For wonderful tips on transitioning and living a healthy lifestyle see:
http://www.chidiet.com
http://www.rawdoctors.com
(NaturalNews) Many people want to make a difference today but aren`t sure how to go about it. The good news is: little changes can add up to big improvements and here are eight easy ways to make a big difference with just a little effort. In fact, if everyone were doing them, it would change the whole equation.
Stop buying Genetically-Modified-Organisms foods and ingredients.
Leading Genetically-Modified-Organisms researcher, Jeffery Smith tells us if only five percent of the population abandoned Genetically-Modified-Organisms foods it might be enough to encourage many food manufacturers to drop them as ingredients. Widespread avoidance is one way to put those who are genetically manipulating our food right out of business, while saving our health and natural foods for generations to come. (Confused about hidden GMOs? Check out the guide at the end...)
Become vegetarian and largely, or entirely, vegan.
Aside from the fact that humans aren`t designed to digest animals and that most animals are improperly fed and drugged, farm animals are an enormous source of pollution. Raising farm animals produces more global emissions than all of the transportation worldwide. Rainforests are also regularly cleared for these animals headed for dinner plates.
Stop eating processed foods.
Processed foods create problems in the body, while nature`s unprocessed foods are healthy and healing. If taste is stopping you from dropping processed foods, it`s a sign that you need learn some more food preparation techniques. Healthy eating can be delicious.
Deeply detoxify your body.
When you are truly internally cleansed, disease is not common. When you are filthy inside, disease is the natural result. Unfortunately, you can see where most of the population stands on this.
As a bonus, as more of the population begins taking responsibility for their own internal cleanliness, it will end the funneling of billions of dollars to drug, chemotherapy, and radiation companies. It will also keep millions of profit dollars from being directed to government officials who, these days, are creating many pro-drug, anti-food, and anti-health laws.
Begin composting.
Composting returns nutrients to the earth and is an easy backyard project. On a larger scale, compost needs to be utilized by farmers and added to their soils. Healthy soils have far fewer pest problems, so composting easily decreases the "need" for pesticides and helps keep chemicals off our foods. Since a large portion of "trash" is compostable, composting also dramatically decreases what`s sent to landfills.
Start a garden.
Having a few fruit trees, vegetable plants, and herbs growing in your yard brings you closer to your food supply. And with the entire neighborhood doing it, it`s a great way to create community by sharing the results. It`s also a much better use of water than growing grass.
Avoid plastic and plastic-wrapped foods.
Chemicals from plastic easily get lodged inside our bodies and they create many health problems. Since a great deal of plastic isn`t recycled, it ends up in our oceans creating the Great Atlantic and Pacific Garbage Patches.
Many animals will thank you too; these died because their stomachs contained so much plastic that there wasn`t any room for food. http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_...
Become as chemical-free as possible.
Buy organic whenever possible to limit your chemical exposure. Start reading the ingredients and buy what`s natural - based on the ingredients - not what the seller says on the front of the package. Use plants to clean your air, not chemical-based air fresheners. Use baking soda and white vinegar to clean your home, instead of store bought chemicals. There are hundreds of small changes you can easily make that add up to a lot less chemical contamination in your body and in the environment.
More:
Want to know which foods and products contain GMOs? Check out and print this Non-GMO Shopping Guide: http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffr...
http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_...
Kim Evans is a natural health writer and author of Cleaning Up! The Ultimate Body Cleanse. Deep cleansing has helped her, personally, eliminate over a dozen problems in her own body - including several that medical professionals had said there were no solutions for, except long-term drugs.
Cleaning Up! outlines a powerful, easy to do, body cleanse. It's easy, at-home cleansing and includes colon cleansing, liver cleansing, candida cleansing and much more. It's designed to address the root causes of most all disease and offers deep detoxification that will remove more toxicity than most people think is possible... Learn more at www.cleaningupcleanse.com.
Kim also recently launched a natural health photo project. It's designed to help you easily spread messages of health and consciousness around the globe. Have a look here.
Eight Little Changes Make a Big Difference
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(NaturalNews) Many of my clients tell me they want to live in a healthier way. They know they need to overhaul their eating, but don't know where to start and often they feel more than a little overwhelmed. Does that also describe you? Does the prospect of a major lifestyle change seem a little overwhelming to you?
Making healthy lifestyle changes does not have to be overwhelming. The key to incorporating healthy positive changes in your lifestyle is to break the changes down into do-able actions. As you gradually make positive changes in your lifestyle and consistently repeat them, they will become new healthy habits.
Before you start making changes I would suggest you keep a journal while you are instituting changes into your lifestyle. Write about how you feel about making changes, the difficulties, as well as the successes you have along the way. What changes might you make? Here's a suggested (but not all inclusive) 8 week plan to get you started on your new healthy lifestyle:
Week One: Instead of drinking soda drink, water. Drink at least 64 ounces of water per day. Does this sound like a lot to you? Get yourself a 32 ounce mug. It's much easier psychologically to drink two mugs of water rather than 8 - eight ounce glasses. I would suggest getting a good water filtration system for your home or drinking spring water which you can find in any grocery store. Do not drink tap water! You may add lemon to your water to enhance taste.
Week Two: Eat a salad every day. I would not recommend the "chemical ridden" salad dressings in your favorite grocery store. Rather, you may use a little orange or lemon juice as a dressing or a tablespoon of flaxseed oil. Olive oil makes a good salad dressing especially if you add a little minced shallot, Dijon mustard, garlic powder or minced garlic to it. You might also go to your favorite library, bookstore or online vegetarian website and look-up a recipe for healthy salad dressings. Don't use the commercial brands.
Week Three: In addition to the salad you're now eating everyday, resolve to eat five more vegetable servings per day. This isn't hard when you stop to realize a serving is only ½ cup. Be sure to eat vegetables of different colors. Make your plate colorful! The more colors in your plate of food, the more nutrients you are giving your body.
Week Four: Stop eating all fast and processed foods. Yes, it's really convenient to pull into the nearby fast food place or to nuke something in the microwave. But these foods are lacking in nutrients and are high in both calories and the wrong kind of fat. Use the rule -- 'if God didn't make it, I won't eat it'. Think of it this way: every cell in your body is made from the food you eat. If you eat less than healthy food, your body will enjoy less than optimal health.
Week Five (for coffee drinkers): Cut down on coffee! Resolve to have only one cup in the morning. If you are a heavy coffee drinker you may consider having one cup of caffeinated coffee and remaining cups 50/50 caffeinated and non-caffeinated. Gradually change over to just 50/50 and then slowly decrease the number of cups you have until you're only drinking one cup. You might even consider booting coffee out of your life. Perhaps, switch to green tea for its antioxidant qualities.
Week Five (for non-coffee drinkers): Have a cup of green tea every morning. For added health benefit, add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.
Week Six: Begin eating four fruits a day. If you haven't been wild about eating fruits up till now then start with eating two a day and work up to four. Oh and fruit juices don't count! Your body needs the fiber from whole fruit.
Week Seven: Incorporate some form of exercise into your daily regimen. If you have been mostly sedentary for some time, do check with your physician before starting an exercise program. Your exercise regimen could be as simple as walking. Get a pedometer and work up to 10,000 steps per day.
