I saw an interesting article about starvation in which the comment was made that there are really two types of starvation. One, of course, is caused by too little or no food at all. But there is another type of starvation caused by serious malnutrition, and even though the U.S. is the fattest nation on the planet, our bodies are starved for important nutrients and enzymes. It’s partly why we’re so fat, because we keep eating and eating, but we’re eating highly processed, cooked foods that have the essential components burned out of them. Cooking removes up to 80% of food’s important amino acids, fibers and vitamins.

It’s one reason why switching to a raw foods diet makes such compelling sense. When you start eating raw foods, you’re suddenly getting all the nutrition from food that nature intended you to get. It’s the way our bodies were meant to eat, in balance with the planet.
We suddenly become the vibrant, healthy animals we’re supposed to be.

But we still live in the modern world, with all its pressures and time constraints. It’s one reason why getting your whole foods from juicing is a good idea. You can still get all the fiber you need without taking the time to cut, peel or slice the food. Raw foods do take a little more time to chew and swallow and that’s a good thing. But if you don’t have the time for that, then you should consider using juices for at least a portion of your raw foods intake.

You do need to invest in a good juicer though, and that’s different from a blender. A blender can’t process the fruit peels that contain most a fruit or vegetables vitamins and enzymes. A juicer is a more high-powered appliance that will process everything – seeds and stems, peels and pulp. It’s designed to do it quickly and efficiently. They can be expensive, but there are many more options today than there used to be as this concept has gained in popularity.
                                              

Eating raw foods is a way to give your body some of the nutrition it desperately needs. Many of us are at least slightly overweight, and even the morbidly obese are starving for essential proteins and amino acids. All the processed, cooked foods we eat give us only a small percentage of what we need. Consequently, we eat and eat and yet we’re still not nourished. Psychologists try to tell us we’re eating to make up for an emptiness in our souls. Wrong! Our bodies our empty and trying to tell us so.

Eating raw foods is good for us on so many levels. It’s satisfying to eat them. They take more time to chew and swallow, so we don’t eat as fast. And we’re getting so much more in the way of nutrition by consuming fruits, vegetables, nuts and sprouts.

It can take time to prepare raw foods, however. Which is why a juicer is an important addition to your kitchen once your start to be serious about raw foods. A good juicer can process an entire apple – seeds, stems, peel, pulp and all – and turn all that into a healthy, nutritious juice.

Buying apple juice is NOT the same thing!!! Don’t even look at apple juices or even ciders in the grocery store. Put that $2 or $3 aside and save up for a juicer. Buy bags of apples, orange, bananas, carrots and make your own juices to get everything from the fruit that you’d get by eating it raw. Now you’re getting juice that’s as fresh as the fruit or vegetable you made it from. No preservatives, no processing that strips most of the energy from the fruit. And think of all the delicious combinations you can make with the many tropical fruits that are available now in most grocery stores. You can customize your fruits and add non-typical ingredients like pumpkin to an orange juice. Now that’s a powerhouse of a juice!
                 

If you’re eating more raw foods and making that important lifestyle change, at some point you’ll need to consider investing in a juicer. A blender is NOT the same thing. To get all the benefits of juicing fruits and vegetables, you need to be able to process every part of the food – seeds, stems, peels and pulp. That’s where all the vitamins are. A blender just can’t do that effectively.  A juicer will extract all the nutrients from fruit or vegetable that not even your stomach can adequately do.

Juicers routinely used to cost $300-$400 and more. The best ones still do, but if you’re just getting into juicing, there are less expensive styles on the market as well. Here are a few you can research to find the best one for you. Natural food stores and cooking catalogues like Williams-Sonoma also carry juicers.

Here are some reasonably priced juicers to consider.

Omega 1000 – Makes good, virtually pulp-free juice. It’s a high-yield juicer but not good for juicing leafy greens. This juicer will not process wheatgrass. Price $150-$200

Commercial Champion – Better juice quality, pulpy with good nutritional value. Also a multi-purpose machine that grates and churns and can make nut butters. A good heavy-duty juicer, high volume, good for families. Does not process wheatgrass. Price $230-$300.

