Apple cider vinegar has a tremendous number of health benefits.
In this video, I share a few of them with you and provide an additional resource that will help you out as well.
Don’t forget to watch right to the end as I tell you my favourite reason for drinking apple cider vinegar on a daily basis.
When it comes to looking great – at any age – it isn’t about the makeup that you use, the color you put into your hair, or the clothes that you wear. Simply put, if you consume bad choices in food, your skin and your body will show it, and no matter what else you do, your looks will suffer for it.
Processed sugars, abundant salts and unnatural chemicals can do damage to your skin and your hair, and leave you looking worse for wear. But if you take the time to do a little research, you will find that there are plenty of foods out there that can actually help with your daily beauty regimen.
Two of the most important parts of your food that will affect how you look are the fats and the water content of your meals. While we have a tendency to consider fats to be a bad thing when it comes to healthy foods, there are indeed good and bad types of fat that you can eat.
Want an example of consumable fat that will wear on your looks?
Try modern dairy products. These overly processed fats are treated to remove many of the helpful bacteria that originally were present and can be helpful to digestion, and all you are left with is a high fat liquid that might help with your calcium daily requirements, but sure won’t help you to look good.
So, how about an example of a good type of fat for your looks? What if I told you that there was a fruit that you have probably only ever eaten as a mushy, overly spiced paste; one that can be sliced over salad, blended into smoothies, and used dozens of other ways; one whose buttery texture and rich, delicious taste is due to an abundance of wonderful natural and raw fats; and one that can help your skin to glow and your hair to shine?
You might think that was too much to ask of any fruit, but avocados can do all of this, and more. The natural raw fats contained in avocados help to feed your skin and make it glow, and provide your body with a natural source of vitamin E and antioxidants.
But fat is only a part of the story. In order for your skin to really look its best, you need to make sure that you are properly hydrated. Skin that is starved for moisture not only looks bad, but is bad for your body. The skin acts as a natural sponge for water, holding it in reserve for other parts of the body. When hydration levels drop, the water is drawn inwards to those vital organs, leaving your skin parched. Thirsty skin will look dry, flushed and droopy, accentuating any existing wrinkles and age spots.
Other than a big glass of water, you can rehydrate your skin and rejuvenate your appearance with any number of water-dense fruits, such as grapefruit or watermelon. A single serving of grapefruit is over 90% water, which can easily be absorbed by the body and used to refill the sponge that is your skin, leaving it looking plump and full, smoothing out any wrinkles and giving you a healthy, even glow.
People will try almost anything to stay healthy, and it’s not a new phenomenon. Throughout the ages, people have eaten a wide and varied array of foods that they believed helped to keep them younger, healthier and more vigorous. From the highly localized and recently re-popularized diet of the Palaeolithic times that focused on low amounts of carbohydrates and eating what was readily available; to the more modern but still outdated ideas presented to schoolchildren in the health food “pyramid”, people have always been looking for proven guidelines to eat healthier.
For many people starting a raw food diet, maintaining or improving their overall health is a primary reason for the switch from cooked foods. Recent studies have shown that a diet high or completely comprised of raw, uncooked and under-processed foods can have a dramatic impact on the way that your body operates. That includes providing increased energy and mental alertness, and improving the ability to stay healthy and ward off illness. But what about a raw food diet is so beneficial to your health?
When you first learn how to eat a raw diet, you are going to notice that your intake of fruits and vegetables will probably skyrocket, as compared to your old eating habits. Fruits and vegetables are staples of the raw diet, due in no small part to their versatility, their great taste, and of course, their benefits for your body. Raw fruits and vegetables contain tons of vitamins and minerals that, for many non-raw eaters, are in desperately short supply in their regular daily meals. Vitamin A, found in abundance in tomatoes, has been shown to help build a healthy immune system. Vitamin B1 (avocados), B3 (bananas) and B9 (strawberries) can help support a healthy cardiovascular system, grow new muscle, and create antibodies in the blood. Vitamin C, found all over the raw spectrum, provides your body with antioxidants that help to preserve your good health and strong body. These vitamins can be found in cooked foods, but never as abundantly as in their raw hosts.
How else can raw food help you to stay healthy? Raw foods give you energy that you can use to keep your body in tip-top shape. A healthy and fit body is one that is more prepared to fight off illness. Good fitness helps to push back some of the issues and health problems that we might face as we age, especially heart and circulatory concerns. A raw food diet can help to propel you through more frequent workouts, which will in turn lead to an overall healthier body, and fewer required trips to see the local physician.
Raw foods can also keep your digestive tract healthier. The living food enzymes that you consume as part of a raw diet are used to aid the body in digestion of foods, absorption of vitamins, minerals and energy, and the elimination of waste products. The less of your body’s natural stores of energy that need to be used for these processes, the more raw power is available to your body for other purposes – like keeping you in the peak of healthiness.
The very mention of cancer in an article about a high energy diet can be somewhat controversial. There are those within the raw foods community who would be so bold as to make somewhat overzealous claims about the cancer-fighting properties of an all raw diet, to the point of unsubstantiated exaggeration. While there is nothing wrong with believing that your chosen way of eating might help you to stay healthy, the last thing we want to do is go so far as to make promises that could never be kept.
Unfortunately, we do not know everything we need to know about cancers, how they start or how to fight back against them. What we do know is that eating for energy with a raw diet has the potential to help our bodies in these battles. There are no magic cure-alls in the raw foods on your plate, but there is a way to find a healthier life through healthier eating.
Those who eat for energy with a raw diet are consuming far fewer known carcinogens that those who consume cooked foods, particularly when it comes to foods that are prepared over any variety of direct flame. The charring process that many meats and vegetables are subjected to, be it on a barbecue or over another heat source, can leave behind deposits that, according to some studies, can contain carcinogenic properties. That is not to say that cooked meat causes cancer, or that raw meats like cold smoked salmon will keep you safe. But consuming fewer charred items might make a difference in the long run.
Of course, a raw diet is filled with wonderful raw produce, and many of the food items found here have been shown to have some positive effects when it comes to combating cancer in some form or another. Carrots in particular have been shown to have a great impact on the body in recent cancer research studies. The antioxidants contained in carrots, like beta carotene, help to produce and process vitamin A within the body, which keeps your cells at optimal health and allows them to strongly resist the invasions of cancer cells.
Another big plus for raw foods are the living enzymes that you are able to consume when you skip the cooking process. These living enzymes help to break down, digest and dispose of the food you eat, allowing your body to not have to call upon its own stores of enzymes to do the dirty work for the cooked, dead food enzymes. Using the life force of your food in this way means that your body is able to use its internal energies for other purposes besides digestion and absorption – like fighting to keep you healthier in general.
These are just some of the benefits of a raw food diet, but that is not evidence that a raw foods diet can beat cancer. But when it comes to maintaining your good health, every little advantage you can give your body will help if you should ever have to face this terrible affliction.
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?
My name is Yuri Elkaim. I'm the author of Eating for Energy and here to inspire you to "eat alive" to help you live your healthiest and most energetic life ever!
This blog is dedicated to healthy eating, raw foods, and ultimate vitality for life! Be sure to say "hi" in the comments. Talk to you soon - Yuri.
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