Vegan NutritionRaw Food

The Benefits and Challenges of a Raw Food Lifestyle

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:28:41 +0000

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Renegade Roundtable, which can be found at http://www.RenegadeRoundtable.com. In this excerpt, Dhrumil Purohit shares on his journey to a raw food lifestyle, including the benefits and the challenges.
Renegade Water Secrets with Dhrumil Purohit, the lead contributory, visionary and creator of welikeitraw.com and giveittomeraw.com.Kevin: Well, let’s get right into it. For those people who have never heard of you, they soon will, and why don’t you just tell us a little bit about how you started into
this and how you got to where you are now.Dhru: Sure. First of all, again, thank you for having me here. And everybody who’s listening in, it’s an honor to be here. The thing that I enjoy the most is connecting with other individuals, and that drives everything that I do. So to connect and build communities, that’s been such an important part of my journey and that’s actually how I got started.
My dietary journey started where at a conference I heard Ingrid Newkirk. She’s the president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. She was talking about milk, blah, blah, blah this, and dairy cows blah, blah, blah, that and at that time my level of consciousness wasn’t hip to maybe the plight of certain animals. But she mentioned something that really hit me, she said, “Blah, blah, blah, if you get rid of milk then you might see your acne go away.” I was in high school at the time, I’m trying to talk to girls, I’m trying to be a more social individual, but even though I had been raised vegetarian, coming from an Indian background, I always dealt with acne. So when she said that I said, “Ok, you know what, she say’s that in about a month’s time you can start to see a major difference, so let me get rid of the dairy in my diet.” So when I got rid of the diary in my diet, naturally people ask you, “What the heck are you doing?” So you have to read up on it and you have to get educated a little bit and that’s when I finally started to understand and make the connection, that even though I was brought up vegetarian I had never really understood fully the connection between food and health.
Then once that started, for a year and a half, as many people there have kind of gotten their start, I was a processed vegan. I was eating soy burgers and tofutti and carbitarian totally all the way. The finally one day at a health food store, in the aisle, I’m shopping for my produce and I see this guy who I’ve seen like a hundred times before shopping at the same organic co-op. And I always noticed that the whites of his eyes are really white, he was a very fit gentleman, he looked fairly young as well.
So I went up to him and I finally said, “Hey bro, what is it that you actually do? What is it that you eat?” And he was like, “Oh, man I’m into raw food.” And I was like, “Raw food, what is that?” And over the next 40 minutes, this gentleman, who’s name is actually Nature Love, kind of over the next 45 minutes gave me a full breakdown of the relationship between food and why raw food matters and how it can improve the health. And from that day, which was the year 2001, that’s when my journey really began. It was on that day.Kevin: Wow, that’s pretty nice. Let’s just get right into it here. What are some of the biggest challenges that you encountered from that day till now that really stand out in you head, that say, “This is what happened, here’s how I dealt with it and here’s how I’m better because of it?”Dhru: Sure, absolutely. Well one of the things that I talk about a lot is the physiological challenges and I noticed that… I’ll give you a specific example, when I first started my journey after meeting Nature, the next day Nature, after I met up with him in the aisle, he came over to my place to show me and my roommate a little bit about raw foods. And when Nature told me that he was 40, and this guy literally, like… there’s photos of him on our website, welikeitraw.com, you can see how fit he is, how young he looks. When he told me he was 40-years-old I totally flipped. I was like, “OK, I’m doing this today.”
So that was the first biggest challenge that I faced, I went 100 percent overnight embarking on raw foods. And what kept me going solid 100 percent for the first 8 months was discipline and excitement. Sheer excitement because I was looking forward to the future. I kept on thinking that in the future this will all be worth it and I’ll be at some place where my health and everything else will click and it won’t be as tough as it is now. And then discipline, which is simply one desire that’s trumping another desire. I had this desire to look fit, to be energetic, to be healthy, and then I also had this desire to eat a donut or eat this, or eat that.
