Raw Foodism

1|Page Table of ContentsWhat is Raw Foodism?................................................................................................3Why go Raw?...............................................................................................................5Doing the Raw Food Diet Right……………………………………………………………………….7Eating Raw Plant Proteins & Nutrients as Opposed to Cooked Animal………………10Finding the Ingredients for Your Raw Food Diet……………………………………………..12How to Get Started On A Raw Food Diet……………………………………………………….15Human vs. Ape in the Raw Food Diet…………………………………………………………….17Heat - the Enemy of Nutrients……………………………………………………………………….20Getting the Acid-Alkali Balance Right on the Raw Food Diet…………………………….22Fruit or Fat – How to get your Calories on the Raw Food Diet………………………….25Nutritional Value of Raw Food Diets – How Good is it?..........................................27Raw Is Good!..............................................................................................................29Raw Food Diets and Children…………………………………………………………………………31Debunking the Raw Food Diet Myths…………………………………………………………….34A Tasty way to Do the Raw Food Vegan Diet………………………………………………….37A Raw Diet and Aging……………………………………………………………………………………39A Good Raw Diet for Your Health………………………………………………………………….4210 Reasons to Eat Raw Foods…………………………………………………………………………44You don’t need to be a Rabbit to Benefit from a Raw Food Diet……………………….47Why You Need A Raw Food Diet………………………………………………………………….49The Health Benefits of a Raw Food Diet…………………………………………………………51The Healthy Way to do Raw Food Diets…………………………………………………………53To Cook or Not to Cook: Heating Foods and What It Means………………………….55Recipes for a Raw Food Diet………………………………………………………………………….58Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

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3|Page What is Raw Foodism?Alternative diets have been present since time began. Today, whenhuman beings have a greater understanding of the environment and theirown bodies, there are several alternative diets that have been embracedon a worldwide basis. Raw Foodism, better known as Rawism or the RawFood Diet, is just one of the many alternate diets around today. It hasgrown in popularity because of the great health benefits it is said that onecan derive from eating in this way.The raw food diet arises from the concept that fruit and vegetables, wheneaten in their raw state, are more beneficial for the human being. Someindividuals believe that the food eaten in its raw state is more beneficial tothe human body as well as making them more energetic. Therefore, thepeople who follow a raw food diet will largely eat uncooked food. Theseindividuals also eat unprocessed food or organic foods. Usually eighty percent of the raw food diet is commonly consumed its natural state. It’s apopular misconception that everything you eat on a raw food diet must betotally raw. Most experts who support the raw food diet say that you canget all the benefits of the raw food diet from eating eighty per cent of yourdiet in the raw state. BenefitsApart from the benefits like energizing the body, there are several benefitsthat are attributed to raw foods. For example, having a raw food diet isclaimed to work wonders for health conditions like diabetes and skindiseases. A raw food diet is also known to be instrumental in helpingindividuals achieve that ‘glow’, which is basically a healthy skin. Raw fooddiets are also known to help people in good digestion. Raw food diets arealso known to be instrumental in the weight loss of an individual. Rawfood diets have a lesser quantity of sodium. Also, they are high inpotassium and fibers, which add to the health of an individual.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

4|Page Side EffectsJust as the raw food diet has advantages, there are some disadvantages of araw food diet. However, these raw food diets may cause the individuals tohave a detoxification-like feeling if their previous diet was quite heavy incaffeine, meat and sugar. Also, some individuals may face side effects likenausea, cravings for the food and headaches. Also, individuals who havea risk of anemia, osteoporosis, and pregnant women should not adhere toa raw food diet. Also, there are chances of some nutritional deficiencies incalcium, proteins and iron.There are several recipes for raw food. These recipes can be easily foundon the various websites that cater to raw food and individuals who followthe raw food diet. A simple search on any search engine will give you thelinks to all the major websites that cater to the raw food diet and have therecipes for the same.If you are thinking of trying a raw food diet, break yourself in gently,gradually increasing the proportions of your diet comprised of raw foods.If you try to do it all at once it will be too much of a change for you andyou will almost certainly give up and return to your old eating habits. Thatwould be a real shame as then you will never realize the great healthbenefits that you can get from following a raw food diet.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

5|Page Why go Raw?The raw food diet is becoming very popular these days. It is obvious whatthe raw food diet is. Most of the food that you eat on a raw food dietneeds to be raw or as close to its natural state as possible.Now don’t go getting all squeamish on me. We’re not talking about eatingraw meat here. The raw food diet is a largely vegan diet. There is alsosome room for maneuver in the raw food diet too as the people whosupport it say that to get the maximum health benefits from the raw fooddiet you only must make sure that approximately eight per cent of whatyou eat needs to be raw.People who support the raw food diet as a healthy lifestyle argue thatfoods on their natural state contain the optimum balance of enzymes,vitamins and minerals that we need. They argue that the enzymescontained in raw food and which are killed off by cooking, will helppeople to digest their food more fully and so derive more nutritionalvalue from it. That places less stress on the body to produce its owndigestive enzymes.Raw food supporters also believe that the cooking we normally do to ourfood destroys their natural vitamins and minerals and that food takeslonger to digest in this cooked, unnatural state. The cooked foodtherefore hangs around longer in the gut while the body attempts to digestit. The proteins, carbohydrates and fats which have not been fully digestedtherefore become waste products. These waste products slow down thefood’s transit through the gut, causing constipation, bloating, stomachcancer etc. While the fats tend to clog up the arteries. A raw food diet,which is higher in fiber too, pushes the food more quickly through the gutand there are fewer waste by-products which are left around to causeproblems to the body.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

6|PageBasically, a raw food diet makes your whole digestion process a lot moreefficient. It delivers more of the essential vitamins and nutrients which ourbodies need and leaves behind fewer waste products which can becomeharmful to our bodies.The health benefits of the raw food diet include an increase in energy asyour body is maximizing the amount of nutrients it actually gets where itneeds it; plus, the body has to work less hard in order to process the rawfood.You should find that your skin looks clearer on the raw food diet. That isbecause your body is taking in fewer toxins which would cause skineruptions. The raw food diet is a good detox!Your digestive system will work more efficiently on the raw food diet.Food will pass through the gut more quickly and waste will be expelledregularly. That is great for avoiding health problems like IBS and stomachcancer.You may also find that you lose weight and manage your weight moreeffectively on the raw food diet. It is lower in fat that most people’s eatinghabits. There is less fat hung around in the body to clog up arteries andpile on the pounds. That in turn reduces your risk of contracting heartdisease.All in all, then, you can see that eating a diet that is comprised of at leasteighty per cent raw fruit and vegetable sis great for your health. You willlessen your risk of serious diseases and generally look and feel betterwhile you follow the raw food diet.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

