Posts Tagged ‘energy’

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Does Eating for Energy Live Up to Its Claims?

May 6th, 2010

Hello beautiful people! My name is Terri. I’m 33, and I’m really excited to be one of Yuri’s new contributors to his blog. I suppose I should start by telling you a little about myself.

I was raised on a SAD (Standard American Diet). I spent the majority of my 20s with very low energy. I started having migraines around age 26. I suffered from hay fever, which I had developed when I was 17. I was congested and tired all the time. I never felt like doing anything and just wanted to sit on the couch all the time. That’s all I had energy for. No doctor ever gave me a reason for this. According to the doctors, I was in good health.

In January 2008, I finally got sick of things. My mom had suggested several times that part of my congestion problem came from a sensitivity to dairy, so I thought I’d try a cooked vegan diet. At that point I had heard of the raw food diet but thought it was a little extreme. The vegan diet definitely decreased my congestion and improved my energy, but I quickly got bored with it. A lot of the recipes revolve around tofu, and I don’t do tofu.

While I was experimenting with the vegan diet, though, I continued to read and learn more about nutrition and how eating the right foods can affect your health and energy levels. In February of 2009 I decided I was ready to try the raw food diet and purchased Yuri’s Eating for Energy book. The information in Eating for Energy really seemed to make sense to me, and I started putting it into practice.

Now, I eat raw all day until dinner time. For dinner I usually eat whatever the rest of the family is eating but sometimes not. So I am mostly raw but not 100%.

I live in a household of SAD eaters but am trying to change that. My husband is really quite opposed to drastic changes to his diet, so the same unhealthy foods are still in the house. That is slowly changing, though. About a year ago when a raw food recipe book I had purchased off of amazon.com arrived in the mail, my husband said, “I’m not eating any of that crap!” Now, he’s talking about doing a cleanse this summer!

I have to say that my energy is definitely much higher these days. I can really feel it when I get lazy with my diet, especially my ability to exercise is noticeably affected. My allergies (hay fever, dairy, and gluten) are practically non-existent. In fact, I keep hearing that this is one of the worst allergy seasons in recent history here, but I wouldn’t know it if I hadn’t heard it on the news because I’ve had so little trouble with my allergies this spring! Also, when I do eat conventional dairy and wheat products, I don’t have hardly any reaction to them anymore.

So I would give that a big YES! Eating for Energy definitely does live up to its claims!

See you next time!

Terri

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Posted in Client Journeys

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Who Can Benefit From Eating Raw Foods

May 4th, 2010

You might be wondering who all of this information is for. Raw food diets might sound like a great idea – for someone else. After all, it is pretty complicated and requires a lot of dedication and will power. So should you be starting a raw food diet? Only if you fit into one of the following categories.

Are you an athlete? If you are, you could benefit greatly from eating a raw foods diet. Many athletic people – be they professional sportsman and women or weekend warriors – are coming to the realization that the myths about a “balanced” diet could actually be hurting their performance. Heavy, glutinous cooked wheat and pastas have been touted as the perfect pre-game meal for ages. But athletes are in tune with their bodies, perhaps more than anyone else on the planet. And for many, one pre-game raw meal is all it took to convince them. Eating raw before a big expenditure of energy meant they went into battle on a full stomach, but not a heavy one. They went in with more energy, more alertness, and were able to go higher, faster and stronger for much longer. Once these athletes learned how to eat a raw diet, they learned to fuel their machines better.

Are you concerned about your health? You might benefit from some raw food help. Cooked foods often have lower levels of vitamins and minerals than what might be listed in a food guide, due to the leaching power of the killing heat of the cooking process. As a result, you might not be getting the essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs to stay healthy and ward off illness. Dedicating your diet to a higher quotient of raw foods will mean that when you intent to eat your daily recommended amount of vitamin C, you will know exactly how to do it by squeezing your own orange juice. If you are low in iron, you can make yourself a salad with leafy greens and raisins to raise the iron levels in your blood. For every health concern, there is a raw alternative that is easy to measure, and better for your health.

Are you often tired? Eating raw can mean eating for more energy. Rather than suffer the eternal damnation of the ups and downs of sugar spikes, hunger pangs and caffeine addiction, you can provide your body with a more constant and reliable fuel that will have you on an even keel throughout the day.

So, what about the rest of us? You know, those of us who don’t want to get out there and get more exercise; those who aren’t concerned about their good health; and those of us who never suffer from a lack of energy? Well, if you fall into that group, there is still one great reason to switch to a raw diet – the taste. The flavors of raw foods don’t get watered down, cooked off or overpowered by sugar and salt. They are bright and bold, the way nature intended them to be.

Isn’t that reason enough to go raw?

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Posted in Food For Thought, Raw Foods

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Why Raw Foods Give You More Energy

May 3rd, 2010

You have heard the term “eat for energy” as it applies to a raw food diet, and sure, it sounds wonderful. But when you stop to think about it, does it make sense to you? For most of us, “energy” foods are sometimes the least healthy options, and we pull our fuel from the caffeine, sugar and fats that we consume on the go as a quick option to get something into our stomachs.

Is that what energy has meant for you in the past? Have you felt the low, hungry craving for something sweet and filling? Have you felt the lack of energy that you thought could only be rectified by devastating a box of doughnuts?

Many of us have felt this way, and that is why the idea of a raw food diet being a high energy diet can sometimes sounds like a misdirection at best, and an outright lie at worst. But the truth is, someone who eats raw foods is going to get more energy than the rest of us.

Take, for instance, that essential “energy” food, the morning cup of coffee. Many of us swear by it, and fortunes have been made on our dependence on it. Yes, it gives you energy – the caffeine gives you a boost in attention and focus, and the sugar spikes into the bloodstream to give you the extra pep. But that caffeine kick fades fast, and the sugar jolt quickly becomes a deficit. Coffee leaves you worse for wear.

Compare that to the eating for energy alternative for a morning pick-me-up, the all-powerful and ever-popular green smoothie. There is no caffeine to be found here, and no processed sugars. Instead, you have great natural fibre to fill you up and keep you full for hours; tons of vitamins to provide your body with the elements needed to keep you running in optimal health; and enough healthy calories to give you the fuel you need to operate until lunchtime.

Another example is the energy bar. This candy-bar-in-disguise has been marketed to us as the best possible thing you could eat after a hard workout, but that is only true if you want to undo all of the hard work you just performed. Energy bars are empty calories and sweet nothings, and their “energy” comes from processed sugars and other additives. If you really want a healthy – and energizing – snack after a hard workout, nothing beats the raw rush of a handful of raw almonds and a tall glass of cold water. The water is essential to keep your body hydrated after sweating away a good deal of your fluids, while the almonds provide you with fats to feed your fatigued muscles and living food enzymes to help with the digestion of the fibre they contain.

A raw food diet may sound far-fetched to some, but rest assured, it can give you much more energy than the products you have seen in commercials that promise easy energy. Raw eating gives you more flavor, more vitamins, and more energy to live your life.

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Posted in Food For Thought, Raw Foods

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How to Eat Vegan and Have More Energy

March 20th, 2010

It is amazing how many people are willing to adapt to new technology in health and sports, but are still doing things the old fashioned way when it comes to the nutritional aspect of their well-being.

We buy pedometers and heart rate monitors; we run in the latest and newest innovations in shoes; but before we work out, we still slam back heavy foods; during, we consume sugary drinks and thick, viscous gel packs; afterwards, we gorge on fat and processed junk.

Sure, eating vegan would me much healthier, but the common misconception is that a vegan diet would be lacking in much of the energy-providing foodstuffs that a regular diet would provide. After all, eating vegan means limiting your intake so drastically, that you’re left with nothing but fruits and vegetables, right?

Wrong. A vegan diet can actually improve your athletic prowess, by providing you with the energy you never thought you could get from such basic and delicious foods.

