Transition Gradually

For someone new to exploring a raw food lifestyle, just “adding more raw foods” is a great strategy. Later you can decide percentage, but “more” will make a difference in your life, especially if you add “more” on a regular basis.

And speaking of more … the more nutrients you consume, the less food you need. Raw organic plant foods have more nutrients than cooked foods.

It is not necessary to eat 100% raw to benefit from raw foods. Often a little shift will be easier to maintain. For example, if you are eating cooked jams/jelly with sugar, change to whole berries without any added sweetener. If you use sugar in your coffee or tea, substitute stevia.

Organically grown plant foods taste better than those treated with pesticides, so avoid conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. Instead of regular packaged crackers, look for raw, organic flax seed crackers. Simple adjustments like these are easier to make than strict rules that make you feel like a failure when you can’t or don’t follow the rules.

Drink the best water available to you and you will have less of a craving for bottled juices or soda or milk. Want a little flavoring in your water? Add some fresh lemon or cayenne pepper or cinnamon. If you want a sweet drink, select some of your favorite fruits, prepare for eating, put in blender with some water, blend and enjoy.

Honor Your Preferences

Your own habits and preferences are important. If you like the idea of a raw food eating style, honor your preferences, take your time, and transition slowly.

As you are discovering the proper percentage for you, ask yourself this question repeatedly: how does this taste to me? As you regularly have more raw foods in your meals, your tastes will change. Likely you will find that raw foods become more delicious and cooked foods become less delicious. Or perhaps, you will find that everything you choose is tasty and perfect for you.

Remember: if after one bite the food does not taste good, stop eating! If it tastes good at first and you continue to eat and it begins to not taste good, stop eating! Let your feelings and taste guide you.

Meal times are often social times for most people. You may find that by deciding to eat raw foods at home and cooked foods when you are with friends or on a business trip that you find the right balance for you.

Find Your Way

Experiment. Read. Ask questions. Find your own way. Be gentle with yourself. Enjoy the process. Keep a positive attitude. When you decide that your own well being is the priority, you will find the right balance or percentage.

What is the best percentage of raw for you? The one you can maintain!

The World’s First Bionic Burger
By Mr Blue

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYyDXH1amic

Wheat is Not the Staff of Life Anymore

Perhaps at one time, when produced in the area in which you lived and processed with a stone grinder, wheat sustained life. Now, for most individuals, it fosters illness.

Wheat is found in numerous products. It’s ubiquitous. Since I educate myself by being a label reader, I’ve been astounded to find that wheat is in so many foods. I eat essentially no wheat, by choice, so this really got my attention.

When asked, I’ve often suggested that an overweight person stop eating wheat. In every case the person followed my suggestion, the results were phenomenal. I’ve also suggested to people with a variety of other conditions that they eliminate wheat. And when they’ve done so, they’ve also experienced profound results for the specific condition as well as other conditions they had come to accept as "normal."

I suggest 100% elimination of wheat to truly test your tolerance or intolerance. Whether you’re overweight or have aches and pains and other physical complaints, likely you’ll find symptoms and discomforts will dissipate with the elimination of wheat. This is not an easy task. However, if you abstain 100%, you’re likely to experience at least minimal or moderate positive results in as little as three days.

Wheat comes processed with other substances, most of which are tasty, addictive, and debilitating. Food manufacturers typically use salt, sugar, wheat, dairy, and msg in their products, all of which are known to be addictive. Add to that the fact that the products are cooked so they arrive in an unnatural package, free from the enzymes that help you to digest the foods properly.

Refined Sugar is not Sweet for Your Body or Emotional Well Being

When talking about sugar, I like to be as clear as possible that I mean "refined sugar" or "processed sugar." I understand that the worst of all the refined sugars is high fructose corn syrup — the cheapest and most used. The names chosen by the food industry are extensive. To educate yourself, I suggest you do a Google Search for Names of Sugar.

Many of the sugar substitutes are as devastating to the person wishing to lost weight or get healthy because they make the body hungry for the very foods that add excess weight to the body. Again I recommend a trip to Google for a Search for Sugar Substitutes and Weight Gain.

Natural Substitutes for Processed Sugar

Natural sugar is found in fruits and other plant foods. If you’re both overweight and diabetic, you need to be careful of these as well. And don’t be fooled simply because a sugar is derived from a plant food; it matters how the sugar is extracted. If heat above 118 degrees is applied, it’s not longer raw and natural. U. S. labeling laws allow the indiscriminate use of the word "natural," so that it has no real meaning on the shelves.

Here are some sweeteners that are generally good for your health. Moderation and other dynamics need to be taken into consideration. Look for organic items that are raw for greatest health.

With minimal commentary, they are: stevia (which is sold as a supplement rather than a sweetener), dates, dried fruit, mesquite pod meal, carob, Xylitol, yacon syrup, honey (usually not either raw or vegan). If you have problems with sugar, not all these are appropriate.

Glycemic Index

According to the Home of the Glycemic Index, "The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, and have proven benefits for health."

