Is the Raw Food Diet and Eating Raw and Safe for You?
Is eating 100% raw foods healthy or right for you, me or everyone else. From my experience eating a 70-80% raw food diet since November 22, 2016, I can say that a 100% raw food eating for me felt good for 10 days but after that I begin to experience significant weakness and fatigue. This can happen for a couple of reasons.
Health Issues and Raw Foods
If you have health issues such as Heart Disease, Diabetes, Lupus, or any other autoimmune disease or even mental health issues, many studies show that eating healthy can help or in some cases even heal or reverse your disease.
Eating healthy means in some cases eliminating dairy, processed foods, grains, sugar, corn, peanuts, and soy. Over a a few months I began eliminating these foods from my diet. (Diet meaning, things I put in my mouth and consider food.)
I am diabetic and I suspected I was not getting enough calories to keep my blood sugars high enough on 100% raw food diet I don't take any medication for diabetes but, manage it with diet and nutrition under the supervision of a Naturopathic/Functional medical doctor. So, if you are diabetic or have any health issues see a nutritionist or a Functional doctor to see how dietary changes can help improve your condition and help you manage the transition to eating healthier by including more raw and whole foods and learning which foods to avoid for your condition.
Every time I've ever been seriously ill, with a cold flu etc., nutrition was the answer. All natural supplements come from food, herbs, oils from foods like garlic and oregano oil, mushrooms, seaweed, or leaves and bark from trees and plants or from animals. Natural supplements heal, pharmaceuticals treat symptoms.
Raw, Vegan, and Whole Foods Eating Plans.
The Raw Food Diet
The raw food diet consist of eating organic and raw foods for every meal.
Raw food dieting does not have to be started overnight, or 100%. It is best to implement new foods and eliminate a unhealthy food. For instance if you want to stop eating ice cream, switch to frozen fruit, fruit pops or smoothies. Than go to the next unhealthiest food you eat and switch it out with a healthier alternative.
I find 75-80% raw foods in a given day or meal is best for me. Broccoli for instance, needs to be cooked or steamed 4 minutes to release it's cancer fighting compounds.
Digestive Issues
Some people with digestive issues may not be able to eat raw foods at all according to some digestive specialist. I was told by a digestive specialist not to eat any raw foods but, I didn't listen. Instead, I ate digestive enzymes with my meals.
Going Cold Turkey?
Many people go on the raw food diet immediately verses making slow gradual changes.
If you have serious health issues, going 100% raw is a great way to kick off healing for a couple of weeks or months. I started my raw journey with green juicing for 10 days. I felt awesome and lost 16lbs. Funny thing, I became constipated because I didn't have enough fiber in my diet.
After the two weeks I went 100% raw, but could only maintain it 5 days before feeling weak and needing more calories and or cooked foods.
One day I was out running errands all day and didn't bring any food with me. I was so hungry on the way home I stopped and bought lays potato chips and a rotisserie. I was so hungry I would have taken food from a nine month pregnant woman or a an ice cream from a child. I was famished.
I thought I was going to suffer weight gain and feel sick from "backsliding!" LOL. Only . . . I felt so much better than I had i previous days all raw. It took me a while to figure out that my body still needs fat and more protein. The warmth of the chicken was satisfying in a way raw foods can never be.
Vegan Diet
A vegan is someone who does not eat or use any animal products. Vegan's eat, beans, grains, nuts and legumes, some eat soy, vegetables and fruits etc.
I was vegan from age nineteen to twenty six years old. I was definitely more healthy then when I was eating like the average American consuming meat, junk foods, processed foods, sodas and consuming occasional alcoholic beverages and lot's of coffee.
At one point, I was asked to return to a medical clinic where I took my daughter because her blood was so healthy. The wanted to interview me and find out what type of diet I was eating and or what I was doing.
During those years I ate beans/legumes, nuts, fruit and vegetables and ate whole grains and brown rice.
I became a very skilled vegetarian learning to prepare the most tasteful and healthy dishes from two of the best vegan's in the area. The skills I learned making tofu and veggie patties taste good helped me over the years make anything taste good.
Today, I cannot tolerate grains and do not eat them. If I'm feeling hungry I may eat white rice or potatoes as they do not seem to bother me if I eat them occasionally. I eat rice about 4x's per year, randomly.
The Whole Food Diets
The Paleo Diet, is the first eating plan that comes to mind when I think of whole food diets. The concept is based on the Hunter Gatherer era. Meats, fruits, vegetables ate during the caveman days pretty much is what the aim is.
There are some thing like poppy seeds that don't agree with me but are allowed on the Paleo plan. I don't like that the food plan on all the websites I've visited are 99.9% cooked foods.
Is a diet based on fruits, vegetables, tubers, whole grains, and legumes; and it excludes or minimizes meat (including chicken and fish), dairy products, and eggs, as well as highly refined foods like bleached flour, refined sugar, and oil."
If you need help learning how to develop healthy eating plan for your condition or lifestyle see a nutritionist, consult your doctor or get a health coach. Peace and Blessings~