Week Eight (for smokers): With the issuance of the recent Surgeon General's report, don't you agree it's clear how bad smoking is for your health? Here it is if you haven't read it: (http://surgeongeneral.gov/) . There are many ways to quit smoking, however, there is no one way which works for everyone. You might try hypnotism or auricular therapy. Some folks go "cold turkey" and just stop. If you are a heavy "nervous" type smoker I recommend you talking with your doctor about how to quit and be sure to look-up an area support group. You can find a smoking cessation group in your area by contacting the American Lung Association or by calling the respiratory care department of your local hospital.
Week Eight (for everyone): Go through your kitchen pantry and refrigerator and throw out anything containing high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners (i.e. aspartame, NutraSweet, Splenda). They both contribute to obesity and less than optimal health.
Give yourself a pat on the back. You have worked very hard for eight weeks. The changes you have made in your lifestyle have gotten you started on a healthier path. You may have even lost some weight during these eight weeks. Your consistency with these changes will change your life. You will find you'll have more energy, less aches and pains and a healthier frame of mind. Congratulations!
About the author
Pam Murphy, M.S.,RRT, a healthcare professional for 27+ years, is a Holistic Nutritionist, a nutrition expert at self-growth.com and enjoys helping others improve/support their wellness. Visit her at http://surviving-medicine.blogspot.com
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Eight Weeks to a Healthier Lifestyle
(NaturalNews) Changing your diet isn`t always easy. The first thing you need to realize is that when you go off the western diet you will undergo a detoxification process that will be both physically and mentally challenging. The urge to go back to toxic foods will be almost impossible to resist and it will take tremendous discipline and will power to withstand. It`s important to keep these four principles in mind: water, raw plant food, full-spectrum salt and full fats.
Water
Coffee dehydrates. All stimulants do. Caffeine is a stimulant. In the morning your adrenals produce natural levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline in order to jolt you awake and get you going for the rest of the day. This should be enough to do the trick. If you wake up not feeling refreshed and rested it means your immune system wasn`t able to finish the natural cleansing process it goes through every night and prefers to keep you asleep to finish the job. In other words, your immune system is compromised and you need more adrenalin and cortisol to kick-start your brain into action.
Coffee will do just that. So will the Sugar and cream you put in it. These are all stimulants which drive up your blood sugar. The result is a response from your adrenals to produce higher levels of cortisol and adrenalin than usual because your body goes into survival mode. These are not the only two hormones which are produced in excess. Your pancreas will excrete higher levels of insulin than usual to try and bring back your blood Sugar to normal levels. Do this for 20, 30, maybe 40 years and you`re setting yourself up for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, even neurological diseases such as MS, Parkinson`s etc.
Along with exhausted adrenals, an exhausted pancreas, and disturbed blood Sugar and hormonal levels, you`re also seriously overtaxing your nerve system. This is why too much coffee causes your hands to shake. Another contributing factor is that these stimulants acidify your blood, which naturally has a pH of between 7.3 and 7.4. Not only that, water is drained from your cells which are forced to give up their fluids as well as glucose and minerals from your blood, muscles and tissue.
Do you understand now how much havoc that one cup of coffee with sugar and creamer wreaks in the morning just to get you through the day? And that`s just coffee! The typical western diet contains nothing but adrenal-depleting, blood-sugar upsetting, mineral-depriving, water-draining and alkaline-lowering stimulants: bread, pizza, cookies, soft drinks - it`s a miracle people are still alive! Most people are seriously dehydrated as a result of this. One of the first things you need to do is drink the amount of good-quality water (unfluorized, filtered water) your cells need on a daily basis. Drink 10 oz of water for every 20 lbs of body weight. Make sure you drink most of that water in the morning.
A good way to start the day is drinking lemon water (water with freshly squeezed lemon juice). This also helps detoxify the liver. Smoothies are a great way to get water in your system. Mike Adams has put together a nice little book with smoothie recipes:
http://www.truthpublishing.com/supe...
Another great way to bring more water to your cells is by eating foods that naturally contain lots of water, e.g. cucumber, water melon, green leafy vegetables. The importance of water is not to be underestimated and it`s the first step toward great health you need to take.
Raw Plant Food
Eat more salads! Organic raw plant foods are incredibly healthy, purifying and nourishing. Besides water they contain omega-3 fatty acids, chlorophyll, minerals, enzymes, proteins, and vitamins. They are nature`s complete foods and humans and animals alike thrive on them, including the meat eaters who get the plant nutrients secondhand through the meat. Make sure you eat at least one salad a day, preferably two, or even three!
Don`t worry about counting calories and don`t feel guilty about overeating because it`s almost impossible to overeat salads. That`s because they contain water and are not dense foods. They will make you lose weight but also mentally they will make you feel lighter. They are truly heart foods. Did you know that the number one heart mineral is magnesium and that chlorophyll is built around magnesium? Did you also know that chlorophyll is 98% identical to red blood cells? We are plants, and they are teachers who can elevate our consciousness.
An easy salad to make is grated carrots with green leafy vegetables, the darker green the better (try spinach!), sprouts and a dressing of olive oil with fresh lemon juice. Make sure you add some of the pulp as well. You can even eat the seeds, which are anti-candida and anti-cancer. If you want you can add a bit of paprika, cayenne pepper and oregano to your salad. Learn to appreciate the taste of bitter and sour, the two most underdeveloped tastes in your mouth, thanks to the conditioning you`ve undergone since childhood to appreciate only sweet and salt.
Full-Spectrum Salt
Just like there`s such a thing as full-spectrum light (natural sunlight which contains the full electro-magnetic spectrum) there`s also full-spectrum salt. Salt, too, is electro-magnetic energy. Your cells need these electrolytes in order to improve the electro-magnetic and even light communication between the cells. Take only these three types of salt: Celtic Sea Salt (aka sel gris, from Guerande, France), Dead Sea Salt , or Himalaya salt.
The best way to consume the salt is in liquid form by making a concentrated salt solution called a Sole. This article explains how to do it:
http://www.naturalnews.com/023600.html
A safe dose is taking one or two teaspoons of Sole in a glass of water per day. You can up the dose gradually if you want, but be careful and listen to what your body is telling you. You don`t have to worry about your blood pressure or your heart as your body actually needs salt, lots of it. Your blood should naturally contain 0.9% of salt and your body needs about 7 dry oz of it. When you were in your mother`s womb you were in a salt bath which should have been very similar to diluted ocean water. Healthy human blood is 98% identical to ocean water. We are not only plants, we are also a diluted ocean. Thus it makes perfect sense to drink salt dilutions to regenerate our cells and give them back the original information and energy.
Full Fats
By full fats are meant full fats. Forget about calories and the fat-is-bad propaganda. Have you ever seen skimmed or low-fat milk coming out of a cow? That`s like saying nature has made a mistake and we`re correcting it by taking the fat out. Fat does not make you fat. Let`s repeat that: FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT.
Make sure you eat the right kind, though. They are easy to remember: only extra vergine organic coconut oil and olive oil, as well as real butter made from real milk. The most bioavailable forms of fat are saturated fats, as they have a short or medium chain. These are mostly animal fats, such as raw milk from organic, grass-fed cows with horns, butter and grass-fed, organic meat. Of course coconut oil is a great vegetarian saturated fat alternative. In second place are mono-unsaturated fats such as olive oil. These are more difficult to digest because of their longer chain but nevertheless really healthy.
As you may have noticed, in these four principles of healthy eating you don`t see grains anywhere. Mankind has been on this planet for some 200,000 years. We started farming only about 10,000 years ago. This means this `staple food` didn`t enter our diet until recently from an evolutionary perspective. The human digestive system was not meant to deal with grains. Ask yourself why there are so many people with gluten intolerances and allergies. Only birds are meant to eat grains. For us, it goes against, well, the grain.