But my desire for being fit and healthy was strongest. But the challenge with discipline is, after a certain time, because discipline comes from a place of desire, discipline will always fail you. At some point in time discipline will always fail you because resisting your desires is… well it’s resisting your desires. It’s still a desire that’s inside of you. So for eight months solid I was going through the physiological challenges of wanting to stick to this thing, I felt good, but I had all these desires inside to try different foods, to eat different things.
And it was right around that point, that after I, at the time I considered it “‘failing.” I failed on my raw food diet by yo-yoing back and forth; I realized that there was a better way, a smarter way, a more intelligent way to approach diet. And, yes there were some very practical things that I did to improve my relationship with food. Having more green smoothies, having some transitional foods, things like that.
But overall I saw that the biggest shift, the thing that benefited me the most, and now I’m seeing that it’s benefiting so many other people as well too, is that to actually ask yourself, “Why am I doing this in the first place? Am I waiting for the future to be better than the present moment? Am I doing this because someday I think things will be better?” It’s all right to have goals, it’s all right to have health goals, it’s all right to build a foundation, but the biggest challenge that I see is that a lot of people have, regardless of whatever dietary regimen they’re trying to follow, if they’re trying to just eat healthier, or exercise more, they are their biggest enemy because of these physiological battles they play with themselves back and forth.
It’s easy to open up a book and know what to do. There are so many nutrition books and websites that are out there that give you great information now, especially with things like Goggle. And you can see what you can do.
The same thing goes with exercise. But when you look at it, it’s not that people have a problem with information they have this physiological battle with identifying themselves with certain goals and living in the future instead of bringing their attention back into the present moment.Kevin: So you said in that first eight months you were living in the future, correct?Dhru: Yeah, I was living in the future. I was just constantly thinking that things will be better, it’ll be easier. I’m eating towards some future goal; I’m eating towards some future goal of being fit in my ideal version of what I had as fitness in my head. And then also along with that I was identifying with something, my ego was identifying with the concept of being 100 percent raw.
Which, I’m sure Kevin, you’ve seen with the excellent work that you do, a lot of people probably write in to you that say they need to be 100 percent raw but they can’t. And that’s just some arbitrary goal. That doesn’t mean that I was actually any healthier, I was just fixated on this concept of being 100 percent raw.
So instead of being 100 percent healthy and just enjoying and having a beautiful relationship with food, I was focused on this arbitrary idea of being 100 percent raw because I thought that it would bring me something that wasn’t something that I had with me right then and there at that moment. I was looking to diet as a way to fulfill me, which is an exact example of people that have really bad challenges with food. They’re looking to food for fulfillment. People that go through, I don’t want to speak personally, because I haven’t gone through this, but from what I’ve read, individuals that suffer through bulimia and other eating disorders, often what they’re looking for in certain ways is that they treat food as a vehicle to fulfillment, to fulfill them even if they don’t want to eat it. They’re rejecting food as a way to fulfillment with something to fulfill themselves with something that isn’t with them right then and there.
I know it starts to become really abstract, but the easiest way to say it is that just take a look at anything that you’re doing in your life right now. And if you’re running off of shear discipline, if you’re running off the hope that someday in the future that you’ll make it, the chances are that you’re going to face so many more struggles along your journey.
As opposed to the flip side is, everybody wants a challenge, everybody is down for a good challenge and the difference between a challenge and a struggle is the added dimension of resistance. When you go through a struggle, when you’re yo-yoing in your diet, when you can’t stick to your exercise plan, when you’re having a hard time doing something that you want to do, that’s a struggle.
And what accompanies a struggle is resistance. You’re resisting something; you’re resisting something that you’re not ready to be at a level that you want to be at. Maybe you need to go slower. Whatever it is that you’re resisting, because you’re resisting it you’re using discipline as a way to kind of mask that, to kind of keep your eyes not focused on the total picture. And then you end up sending yourself back further because you haven’t actually taken baby steps to build a proper foundation in whatever journey you’re trying to make progress in.

