Green Lemonade

In today’s contemporary raw food diet, you don’t eat only raw foods to truly detoxify in a safe, enjoyable way.

“Let nature mold your body’s shape into the way it was meant to be.” – Dr. Norman Walker, Detox Health Pioneer

Take a fresh look at the raw food diet, its not just for hard core extremists anymore.

Here’s what you need to know about the raw food diet today:

1. Its about slow gradual change

   It’s not about going raw overnight.

   Any dietary change that is quick to take place – no matter how healthy its supposed to be – never lasts. But making small, consistent changes gives your body the foundation it needs to support optimal, long-term health.

   The occasional enjoyment of a glass of wine or other “vice” under today’s increasingly popular take on a raw food diet is also encouraged if it enables more people to continue along a sustainable cleansing and detox path for a longer period of time.

2. Its about what’s leaving the body, not what’s entering it

   Today, in some circles, being a raw foodist has almost become a religion. Some notable names in this field cringe when thinking of raw food newbies eating anything other than enzyme filled, living foods.

   The focus on the food itself, however, is really not the point of eating raw foods nor was it when the raw food movement first began decades ago. It’s actually about the power these living foods have as “natural cleaners” for the body to detoxify, cleanse and heal. It’s about using raw foods to help mobilize toxins and excess waste in the body to promote health. Lightly steamed or cooked foods are therefore incorporated today in “raw food diets” to help moderate the pace of the body’s detoxification efforts stimulated by eating so many raw foods.

   “Health is not about what vitamins and minerals you put into your body but about removing the debris/waste matter that keeps your body from it’s inherent perfection.” – Natalia Rose, Author of The Raw Food Detox Diet

3. Labels are being shed

   Today, it’s actually hard to define a “raw foodist.” This is because many raw foodies do eat some cooked foods, others eat some dairy and still others eat small portions of meat and fish on occasion. More people are beginning to realize it’s about what’s leaving the body, not only about the raw foods that are entering it.

   There have been reports of some self-proclaimed 100% raw foodists actually feeling better with the introduction of some cooked foods to their diets. Interestingly, when old dehydrated matter in the body is flooded with water-rich alkaline foods such as raw vegetables, fruit, green vegetable based smoothies and juices it is re-hydrated to a much larger size, which often causes many people to feel uncomfortable and bloated in the bowel as they begin transitioning to raw foods. Taking a step back in cleansing by incorporating more cooked foods ultimately moves them forward. You’ll know the raw food diet is working for you, if you are having good eliminations. Good eliminations, are key to good health.

4. Food combining is used to ramp up the body’s detoxification engine

   The thinking today is that if eating light in the morning (with juices and smoothies or a bowel of fruit) is the solution to ramping up the body’s detoxification engine (it is), consider stoking the fire even more by properly combining your food (as it feels good for you).

   The 2 key food combining principles to remember are: 1) Eat fruit alone (and in the morning if possible) and 2) eat proteins and starches separately.

   Keep this food combining framework loosely in mind – but don’t let it be intimidating. Think of it almost like built in portion control, preventing you from stuffing yourself with a huge meal containing a portion of everything in the refrigerator and then not feeling so well. Food combining makes you more aware of what goes into your body.

5. There is an entry point for everyone who wants to eat more raw foods

   In truth, there is an entry point for everyone in this real food, health generating lifestyle – something for those who’ve never eaten a salad before, and tips and tricks on easy raw food recipes and juice fasts for others…with everything in-between.

   You are not required to eat only raw foods, or stick to one set of guidelines. With the principles of real foods outlined, tasty recipes and inspiration, you are given the tools to discover what works for you at your own pace for achieving optimal health.
   You can also eat heathy portions given the focus is on more voluminous, nutritionally-dense food.

6. Its not about spending money on expensive supplements or equipment

   All raw foodists across the raw food diet spectrum agree that raw foods filled with living enzymes are healthy for the body. After all, most foods today, packaged foods for sure, can be comforting but not health generating.

   However, not everyone today agrees on just how big of a role supplements should play.

   Today’s growing thinking under the raw food umbrella is that supplements are there if you want them but not necessarily required to be successful on a real foods diet. The thinking here is that a diet filled with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables is the best way to get the nutrition we need. The only exception is Vitamin B12 – where a supplement is suggested most often if you are not eating meat for an extended period of time.

   Separately, expensive equipment (like a dehydrator or a sprouter) is also not needed as you start to eat more raw foods. All you need to start is a blender and some utensils.

   A modern raw foods diet can also be enjoyed amidst a hectic work and travel schedule, on a tight budget or at home with minimal time in the kitchen.