Posts Tagged ‘water’

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.

Post to Twitter

No comments »

Posted in Food For Thought

Tags:

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!

smoothie footer

Post to Twitter

No comments »

Posted in Raw Foods

Tags:

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.)

468X80

.

Post to Twitter

9 comments »

Posted in General Nutrition

Tags:

Why is Water Beneficial For Weight Loss?

September 11th, 2009

Is water beneficial for weight loss?

You better believe it!

If you’re goal is to lose weight, then I’m sure you’ve heard people tell you to drink more water, right? But why?

Sure they tell you it helps you lose weight but still many people are left in the dark as to how exactly water helps you lose weight.

So let’s look at a few reasons why water is so good for weight loss.

Replacing High-Calorie Beverages

Replacing alcohol, soda, and other high-calorie drinks with water will certainly make a difference in weight loss. High-calorie drinks put the pounds on.

Conversely, water has zero calories. And, unlike many beverages like Coke Zero that claim to have no calories, “good” water doesn’t contain any nasty additives or sweeteners that do more harm than good!

A 2006 study in the journal Obesity showed just how powerful replacing high-sugar drinks with water can be for losing weight.

In this study, researchers analyzed weight-loss data on 240 overweight women, ages 25 to 50, who were following one of several popular diet plans, including Atkins and The Zone, programs that restrict carbohydrate consumption to varying degrees.

Before beginning their programs, the women drank an average of about two cans a day of sugary drinks (about 200 calories total), including soda and juice. 

The findings of this study included:

  • Dieters who replaced virtually all sweetened drinks with water lost an average 5 pounds more in a year than dieters who didn’t.
  • Those who drank more than four cups of water a day lost an additional 2 pounds more than dieters who did not drink that much.

Essentially, drinking water helps you lose weight because you are replacing some calories (ie. 200 calories in a soda) with a liquid that has no calories.,

One of the reasons for our “obesity epidemic” is that North Americans haven’t changed their water intake over the past decade, yet we are drinking about 20 more ounces a day of caloric beverages. 

Yet, many people claim that water doesn’t taste good.

Come on! Get a life.

Maybe it’s because their bodies are so toxic and their palettes are so messed up from all the garbage foods they are eating. Obviously, when you eat high-sugar drinks all day, water is going to taste bland in comparison.

Get rid of the junk and nourish your body with what it actually craves – water.

Water-Rich Foods Instead of Calorie-Dense Foods

When it comes to food simply replacing high-calorie foods with high-water foods can help you lose weight.

Can you say raw foods?

Raw foods are amazing because they have a high water content. Vegetables and fruit are predominantly water. And they serve up incredible nutrition. 

Think of it this way…

When you cook a hamburger, doesn’t it shrink?

Yes it does. 

And it does so because the cooking/heating process evaporates the water right out of the meat. 

Now, when your body goes to digest this burger it must draw upon its own water reserves to “liquify” the burger for easier digestion and assimilation.

I don’t advocate eating raw meat but simply by eating more raw fruits and vegetables you will lessen the burden on your digestive system and allow your body to conserve more of its own water.

Doing so can help to avoid packing on pounds of undigested food.

Appetite Suppression

Water has been known and shown to suppress your appetite. As little as one glass of water can suppress your appetite by up to about 25%!

So if you want to avoid over eating at your next meal just drink a glass of water. You’ll even find that you weren’t even that hungry in the first place.

Drinking water is another great strategy to avoid “boredom snacking”. 

You know when you reach for foods because you’re bored but not really hungry. Instead, just have a glass of water and you’ll help to dissipate those apparent hunger pains. Oh yeah, and try doing something that stimulates you so don’t feel bored!

Post to Twitter

1 comment »

Posted in Weight Loss

Tags: