Your Raw Wellness

I used to weight about 130, and on the water/raw food diet, I lost 15 pounds. I now weigh 115. I used to eat rather unhealthfully and didn’t exercise much, but if I start eating healthier and exercise could i prevent gaining the weight back? Any other tips would be appreciated, thanks!

Now you have to start an exercise regime, including strength and cardio. Make sure you eat alot of fruits and vegetables. And good carbs such as: wholemeal bread, brown rice etc.

I am in sort of a dilemma. I need to lose a significant amount of weight by June. I am a vegetarian and I have recently started to look into the raw food diet. Questioning whether or not it is a good diet is not the issue here, I know it is a good diet! I just want to know how significant the weight loss and how fast the weight comes off after starting this diet to help me decide if it is right for me. I also wanted to know what types of skin improvements were noticed. I have natural dark circles under my eyes, though I am only 22, and I was wondering if the diet would help with that at all.

I have tried it and you can expect to lose weight but I must say that it is some what hard to transition into. The improvements are nice to see, my skin looks the best its really ever looked and it’s much easier to maintain my weight loss. One other item you may want to incorporate into your diet is aloe vera juice to help keep the weight off.
Here is a link to a great book I used to the raw food stint

http://www.amazon.com/Raw-Food-Real-World-Recipes/dp/0060793554

im wanting to loss weight and i don’t believe in popping pills and that’s why i think a raw food diet will help i am a gym member but i just can’t loss any more weight, i am 115kgs now but i want to get down to 100kgs and if u believe in that weight and how tall you are and al that f***ing s**h i am 6 and a half feet any way how would the best way to start a raw food diet and what is the best raw food diet or is there only one typ of raw food deit

Perhaps you can find some useful tips in a web search for "raw food diet weight loss".

I’ve been reading a lot about eating a raw food diet, and
i find a lot of what i read interesting–but wonder about the claims made that our bodies do better on raw food than cooked. If anyone has any conclusive scientific information
about it, i’d like to hear about it.

You should eat 80% of all your vegetables in the raw form. Cooking them cooks the nutrients out

My aunt told me about these classes that meet only once a month and teach you to eat with fresh raw foods. She said that you can’t tell that there isn’t any meat in the meals. After 30 days you go back to the class and learn more. Thats pretty much all I know about the class. Its called Fresh, I looked it up online but really couldn’t get much results that sounded like what I was looking for.

Why don’t you try a cookbook if you can’t find the classes?

Try Blossoming Lotus’ raw food "cook" book. It’s multi-awarded and was even cited by Martha Stewart.

They have a website of their restaurants in Hawaii and in Portland, Oregon.

I recommend it, it’s worth a try.

Organically grown foods can provide sufficient minerals to our diets. Organic foods include our whole-wheat flour, steel-cut oats, unpolished rice, and many other organic foods contain many times more vital minerals than refined counterparts do. Honey, maple syrup, dried fruits, as well as other healthy organic dishes can provide vital minerals as well as iron and copper, which are saturated with minerals.

Our body is made up of proteins, minerals, acids, fats and so on. Our body expects natural, organic nutrients so that we can live healthier.

Many of the fabricated products on the market include harsh ingredients. For instance, our meats now have additives that encourage us to eat more. This can lead to health problems. Therefore, organic grown foods will protect our body, since we do not have the additives in the foods that can cause bad health, obesity and so on.

Whole-wheat flour for example does not have additives and it serves to heal us, restore our health and to encourage healthy minds. This is because the flour is naturally and was purposely created and grown by our creator.

Minerals give us raw materials from natural resources. These mineral deposits help to reserve our body and health. We need minerals to support our bones, joints, cartilages and so on.

Maple syrups come from the deciduous trees that have winged seeds. These trees grow in northern temperate areas. The leaves divide into appealing seeds, colorful and winged. Maple has a natural sugar and flavor when processed. The sugars come from the saps.

We also get a natural or organic source of vitamins from homegrown foods. Leafy green foods are a great source of fiber. Fibers are found in lettuce and cabbage. We have a nice source of Vitamin A or Retinol. This organic need is in our natural fat dairy, watercress, margarines, peppers, spinach, carrots, etc. Retinol is a great source to help us with our night vision, bone growth, skin, and so on. These products have precursors known as beta-carotene, which is a great organic dish for fighting cancer.

