The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet

by Susan Schenck

Book Overview

Product Description The Live Food Factor is the first comprehensive guide to not only the raw food diet, but also the raw food movement itself. This diet is sweeping America as people discover its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977679519
• ISBN13: 9780977679515
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Awakenings
• Length: 706 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

encyclopedic & fascinating

The Live Food Factor is a veritable treasure trove of valuable techniques and information for changing one's body, mind and spiritual direction into physical and mental health and happiness. I found it so fascinating I just couldn't put it down! I woke up at 2:00 Am and couldn't put it down til 7:00 AM! I lose sleep over it! The case history studies are most interesting and inspirational. I admire the author's open-mindedness in presenting a broad spectrum of diets which include foods and regimens different than most raw food diets--diets which are Paleolithic as used by hunter-gatherers, the writings of Dr. Weston Price, etc. This book is encyclopedic in scope and should be in the possession of all doctors, nutritionists and lay people. It's full of excellent information which can be valuable for all persons interested in vibrant health and a meaningful life. I recommend it very highly. Warning to all: those who dare to open this volume should give up all hope of remaining the same afterward! Your life will be changed forever irrevocably! Dr. Stanley Bass, ND, DC, PhC, PhD, DO , DSc, DD

Well-Researched and Comprehensive

I've been raw for a little over a year now and have spent this time reading all I could get my hands on about the raw food diet and lifestyle. This book is the most comprehensive I have found. Susan not only gives us the intuitive reinforcement and varied testimonials we need to keep us motivated, she also includes study after study proving that this diet improves and maintains health. It's this emphasis on research (not to mention a great orange-tahini sauce recipe!) that keeps me coming back to the book time and again. "Going raw" isn't always easy, particularly when society's norms run counter to your choice, as it often does outside of certain circles in New York or California. I've used Susan's book to comfort worried relatives, give intelligently written information to curious acquaintances, and (most importantly) to remind myself that this truly is a wise choice, despite others' worries. Incidentally, while many of the raw food books I love are written by young people, it feels comforting, somehow, to read one by someone over 50. Some of the testimonials are about older people, as well. It rounds out the picture of the "typical" raw foodist. This is one of those large, chock-full-of-information books that I didn't want to see end. I find myself wanting to read more books by this author on the topic, because I know she will research whatever she studies thoroughly and present the findings honestly. There are times when I want propoganda-type books, and there are times when I want solid science. This book offers a little of the former, and a great deal of the latter, plus recipes and great tips. It has become the one book I lend to people considering going raw. I'm going to have to order more copies, because no one ever seems to want to return it! Thank you for offering us such a comprehensive book, Susan! Keep writing!

Goes into real depth with scientific basis for raw vegan diet

I was very very impressed with this book. There is more research and scientific background in this than any other raw vegan book I have read to date.

Currently the best book on food:

"The Live Food Factor" is currently the best book of introduction to the nutritional concepts of Natural Hygiene, which I've concluded, after 35 years of study and 16 years of practice, is likely the only path to optimal health for living things, at least on this planet. Everything that Giles Fischer has written about the book is accurate, so I will not re-state it. If "The Live Food Factor" were available 35 years ago, it could have saved me decades of searching. The search for optimal wellness has been my full-time profession & avocation since about 1971 and at least a decade of that time was spent in unlearning the mis-information I was taught in medical/dental and other government-controlled schools. This is THE book with which to introduce new friends to the relationship 'twixt food intake and health. It's worth buying the book just for the multitude of other sources of information. Even after years of reading every book I could find on Natural Hygiene and related subjects, I finished this book with 37 folded-over pages for future action and a couple hundred pages with margin notes, underlined & highlighted nuggets of intelligent information. Susan has done the most exhaustive research on all aspects of health related to food and integrated it into this one well-written book. "The Live Food Factor" is the definitive nutrition portion of the Owner's Manual that each of should have received when we were issued our bodies. It is strongly recommended for anyone who cares to experience the rewards of taking responsibility for one's own health & life. --Robert E. Wynman, DDS [...]

"Live Food Factor" Gets It Right

Occasionally someone comes along and just plain gets it right in a field of study, and Susan Schenck does just that. Her new book, "The Live Food Factor" is a work that intelligently makes a multi-layered subject understandable for the neophyte while addressing the complexities that arise for those already initiated. I have been involved with raw foods and Natural Hygiene for nearly twenty years and having been exposed to almost every significant work on the subject, I'll say that Ms. Schenck has produced something that I've wished to see for a long time: a single-volume, easy to read book about raw foods that I can confidently recommend to others and not have to personally explain the many caveats about the subject. Ms. Schenck identifies and explains them for us right in the book. Like any study, "raw foodism" spawns diverse schools of thought, and "The Live Food Factor" satisfactorily deals with nearly all of them. Without the somewhat off-putting "absolute tone" that other raw food works occasionally assume, Susan Schenck even-handedly discusses arguments and counter-arguments about various doctrines within the field. She includes chapters on the history of the movement and the pioneers and leaders that brought it to where it is today. The book also contains informative testimonials by raw food users, complete with before-and-after pictures that should provide inspiration for any reader. Add to this a question and answer chapter, a recipe section, sample menus, five appendices, a massive bibliography, lists of raw food restaurants, lots of raw food resources, and a very useful index, plus much more. Although the book is very comprehensive regarding foods and their impact on health, it only touches upon other areas of Natural Hygiene like rest, fresh air, and exercise. However, these are studies unto themselves and beg to be sequels to "The Live Food Factor." I would hope that Ms. Schenck writes them, particularly if they are as well done as this first book In summary, "The Live Food Factor" is a very informative one-volume course on the raw food lifestyle. As much as I've managed to learn on the subject over the years, this book still held for me new bits of information on nearly every page. It is well formatted and written in a good, readable style (thanks to the editing skills of Bob Avery, himself a leading exponent of raw foods). In my opinion, the book could be used as a text for anyone learning or teaching the raw food lifestyle for personal fitness or at spas, retreats, resorts, health clinics, etc., and I highly recommend it for such. Giles Fischer gcfischer@earthlink.net