"Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food." -Hippocrates
Last year I embarked on a strictly raw food diet for about two months. While eating 100% raw I saw many positive changes in my body, state of mind, and energy levels. I lost weight, my skin cleared, my head cleared, and unlike eating cooked foods where I would feel sluggish after a meal, I felt extremely energized after eating.
Up until my transition to a complete raw food diet much of my diet already consisted of raw foods, probably about 50%, but, however healthy the meals I cooked were I didn’t reap the benefits that I did until I took the complete leap to completely raw.
I had been wanting to introduce a whole raw food diet into my life for some time, but as silly as it may seem I thought I would miss cooking. I love cooking. I love experimenting with foods, feeding my friends and family, and there’s just something very comforting to be found in a warm meal. What I discovered when I finally made the switch is that although there is no cooking required there is much preparation and experimentation still involved- lots mashing, mixing, drying, sprouting, seasoning… If anything I think that raw foods can require much more creativity than cooked foods and I welcomed that aspect, along with the anticipated health benefits, with wide open arms.
Raw foods are also called ‘live foods’ or ‘living foods’. The reason is because cooked foods lose much of their nutrition during the heating process. Elimination of nutrition is elimination of life. We need the vitamins and minerals that are bestowed upon us from plant sources for our very own survival and well-being. Also lost in cooking are the many enzymes that our foods compassionately and naturally provide us which aid in digestion. Curiously, there are many, many digestive disorders in our society… a link perhaps?
Living Foods also maintain their fiber content which is essential in maintaining healthy arteries, intestines, blood sugar levels, and weight. Raw foods also maintain their great flavors, which would normally be lost during heating, and because of this less salt and sugar is consumed naturally- you just don’t feel the need to add them. What some may not know- but should definitely know- is that cooking and heating creates free radicals in our foods which knowingly contribute to many chronic diseases, including cancer.
Another wonderful benefit to eating live foods is that it is much gentler on our environment. In eating raw, waste is greatly reduced since unnecessary packaging is also reduced- there is no need for harmful plastics and aluminums, and less cardboard and paper means fewer trees are cut down. Less oil reserves are also used since less packaging is manufactured and that combined with less gas and electric cooking means less carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere. Also, a demand for more fruits and vegetables would put more oxygen into our environment and decrease carbon dioxide because of the simple increase in plant life.
Somewhere along the way I fell off the wagon and returned to a diet of about 50/50, cooking to raw, but I am feeling a strong need to return to one that is closer to 100% living! I am in no way trying to tell others how to live their lives but I would like to encourage you to try to bring more live foods into your diet. The benefits are plentiful! I would also like to encourage everyone- whether you partake in cooked or live foods- to bring as much organic food into your life, the positive health and environmental impacts are even greater.
With
Love
and
Light.
-t.
One of my favorite raw food recipes… Raw Fudge! Everyone who I have made this for loves it. It’s naturally sweet and oh-so-good for you. It’s loaded with fiber, protein, potassium, iron, simple sugars, Vitamin E, phytochemicals, Calcium, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Vitamin A, and Vitamins B3 and B6, to name a few.
Carob Walnut Fudge
3.5 cups of raw organic walnuts
1 3/4 cups raw, pitted, organic dates
1/2 cup raw, organic carob powder.
(I add raw coconut to mine, about a half cup or more- this is a great source of Manganese).
Put everything in a food processor and when smooth transfer to a square, glass dish (I use 9x9)
then the topping...
Cashew Date Frosting
1 cup of raw cashews
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
4 to 6 pitted, organic dates
Put all this in the food processor until smooth and creamy (you can add a little water if you want) and then smooth over fudge base.
Chill, cut into squares, and enjoy!
Last year I embarked on a strictly raw food diet for about two months. While eating 100% raw I saw many positive changes in my body, state of mind, and energy levels. I lost weight, my skin cleared, my head cleared, and unlike eating cooked foods where I would feel sluggish after a meal, I felt extremely energized after eating.
Up until my transition to a complete raw food diet much of my diet already consisted of raw foods, probably about 50%, but, however healthy the meals I cooked were I didn’t reap the benefits that I did until I took the complete leap to completely raw.
I had been wanting to introduce a whole raw food diet into my life for some time, but as silly as it may seem I thought I would miss cooking. I love cooking. I love experimenting with foods, feeding my friends and family, and there’s just something very comforting to be found in a warm meal. What I discovered when I finally made the switch is that although there is no cooking required there is much preparation and experimentation still involved- lots mashing, mixing, drying, sprouting, seasoning… If anything I think that raw foods can require much more creativity than cooked foods and I welcomed that aspect, along with the anticipated health benefits, with wide open arms.
Raw foods are also called ‘live foods’ or ‘living foods’. The reason is because cooked foods lose much of their nutrition during the heating process. Elimination of nutrition is elimination of life. We need the vitamins and minerals that are bestowed upon us from plant sources for our very own survival and well-being. Also lost in cooking are the many enzymes that our foods compassionately and naturally provide us which aid in digestion. Curiously, there are many, many digestive disorders in our society… a link perhaps?
Living Foods also maintain their fiber content which is essential in maintaining healthy arteries, intestines, blood sugar levels, and weight. Raw foods also maintain their great flavors, which would normally be lost during heating, and because of this less salt and sugar is consumed naturally- you just don’t feel the need to add them. What some may not know- but should definitely know- is that cooking and heating creates free radicals in our foods which knowingly contribute to many chronic diseases, including cancer.
Another wonderful benefit to eating live foods is that it is much gentler on our environment. In eating raw, waste is greatly reduced since unnecessary packaging is also reduced- there is no need for harmful plastics and aluminums, and less cardboard and paper means fewer trees are cut down. Less oil reserves are also used since less packaging is manufactured and that combined with less gas and electric cooking means less carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere. Also, a demand for more fruits and vegetables would put more oxygen into our environment and decrease carbon dioxide because of the simple increase in plant life.
Somewhere along the way I fell off the wagon and returned to a diet of about 50/50, cooking to raw, but I am feeling a strong need to return to one that is closer to 100% living! I am in no way trying to tell others how to live their lives but I would like to encourage you to try to bring more live foods into your diet. The benefits are plentiful! I would also like to encourage everyone- whether you partake in cooked or live foods- to bring as much organic food into your life, the positive health and environmental impacts are even greater.
With
Love
and
Light.
-t.
One of my favorite raw food recipes… Raw Fudge! Everyone who I have made this for loves it. It’s naturally sweet and oh-so-good for you. It’s loaded with fiber, protein, potassium, iron, simple sugars, Vitamin E, phytochemicals, Calcium, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Vitamin A, and Vitamins B3 and B6, to name a few.
Carob Walnut Fudge
3.5 cups of raw organic walnuts
1 3/4 cups raw, pitted, organic dates
1/2 cup raw, organic carob powder.
(I add raw coconut to mine, about a half cup or more- this is a great source of Manganese).
Put everything in a food processor and when smooth transfer to a square, glass dish (I use 9x9)
then the topping...
Cashew Date Frosting
1 cup of raw cashews
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
4 to 6 pitted, organic dates
Put all this in the food processor until smooth and creamy (you can add a little water if you want) and then smooth over fudge base.
Chill, cut into squares, and enjoy!
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