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12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food

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Review by Susan Albrecht

Victoria Boutenko believes that our bodies are designed to be healthy, that our bodies are perfect, and that sickness is not normal. For Victoria, absolute health is having enough energy to manifest dreams. Yet many people simply do not have enough energy to do so, or engage in a mental and physical struggle of ups and downs which make it difficult to remain joyful and fulfilled. For Victoria, the health and joyfulness that is our natural birthright can be found in nutrition. Standing in the way of optimal nutrition is a dependency on cooked foods and a corresponding belief that it is simply too difficult or not possible to change eating habits in a significant way.

The dependence on cooked food and the steps that can help one successfully end the dependency are outlined in Victoria's book, 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food. The newly revised and updated second edition is now twice as large, containing about 80% new information and more detailed insights into the burning question of why humans should eat raw, about human dependency on cooked food, and how to people can end this dependency. This is a book for people interested in changing their dietary habits, for those completely new to raw, and for raw fooders interested in learning more about Victoria's research into the diet of the first humans, which focuses on the "gatherer" aspect of the hunter-gatherer paradigm of early to recent human lifestyle and nutritional needs. While we all learn in grade school about the hunter culture, not many of us learn about the gatherer lifestyle that was central to ALL people, not just Native Americans. It is exciting to learn that the "first bread" was little more than crushed seeds of grasses mixed with water and "baked" on stones heated by the sun. Clearly, for thousands of years, humans ate their "bread" raw.

Central to the new edition is Victoria's other research into the power of greens. Victoria and her family had been raw for nearly ten years when they began to feel they had reached a plateau in their levels of health, noticing symptoms of less than perfect health. Yet it was when her children started to complain of increased teeth sensitivity that Victoria knew something was not right with her family's nutrition--such symptoms Victoria recognized as an indicator that her family's complete nutritional needs were not being met. This realization resulted in a three year quest to learn and collect data on all human foods. What she found is that the one food group that matches all essential minerals and vitamins recommended by the USDA, including protein, are greens! Convinced that greens are the most important food, Victoria was stumped at how to incorporate an optimal quantity into her diet (even Victoria was not able to consume more than several cups of shredded greens at a sitting). After many experiments, she discovered that blending greens in a high-speed blender with sweet fruit and water resulted in a wonderful concoction that is not too sweet and not too bitter. These "Green Smoothies" as she called them, are "freshness" in a complete package.

The new edition of 12 Steps to Raw Foods also contains more detailed information on the "twelve steps" of how one can end his or her dependency on cooked foods, the ten benefits of green smoothies, and the physical, emotional, biological, and spiritual aspects of how and why we feed our inner hunger. This is a book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in healthy living, and is a "must read" for those seeking to better understand the relationship between nutrition and optimal health. Victoria demonstrates this relationship in an informal yet practical way, offering numerous tips and strategies. Planting a seed to help and inspire others can be as simple as preparing raw food for a friend or family member. While you never know if or when that seed may germinate, you are the most positive example of joyful living. As an ambassador of the living foods raw lifestyle, you have the potential to influence others simply by attaining your own optimal level of health. And this, Victoria makes clear, is worth a try.

I read the earlier edition of this book over two years ago, along with all the previous Raw Family publications. Victoria's characteristic Russian warmth and passion always come through, and I so appreciate the love and dedication she brings to her readers. Starting with Green for Life, though, she now also offers scientific evidence, studies and research to support her stories, suggestions and claims. If Green for Life impressed me, the revised and expanded edition of 12 Steps to Raw Foods blew me away!

This book is so thorough that even a skeptic would find it difficult to argue. Victoria includes 12 pages of footnotes and a one and a half page bibliography. As her chapter on clarity explains, one need not turn away from intuition to listen to experts; however, it's also nice when spiritual nudges, personal experience and science converge.

In addition to the scientific and psychological references, Victoria has clearly grown as a teacher during the past seven years. She has become a teacher of teachers, and this shift works to empower her readers. Throughout the text, she reminds us that we each have gifts to share and encourages us to find our purpose. Perhaps the most refreshing thing about this book is Victoria's reminder that the "main goal" is not to become a raw foodist. Rather, a raw food diet provides energy that we can use to propel dreams into reality. By assuming that each reader can go on to teach raw food "cooking" classes or encourage others on their spiritual path, Victoria also reframes the way new raw fooders view themselves. Instead of perpetual students grasping for answers, Victoria treats her readers as future teachers who will have valuable insights and experiences to share.

