GUIDE RAW FOOD DIET AND HEATH ONLINE

Raw Food Weight Loss - How to Lose Weight on a Raw Food Diet!

2011-04-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

If you've been thinking about going on a raw food diet to lose weight you would be choosing the healthiest way on the planet to diet. Not only can you lose a lot of weight on a raw food diet but you will find that you feel better than you have ever felt. I know that's true because I lost weight fast a decade ago when I first started eating my food uncooked. I started on a raw food diet immediately after I got a breast cancer diagnosis. I wasn't grossly overweight but I wanted to lose ten pounds.

Those ten pounds disappeared so fast it actually scared me. But I found that by eating a lot more fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds that I could easily maintain the loss and maintain a good weight for me - all my ailments including breast cancer, fibromyalgia, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome went away - digestive problems and acid reflux and many other ailments just disappeared. It was a miracle to say the least and after ten years I am still in prefect health weighing 106 pounds.

I know many others who have lost weight eating raw foods. And they have the added benefits of vibrant health. They are vibrant, healthy glowing and full of energy. Raw foods give you tons of energy and for me -- I only need five hours of sleep at night. That gives me many more hours to use every day.

I always feel good and charged. I still eat only raw foods. I make lots of delicious raw recipes and desserts - raw apple pies, blueberry pie, lemon tortes and all sorts of candies and cookies. All uncooked and every bite healthy.

Raw foods are the natural way to lose weight and those who try them find they never want to go back to the standard American diet. They are bursting with energy and with the newly found weight loss find they enjoy physical activities and are able to do so much more. I play tennis, hike, fast walk and work out in a club.

You can design your own weight loss plan you do not have to invest in any plans, programs or supplements. You can start today by going to your local farm, farmer's market, whole foods market or produce department in your regular grocery store and stock up on greens, fruits and vegetables. Then get nuts and seeds like sunflower seeds. You can make pates out of seeds and various raw desserts out of nuts or to snack on- nothing roasted. Of course you can do more than this short article can get into but it's really easy.

Why not think about starting a raw food diet today to lose weight and to feel good once and for all. It's a perfect weight loss diet. Thousands of people are eating raw foods and enjoying vibrant, superior health too. You can be one of those lucky people too. You can do it!

Low Calorie Chinese Recipes

2011-04-23T20:16:00.001-07:00

According to the statistics, there are more Chinese restaurants in the country than any other type of ethnic restaurant combined. This is an astonishing fact, when you think about all the pizza joints and Mexican restaurants that are around, but if you think about it for a couple of minutes, you can probably name at least a handful of Chinese restaurants in your area right off the top of your head. Everyone loves to eat exotic dishes of fried rice, Szechuan Beef, and sweet and sour pork from their local favorite, but doing so can be detrimental to your health. By learning a few basic tips, you can learn to cook low calorie Chinese recipes in your own home.

First, let's look at why eating at or getting takeout from your favorite eating spot is not a healthy option for you in most cases. One of the things that you will notice when eating at most Asian restaurants is that the food is extremely oily. This is because deep frying plays a central role in the preparation of many dishes. Have you ever wondered why the meat at your favorite Asian eating spot is always more tender and succulent than when you try to recreate dishes at home? It's because these establishments use a technique called oil blanching. Oil blanching is a process in which the meat of your choice (chicken, beef, seafood, etc.) is marinated in a mixture of seasonings and cornstarch and then deep fried at a low temperature. What happens during this process is that the hot oil seals in the juices into the meat and also causes the cornstarch on the surface of the meat to gelatinize, leaving the cook with a piece of juicy, tender meat. While this cooking technique yields flavorful meat, it also renders inherently low calorie foods into fatty bombs. Oil contains approximately 120 calories per tablespoon and when you deep fry, particularly at the low temperatures needed for oil blanching, the food that you are frying tends to absorb a copious amount, causing you to ingest hundreds of unnecessary calories.

In addition to oil blanching, a lot of dishes depend on traditional deep frying to get the desired textures and results that the cook wants. For example, common dishes like sweet and sour pork or Szechuan beef are often laden with oil from the deep fat fryer. Even dishes like fried rice and stir fried vegetables can become greasy, fattening dishes in the hands of an unskilled chef.

Fortunately, there are a few tips and tricks that you can use at home in order to slash the calories from your favorite Asian dishes. Not only will you help your waistline, but you will also help your bottom line since cooking at home is much more economical than getting takeout. If you want to have succulent and tender meat like you would get from the oil blanching technique, you can duplicate the results by using a water blanching technique, a process which is very similar to blanching vegetables. First, you will need to marinate your meats in a mixture of egg whites, salt, and cornstarch. Then, bring a pot of water to the boil. Add the meat into the pot and cook for about thirty seconds, or just until the raw color of the meat has disappeared. After that, remove the meat from the pot and allow it to drain well. From there, you can proceed with your favorite Chinese stir fry recipe.

Another tip that you can use is to cook with non-stick cookware. A non-stick surface will allow you to cook Chinese dishes at home without having to use a lot of oil to prevent sticking. Instead of using tablespoons of vegetable oil to lubricate your pan, which will add hundreds of calories to your Chinese food, you can use a couple of sprays of cooking spray, which is less than 15.

Finally, substitute some of the meat in your dish with vegetables to create a low calorie Chinese recipe. By weight, meat contains far more calories, fat, and cholesterol than vegetables, so by substituting some of the protein with additional vegetables, you can help to slash your caloric intake. Think of using vegetables as the centerpiece of your Chinese dish and the meat as one of your seasoning elements.

By knowing a couple of easy tricks, you can cook low calorie Chinese recipes in the comfort of your own home. Since you control the quality of the ingredients and the cooking techniques, your final dish will be much healthier and cheaper than anything you can order at your favorite Asian eatery.

Improving Your Life with Raw Food

2011-04-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

Life is such a fragile thing. At any point, any of us can die, and it is something that must be accepted along with being alive. However, there are many steps that we can take to reduce our risk of dying young. We can avoid drugs, we can not engage in dangerous and reckless activities, and we can eat healthy and exercise. The two leading causes of death in this country are cancer and heart disease, which are largely caused by the things that we eat. If we could improve our diets by eating more raw foods, then the needless deaths in this country would be reduced by such a great degree.

It is not that hard to get more raw food into your lifestyle. When most people think of that term, they think of bitter plants that they have to force down their throats. In reality, raw food can actually be quite tasty, and the best raw foods taste even better than the processed crap that we virtually have no choice in consuming. It may sound ridiculous that something unprocessed could actually be delicious, but that is the case. In fact, there are many companies that specialize in creating tasty raw foods, in such a way that anybody can take advantage of them, even if they have never been in the raw food movement before. One such company is known as Versativa, and they distribute one of the most powerful natural food products in the world, one that combines dozens of nuts, seeds, grains, and fruits together into one delicious creation. Everybody who has been using it absolutely loves the power they feel, and that is representative of everything that raw food can do.

You should also know that there are many benefits besides just avoiding disease that come with eating raw food. For example, you start to feel a lot better about yourself, and this is partially caused by the fact that your appearance will increase dramatically. Such is the result of giving your body what it needs. If you give your body what it desires, then it will give you what you desire. And this is radiant skin, a strong body, and a sharp, intelligent mind. You will never have felt better in your life, and love and appreciation will flow through your body. This is a promise I will make to you, as long as you make the jump and trust me to add this to your life.

Benefits Of Raw Food - 6 Benefits Of Eating Raw Food

2011-04-17T04:47:00.000-07:00

Following a diet based on the benefits of raw food is an excellent way to lose weight on a naturally way

and it will help you to improve your health.

It is not only important that you eat it; you must know what the benefits of raw food are.

You know the old saying "Power is knowledge" this is definitely true when it comes to dieting.

I'm sure they didn't realize it but our grandparents (the cavemen) were only eating raw food.

They didn't cook their food; heck they didn't even know how to create fire.

Raw food benefit #1 Eat as much as you can:

If you follow a raw food diet you can eat almost as much as you can and still maintain a healthy weight.

Raw food benefit #2 Rich in fibres:

Did you know that there are six types of fibres. The fibres in raw food are called cellulose. They are necessary when it comes to losing weight.

Raw food benefit #3 A clear skin:

Raw vegetables are an excellent and natural resource for a clear skin.

Vegetables are rich in vitamins. Some effective vegetables are carrots, salad,

tomatoes and cucumbers.

Raw food benefit #4 Energy:

An excellent benefit of raw food is that it doesn't contain only vitamins but also energy.

You will feel yourself more fit, you will have more energy and it may even improve your sex life.

Raw food benefit #5 Saturated fads:

Sat fats are bat in your battle against weight loss. This is one of the most important benefits of a raw food diet it contains very little saturated fats.

Raw food benefit #6 More nutritional value:

Food cooked above 116F° will lose a lot of its nutritional value.

Attention!:Your best bet is to consume only organic raw food.
Raw food from your local supermarket are loaded with pesticides.

You can prepare a lot of tasty receipts with only raw food: Think on all the salads you can mate or try a vegetable food. Personally I prefer tomato vegetable juice with a little bit salt, black pepper and Tabasco.
I hope you have a better understanding of the benefits of raw food

How Raw Food Helps Avoid Chronic Health Issues

2011-03-22T07:17:00.001-07:00

Many people are fighting the over weight factor and still haven't found the magic diet? Others may have found themselves in a health issue that if with proper diet could be prevented. I have visited the Susi bar but, really never liked much on it but, shrimp. After reading more about a raw food diet many health benefits were discovered as far back as early 1900's. Most commonly the enzymes lost in food cooked over a temp of 115 F has lost the benefits to your body which would prevent the cause of serious health problems.

Raw foodism has been a popular diet regarding health benefits that out number those of cooked food over 104 F. Studies have shown that the enzymes in raw food help the body against chronic illnesses.

The benefits are

1. better skin,
2. more energy,
3. weight loss,
4. overall health is improved with a raw food diet.

The diet usually consists of

* veg.,
* fruits,
* animal products,
* grains,
* nuts,
* legumes.

Some of these call for preparing a day of two ahead of time. A source I found to be easy step by step in preparing raw foods is Kristen raw foods. Such as rice, grains, and sprouts need to be put in water to sprout. Nuts should be soaked in order to activate their enzymes, and deactivate enzyme inhibitors.

Raw animal products such as

* meats,
* fish,
* eggs,
* milk, can be eaten raw.

Raw food dieters claim that cooking food produces harmful chemical toxins. Potential harmful effects in cooking food which are thought to increase cancer risk in humans.

In cooking meats, breaking down of cells occurs so that the digestive system can digest food more easily has been suggested. Microwaving at high temperatures have been shown to significantly reduce the anti-infective factors in human milk.

To avoid food poisoning there is a list that should be cooked consult link below. Other wise for a safe alternative for raw food consumption it's better to look a recipe up in a book. I myself am sold on a good picture of the menu.

Remember food is the essence of

* brainpower:
* learning,
* memory,
* concentration.

Studies have shown mild deficiencies can impair

* mental function,
* leading to irritability,
* mood swings,
* loss of appetite

When levels are replenished memory has been found to improve.

Raw Food Made Easy For Weight Loss & Better Health

2011-03-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

In this article we are going to briefly explore the benefits of a raw food diet, and how you can lose weight naturally and start feeling better about yourself than you have done in a long time.

It is a fact that raw "living" food is easier for your body to digest. This is due to a couple of factors, but the main one is that it contains enzymes, and you shouldn't underestimate their importance!

The enzymes in our food are the key to good health and longevity of life. They really are hugely important so it's vital that you do everything you can to prevent them being destroyed in the process of preparing your meals.

Every bodily function requires the involvement of enzymes, including digestion, respiration, detoxification and transportation, and if you body isn't functioning correctly, serious illness may occur.

Follow a raw food diet plan and you will naturally lose weight and improve your health because your body will be able to function on full throttle, instead of trying to break down "dead food".

So now let's look at some real tangible benefits to be gained from eating this way:

# Increased Energy

Once you follow diet of at least 75% raw, your energy levels will sky-rocket. Aren't you fed up of sitting on the couch feeling lethargic and that you just can't be bothered?

# Natural Weight Loss

Everybody who eats raw reports losing that stubborn weight they tried to lose before, but which simply stayed there no matter how low they cut calories!

# Increased Endurance

Once you start eating at least 75% raw, you will have no problem getting up in the morning and really getting going. You won't think twice about leaping out of bed and you will be able to keep going for longer because of your increased stamina.

In this article we have explored the importance of enzymes in our food, and how a Raw Food Diet is the best way to ensure our bodies get enough of them. The benefits of eating raw over cooked outlined above are only the tip of the iceberg.

Lose Weight With Raw Foods

2011-02-27T16:46:00.000-08:00

We're all familiar with the knowledge that in order to lose weight we must speed up our metabolism. Exercise is a great way to do this - especially aerobic or cardiovascular exercise. But there is another way - by eating certain foods you can also increase your metabolism, lose weight and get all around healthier!

Enzymes are the key factor here. Enzymes are proteins that trigger practically every chemical reaction in the body from digestion to moving your muscles. However, these aren't your muscle building proteins - they are non-digested catalysts that must be present in order for all other bodily processes to happen.

Usually when enzymes are mentioned, digestive enzymes are what come to mind. However, the enzymes we are talking about are metabolic enzymes. These are responsible for fat burning, strengthening the immune system and alleviating tiredness. Adding raw foods to your diet can help your body restore healthy enzymes levels of both kinds.

You can start by incorporating raw foods into your diet. The more raw foods you eat, the faster your metabolism will get. But as with anything - don't overdo it. If you are not used to eating raw foods, your body may have a difficult time digesting them. Read on for easy tips to get your fill of raw foods right away.

Start your day with raw, fresh, organic fruit. The morning is your body's normal cleansing time when your body's ability to metabolize fat peaks. Since fruits are the natural cleansers of the body, having one or two servings of fruits in the morning will help this process. But eat it alone - you want to give it time to digest. If you are having protein or cereal for breakfast too, wait about thirty minutes after you eat the fruit. Eating these foods too close together may give you a tummy ache.

For lunch, have a large raw veggie salad with protein. This is time of day when your digestion is at its strongest and your body is ready to rev up your metabolism. For protein, there is a variety to choose from such as sprouts or beans. If you prefer some cooked food, you can add chicken, lean beef or fish with your meal. If you prefer more cooked food at lunch, that's okay. Just be sure to start your lunch with a small, raw veggie salad - skip the high fat dressing, though.

To end your day, start your dinner with a raw veggie salad. Again, this gets your body ready to work and can help digest your dinner. Including this salad will help stabilize blood sugar as well as help your weight loss goals.

If you can't find time to eat your salads or snack on raw veggies (or want to do more), try drinking your vegetables. Raw, fresh made vegetable juice from carrots, celery and beets have plenty of live enzymes. These enzymes not only strengthen digestion, which can speed your metabolism, but they can also strengthen your immune system and keep you from getting overly hungry between meals.

Eating more raw foods will supply many benefits. Adding raw fruits and veggies will increase your metabolism, control blood sugar, help your body detoxify and can even minimize the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

You can keep your diet easy by simply replacing meals - or parts of your meals - with raw foods. Start with 50% raw and work your way up to 75% or even 100% raw. Search your local health food store for raw food recipe books to keep your meals interesting. The more raw foods you eat, the faster you will lose weight and the quicker you will receive all the other health benefits.

Type 2 Diabetes - Reverse It With Raw Foods

2011-01-08T04:46:00.000-08:00

Type 2 diabetes can be reversed with raw foods. Implementing a raw food only diet has many benefits for diabetics. These foods are plant-based foods that contain no cholesterol, this is very important, as cholesterol is a major concern with people that have diabetes.

Our bodies produce cholesterol naturally, so we do not need to add more as this can cause complications and serious health problems. It may be hard to adjust to this kind of diet, but the beneficial results are worth it.

Some of the benefits of a raw food diet if you have type 2 diabetes are:

* Raw foods are easily digested
* Raw foods will allow you to lose weight effectively and safely
* It provides you with more energy
* You will notice your skin becoming healthier
* Lowers your risk of heart disease
* Lowers your cholesterol if it is too high
* Raw foods have healing powers that can help with many illnesses
* Beneficial with people that have allergies, and
* Beneficial for people that have a weak immune system

Following are some raw food recipes that are beneficial if you have type 2 diabetes:

Scrumptious Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust:

* 2 to 3 cups of almonds
* ½ cup of pitted dates that have been soaked
* For the Pie Filling:
* 1 large butternut pumpkin, shredded
* 1 cup of dates
* ½ cup of almonds, soaked
* ¼ cup of chopped parsley
* 1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
* 2 tsp of cinnamon
* ½ tsp of nutmeg
* ½ tsp of ground cloves
* ¼ cup of water

Method

To make the piecrust, place all the ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth, place into a prepared pie dish and coat the bottom evenly.

To make the pie filling, add the pumpkin to the food processor and process for a few minutes, and then add the rest of your ingredients and blend until well combined and smooth. Place this filling on top of your piecrust and serve with a green salad.

Banana & Chocolate Smoothie

Ingredients

* 2 large bananas
* ½ cup of raw almonds, soaked
* 1 tsp of cinnamon powder
* 1 tbsp of cacao powder
* 2 cups of water

Method

Blend all the ingredients together until smooth.

Implementing this kind of diet is truly beneficial for all of us not just diabetics. Reversing type 2 diabetes with raw foods can be achieved, you can see just how much it can help you to achieve optimum health once more and avoid the nasty complications that are associated with diabetes.

Raw Food - The Simplest Natural Diet

2010-12-22T05:51:00.000-08:00

More and more people are realizing that the key to health is not just in the exercise that you do but also in the type of food that you eat. The old saying is that you can not out train a bad diet. But a health diet is not just for people looking to get fit. It's also for people that want to cure or prevent illness and disease, to feel better and happier or to slow down the aging process. Eating raw food is one of the ways in which you can provide your body with optimal nutrition. This article will explain the benefits of eating a raw food diet and how you can start following it today.

There are many benefits to a Raw food diet, or just incorporating more raw food into your current diet. Humans were meant to eat natural whole foods not the processed sugar and salt filled foods that are causing so many modern illnesses, diseases and obesity in Western countries. Specific benefits of eating more raw food include losing weight easily and keeping it off, curing heart disease, reducing bad cholesterol in the blood, curing IBS, acne and other allergies. People who start eating more raw food also report having more energy, and increased libido.

The reason that eating raw food makes you feel so much better is because raw food is richer in enzymes and nutrients than processed food or food that has been cooked too much. Our body needs enzymes to function correctly and many processed foods contain little or no enzymes. Cooking food at a temperature higher than 115 degrees Fahrenheit destroys the natural occurring enzymes in food depriving you of the benefits of eating food in the first place.

Further advantages of eating raw food are that your body is able to extract the maximum amount of nutrients from what you are eating, it is cheaper than processed food which isn't giving you any nutrition, helps you lose fat easily, it helps you think more clearly and feel more calm and contains little chemicals or preservatives especially if you get organic produce.

In order to start incorporating more raw food into your diet you must first consult with a doctor, especially if you are suffering from an illness. Start investigating which foods you can safely eat raw. Many fruits and vegetables are naturally raw food. Learn how to broil or otherwise prepare vegetables below 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Also investigate eating different kinds of nuts and sprouts in order to get all the nutrients you need.

When it comes to food such as meats, eggs and fish you must be more cautious. Since many of these foods are raised on an industrial scale there is more potential for diseases to spread and infect the food. There are people that claim that eating raw animal products is a very healthy and natural thing to do and that our early ancestors ate like this. It should be noted that those that eat raw meat prefer their meat to come from pasture or grass fed animals in order to lower the risk of disease. You should thoroughly investigate how you can eat these foods safely if you choose to do this, and again always consult with your doctor before changing your diet in this way.

There are many ways in which you can prepare raw food meals, either as salads, smoothies or sauces. The juicer, broiler and blender are some great pieces of kitchen equipment to get that will help you create delicious raw food meals, juices and smoothies. So educate yourself and start benefiting from raw food immediately.

The Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Consider a Raw Foods Diet

2010-12-16T04:15:00.000-08:00

There are quite a few reasons why you should consider eating a raw foods diet. This diet, comprised of at least 75% raw, unprocessed, and ideally organic foods, will have you feeling better, looking better, and enjoying an improved state of your overall well being.

Raw Nutrition Allow You to Live a Healthier Lifestyle

When you switch to a raw vegan diet, you will be eating much healthier foods that are low in saturated fats, sugars, and sodium compared to cooked, processed foods. Raw foods are nutritionally dense without the calories of cooked foods and processed foods, so your body will feel full and satisfied without the need for excess calories.

You'll be able to eat in a much more controlled manor and eliminate cravings and hunger pangs that result in needless calorie intake. The result will be maintaining a healthy weight and significantly decreasing the risk of major cardiovascular related diseases, as well as diabetes and cancer.

Raw Organic Foods Increase Energy Levels

While on the raw foods diet, you will experience higher energy levels on a more consistent basis throughout the day. You won't experience the ebbs and flows of energy highs and lows that occur on an unhealthy diet of processed foods. This is because processed foods cause blood sugar spikes and subsequent drops, draining you of energy. With a high energy level that lasts throughout the day, you will be much more productive and be able to accomplish a lot more. Raw foods also cost your body less energy since cook foods require much more energy to digest than raw foods.

Detoxify Your Body with Uncooked Foods

Because toxins and other bad chemicals are abundant in processed foods, they accumulate in your body with this type of diet. When you switch to eating mainly raw unprocessed food, will body will expel the toxins until they are completely gone from your system.

The result is that the systems in your body will become more efficient and less stressed. You will see improvements in your circulatory system, respiratory system, nervous system, and immune system. You will feel healthy, alive, vibrant and suffer from much fewer illnesses, if any at all.

Lose weight and Look Great

People who put themselves on raw vegan diets have a much easier time losing weight than those who are on cooked food diets. Uncooked foods have more fiber in them so that will make you feel fuller without having to consume excess calories, and since raw foods are nutrient-rich, your body won't crave foods like it does when nutrients are lacking in your diet.

The result is less food in-take, as well as less sugar, saturated fats and trans fats intake, all of which pack on pounds when consumed with processed foods.

There has also been a correlation between raw foodism and healthy-looking skin. This is due to the detoxification effects and increased antioxidant intake with raw nutrition. Antioxidants eliminate harmful free radicals. when there are excess free radicals roaming around, this can result in dry skin, chaffed shin, and a poor skin complexion.

Mental Clarity and Psychological Improvements

Several people have reported a higher level of mental clarity and increased focus after switching to a raw foods diet. With higher energy levels and increased focus, the motivation to accomplish your goals and get things done becomes easier. Generally you will feel more relaxed and in a better mood on the raw foods diet.

So these are the top five reason to get yourself on a raw foods diet. It's important to realize that these benefits won't take place overnight, so stick with it a couple weeks and you'll soon begin to feel the positive effects of the raw foods diet.

Organic Raw Foods and Your Family

2010-12-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

More and more people are finding that friends and family members are getting diseases like diabetes and cancer. They hear that the only cure is drugs, chemicals or surgery. Can organic raw foods help?

You'll hear things like "your mom had it so you're going to get it" or "it runs in the family." You rarely hear that some of these diseases are caused by the chemicals that you intake through food and environment.

The number of chemicals in your food, water and the air are extremely high. What about typical vegetables and fruits that you get at the grocery store? They are better than processed foods and fast food, right?

Yes and no. A processed chicken nugget is more chemical than meat. Unless vegetables are certified organic then you might want to think twice. Vegetables and fruits that aren't organic have been tested at times to contain up to 20 different pesticide residues.

What about people who claim that pesticide levels are so low they aren't harmful. Is that why there are pesticide residues still present in soil five to 10 years later?

Eating more organic raw foods including vegetables and vegetable juice are going to go a long ways into making you a healthier person and not becoming a disease statistic just because your grandfather had it.

What about the higher cost of organic raw foods? The prices are currently a bit higher but it is well worth it especially compared to paying for high doctor bills and drugs later on. Investing in healthy food is an investment for having a longer, more enjoyable life.

What about the taste? When many people, especially kids, aren't brought up on vegetables and fruits they get the idea that organic raw foods may taste gross. That is completely untrue. My family eats many raw food recipes and we find the food more tasty and flavorful than most other foods.

Do your research and come up with a plan for your family. Start out slow, start out gradually. The most important thing is for you to start!

Raw Food Diets Secrets. Method #1 For Weight Loss

2010-12-09T05:59:00.001-08:00

Raw Food Diet Weight Loss- Method # 1

You may have heard that a raw food diet is effective for weight loss. So if you'reconsidering switching to a raw food diet to lose some weight, you may bewondering whether you have to stay on it for the rest of your life, or whether you can resume eating 'dead' foods once you reach your weight goal.

If you're used to eating steaks, refined pasta, burgers and chocolate chip cookies,but you're willing to 'go on a diet' for a while to drop some pounds, you may bemissing the point and many of the advantages of a raw food diet.
To answer you original question: no, you don't have to stay on any 'diet' for therest of your life. No one is going to come to your house and force to eat only rawfoods. But the truth is that short terms dieting only yields short tem results, nomatter which kind you suscribe to.

If you gained weight and became unhealthy by eating your current 'diet', you maybe able to lose weight by changing what you eat, but as soon as you start eatingwhat made you overweight in the first place, guess what will happen? If you guessed that you'll gain the weight back, you absolutely right!

Although a raw food 'diet' can help you lose weight, where it is really powerful itthat it can help you become healthy-and if you are overweight due to pooreating habits now, then weight loss will be an automatic beneficial effect.
But once you discover that you not only lose weight, But you feel better, havemore energy, have fewer problems with allergies and a whole host of otherhealthy results, you may not want to return to your old 'diet'.
What many people don't think of is that feeling good can become addictive. Youmay be surprised to find that once you become healthy from eating raw foods fora while, you stop craving those unhealthy foods that you used to rely on.

Raw Food Detox Diet

2010-11-28T20:10:00.001-08:00

Detox, or detoxification of the body is a common practice many people use in order to rid the body of toxic substances or lose some weight quickly. There are many different ways and many different diets to detox the body. Some of these are the dieuretic diet, the fat flush diet, an all liquid diet, liver cleansing diet and the raw food diet. Certain detox diets may be better for certain people, so it is important to look at each and decide which one would fit your day to day lifestyle the best. The detox diet that I would like to talk about here is the raw food detox diet, also sometimes called foodism. This detox diet is generally made up of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruits, herbs and spices that are all eaten raw.

The first thing you will want to do is prepare for the detox. The safest way to do so is to slowly remove the foods that are not allowed during the detox from your day to day diet for a week before you start the full on detox. This means that the first day of preparation you will replace one or two things that you regularly eat during the day with something that is a fruit, vegetable or other food allowed by the detox. By the seventh day, you will have replaced pretty much everything in your regular diet with someone that is allowed in the detox diet. The other thing that you will need to do to prepare is create a menu plan for your detox diet. You will want to make your menu as appetizing as possible for yourself, but don’t expect it to be as good as friend chicken or extra cheesy lasagna. With a little creativity and searching for recipes you can however find some very tasty meals.

Once you have created your menu plan, create a grocery list and go shopping the day before you start the detox. You are now ready to begin your raw food detox diet.

Generally the first couple days of any detox are the hardest days, so it is important to keep any temptations out of sight and as out of mind as possible. It may take a lot of will power but you will find as you are on the detox for longer that it will become easier, and believe me, when you start seeing those results of how much better you feel or how much weight you have lost, you will want to keep the detox going strong.

With the raw food diet it may be a little costly to purchase all of the fruits and vegetables that you will need, but it is important not to skimp or cheat. Some great meals you can make are fresh fruit salads, mixed salads with other various vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, parsley and other dressings, raw mixed vegetable soup, avocado and even raspberry and banana sorbet. You should be able to find these special raw diet recipes as well as many others with just a little searching online. The important thing with a raw food detox diet is that you make a plan and stick with it.

