Raw Foodists | The Vegan Consultant

#1 Rule For Healthy Raw Food Weight Loss

It’s no secret that many people, raw foodists or not, struggle with releasing unwanted weight. Often times this inability to lose weight stems from seemingly uncontrollable cravings for unhealthy cooked foods. These cravings often lead to binge eating, which (of course) leads to weight gain.

There is a good chance that you struggle with this problem as well. Sure, you might stick to a raw food diet for maybe a week or so, but those killer cravings always seem to rear their ugly heads again.

Once they’re back, it’s all you think about and before you know it, you’re parked at the nearest fast-food joint chowing down on the fattiest, most unhealthy food you can get your hands on. You spend the rest of the day feeling guilty and dreading your next visit with Mr. Scale. And the cycle continues…

What to do? Is there anyway to end this madness? Don’t you wish that there was one easy and effective way to finally lose weight? Well, to day is your lucky day! Here is the #1 rule for healthy raw food weight loss:

Eat More Food!

Sounds crazy, right? To tackle the weight loss issue, we have to get to the root of the problem: cravings. Many of these cravings can be avoided by simply eating more! We are so often told to eat less and less and less for weight loss. This is not the answer. Eating less food than your body needs means receiving less volume and fewer nutrients than you require.

If you allow yourself to eat as much food as you want, I promise you will see a significant reduction in cooked food cravings. Of course, you can’t just eat *any* foods. You want a raw diet comprised of mostly raw sweet fruits, 1-2 pounds of non-sweet fruits and tender greens, and limited amounts of fatty foods (i.e. half an avocado or 1-2 ounces of nuts per day).

You also want to be sure and eradicate (or at least limit) food such as salt, onion, garlic, and pepper from your diet. These foods are irritating to the body and they can and will lead to water retention.

How This Rule Helped Me

As wary as I am to admit it, I used to binge eat. Not only was this physically and mentally damaging, it prevented me from staying at my ideal weight for very long. Luckily, this never became a daily practice for me, but it was a nasty frequent habit nonetheless and one that became harder and harder to stop.

It was not until I learned the value of eating as much raw foods as I wanted and actually implemented this in my life that I no longer felt the urge to binge on unhealthy foods.

There were many days in which I actually ate 3000 calories worth of raw foods…well over my caloric needs for the day. And yet, I still lost weight! That’s the beauty of a low fat, high fruit raw food diet. You really can eat pounds of food a day and experience vibrant health.

What other diet can promise that?

Moral of the Story

Eat more raw foods! I don’t care if you just had a huge meal of 20 bananas! If you feel cravings coming on, go grab an apple or some grapes or pineapple, etc. And don’t cause yourself unnecessary stress by worrying over how much you are eating. Your appetite will gradually lessen as your taste buds and tummy become accustomed to simpler foods. You won’t have to eat quite as much to feel satisfied.

Today, I honestly can’t even imagine eating those unhealthy foods that I used to binge on. My belly is far too full on delicious sweet fruits!

For more information on the best raw vegan diet, be sure to visit Fit On Raw and subscribe to Swayze’s newsletter Peachy Keen Ezine. By subscribing, you will also receive the free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet as well as the 5-week mini-course The Fool Proof Transition to Raw.
Find information on Gewgley.com

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admin, November 25th 2009 | Tags: Cravings, Lose Weight, Raw Food Diet, raw foodists, Raw Foods, raw vegan, Weight Loss
Posted in healthy vegan diet

Beware the Dreaded Diet Detox!

Many people just learning about raw foods are completely turned off by one little word: detox.

They’ve read all the awesome testimonials from raw foodists, they’ve scoured for all the latest raw food research, and they know all about raw’s physical and mental benefits.

Then they also learn about this crazy detox process that lasts for years and makes your feet fall off and your eyeballs grow whiskers!

The decision to stay cooked and keep their feet and eyeballs whisker-free becomes a pretty easy one.

So what is this “dreaded diet detox” everyone is so consumed with?

What is Detox?

I like to think of detoxification in two different ways:

1. Traditional Detox 2. Withdrawal Detox

Traditional Detoxification, or “detox,” is simply the body’s method of neutralizing or removing toxic substances (those created naturally via our normal bodily functions or those consumed, inhaled, or absorbed by us on a constant basis).

This is done primarily by way of the liver, kidneys, and – if the first two organs are overloaded – the skin. You’ll know your body is working overtime when you achieve that “awe-inspiring” armpit aroma after a sweaty workout!

So in this sense, detox is an on-going process. Your body is constantly detoxifying every single moment of your life.

Withdrawal Detox, on the other hand, refers to the symptoms you experience when you reduce the level of toxins in the body. This could come from adopting a healthier diet, beginning an exercise routine, or removing a known air pollutant.