7|Page Doing the Raw Food Diet RightRaw food diets have advantages over eating cooked foods. For one,because raw foods are not cooked, they retain much more of theiroriginal nutritional value than if they were cooked. Second, raw foods arefrequently much easier for the digestive system to process. And third,because of the previous two points, the body’s energy level is muchhigher. However, there are some precautions to consider along with theadvantages.Although raw food diets are good for most people, they are not good foreveryone. Children, for one, may not benefit as much from a raw fooddiet as an adult would. Children are very energetic. Their growing bodiesneed many nutrients that are not found in many raw foods and they needmore of these nutrients than an adult does. Children can get their saltsand sugars, to sustain their energy, from fruits and vegetables, but theyalso need large amounts of calcium and protein as well.Raw foods, to include raw milk, don’t have the amount of calcium neededto grow strong bodies. Also, children need other nutrients and minerals tohelp them grow. The amount a child needs may not be able to beprovided from a purely raw food diet. If you are considering putting yourchildren on a raw food diet it is strongly suggested to consult with yourchild’s pediatrician before you do. You may also want to think aboutadding vitamin supplements to the children’s diet once you do start theraw food diet.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

8|PageRaw food diets may also not be appropriate for pregnant women andthose who are nursing too. Here again, many raw foods don’t possess thenecessary nutrients for a child body growth and development. In fact, thewrong raw food diet can deplete a woman’s body of required nutrients forher fetus or suckling child. Once again it becomes important to consultyour doctor before starting a raw food diet.People who have osteoporosis, or who are at risk for it, should also becareful about raw food diets. And those that suffer from anemia areanother group of people that need to use caution when putting togethertheir raw diet plans. The best advice to anyone with a health condition isfor them to talk with their doctor before actually starting a raw food diet.Even including a dietician or nutritionist into your raw food diet plan is agood idea for everyone.All people considering a raw food diet should be aware that there arecertain nutritional deficiencies inherent in all raw food diets. As wasindicated earlier there is no raw food that provides calcium. Some rawfoods such as fish do have a certain amount of protein in them, but manyfruits and vegetables certainly lack this needed nutrient. Iron and vitaminB-12 are other minerals the body needs but is difficult to acquire from araw food diet without supplements. In fact, the Journal of Nutrition foundthat those on raw food diets have higher levels of homocysteine becauseof B-12 deficiency.It is true that some raw foods can be more expensive than other diets.There are some prepackaged raw foods that will be expensive. But yourbest raw food buys will always be found in your grocer’s produce section.Fruits and vegetable are a bargain when compared to the money you werespending on meats such as a steak. If you find your raw food shopping billgetting a little too high, adjust and modify it.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

9|PageMany people might think that once they start a raw food diet that all theirmeals must be eaten at home because there are no restaurants thatprepare raw foods. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Since moreand more people are recognizing the benefit of raw foods manyrestaurants are adding raw foods to their menus. In addition, manyrestaurants, especially in the big cities like New York, Los Angeles, andChicago are catering specifically to the raw food crowd. And a crowd it isbecoming because the numbers of people eating the raw food diet isincreasing.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

10 | P a g e Eating Raw Plant Proteins and Nutrients as Opposed to Cooked AnimalWhen people think of protein, the word ‘meat’ usually springs to mind.We were always told that a steak or chicken or pork chop was the bestsource, but animal proteins have some inherent problems. First off, eatingmeat raw can be downright hazardous! Animal meats can contain bacteriaand other pathogens that are dangerous, and even lethal if left untreated.As a result, cooking is required. However, this process contains difficultiesas well. Proteins are assemblies of amino acids. When they are heated,links form between these acids, and they resist the efforts of digestiveenzymes to break them down. When this happens, the body can notabsorb the proteins, and they thus become waste. This thus has twonegative affects on your body: first, you are deprived of the proteins youneed, and your body is now saddled with material that must beeliminated. The proteins can accumulate in the lower intestine, andbecome a breeding ground for bacteria and other harmful organisms.This is where eating vegetable proteins is preferable, and eating them rawis the best means of assuring you get the full benefits of the proteins. Now,some vegetables – most notably lima beans and soybeans, have somenatural toxins in them that are made safe by cooking, but they are theexception as opposed to the rule. By and large, cooking of any sortdamages the nutritional benefits of most fruits and vegetables; the higherthe temperatures, the more detrimental the effects. This is yet anotherreason to only steam vegetables – if you insist on cooking them at all, ormaybe lightly boiling or grilling them.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

11 | P a g eThe key benefit of many fruits and vegetables is that they can be safelyingested when raw. Normally, just washing them is enough, and then youcan eat them as-is. In doing so, you get the full benefit of their aminoacids.Along these same lines, vitamins are very susceptible to damage by heat.Vitamins such as thiamin, Vitamin B, C, and others loose much of theirpotency during the baking process. Others, the lipid soluble ones like K,E, D, and A suffer nearly a fifty percent drop in their effectiveness. Forsome vitamins, it has to do with the pH of the compound they arecontained in. As an example, thiamin does not do well in anything with apH higher than six. Above that level, nearly all of that vitamin breaksdown, and is rendered useless to your health. That is why baked goodssuch as crackers and cookies have essentially no thiamin.Beyond that, there’s also the argument for eating fresh fruits andvegetables, as opposed to canned. The canning process has been shownto be very damaging to vitamins such as B6.Heat is also the enemy of fats. If cooked at too high a temperature, thelipids are changed, and they bond with the walls of the body’s cells. Thiscauses blockage for the cell, and makes it difficult to function properly.Over time, this can boost your risk of heart disease and cancer.Of all the forms of cooking, deep-frying has got to be the worst! Any fooddeep-fried: chicken, French fries, and so forth have a huge amount ofthese damaging lipids. Given the popularity of such foods in the UnitedStates, it’s little wonder that cancer and heart disease are so common.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

12 | P a g e Finding the Ingredients for Your Raw Food DietRaw food diets have become very popular with many people throughoutthe world. This kind of diet provides many health benefits and advantagesto all who use it. However, getting started in a raw food diet can be a bit ofa challenge, not only in the actual transition from a traditional diet to araw food diet, but also where to go to find the foods for it. The aim of thisarticle is to help you find those foods.Because of the interest and growth in raw food dieting there are some rawfood specialty markets available in some locations. This is especially truefor the larger cities where there are more people, all with different eatinginterests. Some people, who live in big cities, may be fortunate enough tohave one of these stores in the city in which they live. If you don’t have araw food store near you, do not worry.Your local grocery store has always carried many types of raw foods, andmany of these stores are expanding their raw food inventories to meet theever-increasing demand for raw food products. Raw foods that havealways been stocked in your grocery store are all your vegetable needs,which are in the produce section. Often, this section will also carry baggednuts, including sunflower and pumpkin seeds. In addition, you should beable to find sprouts and organically grown produce. Farmer markets areanother hot spot for finding practically any raw produce that you mightlike.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

13 | P a g eAround many cities, out in the country, are farm lands owned by privatefarmers. Many of these farmers sell portions of their crops, at a standalong the road side of their farms. The good thing about these vegetablessold at these stands is that they are very fresh and the variety is often largerthan what you would get at the grocery store. The down side is that thepesticides are generally unwashed of pesticides.Raw grains can sometimes be a little more difficult to find, especiallythose of a specialty kind. However, many grocery stores do carry a limitedtype, such as raw oats. If you don’t have an alternative foods store nearyou or can’t find that special you want you may be able to go on-line andorder them.One advantage of a raw food diet is the costs. Because you have basicallyeliminated meat products from your shopping list and are not buyingprepackaged foods you could easily find your bill at the checkout counterto be much less than it has been in the past.Another advantage of raw food diets is that many raw foods can be grownright in your own backyard. Most vegetables and some fruits are easy togrow, especially if you have a green thumb. Carrots, tomatoes, zucchini,strawberries, green beans, are examples of raw foods that can be grown inthe back yard and some of these can even be grown in pots on the patio.Both tomato and strawberry plants grow very well in pots and do lookattractive placed in the right spot.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