Although I eat a high-raw vegan diet, I am not myself a 100% raw fooder. I would still recommend this book to anyone who wants to lose weight or who finds him/herself obsessing about food, body image, or health issues. Reading 12 Steps to Raw Foods goes beyond just trying to change one's diet. Victoria asks us to look at our relationship to food, to ourselves and to the entire world, but she does so in such a humble, graceful way. This is a book whose wisdom unfolds over the course of time, and thus a book that offers rewards in each rereading. Victoria ends by asking, "How many people can you influence in your lifetime directly and indirectly? Eventually, I think, the whole planet. Is it worth a try?"

After spending any time with Victoria through lectures or her books, the answer bubbles forth as an emphatic, "Yes!"

While it's not yet my intention to go 100% Raw, I am in the research and experiment phase of this diet. In other words, I have not committed either way.

Ideally, my perfect Raw Food Diet book would provide the following information to the person considering this diet: 1)History and benefits of the diet, 2) The author's personal experience from beginning to present, 3) Cons and nutritional-pitfalls to avoid, 4)Before-and-after photos with testimonials, 5)Great, quick raw recipes with and w/out the pricey equipment, and 6)a 30-day diet plan to start you on your way.

That's asking for a lot but I would be willing to pay a reasonable premium to have all of this info in one place and I suspect others would, as well. After all, it's your health we're talking here.

This book touches on all but 2 of the above (4 and 6). I'm a skeptic about things that seem too good go be true but Boutenko eases those negative thoughts. Her delivery is of a sharing nature rather than preachy. I felt like she covered most of the questions a newbie would have in relation to the first steps one should take to get started on this diet. And she doesn't advocate going 100% raw right away which is very refreshing to someone who likes to try before she buys.

I've tried 2 of her green smoothies and a soup and all were surprisingly delicious. The smoothies I had for breakfast and I was hungry soon after. So you may want to have a nutritious snack on hand like carrots sticks or other raw, organic snack to prepare for those hunger pangs. I'm keeping a journal of how I feel as well and how the recipes taste.

I recommend this book as a great starting point for newbies. I'm glad I only purchased 2 books (the other was "Raw: The Uncook Book" by that kooky but fun Juliano)to come to this realization.

Even if I/you never go completely raw, I believe adding one raw meal a day will make a big difference in my/your health. Good luck to all who choose to pursue this way of life!

I bought this book as a second option, not being able to get hold of the Boutenko's first book 'Raw Family', either here or Stateside.
It is a really interesting read and one has to applaud the tenacity and determination of the family to go raw, when they had so little support and knowledge. For example, Mum got rid of her pots and pans and covered the top of the oven with a large chopping board. Not many people would make such an immediate and final decision.
I am a bit concerned that an example of an average day's food intake in the book seems pretty sparse; especially so having read now other books on the subject that include a fantastic array of dishes and ingredients. However, this book is a good general 'introduction' to going raw, and I recommend it.

Though 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food features plenty of recipes, its purpose is to be the antithesis of "cookbooks" per se - author and raw-food diet teacher Victoria Boutenko extols the benefits of raw foods and the disadvantages of cooked foods (notably that cooking often destroys nutrients) to the extent of describing a diet of cooked foods as a "dependency". Now in a revised and expanded edition, 12 Steps to Raw Foods is also a vegan food preparation book, eschewing all meat, milk, egg-based foods. The preponderance of 12 Steps to Raw Foods is devoted not to recipes, but to convincing the reader to switch to an entirely raw-food vegan diet, as well as tips, tricks, techniques for making the transition. The main segments are "Why Raw Food?", "Human Dependency on Cooked Food", "How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food" and "Recipes". The first three segments are filled with tips, tricks, and techniques for dealing with cravings for cooked food, and the recipes range from raw green smoothies to gazpacho to nut or seed cheese, non-cooked vegan burgers, non-cooked vegan pizza, and much more. A "must" for anyone interested in exploring the health benefits of a raw-food vegan diet.

There are many good points about this book, and there are many unscientific, illogical points which detract from its important message.

First off, the subtitle invites circular logic that derogates contrarian discussion. "How to End Your DEPENDENCY..." If you are not a 100% raw food eater, you are an addict. Addiction by its very definition identifies you as having a psychological/spiritual pathology. In other words, you're too delusional to know what's right, therefore anything you disagree with makes you wrong. Thus we have the perfect set-up for an ideological echo chamber: Anybody who disagrees with a pure raw food diet is crazy, so disregard anything they say.

Vanity is an addiction, too.

Some of the text actually detracts from the goal of promoting raw food.