The reason you feel cruddy when you give up your favorite cooked eatables in favor of simpler, whole ingredients is because you have reduced the toxic level in your body.

Your organs have become used to a certain level of toxicity and once that level is reduced, they finally have a chance to do their job and release the waste that has built up in your fatty tissues as quickly as possible…which means temporary yucky, but necessary side effects for you.

And the more toxic substance you eliminate, the harsher the effects will be.

Oh, what fun!

This is actually no different than the uncomfortable – and often painful – symptoms a drug or alcohol abuser experiences when going “cold turkey.”

Fortunately for us, the length and symptoms of detox from cooked foods are typically much shorter and much less severe.

How Long Should Detox Last?

Well…until you’re dead!

Oh, you meant detox in the withdrawal sense…my bad.

Contrary to what many mainstream raw foodists will have you believe, withdrawal detox should not last years and years, months and months, or even weeks and weeks.

Withdrawal from cooked foods will typically only last a few weeks *at most*. The norm is closer to just a few days.

In fact, if you *do* experience negative symptoms for weeks and weeks without any improvement, it’s safe to say that either:

a) you are not doing it right (i.e. not enough calories, improperly ripened fruits, improper food combining) OR b) the diet is NOT working and you should try something new!

And remember, diet isn’t everything!

If you are following a healthy raw food diet absolutely perfectly and yet you are still experiencing negative health effects, your diet is probably not the issue and you should certainly look into other health issues (i.e. exercise, fresh, air, clean water, sunshine, etc.)

You are only as healthy as your weakest link.

What Should I Expect During Detox?

While there are cases of more severe symptoms – usually experienced by people with some form of chronic disease – detox is typically very mild.

Here are the usual suspects:

These will typically last for a few days to a week. The worse off your health is before making the transition, the more symptoms you will likely experience and the longer they will last.

For instance, if you regularly drink coffee or alcohol and decide to give them up, you can definitely expect some headaches and jitters for the first few days.

As I said, some people do experience more severe and long-lasting cases, such as hair loss, faintness, or acne, but this should not be expected in most cases.

Why All the Big Fuss About Detoxification?

My personal theory?

Raw foodists are big drama queens.

In all seriousness, going raw is not all lollipops and fairy floss. This is especially true in the beginning when you are doing your best to figure out how to maintain such a “kooky” diet in the modern world, while at the same time battling low energy and digestive troubles.

It’s no fun, but it could certainly be worse. Just look at drug addicts who go cold turkey.

We’re talkin’ days and days (sometimes weeks, depending upon the drug of choice) of seriously scary symptoms like tremors, sweats, chills, depression, paranoia, and even seizures…and that’s WITH medical care!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met anyone needing hospital attention from a few healthy raw, fruit-filled meals.

So stop being a drama queen, go raw, be fit and embrace your detox! That slight headache and minor mucus expulsion is just your body’s way of thanking you for finally allowing it to get rid of all the nasty gunk and be the best body it can be.

Plus, it has got to “repay” you for all the toxic overload somehow, right?

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admin, November 24th 2009 | Tags: Detox, detox diet, detox symptoms, Detoxification, raw food detox, Raw Food Diet, raw foodists, Raw Foods, raw vegan
Posted in healthy vegan diet

10 Benefits of a Raw Food Diet

Are you really eager to go raw, but just can’t seem to muster up the courage to get started?

These are some of the top 10 benefits of the raw food diet that most every raw foodist has experienced. If this doesn’t convince you to go raw, I just don’t know what will!

#1: Improved digestion

If I had to give you my top raw food benefit, improved digestion would be it. It is the one result that almost every single person who attempts a healthy raw diet experiences.

Not only that, but it usually occurs very quickly. Almost every digestive issue can be solved in just a few short days, if not less. Whether you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome or just the occasional upset tummy, you will see major improvements after going raw.

However, if you continue to abuse the #1 food combining rule, than your results will not be as great. No amount of raw food can undo the effects of the sugar-fat combo.

#2: Permanent Weight Loss

Hmmmm…maybe permanent weight loss should be the top benefit?

I don’t think it’s going too far to say that close to 99.9999999% of people struggle with their weight at some point in their lives. Many of us go on diet after diet after diet hoping that we will see *some* kind of change in our weight.

Unfortunately, the only change that most of us witness is a higher number on the scale. And if we do happen to lose weight, it’s usually at the expense of our health (i.e. calorie restriction, dangerous diet pills, frozen food programs, etc.) and typically comes back to haunt us sooner or later.

