Raw Foods Diet
and its Health Benefits

Many people have heard of the Raw Foods Diet, also known as a living foods diet, or the raw vegan diet. At one point it was all the craze amongst celebrities. You may have passed it off as just another fad diet, one that doesn't really work due to the perceived deprivation involved. Believe it or not, this health giving diet is not a fad diet. It has been around for years. One may even say that it is the original diet. The reason it has been around for so long is not only because it works, but it offers a number of incredible health benefits as well.

People have been eating raw foods since, well, since the beginning of time. Back before obesity, cancer, and heart disease were claiming the lives of millions. From the structure of our jaw and teeth, saliva profile, the design of our digestive system, enzyme make up, and the pH of our stomach, it’s clear that humans were designed to eat raw plant foods from the get go.

What Is It

Briefly, a raw foods diet is a style of eating where the majority of your dietary intake is uncooked fruits and vegetables, along with some nuts, seeds, and perhaps some sprouted grains. It is important that you also understand a food is considered raw if it is prepared below 108 degrees Fahrenheit, or it is completely uncooked. The benefit of the foods natural vital life force is intact as long it is consumed raw and as fresh as possible.

Benefits of Raw foods

As you begin to eat a raw diet, one of the very first health benefits that you will notice is the increase in your energy levels and better sleep. You will also most likely notice that you are starting to look more youthful and are shedding a few pounds. These days our lives are busy, and having a completely natural way to feel better and enjoy life is priceless.

Other health benefits that you are likely to notice are an improved skin appearance and digestion. This diet has also been shown to help people reduce the risk of certain life threatening conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

There are many amazing benefits to be realized by following a raw food diet, but to be honest, for some it can take a little longer depending what their current state of dis-ease is. Most people have been eating poorly for years before they find the raw diet and have accumulated a number of health issues, which may require a little time to sort out. When given the correct fuel the body’s innate intelligence knows exactly what needs to be done to return the body to optimal health. You can view the Success Storiesof some of those that walked this path before you to get an idea of what is possible.

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What You Leave Out

We know what the healthy raw diet is comprised of now, but one reason it’s so beneficial to your health is because of what it leaves out. That would be all animal products, all flour products, sugar, processed foods, junk food, soda pop, caffeine, alcohol etc. These foods put an extreme burden on our digestive systems and our health in general. It’s recently been discovered that most forms of cooking create toxins that become very harmful once ingested.

Raw foods, on the other hand, contain plenty of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats like coconut oil, and are scientifically shown to provide all the nutrients needed by humans to not only survive, but thrive. Let’s look at some of the individual components that make this diet so desirable for health seekers.

Alkaline Diet

The raw foods diet is an alkaline diet, which helps create balance within our bodies by facilitating the uptake and utilization of nutrients and oxygen from the blood, the release of waste products from the cells, and many other processes on the cellular level including bone mineralization. As you can see keeping the correct pH balance in the body is critical to enjoying good health.

A healthy raw vegan diet is comprised of high water content foods which are not calorically dense. In other words we can fill up on these foods and not take in nearly the amount of calories we would with a more calorie dense cooked food meal. These foods also contain loads of fiber which act like a broom to keep our digestive tracks clean and moving along.

A raw diet is loaded with antioxidants that protect our cells from the ravages of free radicals. Free radicals are created by toxins and normal metabolic processes and quite simply damage healthy cells that eventually die or mutate. Cancer is one condition that comes from mutation of the cells. And when too many cells die with no replacement, aging takes place. When we have abundant antioxidants in our systems they sacrifice themselves so our healthy cells are spared.

Enzymes

All fresh ripe raw plant based foods contain the necessary enzymes required for their complete digestion so that the body does not have to use its enzymes which can then be delegated to other tasks.

Enzymes are required for every single reaction in the body. They unlock the nutrients in foods to allow for the chemical reactions that enable you to do everything from digest and metabolize your foods to regulating hormone production. Enzymes contain life force and are only present in raw living foods, as cooking degrades and then kills them.

Phytonutrients

Raw foods are full of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Most of us realize the importance of vitamins and minerals, but may not realize that phytonutrients provide additional support to vitamins. Scientists now realize the importance of these trace elements to good health. Many of them act as catalysts for the proper functioning of cells, strengthen the immune system and slow the aging process.

It seems as though every year or so scientists discover another micro nutrient that plays a vital role in maintaining good health. When we eat living foods we receive the benefits of all the known nutrients as well as the unknown ones yet to be discovered.

Bio-Photons

Living foods like sprouts or those foods eaten fresh from the garden or orchard contain bio-photons which have incredible life force. When one eats almost exclusively fresh from the garden one can feel the difference in their personal life-force. The life of the bio-photons begins to fade from harvest and is completely gone in about 3 hours.

Sprouting is a wonderful way to get living foods into your body, and can be done almost anywhere. And if you’re able to start a garden or even a few plants in pots then you’re that much more ahead of the game. More on sprouting here.

It’s important to note that this diet in not an all or nothing diet, so start where you are and move into it at your own pace. With your diet comprised of at least 50% raw food you will see very noticeable benefits, and at 75%-100% you will enjoy superior health.

Learn about juicingfor health and check out these delicious raw recipes.

“Health is a choice, learn how to choose it.” - Raymond Francis, M.Sc.

Additional Pages of Interest

Diet Review

Testimonies

Questions and Answers

Raw Vegetable Diet

Weight Loss





Raw Foods Home > Recipes > Raw Foods



MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
The contents of this website and my newsletter are gleaned from my experiences and observations, meant only for educational purposes and not intended to replace medical advice, consultations, or treatment of any kind. I recommend you see your professional health care provider if you suspect you have an illness or disease of any kind. I’m not medically trained, and I would never suggest or imply that I know what is best for someone else’s body or overall health, ultimately each of us is the only one who knows what’s best for us.

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