|
|
In the Raw
Friday, July 8,
2005
|
|
Many of my friends eat sushi and have
raved about it, I on the other hand, could never get past the idea of eating something
uncooked, unless it was green and rabits ate it too. My idea of a
good meal was a fat, juicy steak and of course a salad. So recently, when my good friend,
Bonita, introduced me to the raw food lifestyle, I was a little bit
hesitant.
It wasn't an accident, then, when
another friend of mine and her husband told me about a raw food detox
they had recently done and had wonderful health results, including a sizeable weight loss.
In April this
year, I took the plunge; I started adding in more and more of
the "uncooked" stuff to my daily
routine. I must say, I always thought I was eating "healthy" until I really
started learning about the "raw-living food" lifestyle. At first, I
really wasn't used to the taste of greens, apple juice and banana whipped up in the
blender for breakfast, but now, I can't get my day "revved up" without
it!
Let's face it,
Demi Moore looks pretty good (sources say the raw food lifestyle is her secret weapon), and if
all it takes is eating extra green stuff everyday--then I'm in!
Now, I'm not a doctor or certified
nutritionist, so this is not medical advice, rather, I'm just sharing my story of what works
for me and hopefully, you can reference the subject and make your own
decisions.
There are so many "greens"
powders out there to add to smoothies, but my favorite is Earth's
Promise-strawberry-kiwi, by one of my truly favorite supplement companies, Ezymatic
Therapy. It tastes just like strawberry-kiwi. It fills me up so much that I
don't need anything else for breakfast. (My smoothie also includes, Udo's Choice
Oil, ground flax seeds and Lecithin granuals).
Another big addition to my daily routine
is juicing. I'm not just talking orange
or grapefruit, however those do rank high on my
list, rather I'm talking
"green". I'll grab whatever is in the fridge:
cuccumber, green pepper, celery, swiss chard, spinach, romaine lettuce, carrot and apple(for
sweetness) then run them through the juicer and wa-la! Salad in a glass!
For me, the most important reason why I
started eating more and more raw, living food was the nutritional benefits.
According to Rose Lee Calabro in her
book, Living in the Raw, "Enzymes are protein
catalysts that have to be present for life to exist. They perform a multitude of
functions in the body, both metabolic and digestive. For example, if the enzyme was
compared to a skilled worker who has been trained very well to perform a specific task, without
him, all work stops.
Enzymes play a vital role in the digestion, assimilation and
elimination of food and its by-products. Without enzymes, human life as we know
it is not possible. And the more enzymes there are, the healthier we
are."
Ms. Calabro continues,
"Let's say two people were having lunch together. One person chooses a
cooked entree from the menu and the other chooses a salad. Within minutes
after they start eating, an increasing number of enzymes appear in their digestive system,
especially in their stomachs and upper small intestines. These enzymes play the very important role of breaking down
food. You may be asking yourself,
"Where did the enzymes come from?"
There are two possible sources:
-
Those in the food
-
Those provided by the
body.
"Since the cooked entree has zero enzymes, all of the enzymes for digestion have
to be borrowed from the body's cells. This
borrowing of enzymes also drains the body of its enzyme reserve, claims Calabro.
In addition, Ms. Calabro states that, "At birth, we are given a supply of
enzymes, and they are not naturally
replenished.
Many of the maladies we associate with aging are actually symptoms of a
diminishing enzyme reserve. Eating enzyme-rich living foods get your body off
the hook for that particular meal, letting the foods essentially digest themselves.
Remember that some of these borrowed enzymes are not "experts" in
digestion--they were actually trained for other roles in the body."
This creates two problems:
-
Your meal will be incompletely digested,
which means you won't get all the nutrition possible
-
The original task of those enzymes won't
be completed.
Perhaps the most extensive research on the effect that food enzymes
have on our health was conducted by Dr. Edward Howell, and documented in his
easy-to-read book, Enzyme Nutrition.
He found that people eating a lifetime of low-enzyme foods eventually drained their enzyme supply
and became prone to:
digestive problems, premature aging, mineral and vitamin deficiencies, blood sugar
imbalances, allergies, frequesnt illnesses, problems with their weight, osteoporosis, heart and
circulatory diseases and various forms of cancer.
He also found that you could rebuild your enzyme supply by eating foods high in enzymes
(raw living foods).
There are several good cookbooks on raw food eating, filled with beautiful
recipes. You'll be amazed at the interesting food choices available.
I have an awesome lasagna recipe, if you're
interested just e-mail me at beth@forherinformation.com , and I'll send you a copy.
"You are what you eat" ---Unknown
Here's to your health!
Beth Aldrich
Help us grow!! Pass us on to a
friend.
We welcome your story or ideas for
a future FHI Connection!
|