4 Ways to Improve Your Raw Food Diet

2010-11-24T21:42:00.000-08:00

Recently I reviewed an essay on evolution and the human diet and concluded with 4 main ways to improve the modern human diet:

1. Eliminate Salt Intake
2. Eliminate Grains and Replace with Fruits and Vegetables, with an emphasis on sweet fruit
3. Exercise Everyday
4. Limit Fat Intake

Unfortunately, modern Americans with their SAD diet are not the only ones guilty of ignoring the lifestyle points above. Many health conscious individuals and their so-called nutritious diets fail as well.

For instance, vegans are known for eating tons of grain-based meals coupled with staggering levels of salt and oil. And while many vegans don't struggle with hyperadiposity, there is definitely no shortage of under-muscled veg-heads.

But what about RAW vegans? Well, it seems that there is much room for improvement amongst this special class of health hobbyists as well.

Salt

The average raw foodist eats too much salt, as well as other spices and condiments. Here's a raw soup recipe I found while scouring the web:

* South River unpasteurized miso
* Tomato concentrate by Premier Research
* Hijiki
* Goji Berries
* Hemp Seeds
* Raw Honey
* Sea Salt (pink himalayan salt is a great option)
* Other seaweed (optional)
* Nutritional flakes (optional)
* Agaricus mushroom powder (optional)

Can this really be considered a recipe? It seems to be made up of flavorings rather than actual nutritious food.

Grains Over Fruits and Vegetables

You would think that most raw foodists would naturally favor ripe fruits and veggies over difficult to digest grains.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Many cooked-made-raw recipes, like burgers, wraps, and pizzas, use sprouted grains.

Here's an example of a raw pizza:

* 400g sprouted wheat (or sprouted buckwheat)
* 2 medium fresh tomatoes
* ½ a medium sized onion
* 6-8 sundried tomato halves (ideally pre-soaked)
* About 10 leaves of fresh basil
* Liberal shaking of Italian dried herbs mix
* 1 clove garlic
* ⅓ cup of olive oil

And while many mainstream raw foodists do eat good amounts of greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc., they put WAY too little emphasis on sweet fruit. Some even shun fruit completely!

For more on the problem with eating grains, check out my article here.

Exercise

I don't know what it is, but mainstream raw food vegans seem to HATE to exercise...not including meditation and low-intensity yoga, of course. ;)

Actually I DO know why: they don't eat enough calories! It's impossible to find the energy to work up a good sweat when you're living on heavy fats and low-calorie veggies.

This is why it's so common to see super skinny, yet still over-fat and under-muscled raw foodists.

Fat

Here's the big one: raw foodists eat way too many avocados, nuts, seeds, and oils. They're used in salads, soups, salsas, sauces, and even sweet desserts!

ESPECIALLY the desserts! Here are the ingredients for an almond cake recipe:

* 1 cup walnuts
* 2/3 cup almonds
* 1 cup pitted, packed medjool dates
* 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

And that doesn't include the almond creme...

* 1 cup cashews
* 1/3 cup almond milk
* 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
* 3 tablespoons maple syrup
* 1 1/2 -2 teaspoons pure almond extract
* 2 tablespoons chopped almonds

...or the whipped creme...

* 3/4 cup almond milk
* 1/2 cup cashews
* 1/2 cup walnuts
* 3 tablespoons cacao powder
* 3 tablespoons maple syrup
* 2 teaspoons carob powder
* Seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean
* Pinch celtic sea salt
* 2 tablespoons melted cacao butter
* 1 tablespoons coconut oil

...that go along with it.

Holy Cannoli!

No wonder so many raw foodists have issues with candida overgrowth.

Raw Rules for Everyone

So yea, unfortunately cooked food lovers are NOT the only ones guilty of dietary sin. But that's okay, because you definitely don't have to follow the trend:

1. Eliminate Salt Intake
2. Eliminate Grains and Replace with Fruits and Vegetables, with an emphasis on sweet fruit
3. Exercise Everyday
4. Limit Fat Intake

No matter what your current diet, you will see tremendous health gains by adopting the 4 guidelines above.

Go raw and be fit,

Raw Foods Diet to Live Naturally and Long

2010-11-19T08:17:00.001-08:00

Ever wonder as to why the average age of the Japanese people is 92 for males and 94 for females? For that matter the average age of the people in so many other Asian countries where most live above 80 years. It can simply be pointed to their diet which includes a lot of raw foods. Raw foods diet is a revolutionary albeit a very old concept of living a healthy, clean and simple life which is in harmony with nature. Raw foods are very rich in dietary nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Most people would have heard that the enzymes that are provided with raw food are usually flushed out along with all the vitamins and minerals when the food is cooked. However what most do not know is that when the cooked food is digested without these nutrients and the enzymes, the digestive process suffers and leads to disorders such as constipation, gastritis, and heartburns. Besides our bodies are just not designed to take in the kind of junk that is such a norm these days.

The oxidants that are added as a result steadily destroy the body's regenerative abilities and lead to severe diseases such as cancer and asthma. People who live on raw foods diet naturally have all these issues taken care of as the body gets what it requires. It is worth noting that people who live entirely on cooked food are the ones who face almost all the problems mentioned above apart from obesity and other chronic ones; while those who rely on raw foods diet are seen to experience almost no such issues while having existing health problems solved. Try some raw recipes and see the difference it creates in your life.

Ever wonder as to why the average age of the Japanese people is 92 for males and 94 for females? For that matter the average age of the people in so many other Asian countries where most live above 80 years. It can simply be pointed to their diet which includes a lot of raw foods. Raw foods diet is a revolutionary albeit a very old concept of living a healthy, clean and simple life which is in harmony with nature.

Raw foods are very rich in dietary nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Most people would have heard that the enzymes that are provided with raw food are usually flushed out along with all the vitamins and minerals when the food is cooked. However what most do not know is that when the cooked food is digested without these nutrients and the enzymes, the digestive process suffers and leads to disorders such as constipation, gastritis, and heartburns. Besides our bodies are just not designed to take in the kind of junk that is such a norm these days. The oxidants that are added as a result steadily destroy the body's regenerative abilities and lead to severe diseases such as cancer and asthma.

People who live on raw foods diet naturally have all these issues taken care of as the body gets what it requires. It is worth noting that people who live entirely on cooked food are the ones who face almost all the problems mentioned above apart from obesity and other chronic ones; while those who rely on raw foods diet are seen to experience almost no such issues while having existing health problems solved.

Try some raw recipes and see the difference it creates in your life.

Why Eat Raw Foods Today - natural ?

2010-11-12T06:49:00.000-08:00

Eating raw foods is natural. Our bodies thrive on all that is fresh and vital. A raw food diet (or increasing the amount of raw food that you eat) is bound to bring a feeling of increased wellbeing.

Raw food diets are based on unprocessed and uncooked plant foods, preferably organic, such as a variety of fresh fruits and vegies, nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruit, fresh juices and purified water.

Why Raw Foods?

Basically a vegetarian diet, the raw food diet promotes eating and drinking ‘living’ foods. Living foods and juices contain the maximum amount of fibre found in raw produce, fibre that can be lost in processing. Such foods are easily metabolised and tend to be lower in calories than the average diet.

Heating food above 116°F destroys enzymes in food that aid in digestion and in absorption of food, diminishing its nutritional value.

Benefits of a Raw Food Diet

A diet of at least 75% raw food offers numerous health benefits, such as increased energy, improved skin appearance, better digestion, weight loss and reduced risk of serious illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

A raw food diet contains little or no saturated fats, is low in sodium, high in potassium, magnesium, folate and fibre.
Raw food diets are also excellent detox diets. Different combinations of raw, living foods and juices can be used for colon cleansing, liver cleansing, kidney cleansing and skin cleansing.

The Basics of a Raw Food Diet

Any fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, beans, nuts, legumes, young coconut milk – even seaweed – can be menu items of a raw food diet. Your choice of foods may depend on your reasons for dieting, for example:

- sprouted brown rice slows glucose absorption and improves the metabolism

- cabbage supports healthy cellular function; radish leaves act as an anti-oxidant, as does Shitake mushroom

-carrots are a great source of vitamin A as well as encouraging healthy vision and a healthy cardio-vascular system

You can use a sprouter such as the Easy Green automatic sprouter to sprout seeds, grains, beans – even wheatgrass. Sprouts could be called a ‘super food’ – organic sprouts contain enormous levels of proteins, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, chlorophyll pigments and enzymes, and are the ideal natural supplement.

Sprouts can be used in salads and soups, or can be juiced. Fresh juices are a great ready energy supply and a good quality juicer, such as the Kempo Greenpower juicer, produces living juices that are full of essential nutrients.
A great juicing recipe to complement a raw food diet is carrot juice with potato, fennel and apple. Simply juice 4 medium carrots, 2 apples, 1 small potato and 1 small stalk of fennel.
Fennel has been shown to reduce and control inflammation of arthritis, it evens mood fluctuation and depressive states and has the rare nutrient called manganese, plus zinc and vitamin B complex.
The nutritional value of grains and seeds is impressive. They contain most of the vitamins – particularly A, B, and E. They’re also fantastic natural sources of unsaturated fatty acids and lecithin, and an excellent source of proteins.

You can even use soy milk makers (such as SoyQuick) to make non-dairy drinks from different beans, rice, nuts, seeds and grains to have with breakfast. If you want something a little more substantial than soy milk you can make your tofu (or, of course, visit a good health food shop).

Essentially, the idea of a raw food diet is to eat unprocessed foods for at least 75% of the time. If the idea of raw food isn’t very appetising to you, you can warm the food a little as long as the food isn’t heated above 116°F.

Cautionary Note

As with any major change in diet, it’s wise idea to consult your doctor before beginning a special diet. This is especially true for children, pregnant women, anyone with anemia and anyone with a pre-existing medical condition.

Even natural foods can conflict with certain medications, so please ask your doctor or pharmacist if you’re taking any medication.

Because a raw food diet is detoxifying some people suffer a mild detox reaction including mild headaches, nausea and cravings. These symptoms may last for several days and you’ll get more enjoyment out of your raw food diet if you cut down on things like meat, sugar and caffeine a week or so before commencing the diet.

Last But Not Least…

A raw food diet is certainly a good way to improve your overall health and wellbeing. Like anything worthwhile it takes time, energy and commitment. Because many of the foods for this particular type of diet are made from scratch there is some preparation time involved. There are many great products on the market that can help you prepare your own living food and save you some time as well.

Combined with regular exercise, a raw food diet is also an excellent weight loss method. If you’ve been feeling ‘a little off’, or just need a pick-me-up and some extra energy, then a raw food diet is certainly a good way to go.

Raw Food Diet- Weight Loss And Raw Foods

2010-11-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few important tips to healthy weight loss and raw foods:

* Eat as much raw food as you can (Many people fallow the 80/20 rule. 80% raw foods and 20% cooked/processed foods)
* Eat Organic 99% of the time! Anything that is not organic, is not only completed depleted of nutrients but also filled with toxins such as herbicides, insecticides, hormones, antibiotics, etc.
* Eat a majority of alkaline foods rather than acidic foods. Out bodies are already acidic due to a number of causes and so we must balance that out by adding alkaline food and water to our diets. Here are some suggestions for alkaline and acidic foods.

Alkaline Foods

* Mineral rich water is going to be one the MOST IMPORTANT alkaline substances you should be feeding your body.
* Vegetables- especially RAW ORGANIC green leafy vegetables
* Fresh herbs and spices – parsley, basil, cilantro, cayenne, ginger
* Fruits – watermelon, avocado, cucumber, young coconuts, wheat grass
* Sprouts – alfalfa, mung bean, broccoli, etc.

Acidic Foods

* Junk/Processed foods
* Sugar
* All animal food (meat, eggs, chicken, fish, lobster, oysters)
* Grains (white; wheat, rice, pasta, flour, bread etc;)
* Some Fruits
* Dairy Products (milk, cheese, butter)
* Bad fats (processed safflower oils, butters, etc.)
* Peanuts and Cashews

Now you are probably wondering how any of these suggestions help you lose weight. The answer is simply this: if you choose to eat wholesome, raw, organic, alkaline foods, you will absolutely loose weight. Your body adds and holds onto storage fat to protect itself from all the harmful toxins we are putting in our bodies. Your body is retaining that fat because your body is acidic! (Although, it is good to remember that we must have a BALANCED body. Too acidic or too alkaline can both be harmful.)

To maintain a healthy long-term weight loss you must have an alkaline pH. The more green vegetables and herbs you eat the more alkaline your body will be. Also through eating an organic raw food diet you will receive a much higher dose of alkaline nutrients and minerals, thus eating organic will speed up your weight loss.

Beauty from The Outside In, Know-How on Raw Food

2010-10-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

Raw food and beauty

The raw food diet is a very effective way to ensure flawless skin for yourself. Many people have accepted the strict raw food regime mainly because of this extraordinary effect. The raw food diet gives you great skin and makes you look younger than ever before.

Cooking destroys many important enzymes that are present in the food material. Apart from the enzymes, the extremely high temperatures in which cooking is done results in the destruction of many important nutrients as well. Thus, when you consume the cooked food, the enzymes present in your own body are used up. Raw Food does not let this happen. The enzymes present in the raw food help in the process of digestion.

Thus, by consuming raw food, you are getting more enzymes in. papaya and sprouts very rich in enzymes.

Antioxidants are another important thing present in raw food like carrots, apricots and berries. Berries have antioxidants that encourage collagen formation and carrots have beta-carotene antioxidants that protect the skin from sun damage.

The function of the antioxidants is to fight the free radicals that do a lot of damage to the skin, hinder collagen production and result in wrinkles and premature aging. The raw food also protects the skin from harmful rays of the sun. Many citrus fruits, like lemon, grapefruit and orange also help fight the free radicals.

Coenzyme Q10, also called CoQ10, is a great antioxidant that fights open radicals and aging. Raw food like Broccoli, peanuts and spinach are rich in them.

Anti oxidant like alpha lipoic acid, found in spinach, tomatoes, peas and brewer's yeast, is another anti-oxidant that increases the power of Vitamin C and E and encourage the energy production in the body.

Sulfur, a material needed in the production of good skin, tresses and nails, is a mineral. The sulfur present in natural food is said to be destroyed during cooking. The raw food rich in sulfur are asparagus, pumpkin seeds, red pepper, garlic, onion etc.

Silicon, a mineral that decreases in content with age, is required for good skin, hair, nails and bones. Green leafy vegetables and fruits like apples cherries etc are the best source of this mineral.

Different green leafy vegetables, bell pepper etc are rich in a chemical present in plants called Phytochemicals. These are magic chemicals with anti-aging properties.

Vitamin E is also good for the skin and is found aplenty in nuts and seeds.

Selenium is a material, which prevents the skin from sagging. It is present in garlic, onions and shallots.

Skin is an organ. And when the body needs to throw off poison, it passes out throughout the skin. Sticking to a raw food diet and taking in loads of water ensures proper detoxification. Seaweed is very rich in minerals and assists the body in detoxification.

Thus, for great skin, eat a lot of healthy raw food along with at least 8 glasses of water per day!

How to Go Raw With the Raw Food Diet

2010-10-14T08:18:00.001-07:00

A raw way of eating is becoming the latest trend in many countries around the world. More and more people are hopping on the raw food band wagon in hopes of promoting greater health for themselves and their family.

A raw cookbook can be just the thing and has become quite the craze along with this most popular diet fad. A raw food diet cookbook can offer quite an array of delicious recipes that are not only fun to eat but are completely 100% raw goodness.

It is much easier to incorporate this new way of eating when you have a book that covers all the basics to raw living. There are many kitchen tools that are necessary to perform various culinary tasks such as making nut pates, seed cheese recipes and various raw dessert recipes.

Many of these books recommend the basic food processor, high speed blender, and a good knife. Thousands of people are maintaining this way of life, using everything in their kitchen but the stove itself. No need for heat when you got raw meat!

The authors of these cookbooks have often being doing a raw diet for years and are accustom to all the questions that come up when eating purely non processed, living foods. They have usually seen it all and don't mind sharing the information collected in their books.

This is quite handy for the newbie just starting out. You can be assured that many of the recipes have been put to the test and are full proof. There are so many beginner books with this diet that are easy to understand, giving basic steps and instructions for many of the simplest raw meals.

Often you just need a good knife and chopping block and your good to go... go raw that is! Who knows where your delicious recipes may evolve. You could end up adding other ingredients to make them extra yummy, adding your favorite herbs and spices to get just the right flavor.

Other books offer more complex recipes that involve the use of more high tech kitchen appliances. A lot of people already are well familiar with the processor and blender, so this makes it easy. Raw entrees, smoothies and shakes can be blended, whipped and processed into culinary works of art.

It is good to practice a bit to get it down, but using these tools instead of your frying pan with give you a healthier way of eating that will catch on quick. Children love to a raw cookbook because they are usually kid friendly. They do not involve the dangers of cooking at high temperatures.

You can try making some tasty desserts that the whole family will instantly love. I mean, who can usually refuse a fresh fruit pie or strawberry mouse. They won't even know that it is raw at first, until you tell them, of course.

Raw recipes from a cookbook are the way to go for making the best desserts and meals anywhere. They make it easy for anyone to become a chef in the kitchen, exploring all the raw fruits, nuts and vegetables to create an abundant array of raw dishes.

Water, The Bodies Favorite Raw Food

2010-10-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Most likely all of us have been ill or felt weak at one point or another in our lives and just hoped that the pain and torment would disappear. In many cases sickness and discomfort can be attributed to a lack of proper nutrition and raw food intake. Our health is a complex subject that depends on an expansive array of variables. One of the most vital raw food variables is water. Purified drinking water is one of the most critical elements to staying healthy. Shocking even to me still, medical research claims the brain, our blood and lungs all consist of around 80% or more water. These numbers are pretty staggering and really highlight water as a crucial raw food for the body. Flowing inside of us all over, water in some capacity facilitates almost every action we take. Just reading and processing this article demands your physical and mental systems to have water available. Water is full of redeeming qualities and by viewing it truly as a raw food it becomes easier to appropriately incorporate into our diets. To a raw food enthusiast water must never be the boring drink on the menu. It should be viewed as a food fuel that powers our essence. It would be wise to avoid taking water for granted and to begin embracing it. Now would be a great time to review some of the reasons why water's place in our raw food diets is essential and not as difficult to manage as we may think.

Drinking a glass of water may not conjure visions of nourishment and empowerment but this seemingly simple compound is often more powerful than we realize. What we usually do not completely comprehend is that water consumption strengthens a large portion of our bodily functions. Even something as simple as PH balance may provide a hint that the contributions of water as a raw food source may be larger than we think. Water is the focal feature of our PH ranges which ties directly into immune stability, energy viability and the handling of oxygen processes. While still on the subject of PH levels and oxygen water injects its powers onto our breathing as well. Water is an oxygen distribution aid and an accumulator of carbon dioxide which lets our air flows flourish. Another water function revolves around our Kidneys. Water dilutes the toxic fluid urea which allows the kidney and other body tissues to perform. Water is also a proven deterrent of kidney stones. I am sure at one time or another we have all found our muscles, bones, joints and limbs to be exhausted. Utilizing water as a raw food can help many of our bodies characteristics to rejuvenate, energize and age slower. Medical issues such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and continual backaches can in many cases be curbed and contained by increasing our use of water as a raw food. A revealing sign of waters value is its value to pregnant and nursing women. Providing for another life, expecting mothers depend on water to assure the baby has proper nutrient delivery, blood circulation and fetal nourishment. If helping babies stay alive was not enough water personally discourages constipation, heartburn, migraines, ulcers, gastritis, dehydration and fatigue. Water can even prevent such traumas as brain damage, cancer, heart disease and strokes. Water as a raw food resource is one of the quintessential aspects to us feeling good and maximizing our potentials. By drinking more and cooking with it in our raw food recipes we will be securing a sizeable health advantage for ourselves.

Sourcing purified and contaminant free drinking water is nearly a requirement for preserving our bodies and catering to its needs. Water as a significant piece of our cell make up is one of the most important components to our physiological success. We must constantly be looking for new ways to incorporate water into our diets and raw food smoothie and soup recipes are one great way to accomplish this. Here are a few more easy tips to aid our water intake levels. Make water available around the temperature you like. Maybe smoothies if you like cold and soups if you like hot. Teas and even a cold or warm glass of just water with a little lemon are other ways to adjust water temperature to encourage consumption. Drinking through a straw and drinking water at hotter temperatures are some other approaches that have worked when trying to increase results. A safely tested filtration system and clean water accessibility are some further keys to assuring water stays a part of your raw food menus. Regardless of what angle you take if you care about your health and well-being then including water into your life on a more frequent basis should be a goal.

Proponents of raw food should have a passion for drinking water and cooking with it. Water represents a positive tomorrow. Our bodies crave it and it is ideal to satisfy these longings. Without water we can become crippled, confused and confined. With water our fitness and health blossom in new directions. Workouts are more productive with it, our bodies cherish it and almost anybody that has studied its qualities will recommend it. We all should have a great respect for water and by thinking outside the box and really understanding water for the raw food that it is will only enhance our experiences. Drinking more purified water is about becoming a better person and when we can learn how to cook with it we really expand our horizons. Bring more water into your life now and thank me later. Try some of our raw food recipe cookbooks, add more water to your life and educate your mind through some of our raw food research and you will not be disappointed with the result.

5 Know-How Tips For the Raw Food Beginner

2010-10-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

Are you new to the raw food diet and finding it hard to maintain? Do you feel like a raw food newbie, surrounded by thriving veteran raw foodists?

Fear not, dear reader! These 5 know how tips will give any raw food beginner the confidence and the know-how to succeed on a low fat, raw vegan diet. You'll be a thriving raw foodist in no time.

#1: Know How to Pick Good Quality Fruit

This is #1 on the list for a reason. Knowing how to choose fresh, ripe, and delicious raw produce - as well as knowing how much food you need for the day and what fruits you enjoy - is a huge factor in your raw success.

My original decision to give low fat, high fruit raw vegan a chance was rather impulsive. I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired and didn't know where to turn. I had been on what I thought at the time was the healthiest diet in the world: cooked vegan. The anemia, excess weight, and joint pains that plagued me screamed that the diet wasn't working and so raw foods seemed like the next logical step.

Unlike most of the decisions in my life, I just kind of went for it! I started by eating about 75% raw and saw results immediately. I had much more energy, experienced immediate weight loss, had more focus, etc. This got me so excited that I felt I had to go 100% raw right away!

Because I was still a new player in the raw food game, I had to go through a lot of trial and error. It became shockingly clear how little I knew about produce and what a newbie I was at choosing anything close to edible. I can't tell you the number of times I threw away wads of cash on rock hard, never to ripen, out of season, tasteless fruits and turned to cooked foods for sustenance!

My best advice to you is to take it slow. Gradually adding in raw, sweet fruit to your diet will allow you to learn as you go along without worrying about "slipping up" on cooked foods.

#2: Know How to Make Simple (Yet Tasty) Raw Recipes

Many raw food beginners feel that a low fat raw vegan diet is completely tasteless and way too boring. I understand that eating foods in their whole states can seem a little bland at first. Okay, maybe REALLY bland!

Well, that's where raw recipes come in!

To get started, I recommend that you experiment with fruit salads, fruit smoothies and green smoothies. A fruit salad is just a few different varieties of fruits mixed together. For instance, I love equal parts of chopped papaya, orange, and pineapple mixed together in a big bowl. So juicy and refreshing!

A fruit smoothie is a few different fruits blended together. In most cases, the base is a denser fruit like bananas, mangoes, or papayas. Smaller portions of other fruits are then added to the base. My favorite smoothie is 3 bananas, 2 oranges, and 1 cup of wild blueberries. How much water you add to your drink will depend on how thick you like it. I usually start with 1 cup.

A green smoothie is just a fruit smoothie with greens added to it. These are great to help cut the sweetness in your meal and help you get in your greens for the day. An always popular green smoothie is 5 bananas, 1 cup of blueberries, and 2 handfuls of romaine. When adding greens, start with small handfuls. Trust me, a grassy smoothie is not very appetizing.

I also recommend that you have at least one savory recipe that you really, really enjoy. Salsas with lots of tomatoes and celery are great and you can use them as a dressing over greens to give a heartier feel to the dish. You can also make lots of delicious raw soups or blended salads using saltier veggies as your base.

#3: Know How to Eat Enough

Yes, I know I harp on calorie consumption A LOT. That's because it's important! The best quality fruit and the tastiest raw recipes will do NOTHING for your success if you don't eat enough. It becomes all to easy to slip back into cooked food eating habits when you're running on empty.

So how do you make sure you are consuming the right amount of food? First, multiply your ideal weight by 10. This is your basal metabolic rate (BMR), or the calories you would need if you remained in bed all day. Second, add any calories that you burn during the day to your BMR. This is dependent upon your lifestyle. For instance, someone who works in construction will use many more calories than someone working a desk job. Lastly, add any calories you burn from exercise. Voila! Now you have a rough estimate of how much food you need per day.

It's important to remember that this is just an estimate. If you don't feel satisfied eating this amount, just gradually increase how much sweet fruit you eat during a meal. The general rule is that satiation should last between 3-5 hours after you have eaten.

#4: Know How to Move Your Body

Exercise can be a lifesaver if you are new to raw foods and struggling with cooked food cravings. Moving your body every day really helps to foster hunger and when your hungry, any food will do. I've never enjoyed my simple fruit meals as much as I do after an intense workout!

If you're new to exercise, don't sweat it (pun intended)! A simple jog around the neighborhood or a game of badminton or a dip in the pool can do wonders for your eating efforts. A little exercise goes a long way!:)

#5: Know How to Have Fun

Just this past month, I had a lot of fun produce shopping. Not only did I visit my favorite farmers market, but I also learned about a Hispanic market a few minutes from my house. I had actually known about this place for quite some time, but was hesitant to go there because it was in a not-so-nice part of town.

Anyway, I headed over there with my Dad and was amazed by the variety and quality of produce available. There were at least 10 different types of greens that I had never heard of!

But the really spectacular part was the produce. Not only did the store have sapodilla, mamey, guava, and my favorite mangoes, they carried JACKFRUIT! I could not believe it.

It really is so much fun to come across foods that you have never seen in person or never even heard of. I am constantly surprised and amused by all the different varieties of produce out there.

And even "normal" produce is exciting! Just look at some of the foods you will be dining on: bananas, oranges, grapes, apples, peaches, strawberries, cantaloupe, pears, kiwi, papaya, pineapple, tangerines, mangoes, nectarines, apricots, blueberries, watermelon, romaine, boston lettuce, bok choy, celery, tomatoes, bell pepper...all of which can be found at your local grocery store!

And don't forget all the fun you can have making (and eating) simple raw recipes with these ingredients. The combinations and taste sensations are truly endless.

4 Raw Food Recipes to Get You Started Today

2010-09-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

By far the hardest thing about going raw is figuring out what to eat on a meal-to-meal basis. Even with all the free raw resources available, I know it's still difficult to go raw.

We live in a cooked food world and eating raw just seems so difficult...even preposterous!

The best thing I can do for you is to give you some recipes to get started, raw recipes that are not only tasty and satisfying, but HEALTHY.

Check out this entire day's worth of low fat, high fruit raw vegan recipes!

Breakfast: Banana Blueberry Bonanza

Ingredients:

* 5 bananas
* 1 pint blueberries
* water

Directions:

Blend! The amount of water used is completely up to you. I prefer thinner smoothies so 1.5 cups would be about perfect for me.

Lunch: Papaya Power

Ingredients:

* 6 medium papaya
* Half a lime

Directions:

Cut papayas in half and remove the seeds. Squeeze limejuice over the papaya and devour with a spoon...or your hands.:)

Dinner Fruit Meal: Peaches and Blueberries

Ingredients:

* 8 medium peaches
* 1 pint blueberries

Directions:

Half, pit, and chop up the peaches (I prefer to peel mine first, but it isn't necessary). Mix together with the blueberries in a big (and I mean BIG) bowl.

Dinner Savory Meal: Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

* 1/2 Hass avocado
* 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
* 2 medium tomatoes, diced
* (Optional): lime juice
* (Optional): handful cilantro
* 1 head romaine lettuce

Directions:

Peel and mash the avocado with a fork. Mix in chopped bell pepper, tomatoes, squeeze of lime juice and cilantro (if desired). Spoon mixture into lettuce leaves and down the hatch!