Heart Puzzle

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Health, Nutrition, Raw Food

6 Tips on Having a Beautiful Relationship With Food

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:59:00 +0000

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Renegade Roundtable, which can be found at http://www.RenegadeRoundtable.com. In this excerpt, Dhrumil Purohit shares on what it means to have a beautiful relationship with food and how to deal with cravings.
Renegade Water Secrets with Dhrumil Purohit, the lead contributory, visionary and creator of welikeitraw.com and giveittomeraw.com.Kevin: Let’s get this abstract and let’s nail it down here. Can you explain what you said by a beautiful relationship with food? Because that sounds really appealing, what does that mean to you?Dhru: Absolutely. So nobody would ever want to become a vegetarian or a vegan or start eating more raw foods, or even just people, it doesn’t matter what you eat, most people on this call are probably thinking about including more whole foods in their diet. Nobody wants to do that and make their lives more complicated. If eating healthier would make your life more complicated then why the heck would you want to do it?
So what I see as a beautiful relationship with food is a relationship where you no longer are fearful of counting calories, you no longer are fearful about, is this food going to bring me this level of disease. You’re no longer fearful of getting the level of nutrition that you want to. And you also, on a daily basis are not fearful of what you’re going to eat. When you think about it, most individuals think so much about food. Especially if they’re visiting or traveling another country or just some other city, they think so much about food. What am I going go eat next? They’re a slave to whatever they eat. And nobody wants to make that worse by embarking on a natural diet of some sort, whether that be raw foods, or whole foods or whatever else.
So having a beautiful relationship with food is using food as a vehicle of nourishment instead of treating food as the destination. We all know people that are out there that get so caught up with being perfect when it comes to their diet that they spend more time thinking about food and stressing about food then they do enjoying life. Food is not the ultimate goal, it’s just a vehicle to take us somewhere, to enjoy life further, to live more in the present moment. Food is not that destination where we want to end up. We don’t want to be reading labels all day long. We don’t want to be using the Internet to count calories. We don’t want to be researching every single new supplement that comes out there, hoping that it’s going to fix us or bring this to us in our life. So having a beautiful relationship with food is having an authentic relationship with food, when you use it as a vehicle to take you to where you want to go in your life and to nourish your body, rather than a destination. Does that make sense Kevin?Kevin: Yeah. How do you know you’re there?Dhru: Well, the simplest way to look at it is to look at your life right now. Are you struggling? Right? As I mentioned, the difference between a struggle and a challenge is only one thing, and it’s resistance. So just look at your day. Look at your day, and at the end of the day when you think about food, do you feel good? Or do you feel not so good, or other than good? Right? So that’s the easiest way to look at it. Nobody can tell you, right?
I’m turning 26 in a couple of months. I’m probably half the age of most individuals that are probably listening in or even reading my websites that are out there. I’m not claiming to know anything. All I’m simply doing is saying that, let’s look at the most basic and fundamental things. Take a look at your life. Take a look at your relationship with food. Look at today. It’s 8pm on the east coast, a little bit earlier on the west coast, look at your day. Did you have a beautiful relationship with food? Were you obsessing about it? Were you scouring the Internet or the forum boards worrying about this and that and other things? It’s all right to do some research and say, ‘Where can I find the best source of B12?’ But fretting about stuff, worrying about stuff, that’s not a beautiful relationship with food. So the easiest way to do it is take a look at today, and see where you ended up. Are you happy? Are you happy where you are? Or are you at least complete where you are? You may want to make some progress, but are you complete where you are today? Or are you worried? Are you fearful? Are you stressing about where you aren’t?Kevin: That’s great. You said that it’s not resisting desires, and people do have desires from time to time. What do you suggest? Desires can be translated to cravings. We got a couple questions about cravings. So desires, cravings, it’s very similar. How do you suggest that someone deals with that based on the philosophy that you’re explaining now?Dhru: Sure. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t take practical steps. Right around 8 months is when I started experiencing all these levels of cravings for foods that I didn’t really even enjoy previously. And I thought it was that my diet wasn’t set up appropriately to get rid of those cravings. And on a practical level, there were some things that I needed to adjust. I could use more greens in my diet to bring in more minerals so that I wouldn’t have as much cravings. Because if you’re having a lot of cravings for food, sometimes it’s very nutritionally based. You may just not be getting enough minerals in your diet. So there’s some practical things that you can do, such as having green smoothies a couple times a day. Bring in more green juice into your diet. You know, it depends on what area specifically that you notice the cravings that show up.
But generally, what I find is that most of the cravings that show up for people, they’re simply coming from a place of, “I’m not treating myself. I’ve been really good now, and I’m not treating myself or I’m denying myself.” It’s like being bored. Most of the individuals that have cravings, I would say, that email me are people that are having cravings or are feeling like they are bored with their diet, or that they should be treating themselves because they’re not. So in that particular case, what I suggest is that, OK, let’s just look at it. First of all, I would say, are you yo-yoing? Right? And I just want to explain that a little bit further for people that are not familiar. Yo-yoing is people who treat life, and specifically diet, with good and bad. They have their good and bad days. They have a day that’s really good, and they’re eating almost all raw food or whole foods, and all organic and things like that. And then the next day, they’re binging on a pizza. Not just eating a slice, but they’re eating like a whole half a pizza, or they’re drinking like five cups of coffee when they haven’t had coffee all week long. So that’s yo-yoing.
Now, if you’re going through yo-yoing, then my suggestion is actually to scale back whatever dietary regimen you’re trying to do. Let’s take, for instance, raw foods specifically. If you’re trying to eat mostly or all raw foods, and you notice that you’re having a lot of challenges yo-yoing, take a step back and find some transitional foods that you can eat on a daily basis that are still good for you. Kevin I know you’re a very big fan of quinoa, right? So including thinking like quinoa, including things like steamed vegetables, that still are things that you can enjoy, that you might feel that are warm foods if you’re craving warm foods, that might give you more substance. It’s better to take a step back than go back and forth between this yo-yoing exercise.
Now for other individuals who might just have a desire here and there that might show up, and if they’re doing good overall, and if they’re fine using discipline, then use it! By all means, if discipline has worked for you so far, who am I to tell you not to use it? What I would suggest though, is notice if your dietary journey stops becoming fun, all right? Notice if you’re bringing more stress into it. Notice if you’re adding the dimension of resistance, if you’re not actually enjoying the journey anymore. And if you notice that you’re not enjoying it anymore, then there may be a time to also reevaluate and say, “What could I be doing differently here?”
Or just even taking a look at your goals. What is my goal here? What am I trying to do? Right? What am I trying to actually achieve here with my diet? Is losing those last ten pounds, is that it? And then after that, then what? What’s the next thing after that? Right? Sometimes, what I find, Kevin, is that simply by just being attached to a particular goal, that often creates those levels of desire, because people are so fixated on the goal. “OK, I need to get here, I need to get here, I need to get here.” That they start tripping up, that they stop focusing on the day to day things that they did in the beginning, and that they’re so focused on the goal that they start stumbling on the fact that they’re not making progress fast enough. “I’m not doing it quick enough.” And just by reevaluating it, I often find, just by taking an opportunity to actually reevaluate those goals, just by taking an opportunity to reflect on those goals. Sometimes people are able to make tremendous progress and realize, “Wow! I’m chasing after my tail. It’s a valid goal, and it’s a good thing to achieve, but I’m so fixated on it that I can’t think about anything else. I can’t focus on anything else.”

