Day 12: So What is Raw Food? (Pamela Reilly)

So what is a raw foods diet? In its simplest form, it’s a diet consisting of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and grains. Many raw foodists also eat “superfoods” including various seaweeds and algaes, green powders, sprouts, maca, raw cacao, and others.

Some raw foodists choose to eat some cooked foods that may or may not include meat and eggs. Others include raw dairy products. Deciding how much raw food to eat and whether or not to eat a strictly vegan diet is a very personal choice. Many raw foodists start slowly and continually perfect their diet to meet their personal needs. The raw food diet focuses on raw foods because cooking kills the enzymes foods contain and changes the chemical composition of the food.

Every chemical reaction in our body is stimulated by or requires an enzyme. You can’t think a thought, squint in the bright sunlight, or chew a delicious apple without the help of enzymes. Enzymes are also essential to digesting the food we eat. Cooked foods contain no enzymes and therefore cause the body to “donate” enzymes to the digestive process. The enzymes the body donates to digestion could have otherwise been used for other body functions such as the regeneration of healthy cells. Our body's pool of enzymes slowly diminishes when we eat large amounts of "dead" foods containing no enzymes. Enzyme depletion is often blamed for common signs of aging such as fatigue, skin problems, arthritis, etc.

Cooking also changes a food’s chemical composition in ways that can actually harm the body. A great example of this is that cooked proteins often contain rancid fats (which are toxic to the body) and are in a form that takes an exceptionally long time to digest. Raw proteins, on the other hand, are very easily absorbed and digested by the body and require much less energy to be processed. Eating raw foods containing living enzymes is vital for delaying the aging process and for helping our bodies heal themselves. Live foods give life to the body. It’s just that simple.

If the thought of giving up your current dietary habits seems overwhelming, don't worry! Transitioning to a raw foods lifestyle can be done very gradually in a variety of ways. Some people choose to start by identifying the foods they want to eliminate from their diet and then selecting one food to avoid each week. I encourage my clients to substitute one healthy food for every unhealthy food they eliminate.

In my Living Foods Life Coaching Program, I use a set of worksheets to help my clients examine their current diet and form a strong plan for transitioning to raw foods at a steady, comfortable rate. One of the simplest means of adding more raw foods to the diet is to add a fresh, organic salad to every meal. After slowly eliminating unhealthy foods from the diet, some people then choose to substitute one raw meal per day for a week or month. For example, raw foodists may start by having raw breakfasts for a few weeks, then adding raw snacks, then raw or partially raw lunches, and ultimately raw or partially raw dinners. This gradual transition not only allows people to transition their emotional eating habits gradually, but also causes the body’s detoxification process to be more gradual.

When a person transitions to a raw food diet and stops putting foods into their body that are filled with toxins, their body begins cleansing itself and eliminating toxins. The cleansing process, often called "detoxification" or "detox", is a sure sign the body is starting to achieve higher levels of health. As the toxins are eliminated, some people may experience symptoms that could include headaches, a runny nose, excess mucous, rashes, achiness, diarrhea, light-headedness, lowered body temperature with a feeling of being cold, pimples, fatigue, moodiness, food cravings, and others.

Don't be discouraged by that list of symptoms! The key is to remember that your body is ridding itself of harmful pollutants that have negatively affected your health. Detoxification is a beautiful thing that should be celebrated!

You can help the detox process along by drinking plenty of purified water, getting more rest, transitioning more slowly, using enemas or colon hydrotherapy, and other methods. I also recommend finding others who eat a raw food diet to help guide you and answer questions. One great resource for finding raw food support groups near you is Meetup.com.

Many people are concerned that the raw foods lifestyle requires expensive equipment, but that is not true. You can go raw with nothing more than a knife, and even that's optional! You can make most raw food recipes using a standard blender, food processor, or juicer, but those appliances are not a necessity. You can still eat a wide variety of wonderful foods and get the complete nutrition you need without having expensive equipment. If you have concerns about getting enough nutrition from eating a variety of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes, please put your mind at rest. The truth is that a raw food diet usually provides greater nutrition than the SAD. The combination of many colors of raw fruits and veggies, raw nuts, seeds, legumes and grains provides an abundance of healthy protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
This is, of course, a very brief summary of the raw and living foods lifestyle. I encourage you to Contact Me if you have any questions or would like additional information. I can also be found at Good Works Wellness Research, LLC; my blog, Rawvolutionary Healing; and Twitter, via RawHealer. I am excited to announce that I will launch a 30-day coaching program in April that will provide 30 days of personalized coaching and instruction on the Living Foods Lifestyle. Please visit www.goodworkswellness.com/rawfoods.html for more information and to put your name on the waiting list. I look forward to hearing from you.


21 Days to Living Healthier & Happier Archives
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