The Raw Food Diet: How To Achieve A New Level Of Health | Lifestyle

The Raw Food Diet: How To Achieve A New Level Of Health

by MildredWeaver

If there's one single issue that's heard above the rest when it comes to our health, it's about energy levels. We're tired, wiped out, finding it hard to face the day's work, no matter how much coffee we drink. We try this or that energy boosting product, which might feel good for a short while but that's about it. Want to make a dramatic, life-long shift towards not only high, sustained energy levels, but a naturally positive outlook and feeling of contentment as well? Look no further than the raw food diet.

Right away we get a little scared hearing "raw food"..."You mean like, carrot and celery sticks all day?" One first needs to understand what the raw food diet is really all about. It's about the highest level of nutrition AND gourmet eating imaginable. Browse some of the newest raw food "cookbooks" in your local bookstore and check out the pictures...mmmm! You could really even live on the deserts alone (but that's for another time)! Clearly it's not about just carrot and celery sticks; raw food is about preparing the most nutrient and flavor dense food on the planet, by getting creative while never allowing your food to be heated over 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

The first issue raised by opponents of this way of eating is that the food is hard to digest; others suggest it's "cold" when they need warming foods. It's obvious that anyone voicing either of these concerns has either not experienced the diet, or has made any attempt to tailor it to their personal needs. The food is FAR more easily digested than cooked foods! Consider that 99% of the food eaten by animals on the planet is raw -- do they seem like they're having a hard time? Are they contracting diabetes, cancers and heart disease at incredibly alarming rates? Certainly not!

The two biggest differences between raw and cooked food is the availability of enzymes and the availability of "life force". Let's start with enzymes: what are they and why do we care. Enzymes are the spark of every chemical reaction that goes on in the body -- many go so far to call them "the spark of life". Consider the amazing amount of chemical changes going on all the time in our bellies, muscles, brains...all over really. Each of these changes -- converting the food we eat into precisely the right molecular structure our bodies need -- requires an enzyme. Our bodies need an endless supply of these to keep functioning. When these enzymes are not supplied by our diet, our bodies need to make them all -- which really wears us out, and actually makes us susceptible to the epidemic of major illnesses we see today.

You know that fatigued feeling you get after eating? For many people, it seems to happen after every single meal. What's happening has several facets: we're having a reaction to the toxins we're ingesting (recall the recent discovery of "acrylamide", a cancer-causing agent found in cooked, and especially deep-fried foods). We're also having to expend more energy digesting the foods because the naturally occurring enzymes are not present, and many people are becoming glucose-intolerant from un-naturally high levels of refined carbohydrates. It's been found that our immune system reacts strongly when cooked foods are ingested, just as if we were exposed to any other toxic material.

Raw food diets have been at the cornerstone of healing major, life-threatening diseases where no cure was considered possible. Diabetes for example has been "cured" (they no longer need supplemental insulin) in individuals who have "gone raw" -- moving their diet to 100% plant based, un-cooked, low-glycemic index foods (research Gabriel Cousins and the Tree of Life foundation). Major alternative cancer treatment centers support the use of the raw food diet as the best way to alkalize and oxygenate our bodies through diet, creating an environment inhospitable to cancer cells.

From a more esoteric standpoint, when whole, organic, plant-based food is not heated when prepared, the enzymes remain intact, micro-nutrients remain intact, and the life force of the food remains intact. Raw food proponents make the natural connection that the life force of the food is readily available to our bodies, where it would not have been otherwise. The food you're eating was alive a short time ago, with roots in the ground, converting sunlight to energy -- why kill it by cooking it if you too want to have the greatest amount of life force?

The reasons for the raw food diet are many -- if you're wanting to simply have the greatest, most consistent energy levels of your life, this is the way to go. If you're wanting to incorporate diet into your personal evolution, or as a way to save the planet, again raw food is worth looking into. We've really only scratched the surface here; if you're interested, find yourself a book on the subject and investigate further. Folks who have transitioned to the raw food lifestyle believe clearly, it was one of them most effective changes they've ever made.

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice.

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