For example, on page 6, Boutenko mentions one rationale for going raw: "you did not come into this world with a cooking stove attached to your belly."

We didn't come into the world with multiple stomachs, either. Does that mean we should avoid vegetables, too? One solution Boutenko uses to make vegetable nutrients more available by breaking down the cellulose barriers is to get a Vitamix. This is an excellent choice, but we weren't born with Vitamixes in our stomachs, either. By Boutenko's logic, we should avoid vegetables.

Her story is compelling, but anecdotal. Was her family existing on junk food, and if so, would changing their diet to one including all organic food sources and no packaged foods created the same results?

We do know from page 8 that when Boutenko decided to clean out their kitchen, "everything had to go" and "we had almost zero raw food in our house." One of the things she tossed was "TV dinners." This seems to indicate that their diet was toxic, so perhaps a variety of dietary changes may have had dramatic results.

The point here is not to derogate a raw food diet, but to encourage you to think and plan. I have found other books to be just as useful, a couple being "Eat Right 4 Your Type" (blood type diet recommendations) and "Nourishing Traditions." Well-researched plans tend to be long-term successes, and it is long-term changes which are the most beneficial.

Generally speaking, should people eat more raw food? Yes. Would their health improve by simply replacing packaged "convenience" foods with fresh fruits and vegetables? Yes. Should you avoid anything in the grocery store which requires a Biochemistry degree to understand the ingredients? Absolutely.

Are many medically treated illnesses due to poor diet choices? Yes, but other contributing factors, such as not exercising, smoking, alcohol and drugs are also important, so diet alone provides no magic pill.

So read this book. If it doesn't set you afire don't worry about it. Take the points that make sense and keep researching. It's YOUR life.

I just finished reading the revised 12 Steps. Although I read voraciously, I rarely finish a book feeling so overwhelmed with warmth and gratitude. I sat motionless, hugging the book to my chest, as I was reflecting on its message for a good twenty minutes. As a writer I share one quality with Victoria: I approach my subjects from a very personal perspective. If I ever doubted that is the best way to reach people, I know after reading this book that it is the only way.

When I first started reading this book, I was a little doubtful because of how "fanatical" some Raw Food writers/advocates can be sometimes. I'm not really into all the "spirituality" talk that goes hand in hand with some of things I've read but this book surprised me and ended up being a great help and inspiration.

It was a quick read (either that or I just couldn't put it down) but it contained tons of great advice about starting your raw diet.

It is definitely geared more towards someone who is wanting to go 100% raw -- which wasn't my plan at first, but after reading this book, it now is!

The book mostly talks about the temptation that comes with cooked foods and how to overcome it. It also has a great chapter on how to become raw without annoying those around you -- which I think is brilliant. Since starting my raw food venture, I've found that a lot of my friends and even family automatically seem to become defensive about eating cooked food without me even questioning them about it. This book gives great advice on how to get more acceptance and support from your non raw friends and loved ones.

Also -- the recipes are some of the best (and EASIEST) I've found so far.

I've been to 2 movies since reading this book and have been able to avoid my one of my favorite things -- popcorn! -- and I think I have this book to thank for that.

Wow, I feel awesome. Mostly I have not been sick and feel younger now at 43 then I did at 33. I jump out of bed every morning with energy, ready to start my day. I have now been eating 90% Raw consistently for 3 months. (The non-raw food I consume is 'ezekiel bread'.)
No one is born with a stove on their belly, try this and you will see what the author and now I mean to share with the world. Once you know the information and once you feel the difference by eating raw, you can not go back to eating cooked foods since it does not achieve a feeling of health. Wow, talk about putting power into your hands! If you want to be a power house, you can do it on raw foods. Raw dairy, Raw cheese, Raw greens, Raw veggies and much more taste then you ever could achieve with cooked foods, not to mention the clean up is much easier then cooking. Just try it, you have nothing to lose! Oh, but you will lose one thing, extra weight.

Of all the raw food books I own, this is hands down the best. Viktoria Boutenko is very thorough, providing scientific information as well as anecdotes and advice. I especially like Chapter 7, What the First Humans Ate - its a completely different view of our diet based on Jane Goodall's work on Chimpanzees, as well as early hominids. Makes you think... hmm... raw foods does make sense.

The second thing I really enjoyed about 12 Steps to Raw Foods was the spiritual emphasis of raw foods, because when it comes down to it, its not JUST a diet. We must all battle our addictions, preconceptions, and social pressure in order to be successful.

Oh! And there are some great recipes at the end of the book!!