One diet that is quite controversial is called the Raw Food Lifestyle. This diet system does not incorporate any cooked or processed foods. It consists solely of raw, whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. I remember trying this diet for about 3-4 months and I felt incredible. I would wake up at 4 am just brewing with energy. It would not be a scattered energy but a focused energy that let me get a lot of work done. And I could perform this way for the entire day. At night I would lay in bed fatigued from a long day but not exhausted. It is important to have raw food lifestyle tips to help you stick with this diet.
How are you doing on the Raw Food Diet?
Most people think you need to be 100% raw to be considered a raw foodist. Well, that might be true in the strictest definitions but I think as long as you are consciously moving toward a raw food lifestyle, than you can consider yourself a raw foodist.
Tips are important in any endeavor yet Raw Food Tips are especially important because they help steer you in your quest toward an optimum diet. The following raw food tips by some of the top raw foodists help steer you in this direction.
Raw Food Lifestyle Tips
Raw Food Lifestyle Tip #7 – Be Aware of Your Exposure to Pesticides – David Wolfe
David Wolfe states that being exposed to the pesticides and herbicides in organic raw foods can contribute to cancers as well as causing tremendous problems with your hormones. You should stay away from these and buy your produce from locally grown farmers that you know and trust.
Website: https://www.davidwolfe.com/
Raw Food Lifestyle Tip #6 – It’s OK to Add Cooked Foods Back Every Once and Awhile – Paul Nison
Raw food author, speaker and chef, Paul Nison, has a great article about how he was a raw foodist for 15 years and that he tried eating healthy, cooked foods once and awhile and he felt just fine. Many raw food proponents state that you will go into shock or that it is tremendously harmful to the body. Paul says, in his case, not so much.
I include this one because it is important to realize that food is social. It’s ok to allow yourself to have food that isn’t “perfect” in some circumstances. Social situations are a prime example. If someone very close to you offers you a home cooked meal, it’s ok to say yes. Some things are more important than the body. Remember, “For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way.” 1 Timothy 4:8
Website: https://paulnison.com/
Raw Food Lifestyle Tip #5 – Consult Your Doctor- Carol Alt
Many raw foodists have an aversion to medical professionals and see them as some sort of enemy. Not Carol Alt. When she started the raw food lifestyle she found great support in her doctor and regularly visiting him in order to get blood work done. This helped monitor her health and giver her a deeper understanding as to how her body was adjusting to the lifestyle.
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Raw Food Lifestyle Tip # 4 – Consistency is Key- Matthew Monarch
Matt describes the importance and the end goal of what he calls “stabilizing out” as very important in the raw food lifestyle. He says that, especially when starting, you don’t want to eat a ton of different kinds of foods. You want to have consistency in your food selection. As your body detoxes, it will “stabilize out” and become more efficient. Read more about this at:
Website: https://www.rawspirit.org
Raw Food Lifestyle Tip #3 – Start Off Slowly- Natalia Rose
Natalia’s books have a raw food test in it that you can take to see what level of raw foodism you are starting. Once you know this baseline you can slowly move up the scale to full raw foodism. Yet if you move too quickly, this can become problematic for the body. So follow Rose’s guideline of taking baby steps.
Website: https://www.detoxtheworld.com/
Raw Food Lifestyle Tip # 2 – Raw Foodism is more than a diet. It’s a diet, detox and fitness.” -Aris Latham
Aris hits on a great point in that the raw food lifestyle is a way of living that incorporates healthy practices into one’s lifestyle, not just health eating.
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Raw Food Lifestyle Tip #1 – Thou Shall Juice! – Norman W. Walker
Normal Walker was a huge advocate of juicing, especially organic carrot juice. This practice helps to flood the body with nutrients.
Norman W. Walker Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_W._Walker
Bonus Raw Food Lifestyle Tip! “It’s not just what you put in your body. It’s what you leave out that’s of top importance!”- Fred Bisci
This is huge advice that I learned later in life. I thought I could eat really healthy but also have ice cream and pizza. My thought process was “at least I eat healthy most of the time.” Fred Bisci says that these few times of splurging reck the other times of eating healthy. Keep the bad stuff out while putting the good stuff in. Simple.
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Great advice! Been moving more & more towards a raw plant-based diet myself and I agree with all this.
I would definitely add making smoothies in there! Juicing has its value.. but I always feel like I’m wasting some of the food.
Smoothies = pure goodness.
Cheers,
Phil