Recommended Program
Raw Food Diet For Weight Loss
Having More Energy, Looking Younger,
and Reclaiming Your Health
The Basics of a Raw Food Diet
By Marilyn Reid 
Raw, natural, organic, and uncooked food-this is the concept around which raw food diets revolve. These diets promote the consumption of food in their most basic form-from fresh fruits and vegetables to uncooked fish and meat, as well as unprocessed dairy products. Raw food advocates believe that cooking food strips it of its necessary nutrients and destroy important enzymes, causing deficiencies and health problems. To achieve good health and enjoy overall well-being, going for raw and natural food is advised.
The Components
The major components of raw food diets are organic food. Among these are the following:
• Fruits and vegetables (dried, juiced, or simply fresh)
• Seeds, beans, and nuts
• Seaweed
• Sprouts
• Whole grains
• Raw milk and other milk derivatives like yogurt and cheese
• Raw fish (like smoked fish or sashimi)
• Raw meat (like cured meat)
Being fresh and unprocessed, many of these foods are easy to prepare. However, there are others that require overnight preparation like soaking. There are food paraphernalia and kitchen equipment common to all raw foodists like juicer, food processor, dehydrator, and blender.
The Benefits
Aside from the fact that the raw food eating pattern is more practical, cheaper, and easier to prepare, it's also a great way to lose weight and it also offers a lot of health benefits. Among these are the following:
• It improves digestion due to its preservation of digestion-enhancing enzymes
• It reduces unhealthy fats and heart risks
• It reduces the occurrence of certain types of cancer
• It also reduces occurrence of cold and flu
• It gives more energy-even if you eat only a small amount of food
• It's proven to improve the health of the skin, as well as to make a person look younger
Well, raw food diet covers everything-from health to beauty. With all its benefits, no wonder it's attracting a lot of people. Among the known advocates of raw food diets are David Wolfe and Aajonus Vonderplanitz, and among the Hollywood celebrities known for following these diets are Mel Gibson and Demi Moore.
Risks Posed
With the growing popularity of this diet, is it really all that safe? How safe is it to eat raw? Are there considerations that every raw foodist must remember? Well, raw food diet is healthy, but there are some reminders and risks.
1. RawFoodDiet is rich in vitamins. However, it also lacks some nutrients. Among these are vitamin B12 and iron, lycopene, calcium, omega 3, and vitamin D. Therefore, for those who are going into this kind of diet, taking vitamin supplements may be needed.
2. One risk with raw food is food poisoning. For one, fruits and vegetables are exposed to pesticides. And, there are also plants that may not be good when eaten raw. Therefore, if you're eating raw food, choose the food carefully and do your research. Thoroughly wash and clean the food as well before preparing it.
With all these guidelines in mind, you can now go into raw food diets and enjoy all the benefits while avoiding the risks.
For the past 10 years Marilyn Reid has been active as an advocate for Alternative Health Therapies, with an emphasis on healthy living and raw food diets. Marilyn has been fascinated with the work of the Healthy Lifestyle Nutritionist and Guru, David Wolfe and has a blog which keeps up with the latest in the world of Healthy Lifestyles. Visit us at http://HealthyFoodRawDiet.com and find more updates about Raw food dieting.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Reid
Recommended Program
Raw Food Diet For Weight Loss
Having More Energy, Looking Younger,
and Reclaiming Your Health
Raw Food Diet Plan - What Kind of a Diet Plan You Should Have When Starting Out With Raw Food
By Anna Dean
When starting out with raw food, a diet plan is immensely important as that helps you stay on course and makes sure that you have the least withdrawal symptoms. Initially if you are totally into cooked food then it will be wise to have a raw food diet plan which has 50% raw vegan food while having the remaining 50% as cooked food. This is just an estimate and you should figure out the ratio which you are most comfortable with as initially your job is solely to get acclimatized to the new raw vegan food diet plan.