The easiest way to integrate the four principles of healthy eating into your life is to live mostly on smoothies and salads. They allow you to combine the four principles. Smoothies and salads are also easy to take with you. Make sure each ingredient is organic, though. It literally pays for itself as you will feel more nourished while eating less. It`s food that feeds and not just fills.
If you stick to this food pattern you are giving your cells the energy and information they need to regenerate themselves. You will lose weight if you are overweight and gain weight if you are underweight. Your blood sugar and hormone levels will stabilize and so will your blood pressure and cholesterol. Your bowel, liver and heart function will improve and so will your immune and digestive system as a result. You will experience a noticeable increase in energy, vitality and health.
These are transformational foods which can help speed up our evolution because they are based on nature`s life-giving and life-promoting principles. All it takes is the mental strength, discipline and will power to go with your own flow rather than that of society. We are society, though. Allow these foods to open up your minds, hearts and souls and heal you at every level, and we can change society. As Ghandi said, be the change you want to see. All it takes is a few brave souls to set off this change. You could be one of them.
Sources:
Moritz, Andreas Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation, Ener-Chi Wellness Press, 2007
Wolfe, David The Sunfood Diet Success System, Maul Bros Publishing, 2006
Price, Weston A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Keats Publishing, 2003
About the author
Mike Donkers is an English teacher from the Netherlands who started taking care of his own health in October 2006 because doctors couldn't help him. His interest in the connection between food and health has led to more in-depth research, particularly in the role sea minerals can have in the regeneration of cells. He is also a self-taught guitarist and singer. He is the songwriter and frontman of his own band, The Mellotones (www.nubluz.com).
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Four Basic Principles of Healthy Eating and Living
Yes, you can increase your energy levels by at least 25% and reach a higher level of health with very simple diet and lifestyle changes.
I'm going to outline some of my best tips that anybody can apply to see dramatic results fast. I'm going to give tips for beginners as well as more experienced
The One Food You Must Avoid
First things first, there are certain foods we eat that literally drain away our health, our energy, or both. If you want to make positive steps towards eating a healthy diet, you have to start by avoiding them first.
I won't go into the obvious junk foods everybody knows to be unhealthy. Instead, I'll talk about probably one of the unhealthiest foods on the supermarket shelves, one that's still considered healthy.
I'm talking about *cheese*. More specifically, ripened cheese (parmesan, cheddar, camembert, etc.).
In addition to being high in fat, cheese also contain certain substances that make it addictive (see the book “The Food Seduction”).
Cheese is also one of the most mucus-forming foods there is, and most people who drop it from their diet notice immediate improvements in their health.
My experience leads me to believe that if there's one thing everybody should eliminate from her or her diet, it's cheese.
Drop the Oil
Excessive fat consumption is related to a wide range of health problems, not just “getting fat.” Fat consumption affects how your body processes sugar, and an excessive fat consumption leads to blood Sugar imbalances, such as hypoglycemia, diabetes, and even candida.
In light of all of this, there's really no reason anyone should consume any type of oil on a regular basis. This includes olive oil, flax seed oil, hemp seed oil, and any kind of “healthy” oil you can imagine.
There's no reason because you can get all the fat and omega-3 you can possibly need by consuming *whole* foods, such as avocados, nuts and seeds.
A tablespoon of oil contains about 150 calories. Add a few of those to your salads and you've already consumed a very high-fat meal!
So my recommendation is to *drop the oil*. Just get rid of it. Don't buy it anymore. It's okay to have a bit of olive oil occasionally when you go out and have a salad, for example, but in your home, use healthy fats from whole foods, not refined fats from oils.
The Magic of Exercise
One of the best ways to help your body regulate blood Sugar and appetite *naturally* is to create a natural *demand* for food.
This means that regular exercise is an essential part of any nutrition program. Just diet alone cannot help your body process the foods you're eating if there's no demand for it.
One of the best exercises you can start right now is walking. I'm all for going to the gym and getting in shape, but chances are that you might just need to start walking more.
I suggest you start with 15 minutes a day, and then increase to 30 minutes, until you can do 30 to 60 minutes every day. Try to maintain a pace that is comfortable, yet a little challenging.
If you get in the habit of walking or exercising in the morning before breakfast, you'll notice that you'll be drawn to eating the right foods and you'll experience less cravings and less energy swings during the day.
Green Smoothies and the Green Cleanse
Without a doubt, my best all-around tip for improving your health, needing less sleep, overcoming deficiencies, reaching your ideal shape, and overcoming cravings, is the regular consumption of green smoothies.
If you'd like to refer to my previous articles about green smoothies, what they are, and how to make them, here are 2 links:
GREEN: An Acronym for Health Success (link is broken at time of this posting) The Top 5 Ways to Eat More Greens )link broken also - visit this blog and try later)
But here's where I throw in a little extra. If you go for a week on just green smoothies (and fruit), you won't believe how great you'll feel at the end of that week.
And best of all, it's not as hard as it seems, as long as you have the proper support and motivation.
In the “Green for Life Program”, we'll take you through a “Green Cleanse” where you'll experience the astounding health benefits of green smoothies.
You can do it on your own, but chances are that you might either quiet, or have questions that need clarifications, so that's why I decided to organize that “Green Cleanse.”
At the end of that week, I'll guarantee that your energy levels will be at least 25% higher, and that you'll have experienced huge improvements in your health.
To read this article and follow the links, click here.
“Frederic Patenaude, is the author of the best-selling e-book "The Raw Secrets". He is currently giving away free access to his private library of over 100 exclusive articles along with a subscription to his newsletter Pure Health & Nutrition. Visit http://www.fredericpatenaude.com while charter subscriptions last.”
By Karen Knowler
When people come to raw foods for the first time these days, it's not uncommon for them to think that eating raw is complicated, time consuming and even, dare I say it, overwhelming and expensive.
This really pains me as I know that it really doesn't have to be this way; eating a great raw diet is actually the quickest and most simple way of eating - ever! It can even be cheaper too if you know what you're doing and keep it really simple.
But a lot of this angst typically comes down to "what do I need in my kitchen?", and I have to say that I always recommend that people start very small at the beginning with 2 or 3 key pieces of equipment and then build up if and when they want to.
In this week's artcile, extracted from my "How To Get Started With Raw Foods
" eBook, I share with you some of my own first steps into creating a raw foods kitchen together with some ideas for how you can either get started or expand or improve on the contents of your own kitchen. Enjoy!
I was brought up in a home where the only kitchen equipment I knew was a cooker, a toaster, a kettle, a deep fat fryer and a slow cooker. I knew what a juicer was but I had never seen one "in the flesh" until I was at least 19 years old, and I didn't own a food processor until I was about 26 - i.e. about 6 years into my raw journey! The pieces of equipment that I first invested in were in fact a simple centrifugal juicer priced at around £25 and a table-top blender costing about £20. These two pieces served me very well for several months until I felt comfortable enough to broaden my horizons again. My next purchase was a manual wheatgrass juicer costing around £30 - this was because I learned about the benefits of fresh wheatgrass juice very early on and knew that this was something I definitely needed to bring into my diet, and quite soon after, when I was diagnosed with "severe cervical cell abnormalities" it proved invaluable as I used the wheatgrass juice it provided me with to clear myself of these abnormal cells, thus avoiding surgery.