I really hope you enjoy these delicious and healthy raw recipes and that they help you stop procrastinating and go raw TODAY!

And remember, each meal can easily be modified for taste or calories needed. If you don't like blueberries, substitute raspberries or blackberries instead. If you need double the amount of calories for breakfast, don't hesitate to double the recipe.:)

Go raw and be fit,

Raw Diet Recipes: Lunch

2010-09-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

Below you can read my favorite raw diet recipes and ideas for lunch (below). These raw recipes are all delicious and easy to prepare. And if you have friends over you can treat them to the best lunch ever. Most likely they won't know it's raw. But don't be surprised if they say how fresh and tasty your lunch is.

Enjoy!

Lettuce Wraps

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/2 cup hemp seed
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup honey or a few drops of stevia (2-3)
1 1/2 tablespoon chopped ginger
1/2 tablespoon red chili
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup raw almond butter
1/2 head savoy cabbage, shredded
6 very large wild spinach leaves
1 carrot
1 ripe mango
1 handful cilantro leaves
1 handful torn basil leaves
Himalaya sea salt
Directions

Cut the carrot into into matchstick-size pieces. Cut the Mango lengthwise into strips, about 1/4 inch (1 cm) thick.

In a Vita-Mix or high-speed blender, puree the honey (or stevia), lemon juice, ginger, red chili, and soy sauce. Add the almond butter and blend at low speed to combine. You should get a rather thick consistency. (You may add water if it needs to be thinner)

In a bowl, mix the almond butter dressing with the cabbage. The best and easiest way is to do this with you hands or a large wooden spoon.

Now you need to roll the cabbage with dressing into a "lettuce" wrap. This is kind of tricky. Place the spinach leaf on a cutting board with the underside facing up. Then you put some of the cabbage mix on the leaf. Add some hemp seeds, a few sticks of carrot, a few pieces of mango, and a few leafs of cilantro and, basil.

Try to roll up and the spinach leaf, you might need to stick a cocktail stick in it to hold. Do this for all the other spinach leafs until the ingredients are gone.
Tip

This is my absolute favorite lunch dish. It's an adapted and simplified version of Pure Food & Wine's "Thai Lettuce Wraps". If you ever go to NY, I highly recommend you try them in this restaurant. If you bring this dish to a lunch or potluck, you'll be wowed!

As an alternative to putting the wraps together yourself, it's actually quite fun to let your guests put the wrap together themselves. This will save you time and it adds to social special atmosphere of your dinner

If you live in the US, you can also use collard greens instead of the spinach leafs, But I haven't found them in the Netherlands yet.

Benefits From Raw Food Diet Recipes

2010-09-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Raw food diet recipes are those that consist of only organically grown vegetables and fruits. A raw food diet has not been cooked at temperatures over 115 F degrees. This is critical because when foods are heated above 115 degrees F valuable enzymes and nutrients are destroyed. These nutrients are key to your body's health. Because many people eat cooked vegetables as well as processed foods millions of people are dealing with bodily deficiencies often for years and even decades. Is it any wonder that millions of people are now diagnosed with cancer?

If you are interested in learning more about raw food diets then what better way than to learn from those who have experienced and studied the different facets of this diet for years. The way I recommend is to read books from qualified authors as these books are massive collections of knowledge and helpful tips. Here are some ideas to consider when you are trying to learn more about raw diet recipes:

* Look for books that will give you tasty recipes. The success of your raw food diet recipes are dependant on your personal experience. Just because you are eating healthy is no reason to eat food that lacks taste. In order to assure your success you need to eat foods that you will like and look forward to eating on a regular basis. These books can also provide you with the types of foods to buy and a good description on what these foods can offer you. Start by making a list of the foods that you like and then work to find recipes that use those ingredients.
* Surf the Web or read magazines that deal with the topics of raw food diets. Many of these sources offer tips from nutritionists as well as information on which foods are important sources of nutrients.
* Many traditional recipes can be adapted into raw food diet recipes. By taking popular recipes and substituting cooked versions of vegetables or fruits with raw ones, you can create new and tasty recipes that will help to sustain your interests.
* It is not always possible to prepare your own food and you typically won't find too many restaurants and fast food joints serving foods prepared this way. Use the internet to look for places nearby where you live that will have raw food recipes ready to be served to those on the go.
* When you search for raw food diet recipes, make sure not to become confused with vegetarian recipes. The recipes should be composed of uncooked organic ingredients. A true raw diet enthusiast is someone who eats at least 75-80% raw foods.

Changing the way you eat can be a great turning point in your life. You just need to make sure that you put in your research to generate the results that you want. By finding raw food diet recipes that are delicious tasting to you, you will give yourself an incentive to continue this diet for more than a month. This diet should become a lifestyle and it can when the right raw food preparation is used and you make sure to plan your meals accordingly.

Top Raw Food Recipes For Teenagers

2010-09-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

1. Breakfast

* Green Drink: Juice lots of kale, celery and apple.

* Chocolate Smoothie: nut milk, 3-4 dates, a bunch of strawberries, 3 bananas, a small amount of vanilla pod, 1 tblspn raw carob powder, 1/2 tblspn raw cacao powder. Blend. Serve.

* Muesli: Raw oats, dried sultanas, dried mango, chunks of almond and cashews, 1/2 tblspn sunflower seeds and 1/2 tblspn pumpkin seeds (also known as pepitas). Mix. Add almond milk sweetened with 3-4 dates. Soak in refrigerator overnight. Serve the next morning.

2. Mid-Morning Snacks

* Lots of dried or fresh bananas and mango mixed with a selection of raw nuts.

* Cashew Ice-Cream: In a high speed blender, mix 2 cups cashew butter with 1 1/2 cups dates. Fold in 2/3 cup chopped almonds. Add 1/2 cup raw carob powder. Freeze. Serve.

3. Lunch

* Italian Noodles: Shape 3 large zucchinis into noodle shapes with Spiralizer, add small bunch fresh basil, 2 tspns cold-pressed olive oil, 6 cherry tomatoes, 1 avocado,2 tspns chopped garlic, juice from 1/2 lemon, sea salt to taste. Mix. Serve.

* Noodles with Pasta Sauce: Shape 3 large zucchinis into noodle shapes with Spiralizer. Make pasta sauce by blending 3 tomatoes, 1/2 avocado, 1 1/2 carrots, 1 stick celery, 30g dehydrated tomatoes, 4 dates, 1/4 onion, 2 tbspns cold-pressed olive oil, 2 tbspns organic tamari, 1 tspn apple cider vinegar, 2 tbspns fresh basil and 1 clove garlic. Serve.

4. Afternoon Snacks

* Green Drink: Juice 1/2 bunch spinach with 4 apples.

* Brazil Sweets: Mix 125g Brazil nuts, 125g raisins, 125 g dates, 1 tbspn carob powder and 1 pinch cinnamon. Blend until smooth. Roll into ping-pong sized balls. Roll again in shredded coconut. Serve.

5. Dinner

* Guacamole Salad: Mix chopped parsley, 30g cherry tomatoes, 1/2 sliced red onion, 1/2 chopped cos lettuce, 1/2 bunch kale, 1/2 bunch cilantro, juice from 1/2 lemon and sea salt to taste. For the guacamole, blend 2 avocados, 1/4 cup onion, 1/2-1 tomato, pinch cayenne and sea salt to taste. Mix into the salad. Serve.

* Same as lunch.

Raw Food Recipes - Living Life to the Fullest

2010-09-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

You have heard that a raw food diet is very good for you in terms of health and weight loss. Now you need to find recipes to help you get started. You will find some interesting raw food ideas on this page so don't go away.

Let us begin by examining what a raw food diet comprises. It is a diet that includes uncooked and unprocessed plant foods; all fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, beans, nuts, sprouts, dried fruit and seaweed.

If you are wondering why you cannot cook the food before eating it, the answer lies in the fact that food cooked at 116 degrees Fahrenheit or more, destroys the nutritional value of the food as well as the enzymes that help us digest and absorb food.

The benefits from sticking to raw food recipes include: reduced risk of heart problems; weight loss, improved appearance of the skin; increased energy and better digestion.

Cooking techniques for raw food recipes involve sprouting seeds and grains; blending and juicing, and soaking nuts. You will need the following equipment in your kitchen to prepare your raw food recipes.

* A dehydrator to cook food at temperatures lower than 116 degrees Fahrenheit.
* A juice extractor to juice your fruit and vegetables.
* A combination food processor, blender and chopper.
* General containers for your sprouts, beans, seeds and grains.

A good example of a raw recipe would be this refreshing "soup" as the recipe owner terms it. You have to blend together all the ingredients in their raw form to make the soup. Add cantaloupe, carrot, soaked almonds, grated ginger, coconut milk; lemon juice and a little honey. Garnish with mint leaves and enjoy!

The internet is full of recipes that you can try out. You will find recipes for appetizers, starters, breads, cereals, crackers, side dishes, entrees, soups and salads, juices and smoothies and so much more.

Break Old Habits With Raw Food Recipes

2010-09-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

Thousands of people are quickly learning that a raw food diet is essential to a healthy immune system as well as maintaining a healthy weight. However many people are not aware of how to prepare raw fruit and veggie recipes or they have never even seen this type of recipe book. If you are not used to (not) cooking with raw food, you may not find the plant based diet to be tasty or worth continuing. This is why it is so important for you to find a good collection of recipes before you actually do begin a raw food diet. If you have a large selection of delicious food that is easy to prepare you will have a far greater chance of continuing with the diet. As you begin to expand your raw food recipes you will be able to create more tasteful and creative dishes.

The most common raw food recipe is a salad. There are different types of salads with numerous ingredients. Some salads are simply a mixture of fresh greens and there are others that use nuts and cheeses and fruits. Really the only limit of raw foods to be used in your salad is up to your imagination. To add taste, you could get creative and add some raw fish or a dressing. Try a healthy option like a dill dressing, mango ginger dressing, or cilantro pesto and use fresh pieces of fruits like mandarin oranges and apples for additional taste. It is important to find ways of spicing up your food. This keeps the excitement and joy of eating alive. Remember that being healthy does not have to be boring,

A salad is a great way to start a meal, but for some, there needs to be more. An entree is going to provide more filling nourishment and the list or raw foods entrees is long. As you begin to work with different raw plants, you will learn the qualities that each one has and the list of nutrients they have to offer. This will allow you to create a custom creation for each day of the week and help to keep everything interesting. If you do not work on finding delicious raw food recipes you may give up on the raw food diet, so this is an important area to really focus on when creating a diet plan.

There are other recipe categories in the raw food diet that include desserts and drinks. Just because you eat healthy foods does not meant that you have to be deprived of delicious meals. Even desserts can be healthy, nutritious and great tasting. These items can be made from almost all raw foods. This can include fruit sorbet, berry cream cake, and even carob sauce. Drinks may include ambrosia, a chai smoothie, a cucumber cooler, carrot and orange juice or papaya sunflower nectar. Here are some ideas for raw food dishes, but this really is just the tip of the iceberg, the possibilities are nearly endless.

* Chocolate Smoothie

* Muesli with: Raw Oats and Fruits

* Lots of dried or Fruits and Nuts

* Cashew Ice-Cream

* Italian Noodles

* Noodles with Pasta Sauce

* Fruit Juices with soy protein Powder

* Guacamole Salad

Todd Butcher is a former diving instructor, bartender of 13 years and more recently spent 12 years as an IT pro. He now works from home as a promoter of healthy products and writes articles on numerous subjects focusing on the benefits of a raw plant based diet.

Diabetes Diet Menu - Select Your Combination

2010-08-31T04:16:00.000-07:00

Most of the time, we normally say that we must adhere to the precise diet and in some way we are not able to follow it and submit to a portion of a scrumptious looking ice cream. If your diabetes is not that serious then you should not be anxious.

When we begin dieting, we normally tend to meticulously follow our diabetes diet menu for the first number of days until one day you see a tempting chocolate ice cream and finally forget everything about your diet. What actually happens is that you are inclined to take in the nutrients in a very unstable and unwarranted manner.

Below is a list of the common foods that you can include in your meals. You can associate various foods from various categories to create a meal and a menu plan that is suitable for a diabetic like you.

Grains

- A portion of tortilla
- One-third cup of past
- One-third cup of rice
- Three-fourth cup of dry cereal
- One-half cup of cooked cereal
- One-half cup of beans or starchy vegetables
- Small to medium sized portion of bread

Fruits

Various kinds of fruits are very expedient to eat with regard to a diabetes diet because of the reality that all kinds of fruits have sufficient amounts of fiber, minerals and other tiny nutrients that are important to the human body. Therefore, it is harmless and healthy to eat almost all kinds of fruits that although they must be consumed in suitable amounts. You can use any of the ways below in eating fruits.

- Dried fruits in little amounts
- One small fresh fruit
- 1 cup of chopped fruit
- One half cup of canned fruit

Vegetables

Majority of vegetables are healthy for the human body. Most of them are not able to give much quantity of blood sugar content. The suitable quantity of vegetables that must be consumed during each meal is a cup of raw veggie or at least one cup of cooked veggies. Below are vegetables that are suggested to include in a diabetes diet.

- Broccoli
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Cucumber
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Swiss chard
- Tomatoes

Milk and Dairy Products

Drinking huge amounts of milk regularly is very unhealthy. Therefore, if you love to drink milk, it is recommended to drink milk in the below listed amounts. In contrast, some of the dairy products such as yogurt when drunk in suitable amount prove to be really helpful.

- One cup of yogurt
- Three-fourth cup of whole or normal milk
- One-half cup of low fat milk

The list given above can be appropriately utilized to create a diabetes diet menu. These menu plans must be regularly and consistently followed. You can choose various choices from these categories depending on your choice and make four meals with similar gaps in between all over the day. If you are thinking about the recommenced serving for meat, it should be one ounce each meal and must be followed with a short rapid walk.

Organic Raw Food Provides Benefits Of More Nutritional Value

2010-08-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

As more people become concerned with the number and types of chemicals they are consuming in commercially grown foods, they are turning to organic foods to eliminate those chemicals. To insure they are receiving all of the natural benefits, organic raw food recipes are being traded for those who want the best from their organic endeavors. Cooking any type of food is known to reduce the amount of vitamins and nutrients within the food and organic raw food is being touted as having the most value without the unwanted chemicals.

Organic is a process in which vegetables and fruits are grown using only natural processes for fertilizers and pesticides. It is also known that the nutritional values in any type of food is lessened through the cooking process with many of the nutrients, enzymes and vitamins being cooked out of the foods. By consuming only organic raw food, people are claiming to have the benefits of getting all of the natural benefits of the uncooked foods.

Many people who only eat a vegetarian diet do so because of their belief that their bodily systems were designed for vegetarian diets, consisting of unrefined and unprocessed whole foods. By eating organic raw food, they receive more vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that are showing many benefits as a health aid.

Getting the Good Without Sacrificing the Quality

For many, organic raw food is where health concerns meet the natural food concerns and while some on a strictly raw vegetable diet are happy with their choice and those on a strictly organic food diet, have traded information to show the benefits of both areas by using organic raw food. By using only raw vegetables in their meal planning
and insuring they are from organic sources, they do not have to give up the quality of either vegetarian or organic diets.

With several hundreds of recipes available for using organic raw food to whip up some tasty meals and treats, those who choose to eat only vegetables and naturally grown food products, usually prefer to limit their food intake as well.

The claim is that healthy living requires a three-prong approach in eating only living vegetables that are grown in strict organic conditions and only consuming as much as the body needs to provide a healthier body. By limiting the intake of organic raw food a lot of the work is taken from the digestive track allowing it to do its job more completely and efficiently.

Raw Food Breakfast

2010-08-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

A raw food breakfast is a great way to start your day. You will find that you can make delicious morning meals from a wide variety of these fruits and vegetables. You will get not only a great tasting breakfast but a great boost to your health as well with living foods.

Living Foods

The reasons behind a this breakfast are important. Living foods, also known as raw foods, contain nutrients your body needs. Once these foods have been cooked all the nutritional value is destroyed.

Raw foodists, people who make these foods 75%f their daily diet, see massive improvements in their health once they begin eating these foods. A few of the changes immediately noticeable include weight loss, less neck and back pain, arthritis relief, and an improved mood. Over time more and more health benefits will become readily apparent.

What is For Breakfast?

Whether you eat raw or cooked food, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You are literally 'breaking your fast' of the night before. You body has gone for the longest period of the day between meals and needs to be recharged.

Why not super-charge your body? This breakfast is healthier than a cooked breakfast. These foods give you a huge supply of energy and the vitamins and minerals you need to face your day.

Can you imagine waking each day with more energy than you have ever had and a great mood? This is what will happen when you make a this diet part of your normal routine. In addition, you will no longer be as susceptible to viruses and diseases. The illnesses you are currently experiencing may be cured and will definitely be lessened.

There are unlimited choices for a living foods breakfast. For those of you in a hurry you can grab several pieces of filling fruit such as apples or bananas. If you have a little more time, or are able to prepare your breakfast the night before, you have even more choices. You can combine various raw foods for different flavors.

* Breads are a normal part of the traditional breakfast. Unfortunately, breads require cooking and have little or no nutritional value. Instead, you can make a scrumptious living foods bread using cinnamon and dates. Soft wheat that has been sprouted for one day can be combined with fresh dates, cinnamon, and raisins. Once mixed together form into a loaf. Next, place the loaf in a dehydrator to create a 'bread-y' texture.

* A raw food buckwheat breakfast can be filling. A breakfast drink can be created using raw foods that will fill you up and prepare you for your day. Soak buckwheat and add to it fresh dates, an apple, shredded coconut, and cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. This mixture can be pureed in a blender. Once you have the consistency you desire add a banana or your favorite dried fruit to give the breakfast drink power.

* Muesli is very popular on the raw food breakfast menu. Apples, rolled oats, raisins, almonds, cinnamon, and fresh apple juice can be combined to create this heart healthy breakfast dish. Soak the mixture overnight in your refrigerator and add fresh fruits before eating.

The best raw food breakfast is a part of the 811 diet. Throughout the day proponents of this diet get 80 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, 10 percent from fats, and 10 percent from proteins.

The raw food breakfast menu is anything but boring. It is exciting, colorful, healthy, and a fabulous way to start your day.

Easy Raw Food Diet Plans

2010-08-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Changing your diet to a raw food diet could just be the answer to help you boost your overall health. Nowadays, we're all so busy and dropping to the local takeaway on the way home from work is often the quickest and easiest option for dinner. You may think it's really difficult finding the time and making the effort to eat better for your health. but if you break down the time it takes to prepare everyday meals, you may be quite surprised to learn just how quick and easy it is to prepare meals if you have some easy raw food diet plans.

Breakfast:

Simply grab a handful of green vegetables (spinach, broccoli, lettuce should all work here) perhaps left over from last evening's salad. Place them in the blender; add a squeeze of lemon or lime and a sliced pear. Mix for twenty seconds, pour and enjoy. This is a delicious green smoothie that will give you a great lift of energy every day, as well as providing plenty important nutrients. Time frame all up - about 5 minutes to prepare and drink!

Lunch:

A suggestion for a raw food lunch could be lettuce wraps stuffed with carrot slices, banana and avocado; a small bag of mixed unsalted nuts; as well as a healthy tomato veggie juice. You could probably make the juice yourself at home or else buy it on the way to work at a good juice takeaway. Time frame all up (including eating) - around 25 minutes

Dinner:

For dinner, a typical raw food menu could be a hassle-free tossed salad to start, raw zucchini pasta together with homemade pesto, accompanied by a side dish made of almond flour garlic bread, and then for dessert, banana ice cream. For the zucchini pasta, simply peel the zucchini and mix in with your noodles. The pesto is usually a quick mix of garlic, pine nuts and extra virgin olive oil. Some people prefer to use a dehydrator instead of an stove for the almond flour bread. As easy way to make banana ice cream is to freeze a couple of bananas then peel them and puree through the blender. This, surprisingly gives you very much the same consistency as ice cream. Time frame all up (including eating) - about 1 hour, not counting the time it would take to freeze the bananas and dehydrate the bread.

With the right eating plans, you will find a raw food diet that can easily work for you. It's really just a small change to your current eating and living habits but will mean a huge change to your life. You'll be amazed at how healthy and energetic you'll feel!

Raw Food Diet - An Option For Effective Fast Weight Loss

2010-08-14T19:16:00.001-07:00

The increasing popularity of a raw food diet is contributed to its benefit - effective but natural and swift weight loss. On top of that, it is known to boost the energy level and to prevent illness such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and so on.

This type of diet is no doubt beneficial to your health because you are consuming foods in its purest condition possible. It means the nutrients of the green leafy vegetables and fruits are still intact.

All raw and living foods contain enzymes which aid the digestion and absorption of the food nutrients in your body. These enzymes are responsible also for securing the vitamins and nutrients content of the food. Unfortunately, enzymes are destroyed in any cooking process that has a temperature of 116 degrees Fahrenheit and above that leads to its degradation. More so, further cooking procedures can break the original molecular structure of the food and in return can be toxic to your body.

So, imagine the food you are eating every day. It is fried, baked, steamed, grilled or broiled, right? These cooking methods involve heat which definitely depletes not only the nutrients but the enzymes content of the food. If you wish that your body will get the maximum health-giving benefits in what you eat, then opt for raw food diet.

Not only that you gain the health benefits of adapting this lifestyle, you are also being kind to animals because most of the raw foods are vegan. The diet is mainly comprised of fresh vegetables, fruits, unprocessed nuts and seeds, sea vegetable like seaweeds, and natural oils such as olive oil.

Therefore, there are no alcohol, caffeine and sugar products which are also beneficial to your health.

It is no doubt that raw food diet is good to your health and an effective way to lose weight however it is not an easy journey to embark also. You live in a modern world where you are bombarded with processed foods items and wide range of dining options offering delectable dishes. Hence, adapting this kind of diet will be a real challenge.

The best way to get started is to slowly incorporating raw food menu in your day to day life. Then progress gradually by increasing from 20% to 40% the ratio of raw food in your meals until you get used to eating totally on raw food diet.

Remember that if others did it, why can't you?

A Raw Food Menu Often Brings Healing

2010-08-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

Can a diet that is based on a raw food menu actually reverse disease? The premise behind eating a diet that consists of mostly raw vegetables and fruits is fairly simple. Consuming the right kinds of foods -- and shunning the wrong ones -- can pave the way to health and possibly even help the body heal itself from chronic, severe or debilitating diseases.

Holding to this notion doesn't mean food itself brings direct healing. It means the right foods offer your body the materials it needs for incredible self-healing properties to function at peak performance.

Many people would probably say this idea, in and of itself, sounds reasonable to some extent. But most people have no idea how powerful this concept actually is. Nor do most individuals know the full extent to which thousands of people have applied it to find relief from pain, suffering, debilitating conditions and even escape the clutches of physical death itself.

Living foods enable your body's God-given immune system to function at an incredibly high level. They also provide the building blocks required for healthy new cells to replace diseased or dying ones in the body's constant cell-regeneration process.

Nutritional cure or healing isn't direct -- it's indirect. Food isn't medicine per se. But it may be better than conventional medicine at certain times.

While the exact proportions of how these foods are consumed may be a little different among those who've experienced dramatic health recovery, the general rule is that the more food consumed in raw form the better. Foods taken ripe from the garden always offer higher nutritional content than processed foods. And raw foods that were grown organically are best.

If you're open to this idea then it's not hard to understand why many raw-foodists have experienced miraculous healing in their bodies simply by changing their diet. It also becomes easy to understand why many people in the "whole foods" and "macrobiotic" food communities have experienced similar health results.

The biggest key to approaching diet as a vehicle for health seems to be the avoidance of animal-based products in favor of plant-based food products. When plant-based foods are consumed in a state that is as unprocessed, or "natural" as possible, then incredible things can happen if either a sick person is trying to get well or a healthy person is trying to enjoy optimal health.

This is often the case even when an individual doesn't embrace 100% veganism. Many practitioners of a macrobiotic diet approach, for example, consume very few animal-based products in favor of mostly whole foods and high quantities of a raw vegetables and fruits. That is often enough to enable recovery from serious illness.

The point here is that there are common "raw food factors" associated with diet and healing. They reflect what I currently think is the "best" nutritional approach to health and wellness. This understanding of things is also based upon sound research by many leaders in the field of science and medicine.

How A Raw Food Diet Can Improve Your Health

2010-08-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

In the age of fast food take outs and food on the go, we are taking risks with our health because of what we eat. Actually it is not always what we eat that is the problem; it is how we prepare our food. It is though that twenty five percent of people are over weight, and many are obese. Maintaining an active lifestyle is very important to your general health, but what you eat is extremely important to keeping your body healthy. Even thought many people do not regularly include raw food in their diet.

When raw food is mentioned, people tend to think of meat, fish and other foods that you would not normally eat raw. Fresh and dried fruit, vegetables, nuts etc, are raw foods, basically anything that is can be consumed without being cooked. If you give it some thought and add some Creativity you will be surprised what you can come up with.

This however does not mean that a well prepared home cooked meal is not nutritious; meals made with the right ingredients can be healthy, especially if they are prepared and cooked correctly.

It is a well known fact that if people ate more uncooked foods in their diets, their well being and overall health and fitness would be greatly improved. They are many people who do not think about eating food that has not been cooked first, and they do not realize the many benefits this could have.

One good thing about uncooked food, you can generally eat as much as your want without weight gain. This is because it is low in calories, and you will probably eat less than you would cooked food, and it helps increase metabolism. Uncooked foods are full of fibers called cellulose which helps the body lose weight. Eating raw foods also increases the energy levels in the body making you feel more lively and active.

When fresh plant foods are cooked in a temperature above 115 degrees they lose much needed nutrients and enzymes that are important in digestion and general health. The heat applied to cook food removes many vitamins and proteins that the body needs to stay healthy.

Another great benefit of eating uncooked food is the reduction of saturated fats. Uncooked foods contain high levels of fiber, vitamins and potassium. Phytochemical also found in raw products are thought to help keep the risk of heart disease at a low. There are also high levels of antioxidants in uncooked foods, these antioxidants help your body keep its youthful, and are also known to inhibit the formation of plaque, a cause of heart disease.

If you include more raw food into your daily diet, you will feel the benefit in a surprisingly short time. Your skin will look and feel healthier, if you are over weight you will soon start to notice weight loss. Your general health will improve and you will feel much fit than before. The toxins in your body from eating a diet full of cooked food will disperse, and your risk of heart problems and other related health issues will be drastically reduced.

Raw Diet Program: Will You Lose 10 Pounds?

2010-08-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

As all of know that eating a lot of vegetables is a very good way to go for a healthy food. Its gives benefits to our bodies, our skin and our overall health. But the proponents of the raw food diet take one step further. That is the reason why most of the people are choosing the proponents of the raw diet program.

They argue that eating foods that are unprocessed and in their natural state is the best and clearest way to health and vitality. Actually most of them are not know that it is give more side effects in future.

Most of them who really follow a raw food diet program always aim to get at least 90% of their food the raw way, that is, uncooked and unprocessed. A little percentage of food can be thirsty or dried, as long as it was never heated above about 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Put in mind that you must always aware when you are under this type of diet program.

Even though it might seem that a raw food diet would be limited to fruit and vegetable salads to be eat every day, the reality is menu for raw food advocates have changed a lot in recent years and you must take that in a consideration. Because the association has taken off in recent years, more and more books are promoting about the raw food diet that features a variety of foods and recipes.

For an example, raw foods might create spaghetti using julienned zucchini method. Even the sauce might be made from fresh tomatoes and peppers, with some imagination and time, interesting recipes can be produced. So be alert with this type of recopies and also collect information from other outsources.

In this generation there are very rare people choosing a raw food diet when they simply want to lose weight. Because now they are more alert with their health often, there are other health benefits they seek. Proponents may say that the uncooked food diet has many benefits, including:

1. There is healing of diseases like eye problems, skin diseases, and diabetes.

2. There is a sense of increased energy and vitality.

3. There is weight loss, or easy weight management once an ideal weight is reached.

4. There is shiny hair and youthful, supple skin.

5. There is better digestion and a reduction in digestive problems.

6. Lastly there is reduced risk of heart disease.

Even though people have their own, personal reasons for joining the raw food crusade, many are already at a perfect weight and don not seek to lose more. In my point of view they are instead after the advantage of a younger body and younger-looking skin.

