Posts Tagged ‘Diet Change’

Top 5 Reasons to Follow a Raw Foods Diet

April 26th, 2010

Near more reasons to follow a raw foods diet? Well, here we go…

There are lots of reasons to change the way you eat, and consume less dead and cooked food items. It sounds wonderful, but sometimes, it can be difficult to put into words why exactly you would want to change your diet and eat more raw foods – particularly when speaking with someone who does not agree with your new-found ideas.

While a diet change is not about converting those around you to a system that works for you, here are a few points you can present when asked “why on earth would you want to limit yourself only to raw foods?”

1. Raw foods can help you to lose weight.

When you start to eat for energy with a raw food diet, you are going to notice that the volume of food that you eat is not going to differ drastically. You won’t be asked to skimp and starve yourself; but while you will be eating plenty, you will likely see a loss in overall body weight. Because raw foods tend to have a high concentration of fibre, you will feel more full, and because they contain no artificial sugars, you will be consuming fewer calories, on average.

2. Eating raw foods will give you more energy.

Hey, that’s why they call it eating for energy. Raw foods contain living enzymes. These enzymes are fairly delicate, and when cooked, tend to be destroyed. When you ingest raw, living enzymes, you provide your body with help. Extra calories that, in the past, would go towards digestion can now be harnessed by your muscles, giving you a boost in energy.

3. Eating raw will also reduce your energy consumption in your home.

Many of us have very high energy bills every month, and a large contributor to that are our appliances. Microwave ovens, stoves and conventional ovens take a huge amount of energy to run in order to provide us with cooked foods. When you switch to a raw food diet, you won’t need your oven or microwave any more – the biggest appliances in your kitchen will be your fridge and a food dehydrator. Those savings on your monthly energy bill will really add up.

4. With a raw food diet, you get more vitamins.

Sure, many of us get all the vitamins we need, because we take daily supplements and pills to ensure that we are meeting the minimum requirements. But if you up your intake of fruits and vegetables, you are going to get more than the minimum daily requirements – without having to choke down a fistful of pills every morning.

5. With a raw food diet, you will likely find that you are going to get sick less often.

This high energy diet helps to keep your body in great shape, inside and out, and a healthy body helps foster a healthy immune system. Your body will be able to fight back more effectively against the average flu bug or seasonal cold, and you will be able to bounce back quicker when you do get the sniffles.

=> Got any other reasons to eat more raw foods? Please share.

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Beginner’s Guide to Going Raw

April 16th, 2010

The idea of “going raw” might sound odd to some, confusing to others, and downright terrifying to the rest. In the day and age in which we live, there are fewer and fewer options available that are truly raw. We survive and subsist on a diet that is made up of processed foods, whether it be fast foods, prepared meals or even home cooking. So the thought of giving all of that up, and going back in time to a more archaic and uncooked diet might sound less like an adventure or challenge, and more like foolishness and delusion.

But for those brave enough to take the raw plunge, it can still be a rather confusing and somewhat off-putting process. How does one transition to a raw diet? Do you simply dive in, head first, forsaking all cooked and processed foods? Can a person truly survive and thrive on a diet change so drastic and unusual?

If you are interesting making the switch to a raw food diet, or simply want to add more raw foods to your daily intake, there is no need to fear. There are some simple steps you can take to make your transition relatively smooth.

First, don’t think of this as a drastic change that needs to be undertaken overnight. If you are like most people, you have a very low percentage of your regular daily intake that is raw. For some, it is as low as a piece of lettuce or a tomato on their fast-food hamburger. If you are in that group, the thought of doing a 180 degree turn in your eating patterns can be unnerving at best, and debilitatingly impossible at worst. Instead, look at eating a raw food diet like you would any other lifestyle change. You don’t have to do it all at once. What you need to do is work at it, a little bit each day, and build up your body and prepare it for eating more raw foods.

In this way, it is a lot like weight lifting. If you are working out with heavy weights, you don’t simply walk in to the gym and try to bench press a few hundred pounds. Instead, you start off with a light weight that you can comfortably handle, and as you progress, adding more heft to your bar. The same principles apply to eating a raw diet. Instead of throwing yourself into it, try easing your way in. For starters, try replacing at least one meal a day with a raw food option.

This might take you several weeks to get used to, but it will give you a way to get your body used to an increase in raw foods, without shocking your system and making you crave the old, cooked foods from which you are now estranged. After the shock wears off, you will notice just how good you feel after your raw meal as compared to your regular cooked meals, and the transition will be easier to manage going forward.