How to Shift Your Diet to Raw Foods and Prevent Disease

Do you eat raw (live) foods other than the occasional salad? Most of us do not. Making a shift in your diet toward raw foods will have as great an impact on fighting disease as any other major lifestyle change. It is the best method to the reduce the chances of chronic and degenerative disease in your body. Raw food diets also provide a direct path to greater energy and weight loss.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

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   Raw foods are alive. Live foods are plants, fruits, raw nuts, vegetables, seeds and sprouts that are not cooked, micro waved or steamed. These foods, in their natural uncooked state, are loaded with enzymes, nutrients and life force energy. Yes, life force energy or Chi as it's called in China and Prana as it's called in India. The energy field around a sliced apple, for example, can be observed in a Kirlian photo pictured on the left. The nutrients combined with the life force energy of these foods provide substantial healing effects to the body. Read further to understand how.

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   Live foods are high in fiber, water content, potassium, magnesium, enzymes and antioxidants. Fiber and water keep the colon clean of toxins and hence reduce the chance for digestive problems and colon cancer. Potassium and magnesium fight high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Enzymes are key to our digestive and metabolic processes. The more enzymes we get through food to aid digestion, the less our natural enzymes are deterred from their process of repairing cells and fighting disease. Further, the more enzymes we have in our system, the cleaner our colon, a natural toxin basin, will be.

3. For the meat loving skeptics, read this interesting piece of research. In 1990, The National Cancer Institute found that people who ate beef rare to medium rare had 1/3 the risk of stomach cancer as those who ate beef medium to well done. My point, cooking food thoroughly not only kills the nutrients and enzymes, it is hard for the body to digest. Digestion problems clog the colon which is bad news for your health. As Nobel Prize winning microbiologist, Elie Metchnikoff, stated bluntly, "death begins in the colon".

4. Live foods also have an alkaline effect on our body fluids. Acid build up in the body comes from sugar, refined carbs (pasta) and processed foods. Live foods will balance or tilt your body toward alkaline. Why is this important? Cancer thrives in an acid environment. Live foods are also rich in antioxidants, which fight free radicals. Free radicals do damage to our cells, which can perpetuate a variety of diseases.

5. The intent of this article is to point out that a diet is not just about eating less calories and adding fruits and veggies for the sake of your waste line. It is important to understand what you are eating and how you are preparing it to get the best health benefits such as bolstered immune system, nutrient driven defense against disease and enhanced long term health.