From organic nuts, we get Vitamin B1, and Vitamin B3. Our body needs these nutrients to encourage metabolism by breaking carbohydrates down. Certain organic nuts encourage healthy skin, nervous system growth, and metabolism and so on. We also get these vitamins from organic breads, peanuts, mushrooms, yeast extracts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, bran, Brazilian organic nuts, oatmeal and so on.

Organic grown food is becoming popular. People are starting to realize that our intended natural processes are the best solution to maintain our health and youth. Eating organic means, using organic soaps, shampoos, and so on will encourage a healthy life.

Martin Lukac
http://www.articlesbase.com/wellness-articles/organic-grown-foods-133649.html

In order to carry through a successful weight reduction process, your over-weight must be attacked from several angles at the same time. Among other measures, you also have to increase your burning of fat and sugar. This burning is also of two kinds. The body are steadily burning fat and sugar and thereby producing heat, and it burns these nutrients to get energy for the daily activities you perform. The aim in a slimming process is to increase both these burning processes. In the terminology often used about slimming, this is often called “increasing your energy levels”.

A. THE FAT AND SUGAR BURNING PROCESS

The burning of fat and sugar is composed of many chemical steps. Fat is first broken apart yielding free fatty acids. The fatty acids are then broken further down to pieces called acetyl. The sugar is also broken down to acetyl in a process called glycolysis, and the energy thus released is used to produce an energy-rich compound called ATP. The acetyl formed from the braking down of fat and sugar is then further combined with oxygen yielding carbon dioxide and water, and even more ATP is produced. The ATP produced is then used to release heat and to give energy for the bodily work.

B. GET ALL THE NUTRIENTS YOU REQUIRE

The process of braking down and burning fat and sugar uses vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids as working tools. Therefore your diet has to contain all these nutrients in the needed amount. Including vegetables or fruit in a natural form in every meal will help you get these nutrients.

Even though your generally shall reduce your fat consume, some types of food containing essential fatty acids should be a part of your daily diet, for example nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, olives, olive oil and fat fish.

Extra supplements of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and lecithin can also be of help.

C. PHYSICAL EXERCISE

You should do some physical exercise at least every second day. Condition training like running, swimming, cycling or ball play consumes energy and thereby helps burn fat and sugar. The burning process even continues some hours after the training session.

Weight lifting or other muscle building activities are also of value. They help convert fat in your body to muscle mass and muscles are always burning some sugar and fat, even when they are not active.

D. USE OF DRUGS OF THE AMPHETAMINE GROUP

Amphetamine and related substances stimulate the activity of the central nervous system and thereby give impulses to increased external activity that consumes fat and sugar. These compounds also increase the metabolic activities that produce heat by consume of fat and sugar. These compounds can also reduce the appetite. All these effects can together help to reduce an excessive weight.

However, these compounds also may give many unpleasant or dangerous effects, like addiction, insomnia, agitation, manic reactions, hypertension, stroke, heart valve damage and heart rhythm disturbances. Therefore amphetamine itself and many related compounds are by now banned in most societies as a means to reduce weight. Amphetamine was early banned and classified as an illegal narcotic. By now also these compounds has been banned after having been on the market for some time: aminorex, fenfluramine, phenylpropanolamine and ephedrine.

Substances of this group available on the market today as weight reduction aids are: Phentermine, diethylpropion, phenidmetrazine, benzphetamine, sibutramine, rimonabant, oxyntomodulin and fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac).

E. USE OF CAFFEINE AND SIMILAR COMPOUNDS

Caffeine and similar compounds also increase the mental alertness, the feeling of energy and the impulses to external action, and thereby they also increase the burning of fat and sugar. They also increase the fat and sugar burning by accelerating the basic heat production metabolism.

A simple way of taking caffeine or the related compound teofylline is drinking a few cups of coffee or tea each day. A cup of coffee in the morning can and another cup in the afternoon can often give you the impulse you need to do an effective daily exercise session.

The tropical plants Yerba Mate and Guarana contain caffeine variants with a much greater effect on the fat and sugar burning than ordinary caffeine. On the market you can find sport drinks and slimming aids containing extracts of these plants.

F. SUPPLEMENTS STIMULATING THE THYROID GLAND

The hormones produced by the thyroid gland increase the basic metabolism and the burning of fat and sugar. A sluggish production of thyroid hormones can therefore contribute to developing over-weight.

Vitamins and minerals that the thyroid gland use as tools to produce its hormones can help to effectivize the thyroid hormone production, for example vitamin B1, vitamin B2, Vitamin B6, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc. Compounds being raw material for this production can also help the thyroid gland to effectivize its hormone production, for example L-thyrosine and iodine. These compounds are found in many supplements to aid slimming.