The raw food diet promotes eating an abundance of fruits and vegetables, raw nuts and seeds and other unprocessed food, so people are report that their skin looks more vital, that they notice a decrease in any skin problem they might previously have had.

Perhaps the best one by far, would be applicable to those who follow a raw food diet get - in spades - all the mentioned and usual benefits of consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. From antioxidants, which help your skin combat the signs of aging, to vitamins and minerals that nourish, keeps the skin healthy and protects the skin, there is enough healthy eating methods here to give the dieter a wide range of vitamins and minerals in order for the average person to live a healthy lifestyle.

Eating a raw food diet ensures that the all of these benefits are discovered and enjoyed by the dieter.

The Raw Food Plan - The Best Way To Lose Weight, Feel Energised And Look Younger

2010-08-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

So you've tried just about every diet? Found they're just not practical or so very boring? Lost a bit of weight - but then put back on even more?
Convinced "Diets" don't work and - guess what? - You're right!. They don't.
They give you the idea that it's only "till you lose weight" so when you return to your old way of eating you regain all you lost.
It could be time to consider a new approach - a whole new way of eating and living? A Raw Food Plan

* Not a restricted way with less to eat.

* Not a boring repetitive menu each day.

* Not expensive and time consuming.

But actually easier to prepare, more delicious, no more expensive and just the way food was meant to be!

Did you know that the usual Western diet is "dead"?

* That cooked food is devoid of nutrients, enzymes and life energy?

* That many people are actually allergic to cooked food?

* When you cook food above 180f you destroy enzymes that are there to help us digest our food. This means your body has to work harder to extract nutrients. This makes us tired and our immune system compromised. Heat causes unfavourable changes in food and your body was not designed to metabolise these. By cooking food above this temperature a pathogenic response in the body called Leucytosis takes place whereby the white blood cells ( immune cells ) are actually used to digest foods much as they would attack foreign substances.

* Only Humans cook food - have you noticed!

By eating more raw food you leave these enzymes intact so you can digest food easily and well and extract, absorb and benefit from all the nutrients and vitamins that your body needs.

A traditional diet contains much meat, dairy and wheat and is very acid forming. This is a dangerous state for your body. Some members of the medical profession are convinced that cancer thrives in an acid environment. A Raw Diet, rich in whole fruit and vegetables does exactly the opposite and creates an alkaline environment where nasties cannot survive.

Other benefits of following a Raw Food Plan rich in organic wholefoods, fresh fruit and veg, nuts, seeds and sprouted seeds and grains is that it means you will

* Quickly reach your optimum weight and shed fat faster.

* Gain lots of energy and need less sleep.

* Have more glowing and healthy skin tone.

* Have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

* No longer suffer constipation - with the high levels of fibre some eminent medics believe this can help prevent some forms of cancer.

* You won't be hungry as you can actually eat more! It just means you are eating foods that satisfy you more and pound for pound contain less calories.

It also happens to be a very ethical eating plan. Buying lots of local fruit and veg helps the local farmers and producers.

It will take a little time to get used to. No more ready meals straight from the freezer popped into the microwave! No more "fast food" of the burger & fries variety but plenty of the even faster food you don't even have to cook! What a variety too - foods you may never have considered trying before.

A Raw Food Plan that has been well thought out and researched can prevent you from making mistakes and guide you through potential pitfalls like eating out and dealing with well meaning friends who don't understand etc. It's good to be guided until the new way of eating ( Not diet! ) becomes a habit - your new "normal" way! This takes, usually, about twelve weeks. A good plan also needs lots of recipes for meals as well as delicious juices and smoothies else you can get in a bit of a salad rut and get bored!
Following such a plan could well leave you feeling more energised and lively than you have felt for years and rather slimmer too. Why delay any longer!

Raw Food Diet Recipes For A Healthy Meal Plan

2010-08-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

There are many proven benefits to using raw food diet recipes. When you consume fruits and veggies in a raw state, you are getting all of the nutrients that the food has to offer. There are many food ideas that can have you carefully planning out your meals and snacks. Discover what kind of food choices sound appealing to your taste buds.

Using smoothies as a snack choice or along with a healthy meal is a great way to consume lots of nutrients. These shakes are fairly simple to make. All you need is a few different fruit choices and a blender. When you learn what combos of fruit you like, it will help you make a variety of smoothie options.

The best way to make a healthy smoothie is to start with the main fruit and then add some additional ones. If you crave a banana smoothie, try adding a few melon wedges or grapes to a handful of bananas. The smoothie will have a strong banana flavor with a hint of the secondary fruits. Another great choice for smoothies is a papaya based drink. For this recipe, you can try adding some tangerines and green chard. The flavors have a great way of blending together for the perfect mixture.

With the variety of salads available for lunches and dinners, there is enough to fill a few weeks with delicious choices. The trick to making a salad taste good, is to try a mixture of fruit and vegetable choices. Mandarins and tangerines can compliment a salad quite well, as the fruits seem to add a little dressing to the lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Topping a salad with fruit can create a flavor explosion for your taste buds. The combo of soft fruit and crunchy veggies can make a great meal for anyone trying to eat healthier. Not only can you add tossed fruit to a salad, but you may also try shredding up your favorite veggies and adding them to the top. This works well for carrots, as they can be shaved and put over the salad. Diced cucumber and peppers can also create an exciting salad topper.

To make a salad different, playing around with the fruits and veggies is just the beginning. There are many different varieties of lettuce to pick from that will give your salad a new flavor. Popular ones to try are; rapini and romaine. The varying texture that lettuce can bring will help you change the menu of your salads during the week.

When you plan your meals for the week, try to make each day a little different so that your taste buds have a variety of flavors. Salads can be combined with a smoothie for the ultimate lunch or dinner. Smoothies can also be so filling that they make a breakfast for someone on the move. A side dish of raw veggies or sliced fruit can make a nice snack between meals.

As you discover the many fruit and vegetable varieties that you can create, you will be on your way to eating healthier and feeling better. There are lots of raw food diet recipes to select from. When you do some research into popular recipes and experiment with what you like to eat the possibilities are endless.

Spice Up Your Health With Raw Food Recipes

2010-07-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in eating tasty food and still watching your weight then you probably realize that eating fast food everyday is not such a good idea. Stop and think about it for a second. Imagine eating burgers, pizza, pasta, cookies, cakes and pies everyday. They taste great but come on, is it such a good idea? I say that as a joke, but more people than you think actually do it.

Often when people plan out a diet they have to weigh out their food and eat only a prescribed amount of each food, but this is not the case when you are following a raw food diet plan. Not only can you eat as much raw food as you want but you can have foods that are tasty to eat and that will provide your body with plenty of nutrition. You can reduce your weight, improve your health and feel younger within days of starting to eat a raw food diet.

Many people have not considered using a raw food diet plan to improve their health or lose weight. The media has not given much attention to the raw food way of life but the information on the internet, numerous books and personal testimonies have created a new awareness of the raw food lifestyle. Many people think its difficult to change the way they eat, but with a well planned out raw food diet plan, eating well can not only be convenient but affordable. This is especially true when you analyze how much time it takes to cook a traditional cooked meal.

Breakfast with a Raw Food Diet Plan

A quick breakfast can be composed of two cups of green vegetables spinach, broccoli, and lettuce. This is basically a quick salad that has your preferred flavor added by either a salad dressing or yogurt to add flavor. Place them in the blender; possibly you may want to add a squeeze of lemon or lime and a sliced fruit. Mix for twenty seconds, pour and enjoy. This is a delicious smoothie that will give you plenty of energy every day, as well as provide you with plenty important nutrients. This takes about 5 minutes to prepare and drink, if you want more substance to this quick breakfast consider adding soy protein powder or oats.

Lunch with a Raw Food Diet Plan

A raw food lunch could be made of lettuce wraps stuffed with carrot slices, banana and avocado combined with a small bag of mixed unsalted nuts. For your drink, try a carrot or tomato vegetable juice. You could even make the juice yourself in about 10 minutes and this includes clean up. Another great idea is a bag of 3-4 different types of vegetable slices. Choose the ones you like and do not be afraid to venture out a little. The variety will keep things interesting. Personally, I have tried things I have only seen in whole-foods-type grocery stores that I could barely keep down. They had me running for the sink to spit it out, but that is all part of the experience when you try out a raw food diet plan.

Dinner with a Raw Food Diet Plan

Dinner could consist of zucchini pasta together with pesto sauce accompanied by a side dish made of almond flour garlic bread and then for dessert, banana ice cream. For the zucchini pasta, simply peel the zucchini and mix it in with your noodles. This pesto sauce is usually a quick mix of garlic, pine nuts and extra virgin olive oil. An easy way to make banana ice cream is to freeze a couple of bananas then peel them and puree through the blender. This surprisingly gives you very much the same consistency as ice cream; just make sure to eat it while it is still cold.

I love to eat. No doubt about it. So when I made the commitment to switch to a raw food diet plan, I took into consideration all of the things I used to like to eat like, burgers and fries, sandwiches and any kind of chips and dip and some kind of thick pasta sauce with fettuccine noodles. In place of these, through trial and error, I created my own veggie burger recipe and oven baked a potato cut into the shape of fries and sprinkled with a little sea salt. My favorite sandwich now is several kinds of leafy green vegetables, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and whatever other veggie I can fit on two slices of whole wheat bread accompanied with thinly sliced, oven baked and slightly sea salted potato slices that are surprisingly crisp when baked just long enough and I now use vegetable based pasta with a little olive oil and tomatoes in place of the heavier traditional thick sauces.

So be creative and use your imagination. You will be surprised at what raw foods can do for you not only for the health benefits but you will also enjoy the true tastes that Mother Nature intended them to have.

A Simple Raw Food Diet Menu

2010-07-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

With all the new dieting trends going around, many people are wondering what is the right diet that will assist them with weight loss, encourage better health, and yet at the same time, still taste good. There is a diet out there that fits all that criteria and is very simple to prepare because it involves no cooking whatsoever. Let's take a look at the raw food diet menu.

The raw food diet consists of food that is essentially raw. People following this diet will eat fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and in general anything that is organic and unprocessed. While this may sound like a boring diet, there are many simple recipes one can prepare that is tasty and nutritious. Following this diet will help you lose weight, digest your food better, increase your energy and help you to improve the appearance of your skin.

The first rule of the raw food diet is no cooking! None of the food can be heated up because it is believed that cooking will take away from the nutritional value of the food. But there are still many creative ways to prepare food that include dehydrating fruit, or putting your favorite fruits and veggies in a blender to mix them up. The key here is not heating the ingredients because heat destroys some of the enzymes in food.

So far this diet seems like just eating raw salads, snacking on seeds or nuts, and eating grain doesn't it? That is not necessarily the case. Below is a recipe for a treat that will make your mouth water in anticipation, and it involves no cooking at all.

The ingredients needed are: 2 ripe avocados
, 3 tomatoes, half a jalapeno, 3 cloves of garlic, kernels from 1 ear of organic corn, 2 teaspoons of lime juice, a quarter cup fresh cilantro, a quarter of a yellow onion, and 8 large romaine lettuce leaves.

Set the lettuce leaves on the side at first and get a knife and cutting board. Dice the tomatoes, the jalapeno, and the onion. Next, chop the cilantro and mince the garlic cloves. Now get a bowl and mash the avocado. Add all the other ingredients and stir until everything is mixed together.

With a spoon, scoop some of the mixture out and place on a piece of romaine lettuce and wrap. Once you are done, you have just created a great snack to enjoy, without having to cook anything at all.

If you are shopping around for a lifestyle change to lose weight, get more energized or just to try something new, the raw food diet may be just for you. It is easy to follow and one of the easiest diet systems to prepare because you do not even need to have a stove to stay on this diet. Have you ever been too tired to cook, or just wanted to save some money on electricity by not needing a stove or microwave? Well then the raw food diet is just for you! You can eat well, feel great and get back to a much simpler lifestyle where nature provides all you need.

Why the Raw Food Diet?

2010-07-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

So why the raw food diet? One of the best explanations I've heard for why we should eat raw, living foods is because they are LIVING! They are actually still alive, their nutrients and enzymes are 100% intact.

If you take fruit for example and put it in your fruit bowl and ignore it for a few days, it will continue to ripen until it spoils. If you take that same fruit and stew it with some sugar, will it continue to ripen? Of course not! But why? Because it is dead. Cooking food effectively kills it.

There are plenty of arguments that cooking expresses certain nutrients that would not otherwise be available and that is true. But for every one nutrient that is expressed through cooking, 10 000 are destroyed! I prefer to lose one rather than 10 000, wouldn't you?

Cooking is one of the most nutritionally damaging things we can do to food, and for what? Without artificially spicing and salting it to high heaven, it's pretty bland. Okay I'm sure the arguments will come thick and fast about how delicious various dishes are, but the truth is, you educate your taste buds about what to like.

If you are accustomed to eating salty spicy food, then natural raw foods taste bland. But if you eat lots of whole, raw, natural foods you come to appreciate the natural flavors of the food even more!

If you eat whole, fresh, ripe, raw foods, digestion is quick and easy, which frees your body from the process of complex digestion which then gives YOU more energy. The concept of needing to have a snooze after a meal becomes a distant memory on the raw food diet.

That sluggish feeling you get after a heavy meal occurs because your body needs to focus all its energy on the task at hand; breaking down this complex cooked meal into the amino acids and sugars that it can actually utilize. Raw fruits and plants contain these sugars and amino acids in their simplest form so they require very little work before they can be utilized by the body. They are the perfect ENERGY food.

Beauty is another answer to the question of why the raw food diet. Eating raw food will allow you to sculpt the most beautiful you. Whether you won the genetic lottery or not, your true beauty is likely hiding away under puffiness, blotches, acne, cellulite, excess weight, eye bags, wrinkles, varicose veins, broken blood vessels and bloodshot cloudy eyes. Even if you're still young enough not to have begun to show the degeneration of your body, internally that is exactly what is happening. Wouldn't you prefer to be regenerating?

With the raw food diet you give your body the chance to clear out years of accumulated junk, all those toxins that have been tucked away in your fat cells, in your eye bags, your acne and your blotches. As those toxins clear out, your most beautiful self will be given the chance to shine.

But its not just physical! The physical part is just a happy side effect. Another compelling reason for why the raw food diet is the mental clarity and spiritual connectedness you feel. Your memory will improve, along with your concentration and focus.

Since I have gone raw I have made the most life changing decisions effortlessly. I feel so much more in touch with who I truly am and I can no longer do anything BUT live congruently. I must be who I truly am and I must follow my heart. My intuition is growing stronger by the day and I am beginning to feel so in touch! In touch with myself and in tune with my intuition and my life's purpose. This is the most amazing thing of all.

Apple Cider Vinegar Weight Loss

2010-06-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Apple cider vinegar can be derived from the preparation of whole apples, to which double fermentation has be done. It should not undergo pasteurization, filtration and distillation because these added processes could vaporize the nutrients, vitamins and fermentation compounds that are necessary properties for losing weight and other health benefits.

You can choose from several brands offered by health food stores. Just check the label to ensure that the criteria specified above is met.

Determining the Proper Amount

Basing on the study conducted by Dr. D. C. Jarvis, M.D. in Vermont, home remedies for weight loss programs commonly requires taking one to two teaspoons mixed with a glass of water prior to taking your regular meals. Patricia Bragg suggests that you can add 1 or two teaspoons of raw honey to make the solution taste better.

No matter how you take it, do not assume that you would experience a very quick weight loss. What you would experience would be a gradual change and this would give enough time for your fat cells to get used to the new size.

The Role of Apple Cider Vinegar in Weight Loss

No one can certainly present the process of how vinegar can be used to help lose weight. However, several theories had been formulated.

It is a common belief that the organic acids, enzymes and nutrients in apple cider vinegar promote weight loss because it helps reduce water retention, increases metabolic rate, suppresses appetite and helps you feel better and healthier.

The relation between insulin levels and weight loss has been emphasized in recent medical studies. This connection and the concept that vinegar is perceived to delay the rise of blood sugar level after eating sparks the idea that taking vinegar during mealtime lessens the amount of insulin needed during digestion thus leading to weight loss.

Deciding on How Much Weight You Want to Lose

You can figure out whether you belong to the proper weight range by considering your weight and height. You can compute whether you are overweight by determining your body mass index (BMI). This is a measure of your body fat basing on your weight and height.

Use a BMI chart to determine your body mass index. You will know whether or not you need to lose some weight if you belong to proper weight range. The result will help you decide what will be your targeted weight loss.

Some Friendly Reminders

There are people who do not appreciate the taste of this medicine when mixed with water. You can be creative by replacing water with vegetable or fruit juice. You will then enjoy the dramatic change with the taste. This adds a new dash of thirst quenching tartness to a glass of tomato or orange juice.

Even if weight loss is a bit-by-bit process, there are certain advantages that you need to take note of. It is absolutely a natural product and weight loss is likely to have a lasting affect.

Furthermore, you can integrate regular exercise, healthy diets, and drinking plenty of water so as to hasten the weight loss process. Read on to learn more tips:

More Exercise

Any weight loss program should include regular exercise. You just need to render brisk walking at least 3 times a week. Like any other exercise routines, it should be gradual. You can begin slowly then increase your pace and distance, you can even reach the point when you can walk 3 miles in about 45 minutes. By doing so, your muscles will be developed, toned and built, thus, it will keep on burning unwanted fat even when you are already at rest.

More Potassium

Potassium is one of the elements needed by your body to stay healthy. Regular intake of apple cider vinegar helps you meet the amount of potassium required in your diet. Many fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of natural potassium.

Less Processed Foods

You can decrease your intake of processed foods by choosing natural vegetables, fruits and whole grain foods instead. They supply your body with more vitamins, minerals and natural fiber. These nutrients are required to help your body perform its best.

More Water

Your body is composed of 70% water. Water serves as your body's primary medium of transportation not only for nutrition but for cleansing purposes as well. It is very essential in keeping yourself healthy. Taking 8 glasses of tap water (filtered) every day is advised.

Some Information About The Raw Food Detox Diet

2010-06-14T20:47:00.001-07:00

Most of the information about the raw food detox diet can be found on the Internet or in published form in a book of the same name published by author Natalia Rose. This diet, as defined by Rose, consists of five levels of food with variations in the percentage of raw food that is consumed at each level. Dieters can decide at which level to begin and progress through the stages as desired.

A dieter can enter the program at Level 5 which is the most lenient. In this phase, you eat approximately 3/4 of your food choices from raw foods. This level includes foods that are cooked in one meal each day. A typical choice is a vegetarian dish such as pasta. Level five allows moderate animal products which might be selected from fish, chicken or eggs, but goat cheese is the only dairy product permitted.

At the other end or the levels is Level 1. It is the most severe. It consists only of juices, raw vegetables and raw fruits until the evening meal. On most days the dinner meal is also a raw vegan repast, but salmon is permitted once per week.

The raw food diet is a totally different way of eating for most people. You may find that you can't progress to the more strict levels comfortably, but that's acceptable, since the program is meant to be used at your own comfort level. Because the body naturally cleanses and detoxifies itself over time, you will usually find that you feel better and lose weight at the same time, but it may be a more gentle pace than with other types of eating regimens.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to eat 100 percent raw foods in order to benefit from the diet. Keeping some cooked food helps to prevent detoxification that is overly rapid. Cooked foods are also helpful to maintain emotional satisfaction in the foods you eat. Getting bored with a meal choice too quickly will be detrimental in staying on the diet.

There are some disadvantages to the raw food diet. This is not a diet for those people who must eat out often, Meals are prepared fresh and from scratch in most instances. If you are sensitive to carbohydrates or to grains, the diet is not for you. The early phases of the diet include large amounts of grain and pasta. There are numerous rules to follow in order to avoid combining foods incorrectly. In many instances, you must purchase a juicer or other kitchen equipment, which can be costly. Finally, the diet doesn't recommend exercise, so it is unbalanced in one sense.

On the other side of the equation, there are many good features about the diet. The wide variety of foods included means it is better balanced nutritionally than many other weight loss or detox diets. Desserts are allowed on all levels with certain restrictions. A specific kind of chocolate is allowed as a treat. Dieters can proceed at their own pace.

The raw food detox diet is healthy eating at its best, but it is not for everyone. You don't have to be a vegetarian or vegan to enjoy the diet, but it helps. Even though there is little cooking in the later levels of the diet, you have the opportunity to eat a wide variety of nutritious and delicious foods.

The Joy Of Raw Food Diet Weight Loss

2010-06-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

The raw food diet is rapidly gaining popularity and awareness among knowledgeable health conscious consumers. As we enter the 21st century people are becoming more diet conscious due to an increase in understanding about how the body works. When people pursue raw food diet weight loss and abandon modern processed foods they quickly see a change in the way they feel and an increase in their energy levels. The benefits of turning from soda pop and processed food to more healthy things like uncooked vegetables, seeds, nuts, grains, beans, dried fruit, and even seaweed are bringing millions of people benefits like increased energy, better skin tone and even reduced illnesses.

Raw food diet weight loss revolves around cutting out foods that are not readily processed by the body. By replacing these processed foods with natural foods that are not cooked at excessive temperature many enzymes and nutrients are left intact. Studies have shown that heating food above 115 degrees F can destroy enzymes in food that can assist in the digestion and absorption of food. At least 75% of the diet must be uncooked or raw food in order for the diet to be a true raw food diet.
If you are thinking about pursuing raw food diet weight loss you need to make sure that your body's PH is not moving towards being more acidic than alkaline. An acidic body is a fat body as the metabolism will be slowed down and more inefficient. When an unhealthy diet of processed foods is consumed this will create an acidic condition in the body. To test the body's acidity you can use PH test strips, these are inexpensive and they can be used to help determine not only your PH but the right diet schedule needed to meet your weight loss goals. By eating an alkaline diet you will find weight loss is more effective. This is the major tip in achieving long term weight loss. Fruits, vegetables and herbs will help assist you in your efforts to maintain a more alkaline body.

Eat Fresh and Organic
Eating organic foods can help as they contain higher nutrient levels. Organic foods have more alkalizing minerals than conventionally grown foods and eating organic will speed up your weight loss efforts. Make sure to buy the highest quality and most delicious food. It may cost more but the great taste and higher quality will ensure that your raw food diet weight loss plans are successful. The lowest calorie count per ounce will be found with raw greens and vegetables. Fruits are next in line. In general, fruits have a slightly higher calorie count because of their naturally occurring sugars which will help with weight loss due to the fact that this will raise the body's blood sugar and reduce hunger levels. People will often eat a piece of fruit before their meal to reduce over eating. If you eat a piece of sweet fruit like some pineapple or an apple 30 minutes before your main meal this can significantly reduce your hunger cravings so that when you do finally eat you will want to eat less. Raw food diet weight loss is usually successful when a complete lifestyle change is made. This change is typically rewarded with a higher energy level and possibly a reduction in illness.

Heal Your Body With A Raw Food Diet

2010-05-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

Health Benefits of a Raw Food Diet

Easier Digestion Raw food presents lesser problems to your digestive system. The absence of oil and other harmful cooking ingredients allows your digestive system to quickly and smoothly digest food and eliminate waste from your system without making you experience any acidic reaction. Digesting raw food also does not lead to bile or any other residual effects. If you start with a raw diet, however, be sure not to immediately mix it with cooked food as the instant combination will not react well inside your stomach.

Easier digestion is also caused by the increased content of enzymes in raw food. With more enzymes at work within your body, you get to have lesser toxins which will consequently lead to lower health risks and weight gain.Better Immune System Bacteria as well as other microorganisms found within raw food benefit your health by strengthening your body immune system. Since prevention is always the best cure, strengthening your body defense system will make you tougher against all sorts of disease.

Stabilizing Body Mass Index If you are worried about your weight, taking a raw food diet could help you achieve your weight loss goals. When you want to lose weight, you need to look at the bigger picture of things and know your body mass index. If you already have the right Stabilizing Body Mass, a raw food diet will help you keep your body mass Index stable. Lower Heart Disease Your heart will greatly benefit from a raw food diet since it eliminates most of the ingredients and food types that lead to higher heart risk. With a raw food diet, you can look forward to leading a happier and healthier life.

Speedier Healing Not all of us are like Superman and able to heal bullet wounds in an instant. We are not like other magical creatures either that can regenerate lost limbs. As we are all ordinary humans only, we can simply rely on natural sources to keep our body heal faster and one way of doing that is by increasing intake of omega fatty acids.Omega fatty acids are one of the most important components of a raw food diet. They can be found in certain types of fish and leafy green vegetables. Omega 3 promotes cell growth and you can just imagine what would happen to your body without a healthy supply of Omega 3.

Healthier Skin Skin is the most commonly afflicted part of your body by cancer. With a healthy raw food diet, however, you will be able to give your skin added protection protection that mere skin care products can not really give you with.In spite of the numerous healthy benefits one can derive from raw food diet, it is not a dietary regime that is considered flawless. There are medical experts expressing concern regarding its safety and effectiveness. For one, people must make sure that the raw foods they eat are not greatly exposed to pesticides.

But if you can make sure that all produce you consume are organic then you are in the right track.

Raw Food Diet - Water And Diabetes - Nurse's Guide

2010-05-04T02:20:00.000-07:00

One of the amazing things that happened to me after I started to eat a raw food diet to cure my breast cancer, years ago, is that I found I didn't need to drink as much water. When you start eating foods that are raw you'll find you're just not as thirsty as before. You just don't need as much water as you used to. There are quite a few reasons for this. Overall, raw foods, such as raw fruits and vegetables, have a much higher volume of water in them, so your body doesn't need as much from beverages and other foods. Cooked foods don't contain much water as a rule.

And because of the large amount of living food that one eats on a raw food diet one easily gets plenty of water.

However this doesn't mean you should stop drinking water. I also drink a lot of carrot juice and green juice which hydrates my body even more. Your body will let you know if it's thirsty most of the time but if you are distracted or involved in activities you may not be paying attention. So first of all listen to your body. It'll tell you what it needs. If you need to lose weight, have health issues or ailments and diseases or lack energy your body might be telling you to change your diet or drink more water or both. And raw foods are the best way to get rid of many aches and pains, ailments, diseases and physical disorders that are caused by eating cooked, processed food.

But if you're overweight constantly, are thirsty and hungry and have other symptoms of Type II Diabetes, this overwhelming thirst and hunger are just two diabetes symptoms that plague many. When you start eating more raw foods, which are foods that have a high fiber and moisture content, you may start to lose weight fast and you will start to reverse the diabetes symptoms rapidly and help keep your blood sugar in the normal range.

Even if you're not overweight and don't have any health issues such as Type II diabetes, you still will find you no longer have the hunger and thirst problems you used to have. If you're eating a raw food diet, drinking water and juices it's not very likely you're drinking coffee or getting any caffeine from colas. Caffeine is a diuretic and depletes vital water from your body increasing thirst. And by eating less cooked foods or less processed foods, you'll be getting less sodium and you'll find you're just not as thirsty either.

By eating living food, drinking pure filtered water, green juice and carrot juice, you'll be providing you body with plenty of vital nutrients and water. And by keeping the sodium amounts to a minimum you'll start to feel less thirsty too.

Make sure to continue drinking water every day as you feel the need and then add more. Make sure to drink plenty during physical activities when your requirements are sure to go up. Eating a raw food diet completely changed my life. I got rid of breast cancer naturally, fibromyalgia, arthritis, acid reflux and many other ailments. You can do it too.

Eating Clean - Easy Breakfast Ideas

2010-04-01T21:25:00.001-07:00

Eating clean and healthy foods for breakfast is not as difficult and time consuming as one would think. In fact, many healthy breakfasts can be prepared with common items out of your own pantry.

Since breakfast is the first meal of the day it only takes some common sense to realize that this meal sets the tone for the rest of the day. Assuming your last meal from the previous day was eaten somewhere in the evening then approximately 8 to 10 hours will have passed since your last bite of food.

