Posts Tagged ‘living foods’

Eating Raw Foods for Health

May 14th, 2010

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times that focused on low amounts of carbohydrates and eating what was readily available; to the more modern but still outdated ideas presented to schoolchildren in the health food “pyramid”, people have always been looking for proven guidelines to eat healthier.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.

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Digestive Enzymes for Better Digestion

October 15th, 2009

Digestion is perhaps the most important function our body performs. Obviously, that’s up for debate but the truth of the matter is that faulty digestion is where most health problems begin.

Think of allergies, auto-immune diseases, candidiasis, constipation, eczema, asthma, and many more.

All of these problems (and tons of others) can be caused and/or attributed to bad digestion.

Bring in the Enzymes…

Our body produces 2 different kinds of enzymes: digestive and metabolic.

Metabolic enzymes are used in every single reaction in the body outside of digestion. These are also critical for helping to breakdown immune complexes and dead cells, and helping to rebuild new tissue.

Digestive enzymes are produced within the digestive tract and are used exclusively to assist in the breakdown of food.

The problem with digestive enzymes is that we only have a limited number of them.

That’s where the importance of eating more raw foods come into play. Raw foods are packed with food enzymes (the 3rd category of enzymes). These enzymes are inherent in every single living food and are there to help the digestion of that given food.

If you eat a raw apple, it’s inherent food enzymes will pretty much take care of the digestive process. However, cook that apple above 118 degrees fahrenheit and you can kiss those food enzymes goodbye.

When we eat food that no longer contains “food enzymes” our body is forced to expend more of its limited supply of digestive enzymes to break down the food.

Over time, this can become a problem as our digestive system weakens and digestion becomes compromised.

Digestive Support Nutrients

So we know that we need to support our digestive system by eating a greater proportion of living foods since they are enzyme-rich.

But what do you do if you occasionally eat cooked foods?

One thing I would highly recommend is to supplement with some digestive aids like digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid.

In general, you want to choose a digestive enzyme that covers a full spectrum of enzymes. You’ll see the suffix -ase on nearly all enzymes. For instance, maltase digests the sugar maltose. Lactase breaks down lactose. And so on.

However, there are other enzymes that do not end with -ase such as chymotrypsin, pepsin, trypsin, and pancreatin.

I personally use a digestive enzyme at any meal in which the foods are cooked. Since I understand the importance of proper digestion, as well as the fact that I have an underactive stomach (as do most people), I definitely feel that my digestion is much improved with the use of supplemental digestive enzymes.

Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is another digestive aid I use anytime I eat cooked foods, and in many cases raw foods as well.

HCl is naturally produced and secreted by the parietal cells in the lining of our stomach in response to the ingestion of fat or protein. However, when we eat more frequently than required by the body or over-consume fats or proteins, acid production begins to decrease.

And decreased HCl production can lead to faulty digestion, with symptoms like gas, belching, bloating, discomfort after meals, fatigue after meals, and excessive fullness.

As I just mentioned, most people have an underactive stomach. This means that their stomach does not produce sufficient HCl to properly digest their foods.

For this reason, I highly recommend taking supplementary HCl with your meals.

The only contraindication to using digestive enzymes and HCl is if you have an ulcer or other type of gastric inflammation as too much extra stomach acid may further irritate the situation.

HCl is primarily available as betaine hydrochloride. You can take one or more capsules before, during, and after your meals to assist your stomach in producing enough acid.

The combination of digestive enzyme and HCl supplementation will not only help you digest your foods better but they will also improve your energy levels, help slow the aging process, and prevent many chronic degenerative diseases from developing.

It’s very powerful stuff!

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Digestion and Enzymes- Another Reason to Eat Raw Foods

September 13th, 2009

Digestion is one of the most important functions our body is able to perform. Unfortunately, most people don’t digest their food properly.

In my experience, having worked with thousands of personal clients, faulty digestion or an “underactive stomach” is the most common health concern I notice.

So why is digestion a health concern?

Well, consider that improper digestion can lead to nasty conditions like leaky gut syndrome, allergies, and auto-immune disorders – just to name a few.

Think Back to When…

The last time you ate a heavy cooked meal.