Free WordPress Plugins

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Cravings, Food, Health, Nutrition, Raw Food, Relationship

Eat Greens For Fat Loss

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:20:24 +0000

When it comes to fat loss and losing weight there is an overwhelming amount of information. If you’re like most people who want to lose weight you may feel somewhat bewildered and confused by all the diet and nutrition advice given by so many different fat loss experts. The tough part is that much of this advice overlooks the basic physiological premise for weight loss and long-term health – alkalinity!
Our bodies operate within a fine pH equilibrium. If we are too acidic, we invite disease and “fatness” to grow rampant. 2-time Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Linus Pauling, was the first to show to that cancer cannot grow in an alkaline environment. Many years later, though, most people have no idea what being alkaline means.
Being alkaline means not being acidic. The most important bodily tissue – our blood – requires a slightly alkaline pH to operate perfectly. If not, red blood cells begin to die, coagulate, and expel their waste into the blood. Oxygen transport to the cells becomes compromised and the body begins removing dangerous acid out from the blood and storing in our fat cells.
The body’s fat cells hold onto this acid as a protective mechanism since acid in the blood or vital organs can be lethal. Therefore, your ability to burn fat is related to your body’s acid-alkaline balance. You will find it very hard lose fat if you are acidic. It’s simple – your body needs to keep the fat around to hold onto to the acid. Once the acid lessens, the fat will follow.
So when you hear “experts” promoting high protein diets or other similar weight loss gimmicks you need to ask yourself if the foods they promote are acid or alkaline-forming in the body. For instance, all animal products (meat, dairy, eggs) are acid-forming in the body. Most grains and refined sugars are as well. A diet high in these foods can only result in an acidic body.
It has been said that our diet should be 80% alkaline and 20% acidic. However, I’m sure you can see that the Western diet – full of its processed, refined, and high fat foods – is the exact opposite. It’s no wonder that obesity is such a problem in Westernized countries.
So what foods are alkaline-forming?
Fruits and vegetables. The reason for this is that they are abundant in alkalizing minerals such as calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium while possessing lower concentrations of acidifying properties such as sulfur and nitrogen.
The best sources of alkalinity of all foods are greens. Grasses, green vegetables, and sea vegetables are some examples. A diet rich in green foods will not only help prevent the onset of disease but it will keep you thin.
As you incorporate more green foods into your diet you will become more alkaline – displacing needless acid – and improving your fat loss efforts. Think about it…how many overweight vegans or vegetarians do you know? Obviously being vegetarian doesn’t guarantee weight loss because many of these people can also have atrocious diets. However, their chance of staying thin is far better than someone who eats burgers and other garbage foods.
How to alkalize your body?
Eat for health and you will alkalize your body and lose weight. Here are 4 strategies to help you alkalize your body for optimal fat loss (and health) results:
1. Eat more fruits and vegetables and get plenty of greens. My rule of thumb is to consume at least 1 green juice and/or salad each day.
2. Drink plenty of water. You should drink at least half your body weight (lbs) in ounces each day.
3. Breathe! Take a few minutes each day and focus on deep breathing. Oxygen is alkalizing.
4. Minimize and avoid processed foods, artificial sweeteners, and nutrition-deficient drinks like coffee and sodas.
Nutrition Expert, Yuri Elkaim and his groundbreaking book, Eating for Energy, have helped thousands of people in over 80 countries regain control of their health and weight. Watch his new You Tube Video and discover a delicious GREEN smoothie recipe that will keep you energized and nourished. For more on his revolutionary healthy eating book visit http://www.EatingforEnergy.ca.

