Raw & Order

Kimberley McGee

Wednesday, March 8, 2000 | 9:04 a.m.

No meat.

No dairy.

No sugar.

No cooking.

No kidding.

The Raw Truth, an organic vegetarian health food and juice bar, opened a year ago on East Flamingo Road. The cafe enjoys a brisk business of believers in the raw food movement and the curious who walk in to try the completely raw, organic and gourmet meals.

"We try to do things people will recognize," owner Bob Saladino said. "We make lasagna, pesto pasta, pizza, quesadillas."

But none of these foods are cooked.

Dishes are prepared with "live food," meaning the food has never been cooked above 105 degrees. Most of the "cooking" comes from a dehydrator, which reaches 100 degrees, to make flat breads for the pizzas, quesadillas or date and nut cookies.

Pies are made from blends of fruits and nuts, with a nut- and date-pressed crust for texture. Pasta is simulated by winding a small tool around the outside of a zucchini to get long, thin, crisp "noodles." Pesto is a blend of olives, herbs and freshly-pressed olive oil.

Real dairy cheese is substituted by soaking nuts in water for a day, grinding them in a blender and adding jalapenos, tomatoes or other ingredients to spice up the taste. The Raw Truth's version of ricotta cheese is made by soaking cashews, which are then blended and used as a spread on a blanket of zucchini sliced very thin to resemble noodles.

Appetizers at the Raw Truth start at $3.95, entrees at $6.95.

Raw food enthusiasts believe that food in its natural state is "living" and can contribute to better overall health. Eating cooked -- or "dead" -- food kills life-giving enzymes.

"With (raw) food, the life force is still in the food," Saladino said. "When you cook food, it loses its nutritional qualities."

About 85 percent of nutrition is lost when food is cooked, he said. The more nutrition in food, the more energy is ingested, and the less hungry or run-down a person feels.

"Only raw food is untainted and full of nutrients, which aren't burned out by cooking," Saladino said. "It's the healthiest way to eat and stay healthy."

Eliminating or combining certain foods is a popular diet fad now, such as the popular high-protein, low-carb plan featured on Oprah Winfrey's show. But is confining food choices safe?

Carolyn Leontos, nutrition specialist for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension in Las Vegas, said that restricting your diet from any of the food groups is fine, as long as you take care to include everything a healthy body needs -- the amino acids found in proteins, and an adequate amount of fats and carbohydrates.

"If everything you eat is raw, you limit the variety of nutrients you are able to get in a typical diet," Leontos said.

A complete protein, such as animal protein found in meat and dairy foods, contains all of the essential amino acids. "When you don't eat complete protein you have to get amino acids from other foods," Leontos said.

Another concern is bacteria, which grows well at room temperature. Searing food in a pan or baking it kills off unwanted bacteria. "There is naturally occurring bacteria in food, and a higher chance for bacteria in organic foods because they are using natural fertilizers," Leontos said. "They have to be monitored very, very carefully."

For instance, if a chef breaks one egg that is contaminated with salmonella, it will contaminate the rest of the eggs. "A lot of this is (caused by) food handling, what they are doing, how they are using it," Leontos said. "Salmonella can be very debilitating, especially with people with compromised immune systems" due to age or illness.

Those on any vegetarian diet need to make sure they get amino acids, proteins and other nutrients, which a well-balanced and diverse diet includes, she said.

Cassandra Barnes, environmental health specialist for the Clark County Health District, regularly monitors the Raw Truth and said it isn't any different than most vegetarian restaurants.

"It's like any other place -- washing, rinsing and sanitizing utensils and surfaces are very important," Barnes said. "I make sure all the vegetables and fruits that come in are washed very well."

Although organic food is grown differently and may be suspect to more bacteria, a good wash is all it needs.

"It's the same with any other produce," Barnes said. "You just want to make sure (vegetables) are washed thoroughly and surfaces are kept clean so when they cut and slice they don't get any of what was on the outside, inside."