Beyond that I invested in a hand blender with nut mill attachment, and it was with these pieces of equipment and a couple of sprouting jars that I used successfully and enjoyably for the next few years until I was given the food processor!
Since then I have acquired just about every piece of raw food equipment you can imagine - largely because of my job/vocation, but I have not chosen to keep and use them all. Today I own and use a Champion juicer, a Vita-Mix Super TNC, a Cuisinart Food Processor, an Excalibur dehydrator, a Spiral Slicer (sometimes), some sprouting jars, a nut milk bag, a zester, a Magic Wonder Cup, a hand blender and nut mill and some sprouting trays. I do also own a nut milk maker but prefer to make my own using a blender and nut milk bag.
"But surely your kitchen must look like an electrical appliance shop?!" you might be thinking. Actually, no. I keep the first three items out in key locations and the rest are tucked away in cupboards or drawers because I don't use them every day and don't need to. The dehydrator, the biggest item of them all, actually lives in my utility room and sits on my long counter top in the very far corner above the freezer, as I am fortunate now to have that additional space, but prior to that it has lived on top of a cooker, a fridge and even a washing machine!
In terms of equipment and useful things to have to hand for YOU, here is my recommended list of everyday utensils that you will have heard of, will probably already own most of, and that WILL feature in your raw food prep or investigations to one degree or another. Hopefully this will make you feel a lot more at ease if you are thinking of kitting out your kitchen with expensive gadgetry, when really you probably have most of what you need already...
Basic First Buys For Your Kitchen That Could Make All the Difference
* At least one large raw recipe book from which to sellect and adapt your own recipes
* A recipe book holder for keeping your book out of harm's way when prepping
* At least three raw food books (any type) for educating, motivating and inspiring you
* A good vitamin and mineral or nutritional analysis guidebook
* At least one decent sharp knife for cutting fruits and vegetables
* A good strong cutting board to be used exclusively for raw foods
* Cutlery and tableware which you find beautiful and love to use
* Special glasses for your daily juices or smoothies
* A selection of large attractive bowls for displaying and keeping fruits and vegetables in
* A vegetable trolley/rack system
* A large ring binder and clear hole-punched pockets for keeping useful articles, recipes, hints and tips, events flyers etc. in
* Lots of jars, Tupperware boxes or other useful containers for keeping dried goods separated, airtight and easily visible
* Some big clips for resealing opened packets
* A pin-board to pin up your week's menu and shopping list (or magnets if using your fridge door)
* An inspiring poster or wall chart which has practical and/or aesthetic appeal
* A compost bucket or bin to put all your raw scraps into
* A grater
* A spatula for smoothing some recipes out
* A small set of scales for weighing ingredients
* A set of measuring cups if you don't own a Metric Wonder Cup
Not too overwhelming is it?
Simply add to the mix a blender, juicer and food processor, all of which you can get for less than £100 for all three (even less if you go to eBay!), and you will be merrily whizzing and blending AND not have to worry about how you're going to find £500 to buy a Vita- Mix before you even get started!
© 2010 Karen Knowler WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach publishes "Successfully Raw" - a free weekly eZine for raw food lovers everywhere. If you're ready to look good, feel great and create a raw life you love get your FREE tips, tools and recipes now at www.TheRawFoodCoach.com.
(NaturalNews) For raw foodists not fortunate enough to make their living working from home, it becomes necessary to find ways to maintain the diet and lifestyle in the work environment. This means sticking to their raw food intake percentage and doing it in a healthy and balanced way. There are a couple challenges when working in the office on the plant-based diet:
1) You may be tempted by refined Sugar and refined carbohydrate "office-treats."
2) You have to plan ahead (meaning you have to create more time) to think about and make food.
3) You have to have food and snacks in the office five days a week (i.e. you can't run out of food and you can't forget your food at home).
4) You have to deal with various social aspects.
There are many ways to successfully stay "raw" in the office. This is definitely a doable task. Tips and techniques will be given here, but the main idea is that in order to not go hungry in the office and succumb to random office treats, you will need to plan ahead. Planning is key when nutrition becomes such a high priority in your life. This isn't a bad thing--it ultimately means you won't be feeling bad about what you ate when you get home. You'll have higher self-esteem and this will lead to more loving actions you will do for your being.
There are several different ways you can plan and prepare your at-work meals. The first, and most important, thing to do is to create a stash of dried foods and snacks in your desk, locker, car, or wherever you work. Some good ideas for this stash are goji berries or some other dried fruit, dried nuts and seeds, sea veggies, bee pollen, Sea Salt , and/or a jar of green powder (and a glass shaker jar). This food can be used as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, or for supplementing a plain salad that you didn't have time to dress up. This stash will also come in handy on those days where you are hungrier than usual and have already eaten all the fresh food you brought for the day. Last, you will save valuable time spent planning and packing into baggies daily quantities of nuts, seeds , dried fruits , and/or sea veggies. Now you will have a 3-4 week supply of snacks there for you at work!
As long as you have some delicious raw options with you, you will be more immune to wanting to eat those office treats loaded with refined sugars and carbohydrates. Sure they smell great, but you know that what you have in your desk drawer, locker, or car will taste so much better! Even if it means having some raw chocolate or raw cookies nearby, it's very important to have something with you that will satisfy you in the way cooked foods used to satisfy you when that craving hits.
Now, for the fresh food preparation. Although this can take some mental time, physical time, and muscle to carry to work, you CAN do it and it's completely worth it. When you want to make the food will be up to you and your work/sleep schedule. Some raw foodists like to make the food in the morning because it will be at its freshest. Others may not have time in the morning and may prefer to make an extra large salad, or soup for dinner for the next day's lunch. Here are some ideas of what you can make or bring for breakfast and lunch:
Breakfast options
Fresh green juice
Green smoothie (60% fruit blended with 40% green leafy vegetables)
Superfood smoothie (with some fat and protein added to it like flax seed oil and hemp seed protein)
Fresh organic fruit
Lunch options
Big green veggie salad
Superfood smoothie
Green soup with flax crackers
Raw entrée (perhaps leftovers from last night's dinner)
Now you can create your own combination depending on the below considerations:
-Are you running on time this morning or are you running late?
-What does my body feel like today? Examples would be: it feels like more liquids (smoothies and soups), it feels like more protein (hemp seeds, raw protein powder), or it feels like some extra superfoods.
-What do I have to eat in my refrigerator?
All of this considered, if you are running late in the morning and didn't have time to make anything the night before for lunch--no problem! Pack some clean fruit in a bag, grab a container of leftover salad or green soup from last night, and be out the door. If you have more time, you can still grab the fruit for breakfast and then make a superfood smoothie in the blender in 5-7 minutes throwing in fruit, greens, and a bunch of superfoods (some fat and protein of some kind should probably be in there as well to sustain you for the rest of the afternoon). If you are not running late and have some time to spare in the morning, you can make a green smoothie for breakfast and a superfood smoothie for lunch. You get the idea here. You can use clean, old glass jars full to carry your smoothies, soups, and juices around without fear of them leaking out.
More tips to save you time making your work meals are to: 1) Make everything in batches. It's best to make more than enough food so you can eat the rest another day without having to go through all the prep and cleanup time again. This can apply to superfood smoothies, salads, green soups, and green juices (if you have a high-quality juicer that makes juice that lasts up to 48 hours). And 2)
Bring a bag of organic fruit to the office on Monday's and store it on your desk or in the office fridge (if there's space). This way, if you're running super late, or if you completely forget to bring your food with you, you'll have some fruit to snack on when you get there.