WP Robot Autoposter

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Acid, Alkalinity, Alkalize, Diet, Eat, Fat-loss, Greens, Living Foods, Nutrition, Raw Food, Weig

Raw Food Diet

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:24:37 +0000

A raw food diet is a diet based on unprocessed and uncooked plant foods. Like fresh fruits, vegetables, sprouts, seeds, nuts, grains, beans etc. It is believed that when the food is heated above the temperature of 116 degrees, the enzymes present in it are destroyed. The enzymes are said to be helpful with the digestion and absorption of the food. It’s also believed that cooking diminishes the nutritional value of the food.

It has lately become a lifestyle called Raw Foodism or Rawism. Raw Foodists typically believe that greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, greater the health benefits. The raw food Diet is followed by both Vegetarians and Non Vegetarians.

The benefits of Raw Food 6. increased energy 7. Improved skin appearance. 8. improved digestion 9. weight loss 10. reduced risk of heart attack and many more.

The raw food diet basically contains less amount of trans fats and saturated fats and also they are low in sodium and high in potassium, foliate and health-promoting plant chemicals which are called phytochemicals.

What to eat? (veg) Fresh fruits and vegetables, Nuts, Seeds, Beans, Legumes, Seaweed, Young Coconut Milk, Freshly juiced fruit and vegetables,Dry Fruits And many more.

What to eat? (Non veg) Unprocessed meats/organ-meats/eggs : Raw dairy, And aged, Raw animal foods such as century eggs, Rotting (fermenting), Meat/fish/shellfish/ kefir It should be ensured that at least 75% of the food consumed should not be heated over 116 F.

How to cook the food?? Many foods in the Raw Food diet are simple to cook like fruits, salads, meat, dairy etc. but some other foods may require considerable amount of time and planning. Like rice and other grains, they require sprouting or overnight soaking to become digestible.

Some cook book authors believe that the preparation of gourmet raw food recipes normally requires a blender, food processor, juicer, and dehydrator. A few raw foodists feel that freezing the food is also acceptable, even though it lowers the enzyme activity. While many raw foodists view freezing as harmful but not as unhealthy as cooking.

Caution: With the raw food diet gaining popularity, some unsafe foods have re entered the human diets. The following items should be consumed with precaution. Buckwheat, Kidney Beans, Alfala Sprouts, Raw Eggs, Raw Seeds, Apricot Kernels Raw Meat, Raw Milk and there are many more in the list. It’s advised that one should consult a professional related to Raw Foodism before switching the diet.

Who should be very cautious about Raw Food? Children, Pregnant or Nursing women, People with Anemia, People at risk for Osteoporosis. And before switching diets people should also be aware that that certain nutritional deficiency can occur on the raw food diet. And that include deficiency of Calcium, Iron, Vitamin B12, Protein, And Calories.

My Raw diet book is the quickest and safes way to loss weight fast. You can get all the top models are eating my diet and how much energy you will have if you eat Raw.

