Tips On How To Eat More Raw Foods...and More!

Tips on How to Eat More Raw Foods:

1) Focus on eating raw more often, versus an all-in approach

2) Start your day with a green smoothie

3) Stock the fridge with delicious raw food

4) Fill your pantry with tempting nuts, seeds and dried fruits

5)  Make it fun by adding hummus or other raw-dips to your meal

6) Pull out your food processor and blender to spark kitchen creativity

7) Check out a raw food cook book for some inspiration

Why You Should Incorporate More Raw Foods Into Your Day:

Go on and choose to eat a few more nuts, seeds, beans, fruits or vegetables in your day. Research studies have found that those who eat a diet rich in raw, plant-based foods have lower cholesterol levels and high carotenoid levels. Such foods are naturally low in sodium, saturated fat and calories. Plus, they are rich in fiber and enzymes to promote digestive health. Oh, and don't forget foods in a raw food diet tend to be alkalinizing too. 

Nutritional Pitfalls to Watch Out For:

Be sure to seek out foods that are rich in protein, iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and lycopene as research shows these tend to be low in long-term raw food vegetarians. Good sources of these foods include nuts, seeds, beans, dark leafy green vegetables and supplements (vitamin B12, iron and calcium are important for raw vegetarians).

My Confession:

The more I read studies about the benefits of eating fresh whole foods the more I crave salads, trail mix and a big juicy apple. Plus...they just taste good! Mmmm.

References (if you're interested):

Long-term strict raw food diet is associated with favourable plasma beta-carotene and low plasma lycopene concentrations in Germans. British Journal of Nutrition 2008;99:1293-1300.

http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FBJN%2FBJN99_06%2FS0007114507868486a.pdf&code=92f9b194fbd6085fe332fec41a70bb64

Zhou B, et al. What influences appetite more: eating approaches or cooking methods? J Med Invest 2014;61(1.2):118-25.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24705757

Koebnick, C. et al. Long-term consumption of a raw food diet is associated with favourable serum LDL cholesterol and triglycerides but also with elevated plasma homocysteine and low serum HDL cholesterol in humans. J. Nutr. October 1, 2005 vol. 135 no. 10 2372-2378

 http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/10/2372.short

Fontana, L et al. Low bone mass in subjects on a long-term raw vegetarian diet. Arch Intern Med 2005;1165(6):684-689.

http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=486478