Weight loss, improved health and safe environment are the three key reasons that have always instigated the foodies to transform their diet plans. Raw food typically means saying goodbye to pasta, baked goods, junk food, and most store-bought juices, drinks, and milks. Fresh fruits, vegetables, sprouts, seeds, and nuts, including cashews, sunflower seeds, and raw almond butter are given room in the kitchen as well as in your stomach.
Raw food is packed with natural enzymes and nutrients that help the body to reach optimal health. Enzymes help us to digest food which gets destroyed when we cook. Raw food already retains some enzymes which carry the digestion process. Alas, there are very few people that follow a 100 percent raw diet!
Raw food diet consists of about 75 to 80 percent of plant-based foods never heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Usually, the large population of followers is vegan believing that consuming raw meat is unethical and unhealthy, while some choose to consume most of the raw animal products, like raw (unpasteurized) milk, cheese made from raw milk, raw fish, and other kinds of raw meat.
Raw foodies become expert at juicing, blending, dehydrating, sprouting, germinating, cutting, chopping, and rehydrating. And needless to say, raw food diet has numerous positive effects too. Both juicing and blending provides enormous nutrition that our body can absorb in minutes. An eating pattern heavy on fruits and veggies, but light on saturated fat and salt, is considered the best way to keep cholesterol and blood pressure in check and heart disease at bay. More energy, better skin, weight loss and drop in the risk of cardiovascular diseases could actually be a boon for the body. Other than this, hunger is never a problem on a raw diet. It makes you realize the importance of satiety (a kind of satisfied feeling that you’ve had enough), as raw food—veggies, beans, sprouts and legumes generally take a longer time to get digested.
Transition Phase:
Raw diet should be introduced slowly into the current diet. One should always start with fruits; giving them more space in your diet will certainly bring you more close to raw products. Bring variety in your diet by making a list of all fruits, veggies, herbs and nuts from A to Z that you would like to have. Make your choices depending on the seasonality and hygiene.
- Begin with fresh fruit for breakfast
- Bring in more fresh and raw plant food into your meals. Salads are the best food for lunch and dinner including nuts, seeds, sprouted seeds, and sprouted beans.
- Garnish it with plant-based and non-dairy seasonings, fresh herbs, etc., to season raw food meals. Bringing flavour to your food transforms the complete picture of “raw salad” to a “meal”. But don’t always go for exotic ingredients that are hard to find. You can easily give up, if you try going for the seasoning that are a bit expensive and very rare to find. Keep those flavours for weekends or occasions. Keep your food fresh and as simple as possible.
- Grind, blend, mix, soak, chop and sprout the food you have. Use different techniques to make your food look more tempting and scrumptious.
- Raw food stands no where with processed food in terms of storage. They are more prone to spoilage. Be prepared to consume raw foods quickly and to replenish them regularly.
- Lastly, be flexible. You might prefer to eat a partial raw diet for a time being, till you get immune to the complete raw veggies. Don’t be harsh to yourself. Set a time frame and then try to procure the absolute essence of raw diet.
Raw food diet is not the sole way of keeping yourself fit and healthy. Optimal health is about being healthy in a well-rounded way. Adequate exercise, yoga or meditation is as important as your regular food. You need to relax and revive to ensure positivity and fresh aura around you. Never hesitate to take a step forward which could be a bit difficult to follow but at last could rejuvenate your soul with serenity and peace.
The author is a Spiritual Mentor and Founder of Reiki Healing Foundation (RHF), world’s largest organization in the field of Reiki Healing & Mystic Sciences. This is world’s largest non-profitable institute of Holistic Sciences and also the first ISO 9001: 2008 certified Reiki Organization. He can be reached at info@rhftrust.com