It is important to remember that you need protein and some carbohydrates at breakfast. Protein is important in helping to build healthy muscle mass and carbohydrates are important because they give you sustainable energy until your next meal. The following is a list of some really healthy meal ideas:

1. Oatmeal with fruit. Add 1/2 cup of rolled oats to 1 cup of boiling water. Boil the water for 2 minutes in the microwave. Add the oats to it and cover with a plate to allow the heat to absorb the oats. In a couple of minutes your oatmeal is done. Add 1/2 cup of berries like strawberries, blueberries, or any other type of berry. If you cannot buy them fresh then buy them frozen. Add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon for a better flavor. I personally add 2 teaspoons of flaxseed (found in the health food store or health markets). Flaxseed is rich in omega-3 oils.

2. Egg Whites with fruit - You can make your egg whites by several methods. The easiest method is hard boiled. It's easiest to hard boil your eggs in advance of when you want to eat them. This method allows me to pull a few eggs out of the refrigerator in the morning. After I peel them I remove the yokes. I then add cut up fruit to the bowl. The eggs have the needed protein and the fruit has the carbs that are needed.

3. Grainy bread and peanut butter - There are many reasons why a peanut butter sandwich is a healthy breakfast option. But what's also important to know is that you should choose a healthy grain bread and natural peanut butter. The best bread is a very grainy wheat bread that does not contain high fructose corn syrup as one of it's ingredients. All natural peanut butter is the best nut butter to use. The peanut butter gives you the protein and the bread gives you the necessary carbs.

4. Protein Shake - Although I don't personally drink shakes as a meal replacement it doesn't mean you can't. In general shakes don't fill me up for 3 hours and I only end up feeling very hungry rather quickly. However, you may want to have a shake. The following is an idea for a healthy breakfast smoothie: 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup berries, 1 tbsp flaxseed, 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt, 2 scoops protein powder, ice cubes. Puree it all together.

Another good tip to starting your day off clean and healthy is to drink at least one tall glass of water right when you wake up and drink another glass of water throughout your breakfast.

Diet Meal Delivery Service - 5 Tips For Greater Success

2010-03-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

Diet meal delivery services have gained in popularity in recent years. Many of them, like Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig, have been around for decades, but the Internet has breathed new life into them. Now anyone with a web connection can get online and order diet meals delivered to their homes in just a few minutes. When it comes to losing weight, it doesn't get much easier than that.

There are a few things you need to know to get the most out of your plan, however. Here are five tips to get you off on the right foot.

1. Choose your service wisely. You're going to spend a good chunk of money and have at least four weeks worth of food in your freezer, so make sure you're going to like the choices. Ask your friends and family, do a search on the Internet for reviews, and see if you can order sample meals - or at least snacks - to try out before making a commitment.

2. Choose your individual plan carefully. Some diet meal delivery services have several plan choices, including diabetic, vegetarian, and low-carb. Some also allow you to choose the number of calories you want to consume. Don't make the mistake of opting for 1200 calorie days only to wind up feeling hungry every afternoon. That's a recipe for failure.

3. Stock up on healthy snack foods. Ideally, you'll be eating only the foods on your diet plan. Of course we all know there will be days when that just isn't enough food. Having healthy snacks on hand will help you to avoid gorging on potato chips and candy bars.

4. Learn a new lifestyle. Anyone can lose weight when all their food is prepared for them. But to keep it off, you're going to have to learn to eat better, even after you stop buying packaged meals. Pay close attention to portion sizes and protein/carbohydrate ratios so you can duplicate them when you go back to cooking your own foods.

5. Eat breakfast. Some diet meal delivery plans don't include breakfast, but that doesn't mean you can just skip it. Breakfast is important for waking your brain and body up every day, and without it you'll feel hungrier and be more likely to overeat at lunch. If your plan doesn't come with breakfast, stock up on eggs, whole wheat bagels, and fruit and make your own healthy breakfast.

What Are the Health Benefits of Stevia?

2010-03-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

Stevia is a plant which can be used alternatively to sugar as a sweetener. It is naively growing in South America, where it is used as sweetener by the natives since centuries. Its extracts can be up to 300 times sweeter then normal sugar. In 1987 it was discovered by a Swiss botanist (Moisés Santiago Bertoni). But from then on it took pretty long to make it more popular in the western world. The first country which thought about Stevia as a sugar substitute was Japan. They made their first cultivating experiments in the 1950's, and started to use it as complementary food and sweetener in the 1970's. In 1980 the consumption has already risen up to 2000 tons of Stevia per year.

So far for the far east, but in Europe and North America Stevia was, and still is mainly prohibited, due to concerns about side effects of Stevia, especially about steviol, the metabolized aglycone of stevioside,what is the main component of Stevia. Some studies with animals, especially rats, in the 1980's affirmed that the steviol would be mutagenic. But these studies were hardly criticized, and considered not to be transferable to the human by the critics. If a human ate the proportional amount of Stevia which one rat in the experiments ate, he would have eaten a half of his body weight in Stevia leaves. In these amounts even sugar would be very unhealthy. Because of these concerns it is still unapproved as consumable in the most parts of the western world, and can only be sold as a beauty product, in some places in diet food or as tea.

But to come back to the title, I will now talk about the health benefits of Stevia. Some studies say that it is effective against dental caries and the accumulation of plaque, in opposite to sugar, what is doing harm to the teeth. Some other studies affirm that Stevia does not cause a raise of the blood sugar, but even lowers it. So it is perfectly usable as a sugar substitute for diabetics and better then other artificial sweeteners like aspartame or sucralose (Splenda), as it is natural and not chemical. What makes it even more suitable for dietary foods, is the fact that the extract of Stevia literally has got zero calories. Stevia also contains about 100 minerals and vitamins, but in the amounts consumed by the human, the effects are pretty negligible.

As mentioned above, the negative side effects are literally inexistent, so the health organizations of the European Union and the USA should really reconsider the prohibition of Stevia, or enforce some real studies about it, to clear the true risks of Stevia consumption. Then it could be used for dietary food and generally as sugar supplement and to replace the artificial sweeteners in the future.

Replace Sugar

2010-03-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is also known as Sweet leaf, Sugarleaf and just plain Stevia. It is a herb that belongs to the sunflower family (Asteraceae), native to subtropical and tropical regions from western North America to South America, although it is now grown throughout the world in such places as Japan, Korea, China or India.

Paraguay is the most famous country for the origins of Stevia, where the Guarani Indians have used it for over 1500 years to sweeten their mate tea.

As Stevia is 100% Natural, has Zero Calories, a Low Glycemic Index and is 200-400 times sweeter than sugar when refined. I can be very useful in replacing sugar in diets.

It has also reportable minimised hunger sensations, cravings for sweets and fatty foods. With Diabetes rising amongst the population, Stevia can be useful for those Diabetics with a sweet tooth.

The World Health Organisation forecast of over 300 million people will have Diabetes by 2025! It is also well known that medicine treatments for Diabetes have not changed greatly since the first insulin injections back in 1921.

A change of habits and lifestyle can help modify patients' quality of life by taking physical exercise and eating a healthy diet. It is incredibly hard for people who crave sugar to give up that craving, but with Stevia it is possible to have sweetness in your diet without worrying about the dangers of sugar and saccharine.

Tests conclude that Stevia has got anti-acid, antibacterial, anti-diabetic, cardiotonic, digestive, diuretic, sweetening, hypoglycaemic, hypo-tensing, metabolic enhancing and vasodilating properties.

Beneficial effects in fat absorption and blood pressure have also been proven.

Why risk the dangers of sugar and other possibly carcinogenic sweeteners when the Guarani Indians of Paraguay have known that Stevia is the perfect Natural herb to sweeten foods and drinks!

Diet Meal Delivery Service - 5 Tips For Greater Success

2010-03-15T20:45:00.001-07:00

Healthy Food Does Not Have to Be Boring and Tasteless

2010-03-15T20:43:00.001-07:00

There is this misconception going around that eating healthy food means one has to eat raw, tasteless vegetables and fruits. Well, this article will throw that misconception out of the window and show you how healthy food can be absolutely delicious and so mouth-watering, you won't even know that it's health food.

In today's world of fat-laden fast food and processed food, it is pretty easy to grab these to satisfy one's hunger. However, that's not a great thing for your body as it only serves to clog your arteries and add to your body fat. You certainly do not need to put in too much junk in your body. It's like putting sand into the gas tank of your car. One day, your body will break down from all that junk.

Now, many people gave the excuse that they can't stick to healthy food because it is boring, tasteless or even downright nasty. Well, this is not true. There are plenty of healthy recipes abound that are easy to prepare and yet are tasty and great for your body. Even if you don't have the time to cook, there are plenty of crock pot recipes for you to simple dump in all the ingredients, set the pot and in several hours' time, you have your food. Easy and simple.

If you are curious about what kind of healthy foods that are not boring and tasteless, an example would be very low fat brownie. Yes, you can even eat desserts as long as it's prepared healthily and with less sugar and fats. If you have heard of quinoa, the super grain introduced by the Incas, these can also be cooked healthily and be a great addition to your diet!

So, it does not have to be salads all the time. There are plenty of great low fat, low sugar, low sodium and yet delicious recipes out there for you to try. Sure, you can indulge in sinfully high calorie desserts every once in a while but if you make it a habit to consume healthy food all the time, you will find that you have more energy and the pounds will slowly drop off too.

What Are the Health Benefits of Stevia?

2010-03-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Low Calorie Sugar Free Hot Chocolate - Only 10 Calories in This Lite Hot Cocoa!

2010-03-01T05:04:00.000-08:00

If you are craving Chocolate - congrats, its good for you! But probably not the kind you are reaching for;

Because Milk Chocolate = Sugar, Oils, GARBAGE!

Dark Chocolate on the other hand, is packed with antioxidants, fiber, and Omega-3 fats. Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals. Free Radicals cause damage that can lead to heart disease. Dark chocolate also contains Flavonoids that help relax blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body. Along with lowering your blood pressure, 100g Dark Chocolate can also help lower cholesterol, and lift your mood - it boots levels of serotonin, which is an anti-depressant!

So if you have an insufferable chocolate craving, try my recipe for:

10 calorie Hot Chocolate:

Add 1-2 tablespoons of "Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa" and 1 to 2 packets of Stevia (all natural plant sweetener) to a cup of boiling hot water. You can add a little bit of milk for a creamier taste if you can afford to spare a few extra calories and give yourself a little calcium and vitamin D!

Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size 1 tbsp. (5 g)

Amount Per Serving %DV *
Total Calories 10
Calories from Fat 5
Total Fat 0.5 g 1%
Total Carbohydrate 3 g 1%
Dietary Fiber 2 g 8%
Protein less than 1 g 2%

Amount Per Serving %DV *
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0%
Iron 2%

*Healthy Tip: Don't add too much milk, because studies suggest that washing down chocolate with a large quantity of milk can interfere with your body's ability to absorb and use the antioxidants*

Low Fat Chicken Recipes

2010-03-01T05:02:00.001-08:00

Chicken is one of everybody's favorite dishes. Chewing on the leg gives an individual immense pleasure. However most of the chicken dishes are fattening and adds a lot of calories. Let us at some dishes that are less fattening:

1) Grilled chicken salad

-A grilled chicken fillet
-A slice of tangerine
-A piece of lettuce
-Cherry tomatoes chopped
-5 dots of Tomato Ketchup
-A half cup of low fat ranch dressing.
-Grill the chicken and simply put all the ingredients together.

2) Breaded chicken, Low fat recipes

The Ingredients:

-Two skinless chicken breasts
-One egg white
-Half cup milk
-Clove garlic
-Chopped onion and tomatoes
-Half cup flour
-And spices

Preparation:

1.Beat the whites and milk to combine. Add garlic, onion, salt and pepper.
2. Place chicken in this milk mixture and let stand 1 hour in the
refrigerator.
3. In food processor, process corn flakes along with herbs, paprika, salt
and pepper. Stir into flour.
4. Remove breasts from milk and coat with corn flakes mixture.
5. Place in a baking dish and bake 40 minutes in 350 d. oven.

3) Low Fat Chicken Breast Recipe

Ingredients:

-Four boneless-skinless chicken breasts
-2 cups of plums
-A half cup brown sugar
-2 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
-1 tsp. cornstarch
-1 tsp. ginger
-2 dollops of tomato ketchup
-1 tbsp. plum jelly
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. onion powder
-1 tsp. black pepper

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400. The chicken needs to marinate for a day. If you use fresh plums, they will need to have the pits removed before using. You can use fresh or frozen varieties of this fruit if you want to. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the plums, the plum jelly, cornstarch, and the tomato ketchup..Now gradually add the brown sugar while stirring. Next, add the tamarind juice and ginger. Continue mixing. Lastly, add the garlic and onion powder, and the black pepper. Once this plum glaze has been mixed well, it is ready to use.

Place each chicken breast, one by one, into the mixing bowl and cover each it with the plum glaze. Do this for each chicken breast. Then put the chicken breasts in a baking pan. You can add one more spoonful of plum glaze to each chicken breast before putting them in the oven if you wish. Bake this dish on 375 for 25-30 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven. Top each piece of chicken with parsley before serving

Dieting is Crucial For the Future

2010-03-01T05:01:00.001-08:00

Dieting?

If you're reading this then you're one of the many thousands of people out there trying to get thin. And I'm guessing you haven't had any luck so far, am I right?

You need to ask yourself why you put on weight in the first place. Everyone is different so the diet your neighbour is using may not be the best diet for you to use. Dieting nowadays is more common than ever. Stand in the middle of a busy street, close your eyes and point and you'll be likely to find someone who has either tried dieting before, is on a diet, or is thinking of starting one. Such is the power of the media. The world is so much more conscious of image than it used to be and we have TV to thank for that. Models are on the covers of nearly every magazine on the market so it's hard for us to ignore the concept of image. Kids want to be exactly like them because they are 'cool' looking. When was the last time you saw a billboard with a big fat guy advertising the latest Ralph Lauren cologne? The answer is never because more often than not, overweight people are the butt of jokes. Is it fair? Of course not.

If I had one wish it would be that everybody could like exactly the way they wanted, when they wanted to. Unfortunately that's not how it happens so the best I can do is to help you get to the weight you've always wanted to. Let me tell you about a friend of mine.

She, like you, enjoys her food and is inclined to put on weight quicker then some. Before she knew she'd put on almost two stone. That was depressing in itself but when it came to trying on new clothes it just made her feel even worse. What's worse than trying on a top that only six months ago would have fitted you with room to spare? What did she do? Well, with work restraints she couldn't really afford the time to go to the gym so she did the only thing she knew she had control over. Eating. Day by day she chopped down the amount she eat and also watched what she ate. Day by day the weight came off. Not fast. So slow at the beginning she was convinced that nothing was happening. But lately, she's been enjoying clothes shopping again.

It's a simple story but a true one. Putting on weight is easy, taking it off can be a long and boring process. Do yourself a favour and help make your food interesting. If your food is interesting then eating it won't be boring. You'll find the weight comes off without you really thinking about it.

Low Calorie Sugar Free Hot Chocolate - Only 10 Calories in This Lite Hot Cocoa!

2010-02-13T16:04:00.001-08:00

A Low Carb Food Pyramid - Is it Effective?

2010-02-11T19:48:00.001-08:00

The issue of low carb food pyramid more often than not has been a subject of much discussion. We, of course, know what we eat and other general portions. However, do we know what our food pyramids look like? For example, if we are low carbohydrate dieters, do we know what our low carb menu looks like? Is a low carb food pyramid effective? The answers depend on our physical condition and what our doctors recommend to us. We know that there are a lot of low carb food selections and the right answer can be quite various.

Since our physical condition is different from that of other persons, we cannot find one perfect way of diet that is best for all of us. The USDA Food Pyramid, for example, tries to tailor guidelines to unique individuals. The pyramid has a lot of lists of carbohydrate - which is can be too much. Thus, it is unfortunately not suitable for us if we are low carb dieters or having difficulty in processing sugar, or suffering diabetes/diabetic related problems.

We know that carbohydrate breaks down into sugar inside our body. Like the USDA's suggestion, a low carb food pyramid will not give precise advice for all of us, but to give an illustrated guide for us whose physical condition are better with less carbohydrate.

With guidance from the food pyramid, we are recommended to eat foods categorized on the base of the pyramid the most, and lesser for those that are on higher parts. If we plan to apply low carb food pyramid to trim down your weight, there's a recently developed plan called Okinawa Diet Plan by Dr. Bradley and Craig Wilcox as a good option to start off with.

The pyramid presents low-glycemic index good carbs with beneficial proteins and healthy fats. The pyramid is built by caloric density. Foods with low caloric density satisfy us more. Thus, we can lessen eating unhealthy foods. This will also help us to lose some weight and stay healthy at the same time. Most of fruits, such as apples and bananas, have a caloric density of 0.59 to 0.6. Brown rice has a caloric density of 1.2 while bacon has a calorie density of 5.56.

Low carb dieters are advised to eat lower starch vegetables, meat, pork, egg, chicken, fish, seafood, and unsaturated fats. Further lists can include nuts, cheese, plain yogurt, and poly-unsaturated fats in moderation. Other may comprise of berries, legumes, and low glycemic fruits less; and restrain from eating sweets, grains, starches, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice.

Fruit Salad - Delicious and Nutritious

2010-02-10T06:09:00.001-08:00

Fruit salad has made a comeback. This light refreshing fare can be served as a desert, appetizer or part of the regular meal. Fruit is one of the healthiest things you can feed your body. They are loaded with vitamins and fiber; they are great for feeding your skin, digestive system, hair and at keeping other body functions running like clockwork. Sometimes called fruit cocktail this tasty dish is the perfect fare.

Where to Get It?

Many restaurants will offer fruit salad on their menu as part of their breakfast or dinner menu. There are also canned varieties that can be found in any grocery store. Some people prefer to create their own salad at home. There are many recipes available.

Ingredients

All the main ingredients of fruit salad is fruit. This seems simplistic enough, but there are recipes that use sour cream, mayonnaise and yogurt as part of the recipe. There are some recipes that use ingredients that defeat the purpose of eating the healthy fruit.

Typically a recipe will call for a combination of different citrus fruits, apples, grapes and some type of dressing. The dressing may be derived from the juice of the fruits that are used. There are very exotic recipes that call for very exotic ingredients and dressings. There are very simple recipes that require very simple fruits with a very simple lightly sugared dressing. Some recipes require only berries to be used; usually they are topped with some type of cream.

There is one variation that is popular in the south eastern United States that calls for mini marshmallows, some type of whipped cream in addition to the fruit.

The Waldorf salad may be one of the most famous fruit salad recipes invented by a chef at the Waldorf Hotel during the nine teen twenties in NYC. This recipe adds a mayonnaise based sauce.

Some recipes also include the use of brandy or other liquor to infuse the fruit with flavor.

The dish can be served hot or cold and largely depends on cultural norms. In some areas of the world the fruit is prepared by frying or grilling it and in some areas of the world the fruit is simply sliced mixed up and served at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Anyway fruit salad is created or served it is usually very well received. The taste is awesome and the presentation is grand. The colorful fruit will dress up any plate.

Starting a Pasta Diet the Easy Way

2010-02-08T18:37:00.001-08:00

The composition of pasta is very simple - water and flour, in some cases, are added eggs and milk. All the rest depends on the performance of the equipment and technological requirements. So revising all this facts, pasta in principle, should always be qualitative. More surprising that bought in the trading network pasta sometimes cause unfavorable criticism.

Although people argue on the question "Does pasta make you fat?", I would affirm, that it doesn't in normal limits.

Consuming pasta we absorb primarily carbohydrates - into this product an average of about 70 percents. Virtually all of this came from the starch, the most common carbohydrate in nature and in our food. On the day we should eat 300-400 grams of carbohydrates.

One portion of spaghetti of 50-80 grams contains about 35-60 grams of starch. This is 12-20 per cent of the daily value. For the main meal in the diet it's normal. But keep in mind: the excess of starch is deposited as fat.

In 100 grams of pasta, more than 10 grams are proteins. Because the protein we need only about 80 grams per day, with a portion of pasta we get about 10 percent of its daily needs. By amino acid composition of vegetable protein yields to an animal, but unlike meat noodles have almost no fat. And from the standpoint of modern nutrition is more than enough.

Pasta diet does not imply any strenuous denials, so you can sit on it for a long time, and it is easily tolerated. But those who want to get rid of extra pounds quickly, pasta diet it forbidden. One of the biggest advantaged of this diet is that the risk of cardiovascular disease is reduced by half. The components of pasta strengthen the immune system and decrease the likelihood of infectious diseases.

Recently, in stores you can buy fresh pasta from dough. Actually, this pasta can be prepared at your own kitchen. It sometimes happens that the stomach is indifferent to regular pasta, but to "live" one withdrawn with an "explosion" of energy.

Any alleged beneficial additives, such as herbs, etc., in general, are useless. The nutritional value of pasta depends only on the original varieties of wheat and their method of production. The dazzling white pasta, but turned into mush after 5 minutes of cooking, says that you bought a cheap imitation of real product, nutritional pasta. It will not bring harm to your stomach, but neither benefits it with something.

If you've decided to try a pasta diet, don't forget about following tips:

* Proportion of water and pasta - 1 liter per 100 g of spaghetti;
* You have to put salt in the water before immerse the noodles;
* Hold spaghetti in boiling water for no longer than 5 minutes. Pasta only seem raw, in fact, in this case, carbohydrates are absorbed less, but more than stimulate the intestines, it means you don't feel starved and you don't get fat!

5 Ways to Suppress Appetite - Foods That Help to Lose Weight

2010-02-07T23:33:00.001-08:00

Often, losing weight relates closely to feeling hungry. People tend to eat less to shred off fats but, when hunger strikes, the craving can be doubled from normal. Thus, is no longer losing but gaining more!

You can always control the appetite by sending false alarm to your stomach by eating "appetite suppressant".

What is appetite suppressant? It is the alternative food or drink that helps to stop you from food craving, taking in unnecessary calories to your body as well as maintaining a healthy eating habit.

Type of appetite suppressant: -

1 - Big glass of water - When you start to feel hungry, gulp down a big class of WATER! Yes, water and not any other! Your desire and appetite to eat will be reduced as you already feel bloated with the water.

2 - Hands on apples - Snack on apples whenever you feel hungry. The fiber in the apples can fill you for awhile and stops you from taking more dense calories.

3 - Green leafy vegetables - Make it a habit to eat green leafy vegetables like lettuce or cabbage. The fiber will turns off your hungry signals. Imagine, eating with no calories, how wonderful.

4 - Eye for oatmeal - Remember, go for real oatmeal, not the instant one. Oatmeal is the best carbohydrate with high fiber content that could keep you full for a long time. A bowl of oatmeal for breakfast or snack is a good start to reduce hunger.

5 - Big bowl of soup - Always go for a bowl of soup if you do not feel like eating much. Soup has high water content with low calories which can easily fulfill your stomach. Of course, bear in mind, do not go for the creamy soups as it has more fats.

Appetite suppressant is good for those who really want to carry on with their diet program. You can continue to lose weight without feeling hungry as well as stopping the craving and snacking on finger food to curb the hunger.

11 Types of Fat Burning Foods - Foods That Helps to Burn Calories

2010-02-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

There are numerous food which can help to burn out fats from our body. These foods are categorized into food which can help to increase the metabolism rate in our body.

1 - Milk

Milk contains calcium, which increase the metabolism rate in the body. Rich source of complex carbohydrates can be found in milk, which can boost your metabolism by helping your insulin levels stay low after a meal, this is a good sign because higher insulin levels will store more fats in our body.

2 - Whole grain cereal

Whole grain cereal is rich of both complex carbohydrate and fiber, it is useful to keep our metabolism, improve digestions as well.

3 - Oats

Oatmeal is recommended eaten for breakfast, which is an important meal to consume for anyone who wants to burn calories. Eating this meal keeps insulin production down promote more calories burn through out the day.

4 - Spicy Meals (Chili)

One study found that eating just one spicy meal a day boosts metabolism by up to 25 percent, reports AOL Health. The duration of the calorie burning take place could continue for several hours.

5 - Green Tea

EGCG which is a chemical present in green tea that trigger the brain and nervous system to operate faster and helps our burn more calories. It has similarity with caffeine which will improve our heart beat rate and blood circulations.

6 - Chicken

Contained high metabolism-boosting protein. Recommended to consume one fifth of your carbohydrate intake. If taken more will only deteriorate the benefits.

7 - Coffee

As we already known, caffeine can be found in coffee which helps speed up your heart rate and thus helps you burn more calories. Consuming coffee does not means that mixing high level or sugars or creamers with it which eventually increase blood sugars and fat in the end.

8 - Salmon

Salmon contains Omega-3 fatty acids, improve high density (benefits) cholesterol and maintain good metabolism rate. This fish is excellent on the grill.

9 - Lean beef

Beef is rich in protein, which helps to boost your metabolism, which requires more calories for your body to digest than either fat or carbohydrates. Remember, consume only "lean" beef with encourage us to get the better results.

10 - Tuna

Help to reduce the level of the hormone leptin in the body. Lower leptin levels are associated with faster metabolisms and burn fat more efficiently than animals with higher leptin levels.

11 - Sardines

Sardines are rich in fish oil, having sardines as a healthy snacks will eventually helps us to bring down our weight on long term basis. For someone who do not like the fish, consuming fish oil supplements will also helps to burn the calories.

Delicious Vinaigrette Salad - Great Low Calorie Fat Free Food

2010-02-01T19:48:00.000-08:00

Wherever good taste and low calories are required; a delicious vinaigrette salad must be tried. This recipe is a great low-calorie fat-free food and will go splendidly on a variety of salads. Fresh lettuce, handpicked from your garden requires, almost mandates that a vinaigrette salad dressing be its companion. The dressings are easy to make and are some of the lowest caloric-valued items that can be consumed that also taste terrific. In order to learn how to make vinaigrette salad, all one has to do is read below.

'Vinaigrette' is not a single type of dressing or food item, in fact, any number of combination of lemon juice and oil plus a few spices can create a wonderful vinaigrette salad dressing. Any fruit or vegetable will do just fine as a standard for the vinaigrette base. The choice is up to the consumer and the sky is the limit when it comes to creating a great vinaigrette salad dressing.

The goal of any serious dieter is to have a great low- calorie fat-free item and this is exactly what vinaigrette salad is. The best way to demonstrate how to make a lemon zest vinaigrette salad is to read below.

Lemon Zest Vinaigrette Salad

* Shaved Lemon Zest
* 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
* 1 Tablespoon Mustard
* 1 Tablespoon Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
* Freshly Ground Black Pepper
* Dash of Salt

Once all the food items are accumulated it is time to grab the largest mixing bowl and whisk and get to 'churning'. Once all the food items are smelling great and looking even better, it is time to locate a relatively larger 'Mason' type jar and as long as a screw lid is accompanied with the jar, deposit all the vinaigrette yummy salad dressing into this receptacle. Give the vinaigrette a few upside-down turning shakes, in order to better dissipate the oil, and then open the jar slowly. Now it is time to add the spices that are the family favorite, such as bay leaves or oregano or maybe even some of the leftover lemon zest, just to add a bit more kick. Once everything is added to the dressing it is time to place it in the refrigerator and await the production of the star of the show, the salad.

As mentioned earlier, vinaigrette salad dressing is a wonderful way to have a great taste experience and also cut down on the caloric intake. Many dieters swear by the use of vinaigrette as the tasteful concoctions spice things up and liven up a rather dull dietary plan and one that needs some extra care from time to time. That is the problem with a lot of diets, the food tastes like wood or worse rice cakes, and eventually individuals lose interest. By making this lemon zest vinaigrette dressing, that will not be a problem as the whole family will simply adore this handmade and low calorie favorite food item.

Bonus Tip: If you really want to Lose Weight fast, there is a proven step-by-step technique that can help. You can shed pounds every week with this method!

How to Save Cash and Calories Using Enjoyable Brown Bag Lunch Ideas

2010-01-30T21:01:00.000-08:00

In these times, it makes sense to make money by saving money. One solid way to do that is to muster up your own brown bag lunch ideas. For those on a weight loss program, brown bagging it can also provide more control over calories, salt content, sugar, and white flour. Not to mention displacing the high cost of pre-packaged diet foods like protein shakes, meal bars, and microwaveable entrees.

