Raw Food Haven

As we all know uncooked (raw) foods are good for our bodies, this is because they have not lost all their nutritional value in the process of cooking. By accepting the thought of eating most of your meal in a raw state, you are well on the way to a more healthy life-style.

Now don’t expect to change your eating habits overnight as it is not as easy as you think to start eating foods in their natural state. We have been consuming most of our foods cooked, so we need to change from cooked to raw one step at a time.

Do not think you have to eat all your food raw straight off. This will lead to failure, rather mix cooked and raw (by adding one raw food weekly) and take the change slowly. Make your raw choices wisely and don’t abandon the foods you love, keep the balance (of raw and cooked) to suit your taste as some foods are better digested by the body when cooked, while others are just fine in their raw state.

What is good raw you ask?

* Most vegetables are very tasty raw (but you probably would not eat pumpkin or squash raw)
* Nuts and seeds – some do need to be cooked but most can be eaten in their raw state.
* Sprouts – still cannot get my head around these, though there are a lot of people out there who love them.
* Fruits – other than the odd baked apple I tend to eat all my fruit raw.
* Fish – some fish are very tasty in their raw state, and if you are lucky enough to have freshly caught fish on hand you will never cook it again. Sushi is probably the healthiest way to eat fish, why not give it a try.

A good starting point for changing to raw is to rather add the raw to your normal meal rather than take away your familiar and favorite foods. You may think that adding will increase your weight – nope – because of the raw state of the extra food, more energy is used to digest it thus causing more use of the extra calories you have consumed. An important point to remember here is that you do need to balance the raw foods with the cooked foods, this is to maintain the correct nutrition your body needs.

Remember, once you have started eating most of your food raw, your energy level will be a lot higher, you will feel a lot healthier and cooked food will have less appeal. So start reaching for the Raw Foods when you feel a snack attack, there is nothing healthier than a handful of mixed nuts or a juicy apple.

This change of eating habits will assist in maintaining your weight and some weight loss will occur if you are overweight (and not over eating the cooked foods).

At New Years, I gave up sugar. Of course, this does not mean that I never have sugar but I make a conscious choice to not eat sugar or sugary stuff. If you had told me a year before that I would no longer be driving up to the Right Bite for an incredible cinnamon roll (or two). It was a short leap from no sugar to Raw Food.

Leap might not describe it best because the journey begins with short steps. I stopped sugar by avoiding the cinnamon rolls and the candy and sweets and desserts that were a large part of my life. Then I began extending my sugar free journey by cutting out other sources of sugar.

I knew I had it the sugar addiction over and done with when I went to my friend’s house for a meal. She served home made beans, rolls, red wine, and fruit cocktail. It sounds healthy enough. Lentils, fruit, and a glass of wine now and then is good for you. After I ate, my heart began to pound. It was literally knocking against my chest the sugar rush was so bad.

Her beans were made with brown sugar and molasses, and the fruit cocktail was canned and she had added pumpkin preserved in a heavy liquid. The wine was a sweet wine. There was more sugar in that meal than in three cookies. I was sugar sensitive and the journey had been almost invisible. Just one step at a time.
Raw food transition would be about the same procedure.

At least for me. I plan to begin slowly by trying vegetable juicing and cold vegetable soups.

If you want to know more about raw foods, check out her Raw Food Living. Joanne Reid studied nutrition at Mount Allison University years ago and has always known the rules of healthy eating. (Now she just has to learn how to follow the rules.)

Digestion is among the most critical functions our body performs. When digestion is poor, and substantial levels of food remain undigested, these food residues can become toxic and seep into the bloodstream.

Digestive enzymes are proteins specially tailored to break down foods into nutrients that your body can then readily digest. The human body produces some 22 different digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes release valuable nutrients from your food which are absorbed into the blood and used by your body to build and repair vital organs and tissue, to produce energy and to maintain a strong immune defense. Digestive enzymes, secreted along the upper gastrointestinal tract, help break down food so nutrients can be absorbed into the bloodstream.

