The raw food diet is not an ‘all or nothing’ diet.  Without question, the more raw fruits and vegetables you eat the healthier you’ll be as all plant based foods are extremely high in easily assimilated nutrients that feed the body at a cellular level.  “Fruits provide the highest percentage of vitamins per calories consumed with vegetables coming in second.  Vegetables provide the highest percentage of minerals per calories consumed with fruits coming in second.”* With a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds to choose from in the raw diet, nutrients such as bone-strengthening calcium, protein, iron, vitamins C, D, E, and B’s to name a few can easily be obtained.  “Almost every vegetable that can be eaten whole, fresh and raw contains all eight of the essential amino acids and therefore provides us with complete, usable, easily assimilated protein.”*  Processing nutrients from whole foods to sell as supplements is the most costly way to improve your nutritional balance.  Most nutrients are known to interact symbiotically with at least eight other nutrients, WHOLE fruits and vegetables provide a superior complete source of vitamins and minerals.

Fiber found in plant-based foods is lacking in a meat-based diet; fiber is important to keep the digestive tract clean of waste products which can lead to disease. 

Plant-based foods are alkaline in nature, as apposed to animal products and grains which are acid forming.  A highly acidic bloodstream pulls minerals from our muscles and bones to neutralize the acid content.  

Most animal products have been treated with antibiotics, steroids, coloring agents, flavor enhancers, growth hormones and other chemicals that humans ingest when eating these foods.  How healthy is it to eat THAT?  Whole fresh organic fruits and vegetables are free of any of these treatments. 

Cooking foods changes its atomic structure, creating a toxic food where up to 80% of the nutrients can lost in the cooking process.  Cooking foods at high heat (such as steaming, boiling, and grilling) creates carcinogens that can lead to cancer and auto-immune diseases.  The body’s first line of defense is the white blood cells; research has proven the white blood cell count increases almost 300% after consuming cooked foods.  The body perceives cooked food as toxic and rushes to its defense.  Cooking is a process of destruction, not of ‘construction’.  If you placed your hand on a hot burner, within seconds the skin would reflect how destructive ‘cooking’ is.  It matters little if it is ‘slightly’ cooked or blackened………..the result is the same. 

Switching to a raw food diet, high in low calorie nutrient dense fruits and vegetables increases your energy and unwanted pounds melt away as you are no longer consuming food that is made up of processed sugar, processed flours and grains, and cooked foods – all foods that put on the weight and drain you of energy.  With there being over 150 varieties of available fruits and vegetables to choose from, meals are seldom boring.  Couple this with learning HOW to prepare these fruits and vegetables into great tasting familiar recipes (e.g. pasta, desserts, ice cream etc) you’ll soon be experiencing a higher level of health and energy, beyond anything you dreamed possible.

It is interesting that people think little about the quantities and health quality of prescription drugs, supplements, or processed foods they consume and yet shy away from eating whole fresh fruits and vegetables as being ‘radical’ and ‘difficult’.  It couldn’t be any simpler.  Sometimes we’re looking so hard for the dietary cure-all, we don’t see the bright colored jewels in our produce markets beckoning us to ‘just try me!’   

Is the raw food diet a healthy diet?  It is all that and then some!  It is a diet/lifestyle that fits everyone, whether you’re consuming 20% more fruits and vegetables or 100% more, with every bite you’re improving your health.  Who can argue the benefits of THAT!

Bon A Petite’

Beth

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*Dr Douglas N Graham, On Nutrition and Physical Performace: A Handbook for Athletes and Fitness Enthusiasts

Question:

What is the best way to get calcium in a raw diet? I’m at risk of osteoporosis.

My answer…

CALCIUM:

Most people believe osteoporosis is caused by a lack of calcium and by increasing the intake of calcium (including direct supplementation) osteoporosis will be avoided.  This does little to reduce the incidence of osteoporosis or to counteract the effects of a predominantly acid forming diet and lifestyle. 

The actual cause of osteoporosis is typically due to excessive calcium loss from an overly acid bloodstream.  Animal proteins, tobacco inhalation, caffeine and drugs contribute to an acid bloodstream.  The body maintains a blood pH that is slightly alkaline and when the blood is too acidic, the body brings it back to a more alkaline state by leaching calcium (an alkaline mineral) from the bones and boron from muscle. Boron helps prevent calcium loss and is found in raw fruits and vegetables, milk has little, meat and eggs have none. 

Studies have shown a direct correlation between eating animal proteins (e.g. meat, eggs and dairy) and calcium loss.  Fruits and vegetables are alkaline foods which help maintain your blood at the correct pH.  Easy to assimilate calcium (and boron) is found in abundance in most leafy greens (e.g. romaine lettuce, spinach, dandelion greens etc), in seaweeds (e.g. Nori, Arame, Dulse) and in sesame seeds (1 oz. has 276 mg).   By eating large, green leafy salads with dressings made from Tahini (ground sesame seeds), you’ll get more than enough calcium (along with all the other elements your bones and muscles need) to satisfy the body’s need. 

Most raw fooders eat mostly fruit and vegetables and have no bone weakness.