Solo Star – Create a pulpy juice, but very high nutrient value because the motor is a lower RPM. This is a multi-purpose machine that can grate, churn, make nut butters and extrude pasta. It can process wheatgrass. Price $190 - $300.

Green Power – A premium juicer, although a more complicated machine with more parts that need to be cleaned. Creates the least pulp with more nutrients. It is a Twin Screw Press type of juicer that is superior to masticating or centrifugal juicers. It will process wheatgrass. Also a multi-purpose machine. Pricey, but may be well worth it. Price $450 - $650






                            

One of the problems facing anyone trying to eat healthier, especially for someone trying to move towards eating more raw foods is the convenience factor. Raw and natural foods are so much healthier for you, but it’s not as if there are drive-through raw foods restaurants on every street corner in the country.

And of course, there’s no such thing as a raw foods snack machine, is there? So if you get hungry during the day, you’re going to have a challenge of finding something appropriate to eat if you haven’t  packed any raw fruits and vegetables. And when you’re rushing around in the morning, sometimes it’s next to impossible to find the time to put together a selection of healthy snacks to take with you.

One thing to try so that you have healthy snacks available quickly is to dehydrate your fruits or make fruit leathers. Those fruit roll-ups you see in the grocery store are derived from a pretty good idea – fruit leathers. But it’s better to make your own – commercial fruit leathers are going to be loaded with preservatives and sugars – just the things you want to avoid.

When you’re switching to a raw foods diet, that doesn’t always have to mean fresh off the farm. It means not cooking foods with processes that strip all the essential vitamins, amino acids and enzymes from them. Drying fruit is a great way to add variety to your diet and make yourself tasty snacks of dried fruit or fruit leathers. It’s not hard to do. There are recipes and inexpensive food dehydrators on the Web. These are also great snacks to pack for your kids’ lunches!

You get all the benefit of the raw fruit, just packaged and preserved in a healthy, nutritious way!

Making dried fruit and fruit leathers isn’t hard and it doesn’t have to be expensive either. While some food processors and juicers can get really pricey, a dehydrator isn’t going to cost that much and it’s a lifesaver to have fruit leathers, dried fruit or fruit jerky on hand when you can’t get out to the store for fresh food.

When buying a dehydrator, some things to consider are the materials and construction used to manufacture the product, the size, heating elements, fans and guarantees. Make sure you have room for the dehydrator in the space you have planned for it.  Choose one that’s multi-purpose, with multiple trays and special trays for fruits and herbs. A side-mounted or horizontal fan is best when choosing a food dehydrator.

Here are some food dehydrators to consider. But do a little research to find just the right one for you!

Nesco American Harvest – A very inexpensive food dehydrator with five trays that don’t have to be rotated. Price is $40-$55.

Excalibur Dehydrator – Has over 12 square feet of drying space. Comes with 9 free sheets and has a horizontal fan for maximum drying efficiency. Fast drying times, no tray rotation needed and fast cleanup. Price approximately $200-$220.

L’Equip Dehydrators – Comes with special mesh for drying sheets, plus special sheets for making fruit leathers and fruit roll-ups. Has a compact design and good, uniform drying. Price is around $150.

TSM Commerical Dehydrator – When you’re really serious about drying foods! Comes with 12 racks, 1600 watts of power, dual 6” fans for strong air flow. Can dry 15-18 pounds of jerky. Priced at $650 and up.

And don’t forget a food slicer for all that fruit drying! The Chef's Choice 645 food slicer has a powerful 130 watt geared condenser motor for smooth, quiet, fast operation. A large 7" nonstick stainless steel slicer blade cuts fruit & vegetables. Micrometer control dial selects slices from deli-thin to 9/16" thick.

