Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Ashley Knight Sacramento's Pure Joy Cafe displays its dessert truffles, one of its many raw food items. The cafe is located on 450 N St. For its current menu, visit purejoycafe.blogspot.com. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Ashley Knight Nutritionist and Pure Joy Cafe employee Rebecca Wise helps a customer decide on which raw food item to order. Listed on the board are the boosts customers can add to smoothies. [Click to enlarge]

Eating healthy is a priority in today's society. Dieting and eating well can be as essential to being happy with yourself as exercise or sleeping.

There are many different types of diets out there. Those who choose to diet have their own reasons for doing so. There are low carbohydrates diets, the South Beach Diet, or even all-meat diets.

Junior nutrition major Jenice Bartee said she thinks many college students take nutrition to an entirely different level during their college years.

"Most college students eat cheap fast food and don't really think about how unhealthy it really is," Bartee said.

These diets all entail the idealism of eating right and healthy for the betterment of your body. What about your mind and soul?

Richard Hemsley, chef and proprietor of Pure Joy Cafe is a firm believer that raw food, or food that is organic and unprocessed, makes one at peace with him or herself.

Hemsley prepares the food for the cafe in downtown Sacramento and has been a practitioner of the raw food diet for 16 years now.

"I feel as though I have been guided by spirits to do it, to eat differently," Hemsley said. "I believe it is different for everybody, whether they have asthma, diabetes, or weight disorders."

Hemsley went to culinary school to learn the many varieties in which food can be presented and served. He then explored the nutrition that can be found when food is left uncooked.

At Pure Joy Cafe, you will find no grills, ovens or microwaves. All food that is served there is made with fresh, organic ingredients. No dairy, soy, or meat is used in any of the dishes that are on the menu.

"We can make anything from soup and salads to smoothies. You can use miso broth to warm the vegetables in a soup and it is delicious," Hemsley said.

The cafe uses high-powered blenders that heat the broth without using a stove. Hemsley also uses crock pots in order to heat up different dishes. Most of the dishes contain onions and garlic while the desserts usually contain chocolate and agape, an organic sweetener.

For any student that has ever chosen to buy organic food, "cheap" does not usually come to mind. However, Hemsley insists that organic foods are actually very affordable.

"All of our food is locally procured from farmers, and we have a good price range," Hemsley said.

Although the raw food diet is a far stretch from how college students typically eat today, Bartee thinks that a step away from processed food can be a good idea.

"It seems a little different, but I think that (the) whole 'raw food' idea could be seen as essential to being healthy," Bartee said.

Hemsley works with Rebecca Wise, a nutritionist, at the cafe. Together, they want to promote an experience of change to all who eat raw food.

Wise, who had kidney failure, attributes all of her healing to her diet of raw food.

"I have recovered about 80 percent from kidney failure. I had lost my ability to break down proteins, and now my kidney is almost back to normal," Wise said.

Wise, who grew up in a Hispanic family, insists that she had not always been a raw food practitioner. Her diet included rice, bean and tamales. However, she now no longer has an appetite for that type of food.

"I no longer have terrible food cravings... I am more productive and I am able to accomplish my goals," Wise said.

Both Wise and Hemsley have read up on the nutritional facts of raw food and insist that it is a spiritual experience.

"People begin to develop spiritually, it is an unexpected side effect, but it does happen," Wise said.

Both Wise and Hemsley believe that people become more aware of what they are intaking and how it may affect their bodies.

Doctor Gabriel Cousens, a practitioner and promoter of the raw foods diet, has done many studies on the nutritional facts connected to eating food in the raw. Cousens has written many books about eating "raw foods" and Wise is a firm believer of his findings.

"The more people have a plant-based diet, the less chronic disease they have," Cousens said on KRON 4 news in April 2008.

Cousens is an avid advocate of the raw foods diet and insists that it is a cure for diabetes.

Hemsley and Wise hope that those who come to the cafe are able to get more than just good food.

"I hope that they receive health in their bones and health in their spirit as well as an emotional, physical and spiritual well-being," Hemsley said.

Wise wants people to experience what she felt when she went raw.

"I hope to be able to provide an awakening experience," Wise said.

Sacramento State students who are looking to try something fresh and new may see if the "raw food diet" is right for them.

Vanessa Johnson can be reached at vjohnson@statehornet.com.

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