Living Foods, Living Health
As an important health foundation, I want to stress one concept that is vital for every body and soul. Something so simply that perhaps you may have overlooked it in the search for the golden panacea. If there is any single dietary philosophy and application that can prevent many diseases, enhance energy, vitality and boost the immune system it is this: A large proportion of your diet needs to comprise of raw, living, unprocessed foods.
Fact 1 Over thousands of years we have evolved to consume natural foods that nature supplies in abundance. Our bodies function most optimally when we are in alignment with what we have evolved to eat over a long period of time.
Fact 2: No other animal cooks its food – every creature living in nature feeds exclusively on raw foods. Where animals have been domesticated and fed cooked foods, we tend to see a rise in modern disease in these animals.
Fact 3: Research indicates that if we consume a larger portion of living foods in relation to cooked foods, we almost have the same health benefits as eating 100% raw.
If you suffer from any of western society’s usual symptoms such as frequent colds, headaches, musculoskeletal aches, pains and cramps, food sensitivities and allergies then you are in the acute stages of disease. Many allergies, for example, are linked to poor breakdown of food molecules, with the resultant unnatural peptides triggering an antigen-antibody reaction resulting in the classic allergy symptoms. These symptoms, considered normal by many, are pathological conditions often occurring as a consequence of excessive consumption of cooked, dead food. Many people put up with these afflictions, and never truly experience real health. Living foods can make a tremendous difference to your health, vitality and spiritual wellbeing.
Powerful health benefits
The inclusion of a variety of raw foods will also naturally enhance the array of phytochemicals (plant chemicals) you consume. Research is showing that there are thousands of these plant chemicals found in nature’s garden – each possessing unique healthful benefits for your body. Several of the newly discovered phytochemicals have shown to have anti-ageing effects as well as playing a part in thermogenesis (heat-production/ calorie-burning effects) as well as other specific effects that tip the scales in favour of winning the weight loss war.
Increasing the amount of living foods in your diet automatically boosts your energy, metabolism and physiological integrity, because food in its natural state is more easily digested and more highly assimilated. Also, the enzymes naturally present in raw, alive foods, facilitate complete chemical breakdown of food. Cooked food that lacks enzymes, is lower in vitamins and minerals in combination with a stressed pancreas that does not produce enough enzymes due to over-consumption of these cooked foods, can generate unnatural food fragments that wreak havoc inside your body.
Cooked food has a snowballing effect upon your body. The detrimental effects accumulate over time and prematurely erode and age your body, severely damaging your internal organs. Just because its hazardous properties are not felt immediately does not mean it is not damaging.
From a fat loss point of view - incomplete lipid breakdown, due to destruction of the lipase enzyme through cooking, can force the body to store more fat in your adipose tissues, creating the characteristic and rather unattractive rolls of fat. So all fat is not equal. The difference is in terms of how your body processes the fat dependent on the nature of the fat source. For example, studies show that if you introduce a cup of nuts daily into your diet, all else being the same, there is likely to be no increase in weight or fat, and in some cases there is actually a weight-reduction. The main difference is that when you process the food you lose the benefit of the enzyme activity and/or or some other component of the wholefood that may also be beneficial.
The fats that are detrimental are chemically-altered and are nearly all heated fats. Where are they found? In most processed foods and oils, which are not labelled as 'cold-pressed'. The food industry created the process of hydrogenation of fats to increase the shelf-life of fats in various products. Unfortunately this high-heat process denatures the structure of the fats. Sometimes labelled as just 'vegetable fat' in margarines, evidence now supports that these trans-fats are a very toxic ingredient. By avoiding all take-away foods, most cereals and snack bars, you’ll be far better off. Your basic living foods ingredients should incorporate the following:
fresh, seasonal, organic fruit and vegetables for salads, snacks, juices and gourmet meals
large variety of nuts - be sure to soak them overnight to remove enzyme inhibitors; this will enhance digestibility of nuts. Do not eat peanuts though.
sprouts - a small selection is usually available from supermarkets but do investigate growing your own sprouts. Sprouts are very easy to prepare, fast, highly nutritious, very versatile and provide you with variety. Try different seeds and grains such as sunflower sprouts, chickpeas, buckwheat sprouts (make a fantastic living buckwheat porridge with buckwheat sprouts in a blender along with soaked figs, dates, cinnamon, splash of water and drizzle of raw organic honey.)
Dried fruit provides thickness, sweetness, high mineral levels, anti-oxidants and other specific phytochemicals. Wonderful additions to a raw almond nut milk smoothie. Yum!
Organic Unhulled Tahini – use the unhulled version in many recipes, including sauces, desserts and smoothies. To give you a sample of some of the delights that raw, living foods can tempt you with here is one of my favourite living food desserts:
Tahini Balls:
½ cup unhilled organic tahini | handful raw pistachios, chopped up coarsely | handful sunflower seeds | handful organic sultanas | organic desiccated dried coconut or fresh shavings for rolling.
Use a fork to mix the tahini, pistachios, sunflower seeds, sultanas. Mix until dough-like then form into 5cm balls and roll into the coconut shavings. Refrigerate for 15 minutes and then eat!
Simply incorporating lots of raw foods and enjoying raw food recipes will be give you a great foundation to a happy, healthy body and peaceful, in-tune heart.