My name is Michael Andreula and I am the author of this website devoted to all aspects of fitness, food and living a healthy life. I am a fitness trainer and kick boxing for fitness expert. Here you can read articles, learn cooking terms, and participate in numerous other food and exercise related topics. My Raw diet book is the quickest and safes way to loss weight fast. You can get all the top models are eating my diet and how much energy you will have if you eat Raw.
Coolest Girl On The Planet

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Diet, Living Food Diet, Living Foods, nutritional supplements, Raw Diet, Raw Food, raw food diet, Raw Food Recipes, vegan, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian, Vegetarian Recipes

Differences Between Vegetarian and Raw Food Diets

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:37:38 +0000

There are a few distinct differences between vegetarian and raw food diets. Basically, a vegetarian is someone who is committed to not eat meat, fish, poultry or any animal products, but only consumes vegetables, pasta, and rice. On the other hand, a raw foodist is a vegetarian, but one who eats unprocessed, uncooked, organic, whole foods, like fruits, vegetables, nuts seeds, legumes, dried fruits, seaweeds, etc. It denotes a diet that is at least 75% uncooked! Raw foodist cooks very little and definitely doesn’t cook or process fruits and vegetables. Raw foodist simply eats them raw.

Raw foodist, vegans and frutarians are some of the different categories of vegetarians. Yes, raw foodist is a category of vegetarianism as mentioned earlier. However, to be a raw food purist, you should eat raw vegetables like raw broccoli, not steamed. To a vegetarian, who doesn’t eat meat or fish or any animal products, steamed vegetables are just as good, though every person would concur that steaming can take out nutrients from foods and turn them into less nutritious. A vegetarian might consume dairy or egg products but a vegan will not consume any animal products at all. The raw foodist then is a vegan who consumes only uncooked, unprocessed raw foods.

Enzymes are the life force of a food and that every food has its own perfect combination as believed by raw food diet advocates. These enzymes help us digest foods completely, without relying on our body to produce its own cocktail of digestive enzymes.

The cooking process is thought to destroy food enzymes. It can take so much of the basic nutritional value away. Other than that, cooked foods not only take any longer to digest, but they also let the partially digested fats, proteins and carbohydrates to block our gut and arteries.

Below are some health benefits cited by the raw diet followers:

• Improved digestion

• Increased energy levels

• Reduced risk of heart diseased

• Improved appearance of skin

• Weight loss

For more information about vegetarian and raw food diets, visit EatRawFood.com.

Jane Gaynor is an author, writer of Eat-Raw-Food.com and researcher in the field of natural health and nutrition.
used custom golf cart

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Eat Raw Food, Raw Food, raw food diet, Raw Food List, Raw Food Nutrition, Raw Food Recipes, raw foods

Organic Vegetarian Diets: Healthier and Better

admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:58:05 +0000

Sure, you are a vegetarian. But before you chew on your veggies or bite into that fruit, you might want to consider this: Crops and other plant food may contain chemicals from which they were sprayed or sprinkled with. Normally, your body absorbs these chemicals when you take in the food. Although you can just wash off the chemicals externally, some may still be contained in the food, which may pose serious threats to the body even if you are on a vegetarian diet.

Minimizing, much less, avoiding such risk can be done by going organic. Many food retailers are now selling organic produce because it is considered as the cleanest and purest type of food sans chemical aid. Organic produce is grown from the healthiest soil and is considered to be tastier and more nutritious. Moreover, organically grown produce promotes the restoration and protection of the environment.

Go organic with the following vegetarian diets that you may want to choose from.

Fruitarianism. This type of vegetarian diet is where you only eat fruits without killing the plant from which the fruit is removed. Apart from dietary reasons, those who choose this kind of diet believe that one can get food without necessarily taking the life of plants and animals.

Vegan diet. A vegan diet is one that completely shuns animal products, including eggs, gelatin, cheese, milk and other dairy products. Most vegans also support the cause of stopping animal cruelty, among other reasons.

Macrobiotic diet. A macrobiotic diet is almost the same with vegetarianism but focuses more on the consumption of beans and whole grains.

Moreover, while some people may consider pescetarianism and pollotariansim diets as other forms of vegetarian diets, it is not actually true since these two types of diets allow the consumption of fish and even poultry products. As a matter of fact, the Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom has been very keen on educating the general public about the misconception that vegetarians eat fish, which is not at all true.

Whatever vegetarian diet you are in, it is important that you know which one fits your nutritional needs and lifestyle. Remember to go organic so you can be sure that you get the most out of your vegetarian diet. Not only will you be getting a lot of health benefits from an organic vegetarian diet, you are also doing something good for the environment too.