   

So, now that you know what a raw food diet is all about, you need to decide, is it right for you?  Well you do not need to incorporate raw food 100% of the time.  You can just eat more fruits and vegetables and no processed foods.  Try drinking fruit juices until lunch time and then eating a healthy veggie sandwich.  For dinner, eat some blanched vegetables with a cooked meal with no meats.  When you gradually detoxify your body, you will see dramatic results.  First, you will go through the detoxify process, where you will feel tired, have headaches, skin eruptions, etc.  Once you are over this tough time, you will feel light, not dragged down, energetic, vitality, and conscious, among other things.  You will have more mental clarity and therefore be more productive.  Your body will feel cleansed, you will be able to treat disease and prevent new ones from forming.  You will see a dramatic weight loss, for instance five pounds a week.  You will also notice that you do not seem weighed down with colds or sicknesses because your immune system is much stronger.  You will be saving money because you can either grow your vegetables or buy them at a farmers market.  Buying organic food will save the earth and provide agricultural support, which is much needed.  You will also save time and money because you will not be in the kitchen cooking up a storm.  You will not be eating animals, because these animals have been pumped with high hormones and that wouldn’t benefit you anyway, but instead toxify you.  This in turn, puts an end to the torture in animal farming.  You will not be plagued with depression, pms, or acne.  In fact, your skin will be absolutely glowing, you will feel rejuvenated.  This type of eating also slows the aging process.  Your senses will be enhanced; you will be more flexible and fertile.  You will be more creative, motivated, and also relaxed.  You will focus more on relationships and be more environmentally attuned and inwardly attuned.  What you will notice is an amazing spiritual awakening that you have never experienced before because you have changed your vibrations to a higher level capable of clearer thought patterns.
    

Since you’ve been eating raw foods and changing your lifestyle, you’re feeling better, finding you have more energy, and are purging the toxins from your system. You’re also rediscovering the wonderful flavors that raw foods possess, as well as learning about the benefits the raw enzymes have on your health. And summer provides the perfect opportunity to expand your taste buds and try all sorts of wonderful new produce options you’d never dared explore before.

Don’t let your new-found inspiration and energy get lost once you set foot in the kitchen because you’ve run out of new and exciting raw food meal options.  Try some of these fresh ideas to and some zing back to your mealtime and continue down the raw food path to improved health, energy and happiness.

Sunflower Seed Sour Cream

1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup water
4 tbsp. lemon juice
1 garlic clove, pressed
¾ tsp onion powder
¾ tsp salt

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or blender until smooth.  If consistency is too thick, you can simply add a bit more water. (Adding a bit more lemon juice will give it an added zing.) Garlic and onion powder can be increased for your taste preferences.

Portobello Sandwich

1 Portobello mushroom, sliced about ½ inch thick
1 cup vegetable broth
Dijon mustard
2 slices sprouted multi-grain bread
1 Holland Tomato, sliced
¼ avocado, sliced
¼ cup baby lettuce

Cook the sliced mushrooms in the vegetable broth until they are semi soft and cooked through.  Place the desired amount of mustard on 1 slice of bread.  Layer the tomato slices, mushrooms, avocado, and lettuce.  Top with the mushrooms and the other slice of bread.  Cut in half and enjoy!  See some raw foods are barely cooked.

Raw Curry Cantaloupe Soup

1 cantaloupe
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon curry powder

Combine and blend all ingredients until smooth.  Serve well chilled.

So hit your local farmer’s markets, visit those roadside produce stands, or maybe even enjoy the fruits of your own hard labors and raid the garden and spice up the summer with some cool new twists on some of your favorite produce.  





              

Our busy lives can sometimes make it difficult to stick to our dieting plans when we’re trying to lose weight.  We’re either keeping track of our fat intake, our sugar intake, our carbohydrate intake, or our caloric intake.  With all that counting, it’s no wonder most of us become discouraged and ‘fall off the dieting wagon.’  Add to that the surplus of convenient diet foods that are out there that are chock-full of preservatives and additives that we choose when we’re tired from a busy day and don’t have the energy or time to prepare a nutritious meal, and we’re headed down a wrong-way street trying to navigate our way through our weight-loss journey.

