Montgomery, 51, hosts a Web site and monthly potluck dinner in her home, featuring dishes such as her signature three-nut pesto "pasta." She has become a touchstone for raw-foodists in Montgomery County and beyond.

Participants drive from Western Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York to the potluck dinners. They socialize, hear a speaker and swap recipes.

"It's always a fun time," said Linda Cooper, 51, of Harleysville. "It's a treat to get together with a lot of people who endeavor to eat the way we do. It's the only place I can go, to get a variety of food that I can eat."

In general, raw-foodists avoid cooked, refined or processed ingredients, opting instead for fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. They chop and mix the four in ingenious ways, and use lemon, garlic and spices for seasoning.

They drink water, or uncooked soups and juices made from fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Last year, Carol Alt, the model and actress who espouses a raw diet, received permission to include Montgomery's pesto "pasta" dish in her new book, The Raw 50.

Alt, a longtime proponent of raw food, met Montgomery at a health expo several years ago. The two struck up a friendship. Alt spoke at a raw potluck picnic last July 28 that drew 300 people to a local park.

Alt even began following Montgomery's online newsletter with tips on raw-food dishes. "Little did I know she was reading the newsletter and making the recipes," Montgomery said.

At home last week, Montgomery brought out raw versions of pizza, lasagna, chocolate-covered pretzels, and a cake. She offered a cool drink made from watermelon and cantaloupe juice.

"You can make awesome foods," Montgomery said.

The theory behind the raw-food diet is that cooking destroys the enzymes needed to support life and sustain good health; food can provide the beneficial enzymes only if it's raw, Nicholas J. Gonzalez says in a foreword to Alt's book.

Montgomery's food allergies and a yeast infection led her to adopt a raw food diet 11 years ago. She tried cooking classes for healthy eating, a macrobiotic diet, even a vegetarian diet, finally settling on a raw-food diet that she says made her yeast problem and food allergies go away.

"You feel better not only physically, but spiritually and emotionally," Montgomery said. Before, "things were happening to my body. I thought that was aging. Then I found, no, it's not. It doesn't have to be that way."

Montgomery considers herself "99 percent raw," meaning that she follows the diet most of the time. But there are those who combine cooked food with raw. Some add raw animal protein; some don't.

"In terms of food, one size does not fit all," Alt's book says.

The book includes a recipe for raw pizza with crust made from flaxseed. A recipe for raw macaroons calls for raw coconut flakes, raw carob powder and agave cactus nectar for sweetening.

Christine Gerbstadt, a registered dietitian and physician and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, said that the raw diet could be very appealing when promoted by celebrities such as Alt.

But Gerbstadt said that the benefits of eating a raw diet were not backed up by any science. Furthermore, she said, it's nutritionally inadequate. There's no way without grains to get complete nourishment, she says.

And as far as claims that enzymes are being destroyed when food is cooked, "that's not true," she said.

She steers patients toward a diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, animal protein if desired, lean dairy and vegetable oils.

Montgomery doesn't believe that Alt's message is flawed. In fact, she said, Alt's involvement turned the raw-food picnic last summer into a "huge raw event."

"People who come to this come to see her. She brings people from all walks of life," Montgomery said.

If You Go

The next raw potluck, really a post-Valentine's Day dinner featuring brunch fare, will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Lisa Montgomery's Royersford home. Participants should bring a raw brunch dish. A donation is suggested. To register, go to www.livingdynamically.com, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Three-Nut Pesto "Pasta"

Some raw-foodists say they can't live without pasta. Lisa Montgomery says they don't have to. Here's her raw version of pasta with pesto, included in Carol Alt's recent book The Raw 50.

For "pasta":

4 medium zucchini

2 cherry tomatoes, quartered

6 asparagus stalks, thinly sliced on an angle

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

For pesto:

2 cups raw pine nuts

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts

4 garlic cloves, minced

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup fresh basil, chopped

4 teaspoons Himalayan salt

Directions: Use spiral slicer to cut zucchini into long strips. Place in serving bowl. Add tomatoes, asparagus and cilantro.

Combine pine nuts, cashews, macadamias, garlic, lemon juice, basil and salt in food processor. Process until smooth. Pour sauce over vegetables and toss well. Serves six.