Posts Tagged ‘sleep’

5 Ways to Boost Your Energy

June 21st, 2010

Energy is a precious thing, something to conserve, save, and try not to waste; we are forever searching for new ways to boost our ever-dwindling supplies. But I’m not talking about turning off the lights when you leave a room, or switching to solar power. I am talking about your own personal energy, something much harder to boost and even harder to conserve. Here are five ways that you can boost your energy reserves, while staying within the boundaries of a healthy lifestyle.

The first thing you can do to boost your energy is to start eating more raw foods. Of course, a raw food diet will help with more than just energy, but it is certainly an important reason to switch from a cooked and processed foods way of eating.

Many foods lose vital minerals during the cooking process – minerals that can help to give you the energy you need during the day. Raw foods also contain living enzymes that allow your body to work cleaner and easier, conserving the energy in your food for the work you choose to do, rather than the digestive work you need to simply keep going.

Another way to gain more personal energy is to plan to get more sleep. We all know that a good night’s sleep should be around eight hours, but few of us actually manage to get that much rest. Continued lack of sleep can result in a buildup of “sleep debt”, which can increasingly effect your concentration and ability to perform at your peak. A well rested body is an energized and recharged body, able to use the energy in your raw food diet more efficiently and effectively.

Another important factor in preserving your personal energy levels is the amount of water that you drink. You may think you are properly hydrating yourself, but if your liquids come flavored or altered, you may not be getting enough pure water. Hydration is key to staying in the zone – if your body becomes dehydrated, you run the risk of wearing yourself out prematurely. Make sure to drink a few glasses of water every day, and try to never wait until you are thirsty to have a drink. Thirst is your body’s way of telling you that you are already low in liquids.

Another way to get more energy is to quit the coffee. If you are a caffeine user, the idea of having less to get more energy might sound wrong, but many studies have shown that long-term caffeine users actually gain no energy or alertness from their morning coffee; they are simply fighting the effects of overnight withdrawal symptoms. Go cold turkey, and soon enough, you won’t need the coffee anymore.

Last but not least, get your daily required amounts of vitamins to maintain and gain energy throughout the day. With a properly calibrated raw food diet, you should not have to resort to pills and capsules to supplement your food; everything you need for great energy can be found within a raw food eating plan.

Water – A Great Way to Start the Day

March 10th, 2010

Recently, I’ve been really paying attention to my water consumption. Especially first thing in the morning.

Do you ever wake up with a dry mouth? Do you ever wake up feeling groggy? Do you have bags under your eyes when you get out of your bed?

If you answered yes to any of the questions, then your body is crying for more water.

Since we lose quite a bit of water when we sleep – or at least I do because I sleep with my mouth open, which means I lose water through breath vapor – it’s helpful to replenish your body’s water stores first thing in the morning.

My morning routine now sees me polish off 1 L of water before I do anything else. It’s amazing how good it makes you feel shortly thereafter and it really hits home the point that many of our fatigue and energy issues can be solved by drinking more water.

So go ahead, try it for yourself and feel the difference.

Why it’s Good to Eat More Raw Foods

February 24th, 2010

If you’ve been on the fence wondering whether eating more raw foods is a good thing or not, then let me help you over – to the good side. Obviously I have a very biased opinion about eating raw foods, after all I’ve written a book on the subject (ie. Eating for Energy).

But you just can’t refute the numerous benefits of eating raw. One of the reasons I started eating more raw foods several years ago was that I wanted more energy. I was sick and tired of needing lots of sleep (ie. 8-10 hours) to feel rested and somewhat energetic.

After all, most sleep experts have told us that our bodies need a “specific” amount of sleep for our body to regenerate and feel rested. I used to believe that…now I’m not so sure. What I’ve found is that when most of my food intake comes from raw foods, I don’t need as much sleep. In fact, when I’m about 80% raw, I can thrive on just 5-6 hours of sleep.

Part of the reason this happens is the body is getting “life energy” from the foods you’re feeding it. When we eat dead, cooked foods, there is little to no energy (other than calories) that we are providing our body.

