Thursday, July 9, 2009

Go Raw, feel the difference!


Many people may come to the raw way of eating because it is an effective way to lose weight.  But that's not the only benefit of adopting this healthy lifestyle; the raw foods diet has been linked to more energy, healthier skin, a reduced risk of heart disease and better digestion. In addition, raw foods provide the following benefits:

  • Raw foods are easy to digest
  • Raw foods provide the maximum amount of energy with minimal bodily effort
  • Raw foods have healing powers that can alleviate many illnesses from low energy, allergies, digestive disorders, weak immune system, high cholesterol, candida, to obesity & weight problems (weight normalization), etc.

Research and real life experiences have also shown that a person can prevent a body's healthy cells from turning into malignant cancerous cells by consuming mostly a raw food diet & whole organic foods. 
Phytonutrients (plant nutrients) are found in fresh, uncooked plant foods.  These nutrients include antioxidants and are important for prevention of disease, especially cancers.  When food is cooked (above 130 degrees Fahrenheit) many of the nutrients are destroyed and no longer available for use by your body (enzymes start dieing at 106 degrees Fahrenheit).

It is easy to get complete protein while eating a plant based diet, which includes 8 amino acids.  Plant proteins are easier to digest and don’t clog our arteries like animal proteins do.  That said, even if you still choose to consume some animal products, you will benefit from adding raw foods into your daily diet. 

What is Wrong with Cooked Foods?
Heat changes the makeup of food. Foods that have been heated have lost all of their life force, and their beneficial enzymes are destroyed. The digestive system has to work harder and longer to process cooked foods to get nutrition & energy from it. Once cooked, a food can lose up to 85 percent of its nutritional value. Raw foodists call that "dead food." Since we are essentially what we eat, consuming the dead energy of dead foods make our bodies feel heavy and stagnant.

So start today, incorporate some foods that are still living in your diet. Go to the produce stand and get yourself some good plants that you can munch on all well. Take small steps to incorporate Raw Food into your diet.

Some of my favorite products come from www.goraw.com

My favorite book is Ani's Raw Kitchen and Raw Food Real World.

Gazpacho is my favorite raw soup for the summer.

I will leave you with my top ten on why raw foods are good for you...

1.) Raw foods are better quality; therefore, you eat less to satisfy your nutritional needs. The heat of cooking depletes vitamins, damages proteins and fats, and destroys enzymes that benefit digestion. As your percentage of raw foods increases, you feel satisfied and have more energy on smaller meals because raw food has the best balance of water, nutrients, and fiber to meet your body's needs.

2.) Raw foods have more flavor than cooked foods, so there is no need to add salt, sugar, spices, or other condiments that can irritate your digestive system or over stimulate other organs.

3.) Raw foods take very little preparation, so you spend less time in the kitchen. Even a child of 5 or 6 can prepare most items for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This gives children a sense of self-esteem and independence, not to mention the break it gives Mom or Dad.

4.) When you are eating raw, there's little chance of burns, unless you're in the middle of a forest fire or out in the sun too long. Just think! No burns to tongues, the roof of your mouth, or fingers, and many fewer house fires.

5.) Cleaning up after a raw meal is a snap. No baked-on oils or crusty messes. And any inedible parts go directly to the compost pile.

6.) Eating a diet of raw foods can reverse or stop the advance of many chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Remember, cooking creates free radicals, which are the major cause of cancer. When you lower the number of free radicals your cells are bombarded with, you lower your risk of cancer.

7.) A raw food diet can protect you from acute diseases such as colds, flu, measles, etc. Raw foods maintain a healthy body, and a healthy body will not become diseased.

8.) As long as you combine raw food properly according to the rules of Natural Hygiene, you will soon reach a level where you no longer suffer from heartburn, gas, indigestion or constipation.

9.) It is environmentally sound. With humanity on a diet of raw foods, the food industry would close up shop and take up organic gardening. This would save us enormous amounts of natural resources used to produce power for these industries. Nuclear power would be clearly unnecessary. And think of how many trees and oil reserves could be saved without the need for the paper and plastics used in packaging our processed foods.There would also be less carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when all the cooking stopped. More oxygen would be produced from all the new orchards and gardens, thus helping to reverse the Greenhouse Effect.

10.) Eating raw saves you money on food, vitamins, pots and pans, appliances, doctor bills, drugs, and health insurance. So don't waste your food, yourself, and our planet by cooking what you eat. Fruits, nuts, and vegetables which are whole, fresh and raw are brimming with life and have the ability to transmit their life force directly to you.


Be well,
Dr. M