Did feel really tired (and full) for several hours?

I know I did.

And it’s not fun.

Think about those big family Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners where you’d stuff yourself with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, bread, wine, and on and on….

Thankfully, those kind of meals are rare.

Cooked Foods Are Dead

Remember that cooked foods are dead. 

They contain no functional enzymes since the heating any living thing above 118 degrees fahrenheit denatures them.

This makes it inherently difficult to digest these foods. After all, there’s a reason that all living foods contain enzymes that will naturally assist in their digestion.

But as soon as their cooked…all bets are off!

What this means to you is that your body now has to secrete more of its own digestive enzymes from the pancreas to breakdown these “dead” foods.

And by the way, these enzymes can run out. When they do, you run out of life!

Think of the Toughest Piece of Steak Ever

To help you understand just how hard it is for your body to digest dead foods – especially cooked proteins – let’s consider a piece of steak for a moment.

To begin with, animal protein (even in its raw state) is very tough for our stomach’s to digest. 

But what happens when we cook meat – or a steak in this example?

All of the steak’s proteins become denatured (just like those enzymes we talked about). They get all bent out of shape, coil together, and make it even tougher for our stomach to breakdown.

Just think of how many times you need to chew each bite of that steak just so you can swallow it! Maybe 100 times? 

Just imagine how much strain is now put on your stomach to further digest it.

So Remember This…

When you cook a protein, you make it tougher and, thus, harder for your body to breakdown.

Here’s another example…

Taking a raw egg, throwing it in a frying pan, and watching it ” coagulate” into a fried egg.

Which do you think is easier for your body to breakdown – the raw “liquidy” egg or the tough, protein-denatured fried version?

If you said the latter, then you’re right.

That’s why if you someone has digestive difficulties and they love their eggs, one of the best things they can do is eat a soft boiled egg instead of a hard boiled egg. 

Less cooking time makes it slightly easier to digest.

Bottom Line – Raw Foods Are Easier to Digest

Based on what we just discussed I’m sure you can appreciate just how much easier it is for us to digest raw foods.

Raw foods are packed full of food enzymes, which assist in their own digestion.

They don’t contain cooked, undigestible proteins.

And they’re actually good for you. They contain tons of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that you simply don’t get in a cooked food.

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Do You Soak Your Nuts?

September 2nd, 2009

I hope you didn’t take this question the wrong way (specifically men). 

Let me clarify…

Do you soak your nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc…) and seeds before eating them?

Whether you follow a raw food diet or not, you may want to start.

Here are 3 reasons why…

1. Soaking removes enzyme inhibitors

Soaking nuts and seeds (especially those that are higher in protein) will “disarm” their natural enzyme inhibitors, which improves their ability to be digested and opens up their full array of nutrients.

As a protective mechanism, nuts and seeds have enzyme inhibitors to keep them dormant until they are in a properly moisturized environment.

That’s why squirrels bury chestnuts into the soil for a few days before coming back to eat them. They know that doing so will “awaken” the full nutrient spectrum of their food.

2. Soaking leads to greater amino acid bioavailability

It has been shown that soaking higher-protein nuts and seeds can increase the bioavailability of their amino acids by up to 30%!

If you’re a vegan and want to increase your protein consumption, then simply soaking your nuts and seeds can make a big difference as to what your body will absorb.

3. Soaking turns RAW into LIVING

As I mentioned in the first point above, enzyme inhibitors render nuts and seeds dormant.

Even if they’re raw it doesn’t necessarily mean that these foods are LIVING.

However, since soaking disarms the enzyme inhibitors that keep these raw nuts and seeds dormant, it allows them to become water-rich and alive.

There is a slight difference between raw and living. Unsoaked nuts and seeds are raw but not alive. Soaking them will change that and help you to reap their full benefits. 

Which ones to soak?

You don’t have to soak all nuts and seeds. Only those that have a higher protein content. The ones I usually recommend soaking include:

- almonds
- pumpkin seeds
- sunflower seeds

Walnuts, pecans, cashews, and pine nuts are generally higher in fat and don’t need to be soaked. Doing so will only make them soggy and mushy.

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