Russel Esquibel is a nutrition oriented expert. He is a writer of Eat-Raw-Food.com, a site where you can find information, tips and advice about raw food, raw food diet, vegetarian, vegan and more.
IQ test

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Eat Raw Food, Raw Food, raw food diet, Raw Food List, Raw Food Nutrition, Raw Food Recipes, raw foods

The Pitfalls of a Raw Food or Vegan Diet

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:22:40 +0000

In this article, Dr. Jameth Sheridan shares candidly on the pitfalls of a raw food or vegan diet.Renegade Roundtable with Dr. Jameth Sheridan. Dr. Sheridan is a naturopath and nutritional consultant. He and his wife Kim co-authored “Uncooking with Jameth and Kim” and they co-own and operate Health Force Nutritional.Kevin: So you’ve been at this for 23 years now. What are some of the most common pitfalls you see with a raw food or vegan diet?Jameth: I think the number one pitfall that a raw fooder suffers from is, based on my 23 years of experience in raw food with countless tens of thousands of people, is if they’re a regular person, they eat regular foods, and let’s say they’re ill and they go raw immediately and they get well, I actually think that is ultimately a mistake. Because I see people when they “fall off the wagon” so to speak, they fall off hard and they fall back to what they started from. So if I’m eating regular pizza and regular chicken and regular animal products, things like that, regular cookies, I fall off the wagon with raw, do things with family, I’ll just go ahead and eat those and then, you know, “When I do that, and finish with my binge, then I’ll just go back to being raw.” And, I see a lot of people leaving raw foods or just being less healthy by going back and forth between those things. Because in raw the emphasis is so hard, and this is how I was taught too, on raw, that it forgets all the other things that are important, that make a raw food diet successful. And the number one thing that makes a raw food diet successful – all of a sudden, you are a whole food vegan.
If you become vegan, all of a sudden, if you stop eating animal products, cooked or raw – which are not good for you, you had an immense increase in your health. Your likelihood to get osteoporosis has plummeted; your likelihood to get cancer has plummeted; and as a whole food vegan, your likelihood to get heart disease is almost non-existent.
Now whole food meaning, you’re not just eating white sugar, white flour, and hydrogenated oil – all of which are vegan, but all of which are absolutely abysmal for you. A whole food vegan would eat things like millet, amaranth, quinoa, chick peas, you know, grains, beans, legumes, fruits, vegetables – actual food, unadulterated by nature. You’re also eating an organic diet, when you tend to go raw, and organic is huge. These things are just additives, and you don’t just eat a whole food, organic, vegan diet, you also change completely the types of foods you’re eating. For example, you don’t go from eating, let’s say a frozen vegan pizza, cooked, to a raw frozen vegan pizza. You change your food completely. You go from eating, let’s say a frozen vegan pizza, or a regular pizza, to broccoli, and cauliflower, and fruits, and sprouts, and flaxseeds, and actual foods that are completely different types of foods. So the amount of nutrients you are getting by being a raw fooder, unless you’re fruitarian, is dramatically higher. You’re also usually consuming more water, unless you’re doing lots of dehydrated things, or lots of cacao, you’re more hydrated, which is immensely beneficial. Some diets include lots of raw vegetable juice, which is tremendously beneficial. And, you are also eating a lot of your food raw, which there is a benefit to actually having things raw too, but it’s just one of the many benefits.
In raw food teaching, there is often taught, usually taught, that there’s two categories of food: foods that are raw, and foods that are cooked, and there is nothing in between. So if you’re eating something cooked, well it might as well be cheese lasagna, rather than tofu lasagna, because in the raw food world, there’s really no difference. And I’ve seen that information devastate peoples health, and I seen it have people leave the raw foods movement who would be having, let’s say, 80, 90% of their health has improved, and like “Wow, I love this.” And maybe 10 or 20% hasn’t, or 10 or 20% may have gotten worse, for some reason, some deficiency cropped up somewhere. And, if they usually talk to the raw food leaders or look at raw food text, they say, “Well, there’s a problem with you, you’re cleansing, you’re this, you’re that, blah blah blah blah. You’ve got to stay raw, because all cooked food is poison.” Even the, you know, sometimes even with macrobiotic diets, which the healing macrobiotic diet is an all-cooked food, vegan diet, there are many people who have overcome cancer with that. Now you can’t overcome cancer on poison, and by no means am I an advocate of macrobiotics, by any stretch of the imagination, because I think macrobiotics is very depleting long term but far better than the standard American diet.