Enzymes are proteins that are a component in digestion and in every chemical reaction in your body. These enzymes are energized protein molecules found in all living cells. The breakdown of large carbohydrate molecules begins in the mouth. In addition, they are protein catalysts, or specific substances that allow biologic processes to occur in the body.

Enzymes are a fundamental element of the digestive process. Enzymes can also be extremely sensitive and many can only exert their effects within narrow environmental conditions, especially to heat. Enzymes are an crucial factor in converting the food we eat into a form our bodies can use for nourishment and energy.

Enzymes and digestion problems are similar in many people no matter which behavioral, physical, or medical diagnosis you face. Enzymes are highly specific, both in the substrate they affect, and in the reactions they catalyze. Living foods retain their abundance of enzymes and nutrients. Living foods are the key to our health and longevity. In their book, Living Health, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond emphasize: “It is physiologically impossible for your body to use an inorganic mineral.”

The role raw food enzymes play in aiding weight loss cannot, and should not, be ignored. They can be integrated into a diet easily and have ample essential vitamins and minerals. Without these raw food enzymes your body is forced to create and use its own enzymes too survive. All raw food enzymes are destroyed by heat. Most raw food, like our body, is quite perishable.

Health care practitioners and others have used enzyme therapy for more than half a century. Raw food diets are also extremely high in fiber, and which is necessary for the body to perform detoxification. Today, there are many resources to help people into a Raw Food Diet: cook books, online courses, raw food restaurants and more.

Ron Russell is the owner of SunCafe Organic, a Raw Food and cooked vegan cuisine restaurant. He has lived a vegetarian lifestyle for more than 35 years.

A Raw Food Diet is simple. It consists of eating food in their natural state. The food is neither cooked nor adulterated in any way. By eating the bulk of your food in its natural state, you will enjoy a huge improvement in your health and vitality.

The Raw Food Philosophy

More than just a weight loss plan or a fitness diet, this diet is a philosophy based on a lifestyle choice. It demands awareness of the live nutritional value of unprocessed food and provides numerous health benefits. They are low in saturated fats and sodium and high in antioxidants and magnesium, and low in sodium. They are almost free of harmful trans-fats. A raw food diet will detoxify your system. It will lead to natural weight loss.

Raw Foodists

Switching to a Raw Food diet will be much easier if you are vegan, or at least vegetarian. Those who choose this diet are referred to as raw foodists. This diet is popular with those seeking to be disease-free and full of energy. There are no useless calories, hence no weight gain. The diet also optimizes the nutrition in your food because cooking often kills essential vitamins and minerals in food. By not eating animal flesh or animal byproducts, there are no steroids and hormones to absorb. In addition, the body will quickly begin to flush out toxins with this diet.

Since the diet consists of nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits, sometimes it is necessary to take dietary supplements like protein shakes. However, supplements are not necessary if the diet has been precisely calculated for the various macro and micronutrients the body needs to be healthy and strong.

Variety is added to the diet by making food combinations, using food dehydrators, processors, and blenders. For instance, you can make crackers by blending various raw foods into dehydrator. Chopping or blending it can alter the texture and taste of food.

Digestion is improved on a raw food diet because of the abundance of enzymes in the food. Cooking–microwave heating, frying, or baking–denatures enzymes and this makes it harder for the body to absorb the nutrients in the food. Besides enzymes, raw foodists also believe that certain beneficial microorganisms help break down the food in the body.

The general idea is that the higher the amount of uncooked food, the better the health results. It is not the same as a vegan diet because although no animal flesh or byproducts are eaten with that diet, most of the food is still cooked. In addition, this type of diet may, depending on the philosophy of the dieter, include animal products that are eaten in their raw state. Besides seeds, nuts, vegetables, and fruits, the diet may also have eggs, sashimi fish, carpaccio, and unpasteurized milk, cheese, and yogurt.