On the other hand, eating a healthy raw food diet allows you to lose weight *permanently* while improving your health substantially. Plus, you get to eat *pounds* of food on a daily basis, without any guilt!

#3: More Energy

Unlike what you read/hear from many well-known raw foodists, raw foods do *not* give you energy. Nothing you eat does, whether it’s a burger or a banana. Eating food of any kind *requires* energy, just as everything else that you do during the day requires energy.

What makes following a healthy raw vegan diet truly special is that it requires less energy to process inside your body. 2 pounds of grapes literally takes *minutes* to be fully digested by the body. This is opposed to cooked foods, or even a complicated fatty raw dish, which take hours to be digested.

The one *true* energy provider is sleep, which brings me to benefit #4…

#4: Better Sleep

Since I’ve been raw, I rarely ever feel tired when I get into bed. Even after being raw for so long, I still get ready for bed sometimes and think, “Gee, I’m not going to be able to fall asleep right now. Maybe I should just stay up for a little longer.”

However, I convince myself to get into bed and the moment my head hits the pillow, I feel so relaxed. Within minutes, I’m out.

The best part? When I wake up, I feel completely awake and ready to begin my day. No more groggy mornings for me!

This is a far cry from my bedtime routine from two years ago. My routine was this: feel absolutely exhausted by 4pm. Try not to fall asleep at the wheel on the way to a client’s house. Feel a little better after a 30-minute nap. Feel exhausted again by 7pm. Get into bed still exhausted by 10pm. Remain awake for an hour. Wake up at 7am groggy and grouchy. Repeat.

Yikes, that makes me tired just writing it!

#5: Mental Clarity

I’m sure that many non-raw foodists will disagree with this one. Raw foodists are supposed to be tree-hugging, hippie nut jobs, right?

On a raw food diet, because you are no longer weighing your body down with hard-to-digest cooked foods, you have more energy to use your brain!

Of course, this has a lot to do with sleep as discussed previously. Because we spend less energy digesting our foods, we sleep more soundly. This means that we have more energy during the day, meaning our thoughts are generally much clearer and our focus greatly improved. We are more mentally, and even emotionally stable.

It’s really a cycle, isn’t it? The more raw foods you eat, the better you sleep. The better you sleep, the more energy you have. The more energy you have, the more mentally stable you are. The more mentally stable, the easier it is to stay raw. The longer you stay raw…

#6: Soft, Smooth, & Clear Skin

To be honest, I’ve always had pretty good skin. I’ve had maybe three blemishes in my entire life. In fact, the worst my skin has ever been was for the first few months *after* I gave up salt! But that’s for another article…

I’m not trying to brag. I just want to be honest. I’m not here to make up crazy transition stories about how going raw made me grow 5 inches taller and gave me the power of flight. Although I have gone down almost 2 full shoes…

Anyway, I’m sure that many of you struggle with skin problems, whether it’s a blotchy skin tone, dry skin, oily skin, visible pores, blemishes, etc.

You *do not* need an expensive, chemical-laden skin treatment routine that only serves to further irritate your already abused skin. All you need is a good heapin’ helping of water-rich raw fruits and veggies.

And some sunshine couldn’t hurt either.

#7: Thick, Healthy, & Shiny Hair

I’ve always had really thick hair, but it was very dry and hard to manage before I went raw. The worst part was that I would shed like crazy! My Mom was always pulling handfuls of my long locks out of the rollers of the vacuum. Yuck!

Now that I eat plenty of nourishing, water-rich foods, my hair is silky and soft. And I’m no longer a shedding machine!

#8: Healthy Teeth & Gums

But aren’t your teeth supposed to rot out of your head when you go raw?

NO! The fact that so many long-term raw foodists have suffered tooth decay is simply a testament to the fact that the mainstream raw food diet *does not work*.

On a healthy raw food diet full of sweet fruit, moderate vegetables and little fat, you will not experience teeth problems. In fact, the condition of your teeth and gums is likely to improve!

The real key is to have a solid dental care system in place and not to make dehydrated foods the base of your diet.

#9: No More Aches, Pains, or Minor Illnesses

How many of you have struggled with “everyday” illnesses and pains such as headaches, migraines, colds, flus, tummy aches, joint pains, muscle cramps, allergies, etc.? We all have at some point!

I used to struggle with

And of course there were the seemingly random and unexplained aches and pains that would crop up every once in a while.

Every one of these has been *completely eradicated* since I went raw. No more headaches. No more colds. Perhaps best of all, no more heavy periods and gut-wrenching cramps! Sorry, guys, but that really is a big one for us ladies.

#10: Save Some Green

When you decide to take your health into your own hands and go raw, you can expect to save *heaps* of money in the process.