Most fast food establishments do offer some diet choices, but these, too, are as expensive as any other meal there. If you spend the average $7.50 for a basic lunch (twice that in some cities) and you do it five days a week, 50 weeks of the year (here it comes...) that's $1,840.00. That's a lot of dough just to be chic with the office crowd. Here are some healthy and delicious brown bag lunch ideas that won't empty your wallet or pad your hips.

1) Plan and prepare the core elements of your lunch the night before. Traditionally, a sack lunch includes a sandwich, a piece of fruit, something crunchy, and something sweet. Not rocket science, but worthy of careful consideration of each component if you're calculating both cost and calories.

2) Add a healthy afternoon snack while you're at it. Why give your $1.25 to the snack machine and get poor calories back in the bargain?

3) Select a drink. Although mostly relegated to the kiddie crowd, juice boxes and fruity pouch drinks do fit the bill. They tolerate being unrefrigerated and travel well. To lower cost and calories the most, however, consider taking a tea kit to the office.

4) When lunchtime comes, don't eat at your desk if you don't need to. Make the time your own by changing the scenery along with your posture. Sit outside with a friend. Listen to music in your car. Share your sweet with a brown bag confederate.

5) Take all the money you saved with these brown bag lunch ideas and go buy a new wardrobe. You may need one after cutting a year's worth of lunch-fat from your waist!

What is Your IQ For Healthy Food Choices?

2010-01-28T05:22:00.001-08:00

With all the talk of healthy eating and losing weight nowadays, we really need to stop and give some thought to the fast food industry and processed ready-made foods. One really needs to be aware of the fat, calories and sodium that are lurking in these products.

As a parent, you are approached by your hungry child wanting food and NOW!! You also should be conscious of your own eating habits. If you are eating healthy you will also want your children to eat healthy. It is a "family" situation.

A package of cookies, or chips are a lot easier to put out when you are involved in an already busy schedule. But what are these items doing to the health of your children? Even if they do not have a weight problem, this is not healthy food fare. Good nutritious foods should be our first thought. Packaged foods that are readily accessible lack wholesome goodness. Here are a few suggestions for quick snacks:

* Apple wedges are tasty dipped in peanut or almond butter.
* Carrot sticks or cucumber slices are yummy dipped in a lite salad dressing.
* A whole wheat tortilla spread with a bit of peanut butter and small amount of natural fruit preserves and then rolled up will satisfy a hearty hunger.
* Keep frozen banana chunks, fruits and berries in the freezer. (Alton Brown on the Food Network recently shared a tip. Take the bananas out of the skin and put them in a plastic bag in your freezer. You will not end up with the dreadful black bananas) Put the fruit with juice, soy milk or skim milk in a blender and blend up a delicious fruit smoothie/shake.
* A good before dinner snack to keep on hand for children older than 3 years old is to wash grapes, cut them up put in the freezer. As these could be a choking hazard, do not feed these to young children.
* Make your own trail mix from raw sunflower seeds and raisins. The sweet and salty combination is a hit with children and adults alike. Before serving anything with nuts be sure to check these against possible food allergies.

The veggies with lite salad dressing, tortilla roll-ups and trail mix could all be put into a cooler and taken on your road trip or kept in the refrigerator at your office for when Mr. Hungry arrives.

Let us turn now to eating at Fast Food Establishments:

There are times when fast food is unavoidable. Time and budget limitations necessitate our visiting our friendly hamburger, and fried chicken establishments. Let us face it, fast food restaurants and their drive-thru service helps meet our schedules when we are trying to stay on schedule.

Although you may have to stop for fast food do your research ahead of time. You can go online and find out how many calories, grams of fat, etc. are in the various items on the menus of the various fast food chains. Then you will be prepared to make a healthier choice when you stop. You can easily consume your calorie allotment for the day, and more in a single meal. Learn to make healthy choices. They do exist even in fast food. And remember super-size tends to do just that.... Super-size you!!

Forgo the French fries. Most fast food chains offer side salads. Stay clear of the fattening dressings. Opt for a lite dressing or oil and vinegar.

Most fast food places now carry some sort of fruit. Ask for extra tomatoes, lettuce and pickles on your sandwich. If you have the option to order a baked potato, this would be a good choice. Be sure not to use the high-calorie topping s that are offered.

Even with something as simple as ordering a drink, you have healthy choices to make. Your waistline will be paying the price for your decision. Soda is not a good choice and diet soda depending on the artificial sweetener that is used is not that healthy either. Water is always a good choice. Other good selections would be unsweetened tea, 100% juice (not juice drinks) or low-fat milk. Here again watch the super-size.

Do not leave your portion savvy at home when you are traveling. The extra calories, which translate into pounds, will be facing you when you get back from your trip. If you "have" to order the value meal, share it with a friend. A child-size meal may be the answer to your portion control! If you order smaller portions, you will not be tempted to overeat.

Watch out for the extras. A tablespoon of mayo, adding another slice of cheese, or extra sauces can really add up. Mustard is a good choice as it is low in calories and carbohydrates.

Try to order grilled or baked meats. The breaded chicken patties will sabotage your waistline for sure. Batter fried fish could prove to be a disaster.

As promoted on the Biggest Loser, a Subway sandwich, especially the veggie one, can be an answer to your food concerns. If you are on a low-carbohydrate diet, discard the roll and eat the filling.

If you find yourself tearing out of the house without stopping for breakfast you can set yourself up to fail if you are planning on stopping at a fast food restaurant. This could very well be the beginning of calorie overload for the day. Instead of a breakfast sandwich, order a bowl of fresh fruit, fruit and yogurt parfait, oatmeal cereal with milk or just plain eggs.

As an example of various Fast food chains and your options:

Arby's Beef & Cheddar - 440 calories/21 grams of fat

Better choice - Jr Roast Beef = 270 calories/9 grams of fat

Savings: calories/12 grams of fat

Burger King Original Whopper - 700 calories/39 grams of fat

Better choice - Hamburger - 310 calories/12 grams of fat

Savings: 390 calories/27 grams of fat

Hardee's Double Thick Burger - 1240 calories/90 grams of fat

Better choice: Thick Burger - 850 calories/57 grams of fat

Savings: 390 calories/33 grams of fat

McDonald's Big Mac - 560 calories/30 grams of fat

Better choice: Hamburger - 260 calories/9 grams of fat

Savings: 300 calories/21 grams of fat

Sonic Super Sonic Cheeseburger - 839 calories/55 grams of fat

Better choice: Jr Burger - 353 calories/21 grams of fat

Savings: 486 calories/34 grams of fat

Wendy's Big Bacon Classic - 580 calories/29 grams of fat

Better choice: Jr Hamburger - 280 calories/9 grams of fat

Savings: 300 calories/20 grams of fat

I hope this information has been helpful. It is a real eye opener when you see these figures in black and white.

Children as well as adults can have an unhealthy lifestyle that will affect their health and how they live their lives.

Low Calories Food List

2010-01-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

Many people struggle with weight loss and are constantly searching for the quickest and easiest way to lose it all. To lose weight quickly and efficiently, you should stop looking for a quick miracle fix. One of the most important challenges to overcome is your diet and how you eat. By intaking less calories and choosing more nutritious foods, you are taking the biggest first step to true weight loss.

So what is a calorie and what kinds of foods should I eat?
A calorie is simply a measurement of energy. The more calories a food lists on its packaging, the more energy it provides, in a way. In a way, I mean you need to consider the actual amount of calories per serving, as packaging of food lists a serving amount differently. The most significant number to really look for is the fat calories number or the calories from fat measurement. Compare that number to the actual number of calories per serving and the higher that is, the more fattier that food is essentially.

What happens is that your body consumes and needs both calories and fat calories, but only to a certain degree. We all live differently, with some playing sports and running around all day in meetings, to those who just sit on the coach all day due to some kind of physical issue. Regardless, we burn these calories, or energy, differently. So the intake of more fat and calories results in the body storing all of that excess energy in your lipids, or the thing that becomes visible around your belly and you call fat.

Here is my quick and easy list to hopefully help get your creativity running in the right direction when it comes to picking the right foods to eat:

Low Calorie & Diet Food List

- Broccoli (or pretty much any fresh vegetable)
- Cherry Tomatoes (favorite of mine)
- Cottage Cheese
- Fish (white fish preferrably)
- Boiled Potatoes
- Boiled Noodles
- White Low Grain Rice (never fried)
- Tofu (steamed)
- Fat Free Yogurt
- Fat Free Popcorn
- Sugar Free Jello
- Pickles
- Organic Foods

As far as drinks, try to stick to water and maybe an very occasional tea or coffee. Just make sure you are conscious to the portions you put through that mouth. A great idea may be to start listing out what you eat on a daily basis like a personal journal. This way, you will have a good tracking system on the amount of calories and/or fat calories you are taking in daily. Dietitians from around the world approach the science of dieting differently. Since being fat is a matter of opinion and shaped by society norms, it is really a decision that starts within yourself. If you are truly unsure or at loss of what to do, then it may be in your best interest to consult a professional dietician to guide you thoroughly on a personal level.

Low Calorie Snacks For the Healthy Dieter

2010-01-17T20:09:00.001-08:00

Dieting is, at most times, not easy. There are sacrifices to be made and for this reason, not everyone who starts a diet finishes out successful in the end. If you are dieting or plan to do so, then you should start a kind of diet program that would be in sync with your lifestyle. Also, you should not only consider a change in your main meals but also what you eat in between. For this reason, it is quite important to also have a ready list of low calorie snacks that you can take in between your main meals.

When dieting, it is important that you give much importance to your health. You might be dieting primarily for health or aesthetic reasons. Either way, health should be a huge factor as you can never enjoy your new figure if you become weak or sickly just because of a diet that is not planned right. If you start a diet program, it would be advisable to put health as one of your primary motivations. After all, losing a few pounds can make you look better but in the end, it matters that you have become healthier because of the diet you started. This also means that the main meals as well as the low calorie snacks that you have planned for yourself should provide you the level of nutrition that you need.

You can find many ideas on low calorie snacks. You can maximize the internet or even health magazines to get recipes for low calorie snacks. If your recipes are too boring or to bland for you, then you can always make slight changes by changing some of the ingredients without breaking the whole point of making you full without the calories. You can search the internet for new recipes so your low calories snacks can provide you palate satisfaction even without the unwanted calories.

One classic example of low calorie snacks that should be present in every healthy dieter's pantry is fruit salad. You can also have sliced fruits inside the fridge so you can eat them anytime you feel hunger pangs. You can simply buy fresh fruits or even settle for fruit cocktails that are ready to consume. Without following a recipe, you can simply put together a healthy and satisfying snack that is low on calories by putting together four or more fruits. You can find it easier and more economical to choose fruits that are in season. Another example of a snack that is low on calories is unsalted nuts.

When following a strict diet, then it would be helpful to empty your fridge and your pantry of all the unhealthy and "sinful" foods. This includes junk food such as chips, oily burgers and such. When your house does not have a supply of such unhealthy and high calorie foods, then there would be less chance for you to eat them. It would also be wise to avoid fast food restaurants which can give you nothing but additional pounds and tubs of cholesterol.

Planning healthy snacks that are low in calories and fat are essential to every dieter. Never think that you do not have to eat between main meals because that can be one big loophole in your diet program. It would be healthier and more realistic to plan out a diet program that includes low calorie snacks in the menu.

Healthy Chinese Food

2010-01-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

Opinion is divided as to whether Chinese food is good for you. Some say that there is a lower incidence of heart disease and some cancers among the Chinese but others consider that a normal Chinese meal is incredibly unhealthy. This latter opinion is based on the levels of salt, fat and calories in such a meal. Needless to say, reality isn't quite that cut and dried and some valid information has been overlooked. As with any other cuisine the exact content of the meal is what counts. When considering the nutritional value of Chinese food, it's not just the actual food which is eaten but how much of it that needs to be taken into account too.

Chinese food calories are mainly due to the saturated fat content of certain dishes. For example, if you have a passion for fried dumplings, just one contains around 120 calories, thirty percent of which are contributed by saturated fat. It is unlikely that you'll just be eating fried dumplings so if you add another fried dish such as sweet and sour pork, this meal will probably contain more than 1,250 calories.

That's all very well if you don't need to lose weight, you take plenty of exercise and your normal daily intake is around 3,000 calories but if you're trying to reduce those calories in order to shed some fat, then this meal will take up between fifty and seventy five percent of your daily allowance.

Having said that, you don't have to give up Chinese food just because you're on a diet as there is lots of healthy Chinese food which contains fresh vegetables and low fat protein such as chicken or fish. Even stir frying doesn't use an enormous amount of fat but in any event many Chinese dishes are steamed and that really is a healthy option.

Chinese soups such as hot and sour or wonton are not too full of calories and needn't be oversalted, while steamed chicken breast (no skin) or fish with steamed rice is a very low calore meal. Soy sauce is a common Chinese ingredient and provides natural salt as well as Vitamin B6 and isoflavones which are thought to be responsible for lowering cholesterol and thus a healthy heart, hence the low incidences of heart disease. So, enjoy your healthy Chinese food but keep an eye on those calories and you'll have as nutritious a diet as with any other cuisine.

Healthy, Low Calorie Recipes - They Can Be Really Delicious and Not a Punishment!

2010-01-12T18:47:00.001-08:00

Each day, we tend to are presented with advice from specialists, news bytes, friends and magazines on what we tend to ought to be eating. What we have a tendency to eat should be healthy and low in calories. This constant advice tends to kill the appetite. When all, eating is meant to be fun. We wish to relish what we eat. Healthy, low calorie recipes simply do not sound like a heap of fun. In fact, if you are making an attempt to lose weight, this proscription can appear a lot of sort of a punishment! Let's examine if we tend to can't put some enjoyment back to your menus, with healthy low calorie recipes that keep you slim and nevertheless please your palate.

Salads are sensible! When a healthy, low calorie recipe is forced upon you, you are not likely to want or get enjoyment from it. Take management of your own tastes. Greens are what none of us - or terribly few people - get enough of in our diets. If you visit a restaurant for lunch, you will well select a chef's salad simply as a result of that is what appeals to you. You are not thinking, "Oh, here's a healthy low calorie recipe I'm allowed to enjoy." You are thinking, "Ooh, that sounds good!"

The meat portion of your meal doesn't need to be a huge, fatty steak to be pleasing. It's virtually a case of the 'forbidden fruit'. You want what you can't have. Stop to think a moment. Is it as a result of that individual food is on your 'forbidden' list, that makes you need it so abundant? When you take a flash to research your own motives, you'll clearly see that a fillet of trout will be additional pleasant and satisfying than the pot roast and gravy you've been looking at. Once you consume that trout, over some good conversation and a bit of time, it's every bit as satisfying because the pot roast.

The purpose is that healthy, low calorie recipes very are higher for you and should not be viewed as some tortuous punishment that deprives you of the happiness of eating.

Begin thinking outside the box. Is your idea of a nice meal a plate of fries, laden with melted cheese and a facet of deep-fried chicken? Attempt substituting some grilled chicken breasts, some wedges of roasted potatoes dressed with garlic and rosemary and a side of salad or steamed veggies. Simply as satisfying, but, still fulfilling, this is the healthy low calorie recipe your doc presses you to embrace. Not thus bad, eh?

The focus of healthy low calorie recipes is 2-fold: protein and fiber. You can't do any higher than that. The protein from fish and soy products suffice to keep you healthy, work and thin. An abundance of fruits and veggies give fiber and antioxidants to guard you from a variety of diseases.

Each one people, thin or not, will profit from focusing on healthy, low calorie foods as mainstays of our diets.

Healthy Dessert Recipes - Raved About Pecan Pie!

2010-01-11T17:40:00.001-08:00

Healthy desserts definitely do not need to be boring. Take this one. An amazingly delicious pecan pie recipe that has been in our family for decades. And super easy. Besides the Yum Factor, it happens to be a really healthy dessert too! (You may know that pecans are very high in all kinds of nutrition food values, so when included, they create very nutritious recipes. Plus - take a look at the flavorful sweetener we use).

You just can't go wrong with this pecan pie recipe, which is continually raved about whenever we make it. I can't even begin to tell you how many people over the years have said it's the best pecan pie they've had. So I just had to share this specialty which has been passed down from my grandma, so this recipe is definitely tried and true. And it's not just for the holidays (for some reason people associate pecan pie with Thanksgiving and Winter holidays, in the U.S. But make it any time! It's also perfect for the Fourth of July! Or parties and receptions. You can use either a regular pie crust, or the mini party-style pie shells.

It only takes about 15 minutes to put together.

You will need

1 to 1 1/2 cups pecan halves

1 deep pie shell, unbaked (or mini pie shells)

3 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 melted butter

2 teaspoons molasses

Beat the above ingredients thoroughly, until mixed well.

Then add in the pecan halves and stir well.

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Put the pie shell (in its pie pan) onto a cookie sheet as a protection, so the pie mixture will not dribble onto your oven rack and burn while baking. Then pour the above mixture into the pie shell. The mixture will be soupy and can spill. Carefully put into oven. Bake about 50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

The 10 Sure Ways to Keeping Trim

2010-01-09T18:22:00.001-08:00

In this fast-paced society, most of us do not have the luxury to spend time on preparing nutritious meals for ourselves. Worst still, some often eat fast food which contain a high level of fats and calories, without exercising them away. They end up as fats in the body, which is why you see many obese people around these days. With some effort and knowledge, you can actually prepare food that help you stay slim, or lose weight.

Here are 10 ways that are guaranteed to keep you trim:

1. Use cooked fruit or a thin smear of jam rather than syrup to sweeten pancakes and french toast.

2. Sauteed diced vegetables make a delicious low-calorie topping for pasta, baked potatoes, or rice.

3. Pureed vegetables make excellent low-fat sauces for fish, poultry, pasta, or vegetables.

4. Mix powdered salad dressings into plain yogurt instead of oil or sour cream. Or add buttermilk, cottage cheese, or tomato juice to the dressings. Use yogurt instead of sour cream for dips.

5. If you like your yogurt sweet, buy plain yogurt and add a teaspoon or two of preserves (those without artificial sweeteners or sugar). You will get lower calories than in the sweetened commercial yogurts.

6. Pie lovers can save approximately 150 calories per serving by eating single-crust fruit cobblers instead of two-crust pies.

7. Eat slowly and taste your food. Put down your knife and fort after every two or three bites. Make each meal last at least 20 to 30 minutes.

8. Postpone that second helping for about 20 minutes. You will realize you don't need it, and you will feel less hungry too.

9. Serve yourself on a small plate so that smaller portions will not look so skimpy.

10. Snack between meals on fresh fruit, raw vegetables, or juice. They are non-fattening and give you your daily required nutrients.

Banana Mango Smoothie With Flax Seeds

2010-01-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

One of the great things I like to have in the morning is a cold, healthy smoothie. This is a quick and simple recipe for anyone on the go or just a healthy alternative to a fast-food snack in the morning if you do not have time for breakfast. Below is the recipe for my banana-mango smoothie with a dash of flax seeds. This is not only delicious but healthy for you too because you will be getting fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, calcium, protein and put a stop to your sugar cravings! It's a great snack or a healthy breakfast and it will also save you money and calories, since you do not have to buy breakfast on the go or cave in to an unhealthy, "fill my empty-morning-belly" food item.

Recipe:

1 banana (medium-sized)

1 cup of diced mango

1/2 cup of orange-mango juice

6 oz plain, non-fat organic yogurt

1 tsp of organic, cold-milled, ground flax seeds

Directions:

* Pour the juice in the blender

* Add the banana, diced mango and yogurt in the blender

* Blend until you get a smooth texture

* Pour into a tall glass and stir in your flax seed

**You can use a medium-sized, ripe mango or buy already diced, frozen mango chunks from your grocery store.

**Do not use flavored or low calorie yogurts as they contain too much sugar or artificial sweeteners, neither of which, in my opinion, are good for your health!

**To change up the taste, you can swap the orange-mango juice with plain orange juice or even pineapple juice

Tips on How to Choose a Low-Fat, Low-Calorie Pizza

2010-01-06T19:21:00.001-08:00

Pizza is a main staple in the United States. People eat pizza for lunch, dinner, and sometimes, for breakfast too. It is a common sight in households across the nation. But how do you still eat your favorite dish while watching your waistline? What about all the diets myths forcing consumers to cross out pizza from their new meal plan list? Well, there is a way to eat pizza while on a diet and the answer is in the choices and topping options.

Pizza has a bad reputation of being high in fat and calories. However, if you make smarter decisions when ordering pizza, then you will be able to have your cake pizza and eat it too. One place to start is with the crust.

There is a universal theory regarding eating pizza while remaining on the right track to losing weight. The theory states the thinner the crust, the healthier the pizza. Well, this is not always true. A better choice would be to order a pizza crust made from whole-wheat flour instead of white. Furthermore, find out if butter or olive oil was used in the dough. For olive oil would be the smarter option. These may seem like insignificant modifications, but the dough is the foundation of a pizza. And if you don't change the dough choices, your waistline may increase rather than decrease.

The most prominent part of the pizza, after the dough, is the cheese. The quality of cheese makes a drastic difference when it comes to calorie and nutrients count. There are many different cheese options when it comes to selecting a pizza. And if you are not able to choose from a home-made mozzarella on a pizza versus store bought processed cheese, then the nutrients may be lacking. This is something you have to research. Ask the restaurant. Inquire if goat cheese is available instead of the norm. Moreover, the amount of cheese will make a significant difference too.

Another option to be aware of are the toppings. Choosing vegetables instead of meat will contribute to it being a healthier pizza option. Vegetable options range from roasted fennel, tomatoes, mushrooms, roasted pepper and more. You may be as generous as you like with vegetable toppings. Pile it on and you will maintain the right track with your weight loss plan. In addition, the flavors fresh vegetables add to a pizza enhance the taste. Consequently, the richer the taste the more satisfying the meal is allowing you to feel fuller longer. If you must do meat, then opt for grilled chicken as a topping. For the seafood lovers, why not try grilled shrimp? These decisions will help you in the end.

Pizza is a great, tasty, satisfying meal to have anytime of the day. And even if you are no longer a teenager, you are still able to eat it at anytime. Just make better choices and smarter decisions and you will not have to sacrifice pizza in exchange for your diet. Instead, pizza and diet will exist cohesively in your new healthier lifestyle.

The 6 Basic Tips That Every Diet and Nutrition Guide Should Have

2009-11-17T20:30:00.001-08:00

With so many fad diets and health programs circulating around us, how do we choose the one that is just right? Well, it starts from knowing more about your body, and from there you can easily plan out the types of food to eat and the exercise regimens to put into action. Here are 6 basic tips that you should always keep in mind in knowing which diet and nutrition guide you should choose to follow.

Dispel the misconception that calories are a myth. Although it may be a bit challenging at first, counting your calories can help you assess just how much food and what type of food you should eat. Read nutrition boxes religiously. Also, look up the calories from the different activities you do regularly each day. Put these two tips together and you will have a clearer idea of how to plan out your food consumption and physical activities.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are very important in any diet as they are rich in vitamins and mineral content. Always incorporate the fresh variety into your diet and nutrition guide so that your body becomes stronger and your immune system has a better chance to withstand viruses and germs. Having your daily dose can also help you lose weight as they are generally low in fat.

Many fad diets have declared carbohydrates to be the ultimate villain, but this is not always the case. Carbohydrates are important to the body because it acts as fuel for the body to run on. Although carbohydrates can contribute heavily to weight gain, the secret is knowing which type of carbohydrates is right for your own body.

Water may not have any nutritional value but it's a very important ingredient in making sure that your body is always in tip top shape. Water enables the body to flush out the toxins and other unwanted particles that may be present in the food we eat. As often as you can, choose to drink water with your meals instead of mixed drinks or juices. As it also contains no calories at all, you can feel satisfied without the extra calorie load.

Sweet foods are amazing treats that people of all ages enjoy, but it shouldn't be made part of a regular diet as it can dramatically increase the chances of obesity in a person. Don't cut it out from your diet completely because the body needs sugar for energy. Keep the sugar consumption at a minimum.

In choosing which meat cuts to consume, always opt for lean cuts that have a minimum amount of fat on them. It will be easier on your heart and your waistline as well. Choose more white meat over red if you want to follow a healthier diet plan.

A Diet and nutrition guide is a helpful tool for anyone who wants to get back into shape or have a healthier general well being. Not only will you feel healthier, but you will also be able to feel good about yourself as well.

High Protein Low Carb Diet - The Key to Losing Weight

2009-11-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

A high protein low carb diet plan offers many health benefits. For example, cholesterol levels in people who choose a high protein and low carbohydrate diet plan have been clinically shown to improve. Triglyceride levels of individuals usually drop markedly and HDL levels rise. Do you know the higher the HDL levels, the more likely you are able to keep your body's blood circulation system in good condition?

Persons with Type II diabetes should notice an immediate improvement in blood glucose levels within a few days of implementing a low carbohydrate but high protein diet program. Individuals with high blood pressure can also achieve tremendous benefits from a similar plan. Many people have been able to discontinue the use of prescription medications for the treatment of both Type II diabetes and hypertension after starting a high protein low carb diet plan. Of course, you should NEVER stop using any medications without first consulting with your doctor. It is always advisable to check with your physician before beginning any diet or exercise program.

Losing weight can be such a hard goal to reach when you're hungry all the time. Luckily, another benefit of using a high protein diet plan is that the types of food you can eat are foods that tend to leave you feeling fuller and for longer periods of time. When you eat food higher in protein, you feel less hungry. Nibbling and snacking on nuts and cheese for example, will leave you feeling more satisfied and for a longer period of time than if you chose to eat chips or a cookie since both of these have a high carbohydrate content.

For low carb diet plan, the reason it helps losing weight is due to the removal of the adverse effects carbohydrates can have on our bodies. Carbohydrates increase our bodies blood sugar. Increased blood sugar causes the pancreas to produce insulin. Insulin itself is a very necessary hormone that enables our bodies cells to use the needed blood sugar. However, insulin has some undesirable effects in the body as well. One such effect is that it causes fat to be deposited. Insulin also stimulates the brain to produce hunger signals. These signals cause us to crave more food. Usually they are the hunger for more high carbohydrate content food.

A low carb diet plan is a very effective way to halt this destructive cycle that is caused by a high carbohydrate diet. When such diet plan is enacted the level of insulin in the body is decreased. When the insulin level decreases the level of glucagons is increased. Glucagon is a hormone responsible for the burning of body fat and it is also what enables the cholesterol removal from the arteries.

For best results, besides following a low carb and high protein diet plan, get thirty minutes of exercise at least three times per week, and drink plenty of water. Doing so will keep your metabolism high and help you lose weight faster.

How to Eat Out When on a Diet

2009-10-30T02:14:00.000-07:00

According to the latest research, over 80 percent of people rank taste as the number factor in having an enjoyable meal out. Another fifty percent say that satisfying their hunger is a top priority but less than 30 percent say that eating healthy is important when eating out. The evidence is clear then - when going out to dinner, most people aren't thinking about their health.

If you are looking at losing weight then eating out will likely be one of your weaknesses. Surrounded by great looking food and tempting menus, you will probably eat too much of the wrong thing. While this is OK on the rare occasion, doing it regularly can really derail your diet plans.

However, it is possible to satisfy your taste buds and your hunger without sacrificing your diet. Below you will find some examples of how this can be achieved.

Chinese

Chinese can be filled with salt, fat and oil. However, food that is steamed is usually the much healthier choice. Stir-frys are also a good health choice. You should avoid food that is deep-fried, crispy or double sautéed.

Sandwiches

You've just run out from work to grab some food. Looking around the food court you spot the sandwich shop and think that this will be the best choice for your body. Right? Well, it depends. Even though they can look healthy, some sandwiches are filled with extra calories. Avoid the white bread, roll or wrap and choose whole-grain bread. Eat sandwiches which exclude high-fat spreads and cheese, and look for mustard, hummus and olive oil instead. Deli meat is also a high source of salt and fat.