I believe that the Glycemic Index is a somewhat helpful indicator, especially for anyone who is overweight or has some blood sugar condition. It’s probably more helpful to think of it as a GENERAL indicator or comparison than an ABSOLUTE indicator.

At the above web site, you can search the GI Database for your favorite foods or types of foods.

This site is definitely not geared to the raw foodist! I just checked out "lettuce" and it gave me seven results, none of which was lettuce alone, but in combinations of foods for typical American meals.

I did, however, have a slightly better set of results searching for "carrot." With twelve results, one was actually "Carrots, raw"!

So, use it if it’s helpful, but take it with a grain of … sugar.

Substitutes for Wheat

Unfortunately, many of the new processed foods that are promoted as "gluten-free" or "wheat-free" are rarely good for those who want to be free of gluten or wheat. While they may be lacking gluten or wheat, they’re often filled with other highly processed grains, like corn and/or rice, in forms that take you off the charts on the glycemic Index.

I just searched for "gluten-free" to find that one of the twenty-seven returns has a GI of 102. This is quite revealing, since the scale when originally calibrated was based on 1-100. Now, certain foods are beyond what was once considered to be the highest on the chart.

As far as I’m concerned, grains have no place in a raw food diet. Since they need to be cooked to be palatable, they’re not raw. You get to choose whether or not to eat wheat or other grains. Typically, the most difficult food for most raw foodists to give up is bread. For those who have severe negative reactions, it’s self-evident to abstain.

An Overarching Choice

As I mentioned in Lose Weight with Raw Foods, I advocate selecting one rule or principle to follow that makes all the daily choices easier. The focus of that article is using raw foods for their slimming effect because I was responding to a reader’s specific question.

However, the principle is the same for any set of choices, especially when you want to make a change in a habit, such as increasing the amount of raw food in your diet.

Health is My Passion, Not a Religion

Most raw food enthusiasts are passionate about helping others. I’m definitely passionate both about the lifestyle and about helping others. Occasionally my passion is interpreted as dogmatic or judgmental about others’ choices.

However, I sincerely honor the choices that others make. In fact, this blog is specifically about making choices, making choices joyfully. I hope that I can add some insights and information to help you to make the choices that are right for you and to make those with the proper mental attitude.

I love helping others, yet only when they take the first step. I’m not here to argue for the lifestyle I’ve chosen. I’m especially not here to argue against the lifestyle you’ve chosen, even if it’s very different from mine.

Knowledge, Mindset, Focus

I’ve found that the most important ingredients in beginning and maintaining a mostly raw food lifestyle are knowledge and a positive mental attitude. I prefer the term "living foods," but that has not caught on as much as "raw foods."

When I first moved to raw food eating as a result of a compromised health condition (my preferred phrase over "illness") about 10 years ago, I became very focused on learning as many parts of the living food cuisine as possible. I already knew the value of such a lifestyle and had experimented previously; I already knew a lot about nutrition.

My quest for knowledge helped me to have a focus that was "for" something rather than "against" something. I saturated myself with information. I found the hope and the beauty in everything I saw.

I read books, took classes, watched videos and DVD’s. My new knowledge led me in creating a raw-food kitchen, purchasing equipment, and sharing information with others. The more I educated myself and experimented, the more aware I became that I would not turn back. My original plan was to eat 80% raw, living, vegan foods, but as I was acquiring knowledge, I committed to 100%.

That 100% commitment continued for a full 6 months. I returned to full health in about three months and continued to get stronger. I now maintain a 75-95% raw food lifestyle when calculated over a week. The most difficult part of maintaining 100% commitment for me is social. Most of my friends and family are considered by American standards to be conscious of making healthy choices, but they have not adopted a raw food cuisine.

My Eating Lifestyle

The most satisfying foods that help me to maintain my mostly raw lifestyle are considered "super foods." These tend to be nutrient-dense foods which I find filling and fulfilling in very small amounts.

The super foods I eat daily are cacao, maca, hemp nut seed, flax, olives, goji berries. In addition, I grow sprouts and eat mineral-rich green vegetables. Nuts are also very satisfying. I usually eat 4-6 times a day, very lightly. I only eat when I’m hungry.

I believe the key for me is a moderate amount of a wide variety of living, organic, plant foods that taste good. With that as a basis, the occasional cooked or non-organic or animal food I consume has no negative effect. And, no, I do not eat highly processed foods.

I alternate easy, easy meals with gourmet meals. When I discovered Ann Wigmore’s Energy Soup, I made the soup in five minutes because I had all the ingredients in my kitchen. For months, I made that soup at least once a day, adding a few different ingredients to the basic recipe so that the soup never tastes the same twice. Now, I usually make Energy Soup at least three times a week. Here’s the recipe for this Energy Soup.

I choose to eat mostly raw, organic, vegan food because quite simply, I feel better. I’m strong, and still I continue to grow stronger and healthier. I believe that eating plant foods that are alive and raw is one of the best means to a life that gets better and better. That’s quite profound in a culture that’s oriented toward decline with age and belief in long deaths. I intend to be healthy to the end and leave quickly.