Knut Holt
http://www.articlesbase.com/wellness-articles/how-to-increase-your-fat-and-sugar-burning-to-aid-weight-loss-111700.html

How do you know what diet to follow? Determining the right diet can be extremely confusing.

Every time you read a different diet book, the author makes a logical argument and seems to back it up with solid science. Each time I read a new book on nutrition, I thought this person had the answer. I had no sense of discrimination, most of these nutritional theories sounded plausible at first.

After much experimentation I found out these gurus were wrong more often than not. They all had some valid and useful information in their books but their actual diets didn’t work.

** So how do you know which diet to follow?

Are you like me and didn’t know whom to believe? No matter how many diet books and theories I read, I still didn’t have enough of an understanding to discern truth from falsehood. I remember reading and then doing the Zone Diet and later trying the Atkins Diet.

At the time of the reading, I was convinced that they were on to something. So I tried their diets. I wasn’t trying to lose weight; I was looking for something to heal my depression, which these two diets claimed positive results with.

After trying the diets and really thinking about them, I realized they didn’t work for me and they didn’t make logical sense. My depression felt a bit better with the Zone Diet, but it didn’t even come close to how much better I felt after eating a diet of at least 50% raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. By switching to 50% raw foods, my 6.5 years of depression went away in one day.

With the Zone Diet, you are required to eat a ratio of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat at every meal. The author claimed that early humans ate that way at every meal.

But after thinking about it and further study I realized how ridiculous a theory that was. Early humans ate whatever they could find and I’m sure it varied from meal to meal. They didn’t even know about fats, carbohydrates and protein. They were nomadic and certainly didn’t have a steady food supply. There is no way possible that these early humans ate 40/30/30 at every meal or even close to that.

If it was so hard for me to be able to eat 40/30/30 consistently at every meal, I know it would be impossible for early humans to attain this without any knowledge of calories, protein, etc. Most natural food sources wouldn’t even come close to a caloric ratio of 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. Therefore, I concluded that the whole basis for the Zone Diet was false.

Later I learned there were many inaccurate scientific claims in that book. The problem with science is that it usually looks at the part and not the whole. So many nutritional theories are based on partial truths that aren’t true when looked at from the whole picture.

It’s so easy to fool people with diet books. Unless you have a deep understanding of nutrition, it’s difficult to determine the truths from the falsehoods.

I tried the Atkins Diet and didn’t last on it more than three days. I just felt horrible. Eating these high protein foods and not having fruit or carbohydrates felt terrible to me.

Everything felt dead and it certainly didn’t help my depression at all. There is a fabulous electric energy from fruit. You can’t get that feeling on the Atkins Diet because no fruit was allowed at all in the early stage. How could this be a natural diet, when so many supplements are needed? I soon realized for myself that the Atkins Diet wasn’t even close to being the ideal diet.

Eventually I discovered “Fit For Life,” and later the raw food diet. I went raw and had my best results by far. My health, energy levels, happiness and even clarity of thought improved by leaps and bounds.

** The Easiest Way To Narrow Down The Diet Choices **

This is really simple when you think about it. But since you’ve been eating this way your whole life, you may not have considered this idea.

Any diet that contains cooked food is not a natural or ideal diet for humans. No animals out in nature cook their foods, nor do they get the diseases that humans get. But for some reason our pets get the same diseases as us. It’s because we feed them cooked food as well.

The cooking process damages vitamins and minerals, destroys enzymes and turns the food into a poison. In 1912, French chemist Louis Camille Maillard discovered what is now called the Maillard Reaction. Maillard was trying to discover the chemical substances that made the actual tastes in cooked food.

In one experiment he measured the types molecules in a raw potatoes. Then he boiled potatoes and discovered that by just boiling, 420 new types of molecules were created. These molecules never existed in natural and unadulterated foods.

In fact, when you cook, you are creating hundreds of thousands, if not millions of new molecules that the human body considers toxic.

One piece of strong evidence that the body considers cooked food toxic is leukocytosis. Leukocytosis is an excessive rise in the white blood cell count when a food is consumed that was heated between 120 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Dr. Paul Kouchakoff discovered this phenomenon in 1930. He conducted over 300 detailed experiments at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry in Lausanne, Switzerland, and he discovered some interesting facts.

1. After a person eats cooked food, his/her blood reacts immediately by increasing the number of white blood cells. This is well documented fact called “digestive leukocytosis.”

