Posts Tagged ‘nuts’

High Energy Diet

July 30th, 2010

There are a lot of people out there who could greatly benefit from a change in their diet to a plan that would give them a lot more energy and some great health benefits. If you are an athlete, for example, a high energy raw diet might be just the thing you are looking for to give you an added edge in your sport of choice. And while you might be thinking that this sort of dramatic change to one’s lifestyle would only be for those elite athletes who earn their living in their sports, think again. Every person who is active can benefit from eating for energy. It does not matter if you are a weekend warrior, a part-time participant, a rec league roller or someone who simply goes out to have some fun and stay active. It does not matter if you run, jump, stretch, hit, shoot or catch. If you are active, there are ways to change your diet – some of them more involved, and some with more obvious results – that will improve your performance. It’s all about the raw power.

A high energy raw food diet can provide you with new sources of energy and personal power that you might be able to find in other, more expensive and more artificially produced foods, but the power of the rawness in this eating plan will give you more of the good stuff, without all the by-products.

For one thing, eating a raw high energy diet will likely include a lot of nuts and seeds. In traditional diets, these are food items that many people deprive themselves of, due to their high fat content. But the natural fats found in many nuts and seeds are incredibly beneficial to your body, and the calories they provide are important for those who lead an active lifestyle. Their naturally high fiber also helps to regulate your body’s digestion, meaning less energy is wasted in the processing and elimination of foods, leaving more power for your next athletic endeavor.

Another important aspect of eating a high energy diet is the hydration factor. Normal diets will tell you to drink plenty of fluids, but for someone who is about to lose a lot of water weight in sweat, the normal amounts will not suffice. And rather than subjecting yourself to another high sugar sports drink, why not take advantage of an option you can make yourself, using only raw ingredients, that will help to push you , provide you with energy, keep you well hydrated and cost just pennies a glass?

Tribes in Mexico have been consuming iskiate, also known as chia fresca, for a very long time, and it has helped to power then through runs that can last all day long, over very difficult terrain. This drink is simple to make – simply combine two teaspoons of chia seeds, the juice of one half of a fresh lime, and a half teaspoon of honey in a glass of cool water. Stir and enjoy – it’s as simple as that. It might not be in the recipe book for any diet you have ever tried before, but there are a lot of things about a raw high energy diet that are likely to be completely new for you.

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Posted in General Nutrition

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What Foods Are Acidic?

April 30th, 2010

If you have decided to eat for energy, you may have begun to hear more and more about the pH levels of your food, and how they can affect your overall health. It has been said that a diet higher in acidic foods can result in an increase in stiffness of the joints and muscles, as well as an increase in headaches. If you are interested to know what your pH levels are, you can test your urine with pH papers, available at any pharmacy or drug store.

It is true that foods with a high acidity will be less beneficial to you than if you were to dine on a diet with a higher concentration of alkaline or non-acidic foods. And while you might think it would be relatively easy to determine which raw foods have a high acidity level and which do not, there are always a few trick foods that will make it very difficult to guess.

For instance, you might assume, based on the sour taste, that a lemon would certainly be highly acidic. The truth is, lemon juice is in the low end of the alkaline scale – it is not the most alkaline food to be sure, but it certainly is not acidic in your system.

A high energy diet, of course, cannot forgo all acidic foods when maintaining a raw diet, but it is a good idea to limit your intake of highly acidic foods as much as possible.

Raw foods can even have differing pH levels within the same food groupings. For example, high levels of acidity can be found in some nuts and legumes like walnuts, peanuts and lentils – which can certainly be a healthy part of a raw diet. Other nuts, like filberts and brazil nuts, are less acidic; and nuts like almonds are actually very high in alkalinity.

There are also some vegetables that are fairly high in acidity, including asparagus, green olives and artichokes. Again, these food items can be successfully incorporated into a healthy raw food diet for effective eating for energy, but care should be taken to include highly alkaline foods on the same plate, including most leafy greens, or other items like carrots, beets or cucumbers.

Surprisingly, most fruits are moderately to highly alkaline, with the notable exception of the very popular blueberry. This little fruit has an incredible number of benefits for the body when eaten raw, so it would be a mistake to remove it from your raw foods diet. But again, balance is what you are going for here, so for every heaping helping of blueberries you eat, make sure you include some alkaline fruits, like figs, raisins or prunes (highly alkaline), or peaches, bananas and avocado (moderately alkaline).

Avoiding acidic raw foods altogether is not practical or advisable for most people. These items often contain other benefits that you would be harder pressed to replace in a raw foods situation. But on the whole, you want your meals to be heavily favored towards an alkaline pH level, for optimal health and good eating.

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Posted in Food For Thought, General Nutrition, Raw Foods

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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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Posted in Raw Foods

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