me, and not having it degrade in shipping.  It opens up more choices and its fun.  A strong motivation for gardening is also preparedness, for a day that may come or may not come.

How long have you been gardening?  

I started as a child; we had a little patch of vegetables in the back yard.  I was the oldest child; I was responsible for handling that.  As an adult, I started gardening in the back yard as soon as we were not in an apartment, about twenty years ago.  I didn’t start raised beds until Patti, however.  I didn’t think of putting it in a container until I saw her chicken tractor.  That was when I rethought all of it and we started raised beds.  That was about a year ago.  That was the first time I experienced a raised bed garden.  But as far as dig a hole and plant a seed I’ve been doing that since I was a little girl.

When you converted from ground gardening to raised beds, what kind of difference e did you notice?

The first thing I noticed was, I didn’t have to weed anything, I was like wow!  I wish I would have thought of this earlier.  It is easier on the knees and back and joints.  It is far more comfortable to have that thing two feet off the ground.  I had heard of square foot gardening and lasagna gardening before, but I guess I needed to see it.  I guess I’m visual like that.  This tiny woman doing all of these things, I have no excuse!  She is just so inspiring. Raw food goes hand and hand with home gardening.   Absolutely, you can do so much.  Everything that comes out, you consume the consumable part and the rest goes back out in the compost.  There is no waste.  Every peel, trimming and seed goes back to the garden.  It’s an incredible way to walk lightly on the earth.  That is another big bonanza for me, there is just no waste.

What’s next for you?

The next thing I want to try to grow are paw paws.  They are the most anti cancer fruit.  They fight cancer like nothing else.  The paw paw also happens to be the most consumed fruit by primates.  They live off them.  It is the most anti cancer fruit, it reverses cancer.  It is their most natural diet.  Hello?  Connection here?  This is our natural diet; this is what we’re supposed to be eating.  If we follow an anatomically appropriate diet, we will deal with disease before it starts.  Perpetual healing motion, if there is such a term.  But that is what we are designed for, to be self healing machines.

Any closing thoughts?

“If we walk lightly on the earth, and eat friendly with the earth, we will be healthier.”

(Publishers note: Monica Dewart (MoniDew) was the first person I met at my first public appearance ever! A friend and someone who inspires me-Patti)