Social aspects in the office don't have to be a problem. Your boss and co-workers may tease you at first (or always) but be aware that they probably really respect and maybe even envy you on the inside. Working breakfast or lunch meetings can be a challenge—especially if you are drinking a jar-full of green smoothie in front of everyone. Or if you take 40 minutes to eat your salad while everyone else seems to be inhaling his or her sandwich and chips. Your options are to either eat before or after the meeting, or to just grin and bear it--the more sustainable raw foodist approach being the latter. You may as well enthusiastically tell everyone what exactly you are eating and drinking. They most likely have never heard of a raw-vegan diet. Who knows, maybe you'll convert someone into raw foods, or at least green smoothies. You may even make yourself a new raw food office-friend!
Yes, it is a challenge to be raw when you're away from your kitchen for 9-16 hours a day, but if you can master this, nothing will stand in the way of your health and nutrition goals. And if eating more raw foods means that you are more focused, energized, and creative at work, isn't it completely worth it? Just remember that planning, making food in batches, and adjusting according to your schedule and body-intuition will be key in your raw success--at work and beyond.
About the author
Lenette Nakauchi is a raw foodist who is passionate about teaching, coaching and demonstrating to others how to go and stay "raw" in a fun, healthy, sustainable way. Learn more about the raw food lifestyle and about superfoods by visiting her websites www.gorawhavefun.com and www.eatsuperfoods.com.
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How to Stay Raw and Keep Your Day Job
Posted by Tree @ Barefooters' Holistics originally:
Eat as high a percentage of raw-plant foods in your diet as possible. Feel free to eat large quantities of raw plant foods if you feel so inclined. Discover sources for raw organic foods either locally or through mail order. Items which may be unfamiliar such as flax seed oil or spirulina may be found at the health-food store or through mail order.
Any cooked foods should preferentially be eaten in the evening and then only one type at a time. Always combine any cooked food with the evening's large salad and freshly-made vegetable juice.
Cooked starches should be those which are lower on the Glycemic Index Chart.
Transitioning off of red meat initially, then pork, chicken, and finally fish is an excellent way to let go of animal foods. It is very important for our own health and success to let go of these foods quickly.
Remember the simple rule: Simplicity is bliss.
Be flexible. Be easy on yourself. Transition at your own pace.
Unless otherwise stated, all menu items should be raw, plant-based, and organic.
from the site: http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/2006/08/sample_raw_food.html
All types of raw plant foods which contain fats help transition over from cooked foods to The Raw-Food Diet. They fill you up and satiate your hunger. These include avocados, olives, coconuts, nuts, seeds, etc.
All daily menus should contain a healthy balance of green-leafed vegetables (i.e. chard, collards, lettuces, kale, spinach, etc.), sugary fruits (oranges, melons, mangos, papayas, etc.), and fatty foods (i.e. avocados, olives, nuts, seeds, etc.).
Chlorophyll foods build the structure of the body.
Sweet fruits fuel the system with glucose.
Fats lubricate and oil the body.
* Don't let 'the initial detox' put you off - celebrate instead, as a life time's worth of toxins are vacating your body.
* Make some firm goals - What do you actually want to achieve? What's the end result for you? For eg. raw vegan, vegetarian, weight loss or just want to be a little healthier?
* Be open to change - Lots of people deep down fear change, don't be one of these people. Change is good, as it allows you to progress forward.
* Don't listen to negative comments about your new lifestyle - people (including friends and family) can say the strangest things when jealousy and fear of the unknown kicks in. If you seem like you're going places...people may get 'over-envious.' Should you experience this, limit what you say in their company, and let it go. Be confident that you're following your dreams.
* Be organized - Lots of people end up eating food that they didn't really want to, when they've failed to get themselves organized. Have yummy, healthy stuff to hand!
I know Nike said it. So, did a lot of other people in a lot of different ways. And those were the people who were successful. You know them.
Walt Disney said: "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."
Henry Ford said: "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."
And Hillel said: "If not now, when?"
So, now's the time to do it.
Don't wait for your job to become less stressful. Don't wait for the election results. Don't wait for your children to graduate from college. Don't wait for the dollar to get stronger. Don't wait till the opportunity is lost. Do it now. While you can.
What is it that you're going to do? You're going to fulfill your dreams to become healthier, stronger, to lose weight, to look better, to have a little piece of the joy that's out there for a healthier and fit you. That's what!
Start Alkalizing! Start Greening Up Your Diet! Start down the road to your own pH Miracle... your own good health and fitness!
Start TODAY!
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'There are only two ways to live your life. One, is as though there are no miracles. The other is as though everything is a miracle.' Albert Einstein
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Consumption of fruits and vegetables has increased significantly in only one U.S. state during the past decade. And all 50 states continue to fall short of recommended daily intake.
Idaho alone had a significant increase in the proportion of residents who consumed fruits and vegetables, but even in that case, the absolute increases were small. And 10 states had small but statistically significant decreases.
ABC News reports:
“Overall, about a third of American adults ate at least two servings of vegetables daily during 2009, and about a fourth consumed at least three servings of vegetables daily.”
Sources:
When you learn the proper form of eating ... things like mucusless diet ... proper food combining and proper fasting techniques, Dr William Howard Hay CURED 63,000 people of every sort of known dis-ease with 8 oranges a day, distilled water and cool water enemas, you can read his technique in Health via Food.
After you've fasted and broken food addictions, you'll find that a bag of greens, onions and garlic and healthy salad dressing is CHEAP even if organic ... then add one kind of fruit, all you want of it daily ... a few things to throw in a juicer, or what I drink for breakfast is hot lemonade. None of these meals cost what 1 meal would cost from a fast food joint.
The bowel cleanser and rebuilder herbal formula that I use is just over $20 a month. I cleanse my kidneys for less than $40, Liver Cleansing w/ Hulda Clark protocol costs about $3 month. Proper raw food eating after that will detox you.
Purify your air? Try opening your windows everyday!!!!!!
Electromagnetic chaos in your body? Take your shoes off for 20 mins and go stand on the bare ground, in the sunshine works best.
and......growing your own organic veggies from heirloom seeds would be BEST CHOICE for all of us. You'd only need to buy the seeds once, then let a couple pieces of fruit go for drying the seeds for next year. Plant a grape vine once and you have grapes for your childrens generation and their children. You can certainly make this as easy or as hard as you want to .... as expensive or as inexpensive as you want, also.
Getting enough fresh food into a family is the cooks responsibility. Sliced apples instead of pasta salad, any one?
This isn't rocket science, y'all.
Why buy yet another processed product when the store is full of the real thing??
Rome wasn't built in a day. Changing dietary habits isn't either, it's a transition. Throwing whole fruits in a lunch bag for the kids and/or hubby is simple?
Slicing up one kind of fruit daily for dinner is simple, it's time saving, it's energy saving, it's a GREEN thing to do.
Peeled tangerines, a bowl of cherries, a bowl of grapes sitting on the table for snacks ... a cored, pineapple in a bowl in the fridge?
Unless you very much feel that you have all your ducks in a row with your raw food diet, I don't think we can ever be reminded enough about what constitutes a great, well balanced healthy raw diet. While the following are pointers and should not be seen to constitute "complete" nutritional advice, anyone taking these on board cannot fail but to look and feel different (perhaps even dramatically) as a result.