2. Conversely, eating raw food did not cause a reaction in the blood. In addition, if a food had been heated beyond a certain temperature (unique to each food), or if the food was processed (refined, added chemicals, etc.), this always caused a rise in the number of white cells in the blood.

3. If however these same raw and unaltered foods were then heated, the person would then again experience a pathological rise in his/her white blood cell count.

Cooking also allows us to eat foods that aren’t a natural part of the human diet. We couldn’t eat grains without cooking them. Most people won’t eat meat without cooking it. Most people don’t find making a meal of raw broccoli appealing either. These are signs that nature did not intend us to consume these foods.

There is much more evidence of the damage of cooked foods including the latest findings in 2002 by Swiss studies on the creation of excessive levels of a carcinogenic substance called acrylamide in carbohydrate rich foods cooked at high temperatures.

Cooking is chemistry. Have you ever noticed how much an egg changes color and texture by being cooked? This is obvious visual evidence of the molecular damage done in the cooking process.

Cooking denatures proteins and caramelizes carbohydrates. Caramelization produces six different levels of chemical reactions in the sugar molecule. It has been well known for years that heated oils and fats are carcinogenic.

Why do you think the body seems to attack itself with autoimmune diseases? It’s because we’ve built our bodies up with foods that are not natural to the human body and our body identifies these substances as toxic invaders. Most people switching to a raw food diet, quickly find their arthritis and many other illnesses no longer bother them.

I started getting arthritis in my mid twenties. Now I’m 39 years of age and haven’t had any signs of arthritis in years. Age is not what causes arthritis but an unnatural diet.

** Think About This **

There are about 700,000 species of animals, all of which all thrive on raw foods exclusively. Only humans heat and cook what they eat. There are no gourmet restaurants, fast food joints or pizza parlors in nature.

You can never achieve perfect health while still eating cooked foods. No matter how good you feel now, you could be feeling better. Are you going to be healthier with more poisons or less poisons in your body?

Therefore, the answer seems clear. One of the first things to consider before you chose to eat food is whether or not it is raw or cooked. Raw fruits and vegetables plus limited quantities of nuts and seeds, are the most natural and healthy foods for humans.

If you want to start improving your health rapidly then consider gradually increasing the percentage of raw fruits and vegetables in your diet.

Roger Haeske
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/what-is-the-natural-diet-for-humans-90006.html

Several years ago I attended a Chiropractic convention in New Jersey. There were several vendors set up outside our conference room. A small vendor, easily overlooked by most, was selling nutritional items and products. He caught my attention, probably because I was getting hungry and he was providing snacks!

As I approached his booth, I noticed a package of cover the children’s’ eyes Twinkies sitting benignly on the shelf in his booth. “Why would a vendor selling organic health food products have a package of Twinkies on display?” I asked myself. So, being the curious soul I am, I asked, “What’s with the Twinkies”. The man grabbed the package, tossed it down in front of me and said, “I’ve been doing these conventions for the past five years and I have taken this package of Twinkies with me to every one to show people that over five years nothing … nothing in this package has changed! Does this look like it sat on the shelf for five years? And feel it. Does this feel like it’s five years old?” he asked.

I just stood there in amazement.

Understand, I’ve had my share of Twinkies and fast food in my lifetime. Growing up, we ate what tasted and made us feel good, never giving a thought to the possible health effects later in life. But, I’ve now done the research. I’ve spent years learning and, more importantly, understanding what we’re doing to ourselves.

Consider this. Food today isn’t what it was to our grandparents. Over the last 50-plus years our food industry has changed dramatically. Many of the foods we put into our bodies contain artificial preservatives to increase their shelf life … coloring agents to improve their appearance … enhancers to heighten their taste … processing agents to manage the food during production … emulsifiers and thickening agents to affect their appearance … fortifiers to control their nutritional values. I am sure there are some consumer benefits to these substances but at what risk to our bodies? Will we ever know?

The use of these chemicals in our food supply is incredibly widespread. Worse, we may never know the threats they pose to, and ultimate toll they might take on, our bodies. Use of these chemicals is only now being questioned and not likely to decline any time soon.

My point is this. Not enough time, effort and money are being directed to investigating the affects of these chemicals on humans. What does that mean? It’s up to us; you and me! We can minimize our exposure to these chemicals. We can even help support our body’s defenses by aiding the body with the detoxification and elimination of these chemical agents, many of which are or will become toxic:

-A periodic fast will help flush out the toxins. This can be followed up with a colonic treatment to help flush out the debris.