The Value of Raw Foods

Consuming these type of foods have many benefits:

- They’re full of vitamins and minerals.

- The food is digested better because of food enzymes.

- The food has been charged with the energy from sunlight.

- The diet can be included into a regular diet, or it can be completely uncooked.

The inconvenient aspect of fresh food is that it is subject to spoilage, as there are no preservatives to increase their shelf life. So the food has to be regularly purchased in smaller increments. Uncooked food can be defined as anything not heated above 40 degrees Celsius.

Raw foods are foods from the earth that have not been altered or processed. Since they are rich in fiber, plant phytochemicals, magnesium, and potassium they metabolize into energy quickly and one does not need to eat much because of the abundance of nutrients in each meal. These foods are also alkaline and not acidic, and they don’t cause inflammation in muscle tissues.

For more information on the Raw Food Diet, visit http://www.dietplans.com/166574-raw-food-diet.cfm.

Today, there is a large variety of diets available for people to choose from if they are seeking a way to lose weight. Currently, one of the more popular ones out there is the raw food diet and if you are asking yourself what this diet is, you are not alone. The raw food diet is said to have many health benefits for your body as it is made up primarily of unprocessed, uncooked and organic foods. There is a chance that you have already heard about this diet and you are wondering if it is a good fit for you. If this is the case, this article will show you everything that you need to know about the diet along with some great Raw Food Recipes that you will definitely want to experience.

Basically, if you are participating in a Raw Food Diet, you are not allowed to eat any type of food that has been cooked above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The reasoning behind this is that it is believed that foods that have been cooked beyond this temperature will lose their goodness. Raw foods contain living enzymes and nutrients which are very good and healthy for your body.

One of the advantages of this diet is that you are not forced to eat 100% Raw Foods. A lot of people choose to eat 75% raw foods and that gives them the freedom to eat other things that they enjoy. On the other hand, you are not allowed to eat animal or most dairy products.
Weight loss is not the only good thing about being on this diet as raw foods contain much less saturated fat or trans-fats than other foods which is much healthier for your body and it is mainly based on fruits and vegetables and that is good news because you can usually eat as much as you want without worrying about gaining weight.

You will also notice that you will have increased energy levels and that is always a positive thing. Raw foods are also known to aid your digestive system as well as to improve the condition of your skin. If you are one of those people who suffer from anemia, you may want to stay away from this diet. You need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of the diet and decide whether or not it is right for you.

There are several raw food recipes that are available for you to try. Smoothies are one of the best as you can blend your favorite fruits and vegetables together to make yourself a good healthy drink. The best thing about smoothies is that there are so many different combinations that you can create that you will never get bored with the same old ones. Always remember that you are not allowed to add dairy products such as yogurt to your smoothies.

Another popular recipe is that of cauliflower soup. This is great to prepare during the cold winter months. Soups are like smoothies, there are many different recipes that you can create on the raw food diet that you will never have to eat the same old ones. You can create soups with tomato and fennel or you can spice them up with parsnip. You can find a lot of good recipes to prepare by searching online for them.

If you get the craving for something sweet, you can try something like chocolate pears or dehydrated sweet potato chips. You can also try recipes like sweet potato pasta, sweet potato bread or sweet potato casserole.

These are some of the more popular recipes that are available to make while on this diet. Even though dairy products are not allowed, you can still have nut milk and herbal teas. This can prove to be a great diet, but there is a chance that you could experience some side effects from it as some people experience nausea and headaches during the first few days that they are on it. The best thing for you to do is to thoroughly research the diet and make the choice whether or not it is right for you.

I hope that you enjoyed this article and if you would like some great free information on healthy living, than please visit my eating healthy web site where you will find some great free tips to help you live a long and healthy life.

I am a 54 year old retired mill worker from Northern Maine. I am happily married with 3 wonderful boys. My main interests are my family and God. I own a eating healthy web site with great tips and information that is designed to help you live a healthier and longer life.