14 | P a g eAn advantage of growing your own is that you don’t have chemicals andpesticides. Many foodists seek an organic raw food diet and growing yourown is one sure way to get organically grown foods. As the grower, youcan control what you use to help your garden grow and protect yourplants from the invasion of insects. And besides garden can be nice placesto hang out. Toiling the soil of the garden is very relaxing, gratifying, andfun for many people. “Raw foods are all around us and available for our use and our health.”Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

15 | P a g e How to Get Started On A Raw Food DietGetting started on a raw food diet is not all that difficult but does requiresome attention to your body to the foods you will be buying andpreparing. For some people, there really isn’t much preparation involved,while for others there is more. Preparation will basically be a matter oftaste and choice.However, in starting a raw food diet there are some things you shouldknow about it before you do. First and foremost, being new to the rawfood diet you should talk to your doctor or nutritional advisor forguidance. Switching to a raw food diet will cause your body will gothrough changes initially and some of those changes could impact youroverall health.A raw diet consists of seventy to ninety percent raw foods. But to switchover from a cooked diet to an uncooked diet from one day to the nextcan shock your body, especially your digestive system. For years you haveconsumed cooked foods and your body has become accustomed toprocessing those types of foods. As a rule of thumb for beginners, youshould start out gradually, maybe eating only one raw meal a day, andthen slowly work your way toward eating raw at each meal.One very important thing to note is that a raw food diet has a detoxifyingeffect on the body. Eating raw foods will cleanse the body of toxins andyour digestion will improve. However, there are some possible side effectsas your body adapts to this new raw food diet. You could experienceheadaches and nausea, as well as a mild depression. Have no fear asthese are only symptoms of your body planning. If these symptoms persistover a long period of time you should decrease the amount of raw foodyou are consuming and talk to your doctor or nutritionist.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

16 | P a g eAn important part of raw food dieting is to plan your meals. Thisespecially important in the beginning because your body will be cravingcertain foods as you change your dieting habits. Sugar and salts are a goodexample of such cravings because our body doesn’t make these on its ownbut needs them. Many raw fruits and vegetables have natural salts andsugars in them. The point is to monitor your bodily changes and adjustyour dieting plan according to your body’s needs.If you find it difficult to accommodate your body’s needs with the rawfoods in your diet plan you might want to consider adding dietarysupplements to your diet. Aloe Vera gel is a good example of a dietarysupplement. However, there are many more supplements available atyour local health food store. It is important for you, as you create yourraw diet plan, to research raw dieting options. The purpose behind a rawdiet is to improve your health, not make it worse.Another important point about raw food diets is not to mix it with acooked diet. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat cooked foods while on thisdiet. But it does mean that, during a meal, you don’t want to mix them.The reason for this is that cooked foods, when mixed with a raw diet, willneutralize many of enzymes and nutrients in the raw food, basicallydefeating the whole purpose of being on a raw diet. Also, mixing thesetwo types of diets can make your digestive system work harder, againdefeating the purpose of the raw food diet.As you get further along in your raw food diet don’t be afraid to try eatingyour raw foods in different ways. Some people on raw food diets prefereating their foods in their natural state and don’t cut or blend. On theother hand, there are some who slice, dice, chop, and even blend theirraw foods. It’s all pretty much a matter of personal preference, as neitherway diminishes they nutritional value of the food.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

17 | P a g e Human vs. Ape in the Raw Food DietSome people say that a raw food diet is not right for people. They say wewere meant to eat meat; so, we should eat lots of it. Yet, evolutionarybiology tells us that we have a lot in common with the great apes. In fact,in a comparison of our DNA, scientists kept finding identical genes againand again. The joke around some labs was that they were going to find outthat the only difference between us and the apes were social! Eventually,they did find differences. Yet, we still share about ninety-nine percentsimilarity with the great apes. So, following a diet like what they eat can bequite healthy for us.With all the apes – chimps, baboons, orangutans and gorillas, they eatdiets rich in raw fruit, raw leaves, and shoots, insects and nuts. The idea ofeating cooked foods and lots of different kinds of grains is somethingunique to people. Many dieticians, doctors, and scientists believe that ifwe stick to a diet that is more like that of our ape relatives, we would seemajor benefits to our overall health. After all, they argue, it is the diet weare best adapted to. But, the diet of the great apes does have someimportant limitations; we need to be mindful of this, and compensate forit.First off, this type of diet is lacking in a source for B12. Now, the apescompensate for this being eating insects along with the fruits, shoots,leaves and nuts. Chimpanzees love to collect and eat termites, and theyare high in B12. Of course, as vegan diets go, insects are definitely not onthe menu! Vitamin B12 comes from bacteria, so not having the insects inyour diet is not something to worry about. Not that I imagine you’re at alldisappointed by that fact! You can simply get B12 from and commercialfortified foods and supplements.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

18 | P a g eNext, exposure to sunlight is important; as that is a source of vitamin D.modern humans tend to remain indoors a great deal, especially during thewinter. So, while our ape “relatives” bask in the African sun, we need tobe sure to get our vitamin D from foods fortified with the vegan form(ergocalciferol, D2). Doing so will make up for our limited light exposure.Another means of compensating is to take a trip to a sunnier clime duringthe winter. That way, you can get more vitamin D naturally. Be sure tokeep an eye on infants and small children. As they have a lot of bonegrowth going on in their bodies, they need plenty of vitamin D. Someadvocates for breast feeding say it’s the best way to insure infants getenough vitamin D. But, that only works if the mother has enough vitaminD in her diet.It’s also said that food processing, including cooking, has led to a bigchange in how our digestive systems operate as compared to the greatapes. Some argue that we’ve adapted to relying on processed foods. Insome cases, cooking and other processes are good. They eliminate sometoxins, and release some nutrients. What’s truly best is what’s known asconservative cooking: steaming food or boiling it. They improve somenutrients, while do only minimal destruction to others.One food group to try to avoid are the refined grains. There’s a lot ofresearch to support the assertion that they increase the risk of heartdisease and diabetes. On the other hand, whole grains do just theopposite; they reduce that same risk of heart disease and diabetes. Now,this does not mean you should necessarily add whole grains to your diet.Some people are allergic to gluten, which is in many grains. If that is thecase for you, consider adding whole grain rice to your diet; it lacks gluten,and is very nutritious.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

19 | P a g eSo, while we may have differences from our ape “cousins”, following adiet like theirs can be nutritious, beneficial, and require little to nocooking. Granted, you must insure you get adequate vitamins, and avoidanything you might be allergic to, but the overall long-term health benefitsare outstanding.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

