Comprehensive Information On How To Get Started On The Raw Food Diet

As the name suggests, the raw food diet consists of eating uncooked foods. In some cases however, it also includes food that is heated at low temperatures or naturally dried.

One key reason for eating raw food this is that cooking foods reduces the nutrition in the food as heat can destroy 70 - 80% of the vitamins and minerals, 50% of the protein and 100% of the photo nutrients naturally occurring in raw food. For example, sulforaphanes (the cancer-fighting compounds in broccoli) are greatly reduced when broccoli is cooked. Also , certain vitamins, such as vitamin C and folate, are destroyed by normal cooking temperatures.

Also, on a raw food diet, we can consume far more chlorophyll which is like liquified sun energy. When we eat green plants (which have this in abundance). It is like bathing our internal organs in sunshine.

Chlorophyll heals and cleanses our organs, destroys internal enemies like pathogenic bacteria, fungi, cancer cells and many others. Chlorophyll is also able to counteract toxins, provide iron to organs, help purify the liver, eliminate body odors and bad breath, soothe ulcer tissues, improve vision, reduce pain caused by inflammation, etc. Eating lots of green foods may not sound appealing, but when you turn them into smoothies with the right complementary ingredients, they are surprisingly delicious.

The raw food diet hinges on eating organic foods which are far more nutritious than the chemically produced fruits and vegetables we find in most supermarkets and fruit and vegetable outlets as shown in the table below.

As you can see, the difference is quite profound.

If you walk through the vegetable section of your local supermarket, there is hardly a smell of fruits and vegetables, and the bananas resemble eating cardboard whilst the tomatoes completely lack taste.

By contrast, when you walk through an organic wholesaler, the fruits and vegetables all cry out “eat me!” as your body is engulfed by the smells, sights and tastes. The energy of raw food resonates with your body and you can also feel this if you tune into it.

It’s something you probably have to experience to really know the difference, and I assure you, the difference is quite profound.

Take a moment right now to imagine a beautiful house. A house that you would love to live in for the rest of your life. Can you imagine a house like that - your dream house? Good...

Now imagine you lived in that house and then, one night, a person you didn't know turned up at your house and dumped a load of junk and rubbish on your driveway and then quickly drove away.

The next morning you found yourself sorting through all this crap, keeping the valuable stuff, storing the rest for recycling, and throwing the rest away. The next night the truck dumped more rubbish; and the next, and the next. After a short time, your house is bulging at the seams with junk, and you are totally exhausted.

Over time, the rubbish starts to rot and stink - really stink. Rats, mice, cockroaches, flies and other junk feeders are invading and you try all sorts of chemicals to kills them, but it makes your house more and more toxic. Disease and sickness start to spread and eventually your beautiful home becomes totally unliveable.

Your body is like this house. If your body has been filled up with junk, then perhaps it's time to have a clean out.

Unlike most other diets, you will be surprised to find how tasty raw food can be, how easy it is to make, how much you can eat, how healthy you will become, and how easily you can lose weight.

Planning a raw food diet in the way that other diets require planning is not that critical. You simply have a selection of delicious food to choose to eat in whatever proportions you desire.

However, it is necessary to get some advice when starting out, as it is a new way of thinking and preparing food that can be a bit daunting for newbies.

Sticking to a raw food diet will require that you get the nutrition you require while enjoying your food.

Usually people who eat a raw food diet eat raw plant and vegetable foods.

Fresh organic fruits and vegetables are far more delicious than most people realise, and eating them raw is far easier, more delicious and more enjoyable than most people could imagine.

You may be concerned about the cost of organic food, but the immediate savings of this diet come from:

• Bringing your own lunch to work
• Eating out less often
• Not buying alcohol, coffee, snacks, and other such consumables
• Not buying ready made foods
• Not buying bread, meat, sea food, dairy products, and eggs
• Buying in bulk
• Producing food at home: sprouts, kefir drink, herbs etc.
• Saving on the electricity required for cooking
• Overcoming cravings or cigarettes, carbonated drinks, confectionary, and possibly other unhealthy habits.
• Longer term, you will have huge savings in health care, be more productive at work, be able to think clearer, have more energy and probably make more money

Of course, you don’t suddenly switch to a completely raw diet because it’s not necessary to be a vegan fanatic to get started or to get results.

Remember, it’s a move in the right direction that starts the journey to the optimal health destination. Let the food and your growing knowledge of how to prepare it in ways that you enjoy draw you forward, easily and without great effort.

