What are Raw Foods? Raw living foods are foods that haven't been cooked; fruits,vegetables, seeds, nuts, and sprouted grains. (more on that later). Fresh ripe raw foods in their most natural state or not heated above 118 degrees contain Enzymes that help to heal and keep us healthy and effectively fighting off sickness and disease.
Foods that grow naturally provide us with easy digestible nourishment. Raw foods provides the body with an Alkaline and -PH balanced environment. You see, foods are either Acid forming or Alkaline forming. Disease can’t grow in an alkaline environment, but an acidic environment breeds disease.
What Are Enzymes?
Fruits and Vegetables and Green Leafy Vegetables are the the most alkaline forming foods. Alkaline foods contain Enzymes. What the heck are they? (:
Enzymes assist the digestion and absorption of food, they are the ‘ENERGY’ or life force of the food we eat.
Enzymes are important because without eating Enzyme rich foods the body won’t get the maximum amounts of nutrition out of the food.
Foods lacking in enzymes cause toxic buildup in the body which causes disease and other problems.
Foods cooked over 118 degrees and All processed (even ‘health’ foods) are SEVERELY lacking in life enhancing enzymes.
Is organic produce better? Optimally yes, most of the soil of conventional grown produce is heavily sprayed with pesticides and other toxic materials, also the soil used for conventional contains far less nutrients and that leads to less nutrient dense produce.
While there is some debate on conventional vs organic there is a list:http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/ that shows the safest fruits and veg to buy either organic or conventional. Stay tuned for my blog on Budget Friendly Shopping for Produce.
Because for many of us our diets are so depleted and we’re not producing an adequate amount of digestive enzymes there is extra help available for us in the form of digestible enzymes to be taken before or with meals. I purchase my enzymes NOW Super Enzymes (not a paid endorsement) for a very reasonable price:http://www.amazon.com
What Is PH Balance?
There are some alkaline non- fruit foods like sprouted seeds, buckwheat, millet and even corn. Alkaline foods raise the amount of oxygen that your blood takes in. Many of you may have heard of PH Balance, well the ph scale measures the amount of oxygen your blood is absorbing. It ranges from 0 to 14. We are in balance when our Ph level is in the range of 7.5. When we have a ph level that’s too low or too high we experience symptoms of feeling unwell, tired, poor digestion, weight gain (or loss), and a host of other symptoms that can and many times do lead to disease. The typical American Diet is highly acidic which is why disease such as heart, cancer, arthritis and diabetes are such and epidemic.
Factors of Unbalanced PH:
The Food we consume and foods we aren’t consuming enough
Toxins in our food, body and home products, Toxins in our environment
Stress
This doesn’t mean you should Never eat anything but raw fruit and veggies .(although, there are many who choose to engage in a complete raw foods lifestyle eating 75% to 100% completely raw and reap multiple benefits, but it’s a personal choice) However, what is important and Health Enhancing is that we begin to ADD LARGER amounts of raw foods into the diet. (I have a blog; in my About page on how I helped to heal my body with raw foods and though I’m no longer 100% raw I continue to consume large amounts of raw foods and it’s so easy with Green Smoothies!!) Often when this is done, you may find that you have less room for the other acid forming foods in your belly!
Some of the highest acid forming foods are Meats, Dairy Products, Refined Flours, and Sugar Products. Unfortunately, the most popular foods eaten by so many are the worse offenders:
Junk Food & processed Foods
Sugar
Animal Food (most meats unless specifically farmed otherwise are loaded with antibiotics and other garbage not meant for human or animal consumption and aid to our diseased states)
Grains that is highly processed grains; white flour, pasts bread what I call white wheat(where the bran and all the nutrients have been stripped from it, creating a ‘white’ brown bread or flour)
Dairy( not to mention most dairy comes from cows injected with growth hormones and antibiotics bad for the animal and for us)
Bad Fats, fats from highly processed sources such as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils of any kind.
There are many other body friendly choices to choose while eliminating or cutting way back on these health draining foods, we don’t have to all one or the other. Alkaline forming foods are tasty as well, it’s just that our taste buds and brain are trained to recognize the standard processed foods as tasty and desirable. But by consuming alkaline raw foods we can help re align our body’s ph levels and move it back to functioning as disease fighting instead of disease producing.
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