So here follows my 15 Can't-Go-Wrong Tips For Eating Raw. Enjoy!
1) Rinse your body through with at least one large glass of water first thing in the morning. Drink it warm and/or with lemon juice if this makes it easier for you!
2) Drink at least 4-6 pints of liquid per day, either through pure water, smoothies or fresh juices. (This will depend on how much high water content food you are eating as well as cooked food).
3) Drink away from your meal time - no closer then 30 minutes before eating, and no sooner than 3 hours after eating.
4) Only eat when hungry - yes, even breakfast.
5) Aim for one vegetable juice or superfood smoothie per day, minimum.
6) Fruit, when eaten, should be eaten before a main meal, never after.
7) Eat something green and organic at every main meal.
8) Eat at least one large leafy green salad per day OR drink one large green juice OR make one green smoothie.
9) Eat sprouted foods every day.
10) If you're eating more-raw eat a large fresh organic salad with each cooked meal.
11) If you're eating all-raw, eat at least one high density food in adequate amounts with your large fresh organic salad per meal (examples: flax crackers, sprouted wheat bread, nuts, seeds, olives, avocado, pâté, sprouted beans)
12) Avoid desserts wherever possible - eat them as a snack 3 or more hours after dinner. Desserts clog you up!
13) Try to go for savoury snacks over sweet ones. The sweeter ones, such as dried fruits and snack bars, are more likely to knock you off balance, and can exacerbate cravings and mood swings. Try a handful of sprouted sunflower seeds or some dehydrated crackers for something a bit more interesting and satisfying.
14) Make sure you have adequate time to prepare, eat and digest before getting back to business.
15) Try to eat no later than 7pm every night. If the sky is dark, your body is also shutting down for the day and digestion will be more difficult.
BONUS 16) Remember that you need to love what you do, love what you eat and love the way you feel - this above all must be true : )
© 2008 Karen Knowler
Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach publishes "Successfully Raw" - a free weekly eZine for raw food lovers everywhere. If you're ready to look good, feel great and create a raw life you love get your FREE tips, tools and recipes now at www.TheRawFoodCoach.com.
Do you sometimes find yourself in a state of low energy, a little depressed perhaps, or just "gross" in general? Maybe you wake up one day and realize that for the past few days
you've been feeling kind of low.
And then you think about what you've been eating lately, you realize that your diet has kind of been going downhill. Eating out at restaurants, or eating more fat than usual, or
grabbing whatever is available without taking the time to eat lots of healthy raw foods.
If you've never felt like this, you're one of the rare few and it's likely that many people think you're probably not from this planet! In any case, what I'm going to talk about can apply to some of your human friends who may be feeling low in energy and gross, once in a while.
The solution is something simple that I learned years ago when I made friends with the people who are now considered to be the top "raw food" promoters on the planet.
"Taking Massive Raw Food Action"
About 8 years ago I was working with David Wolfe and his company Nature's First Law in California. If you don't know these guys, well, they're sort of the modern "gurus" of raw
foods.
Back then, they had a saying about "taking massive raw food action", which was their main strategy for transitioning to a raw food diet.
But this seemingly extreme advice actually is good as it applies to everyone even if they are not raw foodists.
Raw fruits and vegetables are by far the healthiest foods, so the easiest, number one way to feel like a million bucks is to start putting more of those in your body!
*Question*: Can you show me an example of taking massive raw food action?
*Answer*:
When I talk about raw foods here I mean raw fruits and vegetables. We'll exccluse nuts, seeds, avocados and other fatty foods which must be limited for various optimal health
reasons.
But no matter what you're diet is like, you can start taking "massive raw food action" simply by putting more fruits and vegetables in your body.
It's easy to do. Simple changes can easily be incorporated into your day. Add a few slices of that delicious Watermelon to your morning breakfast routine. Bring a jug of homemade
smoothies to work with you. Head to the grocery store or your local farmer's market and stock up on lots of delicious blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries and
eating these antioxidant-rich foods like candy!
Q: How can I get started with taking massive raw food action?
A: Here are some quick tips to get started taking massive raw food action, even if you are a committed raw foodist.
* Go to the grocery store and get a ton of fruits and vegetables, and make sure you buy those that you like and not just those you think you should eat because you think they are better for you. If you like seedless grapes, get those, even though you may worry they are not as nutritious as other fruits.
* Commit to an exclusively raw breakfast. Eat as much fruit as desired.
* Always eat a big apple before every cooked meal. Eat the apple about 30 minutes before the meal. Remember, one apple a day keeps the doctor away... and 3 apples and day keeps the *surgeon* away.
* Get the raw food in every way you can. Summer is the time to do it. Go bananas on berries. Have fun with this.
* Eat a big salad or drink a big green smoothie every single day.
* If you already eat a lot of raw foods, and you don't feel at your best, chances are that you're not eating enough. Take even more massive action by eating more high-calorie fruits like bananas and mangoes.
* Eat the amount of raw foods you feel comfortable eating, without forcing it, and make sure you enjoy what you eat! Try out new fruits or buy your favorite ones, even if they are a little more expensive.
* Use your blenders to make smoothies and other treats.
* Freeze some bananas to make bananas "ice-cream" by running the frozen banana pieces in a food processor or a special juicer (like the Champion).
* When watching TV, bring a nice bowl of grapes or berries and enjoy a healthy treat. Do the same at the movie theater! It's cheaper than popcorn and a lot better for you! When you get more raw foods into your body, you will feel better. The point is not to become a "raw foodist" necessarily but to understand that fresh fruits and vegetables are the healthiest foods for your body.
This week, take massive raw food action!
Frederic
PS: If you'd like to take massive raw food action and
start experiencing the benefits of a raw diet right away,
check out our program the "Green for Life Program".
About 4 times a year we lead a live "green cleanse" where
you can go completely raw, "detox" your body and get
my support and motivation. Check it out here:
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/greenforlife.html
To read more of Frederic Patenaude's guidance on raw foods and health, or to join his NewsLetter list, click here.
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/
In this article, I'm going to go back to some basics. I will be giving you specific, concrete action steps you can take right now to transition to a healthy, hopefully raw or mostly raw diet. Even if you're a seasoned raw-foodist, I'm sure you will find some key insights in this article that will help you refine your diet and improve your program. These steps are in no particular order.
STEP #1 - *Workout and Exercise*
It's not possible to be healthy without being fit. We know that, at least intuitively, even if we tend to forget the importance of fitness in a healthy lifestyle, by focusing too much on the importance of diet.
But more importantly, your physical condition has a major impact on your digestion, assimilation, and overall “nutrition.” For example, your ability to uptake sugar, called “insulin sensitivity,” is greatly influenced by your level of fitness.
If you are sedentary, insulin sensitivity is greatly reduced. Therefore, Sugar is not carried as rapidly as it should to the cells. This can lead to or worsen blood Sugar problems of all kinds.
If you've read my book “The Raw Secrets.” You are aware of the importance of hunger in health. One problem is that most people do not eat when they are truly hungry, and mistake “appetite” for hunger. Once they learn how to make the distinction, they soon realize that they are rarely if ever truly hungry!
By exercising on a daily basis and eventually engaging in cardio-respiratory activities (jogging, cardio machines at the gym, cycling, etc.) every day, you will awaken that forgotten sense of hunger.
So exercise is very important, and the lack of a fitness program may be one of the reasons why you have difficulty eating a healthy diet.
