The benefits of raw food cannot be exaggerated! It restores vitality, relieves the symptoms of many ailments and is really easy to integrate into your daily eating plan!

For your body to repair and protect itself, it needs high concentrations of vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Cooking food destroys the plant tissue, changing the chemical structure and lowering its health promoting potential. Raw food on the other hand has all its vital components intact which are important for maintaining youth and vitality and for keeping the body disease free.

The benefits of raw food:

Bloating, PMS, fatigue, immune system function, allergies, wrinkles, an over-active appetite, aches and pains, digestive complaints, constipation, diabetes, hypoglycemia, thyroid function, arthritis, cancer prevention, detoxification, colon cleansing, warding off viruses and bacteria, balancing the hormones, weight loss - and the list goes on! Even quitting smoking and drinking is so much easier when your body has a cocktail of vitamins to restore its equilibrium.

Simple solutions to include more raw food:

• Replace one of your meals a day with a fresh raw food salad.
• Start the day with a tasty fruit salad, including a variety of nuts and seeds.
• Enjoy raw vegetable juices instead of tea, coffee and soft drinks.
• Beetroot, carrot, cucumber, ginger, chili and apple makes an excellent juice combination.
• Eat plenty of beans, nuts, seeds and avocados instead of processed snacks.
• Snack on apples and a handful of raisons during the day.
• Add olive oil, fresh lemon and ginger to dishes instead of processed sauces.
• Make a palatable dressing using nuts, tomatoes, avocado, lemon, basil and sage.
• Consume a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to help delay cravings.
• Remember that the further a food gets from its natural taste the less healthy it is!

Symptoms of detox:

As the raw food expels toxins and introduces good quality vitamins and minerals, you may experience elimination effects such as tiredness, irritability and headaches. Be patient and you will notice how your body regains stamina and your energy levels soar!

The good news

Achieving health the raw food way is a longer lasting solution to those aches and pains. To obtain this optimum health you should be eating more raw food and less cooked food. Ideally, 75% of your intake should be raw, alkaline forming foods. While results take a bit of time, you can be sure you are improving your quality of life!

References:

Leslie and Susannah Kenton. Raw Energy. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1984