Making transition to raw food also takes some self-reflection and an awareness of habitual patterns. "I find that people eat too much sugar, too much fat, too much protein and too little green food," says Paul. "Then they switch to a vegetarian diet, but keep doing same thing, and keep running into same problems. Then they switch to a raw diet, but continue to eat too much sugar and too much fat and too little green food, and they run into same health problems."

Variety is key to consistency in any diet, and raw fooding is no exception. Cravings for such things as pizza, lasagna, ice cream, pies, and candy can, amazingly enough, be mimicked with raw, uncooked foods. "There is such an amazing variety of raw foods, but people aren't aware of it," says Paul. "People need to get a raw food recipe book and make some recipes. Anything you can make on a cooked food diet, you can eat on a raw food diet. You can make raw food pizzas, you can make raw food hamburgers, raw food pies. You can make lasagna--you can make everything with raw foods."

Lately Paul has been traveling world to experience new cultures and exotic fruits, and although he travels to native climes, most exotic fruits and vegetables are available in America. "There are so many kinds of fruits in this world, you could eat one different fruit every day for rest of your life and not come close to tasting all fruits of world. We get most of them in this country. They don't grow here, but we get them here. People have to open up their horizons and shop at Asian markets or Latin groceries and see different types of foods that are out there."

Just going to Safeway and rummaging around in produce section, isn't going to fully accomplish shopping goals for raw fooding. Several factors come into play, as Paul points out: "The most important thing when eating raw food, is we want it to be highest quality possible. That would be raw, fresh, ripe and organic. Now, it's very easy in today's world to get raw and organic. Ripe and fresh is another story. You've got to work really hard to find where we can get ripe and fresh foods. But raw and organic is everywhere. Organic is so important because it's a high quality food, and when it's not, it's a low quality food. Some of dirtiest water we can get comes from un-organic fruits and vegetables." Paul recommends searching internet for resources in local areas, as well as hooking up with raw food groups that are springing up everywhere.

Raw fooding is basically anti-technological. ""We don't need anything other than our fingers. We don't even need utensils when we're eating raw, uncooked vegetables and fruits," notes Paul. "However, there are some things that will make things easier, but they're not definitely needed. A good blender, a juicer, a knife and a cutting board, are four things I would highly recommend."

Food isn't everything... In his travels, Paul has heard it all when it comes to symptoms, diseases and conditions people want to heal by raw fooding. "Probably most popular problem is problems with Candida, which is actually one of major causes of more severe health problems," declares Paul. "Everything from cancer to arthritis, to chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes--the raw food diet will heal every disease out there that is caused by diet. But, a person won't necessarily stay healed if they're only going to look to food for answer. There are spiritual ways to heal, also. For example, if a person is eating best diet in world, but they're holding on to bitterness, and they're not forgiving other people for things, they could very well get some diseases. Vice versa, somebody could eat badly, and have that down and be healthy. There are many factors other than just food that affect our health, but we don't have to worry about food when we eat raw food."

GRAPHICS/LINKS: http://www.subtleenergysolutions.com/newsletter-paulnison.html

The effect of bitter melon leaves lowering blood sugar level among diabetics is evident regardless of how it is prepared - boiled then eaten, in form of tea, capsule or tablet. But diabetics should be cautioned about replacing their proprietary medicines with bitter melon teas, capsules or tablets. So far, studies were done only on a very limited number of human subjects so bitter melon and diabetes cannot be labeled conclusive.

In fact, no large clinical trial has yet been published on preparation of Momordica charantia (bitter melon). The manufacturers of bitter melon teas, capsules and tablets themselves are not claiming healing benefits for their products. They market them only as supplements.

Are they really good substitutes fot anti-diabetic drugs that are available in market?

Bitter melon should be considered an addition in treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. It could probably reduce patients intake of antidiabetic drugs. It should not however, be regarded as a stand-alone medicine.

Also, diabetics who want to try bitter melon need not to spend money on teas, tablets or capsules. They can cultivate or buy plant from market and prepare it themselves.

To prepare bitter melon extract, following steps should be followed:

1. Wash and finely chop leaves.
2. Add 6 tablespoons of chopped leaves in 2 glasses of water.
3. Boil it for 15 min. in an uncovered pot.
4. Cool down and strain.
5. Drink 1/3 cup of it 3x a day.