Great food experiences are measured by

• Taste: It is possible to make delicious raw food recipes as long as you can follow some very basic instructions. When you get into the swing of things, it’s also fun to be creative and you will probably be surprised how a weird variety of ingredients can work so well together.

• Pleasure : Your pleasure from life will extend far beyond the dinner table as you reconnect with yourself, your environment, your family, and a huge wellspring of energy that enables you to enjoy life to the full.
• Relationships: Your relationships will change and you will connect with a new group of people who are doing some amazing things outside of mainstream society. These people think outside the box and have broken away from the herd of lemmings that is mainstream society. They don't do what everyone else does and believe what everyone else believes. They live more conscious, independent, proactive lives.
• Nutrition: Most people don't seem to emphasize this as much as the other 3 values. The raw food diet places nutrition at the top of the list, while enhancing the other three.

As for recipes, the Raw Food Diet book contains access to hundreds of recipes, and in fact, raw food recipes are the easiest and tastiest ones to make.

Lets face it, we are fed by a food industry who are much more interested in profits than in our health.

Foods like diet coke are sold to us as if they are a health drink but contain so many unhealthy substances (caramel color, phosphoric acid, caffeine, aspartame, potassium benzoate). Our bodies are just not designed to digest these things, let alone benefit from them.

The raw food diet does not add ANY toxins to our body so our body can get rid of those potentially fatal toxins that are already stored up.

The process of detoxification happens at a pace that will be different for everyone, depending on what kind of diet you have had before and how your body behaves.

What you can be sure of though is that on a raw food diet your body is being given the best chance to detoxify under the optimum conditions. i.e. If you go on a “detox diet”, then your body might well be stressed from being undernourished, or trying to cope with a not enough variety of nutrients, or very few nutrients at all. With a raw food diet, you body can still detox while being well nourished, satisfied with plenty of energy and not trying to cope with doing too many things at once.

It might take a little longer, but a raw food diet is easy to adopt as a life style change, so there is no great rush.

A raw food diet helps you get rid of toxins in your body, and, quite naturally, you will probably find it easier to stop putting toxins in your body as your cravings decrease and eventually desist completely.

"The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” ~ Thomas Edison

Living with an illness or chronic condition can diminish or even destroy your joy in life. I know, because I’ve had chronic asthma most of my life. I had known for a long time that my medicine would never make me better.

I always wondered though: What if THAT illness need not exist in MY body?

I realise I was the only one who could control whether or not I had this disease, and the severe restriction it was placing on my life, but I didn’t know what I could do.

When I read about the benefits of a raw food diet, a light of possibility turned on: Maybe I could cure myself?

And now, through regular exercise, a healthy environment, and my raw food diet, that is pretty much what I have done...much to the surprise of the doctors I know.

After a lot of further study I’m certain this diet will give your body the best chance of repairing itself from any chronic condition you might have. It will optimise the nutrients, be the easier to digest (particularly if you juice and blend) and introduce nothing toxic into your digestive system.

For 4 billion people on the planet, those who do not eat a western diet, heart disease does not exist...it's that simple.

You can become one of them because a raw food diet has been shown to reverse heart disease and most definitely helps prevent it.

After consuming green smoothies for just one month, 24 Roseburg Study participants experienced:
*increased energy, *depression lifted and suicidal thoughts gone, *less blood sugar fluctuation, *more regular bowel movements, *dandruff cleared up, *no more insomnia, *asthma attacks stopped completely, *none of the usual PMS symptoms, *stronger fingernails, *fewer coffee cravings, *sex life improved, *skin cleared up, and many more.

It was interesting to see that most of the participants who wanted to lose weight lost anywhere from five to ten pounds, and a couple of people who wanted to gain weight were able to gain one or two pounds.

Drinking green juices as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle has been reported to help people with: obesity, chronic allergies, chronic bronchitis, bladder infections, arthritis, headaches, menstrual cramps, muscle aches, irritable bowel syndrome, stomach cramps, lethargy, rosacea, cravings for cooked food, anxiety, sore on a hand, sinus infection, bowel control problems, gas, stroke, skin conditions, hypoglycaemia, constipation, low energy, problems with skin, nails and unclear eyes, breathing, hormonal problems, unstable moods, problems caused by radiotherapy, high cholesterol, diabetes, sleep apnea, B12 deficiency, candida, hiatal hernia, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypothyroidism, eczema, pancreatic cancer, indigestion, sweet cravings, and low stomach acid.