Posts tagged ‘Vegetable’

Why the Raw Food Diet Is Not A Fad Diet

By pinky, 22 March, 2010, 2 Comments

Humans have been eating fresh fruit, vegetables, and nuts 10-50,000 yrs or more before we discovered fire, tools and implement to kill animals.

Eating raw fruits and vegetables isn’t the new fad diet, or the new South Beach Diet. Believe it or not, humans have been eating this way long before they were eating processed junk foods. We didn’t have access to most types of foods. We were scavengers, picking fruits and eating vegetables were a delicacy. Nuts were also eaten for protein. It was either that or starve. Humans ate these fruits as is, no additives, no cooking. One and a half million years ago we learned how to cook. So for a half million years we ate the food raw, as it was intended. We are the only animals on the planet that cook their food. Eating meat doubled the caloric intake of man, which made it easier to hunt and have enough energy to do what needs to be done.

Today, we have access to every type of food we want at our fingertips. We can order Oolong tea (which must be handpicked on cliffs in china) from the internet. You would think that since we have come this far, we would be super human, so healthy we would be living 500 years. Not so unfortunately. In fact, in some ways we actually have worse health now. Some of us are developing cancers at an early age. Some of us are dying of heart disease or obesity. We are not eating correctly. We are stuffing our face with hydrogenated oils, fake products, high sodium and sugary foods. It is simply disgusting. We are gaining weight at an alarming rate and looking horribly. It shows in the skin, sags of fat, sluggish attitude, depressed look, lack of sexual drive, etc. I wonder how long we would live if we adapted the diet of the Japanese.

What people need to realize is that eating fat free or sugar free foods isn’t going to help. It isn’t going to help if you stuff your face with snack wells instead of Oreo’s. What will help is to completely change what you eat. Remember, you are what you eat, so eat the right things and it will show in your body, mind and spirit.

Benefits of Juice

By pinky, 14 March, 2010, 1 Comment

Eating raw foods is a way to give your body some of the nutrition it desperately needs. Many of us are at least slightly overweight, and even the morbidly obese are starving for essential proteins and amino acids. All the processed, cooked foods we eat give us only a small percentage of what we need. Consequently, we eat and eat and yet we’re still not nourished. Psychologists try to tell us we’re eating to make up for an emptiness in our souls. Wrong! Our bodies our empty and trying to tell us so.

Eating raw foods is good for us on so many levels. It’s satisfying to eat them. They take more time to chew and swallow, so we don’t eat as fast. And we’re getting so much more in the way of nutrition by consuming fruits, vegetables, nuts and sprouts.

It can take time to prepare raw foods, however. Which is why a juicer is an important addition to your kitchen once your start to be serious about raw foods. A good juicer can process an entire apple – seeds, stems, peel, pulp and all – and turn all that into a healthy, nutritious juice.

Buying apple juice is NOT the same thing!!! Don’t even look at apple juices or even ciders in the grocery store. Put that $2 or $3 aside and save up for a juicer. Buy bags of apples, orange, bananas, carrots and make your own juices to get everything from the fruit that you’d get by eating it raw. Now you’re getting juice that’s as fresh as the fruit or vegetable you made it from. No preservatives, no processing that strips most of the energy from the fruit. And think of all the delicious combinations you can make with the many tropical fruits that are available now in most grocery stores. You can customize your fruits and add non-typical ingredients like pumpkin to an orange juice. Now that’s a powerhouse of a juice!

Transitioning From Junk Food to Healthy Food

By pinky, 10 March, 2010, No Comment

You don’t have to give up all the foods you’re used to eating to become more healthy and to start eating raw, organic and live foods. You know the best place to start changing your life and your diet? It’s at the grocery store, of course. Even if you’re at a good weight and pretty healthy, take a tip from dieters. Go shopping with a list and don’t go to the grocery store hungry. Make sure this shopping trip you can resist those Oreos and potato chips.

Clean out your refrigerator and your cabinets. Throw out the half-empty bags of snack foods. Put any microwaveable foods in a dark bag and stash them somewhere in the back of the freezer. Out of sight, out of mind.

Do stock up on dried fruits and nuts for snacking. Transform your kitchen from a processed food haven to a healthy kitchen. Invest in a good juicer. Clean out those crisper drawers to get them ready for an influx of new organic and raw foods.

Load up on fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. If you can’t give up meat and fish, consider getting super fresh tuna that you can just sear and serve with sesame seeds and a small amount of soy sauce. (I’m getting hungry just thinking about this!)

Make eating this way fun. Invest in those big, white square dishes that are good for serving sushi. It’s easier to arrange small portions of different foods that way. And getting new white dishes will be symbolic of this new, purer way of eating. Get some good chopsticks so you can take your time eating. This is really fun!

