Awesome Rawsome : healthy food diet

With all the advances in medicine, it is astounding to see how ill most of us are, especially with universal diseases like diabetes, obesity, heart problems etc.

So can food heal us? Or we need medicines and medicines and more medicines to be the part of our diet.

Most of us must have heard from our parents that a healthy (food) lifestyle is the key to success. But what we cook and we eat or for many families nowadays, what we buy, we heat and we eat is a matter of concern.

But what if there is a better way? A way that helps us recovers our health and look and feel ten years younger?

Eating raw

I was first introduced to the raw foods lifestyle when my grandmother said, chewing some nuts are good for my brain. I was struggling with my college studies and her advice helped me a lot…

A whole new world opened to me as I realised that there are people out there who are healthier and smart then me and almost never cook yet what they eat is tasty, varied and in its best form to release its vitamins and minerals.

Why eat raw?

Quite simply, to unlock the powerful nutrients and enzymes that raw foods contain; these are usually killed off at high temperatures and we end up eating ‘dead’ food instead.

Even worse, a significant chunk of the population depends on processed food, which is NOT food, merely junk masquerading as food. All the cereals, energy bars, frozen foods and packaged goodies lining the supermarket aisles are the cause of our declining health.

And when in desperation we visit our doctor, he is just as clueless and ends up prescribing a ‘pill for every ill’ to treat symptoms rather than address the root cause of the problem.

When we heat foods above 48°C we destroy live enzymes that assist in digestion and health. Raw foods alkalise the body, which helps to flush out toxins from cooked food. Cooked foods build up acidic toxins and can lead to weight gain and disease.

Because raw food is nutritionally dense, even a small quantity is more filling than a larger quantity of cooked food. The latter may taste nicer but all we’ve done is consuming calories, hence we get hungrier quicker as our body still craves the necessary nutrients.

Who is a raw foodie?

Anyone whose diet consists of 75% or rawer, live, nutritionally dense, unprocessed foods is considered to be a raw foodie. For the majority, we are nowhere near that goal and many of us will never be raw foodies.

How to begin

Admittedly, most of us will never go fully raw, but we can all incorporate raw elements into our diet and build up gradually. The easiest ways to begin are to:

1. Include freshly made salads as the main item at meal times. Instead of taking a huge helping of steak and creamy mash, try to reduce the cooked food on your plate and increase the amount of salad.

With so many varieties of salad to try, I am sure there is something out there for everyone.

2. Make fresh juices a daily part of your food intake. This means buying a powerful blender or juicer; the former will pulverize all the fibre as well, so you can drink your juice or smoothie consuming all the vegetable and fruit; whereas a juicer will give you a lighter drink, but you will miss out on the fibre.

Instead of having processed foods like cereal or rich foods like fried egg and buttered toast for breakfast, try to begin the day with a vegetable smoothie; it is filling, tasty, and won’t leave you feeling sluggish.

Aim to drink at least two glasses each day, or go on a juice fast one day a week, consuming nothing but vegetable juice all day long. Most people find the thought of drinking a vegetable juice revolting; I did too until I tried it – it was delicious! Sweetened only with fruit, it was satisfying and filling.

3. Go nuts – snack on nuts and seeds instead of crisps and biscuits and you will find that you never experience the midday energy drain that is common to most people.

Make your own raw snacks that are super delicious and good for you and you’ll never reach for a candy bar again.

For recipes click here.

PS: Make sure that you clean the food (vegetables, fruits, grains etc) as much as you can. Proper cleaning and rinsing with water is must to remove any sorts of bacterias, chemicals etc from the food item.

Comment below if you want more recipes. For this particular type of post, I would like to invite guest posts too. If you have any recipe, share with us, with your name on it and be a part of 'Mugdha Says'

Thank you for reading guys… stay healthy

Mugdha