Beth

If you’re like most of us this morning, you’ve got your running/walking shoes on, you’re on your way to the gym, and you’re feeling GREAT about getting to your ‘workout’ today!!!  Are you with me?

No!?  Infortunately, I’m the ‘extraordinary’ exception and not the rule. 

“If you want average results, do what average people do.  But if you want extraordinary results…”

I eat a raw food diet and I WANT to workout, I FEEL GREAT!  I have ENERGY to burn!  Want to learn how to get most from your workout – spending less time in the gym and getting healthier and fitter more efficiently?  Check out the fitness section of my website……….

http://www.sensationalrawfooddiet.com/exercise.html

The raw food diet is your ticket – not only will you FEEL more ENERGY but you’ll maximize the benefits of whatever exercise program you embark on.  It’s all in the FUEL we put in our bodies, and the QUALITY of that fuel. 

Athletes are always concerned about Protein, and getting enough of it.  Plant based sources of protein are easier for the body to assimilate and less taxing on the liver and kidneys.  Eating high amounts of animal protein is not only taxing to the organs, but is associated with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.  Why protein isolate – an animal food that is highly processed – is highly acid-forming, as is cooked animal foods.  Eating too many acid-forming foods promote inflammation, reduce immune function, and cause calcium to be pulled from the bones resulting in lower bone density.

Plant based proteins are present in all fresh fruits and vegetables.   30% of the calories in spinach come from protein, almost 50% from romaine lettuce.  The best sources of protein are leafy greens, liquid blue-green algae’s, nuts and seeds, sea vegetables and sprouted foods.  A description of some of these protein sources along with additional plant-based food supplements can be found on my website:  www.sensationalrawfooddiet 

Athletes who experiment with plant-based diets consistently report a substantial increase in energy and a dramatic decrease in recovery time.  The advantage of a decreased recovery time is that you can increase the number of your workouts if you choose.  You’ll see quicker and better results!

 I hope you found this information helpful.  There are more diet and fitness tips, suggestions, articles and information on my website along with some excellent recipes I share in my Recipe Membership Program that will maximize your workouts! 

Eating a raw food diet is far from boring, and you’ll see the benefits as your body becomes fitter, stronger, more flexible, and agile; your workouts more effective.  More bodybuilders, dancers, runners, triathletes, and professional athletes are discovering the advantage of the raw food diet.   Join us.  You don’t have to be an Athlete to reap the benefits!

Bon A Petite’

My life is all about simplicity – my favorite motto is ‘keep it simple.’  When somebody tells me that the raw food diet is difficult, something I’ve been eating for over ten years, it makes no sense to me.  It surely wouldn’t fit into MY lifestyle if it were!

I recently sat down to give this comment some serious in-depth consideration.   How could something so simple be complex?

I guess this way of eating can be difficult if:

      you were

-  trying to prepare a wide “variety” of recipes

-  preparing ‘gourmet’ type recipes

-  using elaborate preparation methods

-  lacked the tools to efficiently prepare the food

-  using hard-to-find ingredients

-  pushing yourself to 100% raw too quickly

This way of eating could be difficult for the person who is  used to purchasing large quantities of food and storing them indefinitely in the pantry – but gosh, food left on the shelf gets old!  I prefer to have food that is fresh, aromatic, and ‘bursting with flavor’ in my kitchen, on my table, and in my body!  If what I eat is not fresh, is preserved with chemicals, is not nutrient rich, and is not free of harmful substances, what’s the point?

I guess it could be difficult if you’ve been ‘conditioned’ to run out to one of the fast-food franchises for ‘fast food’ when hungry. If you haven’t tried something as simple as grabbing a handful of berries, a large apple or several bananas to ‘fill that void’ then I highly recommend you do so.  It’s not only faster, cheaper, lower in calories, higher in nutrients, but you can eat lots of it and still not come close to the calories found in fast food meals.  I like to eat, and though I eat a lot of food I remain slim, healthy, and full of energy! 

HOW EASY IS IT?

Most raw food recipes are prepared under 15 minutes (5 minutes if you’re a veteran of eating this kind of food), and use 5 ingredients or less.  With the use of just a couple of handy appliances such as a high-speed blender (the Vita-Mix for example) or a food processor your meals are typically cut, combined, mixed, and finished in one easy process.  If there’s a better example of ‘easy’ I haven’t discovered it yet.

Cleanup is even easier. With just a drop of liquid dish soap and a quick rinse under hot water your equipment is cleaned and ready to be used again!  How easy is that?  No baked on food residue, no oily/greasy mess to dispose of, and no cooked-on hard gunk to scrape off your dishes or pots/pans, no burned meals! 

Keeping raw food preparation uncomplicated makes this diet simple to do. Save the ‘gourmet’ dishes for special occasions or when you have the time, inclination, and need to make them.  In the meantime, save yourself:

-     Time

-     Money

-     Stress

-     Extra Work

-     Confusion

-     Waste

by keeping things “SIMPLE.”  

Let YOUR new motto be:  “KEEP…..IT….. SIMPLE”

Bon A Petite

Beth Wilke, Raw Food Chef & Teacher