20 | P a g e Heat - the Enemy of NutrientsFrom the time we’re small children, we’re taught to be careful withmatches. Why? Well, beyond the obvious concern of burning the housedown, our parents don’t want us to get burned! Even just going to thebeach for the day; what do we do? We apply sunscreen, lest we getburned. Anyone who has ever had a sunburn knows how much they sting.So, if heat, fire, and the sun can be so detrimental to our bodies, whatabout the foods we eat?Now, some would argue against eating too much raw foods, or even undercooked foods. We’ve all seen stories in the news about children gettingsick from eating hamburgers that weren’t cooked long enough. But, thosewere nearly all about meat that was contaminated by E. coli, and the heatwould have killed those bacteria. On the flip side, that same heat destroysso much of the nutritional benefits of that same food. When compared, adiet that is rich in raw or minimally cooked foods, as opposed to baked ordeep-fried foods, is much better for you.The best types of cooking are steaming, boiling, and grilling. The reasonis that they generally accomplish one of the following: the food isn’tcooked at an overly high temperature, and they aren’t cooked for long. Itmight surprise you to know this, but all it takes is cooking a food at atemperature higher than 117 (Fahrenheit) for more than three minutes,and the negatives impacts begin. Here are just some of the things thathappen to foods kept at high temperatures for a long time:Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

21 | P a g eThe amino acids in the proteins essentially coagulate! They form stronglinks between the acid chains, and become very difficult for your body todigest. The carbohydrates become caramelized, and are rendered virtuallyuseless to your body. This is much like the process of baking bread whenthe crust forms. In the old days, we were always told that the bestnutrients were in the crust, and that we should eat it. Well, turns out thatold wives’ tale was wrong. Other than a bit of roughage, the crust does youno good. And this is what high temperature and a long cooking time doesto all carbohydrates!Then there are the fats. Your body needs fats for metabolism and theconstruction of new cells. Excess fats are either metabolized or stored inthe body. This is how we get the so-called spare tire and love handles.The thing is, too much heat and time breaks down with lipids in the fats,and you end up getting a host of cancer-causing chemicals in your body.Things with fancy names like acrolein, nitrosamines, and benzopyrene,which is one of the worst of the cancer chemicals known to exist!Many people eat vegetables for the fiber, which is very good for you. Hereagain, the cellulose in fiber is severely damaged by heat. Many of itsvitamins and minerals are destroyed, and the fiber’s effectiveness inhelping to keep your colon clear is reduced substantially.As if that isn’t bad enough; it’s been found that some pesticides – whiledestroyed by cooking, are still dangerous. The heat causes their moleculesto form new compounds, which are just as bad for us to be eating! So,rather than fill up your diet with a lot of baked goods, consider the rawfoods. The health benefits are innumerable.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

22 | P a g e Getting the Acid-Alkali Balance Right on the Raw Food DietRaw food diets are a natural way to help us maintain good health, increaseour energy, avoid some serious health risks and enjoy earths’ bounty inthe way that Nature intended. There are many different raw foodsavailable for us to eat too. There are many different fruits, nuts,vegetables, and meats for us to incorporate into our raw food diet.However, with all these choices we can make mistakes in ourconsumption of these foods. This article is written to help us avoidmaking one of the most common mistakes on the raw food diet – eatingtoo much acidic food.In this article, you will learn why too much acid in your diet can be badfor you and how to avoid that common mistake on the raw food diet – orany eating plan.Raw fruits provide us with many needed vitamins, nutrients and they tastegood. But there are some types of fruit that, when eaten in quantitieswhich are too high, can cause us more health issues than they help toprevent. We are speaking of fruits of the citrus type such as oranges,grapefruits, pineapples, and lemons to be specific. Each of these fourfruits has high acidic levels and while they are good in moderation on theraw food diet, too much of them can be a bad thing.Citrus fruits are good for the body because they also contain high levels ofvitamins like vitamin C and the acid within these fruits are great atbreaking down toxins. Despite these advantages though, they can createother problems.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

23 | P a g eAs we have just seen citrus fruit acid does have its benefits, but the benefitis only when the fruits are consumed in moderation. Because of thesefruit’s high level of acid, over-eating them can create stomach problemsand can even make existing problems worse. When there is too muchacid in the stomach the body must get rid of it and fast, usually eliminatingit in the form of diarrhea, before the acid begins deteriorating the stomachlining.And this is another point about too much acid in the stomach. Too muchacid, to include what our body produces itself, can eat away at thestomach lining which in turn can cause some very serious health issues. Ifa person has stomach ulcers for example, acid can irritate the ulcer,possibly causing it to bleed even. Most physicians would recommendcontrolling the acid intake so as not to cause the stomach further damageis there is already existing damage.Another point about citrus fruit acid is that, in large daily quantities, theacid can soften the enamel that makes our teeth hard, to the point that theteeth can break. It is obvious that this is not healthy, especially for eatingreasons.The above is not to discourage anyone from including citrus fruits in theirraw food diet. In fact, citrus fruits in the diet are highly suggested, but inreasonable moderation and in accordance to with the amount of acid yourbody can handle in a healthy way. After all, isn’t a raw food diet aboutgetting and staying healthy?Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

24 | P a g eEarlier we touched on vitamin C and it recalls something important aboutvitamin intake. We all need vitamins to strengthen our bodies and bolsterour immune system. However, too much of any one vitamin can put thebody into a state of shock and even poison it, like in an overdose. As youdevelop your raw food diet plan find out what levels of vitamin intake isgood for your body and then design your raw food diet plan accordingly.The key point in this whole article is the thought of moderation andbalance, just as in all things in our lives. And balance is the key principleto establishing and maintaining a healthy raw food diet. And anynutritionist will support that principle.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

25 | P a g e Fruit or Fat – How to get your Calories on the Raw Food DietWe have gotten phobic about fat in these health-conscious days. TheHoly Grille of diets seemed to be the elimination of all fat. There are twofacts about that which make it a bad idea:1. You can’t avoid fats altogether – it is impossible.2. On the good side, you should know that some fats are good for you.The raw food diet helps you to eat the right kinds of fats that give yourbody what it needs without clogging up your arteries. Too much fatthickens the blood and that leads to clogged arteries, strokes and heartattacks.Calories are units of energy. We have grown so used to seeing calories asthe enemy that many of us have lost sight of the fact that we need toconsume a certain number of calories each day. On the raw food diet,you will be getting most of your calories from fruit or fat; sure, you’ll beeating a lot of vegetables too but they are so low in calories that you wouldneed to eat an awful lot of them to get all the calories that you need. Mostvegetables don’t have very many calories in them and those that do, thestarchy ones, aren’t very nice to eat raw.Your raw food diet won’t be very high in protein, because high proteinvegetables like avocado and nuts tend to be high fat too and that isn’t verygood for you. So, to get the bulk of your calories on a raw food diet,concentrate on fruit and fats. You will much more successful in sticking tothe diet and in deriving all the health benefits from it.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