Italian

Creamy and cheesy pasta can be a cholesterol bomb. Opt for a small bowl of salad with tomato sauce and have seafood as your main. Make sure the seafood isn't deep-fried or dipped in button. As a starter, opt for whole-grain bread and olive oil.

Easy Weight Loss Recipe - Start Your Day With This Superfood Smoothie

2009-10-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Eating low calorie foods for maximum nutrition is a must for any weight loss program. This delicious blueberry smoothie will add superfoods to your breakfast with sweet, tangy blueberries which contain anti-inflammatory ingredients, plus Vitamin K and Folate, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

This Superfood Smoothie is a meal in a glass and also makes a great snack for increased energy-something that is very important when you're trying to lose weight.

Smoothie Weight Loss Secrets

The more slowly you eat or drink the better when you're trying to lose weight. Savor each mouthful by eating your smoothie with a tablespoon over the course of ten or 15 minutes. Eating slowly is great for your digestive system and this is good practice for eating slowly throughout the rest of the day too.

Rinse out your glass and the blender with lots of warm water right away, and you won't have problems keeping your blender clean.

Ingredients

1 banana
½ c low fat vanilla soy milk or low fat milk
1 c vanilla fat-free yogurt
1 ½ tsp flax seed meal
1 ½ tsp honey
2/3 c fresh or frozen blueberries

You can also add a tablespoon of high quality protein powder for added protein to start your day.

Directions

Put banana, yogurt, flax seed meal, soy milk and honey into your blender and mix on low until smooth.

Add blueberries and continue blending.

Once the banana and blueberries are fully chopped, increase speed to medium.

Continue blending until you reach the consistency you want.

This blueberry smoothie recipe makes 2 servings of Superfood Smoothie

Rinse your blender and glass and the blender right away with warm water and it makes clean-up much easier.

Nutritional Information per Serving - does not include protein powder if you added this ingredient.

Quick Tips on Low Fat Cooking

2009-10-06T18:18:00.001-07:00

Fatty foods may as well be the roots of a number of diseases. Medical experts conclude that people who eat fatty foods are more likely to suffer from heart related diseases compared to those who don't. With this in mind, low fat cooking is gaining popularity for health conscious people.

Aside from that, low fat food can also help you keep your weight down and remain fit. Recommended daily fat intake should be kept at 30% at a max. With reduced fat on your body, you have the ability to fight off stress and you're your body away from illnesses.

Low fat cooking need not to be coming from boring recipes. You can still spice up your meal and create delicious food even when keeping your foods low fat.

To get you started with your low fat diet, here are some cooking tips:

Non-stick frying pans
Avoid using oil any way you can possibly can. You can use non-stick frying pans so you can avoid adding fat to your food. It would be best to fry food at a minimum.

Woks
Woks are great utensils for low fat cooking. You can make a lot of stir-fried meals using woks.

Stir-frying
When preparing stir-fried foods, cut on the amount of meat and add more vegetables. To bring out the flavor in your food, you can add beef, chicken or vegetable broth.

Cooking oil sprays
Cooking oil sprays are great alternative to using fat. You can use vegetable oil sprays or olive oil sprays. Using this method can also lessen the amount of oil that you use compared to the typical way of pouring fat to pans. A light mist from cooking oil sprays would be enough to keep your food from sticking to cooking pans.

Meat and chicken
Lean meats are best for low fat cooking. If you were to use meat and chicken, trim off the fat and skin. Make sure to prepare a low fat marinade if you intend to grill any kind of food. If you are to cook them with sauce cut down on pan juices and add thicken the sauce with corn flour. Skim milk is recommended for white sauces.

Desserts
Whipped cream can be replaced with a mix of yogurt and ricotta. Most recipes would require using two or more eggs. You can replace one whole egg with two egg whites to cut on fat.

Fish
Fish is one of the foods that are very low in fat that you can turn up to a hearty meal anytime. See to it that you prepare a fishmeal at least every week. Fish contains Omega3 fatty acids that are good for the heart.

Vegetables
Vegetables are low fat and are good for your body. Steaming and putting your vegetables in the microwave are two of the best ways that you can enjoy your vegetables. You can also toss your vegetables for a delicious salad but remember to use non-fat or low fat dressings.

With the tips above, you are free to eat delectable foods and you are assured of good health as well.

What Are Low Cholesterol Foods?

2009-09-27T22:46:00.001-07:00

According to the University of Utah Health Services Center, low cholestrol foods are available that can be incorporated into any recipe or diet plan. These foods contain good cholestrol amounts, but are low in saturated fats.

Thanks to extensive research, scientists have found a way to create a diet to lower cholestrol by reducing margarine consumption, not butter and eggs as originally thought. A meal or recipe that does not incorporate processed/refined foods, as well as trans/hydrogenated oils and fats are far more beneficial.

The important criteria when cooking recipes is to find ones that lower bad LDL cholestrol, but increase good HDL cholestrol. LDL that attaches to artery walls acts like plaque does on teeth. It can partially or completely block not only arteries, but veins and capillaries, limiting or halting blood flow to body cells, organs and most importantly the heart and brain. Such build up can result in heart attacks and strokes.

With labels on food packages giving more information than ever before about the nutrients, carbohydrates and cholestrol they contain, it is getting easier to eat the foods we like without the high risk of heart disease or stroke. The following is a list, based on the four food groups, of healthy, low cholestrol foods:

Meat, fish, poultry and meat alternatives:

(2 to 3 servings daily of a maximum of 6 oz. per serving)

Beef - sirloin, loin, chuck

Eggs - organic or free-range, cholesterol-free substitute

Fish and shellfish - white, pink, red, grey (fresh or water packed only)

Lamb - leg, rib, loin, arm

Legumes - peas, beans, lentils, etc.

Pork - leg, shoulder, tenderloin

Poultry - chicken, turkey, and game birds (white or light meat only, and no skin)

Veal - all types, fat cut off

Dairy products:

(2-3 servings per day - 6 oz. milk or yogurt, or 1 matchbox size of cheese)

Milk - low-fat, 1%, 2%, no-fat, skim, low-fat evaporated, low-fat powdered or low-fat buttermilk

Yogurt - low-fat

Cheeses (soft) - low-fat cottage or farmer; part-skim ricotta, mozzarella

Cream cheese - light or low-fat

Sour cream - light or low-fat

Ice cream - low-fat

Breads, cereals, rice, pasta:

(6-11 servings daily of whole wheat, vegetable, Omega 3, fiber2c, or low-cholestrol varieties)

Bread - pita, pumpernickel, rye, whole wheat

Rice cakes

English muffins - whole wheat

Crackers - low-fat, matzo, rye crisp breads, saltines, zwieback

Cereals - low-fat, low cholestrol, low sugar, low sodium

Pasta - any type

Rice - basmati, Thai, very long grain, wild

Fruits and vegetables:

(3 to 10 servings daily of green, orange, yellow, red and dark green vegetables and varied fruit and juices)

Any vegetable - low-sodium canned, fresh, frozen, dried

Any fruit - low-sodium, canned, fresh, frozen, dried

Other foods:

Oils - (6-8 oz maximum daily) unsaturated corn, extra virgin olive, peanut, canola oil, safflower, sesame, soybean

The following foods should be avoided or kept to a minimum as they contain a fair amount of saturated fats and too high a concentration of LDL cholestrol:

All candies, cakes, soft drinks and sweet snacks

Animal fats - all types, lard

beef - corned, regular ground, short ribs, brisket

caviar - all types

cereals - high sugar, high saturated fat, granola

cheese - Neufchatel, Swiss, Brie, Mozzarella, Cheddar, American, Feta, processed, full chocolate

cream, full cream ricotta, Muenster

cream - most regular, and non-dairy

duck

ice cream - full cream

goose

luncheon meats - regular

most snack crackers - cheese, butter

organ meats - liver, sweetbreads, kidney, brain

pasta dinners - cheese sauces, cream sauces, butter sauces; egg noodles

popcorn - buttered

pork - blade roll, spare ribs, bacon

potato chips

rice dinners - cheese sauces, cream sauces, butter sauces

sausages - most varieties, including wieners and frankfurters

sour cream - full fat

vegetable dishes - buttered, with cream, with gravy, or with fatty sauces

yogurt - full fat

What Foods are Great for a Natural Body Detox

2009-09-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

When you are thinking about a body detox plan, there is a good chance that you are suffering from all the signs of having too many toxins your system; you are lethargic, tired all the time, and probably fighting depression on top of it. When you are looking for ways towards a full body detox, you'll find that you are often told to eat better, but what does that mean? The fact is, there are many foods that you can eat that will have an excellent whole body detox effect on you, so make sure that you stock up the next time that you are at the grocery store!

1.Broccoli Spears:
You'll find that broccoli has some very powerful antioxidants at work in it, and they are also hard at work when it comes to be an enzyme stimulator. Many people balk from eating this vegetable, but try it again as an adult, even if you hated it as a little kid; this is surprisingly tasty when steamed and it is used in many a body detox recipe.

2.Lemons
Not only do lemons provide you with a good dose of Vitamin C, you'll find that it can be a great way to keep your body regulated as well. Mix up some fresh-squeezed lemonade and make sure that you drink it down; lemons contain some powerful antioxidants in form that is very easy to absorb into your system during a body detox plan.

3.Leafy greens
In a word, salads! Leafy green vegetables can be integrated into any body detox recipe and you'll find that the chlorophyll in them helps you sweep out toxins that include heavy metals and pesticides. Leafy greens are excellent for the liver. Make sure that you choose the heftier types of lettuces, though; iceberg lettuce doesn't have very much when it comes to nutrients, but romaine and spinach are excellent.

4.Garlic
Lets hope you like Asian food or Italian food, because one of the best detox foods for you out there is garlic. When you are sick, the sulfur in garlic can help kill of the germs, and you'll find that it is quite powerful when it comes to helping protect your heart and your liver. You'll find that eating garlic is one of the healthiest things that you can do on a body detox diet

5.Fish
When you are looking to do a home body detox, you should typically stay away from meats, but fish for the most part is significantly better for you than any sort of red meats. Not only will you get a good complement of the good kind of oils, you will also see that eating salmon and halibut can help your body cleanse itself of cravings for heavier meats.

6.Just about any kind of fruit
Fruits are great because they can help you beat a craving for refined sugars when you are easing into a body detox diet. Take some time and figure out what fruits you like. Many nutritionists are saying that red fruits are great for helping you detox, so pile on the cranberries and strawberries. You'll find that fruit can be a great way to kill hunger pangs and to have some really wonderfully tasty treats at any point in the day.

This is the beginning of great foods to eat when you are looking forward to a body detox plan, so don't stop here! Look for more ways that you can do some spring cleaning on your body!

Smoothie Yogurt Mix - The Healthier Drink

2009-08-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

Smoothies are drinks that are basically made from mixing fruits with liquids, with some flavor and nutrient enhancers added. There is no established rule as to what kind of fruits or additives to combine and you can invent you own recipe to suit your taste and nutritional needs. However, there are ingredients that are used by many, a preferred ingredient. One of these is yogurt, as many people like to enjoy a glass of smoothie yogurt mix.

Yogurt has been a health food for centuries. Our forefathers learned of its benefits long ago and even without the use of technology they have learned the technique of fermenting milk. Today, yogurt is made by introducing specific bacteria into milk. These bacteria act on the milk, consuming the natural sugars in it and excrete lactic acid. The acid causes the milk to curdle and gives it its sour taste. It is also the presence of the acid that inhibits growth of bad bacteria. Yogurt is nutritious because it contains protein, calcium, riboflavin and, vitamins B6 and B12. Although these nutrients are also found it milk, some consider yogurt to be healthier because people who are lactose-intolerant can consume it. The beneficial bacteria found in it aids in digestion and cures diarrhea.

Smoothie yogurt mixes combine the health benefits of yogurt and fruits. The addition of the dairy product significantly increases the absorption of vitamins and minerals since the smoothie will be easily digested. In addition, yogurt improves the bioavailability of other nutrients that are mixed with it, especially calcium and B-vitamins. Hence, if the fruits contain these nutrients, the body can obtain more benefits from them.

A sample recipe of a simple but nutritious smoothie yogurt mix has one cup of mango slices, one cup of yogurt, sweetener and ice cubes. These are mixed together in a blender until smooth and can be enjoyed after minimal preparation. This drink contains only 180 calories and provides thirty percent of a person's daily calcium needs. Aside from the nutrients provided by the yogurt, the mango also contributes its share of the good stuff. It has fiber and contains the vitamins A, C and E, which fight free radicals that cause cellular damage. The minerals potassium, iron and selenium are found in mangoes. With such an easy-to-make and non-fattening drink, a person can help his body fight disease, look and feel younger, have a healthier heart, have clearer skin, have better circulation and become more active. All these come from the substances found in both the fruit and yogurt.

A smoothie yogurt mix is the perfect combination that provides the needed health benefits that most people lack. Fortunately, this mixture tastes great too; and making this drink a daily habit will not be a problem at all.

Burn Stomach Fat

2009-07-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Does your stomach hang over the waistband of your pants? It’s okay if it does and it is okay to admit that you wish it wasn’t there. Nobody wants to have belly fat. We all want to lose stomach fat. Whether you are male or female you know that having "a gut" is something that you want to avoid having.

Diet and exercise are the fundamentals to burning stomach fat and losing weight. Diet pills may help, but you’ll still need to reduce the amount you eat and do some exercise. Personally I prefer the natural way of looking after my body, rather than popping pills that may or may not be good for me!

What’s interesting is when you learn the true secrets of how to burn fat, all you have to do is make a few easy adjustments to your lifestyle and you start seeing changes within the first week! And these changes are what keep you going till you meet your goals.

What are these changes do I hear you ask? Easy – the 3 main principles to burning stomach fat is to eat food in a way that maximizes your metabolism, lift weights to maximize your metabolism even further, and do cardiovascular training to burn body fat directly.

Having 5 to 6 small meals every day will increase your metabolism in a number of ways: your body will think food is readily available, so it will avoid going into starvation mode and happily spend away those calories through increased metabolic activity; your digestive system uses lots of calories when it’s at work, so if you keep it working all the time by eating frequently, you’ll be burning calories all throughout the day.

Lifting weights increases metabolism by building muscle. Muscle tissue is highly metabolically active, so if you increase your muscle mass, you’ll be burning calories while you sleep! I advise focusing on the larger muscle groups – your legs, back and chest. Working out your abdominal muscles does nothing to burn fat in that area. You have to aim to lose general body fat rather than just stomach fat (there’s no way to just lose stomach fat on its own I’m afraid).

Aerobic cardiovascular exercises such as jogging, swimming and cycling at a steady pace are known to use fat for fuel. Doing this in the morning before breakfast is thought to increase fat-burning efficiency by up to 300%! This is because the sugars in your body are depleted overnight while you sleep, so when you exercise in the morning the body almost immediately resorts to burning fat for fuel.

Applying these simple principles is all you need to really master how to burn stomach fat fast. But if you want to make things even easier for yourself, Click Here to have a look at the Fat Loss 4 Idiots website,Fat Loss 4 Idiots is purely about fixing your diet, so if you don’t want to sweat your Butt off in the gym doing intense exercise, this plan is for you! This diet WILL work for you.

It shows you how simply changing your diet alone will make you lose 9lb every 11 days. This proven ‘9lb in 11 days’ system can be repeated over and over until you reach your desired weight. Fat Loss 4 Idiots teaches you exactly what to eat to lose fat, fast.

Food That Burns Fat Fast - Food That Burns Fats With Health Benefits As Well

2009-07-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

We all know that we need to consume food that burns fat fast and that exercise is not the only thing that helps you lose weight. You should also be aware that with the food you eat, you might be harming your chances of losing weight. This means that the need for a balanced diet is very important.

Experts suggest that nutrition is a good source of food that burns fat that can help you to lose weight if taken correctly as they are foods rich in protein and fiber.

You should also stay away from foods that can quickly accumulate fat. Examples of some of these fat-accumulating foods are fast food, fried food, pizza, pasta, sweets, desserts and tidbits. Avoid foods high in sugar. The reason is that if they are not healthy and the sugars remain in the form of fats in the body.

For a full breakdown, here are some of the food that will help you lose excess weight in your stomach.

Eggs

One might think that the eggs have cholesterol, and you are right. You have been warned. The egg puts excess fat in the body. If you do not know the amount of cholesterol in eggs, then take away the egg yolk. The egg white is the one that helps in the break down of fats in the stomach.

Low Fat Dairy Products

Studies have shown that women who consume low-fat dairy products lost at least 70% of their fats. These products not only help the bones but are also a good source of food that burns fat fast.

Beans

There are several types of beans to help you to lose weight - white beans and broad beans just to name a few - and they are very rich in protein and fiber. But ensure that the seeds are not boiled or fried, as these grains are rich in unhealthy fat and contain lots of sugar.

A Cookie Recipe to Die For - Or Better Yet, Not Die For

2009-06-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

There are healthier cookies.

But they are probably not at your grocery store. Food companies put a lot of things in what they make that extend the "shelf life" of their offerings. And most of these things are not good for you.

It's ironic that what we want, something to eat requiring little effort, can be just as quick and easy and made at home with fresh wholesome ingredients that won't make you fat.

But the bigger issue is... Will what you are eating make you sick?

A lot of people are overweight and never feel well. They sit and stare at some video screen and eat all the time.

Like the preteen boy who already has high blood pressure...and so does his mother who is in her early 30's. Neither of them should have this problem. And they are also overweight, very overweight. She often eats a whole bag of cookies while she watches TV in the evening, after they have dinner. Her son eats his own bag of cookies.

It's sad to think that a treat like a bag of cookies would make you fat and sick.

Why is it so bad?

Four things make those cookies bad for you.

1. Portion size. How many you eat.
2. Hydrogenated vegetable oil. It's oil that has been heated to make it last longer. It's very bad for you. It will kill you slowly, but young. In the interim it will just make you fat and ugly. You have the right to be miffed.
3. High fructose corn syrup. The villain in the epidemic of Type II diabetes that is sweeping this country. This stuff is like a chemical bomb. It first confuses and then wrecks your pancreas. It makes you resist the insulin your pancreas produces and then you become a full-blown (bombed and wrecked) diabetic. Next thing you know you are losing parts.
4. Refined flour. Whole wheat actually has nutrients and fiber. Refined flour makes good paste.

Instead try a better cookie an eat fewer of them.

My favorite cookie is based on old-fashioned oatmeal cookies. I love this recipe. We work out a lot and it's like a really good energy bar without the preservatives. Even if you eat a lot of these cookies they are healthier and more nutritious than other cookies that have a lot of bad fats, refined flour and sugar and no fiber.
It takes only a mixer and a few minutes to make the cookie dough. I freeze the dough rolled in tubes of waxed paper and bake fresh as needed.

A Better Oatmeal Cookie

½ cup Flax seed oil (keep refrigerated)
¾ cup chopped fresh apple or applesauce
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup honey
2 eggs
1 cup chopped mixed dried fruit
1/2 cup flax seed
1 cup slivered almonds (pecans, walnuts or peanuts can work, too, but almonds have fewer calories)
2 Teaspoons vanilla
1 & ½ cups of whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon salt (optional)
1 cup raisons
3 cups regular long cooking oats (not quick cooking!)

1. Beat together oil, apples, honey and sugar.
2. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
3. Add combined flour, baking soda, salt and spices and seeds; mix well.
4. Add oats, nuts and fruit; mix well.

Freeze the dough wrapped in 2 X 8 inch rolls of waxed paper. Place rolls in plastic freezer bags. To bake heat oven to 350 degrees F. Slice thin slices of frozen dough and place on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet and then remove to serving plate. Don't eat more than 5 or six at a time. Freezing the cookie dough helps you control yourself. And who has time to stand around cooking several dozen cookies at a time anyway? Here's to your health and your pleasure.

Top Ten Fad Diets Reviews

2009-06-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

Many people want to lose a lot of weight and are willing to try anything from a stomach staple to a far out wacky diet. Some diets are controversial and can be injurious to health. Others are short-term starvation. Here is a list of the top ten fad diets.

#1 The Atkins diet is a one of Americas most popular and still endures after many years. The Atkins diet basis is that processed foods and a high carbohydrate diet are the core problems that make and keep people fat. The diet has four phases.

The first phase and most restrictive is the OWL phase. The Owl phase (Ongoing Weight Loss) restricts the carbohydrate intake to just 20 grams per day. Twelve to fifteen of those grams must come from salads. Meat, seafood, fish and poultry are plentiful in this stage. A little soft cheese is allowed daily, some low carbohydrate vegetables, no alcohol, limited caffeine, butter or oils and water, lots and lots of water, needs to be consumed.

Phase two allows more carbohydrates each week selected from a food ladder. The dieter gets an increase of five grams of carbohydrates per week from a different food group each week during this phase.

The next phase increases the carbohydrates until weight loss stops. Once the dieter reaches the final weight goal the maintenance phase kicks begins.

The Atkins diet shows immediate weight loss but is difficult to stick to because of rigid eating patterns. A study showed that the diet might cause kidney damage.

#2 The green tea diet uses a nutritional low calorie diet and adds green tea to every meal and snack.

#3 Number three on the top ten fad diet list is the negative calorie diet.
The diet gets its name from the theory that the foods on the diet use more calories to digest than they contain. While there is no scientific proof that you can eat your way thin, many of these foods are healthy, nutritional foods that are low in calories. The foods on the list increase the body's metabolism and aid in faster weight reduction.

#4 The grape diet is number four of the top ten fad diets and one probably the worst. Nothing but grapes and water becomes the fare for days on end. This diet, originally created to cleanse the system and fight cancer, became a weight loss diet somewhere along the way.

#5 The three hour diet takes into consideration the time of day that you eat. The diet breaks the food down to mini-meals eaten every three hours. It resembles a diet for hypoglycemia. The diet is nutritionally balanced and keeps blood sugar levels stable. That stability reduces the urge for a 5:00 o'clock feeding frenzy that frequently occurs in dieters. This one makes sense. The down side is the need to constantly eat, even if you're busy or not hungry.

#6 The lemonade diet was another cleanse diet that switched to a weight loss one. Nothing but a concoction of maple syrup, cayenne pepper and lemon juice is on the list of edibles for the ten day fast.

#7The ice cream diet is just a regular calorie controlled diet that makes room for a little ice cream at the end of the day. Of course, if calories are controlled, weight loss occurs. The diet is nothing more than allotting for ice cream. The calcium in the ice cream is good for the bones and aids metabolism, but outside of that, you could substitute a brownie and call it the brownie diet.

#8 The cabbage soup diet uses a soup created from cabbage and other vegetables and mixes it with rations of other low calorie foods and cranberry juice or tea for five days of monotony and gassy stomachs.

#9 The raw food diet is a vegan diet with all foods left uncooked. Blend them, chop them and arrange them but don't cook anything or heat it beyond 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Raw food contains more vitamins in many cases than its cooked counterparts do. Nuts are included in the raw food diet as the protein source. The diet consisting mostly of vegetables is a low calorie diet, but it is difficult to keep it well balanced. It is a lot healthier than most fad diets and the introduction of raw vegetables into the body brings in many nutrients. The fiber of the raw vegetables cleans out a lot of noxious waste.

#10 The final diet on the list of the top ten fad diets is Zone diet. Much like the Atkins diet it has phases and attempts to change lifestyle and eating habits. The Zone diet uses a balancing act for its carbohydrate ratio. Each meal consists of 40 % of the food as carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% of the meal in fats. The popularity of this diet created by Oprah's endorsement puts it on the list of the top ten fad diets.

Superfoods: Raw Foods Diet is Beneficial to Your Health

2009-06-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

The benefits advocated from eating such a diet seem endless: lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels, eliminating cravings, preventing overeating, purging the body of accumulated toxins, balancing hormones, maintaining blood glucose levels and reversing degenerative diseases.

Followers of a raw diet cite numerous health benefits, including increased energy levels, improved appearance of skin, improved digestion, weight loss and reduced risk of heart disease, just to name a few. Proponents believe that enzymes are the life force of a food and that every food contains its own perfect mix. These enzymes help us digest foods completely, without relying on our body to produce its own cocktail of digestive enzymes.

There can be some side effects when you are first starting a raw foods diet. Some detoxification effects may be experienced as your body attempts to shed some toxicity. This may include occasional headaches, nausea sensations and mild depression. If these symptoms persist, you should seek the help of somebody who is experienced with detoxification symptoms.

Following a raw food diet means that you have to carefully plan your meals to make sure you don't fall short of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals. In some instances it might be appropriate to consider taking dietary supplements, especially when just starting out. You'll need to invest in some appliances so that you are able to prepare the food, if you don’t already have them available. A durable juicer, a blender and a large food processor make raw food preparation a breeze. You may also want to look into purchasing large containers to soak sprouts, grains and beans, as well as for storage. A durable juice extractor for your fruits and vegetables

The smoothest way to begin a raw foods lifestyle is to slowly transition into it. Try starting off by eating approximately 70 to 80 percent raw foods in your diet. Have fruit and salads throughout the day and a cooked vegetable meal with a salad in the evening. This should help make the transition easier on your body and hopefully lessen side effects associated with detoxification. This is an emotional time as well, so you should allow yourself plenty of time to make the switch. Journaling during the process can help. Before you know it, you’ll be feeling the positive effects of a healthy, detoxifying raw foods diet.

Eating Younger with Anti-aging Food Supplements

2009-06-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

Several may remember learning about the five food groups when elementary school. We knew from all of our superiors that it was important to eat right in order to get the right amounts of nutrients everyday. Of course, the intentions of the pyramid of food changes as one grow older and begin to go through several changes in their body. If you are trying to figure out exactly how to use the five food groups now, you can consider how it will help with anti-aging.

If you aren't getting exactly what you need from the food groups, you might want to find different ways to balance out. This isn't just good for your health; it's also good for other things that your body needs. By having the right food supplements, anti-aging can be supported along with the other needs that your body can have met. Knowing exactly what food supplements to take can help you improve your health and slow down aging.

The food supplements that you find should contain a variety of ingredients that come from the break up of the food that are strongest in the supplements. One of the most important parts of this is to make sure that anti-oxidants are included in the formula. This is one of the major ingredients to help with cell regeneration and to balance out different areas of the body that contain supplements that they shouldn't. You might also want to make sure that the anti-aging food supplements contain alpha hydroxyl acids, which will also help to balance out the levels of pH and other nutrients in your system.

With any of the anti-aging food supplements that you find, you will also want to make sure that they are high in specific vitamins. Vitamins A, C, and E for example are a beginning to helping with anti-aging. There may be other secondary vitamins that are in your food supplements, but these will be the main that you want to find for anti-aging. You will want to find something that is strong in these vitamins as well as others in order to help you to begin to combat against the years.

From here, you can find the right supplements that will best fit what you are missing from your diet. For example, you may be able to find specific supplements for raspberries or darker greens. This will give you the nutrients you need for anti-aging without you having to eat the greens that you always used to throw underneath the dinner table. These are all known for containing anti-aging ingredients, and are effective both by chewing or taking in a supplement.

The benefits of anti-aging food supplements won't stop at helping you to stay younger longer. The supplements are designed to work on specific areas of your body effectively. Some parts of the supplement will be designed to boost your immune system and your metabolism. Other parts of the supplement are designed to help your cells begin to reproduce faster, which will help your skin to stay looking younger and will also help to boost different parts of your system that need more cells and less of the other types of ingredients that are in your system.

If you want to make sure that your skin and body has the right nutrients from food, why stop at eating the pyramid? You can also use anti-aging food supplements in order to ensure that your body is getting exactly what it needs. If you can't eat all five every day, then it will be important to find an alternate way to balance out your body. By doing this, you will have the ability to continue to feel young and look great.

Why Do You Need Raw Juice Therapy?

2009-05-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, my mom used to make me different kinds of juices like orange, tomato, and carrot juices. I always like them until now as they do increase the appetite.

But, I wasn’t sure about the benefits until one day, when I got older; I saw my aunt consumed so many juices everyday.

I noticed that this was part of her cancer treatment. She got better after an intensive course of consuming 13 glasses of juices each day. An example of her juice combinations is orange, carrot, and dark leafy greens.

Thanks to the juice therapy she is still with us until now.