STEP #2 - *Eat Fruit Before Each Meal*
One of the easiest ways to transition to a raw-food diet is to start eating fruit before every meal, including lunch and dinner. The idea is to eat fruit when you are the most hungry, which is at the beginning of the meal. Eat as much fruit as you desire then, and you will find that you will eat much less of the meal itself!
This is what I call an “automatic transition strategy.” Just start getting the raw-food in by eating fruit before each meal - just what your mom told you not to do when you were a kid. But now that you're a grownup and that the Standard American Diet didn't work for you, you need to go back to your natural instincts and satisfy your natural sweet tooth by eating as much fruit as you want before every single meal.
STEP #3 - *Learn to Make 7 Raw Food Recipes That You Enjoy*
It's been found that most people know about 7 to 10 good recipes very well, and just rotate them throughout the months, adding in other stuff occasionally for variety.
Or look at when you buy a recipe book. You might try many recipes but eventually you'll only retain a few that you'll continue making for the years to come.
So what I want you to know now is to find 7 simple raw-food recipes that you really like, that are easy to make and that are properly combined. (INSIDER TIP: My recipe book “Instant Raw Sensations” is just about that: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/instantraw.html)
Ideally, I'd like you to know:
About 2 dressings
About 2 great salads
2-3 smoothies you really enjoy
1-2 more gourmet recipes
Those 7 or 10 recipes should be things you can make often, with ingredients that are easy to find, and some of them should have an instant appeal to your friends and family.
You'll find that once you know what those recipes are, and you can make them without opening a book, that you'll be wondering a lot less often “What should I be eating now?”
STEP #4 - *Get Rid of Cheese and Dairy*
Improving your diet isn't about the things you ADD IN. It's mostly about the things we LEAVE OUT. I know this reality is hard to take, but even if you eat all these fruits and vegetables, drink those fresh juices and make those huge smoothies, you won't really feel great until you remove those offensive foods from your diet that are hurting you.
There's one thing you need to say goodbye to forever, and it's milk and cheese. In a previous article, I talked about the top-5 worst foods, and cheese was one of them.
Really, I see it all the time. People have this thing for cheese. They still eat it occasionally, and they still are addicted to it. (Actually, cheese contains some compounds in it that make it addictive for real, not just in your imagination).
If there would be just one category of food you could remove from your diet and feel much better for it, it's got to be cheese and milk.
STEP #5 - *Eat Fruit in the Morning or Skip the Morning Meal*
The morning meal is the easiest to switch to raw. Most people find that once they start listening to their body, they are actually not truly hungry in the morning.
I've watched how many children generally don't eat in the morning if they are left to themselves and not being force-fed.
My suggestion is that you can skip the morning meal altogether or replace it with a smoothie or some fruit. I know that this goes against all the advice you've heard about “never skipping meals” or that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” What I'm telling you know is that this advice isn't based on any solid facts.
The “breakfast” is when you break the “fast” of the night, and this doesn't have to be at noon. In fact, the French word for breakfast means “lunch”, because for thousands of years the French didn't eat in the morning. When they started doing so, they had to come up with a new word for that meal so they called it “small breakfast” (petit dejeuner).
Skipping the morning meal or eating some fruit will help you get in touch with your true sense of hunger, which will make it easier to eat raw. Plus, it will be good for a while to help you detox and lose some weight (if that's an issue for you).
As you start exercising more, you will eventually get hungry in the morning, believe me!
#6. Give Up the Caffeine - Completely
n my experience, I have found that many people who otherwise lead a healthy lifestyle still some kind of caffeinated beverage. Many vegetarians, fitness maniacs and raw-foodists still enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. I know because I was one of them!
I cannot really count how many raw food people I've met (some of them are well-known names in the movement that I'd prefer not to reveal) who have admitted to me that they are still addicted to caffeine.
Caffeine and especially coffee is a physical AND emotional addiction that is at the cause of many, many, many health problems. As I've explained before in many articles, even just one small cup of coffee a day can be the cause of many of our daily pains and discomfort, without taking into account the long-term consequences.
Need more convincing? Check out the articles I have on coffee on my website (http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/articles2005.html#5).
#7. Eat one big salad meal a day
In addition to learning to make fruit meals and smoothies, you can also incorporate the habit of eating a big salad meal once a day. Usually, the best time to have a big salad meal is in the evening, but it could also be at noon for beginners.
A great salad meal always starts with enough fruit to satisfy your appetite. I don't want you to have your salad and then be looking around for something else to eat, such as a bag of nuts! To avoid this, have enough fruit before you eat your salad so you are completely satisfied.
A great tip is to prepare enough salad to last you for several days. In a big plastic container, prepare a mixed salad with ingredients such as: chopped lettuce, grated carrots and beets, grated or chopped fennel, zucchini, spinach, etc. Avoid wet ingredients such as tomatoes. You can add those at the last minute, when you are ready to serve your salad.
Salad dressings need not to be complicated. I usually prepare very simple salad dressings using a blender. For example, I might blend some tomatoes with tahini (or another nut butter) or avocado. It's really simple but makes a great dressing!
Here's a simple salad that my mother has been making almost every day. It's her idea, and she always makes some for me when I visit her!
FRED'S MOM'S SALAD
- 2-3 mangoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped.
- 2-3 tomatoes, diced
- 1 handful of cilantro, chopped
- 1 small sweet red onion, chopped (when mixed with the other ingredients, the “spiciness” goes away.)
Mix all ingredients together. You can serve as it as is or mix in an avocado dressing, and serve onto lettuce leaves. I prefer it plain - just great!
# 8. Simplify Your Meals (Food Combining)
We're used to making big meals with hundreds of ingredients and spices. Going back to the simplicity of eating just one food at a time may seem impossible, but I must say that it's one of the most important steps towards eating a truly natural diet.
My lunch these days usually consists of just a big (I mean big!) fruit smoothie. Morning is just fruit. My lunch usually starts with fruit or a smoothie, and is followed by a vegetable meal, which is the most fancy meal of the day.
Nonetheless, I really enjoy this simple way of eating! I don't necessarily expect you to follow my steps and eat a simple raw diet too, but there's some things you can do to simplify your meals.
First, realize that it's okay to do that. You don't need to have dozens of foods at every meal to eat a balanced diet. The important thing is to eat a varied diet through the course of the month and year, but not necessarily at every meal!
Then, you can pay attention to really simple food combining rules. Generally speaking, you can follow the 5-5-5 rule: a good simple meal should have 5 ingredients or less, be ready in 5 minutes and cost less than 5 bucks!
#9. Read at least one book on the raw-food diet.
I still get a lot of questions for my e-zine from people who are interested in the raw-food diet, yet have not read any book on the subject and therefore have little clue as to how to do it.
They are trying to get by on the free information they can find on the Internet. Unfortunately, that can only go so far.
I make a huge effort to provide loads of free information in my articles and e-zine, I also spend a lot of time answering your questions and will even be preparing a special Sunday Edition of Pure Health and Nutrition just so I can address even more of my reader's concerns. Even with all this, you have to realize that it's impossible to summarize 200 pages of information, years of trial, error, experimentation and success in 2-3 paragraphs or even a few articles.
If you're new to the raw diet, you need to make sure you have access to as much quality information as possible on the subject. We're talking about a major lifestyle change here - so it's important to do this with quality tools and guidance.
