HAWAIIIAN FOOD Early Hawaiians ate most of their food uncooked, full of living enzymes.  The Hawaiians of old attributed this “bank of enzymes” to a spiritual power (Mana), a gift from the gods, if you will.  According to Captain Cook's logbook entries, a Hawaiian Kahuna gave him pre- chewed food, full of enzymes, which, although not pleasant, was healthy.  Hawaiians used to consume most of their food uncooked, full of bioactive enzymes.  If the Hawaiians did cook their meat, it was limited to open fire barbeques or in an Imu (an underground oven) used mainly for festive days.  Clay was unknown and not used for cooking in the Polynesian Islands, with the exception of Fiji. Our modern lifestyle has changed and our eating habits have taken a downward plunge. We are so busy trying to cope with life, commuting, bills, family and upkeep, that stress, and being “stressed out” plays a major factor in our diet. With time being so precious, it is no wonder we tend to gravitate toward “quick and easy” foods.  Recuperating from illness created by convenience foods takes more out of your life then the short-term benefits of a minute meal. What a cheap excuse.  Plug the vegetables down the Cuisinart, get some Chef Peter’s health enhancing spice mixture, make a soup in a blender, or briefly stir fry your meal without cooking it entirely.  Raw food does not need cooking! Food should be medicine on our plates! As more people drop by the wayside with health related problems, it becomes evident that our selection and regimen of eating are an important solution to living a healthy wonderful life--what I call “Mana Diet.”   The food we consume on a daily basis affects our health more than anything else. Our skin protects us from the outside world, but what protects us when the outside world is internalized? Most of the material we need for survival (besides oxygen and sunlight) needs to be ingested and then digested.  The easiest way to take control of our health is to take control of what we eat! The foods we eat today are nothing like the foods of the past!  Names may have remained the same, but our modern foods are so laced with food additives that a more precise statement would be to say they are “Full of Deadly Additives.” An example is that most livestock are “pampered” with high caloric feed, the remains of dead animals, injected with hormones and antibiotics, and not allowed to graze.  The result is a meat of such a different beast, that it has become unfit for human consumption. It is important to realize that what the majority of people eat today is not optimal for our bodies, but rather developed for its convenience.  Today’s “fast” food contains substances that are addictive to our taste, and run counter to our body’s natural metabolism. These substances may improve shelf life and profits, but not your body.  I have nothing against good and honest profit, but I detest “dirty money grubbing” profit called GREED.  Knowledge and technology have allowed us complicated ways to make lots of money. But our bodies haven’t evolved to perfection; they are still in the Stone Age. We still have the genetic makeup of our Paleolithic ancestors. For over a thousand years the Hawaiians hadn’t changed their diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, and raw seafood until they were consumed by western civilization’s proclivity to eat cooked starches, such as bread and noodles, and charred food void of enzymes. While westerners have had a thousand years to adjust to these foods, the Hawaiians have had barely 250 years; their adjustment to such foods is incomplete.  Consequently, their bodies have suffered.  However, Hawaiians are not the only ones suffering from a change in diet.  The diets of westerners are also changing faster than our bodies are able to adapt.  With the use of so many additives our bodies cannot digest, modern societies are besieged by growing numbers obese people.  The obese require assistance moving about because their bodies no longer function well; they have robbed themselves of the enjoyment of life. In the first half of this book, I point out the main food additive culprits, and provide you a solution to them so that you can lead a longer, more active life.  For optimum health, we should follow a diet resembling many of the principles of the old Hawaiian diet. I’m not advising you to become a vegan or vegetarian, although I’m not discouraging it either. However, humans are omnivores and we have developed by eating both vegetables and meat.  Our ancestors foraged the land, hunting, fishing and gathering what they could find, as did the Hawaiians. The difference was that the Hawaiians had fish ponds, taro fields, orchards, and a highly developed terrace system of agriculture and irrigation.  The rich soil in the Hawaiian islands provided excellent nutrition and nourishment without artificial fertilizers.