At this stage it will also be wise to invest in some raw, vegan food cookbooks as those will give you a whole lot of recipes to play with. And playing is exactly where the fun is! When you start on a raw food diet plan there is just so many new things that you can try. In a raw food diet plan you can start with making delicious desserts, hemp dishes, raw soups, entrees, snacks etc. Also as time goes by you will learn which recipes and what kind of a raw food diet is best for you and stick with that.
People who are already living on a diet of this kind food cant stop raving about its benefits. Raw diet is rich in everything your body will ever require from dietary fiber (**extremely important** for a good digestive system) to vitamins, minerals, proteins.
You can try some raw recipes and see what works for you and what you personally like. Who knows this just might be all that goodness that you were looking for...
Raw food has remained way too underrated however eating raw vegan food is becoming more and more popular these days as it is the most healthiest choice of foods available. Raw food is both delicious and incredibly nutritious. There is no way that reading this article will give you the incredible taste and feeling that eating raw food does; try some raw recipes and see the difference it makes!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anna_Dean
Raw Food Diets - 5 Benefits of a Raw Food Diet That You Should Know
By Anna Dean
When starting out on a raw food diet it will be prudent to get some perspective as to where you stand right now. First and foremost, don't just accept the hype surrounding raw food diets and just jump into it. Rather take it slowly and easily and incorporate a raw food diet into your daily life. So here are the most important things that you should know when starting out on a raw food diet:
a. Raw food is rich in dietary fiber: This is almost critically important to maintaining a good digestive system, in fact every stomach related problems from stomach burns to gastritis, constipation and even appendicitis.
b. Raw food is high in caretenoids like beta-carotene which is extremely important in protecting you against cancer and other life threatening ailments.
c. You can eat as much as you like and still not get fat.
d. It can help you conquer obesity and help you stay slim.
e. It can boost your body's natural defenses against colds, flu, measles etc.
Clearly even just incorporating a raw vegan food diet in bits can yield more benefits that you can enjoy. The biggest fact that will most probably stop you is the "routine" that you have become acclimatized to. You know the old 3 meals a day routine that is so common everywhere. While being an office goer might warrant the need to have three meals a day (although by no means necessary) you should try to have little "snacks" or "mini-meals" several times a day. Eat only as much as you feel like. The biggest problem with the three meal routine is that people end up literally stuffing themselves as they wont get to eat for many hours.
Try some raw recipes and see what works for you, in the end only you have to gain and there is absolutely nothing to lose.
Raw food has remained way too underrated however eating raw vegan food is becoming more and more popular these days as it is the most healthiest choice of foods available. Raw food is both delicious and incredibly nutritious. There is no way that reading this article will give you the incredible taste and feeling that eating raw food does; try some raw recipes and see the difference it makes!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anna_Dean
Recommended Program
Raw Food Diet For Weight Loss
Having More Energy, Looking Younger,
and Reclaiming Your Health
Should You Eat Grains on a Raw Food Diet?
By Swayze Foster
It is no secret that we as a species consume a lot of cereal grains. It's in our breakfast, our lunches, our side dishes and entrees. It's in our Mexican, Italian, and Chinese staples.
Grains even make up most of our favorite snacks and desserts.
And according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society, this is a good thing. These institutions feel that "whole" grains, such as wheat and brown rice, should be the foundation of a healthy diet.
Do you wanna know what I think? (Since you're reading my blog, I'm going to assume that you do.)
The USDA, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society are completely WRONG. You do NOT need grains to be healthy. In fact, it will serve you well to completely eliminate them from your raw food diet.
Would You Eat Them Raw?
Seems like a silly question, but bear with me here for a moment.
If you were out in the wild foraging for food and you came across a field of wheat, would you be inclined to it some?
Would your mouth water at the sight of uncooked, unprocessed, unseasoned wheat kernels?