26 | P a g eA diet which is rich in fruit is, overall, healthier than going down the highfat route. It is a good idea to limit fat to no more than fifteen per cent ofyour overall diet. Five per cent of your calories should come fromvegetables. That means that apart from fatty fruits such as avocado andcoconut, around eighty per cent of your calories comes from fruit in ahealthy balanced raw food diet. Fruit have a lot of vitamins; vegetableshave a lot of minerals and so together they are a powerful combination.You’ll be eating a lot more food than you did before you started the rawfood diet since fruit and vegetables are low in calories. That’s why a lot ofpeople find the raw food diet an effective way to lose weight, but you stillneed a certain number of calories each day. Bananas and mangoes areamong the fruits highest in calories, which just one piece of this fruitaveraging at just one a hundred calories. The great thing about includingfruit in your diet is that often it needs little or no preparation such aspeeling etc.There is good, sound, scientific argument that states that a diet high infruit is the best way for humans to eat, and that has caused a big increasein the popularity of the raw food diet. Think about what nature is telling ishere – our nearest biological relatives are gorillas, chimps and orangutans.They eat an awful lot of fruit!A raw food diet high in fruit tends to allow people to reach their optimalweight for their height and build. They also increase their energy levelsand boost their immunity so they get sick less often.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

27 | P a g e Nutritional Value of Raw Food Diets – How Good is it?A raw food diet is a diet that consists mainly of uncooked vegetables, fruit,legumes and seeds. The raw food diet may also contain eggs and otherfood that can be eaten raw but not everyone does it that way and there aresome risks associated with eating raw eggs and raw meat. As a result, mostpeople who do the raw food diet follow a vegan diet.The raw food diet is argued to be beneficial to the human body in moreways than one. The main concept of the raw food diet lies with the factthat many vegetables and fruits lose a major chunk of their nutrients oncethe food is cooked or overcooked. To counter this loss, the concept ofraw food diets is fast becoming popular.However, with advantages, the raw food diet has its own disadvantages.Some critics have argued that a raw food diet is not a complete nutritiousdiet for people. Therefore, people should ensure that they have therequire substitutes for the nutrients that they would not be getting oncethey adhere to a raw food diet. Also, bear in mind that most experts whosupport the raw food diet say that only eighty per cent of the diet needs tobe raw to get all the benefits.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

28 | P a g eThe diet may be lacking in vitamins like the vitamin D and vitamin B12 ifyou ONLY eat raw food. Also, vitamins that are present in meat, like theB6 vitamin, may not be available for people who are adhering to the rawfood diet 100%. Also, a raw food diet does contain very less zinc, proteinand iron. Be sensible about it, listen to your body and include pulses andsome protein and you should do well on the raw food diet. A totally rawfood diet is not suggested for a pregnant woman or even a growing child.Many medical authorities believe that a raw food diet does not have thenecessary calories to feed a pregnant woman or a growing child. Also,recent tests have shown that a completely raw food diet cannot befollowed by any person because of the essential nutrients that are notpresent in a raw food diet. Remember the 80-20 guideline and get abalanced diet.The most important aspect of any diet is the enzymes. The body needsenzymes to perform a variety of the daily functions. Therefore, enzymeslike amylase and protease are quite important for the healthy living of ahuman. The raw food diet you are following should have the essentialnutrients you need for your daily life. Many of these enzymes aredestroyed by cooking. The enzymes are also necessary for the body,because they help in increasing the immunity as well as decreasing thefatigue levels of the body.Therefore, it can be safely said that raw food diets offer advantages overcooked food, but for it to be embraced as a full-time diet, you should alsoinclude whole grains which have of course been cooked, and a goodsource of protein. There are several raw food diet recipes available, whatwith the many cookbooks related to the raw food diets. Also, the Internetis a good place to look for the raw food diets. Just a simple search on anyof the major search engines will give you a list of all the websites that caterto raw food recipes and raw food diets.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

29 | P a g e Raw Is Good!Raw! That’s the way many of us like it. Just plain raw! Give us raw and weare happy campers. We like raw sports, relationships with a rawness tothem, raw sex, and kind of living our lives on a raw edge. Those of us whoare raw oriented also know the value of eating raw. And believe it or notwhen we eat raw vegetables we provide our body with some very essentialvitamins and nutrients that are not found in the can.When we are single and living by ourselves we do have a tendency to liveout of the can. We eat canned foods because it is quick and easy. Pourthe can contents into a bowl and throw it into the microwave. Within afew moments we have something warm to fill our bellies with. However,when we live out of the can our bodies are not getting the nutritional valueit needs to function at its best.The body functions at its best when we do raw. That is when we eatvegetables that are raw or near being raw. But for many of us eating rawvegetables can be a little repulsive, and depending on the vegetable, a littledifficult to eat. Regardless, raw vegetables, or as near to raw as possible,have many nutritional values and advantages for our bodies.All vegetables contain enzymes. Enzymes help the body break downmany of the other nutrients we might consume so that those nutrients aremore effective for our body’s use. The bad thing about canned products,especially concerning vegetables, is that those enzymes we need forhealthy living have been cooked out of what’s in the can.The basic principle here is that the more a vegetable is cooked the moreenzymes within it that are lost. That’s right, and it is something to beremembered when we cook vegetables. The more a vegetable is cookedthe less its nutrient quality becomes.Unfortunately, most of us are not chefs or doctors who know about thenutritional value of vegetables. Even on the raw food diet, certainvegetables do need to be cooked before they are consumed, primarily forHome Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

30 | P a g edigestive reasons. It’s hard for the body to process raw asparagus forexample. Asparagus, although tremendously high in nutritional value, isreal tough to eat raw and when eaten raw is hard on the digestive systemto process. That is OK, though, as most raw food diet experts say youonly need to make up eighty per cent of your diet with raw foods to getthe health benefits.For many chefs and nutritional advisors, the advice given for cooking thevegetables you have to cook is to cook them as briefly as possible.Nutritionally scientific evidence does show that boiling vegetables doesmake them softer to eat, but the nutritional value of those veggies is lost inthe water that the vegetables were boiled in. However, when you cookyour vegetables gently and for a short period it is a different story.Is raw good? It depends on the kind of raw you want, as we have seen. Itdoes seem that eating our raw vegetables raw, however, has more of ahealth benefit than does boiling them. Maybe there is something to besaid about being a little raw.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

31 | P a g e Raw Food Diets and ChildrenMany people within the medical community, as well as those outside of it,are seeing the positive benefits of raw food diets. People and their doctorsare seeing rapid weight reduction, a balance in blood pressure levels, andother health benefits. With such positive results, many families arelooking to incorporate raw food diets into their children’s diets. However,because children are children this can be easier said than done.Many children can be rather picky about the things they eat, andvegetables are a funny truth of this fact. As many parents know all too welltheir children often leave the vegetables on their plate to be eaten last.And even then, it can be a parental challenge to get the child to eat theirveggies before leaving the table.For children, the issue is largely about taste and texture. And quitefrankly, and in agreement with the child’s viewpoint, many raw foods cantaste somewhat odd and have an equally odd texture when eaten. Formost anybody many raw foods do take some getting used to, and a child isno different. However, the question is how you get your childreninterested in a raw food diet. Here are some possible strategies.All young children like to help their parents because they see it as doinggrown-up things. It’s also one way they learn socialization skills, althoughit can be more of a game to them than it is an awareness of learning.However, the parent can use this ‘helping’ behavior to their advantage bybringing the child into the preparation of the raw food meal.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

