Pat:
>I do hope one of them will include a complete explanation of "life force
>energy", which I would have taken as calories (heat)?

>You are obviously in the expert class here...May I ask if this is
>professional, vocational, hobby? --do you mind my interest?--

Tom:
Life force energy is definitely not calories(heat). Consider two equal amounts
of raw, whole wheatberries. Soak both batches overnight, then cook one, and
put both batches in a sprouting environment. The soaked & cooked berries will
have nearly the same calorie energy as the soaked & raw batch. However, the
soaked & raw will sprout - they are alive; the soaked & cooked will mold and
spoil - they are dead. The difference in the two is the life force energy,
which was driven out of the cooked batch by the heating. (One raw food yogi
claims that the delicious smell of cooking food is the life force energy
leaving the food as it is cooked!).

So, the life force energy is not calories, but the subtle energy of life
itself. This energy cannot be directly measured but can be imputed.  Note
also that, despite claims by enzyme supplement sellers, enzymes are NOT the
life force. Enzymes are proteins, and are matter. The life force is pure
energy, not matter, and cannot be pressed into pills and sold. (If enzymes
really are the life force, then you should be able to live forever by taking
enzyme pills or injections; of course that does not happen.)  Note that I
am not criticizing enzymes here, only want to make it clear that they are not
the life force.

As an example of life force, consider a complete cabbage plant in the
ground - it is alive, green and growing. Now cut the head of cabbage off,
severing it from the rest of the plant. That head is alive when cut, and has
some life force energy. But if you set the head of cabbage aside and don't
touch it, it will eventually turn yellow, then brown, and finally gray as it
dies and decomposes - as the life force energy slowly leaves it. As there
are levels of energy that a food can have, and said energy cannot be easily
measured, things can get complicated. This subject is addressed, in an
indirect way, in an archive file titled something like "On the Definition of
Living Foods", and I will re-post it at some time in the future.


Thanks for your kind comments. I got involved in raw/living foods in the early
1970's (was a raw fooder in 71), and have been involved since (though I was off
raw foods, eating conventional vegetarian cooked food, for portions of the
80's). My participation here is done as a service, to help others, and also
to learn as well. It could be considered a hobby, if you wish. However, I am
seriously considering writing a book (or two) on raw/living foods, as the books
presently available range from very good to unspeakably bad. Oh well, that may
be the future - we must live in the present...

Tom Billings
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