On a recent afternoon physical therapists Marla Ivan and Sarah Webber commented on what drew them to try the health food restaurant, and what keeps them coming back.

"I'm addicted to these fruit smoothies, but it's not a smoothie, it's just fruit," Ivan said, sucking down a purple-colored blueberry and banana frozen juice drink.

"I've never eaten food like this," Webber said. "I don't know how they put it together, but it's good."

The co-workers make weekly trips to munch on carob cookies made from sprouted beans, and spoon a sweet frozen drink of blueberries and bananas that were pushed frozen through the juicer.

"Some of (the food) looks appealing," Ivan said. She has tried the lasagna and the pizza, which she liked, but isn't so sure about the faux crab cakes. "Some of it is out there. It's fun, I always like to find new, different things."

Jackie Abrego was turned on to a few dishes at the Raw Truth after she said her boss lost more than 100 pounds by eating raw foods.

Although she likes the faux pizza made of dehydrated sprouted bread, fermented almond cheese and vegetables marinated in olive oil, she doesn't think the raw food is for her more than a few times a month.

"If I didn't have kids, it would be easy," Abrego said.

Las Vegas artists Catherine and Garry Fox discovered the Raw Truth just a few weeks ago. "Who thought raw food could be so good?" Garry Fox said. "The only time I wouldn't eat (raw) was when we went out with friends, because you couldn't."

Although the couple work out every day and try to eat well, they are not strict with their diet. But since eating at Saladino's restaurant they've contemplated the raw-food way of life.

"I have so much energy," Catherine Fox said. "I run and I get tired but I've been running and I just feel fantastic since we started" eating raw food.

Creating raw dishes at home would be a complex endeavor, she said. "If I had to (prepare) this for lunch and dinner, it would be way too difficult," Catherine Fox said. "I think as long as you have the tools and get a few weeks' start (sprouting or fermenting ingredients), it would be easier. It does take some effort."

A must-have tool is a commercial juicer to make the thick consistency of yam pie, and a blender to form the fermented nut cheeses.

Then there are those who follow the raw diet as a pathway to a longer, livelier life.

Natalie Gomer was diagnosed with colon cancer in October 1998. "They told me if I did one year of chemotherapy and radiation I'd buy myself a couple of years," she said.

Books, pamphlets and videotapes piled up as Gomer researched her alternatives. She also went to a nutritionist to bone up on what exactly the body needs to live healthy.

"I did an enormous amount of reading. People really should educate themselves about the food they eat," Gomer said.

After two weeks of eating raw foods and drinking "a half-gallon" of carrot juice, Gomer decided she would take the alternative route to cure her cancer. "The enzymes help the immune system and digestion," she said. "You are putting live enzymes in your body, not dead, cooked ones.

"I didn't mind giving up all that food I was used to because I realized that food was energy," Gomer said.

She found that the changes to her diet came easily. "It's not that it's difficult, it's the way we look at things, it's our lifestyle," Gomer said.

She uses supplements to keep her in the pink. "I use ... an amino oil, over my salad," she said.

The one food she misses a bit is cheese. "No dairy or animal products," she said. "Nothing with a face."

A bonus to her new health regime, she said, is that she has lost 60 pounds since she started. "If you put the right fuel in your body, it will heal itself because the enzymes are alive and help your body instead of ingesting dead enzymes, which don't help at all," she said. "If it's alive, it can give you more energy."

Six weeks ago Roberta Blythe went raw when Gomer began to give her information about the diet at a Sun City alternative therapies group. "You don't get that slump after you eat," Blythe said.

High blood pressure and Gomer's testimony to feeling better got Blythe to try raw foods, which now make up 85 percent of her diet. The other might be a baked potato or other vegetarian fare.

"After just three days you feel so much better," Blythe said.

Her downfall in the past was candy bars. "I would stash them in drawers and hide them from the kids," she said. "I could eat a whole See's box of candy before the day was over.

"I felt drugged after I ate," Blythe said. "I have a better mental outlook since I started this."

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