Benefits of Raw Living Foods

Benefits of Raw Living Foods

In an age where people have become so much health conscious, it is only natural that they look for more ways to stay healthy and fit. Presently, the growth rate of people following a planned 'Living Food Diet' is soaring. The notion that raw living foods areproviding a number of essential health benefits, has increased its popularity.

What are Raw Living Foods?

Raw living foods are basically foods in their most original or natural, unprocessed and uncooked state. They mostly include vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. Many raw foodists also include raw eggs, non-pasteurized or non-homogenized dairy products, raw fish and raw meat in their diet. Science asserts that cooking food above 104-120 degree Fahrenheit not only destroys most of the enzymes and other vital nutrients present in the food but, may also lead to the production of toxic by-products.

Thus, a diet that is composed of 75% to 100% raw foods constitutes a healthy living food diet. These foods contain all the essential nutrients and enzymes intact.

Benefits of Raw Living Foods

Some of the important health benefits of consuming raw foods are:

Increases Energy: Raw living foods are abundant in vitamins and minerals. Hence, it supplies us with the much needed energy for all our day to day physical activities. We tend to feel lighter, healthier and happier. Thus the foods acts as an energy booster enabling you to remain energetic throughout the day. You will wake up fresh and early every morning and with great zeal.

Improves Digestion: The fibre and the digestive enzymes present in your daily raw living foods enhance natural digestion besides helping the body to absorb all the vital nutrients. This diet also helps in detoxifying the digestive system to a great extent.

Weight Loss: Since raw foods are high in vitamins and minerals and contain low or zero calories, you will lose weight at a much faster pace than actually possible. Thus, if you are looking for ways to shed those extra pounds, switching to a diet of raw foods is one of the healthiest ways. Furthermore, in the long run it helps in maintaining and stabilizing your weight by keeping away the unwanted fats. Also, the fibre-rich foodswill easily make you full, so you will unlikely feel the urge to gorge on food excessively and / or in between meals. Eating less, as we all know is key to keep your weight under control.

Increases your Life Span: Following a planned diet will reduce the risk of heart diseases, obesity, cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes. It keeps your cholesterol and triglyceride level check, keeps you away from flu, common cold, digestive disorders, heartburn, etc. The intake of raw foods enriches the body with such essential nutrients like potassium, fibre, proteins, magnesium and even compounds like phytonutrients. It also supplements the body with antioxidants and removes the toxins that are stored in the body. All these essential components that come through this kind of diet contribute in increasing your life span by alleviating various illnesses.

Change in Appearance: In addition, a healthy living food diet brings about a marked change in the appearance of all raw foodists (especially women). The skin starts glowing. It becomes soft, vibrant and firm making you feel much younger. Your hair will tend to shine all the more. You will never be affected by acne and other skin diseases.

It is important to note that a lot of patience, time and research are needed before you can start on a healthy raw living foods diet full-fledged. You first need to understand the needs of your body while planning. As a starter, you can try with one raw meal a day.

Food: Do You Eat To Live Or Live To Eat?

Food: Do You Eat To Live Or Live To Eat?

Food is the building block of our life; we need food and water to survive. Unfortunately the food consumed as part of the standard American diet is highly processed and not nutritious. Despite all of the junk food and processed food out there we can find healthy, unprocessed food to eat. Food can be delicious, nutritious and enjoyable to eat. Experimenting with new recipes is a great way to add healthier food to your diet.

Processed versus whole foods

Whole foods are foods that have just one or two ingredients on the label. They are foods that still have the bran/grain intact and have not been processed, fried or changed in form. Whole foods can include vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains (oatmeal, quinoa, barley, millet), and proteins such as beans and chicken. When a label contains a list of more than five ingredients then it is a very processed food.

Processed foods tend to have their nutrients (vitamin & minerals) removed through processing, so we don't get the benefits of eating these foods, just the empty calories. They also tend to be loaded with added sugar or fats which provide more calories.

Organic versus non-organic

The majority of food is grown with the use of pesticides which are absorbed by the food and then we in turn absorb these pesticides, which are chemicals. Although the food companies say that the levels of pesticides absorbed is safe, research shows that many people have very high levels of toxins in their bloodstream.

 These toxins have been linked to ADHD and breast cancer. For more information on the produce that contain the most and least pesticides check out the Environmental Working Group's List: 

We also need to be aware of the animal products that we eat as these can contain hormones and antibiotics that have been given to the animals to fatten them up and keep them disease free.

 When we eat chicken or steak we may be consuming hormones that our body does not need. Over the past five years we have seen a higher incidence of children who are resistant to antibiotics which some scientists attribute to antibiotics being consumed in animal products.

Delicious, nutritious and enjoyable to eat

Whole foods are delicious and some of them are naturally sweet. Start exploring with fruit which may satisfy a sweet tooth craving. Try fruits like Carambola (starfruit) or papaya, which is supportive of digestion.

 Vegetables are full of vitamins and minerals and can be eaten raw or lightly sautéed or steamed. To add flavor include garlic, onions, scallions, basil, rosemary and any other spice in the spice rack.

What Makes People Eat Raw Food?

What Makes People Eat Raw Food?

Throughout kitchens and restaurants around the world, there is a revolution taking place. People are turning to Raw Food as opposed to the cooked food that society has traditionally eaten. Which begs the question: Why?

One of the primary ways we experience the world around us is through what we eat, drink and think. So why then would people be foolish enough to put food into their bodies that isn't cooked? After some extensive research, it turns out these people might not be as foolish as originally thought.

