Tips For Switching to the Raw Food Diet

There are many diets out there today that you can choose from. Many of them are healthy, and many are unhealthy. However, many diets, including the unhealthy diets are accepted by society, but the healthiest of them all, which is the raw food diet, is not usually accepted by most. Thus switching to the raw food diet can be one of the most difficult diets to switch to, as there just is not enough social support.

However, if you are determined to switch to the raw food diet, then there are ways that you can take matters in your own hands and stay on it, regardless of whether or not you have support from others.

Make Gradual but Permanent Changes

One of the keys to switching to the raw diet is to do it gradually. Not only will this be easier on your body, but it will give you time to learn how to prepare your foods, without being overwhelmed. Thus if you crave pasta one day, but don't know how to make raw pasta, then you can go and have your pasta as you normally would. (Raw pasta by the way can be made from zucchini by using a spiral vegetable slicer).

Get to Know Your Foods

At first you may not like the taste of raw plant-based foods, but once your taste buds come back to life, you will enjoy them just as much as any other food that you are used to. To help you get through this stage, you should take the time to educate yourself on the health benefits of the raw foods, so that you can focus on that, instead of the taste.

Eat Plenty

The raw plant-based diet is not about eating less, although most raw foodists do not eat as much. But when you first make the change, you will notice that you eat more because your body is being cleaned and nutrients are being restored. Thus it is important that you eat whenever you get hungry, and let your body tell you when you are full, as opposed to counting calories.

Drink Plenty

The more raw foods you eat, the more water you will need to drink as well. This is because raw foods contain a lot of fiber that absorbs water and other toxins in the digestive tract. Thus forget about the standard 8 glasses of water, and drink when you are thirsty. You will notice that when you listen to your body, you will drink a lot more than just 8 glasses a day.

Resolve to Eat Healthier

This is a resolution for anyone who wants to eat healthier and take permanent steps to improve their diet. I have changed my diet substantially over the past 30 years and want to share what I've learned. My wife and I are largely raw foodists, buy nearly all organic including dairy, eat a diet which combines super food smoothies, veggie juice blends, sprouts and wheat grass grown by us, salads, kefir, and home-prepared organic soups, and virtually no meat.

When you eat more healthy and pay attention to what goes into your body, you will notice quick changes in your energy level and how you feel in general, and ultimately your overall health improves. So here's the challenge: "I resolve to eat healthier this year."

There are many levels to healthy eating, some fairly easy to incorporate into a lifestyle and diet, and others which take a fair amount of research and planning. Whichever level you wish to attain, changing your food intake will require a dedicated commitment to yourself. This need for commitment and planning is likely why so many people in my part of the world at least are overweight, unhealthy, and generally surviving on an extremely low-quality diet. But I think you can do better than mere survival eating, so I'm providing a list of suggestions to get you started.

Start Where You Are

Researching any of the ideas on this list can help you immensely. I recommend you get started by choosing the things you think you can do first, then work up to the bigger steps. Let me say for those whose diet is based on meat, it really is possible to eat another way. There are many incredible choices of meatless diets today and lots of available information--offering plenty of necessary nutrition without negative side effects that can come from a dead-food diet. Vegetarians don't have to survive on berries and nuts!

Yet vegetarian or raw food diets may be a far off dream for many. I recommend you begin where you are and make changes that seem possible for now. Then set out to learn about other options--there's no one right way to follow this list.

Suggestions For Healthier Eating

• Explore more nutritious food options, such as organic vegetables, fruits, juicing, sprouting, kefir, cultured vegetables, healthy supplements and super food items, and lots of healthy water.
• Learn to cook and prepare healthy foods for yourself, reduce your dependence on fast food/restaurants and all convenience foods.
• Consider more raw food--raw food is live food with intact enzymes which are important for digestion, while cooked foods are enzymatically dead and usually much lower in vitamins, minerals, water and other important nutrients.
• Eliminate or at least substantially reduce your intake of such non-healthy items as sodas, doughnuts and pastries, chips, sugar/high fructose corn syrup/sweeteners, fried food, white flour items, and all gmo products.
• Be a more conscious consumer: It starts at the grocery store, don't shop when you're hungry, educate yourself, read labels and know what they're saying, buy organic whenever possible, spend more time in the produce section and less in the convenience food aisles.
• Use more self-control at the eating table, eat slower, stop when you're three-quarters full instead of stuffed, eat smaller amounts more often rather than large meals.
• If you eat meat and/or dairy, look for such things as organic, free range, no hormones or antibiotics, and certified humane raised and handled.

Basically, it's important to learn to eat for nutrition rather than desire. Much of our food intake in the United States at least is for the wrong reasons, such as social occasions, to fulfill addictions and desires, or simply to stuff ourselves out of habit. Learn to give your body what it really needs and it will take you to a new world of healthy eating and nutrition. This is a great resolution for this or any year!