32 | P a g eRaw food preparation is a safe thing to do because there’s no cookinginvolved and therefore the parent doesn’t need to worry about the childburning or scalding themselves. Even though there may be some cuttinginvolved, which would require the use of knives, something youngchildren probably shouldn’t do, there are still other things they can do tohelp. For example, after you cut a food the child could place the cutpieces in a bowl or plate, or if the meal will include leafy raw foodschildren can wash these under cold water for you. What’s important hereis to get your children involved in the preparation as means of introducingthem to a raw food diet.Another way to get children to embrace a raw food diet is provide themwith fresh fruits like grapes, berries, and bananas for example. Mostchildren enjoy these fruits and the more variety you can provide themwith the better. Watermelon slices or apple pieces are a treat to almostany child. If you provide more types of these healthy choices they aremore likely to be less inclined to ask for candy or cookies. There is asignificant difference of taste in natural sugars from processed sugars, andchildren even seem to know this difference and go for the healthierchoice.For the family picnic or trip to the zoo fill the picnic basket with rawfoods. Children enjoy outings because they are fun. When children arehaving fun, they will be more open to new food experiences. Especiallyafter running around and burning up energy they will be hungry and readyto eat practically anything.Be a good example. This fact applies to any part of child rearing, as wellas it does to introducing your child to a raw food diet. All young childrenHome Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

33 | P a g ewatch they parents as examples of what to do or not to do. The thingsthey see you do they’ll want to do the same, including eating the samefoods as you do.The main point in this article, as you introduce your child to a raw fooddiet, is to make it a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. Andremember, children are children and can be picky about what they eat. Ifthey don’t care for one type of raw food, try another.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

34 | P a g e Debunking the Raw Food Diet MythsAs of late, the Raw Food Diet has gained a reputation that has taken itfrom a diet to a popular lifestyle choice. Celebrities such as Demi Moore,Robin Williams and Alicia Silverstone swear by the raw food diet, andevery day more and more people are joining the ranks of those whobelieve that eating raw fruits and vegetables as the key components of ahealth regimen is the healthiest way to live.There are those people, however, who shy away from it, believing that thediet is inconvenient, or expensive or unhealthy. There are many mythsout there as to what the Raw Food Diet is and what it isn't. By separatingmyth from fact, you will be able to properly assess and understand thebenefits and drawbacks of the Raw Food diet, and you will be able todecide for yourself whether it is the right lifestyle change for you.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

35 | P a g e Let's talk about what the Raw Food diet is NOT.The Raw Food diet is not a diet consisting of 100% raw foods alone. For aperson to reap the benefits of raw food eating, he or she needs to eat atleast 90% to 95% raw foods. That doesn't mean that you are not able toeat foods that are cooked or heated. It also doesn't mean that you can'tdeviate from the diet every occasionally. Of course, as with everythingelse, dedication and discipline is key in obtaining all you can fromdeveloping healthier eating habits. However, there are those who practicean almost raw food diet instead of an entirely raw food diet. Recipes areavailable all over the Internet that support that.The Raw Food diet is also NOT an expensive diet. It's true that it appearslately, diets that are easy on the body are not so easy on our wallets. Oneonly needs to look at the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, Nutrisystem’s,Jenny Craig, diet pills, drugs, juices...the list goes on and on. But thinkabout it: a diet consisting of mostly raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, sprouts,grains, seaweed, nuts and other cold pressed raw oils and fermentedsauces is not only good for your stomach, but it costs very little. A rawfood diet means that you spend your fast food money -- the money thatyou would have spent on that cholesterol-riddled, high-fat cheeseburger--on a healthful salad, packed with nutrients that can help your body releasetoxins, help you stay trim, and ultimately improve the quality of your life.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

36 | P a g eFinally, the Raw Food diet is NOT a boring diet, meaning there is novariety. No, this has nothing to do with the health or the vegan aspect ofthe diet. It does have everything to do with the mentality that you have inapproaching a new lifestyle. It's just like every lifestyle change you make;you wouldn't decide to go green without first researching what it means,right? Likewise, you wouldn't make the decision you change your eatinghabits from one thing to another without checking out how to do it.When you research the Raw Food diet you will find that there arehundreds and hundreds of recipes, food combinations, and methods ofpreparation that make it not only a diet filled with variety, but onebrooding with many, many options on how to go through it. There arecompletely raw food eaters and there are also those who opt for an almostraw form of dieting. Regardless of the choice made, education, researchand a positive, open mind make all the difference in the way that youapproach any new and different lifestyle.Debunking some of the myths regarding this increasingly popular rawfood lifestyle is the first step in educating yourself and ultimately decidingwhether the Raw Food life is the right choice for you.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

37 | P a g e A Tasty way to Do the Raw Food Vegan DietMany people see the raw food diet as being healthier and giving themmore energy, despite the lack of any long-term analyses of the successesof a raw vegan diet as compared to other types of raw food diets. To try araw vegan diet for yourself and see what it can do for you, these are thethree food groups you can partake of: high-fat plants, sweet fruit and leafygreen vegetables. As to the portions of each, opinions vary. Some say aslittle as two percent of your daily calories should be from leafy greenvegetables; others think it should be as high as around thirty. With thehigh-fat foods, eat things like olives, nuts, avocados, seeds and cold-pressed oils. Again, some recommend anything from a tiny amount to ashigh as forty per cent.To be honest, it’s unlikely you can get as high as thirty percent of yourdaily calories from green vegetables. That would require eating a lot of bigsalads! Fortunately, such a massive intake is not necessary to derive thebenefits of a raw food diet. The green leafy vegetables have plenty ofcalcium, protein, vitamin K and zinc. All you need to do is eat around500 g a day to get the recommended amount. If you’re sure to get thingslike carrots and peas in your meals, you’ll get plenty of calcium, zinc andprotein.Now, when it comes to striking the correct proportions between sweetfruit and fatty foods, that’s where your personal tastes and health comeinto play. It’s common for people to have troubles with their teeth if theyeat a lot of fruit, especially young children. On the other hand, if you havea high metabolic rate, you may need more high-fat foods in order tomaintain your weight in the optimum range. Just one caveat: do not havemore than ten percent of your diet made up of polyunsaturated fats.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