Enter the raw foods lifestyle. Not only are raw foods full of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals our bodies need to perform optimally, they provide enzymes for proper digestion, and will also result in the purging of toxins and the cleansing of your body systems.  The best part?  You can eat as many fruits and vegetables as you like….and you will lose weight.

In addition, the natural high fiber content of most raw foods will help you feel fuller, thereby reducing your food intake. They’ll assist in turning up the thermostat in your body, helping to melt away that excess weight and nourishing your body’s cells to continue with the fat-burning process.  Most raw foods are naturally low in calories, and obviously much lower in calories, fats, sugars, and carbohydrates than the dieting convenience foods we’d been reaching for in the past.  The added bonus of increased energy, regulated blood sugar and blood pressure levels, sharper vision and improved mental functionality, and you’ll wonder why you didn’t become a ‘raw foodie’ earlier in the weight loss and dieting game.  And, once you reach your weight loss goals, you’ll realize how healthy you’ve become in the process, and the raw food lifestyle will then be your way of life.  
   

Cleaning is an every day part of our lives.  If we’re not cleaning the house, we’re doing laundry, cleaning the car, cleaning out the garage or attic, or clearing our desk of the never-ending piles of bills, junk mail, and coupons we accumulate.  For the computer-savvy, cleaning is even an every day process in order to maintain an optimally-running, reliable and safe system. We even clean the outside of our bodies in some form or fashion on a daily basis, from showering to teeth brushing. So, if cleaning is such a healthy part of our every day lives, logic would dictate we should do the same for the inside of our body as well.
Detoxification and tissue cleansing is the process of purging environmental and chemical toxins from your body.  Such toxins can disrupt every system in your body.  If our body is polluted with such toxins, its own detoxification system – namely the liver, lungs, skin, kidneys and lymphatic system – cannot work properly, and these unruly poisons set up shop in every cell of our body, and soon begin to wreak havoc with our physical, mental and emotional well-being.  These contaminants can create such problems as lethargy, foggy thinking, unhealthy skin, decreased vision, mood swings, and digestive disorders.  
However, by adopting a lifestyle including eating healthy raw foods, our body can conduct its own ‘spring cleaning.’ And contrary to what most might think, raw foods are actually more easily digestible than cooked foods are. It also enables the digestive system to ‘clean house’ and begin the process of purging the dangerous environmental and chemical toxins from the cells of the body, thereby restoring the systems to their optimal states.  In addition, since raw foods are so nutrient-dense, they also simultaneously provide the body with much-needed and missed nutrients, vitamins and minerals it needs in order to continually perform on an ongoing basis.  
                  

When you think about it, we’re surrounded by many forms of toxins.  From the bottle of “improved and stronger” multipurpose cleaning we bought to clean our home with, to the higher levels of toxins in our water supply, poisons envelop our world.  Not only do we clean with them, we ingest, breathe in, and absorb the toxins contained in our food supply and environment.  It’s no wonder that our health suffers as a result.  Diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory problems, and skin disorders abound, all of which can be related to toxicity.  

The burden that toxins carry can also become our burden as well.  A toxic body is sluggish, lethargic, and listless. We’ve all found ourselves wishing at one time or another, if not daily, for increased energy levels, the ability to think clearly and make sound decisions, and a way to stop suffering from headaches, aches, pains, and digestive and breathing difficulties.  

The process of detoxification can help clear those toxins from our body’s cells, and put us on the path of healing from the inside out.  Detoxification involves a whole host of lifestyle and dietary changes. It includes avoiding both environmental and food toxins, eliminating refined foods and sugars, caffeine, tobacco, alcohol and drugs, and introducing purified drinking water, increasing fiber intake and increasing daily exercise.  By taking these steps, our body can begin the process of purging the poisons from our systems, which will in turn increase energy and mental capacities, relieve lethargy, pain and stress, and improve digestive and respiratory functionality.  Once those things begin to happen, our body is more able to do the job it was designed to do.  Increased energy, a more positive outlook, more stable blood glucose and blood pressure can all be a direct result from purging the poisons from the body.