Go to a bookstore and get a cookbook or a food book so you can learn about eating raw foods. Buy a big vase and a bunch of sunflowers to symbolize letting the sun into your diet.

Can you feed your children raw food?

By pinky, 22 February, 2010, No Comment

: Image by tantek via Flickr

Every parent wants the best for her child. You want your child to look healthy, grow proportionately, feel energized and have a great immune system. So, why do most parents in America feed their children junk food by the time they start eating table food? Why do most restaurants serve French fries or macaroni and cheese for side orders and not steamed broccoli? It is really a sad situation to watch young children who are obese. Even schools offer peanut butter and jelly or ice cream for lunch.

To ensure that your child is eating correctly you must feed them plenty of fruits and vegetables. But the trick is to make it delicious and fun. For instance, for breakfast, arrange a platter of fruit, oranges, grapefruit, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, they will love it! Make faces out of the fruit. Have them drink only water and no sugar 100% fruit juice that you juice yourself. Get them used to eating vegetables that are uncooked. Whenever they get hungry, offer small baby carrots, or celery, they will grow to love the taste just the way it is. You can introduce a new vegetable each week and learn how to hide it into your food. For instance, chop up Portobello mushrooms in a chopper and add it to your pasta sauce and watch them gobble it up, barely noticing the mushrooms. Make blanched broccoli (plain) and eat that for dinner. If they see you eating healthy, they will learn early on to eat that way. Do not let them eat packaged foods, such as macaroni and cheese, or fried chicken fingers, or anything fried for that matter. Make sure that they eat vegetables at every meal and be careful when you go out to eat.

Offer natural desserts that you have made at home, such as homemade sorbet, or fruit smoothie, or peach cobbler pie (all natural). Stay away from cakes, cookies, etc that have preservatives and other unnatural flavorings. Make it yourself and offer it occasionally. You will find that they watch you and what you eat and if you incorporate a much healthier menu, so will they.

The best part of raising your children to learn to love fruits and vegetables is that you will notice that they will turn down junk food when you are not around. At that point you will know that you have done your part in raising healthy adults.

What’s a Sproutarian?

By pinky, 28 December, 2009, 2 Comments

: Image via Wikipedia

Vegetarianism and raw food enthusiasts fall into many different groups with different theories of what kind of natural foods are best. Most vegetarians eat fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. Vegans eat no animal by-products at all, including dairy or eggs. Fruitarians eat primarily fruits. And some vegetarians eat only sprouts.

Sprouts are very nutritious because they contain all the elements a plant needs for life and growth. The endosperm of seed is the storehouse of carbohydrates, protein and oil. When the seed germinates, these become predigested amino acids and natural sugars upon which the plant embryo feeds to grow. This life force we eat is filled with energy which is capable of generating cells of the body and supplying us with new vigor and life. For this reason sprouts can slow down the aging process.

Sprouts contain great amounts of male and female hormones, as well, in their most easily assimilated form. Research shows that sprouts are among the highest food in vitamins. They are not only a low cost food but are also tasty and easy to grow. Children and the elderly can make sprouting a profitable hobby. All of us can profit from the boost to health they provide.

Almost any seed, grain or legume can be sprouted though some are tastier than others. You may try mung beans, alfalfa, wheat, peas, fenugreek, chickpeas, radish, fennel, celery seed, etc. These are most readily found in health food stores. Remember to soak small seeds only for 4 hours and beans for 15 hours. You also can mix these seeds. Get a 2 liter wide-mouth jar and a piece of cheesecloth or old nylon stocking to fasten as a cover with a rubber band. Put seed into the jar as follows:

2 Tsps alfalfa, 2 Tsps radish or fenugreek, 1/4 cup lentils, 1/2 cup mung beans. Soak these seeds for 15 hours and drain the water. Afterwards rinse and drain well twice daily for about 3-5 days. If you wish to make larger amounts of sprouts, so you may share with others, place 2 cups of mixed seed into a large porcelain pot, in the bottom of which holes have been drilled for easy rinsing. Simply place underneath the faucet and rinse morning and evening with warm water. Cover with a plate. The seeds grow beautifully and abundantly in a few days.

Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices by Dr. Norman Walker

By pinky, 11 December, 2009, 1 Comment

Vegetarian Guide to Diet and Salad by Dr. Norman Walker Features & SpecificationsFresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices by Dr. Norman Walker Book DescriptionWhat’s Missing in Your Body? Deficiencies of certain minerals, salts, and vitamins can cause many of the symptoms of illness. Vegetable juices are categorically listed and their elements carefully explained. Provides suggestions for specific ailments.About the AuthorDr. Norman Walker is the longest-lived, widely-known raw-foodis (more…)

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