38 | P a g eInstead, get monounsaturated fats in there. By eating olives, avocados,almonds, hazelnuts and macadamias you can get the fats you need.Depending on how much energy you need each day, you can make up toforty percent of your diet from these foods. Also, you need to includeomega-3 fats; they’re very good for you. So, eat things like crushed flaxseed. Flax seed oil is also great for salad dressings. There are soils in theworld that are low on selenium, and you can’t be sure where your foodswere grown. So, an easy way to get around that issue is to include even justBrazil nut a day.In terms of what sorts of fruits to eat, you don’t have to go with ones thatare unusual or exotic. The banana has energy; it’s rather low in fiber, andplenty of potassium. Oranges are great to get calcium, folate, potassiumand vitamin C into your body. One of the real pluses of a raw vegan dietis that it reduces calcium loss, and thus reduces your blood pressure; itwill also reduce your risk of having a stroke.Finally, there is vitamin B12. Some health experts recommend that youdon’t take vitamin B12 supplements unless symptoms of a deficiencymanifest themselves. And even then, some further say you should avoidtaking any pills. Instead, there are some excellent natural sources such aswild plants, nori and spirulina. Now, if those are not available, eatfermented foods or a probiotic, and just be sure to include a B12supplement.Follow these steps, and you can eat a healthy diet that is in keeping withthe vegan dietary guidelines.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

39 | P a g e A Raw Diet and AgingThe Baby Boomers are obsessed with keeping young and vital. In theirday, the motto was: don’t trust anyone over thirty. Well, now they’re allwell over thirty! Yet, they want to grow old gracefully, and stay as healthyas they can. Well, that’s where a raw diet can help. It’s said that thechemicals we pour into our bodies have a cumulative negative affect onus. You may have heard of someone being allergic to an artificialsweetener, and getting terrible migraines every time they try to drink dietsoda. Or maybe you or a family member has a food allergy. They canlead to stomach troubles, rashes, and a host of other maladies. Sometimesit can be as simple as gas; and other times you can be struck down withterrible pains and diarrhea.When you switch to a raw diet, nearly all these issues disappear. Now,granted, whole grains are not something you can tolerate if you have agluten allergy; you must substitute whole rice instead, but that’s a minorpoint. When implemented properly, a good raw diet is said to increaseyour lifespan, boost your energy and even ward off diseases like cancer,diabetes and others.So, what do you eat if you can only eat raw food? It means sticking to onlynatural foods, which, ideally, should be grown organically and locally.That way, you can be sure of the soil they were grown in, and they’reunlikely to have herbicides and pesticides. It also means you’ll be eatingvery little meat; certainly, no red meat. The diet shuns things such aspork, lamb, and beef. Some seafood is allowed in some variations of theraw food diet, but beyond that, the diet is essentially vegetarian, evenvegan. Many people even prefer to go further, and eat a strictly vegan rawdiet al the time.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

40 | P a g eAlso, typically, you eat certain foods only in specific seasons, as we usedto eat, generations ago, and it’s pretty much a common-sense approach.As an example, if you live in the United States, corn is only availablelocally in the summer. So, if you eat some during the winter, it can’t havebeen produced locally, and is therefore not something you’d want toinclude in your diet. Your daily diet is a function of where you live, thekinds of foods that are grown in your area; and at what times of the yearthose foods are grown and produced.Now, when setting up your food for the day, here are the critical points.First, you need grain, a protein, a variety of vegetables and then a dessertof some fruit. Depending on your health and weight, you may want toforgo the dessert. To be honest, no matter your health, you should nothave it with every meal.The next item to consider is the different textures of foods. You want ablend to keep your raw food diet interesting. That means havingsomething soft, smooth, crunchy and even sticky. Also for a variety oftastes - sweet, sour and so forth. Many people call this the yin and yang ofthe diet. So, when looking at a winter diet, you could have something likethe following for dinner:For the grain, go with whole rice, especially if you do have a problem withgluten. Remember that you can cook up to twenty per cent of your foodon most raw food diet programs.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

41 | P a g eFor the vegetables, you could have some beets. If you’re hungry, try abowl of sweet winter squash for dessert.On the flip side, a summer menu could be:For your serving of grain, try a dish of polenta made with fresh corn. Foryour protein, whip up some rich and creamy red lentils. Next, to get yourserving of vegetables, and make a green salad with sunflower seeds, dicedchives and carrots. Chop up some Chinese cabbage with lemons and redradishes.In every way, these meals create the proper blending of foods andsensations. So long as you maintain a raw diet that has this balance, it’ssaid that your health will be maintained, and you can battle the negativeaffects of aging.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

42 | P a g e A Good Raw Diet for Your HealthThese days, we’re seeing more and more instances of a variety ofautoimmune disorders. Diseases like MS, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, anda host of others seem to be on the rise. Some say that it’s merely due tobetter diagnostic tools; and others say that it’s environmental factors:pollution and the foods we eat that are leading to more people being hitby these maladies. In response to this, many people feel that a raw diet,one that shuns the processed foods, the refined sugars, the high fructosecorn syrup, and other additives is the key to good health.Now, an important point to remember here is that the diet is notnecessarily made up solely of raw foods. The goal of the diet is for you toeat the foods in as close to their whole state as possible. That meanseither eating them as they are, or using boiling or steaming to preparethem. In every instance, you want to avoid foods that are highlyprocessed. So, if you want to eat rice, as an example, go with brown riceas opposed to white rice.In terms of what food, you’ll want to eat, here’s just a partial list of foodsthat are okay to eat on this diet: whole grain cereals, legumes, fermentedsoy products, fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables – like seaweed, brown rice,soba noodles, all types of beans, and tofu. You may have noticed a lack ofmeats listed; this is deliberate. By and large, a raw diet does not includemeats; only fish and other seafood are allowed.This diet believes in the concept of properly combining your foods. Thebelief is that this ensures that your food digests properly. The phraseoften used is calling it the: yin and yang of the digestive process. So, a keyHome Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

43 | P a g easpect of this diet is that you do not eat too many yin foods. This meansnot overloading your meals with too much of the following: peppers,potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, beets, avocadoes, and eggplant.Here again, you can see the heavy vegetarian aspects of this diet. Inaddition, you need to not partake of beverages that have stimulants likecaffeine. So, don’t drink a lot of soda or coffee. Instead, certain teas andlots of water are the best drinks.Another to remember about this diet is how you eat each meal. Keepyour portions small, and you must chew your food well; this is mosthelpful in aiding your digestion. Not only does it break the food up intosmall manageable amounts for your stomach and intestines to handle, butit thoroughly drenches the food in saliva, the first step in digestion.So, when looking to determine what sort of portions you want for yourmeal, here’s a rough outline: first, make about half your meal of wholegrains, and that includes brown rice. This is especially important if youhave an allergy to gluten, as rice doesn’t have that. Next, you’ll want abouta third of the meal to be vegetables. Beyond that, some beans andlegumes can be about ten percent, and then five percent for some kind ofsoup. To round things out, toss in some nuts, fish, juices and seasoning asyou see fit. You really want to avoid red meat as much as possible. If youreally like meat, and want some, at least aim to buy local, and thus avoidthose with chemicals. In fact, when it comes to all of your foods, try to getonly local produce.Follow these guidelines, and you’ll see a real improvement in the state ofyour overall health.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

