Top 8 Reasons to be Raw

Okay, I know the list says 'raw', but what it really means is 'optimum health'.  All of the below benefits are achieved when you become in-tune with your body enough to know what it NEEDS. You wouldn't feed a polar bear grass as it's main source of nutrition, and similarly we need to be just as mindful of what we put into our body. Consider the idea that if given the correct fuel, your body will work more efficiently.  If given the best, it will perform at it's best.  Miracle fad diets don't work, but optimum health does.  I think going 100% raw for a week is a great way to get a base line of what feels good for your body.  From there, you can incorporate what your body needs for optimum health.  For me, mostly raw veggies, fish and eggs once a week, and occasional brown rice with a daily exercise regimen makes me feel at optimum health.

A typical meal out or at home : Seared ahi salad with a vegetable frittata.

These are the results that I have experienced :

1.  Melts Fat.

Okay, I'm not a person who is for fad diets or trying to lose weight.  I think people should strive to be healthy, and losing weight is just a bonus effect.  However, I cannot deny that it does feel good to see your natural, beautiful shape appear with little or no effort (This effect is unique to an all raw diet, you'll notice a difference after just a day or two).  When you eat raw, the body seems to shed excess fat to bring you to your real form whether you are a sinewy exomorph, muscle-y mesomorph, or curvy endomorph.

A great way to start raw is by frequenting your local farmers' market.  The beautiful veggies practically jump into your bag.

2.  Understand the meaning of FULL.

The next time you eat, ball up your hand and remember that your stomach is only about the size of your fist. It seems counterintuitive to most people that you can fill up on salads rather than breads and starches.  In the cycling world, before a race, lots of people 'carb up' with spaghetti dinners the night before.  The starches are seen as filling, but they really launch you into a vicious blood sugar spike and fall cycle that keeps you perpetually hungry.  Simple carbohydrates have a high glycemic index which means the sugars break down and enter your blood stream fairly quickly causing a spike in blood sugar.  After about an hour, you have a blood sugar crash which has you looking for another quick sugar fix to get you back to where you were, and the cycle continues.

I can guarantee, even after a carb load this big, he was still hungry an hour later.

Most people in the US don't know what it's like to feel hungry or full, but with a raw diet, you become more in-tune with your body, eating when you need to, not out of a convenient habit. Vegetables have a low glycemic index and are complex carbohydrates which release into the blood stream at a steady pace, leaving you with a healthy blood sugar level and plenty of energy.

3.  Bitter is Good.

Not all bitter is good, but in the US, the addiction to sweet has trumped our other taste senses.  That is why many people don't like green veggies, because the bitter is overpowering in contrast to the onslaught of daily sugar intake.  Once you eat raw for a while, you appreciate the subtle flavors and nuances of the bitter veggies that used to make you cringe.  The dark green veggies hold so many vitamins and minerals and have wonderful, complex flavors, when given a chance.

Typical on-the-bike-trail food.  Neva not only enjoys her bitter greens, but asks for them and considers salads a treat.

4.  Smell sensitivity.

Some processed foods contain toxins that dull your senses, just like a cigarette can dull your senses. When you remove the toxins, your sense of smell becomes more alert to soft and sensitive smells that were dulled by chemicals or overpowered by manufactured flavors like MSG (monosodium glutamate).

You will be pleasantly surprised by the little gifts of smell you will receive throughout the day, that you might never have noticed before.  That expensive shampoo you bought which claimed to be honeysuckle scented, which you were always skeptical about, might suddenly make an olfactory appearance.  You might smell cooking soup in your house and realize later that it was a neighbor 4 houses down from you.  And yes, you might even start to find the smell of your own scent appealing.  When you have a healthy body, you emit a healthy scent too.  Don't be surprised if you start attracting other people too with your healthy pheromones.

5.  Healthy glow.

Hair, skin, nails, etc.  I feel like I'm pregnant again, without the pain part or stretchmarks.  Just the perma-smile that comes with looking as good on the outside as you feel on the inside.  When your body is working optimally, it heals optimally as well.  We're not talking fountain of youth where you can all of a sudden run down a mountain on a whim with no aches and pains like you could in your early 20's, but the closest thing there is to it, and it's real.

Smooth as a baby's...uh, face.

6.  More time.

Our society tends to link lots of activities to food where it seems like we're constantly eating.  When you are able to differentiate between full and hungry, you don't have to think about eating any more, and it clears up a lot of time.  As you get older, your metabolism works differently, and you don't need as much food as you did when you were a growing teenager.  Instead of having a breakfast, brunch, lunch, second lunch, dinner, dessert, hobbit-style; you'll have tons of extra time to put towards artistic endeavors you haven't made time for in the past or finishing that garden project that you didn't think would happen.

Me.  I like to bike.  In case you didn't know, you can check out me biking here.

7.  Mental clarity.

When you're brain isn't addicted to sugar, or experiencing blood sugar rise and crash cycles, or has general brain fog from chemical toxins, it is easier to focus.  I have found that with my personal optimum health diet that I am able to focus for much longer periods of time, I get more ideas, and I have greater ambition to follow through with things that I start.

8.  Creativity.

When you focus on putting more quality food into your body over quantity, all aspects of the experience of eating become a full body experience, a delight for all senses.  The way you think about food changes.  Instead of being a pastime that you do when you're bored or doing a mindless task, eating becomes an engaging activity full of color.  A ritual that feeds your body the necessary nutrition to thrive on. Not just survive, but thrive!  This outlook turns preparing food into an art, and is a great creativity outlet.

That's how I came up with the delicious Beet Dog Recipe!

Enjoy the benefits of health, through our continuous learning process of continuous mind and body changes.