-Supplementing our diets with digestive enzymes will help with proper digestion, which helps our natural detox systems do a better job of eliminating waste build-up.

And something else: pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed on our foods. Does simple washing with plain water really eliminate them and the possible harm they do over time? And what about the genetically modified foods that are grown in the labs? Are these yet another source of long-term contamination? The truth is, we just don’t know because science hasn’t provided enough data on long-term effects. More about pesticides, herbicides and GMF in future articles.

How We Can Minimize Our Exposure to Food Additives

The simple answer? Don’t eat processed foods. Believe it or not, avoiding processed foods is easier than it sounds and, once a person gets in the “avoidance” habit, it gets easier and easier.

Today, convenience and comfort too often determine our food choices. Little effort is spent searching for the foods that are best for our bodies. Consider this:

-Nearly 70% of food advertising is for convenience foods, candy and snacks, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and desserts. Just 2.2% is for fruits, vegetables, grains or beans (Marion Nestle, “Food Politics,” pg. 22).

-Fast food restaurants are growing in popularity because of people’s busy lives. They don’t (think they) have time to sit down and plan, then prepare a meal. Meal planning is way down on their lists.

So, here are some very simple and solid choices that we can make to avoid exposure to food-based toxins and contaminants:

-Choose organic foods and organic farming. More expensive? Probably, but how much are you worth?

-Shop at food coops or join a food coop that supplies organic meats and produce. Also, be cautious! Just because a store has an organic section or bins marked “Organic” does not mean that everything is 100% safe. Read up and get smart about what “organic” really means. You’ll feel better literally and figuratively.

-Prepare your meals ahead of time, before you leave for the day. Weekends are the perfect time to plan, shop for and prepare many of the week’s meals. That way, they’ll be ready when you are.

-Check labels read what’s in the can or box. And know that there are many additives the FDA does not require manufacturers to list on labels.

-Do your homework check the foods that you already have in your house and research some of the ingredients to determine what you do not want to continue putting in your body. Recognize the chemicals that are harmful. There are volumes of free information on the Internet.

-Create a support group in your area to bring about more awareness in your community. You’ll be surrounded with consumers who share your values and concerns. This way, the benefits of healthy eating will be both physical and social.

-Always buy food that is fresh and in season.

-When in doubt, always bless your food. Don’t ever forget the power of “intention”. Intention involves the “willing” of an outcome backed by emotion and feeling to create a pattern of energy that further facilitates the desire.

FYI: The Body and Stored Toxins

People, regardless of urban or rural living, have always been exposed to toxic chemicals and pollutants that take up residence in our bodies. Think of the living conditions in the Middle Ages. Think of what people inhaled during the early industrial revolution. Think about smog in our cities and toxic chemicals in the air we breathe, no matter where we live. Fortunately, our bodies provide us with a complex detoxification system that, for the most part, quickly defends us from most of these toxic pollutants.

That said, given the typical modern diet and the increase in new synthetic chemicals entering our bodies an estimated 50,000 different chemicals: food additives, pesticides, herbicides, drugs and household and industrial chemicals (Source: Robert Buist, Ph.D., “Food Chemical Sensitivity”) our detoxification systems are simply overwhelmed. They are unable to keep up with the demand that we put on them. The body can handle synthetic chemicals in very small amounts but not at the rate at which they are being introduced into the Standard American Diet (SAD diet). What’s even more sad is that research is linking cancer, behavioral problems in kids and chemical hypersensitivity to many of these synthetic chemicals.

So ……. ?

Let’s go back to the Twinkies … well, food additives and all potential toxins. Knowing that our bodies are being exposed to toxic chemicals on a daily basis (does anybody really eat Twinkies on a daily basis?), how can you improve your situation by lessening the effects of chemical toxicity? Here’s a start, and it is only that.

1.Many of the vitamins and minerals that we consume every day play a very important role in the detoxification processes of our bodies.

2.Nutrients, such as Vitamin’s A and E, along with the trace minerals copper, zinc, manganese and selenium are known to play an important part in the body’s chemical defense system. Without these nutrients our bodies are subject to vast destruction and damage.

3.Unless our diet consists of entirely “raw foods,” which contain active enzymes that aid in digestion, an enzyme supplement is recommended at the beginning of a meal to help with the breakdown of the food you eat.

And a final note: you can help digestion by keeping cooking times brief (ie. 30 sec. – 1 min. for stir fry).

Dr. James P. Urban
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/pesticide-here-emulsifier-there-here-a-toxin-there-a-toxin-everywhere-a-toxin-76791.html