44 | P a g e 10 Reasons to Eat Raw FoodsPrehistoric man learned thousands of years ago that it was a good idea toeat meat that was cooked, rather than raw. Since then, humans have gonecrazy, applying that same cooking idea to all foods. You can have toomuch of a good thing! Except for a salad, most people eat very little rawfood. But in recent years, the focus on healthy eating and lessening thechances of contracting diseases like diabetes, heart disease and strokes hasthrown the focus on raw foods.What we’re talking about here is eating fruit, vegetables and nuts that tastegood just as Nature intended them: in their raw state. That is quite achange for most people, so to make that change you need to know exactlywhy you should do it. You need to know why your raw food diet is goodfor you.1. Foods have a higher nutritional value when they are raw. Cooking fooddestroys vitamins, protein and fat. It even breaks down the enzymeswhich are naturally in the foods and would help you digest them.2. You will fuller more quickly in eating raw foods because they containmore water and more fiber and so fill you up more successfully. Yourhunger will be satisfied so you can eat less on the raw food diet and that isone reason why people find the raw food diet helps them to lose weight.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

45 | P a g e3. Raw food is more flavorsome than cooked food is. That means thatyou have less of a need to add flavorings like salt and spice, all whichflavorings can irritate your stomach and other parts of the digestive systemand be too stimulating for internal organs like the liver, which valiantlystruggles to detoxify the body pf these seasonings which it sees as toxic.4. The raw food diet is so low maintenance! People who hate spendinghours in the kitchen preparing meals will love the simplicity of the rawfood diet. You can even involve your children in preparing raw food; thatway, they are more likely to eat it! That gives you a break and builds thechild’s self-esteem.5. You won’t burn your fingers, mouths, tongues or lips with raw food!Also, you won’t burn your house down in a kitchen fire because youwon’t be cooking much!6. There is less cleaning up after making a raw food meal. You can putany leftovers right on the compost heap and give back to nature, and youwon’t have any greasy dishes with baked on food to deal with.7. A raw food diet is great for your overall health and has even beenshown to have a positive effect on serious chronic diseases like cancer andheart disease. This is because with the raw food diet one doesn’t have theproblems caused by free radicals which are created in the cookingprocess. Fewer free radicals means less risk of cancer.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

46 | P a g e8. A raw food diet is rich in nutrients and so it gives you great naturalprotection against common illnesses like colds and flu and even lesscommon illnesses such as measles. Raw food helps to keep your body fitand working well. You are also less likely to suffer from digestivedisorders like gas, heartburn, constipation and indigestion.9. The raw food diet is environmentally friendly. It encourages organicfarming and we would use fewer energy resources because we wouldn’t becooking the food or transporting it as far as we do now. Emissions ofcarbon dioxide would be reduced and there would have to be neworchards planted to keep up with the demand for fresh fruit. This wouldrelease more oxygen into the air and we’d help to minimize theGreenhouse Effect.10. The raw food diet will enable you to save money. You will not onlysave money on food bills but also on energy bills, and also stoves, pots,pans – and medical bills!The raw food diet is a great way to save your body, save your money andsave the planet.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

47 | P a g e You don’t need to be a Rabbit to Benefit from a Raw Food DietIt’s been said that a raw food diet program is the most influential diettrend to hit the scene in years. For many people, they hear that term: raw,and they figure they know exactly what’s involved in it. However, you’d besurprised as what it really encompasses.Of course, a raw diet is nothing new. Looking back over the history ofhumanity, primitive man ate a raw diet prior to the discovery of fire. Inmodern times, at the beginning of the 20th century, a number of peoplebegan to advocate a return to such a diet as being the healthiest way forpeople to live.Your mouth is – quite naturally – the means by which food enters yourbody. A key benefit of raw foods is that you have to chew them wellbefore swallowing. No doubt your parents may have told you to chewyour food a certain number of times before swallowing! The reason forthis is that the digestive process starts in the mouth. Chewing releasessaliva, an enzyme that helps you digest your food better. In the case ofstarches, it begins the process of breaking it down into its componentsugar molecules.Some people wonder if a raw food diet means you eat raw meat. No, thatis not the case. For the most part, a raw diet is a vegetarian diet. Ingeneral, your diet will be composed of things like fresh fruit andvegetables (and their juices), nuts, seeds and sprouted seeds, purifiedwater and unpasteurized dairy products. There are other foods includedin the diet, but it’s important that they be unprocessed and free of anychemicals or preservatives. Typically, a raw food diet means that aboutHome Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

48 | P a g ethree-quarters of the food you eat is raw. The remaining components ofyour diet are usually dehydrated fruits and vegetables. You can either buythem that way, or get yourself a dehydrator specially made for food. Theone caveat with such a device: be sure that it operates below 116 degreesFahrenheit; a good dehydrator functions best at this temperature.Now, once you start eating the raw food diet, you’ll start to see some ofthe benefits and then you won’t miss those steaks and chops you once ate.A raw food diet will lower your risk of developing heart disease ordiabetes, give you more energy, improve the glow to your skin by erasingsome of the signs of aging, diminish your digestive troubles, help you tocontrol your weight loss, and even get rid of some of those illnesses andchronic health conditions you may be suffering from. So many processedfoods have so many chemicals that we still don’t know the long-termhealth impact of. By purging your body of these things, you can see a realimprovement in your overall health.Of course, deciding on a raw diet isn’t as simple as starting to eat avegetarian or vegan diet, and that’s it. No, you should always meet with adoctor or dietician to design a diet just right for you. For one thing, youmay have a food allergy that can cause you trouble are you lactose orgluten intolerant? If so, you must avoid dairy and/or some grains. Glutenis present in most grains; so the doctor will tell you to substitute wholegrain rice. Then there are certain vitamins and minerals that you need ona daily basis. If you don’t eat certain foods (maybe you don’t like certainvegetables), then you’ll need to take supplements.A raw food diet isn’t ideal for everyone, but with the basic informationcontained here, you now have enough knowledge to discuss it with aspecialist in the field, and see if it’s something you want to pursue.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking

49 | P a g e Why You Need A Raw Food DietThose who do not really know what a raw food diet is might think it’s adiet that only rabbits might like. These same people might think that araw food diet is equal to a vegetarian diet in that a person on a raw dieteats nothing but fruits and vegetables, hence the thinking a raw food dietis for rabbits. It is true that rabbits eat fruits and vegetables, but a raw fooddiet has much more to it than eating just eating carrots, lettuce, or apples.What is meant by a raw food diet? This popular eating habit is a dietconsisting of not only the eating of fresh fruits and vegetables. But it alsoincludes eating nuts, seeds and sprouts. It includes drinking purifiedwater, and dairy products that are not pasteurized. In addition, a raw fooddiet can include the consumption of any unprocessed food that is free ofchemicals. In a nut shell, this is what a raw food diet is, no pun intended.Raw food dieting is in no way a new, quirky idea. Mankind as a whole hasbeen a raw food eater since the dawn of time. In fact, raw food is all ourearly ancestors ate, primarily because at that time in our existence we wererather nomadic, moving from place to place from day to day. We hadn’tinvented fire yet. It was easier just to pick and eat berries, nuts, fruits, andvegetables as we moved about the earth’s surface.Today the raw food diet has a well established following and has evenattracted many celebrities to its followers like Woody Harrelson andDemi Moore to mention just two. There have also been many bookswritten and published on the subject to guide anyone interested in rawfood dieting. There are even specialized classes in colleges anduniversities for the nutritionist to study in the raw food diet.Home Straight Outta My Kitchen Cooking