Raw Power!: Building Strength and Muscle Naturally (Paperback)

Question: You have a new book out entitled "Raw Power!", which advocates building strength and muscles naturally, eating a vegetarian diet consisting of only raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. What is the general idea behind the book?

Stephen Arlin: "Raw Power!" is about how to have a beautifully fit, strong, healthy, and vibrant body. This book is designed to help the reader reach the next level, to surpass the negativity, and to build a body filled with super-strength and energy. It's about: eating a 100% natural diet, true natural body-building, and total fitness. The only way to build your body naturally is through eating naturally.

Question: Do you think it's possible to get stronger on a raw food diet?

Stephen Arlin: [Laughing] We should ask a gorilla that question! A gorilla has the strength equivalent to benchpressing 4,000 pounds -- that's 40 times stronger than the average man. What does the gorilla eat? 100% raw plant foods. It's just common sense -- all the largest and strongest mammals on Earth are 100% raw plant eaters -- the gorilla, the elephant, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, the rhinoceros, the horse, the bull, the buffalo, and so on, are all 100% raw plant eaters!

Question: Are you personally stronger now than when you were eating cooked food and animal products?

Stephen Arlin: Yes, much more so. It's not even remotely comparable. When I went all-raw, I unleashed an inner-strength that I never knew I had. I have been into weight-lifting since I was about 14 years old; I wish I would have known about the power of raw foods back then! In addition to the massive strength increase, I find that I need little or no rest between sets of exercises now. Went I first went all-raw, I went through a mild detoxification and I shed 51 unwanted, unhealthy pounds (238 to 187 -- I'm 6'2" tall) and have since then gained back 35 pounds of healthy, solid muscle through the unique training work-outs and 100% raw-plant-food diet outlined in "Raw Power!"

Question: Does the raw-food eater have an advantage over the cooked-food eater in terms of building muscles?

Stephen Arlin: An immeasurable advantage. Building a body with cooked-food nutrition is similar to blowing up a balloon; sooner or later the balloon will deflate. Muscles "blown up" with cooked food and other unnatural substances will eventually atrophy and "deflate." Most fitness experts and body-builders atrophy and wear down pre-maturely. Muscles built on raw-food nutrition last much longer, because they are naturally built. I compare building your body with cooked food to building a brick wall without any mortar. There's no foundation there.

Question: Does your book appeal to the body-builders only?

Stephen Arlin: "Raw Power!" appeals to anyone with a desire to better themselves mentally and physically. All the other books on diet and fitness, or diet and body-building, are wrong. Cooked food does not build a body; cooked food destroys a body in the long-run. "Raw Power!" appeals to everybody, whether you want to look like a raw version of Arnold Schwarzeneggar or you just want a slim, muscular body capable of endless energy and stamina.

Question: Is a raw vegetarian diet for everyone?

Stephen Arlin: All the biological traits of the human body, such as teeth, digestive system, alkalinity of the blood, saliva, and urine, etc., shows us that we are a vegetarian species. In addition to that, every living organism on planet Earth is a 100% raw-food eater; not 99%, not 70%, not 50% -- 100%! There are trillions of organisms and creatures on this planet that are thriving and living virtually disease-free eating 100% raw foods. There is only one organism that tampers with its food -- the human organism. Trillions to one! Those are staggering odds. That would make the likelihood that we should be eating cooked food about 100,000 times more improbable than winning the lottery. You don't want to bet against those kind of odds.

Question: Why do most vegetarians seem to have problems keeping up their strength and weight?

Stephen Arlin: People must conclusively decide that they want to gain strength and weight and make it their number one priority. People want a quick fix, they want to gain weight and muscle now, today, yesterday! There is no magic pill...only a magic process. The power of mind is incredible. If you truly know in your mind that you can accomplish a goal, you can do it; I believe in The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, if you think you can't build strength and muscle, then you can't.

Question: There are many interesting raw-food recipes in "Raw Power!" Can you tell us about them?

Stephen Arlin: All the recipes are 100% raw, organic, and vegan. All of the recipes in my book have proven to be very effective for me and people I've worked with in building and maintaining a super-strong and healthy body. Some of the recipes included in the book are: main courses like the Nori Rolls, Fats Avocado Salad, and Avo Soup, before and after work-out drinks and smoothies like the Captain's Powerhouse and various green juices, and desserts and snacks like Blue Cream and the Datenut Shake.

Question: What is your current diet like?

Stephen Arlin: I currently eat, by weight, about 70% raw, organic fruit, 25% raw, organic, green-leafy vegetables, and 5% raw, organic nuts and sunflower seeds. Note that I'm using the botanical definition of a fruit which is: A fruit is something that contains the seeds within itself for regeneration of the plant. Avocado, tomato, cucumber, squash, pepper, etc. are all botanical fruits.

Final announcement: Stephen Arlin's new book "Raw Power!" includes body-building food recipes, standard and advanced work-outs for both men and women, a work-out for people over 50, a seasonal produce availability chart, and much more.

I think Steve's book provides us a powerful message and reminds us that we are all powerful if we are willing to make powerful choices.

Raw food is incredible. Building a body with Raw foods only makes sense.

Thanks Steve for putting the book in a simple easy to understand format.

Steve is the real deal.

Big George