Today, there are more and more people consuming fruit and vegetable juices as part of their lifestyle to increase healthy life. They think it is the simplest form of prevention and cure.

Most sicknesses are the direct result of the lack or deficiency of vitamins, minerals and salts needed by the body to function properly. It’s important for us to make sure we have enough of those substances. Raw juice therapy can be the answer.

Raw juice therapy is a way of healing and preventing sickness through an exclusive diet of fruits and vegetables juices. It is also the most effective way to bring back health and restore the body.

Based on the http://healthlibrary.com, here are some juices needed to cure some ailments:

1. Sore Throat – apricot, grapes, lemon, pineapple, prune, tomato, carrot and parsley.
2. Headache - grapes, lemon, carrot, lettuce and spinach.
3. Colds – lemon, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, carrot, onion, celery and spinach.
4. Influenza – apricot, orange, lemon, grapefruit, pineapple, carrot, onion and spinach.
5. Allergies – apricot, grapes, carrot, beet and spinach.
6. Eye Disorders: apricot, tomato, carrot, celery, parsley and spinach.
7. Constipation - apple, pear, grapes, lemon, carrot, beet, spinach and watercress.
8. Diabetes – citrus fruits, carrot, celery, lettuce and spinach.
9. Acne – grapes, pear, plum, tomato, cucumber, carrot, potato and spinach.
10. Asthma – apricot, lemon, pineapple, peach, carrot, radish and celery.

You may drink the juice every three hours or take five to six times a day until you feel better. The quantity of juice on each occasion may be 250 ml on the first day and increased by 50 ml each succeeding day ‘till you can take 600 ml on each occasion.

If you want to do raw juice therapy, here are things you must consider to give the best juice for your body:

• Drink the juice immediately after you make it.
• Use only fresh ripe fruits and vegetables.
• Extract fruits and vegetables only as much as you need for immediate consumption.
• Oxidation happens rapidly in fruit and vegetables after you make them into juice. If you store them too long they might lose the medicinal value. For example, apples turn brown so quickly.
• Add water if the juice is too sweet, especially for diabetics.

Enjoy your favorite juice…

Top Values of Raw Living Foods - Fruit and Vegetables

2009-05-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

Why are raw foods better than processed foods?

When vegetables and fruits and vegetables are picked they are considered "living" for the next 48 hours. There for your body is receiving a product that is extremely high in nutrients. So the sooner you buy them and eat them the more nutrients you body gets. The nutrients are immediately supplied to you cells, meaning more energy source for you.

Understanding the function of Enzymes. They perform a multitude of functions in the body, they have to be present for LIFE to exist. To understand this better enzymes can be compared to a worker who has been trained very well to perform a specific task. Without him all work stops.

Enzymes appear in big numbers in living raw foods, vegetables and fruits. They do not exist is processed foods, because they are sensitive to heat. Thus living raw food have healing abilities, as they get supplied directly to our cells.

The effect that enzymes have on your health. Continuous eating of processed foods with out enzyme rich foods will lead to some of these health conditions. Digestive problems, premature aging,mineral and vitamin deficiencies, blood sugar imbalance, allergies, frequent illnesses, problems with their weight, osteoporosis, heart and circulatory diseases, the list goes on. You can build your enzyme supply up by eating raw vegetables and fruits.

Alkaline and Acid, body chemistry. Healthy cells are slightly alkaline, they have more alkaline elements than acidic elements. when we become sick, it indicates that the cell bodies have become low in alkaline , therefor fewer electric impulses, from one cell to another. The electric pulses are responsible for life. The source of all elements in our body come from our DIET. Of course the air we breathe, oxygen, but the majority comes through the food we eat. All vegetables and orchard ripened fruits are alkaline, all other foods are acidic. talking about ripened fruit as fruit forced to ripen off the the tree can be very acidic.

But you dont have to take any-ones word for it, and believe me alot has been written on this subject, when you eat more fruit and vegetables you are healthier and more energetic. You don't even have to call it a diet or think of loosing weight you just need to understand what food is doing in your body to understand why you are over weight or not feeling well. Keep to the rule of eating 50 percent of your intake in any given day to be fruit and vegetables before you grab for that cookie. I'd love to hear what your results are. Have a great day.

Claire Calo, Holistic Therapist, Artist, Network marketer

http://www.weightloss-dietblog.com/blog

Can You Cook Food on a Raw Food Diet?

2009-05-02T06:10:00.000-07:00

Since moving to a raw food diet I have been asked by friends and family whether you can cook food on a raw food diet. What they mean of course is do you allow yourself any cooked food or is everything you eat completely raw. Going round for dinner could be a nightmare explaining what I can and cannot eat. It wouldn't take long to become "Mr Weird Foodie" with no friends.

While some people do eat completely raw food as raw foodists I will eat cooked food. In fact I still enjoy cooked food although I do limit this type of food for the reasons I explain below.

Behind this question is a serious point about cooking temperatures and enzymes which I will try to explain. Raw foods, when cooked, start to change and breakdown. When they break down the enzymes change their structure and make it much harder for you to digest the food. Your digestive organs will have to work harder to overcome the lack of enzymes in the cooked food. Eventually your organs will wear themselves out with all the work of trying to compensate for the change in the foods structure.

The cooking temperature that all this change happens to food is 118 degrees Fahrenheit. The only way to get around this change in the foods structure is to quickly blanch food or steam it. It requires a good thermometer and some skill to cook the food and keep it below this temperature.

Once enzymes are exposed to heat, they are no longer able to provide the function for which they were designed. Cooked foods contribute to chronic illness, because their enzyme content is damaged and thus requires us to make our own enzymes to process the food. The digestion of cooked food uses valuable metabolic enzymes in order to help digest your food. Digestion of cooked food demands much more energy than the digestion of raw food. In general, raw food is so much more easily digested that it passes through the digestive tract in 1/2 to 1/3 of the time it takes for cooked food.

Eating enzyme-dead foods places a burden on your pancreas and other organs and overworks them, which eventually exhausts these organs. Many people gradually impair their pancreas and progressively lose the ability to digest their food after a lifetime of ingesting processed foods.

If you have lived on processed food for most of your life then you should be looking to change your eating towards more raw food. If you were to return to cooked and processed food then you may find that it has a greater detrimental affect on your digestive system.

For people who eat a large amount of their food there will not be too much harm done by just cooking and tucking in to your food. You can hardly expect your host at dinner to bed running round checking the food temperature. So you can eat cooked food on a raw food diet but just do not overdo it.

Raw Food Diet - A Novel Way to Help Weight Loss

2009-04-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

Raw food diets are becoming more widespread, not only amongst people who are one of the types of vegetarians, but also amongst people who eat conventional food.

These people believe that if food is heated to over 115 degrees F the enzymes in the food are destroyed. It's said that these enzymes assist in the digestion and absorption of food in the body.

For a person to be considered a raw food person then 75% of the diet must consist of raw and uncooked food. This means raw vegetables, fruits, seeds, grains, nuts and dried fruits.

This type of food is low in all sorts of fats and oils compared to regular cooked food; it has fewer calories and sodium products, but has a higher fiber content together with more trace elements and vitamins. These last two are lost when food is heated.

The benefits of eating a raw food diet are an improvement in digestion; an increase in physical energy; reduced risks of heart problems, diabetes and some types of cancer. As it also leads to weight loss, many overweight people are changing over to a diet consisting mainly of uncooked food.

Raw food exponents usually eat organic food including dried fruits such as dates, figs, sultanas, raisins; a selection of unprocessed, raw nuts; dried pulses and legumes. The liquid component of their diet comes from mineral water, coconut milk and self-prepared fruit and vegetable juices.

Some raw food people would eat raw animal products such as meat and fish. These can be made more palatable by marinating in a suitable liquid. Not only would this improve the flavor, it would also tenderize the meat. This is particularly so with fish.

Although eating uncooked food is considered to be healthy, for people changing over from a conventional diet there may be some initial, but short lived, difficulties. Nausea, headaches and other slight discomforts may be experienced if a person's previous diet included plenty of sugar and caffeine. The discomfort should last for a few days only.

A raw food diet is not suitable for pregnant or nursing women, or young children. People with certain medical conditions should not eat a raw food diet. Medical advice should be sought at all times.

Because of the absence of some trace minerals, vitamins and other essential components of a healthy diet, it will be necessary to enhance the diet with suitable supplements. Again advice from a nutritionist or doctor should be taken.

Although the raw food supporters claim that cooking destroys the enzymes in food thus making it more difficult for the digestive system to deal with food, many nutritionists and health experts dismiss this as nonsense. They point to the fact that the human body and its digestive system is more than capable of dealing with all the food eaten, and that the enzymes from the raw food are not needed.

In spite of this opinion, however, the number of people world wide changing over to a diet based on raw and uncooked food is increasing.

ABS Diet Food - Top 5 Essential Food For Building 6 Pack Abs

2009-04-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

To get 6 pack abs, your diet is one of the most effective weapons you can have if you want to achieve maximum potential. Abs diet is important as it not only supplies the body with the energy needed to perform your abs workouts, it gives you the nutrients you need to maintain 24 hour fitness. Here are top 5 components of food for building 6 pack abs.

1. Proteins

Any flat belly diet must include protein, as it is critical for building abdominal muscles and losing belly fat. A good protein diet contributes to the overall health of our tissues and organs. You should be consuming 1 gram of protein for each pound of your body weight. Good sources of protein include meat, fish, and milk.

2. Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates should also be a big part of your abs diet plan. Carbs are a major source of fuel our body uses for activity. You should include complex carbohydrates in your diet through starches and fiber. That means eating pasta, whole grain rice, and whole grain breads as well as potatoes. Carbs will provide the energy you need to for abs workout.

3. Fats

Believe it or not, fats are also an important part of our diet. Our bodies need fats to function correctly and efficiently. They are an energy source for the body and regulate most of our bodily processes. However, there are to types of fats, the saturated and unsaturated fats.

The key for including fat in your diet is to consume food that is low in saturated fat. Good fats are unsaturated ones found in olive oil or flaxseed oil. Unsaturated fats are ones that are liquid at room temperature. Examples of saturated fats are animal lard and butter. Food high in saturated fat can clog your arteries and lead to health problems, so they should be avoided.

4. Fibers

You should also have adequate fiber in your diet. A high fiber diet help your body flush out impurities on a regular basis and helps contribute to fat loss. High fiber foods include whole grain as well as nuts and seeds.

5. Fruits and Vegetables

Finally, a good flat belly diet should include a lot of vegetables in your diet as well as a moderate amount fruit. Vegetables and fruits contain essential vitamins and nutrients that you body needs to operate efficiently. However, too much fruits can cause you to retain water and contribute to a larger amount of sugar that you would otherwise need. Vegetable salad is becoming a common food especially in abs diet for women.

All the abs diet power foods should 5 essential components. They are needed to build muscle and burn fat. The best way to get flat abs is to consume the majority of your protein and carbohydrates in the morning and eat five or six small meals daily instead of three large ones. A good abs diet is not only helps to build your six pack abs, it gives you lifetime fitness. So work out a diet plan and abs workout plan, then go for it.

Beauty And Raw Food

2009-04-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

One of the best ways to improve the appearance of your skin is by incorporating raw food into your diet. Beautiful skin starts from the inside out. People who switch to eating mostly raw food often see an improvement in their skin and look younger.

Heating food above 105 degrees Fahrenheit destroys the enzymes as well as up to 50% of the protein and 70-90% of the vitamins and minerals. Eating cooked food overtaxes the body’s enzyme reserves. Eating more raw food decreases the amount of digestive enzymes your body has to produce. Raw foods are foods in their natural state with the enzymes left intact. Enzymes are needed to perform many functions in the body including digestion, assimilation and elimination of food. A drained enzyme supply can result in vitamin and mineral deficiencies, premature aging and low energy. Raw foods high in enzymes include sprouts, papaya and pineapple.

Free radicals damage your skin and interfere with collagen production causing premature aging. Antioxidants counteract free radicals that age the skin. Berries, especially blueberries, are potent antioxidants that promote collagen which reduces wrinkles. Citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons and grapefruit help rid the body of free radicals keeping the skin looking young. Foods high in the antioxidant beta carotene including carrots and apricots protect the skin against sun damage.

CoenzymeQ10 is an effective antioxidant involved in the energy process and present in every cell in the body. CoQ10 levels in the body diminish with age. CoQ10 destroys free radicals and slows aging. Spinach, broccoli and peanuts are foods high in CoQ10.

Alpha-lipoic acid is a powerful antioxidant that boosts the strength of other antioxidants such as Vitamin C and E, and assists the body’s energy production. Alpha-lipoic acid can be found in spinach, brewer’s yeast, broccoli, tomatoes and peas.

Sulfur is a mineral present in every cell in your body. It is needed in collagen production and for healthy skin, hair and nails. Organic sulfur levels in food are lost when processed, heated or dried. Sulfur is known to help improve skin conditions such as acne. High sulfur content foods include asparagus, broccoli, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, red pepper, garlic, onion, watercress and kale.

Silicon is an essential trace mineral needed for healthy skin, hair, nails and bones. Silicon levels decrease with age. Fruits and vegetables are the richest source of silicon including apples, oranges, cherries, grapes, strawberries, beets, cucumber, carrots and green leafy vegetables.

Phytochemicals are plant chemicals that help the body defend against damage and are said to have anti-aging properties. Phytochemicals can be found in berries, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, spinach, carrots, cocoa and bell pepper.

Raw nuts and seeds are high in Vitamin E which is beneficial to the skin. Selenium keeps the skin elastic and can be found in garlic, onions and shallots.

When the body rids itself of toxins, it passes through the skin which is the largest elimination organ. Raw food increases your detoxification rate. Drinking water helps the body rid itself of toxins. Seaweed is high in vitamins and minerals beneficial to the skin and also helps rid the body of toxins.

To achieve a healthy complexion, drink plenty of water and eat plenty of raw food. What goes into your body is reflective in your overall appearance.

The Benefits and Challenges of a Raw Food Lifestyle

2009-03-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

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.

Five Reasons To Eat Raw Foods

2009-03-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

The raw food diet is a diet based on unprocessed and uncooked plant foods, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, sprouts, seeds, nuts, grains, beans, dried fruit, and seaweed. The eating of meat or fish raw is not something that the majority of raw foodies advocate.

It is a scientific fact that heating food above 116 degrees Fahrenheit is believed to destroy enzymes in food that can assist in the digestion and absorption of food. Once the enzymes are dead then your organs have to work harder and they become overworked and for many they no longer function as they should. Cooking is also thought to diminish the nutritional value and life of food, often rendering the food toxic to your body. I don't advocate a complete raw food diet, but I do recommend incorporating 50% or more raw foods into your lifestyle.

There is no denying that there are many reasons why one should incorporate more raw foods in their diet. Here are 5 possible benefits when eating a raw food diet, or at least incorporating more raw foods in your diet.

1. Lowers Free Radicals and formation of Disease

The reversal or elimination of many chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer can be accomplished through a raw food diet. When food is cooked it creates free radicals; a major cause of cancer. When you lower the number of free radicals in your cells, you lower your risk of cancer. A diet that is mostly raw eliminates the need for over cooking foods which in turns lowers the creation of free radicals in the body.

2. Saves Money

When you eat raw foods you save money. This is because when you eat raw your body is getting more of the necessary nutrients than it needs so there is no need for all the supplements and vitamins that those who eat more cooked food tend to consume. Also with raw food you eliminate many of the pots, pans, and appliances needed for cooking because you prepare it as opposed to cooking it. Another way you save money is because a diet that is high in raw foods eliminates many of the illnesses that are caused by over cooked foods so you are not bothered with many medical expenses.

3. Saves Time

Raw foods take very little preparation so you spend less time in the kitchen. Most raw food meals that even your children can help in the preparation and some can do the preparation alone.

4. Normalizes Body Weight

Consuming raw foods will help you achieve your ideal body weight. With raw foods you won't feel fat and if you are too thin, you will actually start to look healthier. And a huge plus is that you won't have to worry about counting calories.

5. More Energy

An excellent benefit of raw food is that most people feel more energy. With raw foods your metabolic rate is higher and you feel like actually doing something. Cooked foods load your body down making it feel tired and you are not as active as you would like to be.

Overall raw food consumption is a great way to create a body that is healthy and looks great inside and out. If you are thinking of adopting a raw food idea make it an aim to have a diet that is 50% to 75% raw.

Raw Food Health-Achieve Good Health Through Raw Food Starting Today

2009-03-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Is raw food really good for your health? Many people want to know the answer to this question, as the raw food diet getting a lot of attention of the last several years.

Quite simply, the diet most people eat today does not lend itself to get long-term health. Many people eat a diet rich in meat and dairy products, and therefore don't achieve good health later in life.

The reason that raw food diet is so good for your health is that they contain enzymes, what your body needs to digest its' food well. Quite simply, the only foods where enzymes are found is raw food because anytime you cook foods, the enzymes are cooked right out of it.

Only way to get enzymes is to eat your food raw and unooked; anytime you can cook food over a certain temperature, the enzymes are cooked out of it. This is why eating at a diet rich in raw food is so good for you.

Most raw food health advocates suggest you eat a diet with about 75% of your food being raw. Another great tip when eating raw food is to eat only raw food in the morning and at night. Quite simply, these times are the times that your body likes best to digest its food and cleanse its' system.

When you put cooked food in your body, it has to spend that time trying to digest this food, and that's why often times wake up more tired when you get up then when you went to bed; your body just spent the whole night digesting the cooked food, and had to work extremely hard to achieve this.

When you eat foods without enzymes the body has to manufacture its' own digestive enzymes to aid in the digestion process because it's not receiving it through it's foods; when you get get it through your foods naturally, the body doesn't have to work nearly as hard.

When you spend a lifetime eating cooked food, the pancreas wells up to at least twice its normal size. Hopefully these raw food health tips will help you get on the road to good health starting today. You are about to embark on an incredible adventure; good luck with your new raw food ways.

Sticking to a Diet Food Plan

2009-03-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

We all know that substantial weight loss comes down to consistency. You need to stick to the actions that will lead to your weight loss goals. You need to keep your exercise routine and your diet food plan going until you achieve the weight loss that you are looking for. Even when you hit your target weight, you still need to stay weight conscious in order to keep the weight off.

All too often I see diets fail because of improper planning. Whether it is an impossible diet food plan, unsustainable exercise routine, or simple lack of motivation, poor planning will lead to a failed weight loss attempt. Even if the weight loss trial starts working, the diet may fail and result in gaining all the weight back that you worked to hard to lose in the first place.

Here are a few steps that you can take to ensure the success of your diet and weight loss attempt:

1. Create a solid diet food plan. If you simply tell yourself that you will just be counting calories, odds are that you will fail. Counting calories is more of a theoretical weight loss strategy, but is not a practical plan that you can easily follow each day without thinking. You need a more practical diet food plan, for example, create a huge list of different meals that you can prepare for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks throughout the day. If you want to take this a step further, assign estimated calorie values to each meal. When you are trying to figure out what to eat, go to your list and pick something. This will make it a lot easier than trying to guess what to make each meal.

2. Create a list of exercises you enjoy. There are literally a million ways to get exercise. All you have to do to exercise is literally move. Thats it. Just get muscles moving for an extended period of time and you can call it a workout. If you hate running or going to the gym, forcing yourself to go will only be a temporary solution. Create a large list of specific activities that you enjoy. Here are some examples: biking, hiking, walking the dog around the block, tennis, swimming, dancing, jumping jacks, etc.

3. Make it easy to stick to your diet food plan. Get rid of all the junk food from your house. When you go grocery shopping, make sure that you are full so you don't grab a bunch of junk food. If you really can't help grabbing junk food at the grocery store, grab a bag of chips or a candy bar right when you walk in and eat it while shopping. You will satisfy your craving for junk food right there and won't be tempted to buy more for later. Just be sure to pay for the stuff you ate!

4. Make it easy to stick to your exercise routines. Join a gym that you really like. Involve friends and family in fun exercise activities so they force you to go with them. I have a stationary bike in my living room right in front of the TV. If I am watching something really exciting, I usually forget that I am even exercising! The time flies right by.

What do all these ideas have in common? They help make it easy for you to stick to your weight loss and diet plans. I believe that consistency is the key to successful weight loss, and making it easy for yourself to stick to it is the key to consistency.

Why Popular Diets May Not Work For Everyone

2009-03-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, diet was an uncomplicated word with a simple definition meaning the typical types of food and drink that a person consumes regularly. Sometimes we still use the word in that context. In this age and time, the typical concept of diet have changed dramatically to imply food restrictions, deprivations and food limitations.

What it means today to go on diet is to go on a temporary quest to lose weight. It does not mean a long term plan to for fitness through healthy food choices and regular exercise. This should not be the type of thinking that you would like to have. It should be discouraged instead.

With almost every society battling obesity and overweight problems, many companies are doing brisk business selling weight loss plans and diet fads. There are low fat, low carbohydrates to liquid food combinations of every kind. There is a diet out there that covers almost every aspect and angle.

While many dieting programs seem effective over the short term, many diet plans lack one essential factor for long term success that is balance. In that case, probably the most effective way to ensure that you have the tools to healthy eating strategies that last a lifetime. To do so, you may need counseling from a professional dietician and lots of will power.

Dieting seems to a favorite occupation in almost every developed nation. Most diet plans start by demonizing and reducing one major diet component. However the human body needs abundant and varying sources of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats to flourish. Attempting to eliminate any one nutrient or category of nutrients from your food selection is catastrophic.

Maintaining balance and focusing on phasing out refined and highly processed junk food in favor of whole fruits, vegetables and grains is essential. It will be and continue to be a winning strategy that will pay off over the long term than many of the popular dieting plans combined together.

However, stories of rapid weight loss and dramatic testimonies may leave you wondering and tempted to buy the latest products. But behind every testimony, the fine print will state this - results are not typical and depend on individuals. Yet beyond many of these hypes, there may be a few things to learn from the different school of thoughts behind many of today's most popular dieting plans.

Quick weight loss or fast weight loss is not the answer to obesity. If you lose weight quickly, you will gain it back fast and sometimes even more! The natural weight loss secret is right in front of you. Stick to the basics!

Natural Health And Naturally Healthy Foods

2009-02-04T00:34:00.000-08:00

If you are ready to make that jump from junk food and quick meals to natural health food, then must accept that it will take a considerable amount of effort and patience on your part.

All the junk food that you have been feeding your body will have eroded your body; and once you start living a healthier lifestyle, your body is in for a battle of change.

Natural health foods are usually organic or contain little or no preservatives. Many natural health foods are also low in cholesterol and saturated fat. This means that sticking to a natural health diet by consuming healthy foods will help you eliminate energy reserves and lose weight in the process.

By consuming healthy foods that contain low levels of fat, you lower your level of hunger in the long run, as your body will be getting all of the nutrients it needs from less food. Natural health lifestyle is a way of getting the best out of nature.

You will find that you are much happier and easy going. You will also notice a great change in your mood, since your body is healthy, making you happy. These basic improvements in your health will reinforce your diet, pushing you to eat healthier, lose more weight, and even tighten up your diet further.

Healthy foods will also ensure that you are bustling with energy; and once you have loads of energy you will have to find a way to use it.

That will mean that you will find yourself going to the gym or taking up some new hobby, since your energy has to be used up some how. You will be amazed to see how easy it is to actually maintain a natural health lifestyle. All your friends will notice as you become more energetic and productive.

Natural health also encourages positive thinking and is a gradual process. There is no fast and quick solution; only the reality of time.

And if you are aware of that, then you know that you are on the right track to making those crucial life changes that will only benefit you in the future.

The Importance of a Balanced and Nutritional Diet

2009-01-31T05:02:00.000-08:00

Whether you are looking to lose weight or just to improve your nutrition, there is one factor that is vital to being successful. For any nutrition plan to succeed, you must achieve a balanced diet. A balanced diet is an eating plan that successfully balances each of the food groups. By finding the best balance of food groups, you can achieve better results than you ever have before.

One of the biggest misconceptions among people trying to lose weight is that eating less or not at all will make losing weight quicker and easier. In reality, this is far from the truth. By completely stopping eating, your body will actually lash out against you. If you deprive your body of food, it will try to hold on to any nutrients that it possibly can. This means that the fat you have, however little, is going to be retained by your body. This process occurs because of the body's natural instincts. Your body does not know that you are choosing to deprive yourself of food, therefore, it reacts as if you were starving. The "starvation diet" is one of the most counterproductive methods of weight loss that you can try.

Instead of attempting to deprive your body of any and all food, you should instead make a conscious effort to improve your diet. In order to improve your diet, you need to make sure you are getting a solid balance each day of all the necessary nutrients each and everyday. Although it may seem difficult to determine between good and bad food, there are a few easy tips you can follow to ensure a more balanced diet.

First of all, there are certain foods that should be avoided as much as possible. These include foods high in fat, which includes almost all fast food. Additionally, snack items like greasy potato chips should also be avoided. If you need a snack, opt for something like yogurt or an apple. When it comes to meals, just use common sense. Carbohydrates from foods like rice are good, while carbs from less nutritious sources should be avoided. It is also important to include as many fruits and vegetables in your diet as possible. Fruits and vegetables provide essential nutrition, along with virtually no excess calories.

Many people constantly struggle with trying to find the right diet. Although it may seem silly, following something as simple as the Food Pyramid can help put you on the right track. When it comes to making proper food choices, common sense usually prevails. If something seems unhealthy, then it probably is. By trusting your instincts and doing a little research when in doubt, you can find the diet that is right for you!

Eating a Healthy Diet

2009-01-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

One of the important things you can do for your overall health is to eat a healthy diet. Your diet affects your weight and increases your risks of health diseases. Deciding a healthy diet is easier to say than to do because it is tempting to eat less healthy foods. Different people decide different healthy diet because you might eat this kind of diet while others just cannot stand the food you eat and find its alternative. That’s what health experts are here for, to let us know which food are healthier than others.

What are the principles of healthy eating?

Know What Healthy Food Is and How You Should Eat

When pursuing a healthy eating plan, you should remember the following:
1. Try and Eat a Variety of Different Colored Food - You should remember that different foods have different nutritional values. Food can be rich in antioxidants or Vitamin C. So, when you go to do your regular weekly shop, try and see what different colored foods you can pick up.

Down the fruit and vegetable aisle you should see greens, yellows, oranges and reds. You should have as much of a color variety in your trolley as you can. For example, when picking out fruit pick up strawberries, oranges, pineapple, apples, blueberries and bananas and you will notice what a large color selection you actually have. The same goes for vegetables. Basically, more color means that it is better and healthier for you.

2. Eat Foods from All Food Groups - The problem with many diets these days is the fact that they tell you to cut certain foods from certain food groups, out of the diet altogether. This means that you lose important nutrition and don’t eat as healthy as you could be. So, the answer to a healthy diet is to eat a variety of different foods.

Generally, fruit and vegetables should make up the main portion of your diet but you still need carbohydrates such as potatoes, meat or fish and a little bit of fatty foods like flaxseed oil which many experts recommend as part of a good fat diet. Overall, a diverse mixture of all food groups is needed for a healthy diet!

3. When You Need to Eat Snack, Do It on Healthy Foods – It doesn’t mean that just because you want to lose weight, you’ll have to skip your snack. In fact, snacking can actually be quite good for you just as long as you are eating the right foods.

Generally, when we want to eat snack, we reach for a biscuit or a packet of crisps. However, if you want to eat a healthy snack, then you will have to swap those for nuts, seeds or fruit and vegetables. That way you will get energy, you will also be full until your next meal time and it will be completely healthy.

Since you know what foods you like and what you don’t, you really have to decide for your own healthy eating plan. However, the said tips above can help you to choose the best healthy eating plan for you.

If you are switching to a healthy eating plan, then a Proactol™ can help you. Proactol™ is new clinically proven weight loss product that can help you cut down your fat intake by 28% of your dietary fat intake when taken after food. You don’t have to deprive yourself of foods you love to eat healthy. Just eat the food you like in moderation and take Proactol™ to deal with your diet effortlessly.

Practicing a sensible weight loss is not just taking a diet pill - you should live for a long-lasting healthy lifestyle.