Could a raw food diet help you to lose weight?
A raw food diet is the natural diet for all animals on this planet. 99.9 per cent of the world’s population follow a raw food diet, which they’ve evolved to eat over millions of years. The other percentage, let’s call them humans and their companion animals, eat cooked food.
People on a raw food diet eat 100% raw, uncooked food. Many people find this a little difficult (often for social reasons) so they choose a 75-99% raw food diet. Most raw foodists are vegetarian or vegan, but some eat raw fish and meat.
Our meals are based on the following foods:
- Fruits, dried, fresh or frozen, especially wild
- Vegetables, dried or fresh, especially wild
- Seed sprouts (alfalfa, broccoli, radish, onion, sunflower, quinoa etc)
- Micro greens (buckwheat, sunflower etc)
- Herbs and spices, fresh and dried, especially out of my garden
- Nuts and their butters (cashew, macadamia, pecan, hazel, walnut, brazil etc)
and their butters (sunflower, sesame, hemp, flax, Salba etc)
- Ancient grains, soaked or ground (buckwheat, amaranth etc)
- Sea vegetables, often dried (Clearspring’s Japanese sea vegetables is my favorite brand)
- Algae’s, sometimes frozen, powdered or compressed into tablets (AFA algae, spirulina, chlorella etc)
- Ecstatic foods (cacao, maca, goji berries, Incan berries, wheatgrass, aloe vera, algae etc)
I sprinkle super foods onto all our meals, without fail. I usually have between one and three pints of green juice a day, though I don’t kick myself if I don’t make it for a few days. And yes, I do have an issue with cleaning the juicer, even now.
What are the benefits of eating raw foods?
· Increased energy
· Weight loss (or gain if you were too skinny)
· Diseases disappearing
· Happiness, and often ecstatic bliss
Raw foods are cleansing, energy-giving, full of life and help people avoid disease associated with the Standard UK Diet (SUKD) and Standard American Diet (SAD). People who eat a high proportion of raw foods have a tell-tale glow that is the envy of all their friends. Raw foodists look to nature to get it right. And it’s so simple.
Top your breakfast cereal with a banana, some shelled hemp seeds and some blueberries. Feeling more adventurous? Make almond and chia milk from soaked almonds, a tiny amount of dry chia, pure water and a touch of sweetener such as raw agave nectar or stevia extract. Blend it all up in a good high-speed blender, strain through a stocking (!) and it will store in the fridge for two to three days. You can even make a raw “porridge”. Soak some raw oats, a spoonful each of flax seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in some warm water in a flask overnight. Add your homemade milk as above and toppings just before eating.
For lunch, start by adding extra salad to your normal meal. Enjoy dark green leaves such as rocket, shredded kale and broccoli florets soaked in vinaigrette. Ready to ditch the bread? Put your normal filling in a nori sheet. Add your leaves and dip in some tamari for extra flavor. Replace any cooked fillings when you are ready. Discover avocado mashed with chlorella, seed spread made with sundried tomatoes, seeds and herbs all whizzed up in a food processor, creamy fermented-overnight cashew cheese, olive tapenades, marinated and blended with pecans courgette and more.
Dine out on huge salads, massive mixed tropical fruit dishes, crudité, dips, olives, marinated side dishes and more. Eating in, you can experiment with making nut burgers, sausages, pies, tarts, quiches, pizzas, noodles, spaghetti with nutmeat balls and much more. I’ve written over 500 raw food recipes, so believe me when I say there’s nothing that you can’t make raw!
Snack with fresh juices, the greener the better. Enjoy a fruit smoothie, with anything weird such as spinach thrown in. Discover the delights of raw chocolates, cakes, cheesecakes, shortbreads, ice creams, truffles and energy bars.
Shazzie presents Raw Kitchen on the Active Channel available from October on Sky 281 and freesat 408 (theactivechannel.com)
Click on the next page for some amazing raw food recipes from Shazzie to help get you started on your raw food diet.