Top 5 Raw Foods to include in Your Diet

1. Cultured vegetables - (or fermented) vegetables are some of the best foods you can put in your body. They’re not only an easy to digest raw food (the fermentation process pre-digests the starches in the foods and makes them easier for your body to process and absorb), but they are also a super source for a wide range of enzymes and probiotics that help build immunity, improve digestion and nutrient absorption and enliven your overall health. Use them as a condiment, in a salad or atop a soup, or toss in a quesadilla or rice and bean bowl. Check out the Classic Sauerkraut, Kimchi and other products from Firefly Kitchens in our Green Grocery.

2. Coconut - are one of the most naturally hydrating foods, especially the young varieties. The natural electrolyte composition of coconut water is better at re-hydrating the body than any other sport/nutrition drink and is the best match to what your body already produces. Coconuts are also packed with healthy fats that help lower cholesterol, fuel your brain and heart function, and have natural antibacterial and anti-fungal properties.

3. Chia Seeds - they have more omega 3’s and antioxidants than flax and have been used for centuries as a life sustaining food. In addition, Chia seeds are an easily digested food, provide easy access nutrients to the body and are one of the most complete plant-based sources of protein available. One of the most amazing things about chia is its ability to expand and absorb liquid. This makes chia seeds a great source of extended hydration as they break down and slowly release this absorbed liquid in your digestive system, as well as a good tool for weight loss and management as they can absorb liquid and expand inside your stomach as well, creating a long lasting feeling of satiation.

Source : fullcircle.com/goodfoodlife/2012/02/02/10-best-raw-foods-to-add-to-your-diet-today/

The Importance of Fresh Vegetables

    Buying your vegetables from a local organic source is the ideal way to ensure that your vegetables are both fresh and high-quality. I strongly advise you to avoid wilted vegetables of any kind, because when vegetables wilt, they lose much of their nutritional value. In fact, wilted organic vegetables may actually be less healthful than fresh conventionally farmed vegetables!

    Another reason to buy your organic vegetables from a local source is that fresher vegetables also contain the highest amounts of biophotons.

What are the Biophotons?

    Biophotons are the smallest physical units of light, which are stored in and used by all biological organisms – including your body. Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp was the first to suggest that this light inside all biological organisms must originate, at least in part, from the foods you eat. When you eat plant foods, the light waves (photons) are thought assimilate into the cells in your body. The purpose of these biophotons is much more important than many have realized, because they are the transmitters of important nutritional bio-information used in many complex vital processes in your body.

    Every living organism emits biophotons, or low-level luminescence (light with a wavelength between 200 and 800 nanometers). It is thought that the higher the level of light energy a cell emits, the greater the vitality and potential for the transfer of light energy to your body. In other words, the more light a food is able to store, the more nutritious it is when you consume it. Fresh, organic vegetables are naturally rich in this biophoton light energy.

Source : articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/29/recommended-vegetable-list.aspx

Shopping For Raw Food Diet

Introduction to the living and raw foods diet

Raw and living foods are foods that contain enzymes and have not been heated or cooked in any manner. Raw foodists, or people whose diets consist of at least seventy-five percent raw and living foods, believe in eating an uncooked, unheated, unprocessed and organic plant based diet (http://www.rawfoods.com). Raw foodists hold that the act of cooking food destroys the majority of vitamins, minerals and essential enzymes naturally found in food. These believers also claim that cooking food renders it toxic and is the major cause of health problems (Andrukitas, 1998). The intensity of beliefs held by raw foodists vary with each individual, yet they all support the ideology that cooking is an unnatural process that destroys important and vital nutrients in foods.

What are Living and Raw Foods?

Living and raw foods are foods that are organic and have not been heated, cooked, or processed in any way. Living and raw foods are foods that are rich in nutrients, vitamins and enzymes. Such enzymes aid the body in the digestion and absorption processes (http://www.rawtimes.com). The difference between living and raw foods is distinguished by the fact that living foods have a higher enzyme content than raw foods. This is true because the enzymes in raw foods are dormant. To activate the enzymes in raw foods, raw foodists simply soak peanuts for example, in water for a period of time until sprouting occurs and the enzymes in the raw food are awakened or brought to life. (http://www.rawfoods.com).

 What are the Parameters of a Raw Foodist Diet?

Raw foodists eat all fruits, vegetables, sprouts, nuts seeds, grains, sea vegetable and many other organic products that have not been processed. It is important to note that raw and living foods constitute a raw foodist�s diet only if they are grown and produced organically. Processed foods are grown using pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that raw foodists believe are harmful to the body. They therefore make it policy to eat food grown without any of these harmful chemicals (http//www.rawfoods.com). In addition, raw foodists drink purified water and only organic products such as freshly made juices (made with one�s own juicer and consumed immediately) and coconut milk directly from the coconut.

Source : vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/rawfoods.htm


What You Can Eat and What You Can't

Think uncooked, unprocessed, mostly organic foods. Your staples: raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. Some eat unpasteurized dairy foods, raw eggs, meat, and fish.

Your food can be cold or even a little bit warm, as long as it doesn’t go above 118 degrees.

You can use blenders, food processors, and dehydrators to prepare foods.
Level of Effort: High

You may need to ramp up your kitchen skills. Eating out can be tricky, and if you go organic, you may need to go to specialty stores for a wider selection than your usual grocery store.

Source : webmd.com/diet/raw-foods-diet

How to Start a Raw food Diet

Lose the labels. Lose the percentages. Who are you competing with? Seriously. Set your own bar. Neither a label nor a percentage ever made anyone healthy. And if attaining optimum health and well-being is not what's propelling you forward, then you best revisit #1.

Eliminate refined and processed foods from your life. Do that first, before you even think about transitioning to a living foods lifestyle. This is perhaps the single most beneficial thing you can do for your health and well-being.

Self proclaimed or not, you cannot be "addicted to cooked food." But you can, and probably are, addicted to the chemicals, preservatives, coloring agents and other additives in your processed foods. Steam some fresh organic broccoli and tell me how addicted you are to cooked food.