No more money wasted on unnecessary drugs, supplements or “superfoods.” No more expensive doctor’s fees. No more high insurance rates.

You can finally focus on *you* and spend that extra time and money on the things that actually make you more…well, you!

Still Waiting to Go Raw?

What are you waiting for? Each day that you remain a slave to your aching back, your extra fat, or even your trip to the local pharmacy, is a day that you could be living raw and loving it!

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admin, November 20th 2009 | Tags: Go Raw, raw foodists, Raw Foods, Raw Vegan Diet, The Raw Food Diet
Posted in healthy vegan diet

Vitamin D and the Raw Vegan Diet: Part I

Are you concerned about your vitamin D intake?

Besides protein and vitamin B12, vitamin D deficiency is one of the biggest reasons people have reservations about going and/or staying raw (or vegan, for that matter).

This becomes especially true around this time of year, when the sun is waning and the cold temps are movin’ on in.

There’s no question that vitamin D is essential to human health. Vitamin D is necessary for the proper absorption of both calcium and phosphorus. I’m sure you have seen images of the disfiguring effects of rickets, a disorder caused by a lack of vitamin D in the body.

Did you know that vitamin D is also necessary to process vitamin C and deficiency is implicated in the cause of 17 varieties of cancer?

Sometimes the fact that so many people (cooked and raw foodists alike) dwell on vitamin D when it is SO easy (and so free) to obtain really boggles my mind.

Then I remember all the COMPLETELY WRONG and often COMPLETELY BIASED information that we are all indoctrinated with from a young age regarding the source of this vital vitamin.

It’s time to debunk all the bull, don’t you think?

Where Does Vitamin D Come from?

Few will argue that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is necessary for healthy teeth and bones.

However, there has been quite some debate about how exactly to achieve proper levels of vitamin D.

According to traditional medicine, the only way we can get enough vitamin D is by consuming fortified milk, eating various species of fish, or by some form of supplementation.

Hmmm…I wonder what Dr. Colin Campbell, author of the renowned nutritional study The China Study, has to say about that?

Although some of the vitamin D present in our bodies may come from food, we can usually get all that we need from a few hours of sunshine each week. In fact, it is our ability to make our vitamin D that leads to the idea that it is not a vitamin; it is a hormone (i.e., made in one part of our body but functioning in another part).

The sun’s UV rays make vitamin D from a precursor chemical located in our skin. Provided we get adequate sunshine, this is all the vitamin D we need.

And John Jacob Cannell, MD from Vitamin D council, is there anything that you would like to add?

Remember, our ancestors lived naked in the sun for several million years. Then 50,000 years ago, some of us migrated north and south to places with less sun. Then we put on clothes, started working inside and living in cities where buildings blocked the sun. Then we started traveling in cars instead of walking, or riding horses, and glass blocked even more of the UVB in the sunlight. Then, only a few years ago, we started actively avoiding the sun and putting on sunblock. All this time we humans have been steadily reducing the tissue levels of the most potent steroid hormone in our bodies, one with powerful anti-cancer properties.

The really significant reductions in sunlight exposure have occurred since the industrial revolution, just the time the “diseases of civilization” like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer seem to have greatly increased. Pretty frightening when you think about it.

Even Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who advocates supplementation in his book Eat To Live, has this to say:

Most of us work indoors and avoid the sun or wear sunscreen, which lowers our vitamin D exposure.

In other words, vitamin D does not come from packaged breakfast cereals or rancid fish oils. It comes from good ole’ Mr. Sun.

How Much Sunshine?

The US RDA for vitamin D is 400 IU (international units) for an adult.

Dr. Mercola recommends that each person should get about 5,000 units of vitamin D everyday.

Sounds like a lot, right?

Not really, especially when you consider that only 15-30 minutes of full exposure (or as close to full as you can get) produces about 10,000 IU vitamin D!

What About Sunscreen?

Ah, sunscreen. That fruity, vanilla-y smelling goop that reminds us of beaches, bikinis, and family BBQs.

Snap out of it!

Not only are most sunscreens full of toxic ingredients, but putting them on your skin actually blocks the absorption of UVB rays, which is what we need to make vitamin D.

A healthy (and free) alternative? Shade.

If you feel yourself becoming uncomfortably warm in the sunshine, find yourself a nice shady spot, put on some breathable fabric, wear a hat, etc.

Simple, yet solid advice.

P.S. Be sure to check out “Vitamin D and the Raw Vegan Diet: Part II” for more information on the TRUTH about vitamin D.

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admin, November 19th 2009 | Tags: Raw Food Diet, raw foodists, raw vegan, sunscreen toxic, sunshine, vitamin d, vitamin d deficiency
Posted in healthy vegan diet