Think of eating raw foods like recharging a battery. The more raw foods you eat, the more you are recharging your battery – which, in this case, is your body. Conversely, when the majority of your diet is comprised of dead foods, you inherently drain more of your battery’s energy.

This occurs because dead foods require more energy to be digested and metabolized. For instance, eating meat (that is cooked) draws more water from your body to be digested since most, if not all, the water in the meat has been evaporated by the cooking process.

Not only does eating cooked meat help to dehydrate your body but it also taxes your body’s digestive enzymes. Because the food is dead it no longer contains it’s natural food enzymes. As a result, your body must now spend more of its own energy to produce and secrete more of its limited digestive enzymes.

These are just a few reasons why cooked foods drain your energy but there are many more. Now, I’m not saying that you have to totally forego cooked foods from here on out (I certainly haven’t) but it’s important to understand that you should offset some of the “stress” imposed by cooked foods with an abundance of raw foods.

And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Simply eating more fruits and vegetables, in their raw state, is really all you need to do. When people ask me how to start eating raw, I usually just tell them that the easiest way to do so is by adding a few more fruits and vegetables into their daily diet.

Once you experience the benefits of doing so, you’ll find it easier to transition away from those foods that have held you hostage for so many years.

Go for it – you can do it!

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6 Natural Ways to Preventing H1N1 Virus

November 10th, 2009

I don’t have H1N1 and I certainly don’t plan on getting it.

And, I’m not vaccinated and will most certainly NOT get my vaccination. It’s scary to see how much hype has gone into prompting people of walks to get their H1N1 virus vaccination.

Considering the nasty consequences of vaccines (after all, many of them have “stabilizers” such as body-decaying mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde added to them) I choose to protect my body naturally by building and supporting my immune system.

This is a continuation to my previous post on boosting your immune system, and you can follow these recommendations to help your body out so that you don’t have to fall prey to H1N1 or any other flu that comes a knocking.

1. Sleep and Rest

Especially if you haven’t been feeling great or have busy, stressed days.  Your body regenerates when it enters stage 4 (deep) sleep. Thus, depriving yourself of sleep is not what you want to do.

2. Hydrate

Drink plenty of fluids:  filtered water, herbal teas (ginger, peppermint).  Remember: coffee and alcohol dehydrate and weaken your system.

3. Eat as Healthy as You Can

Be sure to eat plenty of raw fruit and fresh vegetables for their powerful antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and thousands of phytonutrients that help you fend off foreign invaders.

4. Use Garlic

Cook with it AND use it raw: toss steamed/cooked veggies with butter and crushed garlic cloves (1-3 cloves, raw!).  Garlic has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal properties.

5. Think Healthy to Be Healthy

Focus your thinking on creating health and strength, and recognize your body’s natural ability to defend itself. Remember, where attention goes, energy flows. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want.

6. Be Realistic and Keep Things in Perspective

Please remember that even with all the media hype, more people will die from the regular flu than from H1N1.  A healthy body is able to fight flu virus proliferation.

The only portals of entry for the flu virus are the mucous membranes (mainly nostrils and mouth/throat). It’s almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with a flu virus (including H1N1) in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as is its proliferation.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, you can follow these simple “hygienic practices”:

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. ‘Hands-off-the-face’ approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face.

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water. H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive, age-old yet powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water (try a ‘nasal irrigation device’ such as a neti pot, found at drug and health food stores, but also, blowing your nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with Q-Tips dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5. Drink warm or hot liquids. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

One Final Note…

Remember that sugar paralyzes the immune system.  Sugar actively competes with vitamin C for entry into your cells.  Your cells need vitamin C!  Let them have it!  Avoid (or strictly limit) sugar, candies, chocolate – especially during cold and flu season.  (Vitamin C is a potent anti-oxidant, is used in detoxification and destruction of ‘bad cells’ and waste, and is essential during times of stress and anxiety.)

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