The assumption behind cooking food is that the original form of Nature, as it exists, must be altered in some way in order for it to exist in an artificial form inside us. Or simply put, when feeding something natural (our body), it is necessary to give it something unnatural.

The problem is that when food is cooked it becomes less than it was before, never more. According to International Best-Selling author and Raw Food expert, David Wolfe, cooking alters organic molecules. When those molecules are ingested, they become part of our tissues. Thus eating cooked food alters our tissue at a fundamental level.

Cooked food is dense. It leaves a toxic ash residue in the body after it has been processed. Over many years, the debris from this toxic residue accumulates and is deposited throughout our tissue. Eventually the toxins reach a crisis level, clogging and poisoning our body's systems which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

What is Raw Food?

Raw food is alive, it still contains the vital nutrients and enzymes that gave the food life in the first place. Cooking food (above 239?F) destroys all of the enzymes and the food becomes "dead".

Enzymes are vital in that the body requires them to digest and absorb food, effectively helping to turn it into fuel.

Enzymes also are essential for many of the body's processes such as breathing, digestion, circulation, cognition and the prevention of inflammation and aging.

Cooked Food = No Enzymes

Eating cooked and processed foods makes one groggy, affects moods, lower's one's level of attention and interferes with the body's optimal functioning. A poor diet of highly cooked foods can also have a detrimental effect on longevity.

A cooked seed will not grow. It has had the life burnt out of it. How then would eating cooked food be the best way to help us grow?

Cooked food was not here when we first appeared on Raw food was.

Raw-Animal or Raw-Plant Food?

Some people opt for a raw-animal diet, however typically the health of these people weakens over time, for a number of reasons. Namely meat can be very high in fat, cholesterol, calories and disease and bacterial contamination.

The other option is a raw-plant based diet.

People who follow a raw-plant based diet benefit from vital enzymes which allow the body to fully digest food, enzymes which are typically lost when food is cooked.

Lead in Our Food? Now, THAT is a Heavy Meal!

Lead in Our Food? Now, THAT is a Heavy Meal!

The heavy metal lead is naturally found in the earth; in rocks, soil, rivers, lakes, seawater, and even the air (dust). It has no taste or smell. It is the heaviest of all non-radioactive metals. It is found in virtually everything you eat, drink, and breathe. During the Twentieth Century the earth became "coated" in a layer of lead due to the mining and burning of fossil fuels and combustion of leaded gasoline

. Fortunately, over the last 30 years efforts to reduce lead contamination have accelerated. In a perfect world we would not be exposed to lead at all, as there is no use for lead by the human body. High lead exposure may lead to neurological damage and high blood pressure. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. We have "soiled our nest." However, we are able to limit our exposure to lead, despite a baseline level that will always exist. And, even though there will always be lead in our food, water, and air, it does not have to be toxic levels. Our food and water are safe for consumption. There are dangerous, life-threatening aspects to our food and beverages with which we should be more concerned than the current levels of lead.

High-glycemic foods (simple sugars, low to no fiber), trans fats, and a depletion of nutrients from our diets are much more concerning than the amount of lead in our food today, and have caused, and continue to cause more death and disease than lead ever has or ever will. Obesity, atherosclerosis, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are result of high-glycemic foods and trans fat. Ironically, the high-glycemic processed foods contain LESS lead than the complex carbohydrates and food made with whole grains. We all know it is important to focus on a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and we should continue to focus on these foods.

 The reason the healthier, whole grain foods contain more lead than the processed foods is because the plants pull out minerals, including lead, from the soil. And, the whole grains, with relatively shallow root systems, take up the lead that is found in the top few inches of the soil. The more unprocessed the food (i.e., whole grains), the more lead it may contain. However, the lead levels are usually far from toxic!

In no way am I saying that lead is safe, or not a health concern. It obviously is. However, due to the clean up effort in the U.S. and other progressive countries the amount of lead contamination has dropped, and the amount of lead contained within our food, beverages, and water has declined to levels not associated with death or disease.

Another major source of lead is cigarette smoking. Five hundred micrograms of lead is obtained with each inhalation of cigarettes, and 1000 micrograms of lead is contained in just one pack of cigarettes. Most of the lead that is inhaled during smoking is immediately exhaled, but a concerning amount is obviously getting absorbed through the lungs. A smoker may be absorbing more lead each day from smoking than all of their food and drink sources combined. Despite the lead exposure from smoking, much more death and disease comes about through all the other toxins in cigarette smoke (that cause oxidative damage) than from lead toxicity.

For over 2500 years humans have worked with lead. Utensils, cups, plates, and pottery have all historically been made out of, or included lead. We now know this is dangerous. Old china, cookware, and pottery were glazed with lead, that provided a unique luster. However, food that sits on such cookware will absorb lead. The longer food is in contact with these lead-containing objects the more lead that gets into the food. Heating the food in lead-containing cookware will increase lead absorption. Therefore, beware of what cookware and plates are used to heat up and eat food.

The real contamination of our planet came during the 20th Century. From 1920 to 2000, over 300 million tons of lead was mined and distributed throughout our environment.

 It was distributed throughout the atmosphere via combustion of leaded gasoline, burning of fossil fuels (coal), burning rubber, metal (brass and steel) factories, lead paint, manufacturing and improper disposal of batteries, lead plumbing through which our drinking water flows, lead in the solder used in making the seams holding our cans of food, ...and as mentioned, our cookware, pottery, and glassware.