So I think it’s important to be a whole food vegan at some point, and get a good basis of that. And if raw foods is not working for some reason, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.Kevin: So some of the deficiencies that you encounter, with raw food are, maybe…Jameth: I’m not saying they’re widespread, I just want to make sure it’s clear. I’ve met 20 plus year raw fooders who, for the most part, were following that regime, and who appear to be vibrantly healthy and they’re in excellent health, and I have no interest in trying to change their diet whatsoever. I just want them to live optimally and have the creatures of the planet live optimally and the planet as well. But for those who do, there’s some – there’s a group of raw fooders – I don’t know how to necessarily define the types yet – but it might be, people who tend to be vata, it is, in my experience, don’t necessarily thrive on 100% raw foods. And it could be that there’s possibly deficiencies of a type of protein, because it’s not a deficiency of protein, because on raw foods, if you eat an appropriate amount of nuts and seeds – and I think you can eat way too much of those – but an appropriate amount, let’s say, one handful or so, you can get tons of protein doing that. But there’s some vata types, with my experience, take a long time to recover from working out, and it has a much harder time building muscle, just on nut and seed protein. And you can’t really eat enough broccoli, because broccoli has, I think 20 or 30% – protein, very high. But to get that much grams of protein from broccoli, it’s virtually impossible. To eat that many calories, you would actually have to juice a couple of cases of stalks of broccoli to get sufficient protein – and you would get sufficient protein in that case. But broccoli’s also a cruciferous vegetable, and I love cruciferous vegetables for the liver detoxifying, for their anti-cancer benefits and they have some hormone balancing benefits too. They’re phenomenal foods. But raw broccoli, or any raw cruciferous in a large quantity, is really, really hard to process. It’s hard to deal with. So in cases like that, I’ve seen, if people move over to the legume family, it does not have to be soy beans. Soy beans are one of hundreds of different legumes. If you don’t like soy beans for some reason, just don’t eat them – not necessary. Lentils, chick peas, mung beans, adzuki beans, things like that. Now you can certainly do those raw, but it’s ironic that one of the reasons that soy is indicted amongst the raw foods communities is because research on raw soy shows that it is very difficult to digest. It has enzyme and protein and other inhibitors in it that make it hard to deal with and hard to grow on, but that’s when the soy beans are raw. Now when you sprout any legume, any legume sprouted still has a lot of these anti-nutrients in them and it’s harder to digest and get everything out of a raw legume sprout. Now it’s almost ironic though, when you steam those legumes you do destroy all those enzyme inhibitors and the enzymes as well. But at least you’re enzymatically neutral now. You have not cooked it, or charred it, or burned it so there’s no lucocytosis raising of the white blood cell count, with steamed legumes or any steamed vegetable. For those people who don’t thrive on raw, if they do that, sprouted and steamed legumes, not lightly steamed you’ve got to steam it the whole way. Raw is just hard to digest. Most people don’t even make raw hummus anymore with raw chick peas. Have you noticed that?Kevin: Yes.Jameth: Because they are notoriously difficult to digest raw. I’ve made lots of raw chick pea in my day, lots of raw sprouted things and always the thing I used to do and still do is the stuff that’s left over, a dip or pate or something, well you throw it in the dehydrator and make raw chick pea burgers and eat them the next day for dinner. I did that one time and I ate the things in the morning, the raw chick pea hummus we had the day before, a whole bunch of them, I brought them to my seminar and man, I had a hard time even being in the seminar because I had so much volume of gas, that smelled so bad and I was in so much pain that I couldn’t actually socially be in the actual building. I had to walk outside.Kevin: Wow.Jameth: Now that was because I had a concentrated, dehydrated version. Now if you sprout chick peas, and chick peas can be hard to sprout. Sometimes they just go bad before they sprout. Now I don’t mean soak. So actually sprouted chick peas that are steamed then mixed with raw tahini, no reason in any way shape or form to cook your tahini, is phenomenally digestible. Really, really awesomely digestible and to get back, if you sprout your legumes, steam them and put a little bit of flax oil on them and salt them whether it be Himalayan salt, Celtic sea salt, a little bit of gluten free tamari or miso, some sort of good quality source of organic sodium, in my experience I have never seen that not take away someone’s craving or desire for flesh. That is so much better for you nutritionally than eating a piece of flesh, raw or not. By any measurement that science has currently come up including [indecipherable] photography, it’s far superior to do that than it is to eat raw flesh. So what I’m saying is rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water and being 100% raw, if you’re eating an animal product because you’re better off not. You’re better off eating a whole food vegan cooked food like sprouted, steamed, salted, flax oil, legume that I talked about. That’s my experience.

frosted glass film

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Diet, Pitfalls, Raw Food, vegan