In my book “The Raw Secrets” I spill the beans about the raw-food diet and how to make it work “in the real world.” If you want to succeed on the raw food diet, and you do not yet have this amazing book, just click here.
#10. Decide to try a 100% raw diet for 7 days.
I know a guy who was so excited about the raw-food diet when he first heard about it, that he eventually got a tattoo on his arm that said “100% Raw For Life” or something like. Apparently, he eventually went back to eating burritos... What a tragedy!
The sad thing in this true story is not the fact that this person went back to eating junk food, but that he set his expectations way too high and was never able to meet them.
But I know you've got more judgment than that! You don't have to think about how you're going to eat this way for the rest of your life and how “oh my God I'll never be able to eat all the foods I love!!”
Take it easy. One day at a time! I would recommend that you at least try a raw-food diet for 7 days. Just commit to 7 days - everybody can do that. Get as much information as possible before you do that, and then jump in for a 7-day challenge, with no commitment to do this any longer.
That experience will teach you a lot. It will give you a taste but also will expose you to some possible pitfalls and this will help you avoid them next time!
Frederic Patenaude, is the author of the best-selling e-book "The Raw Secrets". He is currently giving away free access to his private library of over 100 exclusive articles along with a subscription to his newsletter Pure Health & Nutrition. Visit http://www.fredericpatenaude.com while charter subscriptions last.
http://www.TheRawFoodWorld.com, We know how hard it is to get through Thanksgiving on a 100% Raw Food diet. Here is some Raw Food inspiration.
by Frederic Patenaude
I noticed that I’ve been talking a lot about raw foods and more “advanced” topics, but without revising the basics. The following is a list of reminders for what I consider to be some of the most important steps you can take to dramatically improve your health starting today.
Make no mistake: if you choose to follow all of the steps listed below, you will completely TRANSFORM your health for the better.
You’ll notice however a lot of “negatives” in my list. That’s because I believe that what you DONT eat is much more important than what you DO eat. This is not a “feel-good”, watered down, “comfort zone” advice like the type that is so common nowadays in magazines and diet books.
Things like “eat some blueberries every day” or “eat some green vegetables” will not dramatically change your health. But follow the steps below, and you can expect some amazing results!
I don’t have time or space in this short article to cover all the details however. For more in depth info on what to eat, check out the Raw Health Starter Kit at www.fredericpatenaude.com/starterkit.html
1- Avoid caffeine. In short: caffeine is a drug and a stimulant. The energy you feel from it is a “fight or flight” response to the drug, not true energy. Overtime, consuming caffeine every day burns out your adrenal glands and leads to having less energy, less concentration, headaches, constant pains, depression, and other problems.
Don’t believe the hype! Drinking two or three cups of coffee a day is not “moderation”. Having a drug every single day is never being moderate. Some people are extremely sensitive to caffeine and even the slightest amount will upset their system.
To get off the bean, do it progressively over two weeks using Teeccino (www.teeccino.com) or another herbal (non-caffeinated) tea. When you’re clean, having an occasional cup of green tea and whatnot and then NOT having any for a while will bring a stimulation that can be useful at times, and if you give yourself enough time to recover you will be okay. Just make sure you never get in the habit of consuming caffeine regularly.
2- Eat green smoothies. It’s simple: eating green smoothies is the single best way to transform your diet overnight! Starting today, whether you’re raw or not, replace your breakfast with a giant green smoothie. Make it mild at first, using more fruit than greens. For some ideas and recipes, go to www.fredericpatenaude.com/greenforlife.html
3- Eliminate dairy products. Dairy is a conglomerate of foreign proteins the body can barely process. Research has demonstrated that dairy consumption is linked to increased rates of cancer, osteoporosis (isn’t that interesting?) and other nasty diseases. And YES, that includes all dairy products, including yogurt. Goat products are better, but still not health foods and are not part of a healthy diet.
4- Eliminate meat, fish, eggs and animal products. Excessive animal protein and saturated fat intake leads to all kinds of diseases. All animal products are a culprit, including eggs and fish. How much is too much? Most long-lived cultures ate meat less than 2-3 times a month, and in relatively small amounts. Any more than that is likely to create long-term health problems. You might find it easier to just say “no” and avoid them altogether.
5- (If you still) Cook without oils — Eliminate ALL oils, including olive oil, hemp oil and flax oil. There’s never any reason to consume pure fat in its refined form, no matter how much it’s marketed as a health food! Get your omega 3’s from whole foods like avocados or hemp seeds.
6- Cut the fat! Too much fat in the diet causes insulin resistance. It lowers your health and vitality, and causes candida and other health problems. Limit quantities of avocado, nuts, seeds and other whole food sources of fat to less than 15% of total calories. Fat is fat, whether it’s raw or not!
7- Avoid fake and industrialized foods — It goes without saying! If it comes from a factory, then it’s suspicious, no matter what it is. This includes raw labeled products that are more than likely not actually raw.
8- Eat more fruit. Take massive fruit action! Become a fruit expert. Learn everything you can about fruit. Become a fruit connoisseur the same way some people are wine connoisseur. Try all the exotic varieties, and decide what you like best. Replace your lunch with a fruit meal, and make sure you eat enough to hold you for several hours (that might be more than you think).
9- Eliminate gluten-containing foods, and watch out for grains. A good percentage of the population is either gluten-sensitive or gluten-intolerant. That might be you. Gluten is a protein found in many grains — mainly wheat. Overall, it’s better to avoid grains entirely and instead have fruits and root vegetables. Most grains are slightly acid-forming, while fruits and roots (including potatoes) are alkaline forming. The best of all grains are: brown rice, buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa (if you insist on keeping grains in your diet)
10- Go raw! Try going 100% raw and eliminate all cooked foods in your diet for a period of time. Enjoy the experience by trying out new low-fat recipes every day like smoothies, juices and savory salad dressings!
11- Don’t eat out. Foods at restaurants, no matter what it is, are loaded with salt and fat. If you must eat out, stick with a few simple choices such as salad with dressing on the side, fruit, vegetables, or low fat dishes (rice or potato based).
12- Start a manageable exercise program. Exercise is a necessity! Studies have shown that when we skip even just TWO days of exercise, there is a noticeable and measurable decline in health, especially in your insulin sensitivity (the ability of insulin to carry Sugar to the cells). For exercise to work, it has to be fun! Pick and exercise you like, and remember that doing *something* always beats doing nothing every time.
13- Identify stressors in your life, eliminate them! Stress is a killer, and probably the biggest cause of disease besides diet. A little stress is good (like exercise), as long as it’s accompanied by proper recovery. Identify the unnecessary stressors in your life and work and eliminating them. (This is a topic for another, much longer article!)
14- Optimize your sleep. Most people need at least 7 hours of sleep per night, but rarely more than 9, unless they are training or otherwise recovering. There are several tricks and techniques to optimize your sleep. The most important one is to give yourself enough time to sleep, and don’t abruptly wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle with an alarm clock.
15- Fast! Fasting is often the fastest way to improve your health, but a long fast must be supervised. Fasting should be synonymous with resting, so a long fast is really a long “rest” to give your body all the energy it needs to heal. A short fast of 2-3 days is something most people can do on their own and can quickly jumpstart your health. Any longer than this and you should seek out the help of a trained professional.
Want more information to get started on the raw food diet or optimize your existing raw program? Check out the Raw Health Starter Kit at: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/starterkit.html Use the coupon code ICELAND to get a discount (coupon expires soon).
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