Nuts are one of the best snacks you can have when you’re out on the run. Absolutely portable and incredibly easy to control for portions, you can have a handful of almonds in a bag in your pocket at all times, ready for when the munchies hit or your energy levels start to drop. Leave the energy bars at home, and load up on nuts instead.

Water is essential to having more energy, and the ultimate vegan food. While many of us take a pull on an electrolyte-enhanced drink or even a cup of coffee, we are getting the fluidity of the water but weighing it down with additives that you body could do without. Staying hydrated while you work is a sure way to get more out of your body, no matter what you are doing.

Goji berries have gotten a lot of press lately for their phenomenal health properties, one of which is the quick energy their natural sugars can provide you. In their dried form, these little wonders can go anywhere with you, and give you a quick burst of energy when you need it most.

Hummus and pita might sound like a fancy appetizer, but in actual fact, it is the best possible snack food you can find for during a prolonged workout. This tasty treat is light, which means you won’t feel the weight of it, sending you into cramps when the workout gets tough. But for all the lightness and flavor, you will find a ton of energy – so much so, that many ultra-marathon runners chose this as their on-the-run snack.

Strawberries can also help to give you energy without leaving the vegan track. Rich in vitamins and flavor, these berries are also calorie-neutral, which means that you get the sugars and vitamins, without having to worry about burning off the excess calories.

After you’re finished your workout, kale is a great choice to recoup some of the power you’ve burned off. For ease of eating, you can make a delicious green smoothie that will do more for you than the oft-recommended chocolate milk could ever dream of.

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Posted in General Nutrition

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Energy Boosting Raw Foods

March 18th, 2010

When people think about foods that can give them a boost of energy, they don’t often think about non-processed and uncooked foods. You can blame the media if you like – there are no ads out there on television telling you about the benefits of blueberries, but there are plenty of advertisements to tell you about the newest blueberry-flavored energy drinks, with all the nutrients and benefits of real blueberries in every bottle.

Don’t you sometimes stop to wonder – if the ingredients are so good, why don’t we just skip all the other stuff, and eat the good stuff, without all the sugar and extra stuff that we don’t need? Here are three of the most heavily advertised energy-boosting items of the day, and a raw food alternative that will give you the same benefits, but with the added bonus of nothing else added after the fact.

Number one on most people’s stimulant list is the simple cup of coffee. Despite all the negatives associated with caffeine, many people still flock to this hot beverage every morning. Some studies have shown that the effects of caffeine may be more psychosomatic than actual, and we may just believe that coffee works, which makes caffeine seem all the more potent.

But if you want to avoid the boiling bean juice, and still want to get that jolt when you wake up, consider giving your body a burst of cold instead of hot. A glass of water can have the same invigorating effect as caffeine, without the chemicals, and it’s ready to serve much quicker. But don’t let that be your whole breakfast. Caffeine is to the body as nitrous oxide (or NOS) is to a race car’s engine: it gives a quick hit of power that burns out almost immediately and it can do real damage to the system. Instead, give your body a tank full of good fuel, and you’ll drive all day.

Another go-to food item for people looking for extra energy is that thinly disguised chocolate bar that they call an “energy bar”. Again, most of the energy comes from refined and processed sugars – hardly good fuel, but it does burn quick and bright. Instead of these heavy hitters, consider a handful of raw almonds. These nuts are just as portable as that chocolate bar, and will give you the calories your body needs to burn in order to operate, as well as some essential fats to help your body function.

The third item on this list resides on the ever-growing shelf of energy drinks. These caffeinated, sugar-enriched, chemical concoctions are full of all sorts of powerful but unhealthy additives, and in the long run, you are far better off going with a natural “energy drink” – the fresh fruit smoothie. They taste a thousand times better, give you much needed vitamins, and some natural sugars to burn in your engine. And compared to the high prices on the shelves, a smoothie will cost you pennies on the energy drink dollar.

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Posted in Raw Foods

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