For the 1% of you who answered yes, I have to wonder about the possible fowl genetics present in your lineage. ;)
On a more serious note, eating raw grains is not just unappetizing to the human palate. In Grain Damage: Rethinking the High-Starch Diet, Dr. Douglas Graham writes:
At best, raw grains taste unpleasant and bitter, even when they are sprouted. More often, they are inedible or poisonous if eaten in the field. Even birds, the only natural grain eaters, feed their young on insects, as grains are deficient in protein and nutrients.
On the other hand, ripe fruit is instantly appealing to our senses. It's beautiful to look at. Its smell makes us salivate. It gives nicely in our hands.
Last but not least, fruit tastes wonderful. What sane person can honestly resist a perfectly ripe peach or a fragrant muskmelon?
What About Cooked Grains?
You may be thinking that cooking grains is a better option than eating them raw.
Think again.
When a complex carbohydrate food such as wheat or barley is heated, the molecules of the food are fused together into a glue-like substance. Even though cooking has broken down the complex starches into simple glucose, the body must do extra work to process the now chemically fused molecules.
This presents a huge problem in terms of blood-sugar levels. In Left In the Dark, authors Graham Glynn and Tony Wright write:
Carbohydrates also appear to be problematic when eaten in large amounts. A diet high in carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates (cakes biscuits, pasta, etc.) dumps large amounts of glucose rapidly into our bloodstream. This can cause insulin resistance in which the absorption of glucose from the bloodstream is disrupted. This in turn can lead to obesity, adult onset diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks and strokes.
And a little further down the page:
"If we compare refined carbohydrates with fruit we can see that fruit has a much lower glycemic index, which means it is digested more slowly thus avoiding the problems of the 'glucose rush.'"
But that's not all! Here are some more problems associated with eating cooked grains:
- Migraines
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Depression
- Crohn's disease
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Autism
But Humans Have Been Eating Grains For Thousands of Years!
While 10-30,000 years may seem like a long time to we humans with a mere 100-year life span (at best), it is but a flash in the pan evolutionarily speaking.
Here is an excerpt from Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution on the increased consumption of grains since the Neolithic Period (when humans settled down and began farming extensively):
Becoming dependent on grains reduced intake of fruits and vegetables, often to 20% or less of total energy intake. Accordingly, access to micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals) previously supplied by fruits and vegetables was substantially decreased.Of course, cereal grains also provide micronutrients, but not necessarily those to which human biology became accustomed throughout a multimillion-year evolutionary experience, during which fruits and vegetables were the overwhelmingly dominant plant foods.
Quite simply, we have not been consuming a diet high in grains long enough for our anatomy and physiology to have adapted to them.
And anyway, grains do not fulfill our nutritional needs as fruits and vegetables do. For instance, they are very low in vitamins A, B, and C and sodium and calcium.
This is why when you pick up a box of cereal or whole wheat pasta, you will often see "Fortified with," preceded by a host of vitamins and minerals that have been added to the product.
Not only that, but certain properties in grains affects absorption of vital nutrients within the body. It is now known that grain consumption decreases Vitamin D absorption.
And while many proponents of a grain-based diet site fiber as a reason to indulge, there is a huge caveat here. You see, the fibers in grains are not water-soluble like those present in fruits and vegetables; they are insoluble.
This means that they lack the ability to absorb water and move comfortably through the body. Think of a harsh bristle brush slowly making its way down your digestive track.
Yikes!
Leave It To the Birds
In short, there is no reason for you to consume grains. Raw or cooked, they are completely inferior to raw fruits and vegetables.
If you are having trouble consuming enough calories on a raw food diet, there is no need to turn to sprouting grains...or legumes for that matter. Simply increasing your consumption of sweet fruit until you feel satisfied will do the trick.
Remember, fruit always comes first.
For more information on the best raw vegan diet, be sure to visit http://www.fitonraw.com and subscribe to Swayze's newsletter Peachy Keen Ezine. By subscribing, you will also receive the free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet as well as the 5-week mini-course The Fool Proof Transition to Raw.
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