Eating Without Heating
Favorite Recipes from Teens Who Love Raw Food
by Sergei & Valya Boutenko

$11.95 - Paperback - 146 pages - with photographs

Sergei and Valya Boutenko are two teenagers who are living proof that the Raw/Live food lifestyle really works. Both of them suffered from life threatening serious illnesses as young children.

Sergei and Valya were introduced to the Raw Food Diet and Lifestyle by their mother, Victoria.

Sergei had been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and his mother, Victoria, found this information devastating and unacceptable. After crying a river of tears, Victoria started looking around for some way to return her family to health. While Sergei's diabetes had been the catalyst for change, the whole family was suffering with serious ailments. Valya had asthma, Victoria had heart disease and her husband, Igor, had had nine surgeries for various ailments and now the doctors were telling him that they wanted to remove his thyroid gland. When the doctor told Igor he had no choice because his disease had progressed too far, Igor jumped down from the examination table and said "Yes, I do, I will go on a raw vegan diet." His doctor said that the newest Thyroid Sourcebook recommends exactly the opposite - cut down on fruit juices and fresh fruits - and consume more butter, cream, cheese and other dairy products. . . peanut butter, mayonnaise and animal fat.

Prior to Igor's diagnosis, Victoria had discovered the raw food diet in her own unique way. She figured that because she could not find the answers she wanted in medical books, she would search for people that looked very healthy and then approach them to ask what they did to be healthy. One day Victoria was in the bank behind a woman who seemed to be glowing with good health. Victoria overcame her embarrassment and approached this woman with her question, but she was not prepared for the answer. "What do you mean, everything raw?" This woman answered all of Victoria's questions and set her on the path towards renewed health.

Once Victoria had secured Igor's cooperation, she cleared the kitchen of all food and appliances. When Igor and the family came home they could not find any food to eat. They had to go shopping and Victoria only bought from the fresh fruit and vegetable section of the supermarket. At first the children wanted to rebel but Victoria won them over by asking them to just give it a try for a couple of weeks. They agreed. And it was during that couple of weeks that they all saw so many changes for the better in their health. Eventually they became enthusastic raw and living food proponents.

Sergei and Valya have written a delightful book. In it they recount how they transitioned into the raw food diet and how it changed them. The book is also full of awesome raw recipes that Sergei and Valya created and that are very simple and easy to prepare.

Sergei and Valya are head-quartered in Ashland Oregon. When not in school, they enjoy teaching, writing, hiking, swimming, biking and other sports. They also travel around the country promoting the raw food lifestyle. Their youthful, infectious enthusiasm has influenced many families to give this lifestyle a try.