Deciding To Go Raw

So, now that you know what a raw food diet is all about, you need to decide, is it right for you? One thing to keep in mind is that you do not need to incorporate raw food 100% of the time. You can just eat more fruits and vegetables and no processed foods, and still reap many health benefits.

Orange, pear, apple (Photo credit: Joe Lencioni)

Try drinking fruit juices until lunch time and then eating a healthy veggie sandwich. For dinner, eat some blanched vegetables with a cooked meal with no meats - or a small amount of meat but no dairy or processed grains. 

When you gradually detoxify your body, you will see dramatic results. First, you will go through the initial detoxification process, where you may feel tired, have headaches, skin eruptions, etc. But once you are over this tough time, you will feel light, energetic, full of vitality, and very conscious and aware, among other things. You will have more mental clarity and therefore be more productive. Your body will feel cleansed, you will be less likely to get sick, and quicker to heal if you do. 

You may also see dramatic weight loss, for instance five pounds a week. You will also notice that you do not seem weighed down with colds or sicknesses because your immune system is much stronger. 

You will also save time and money because you will not be in the kitchen cooking all the time. You will not be eating animals, because conventionally farmed animals have been pumped full of hormones which only add to your toxic load. This in turn, puts an end to the torture in conventional animal farming. You will find you're not as likely to be plagued with depression, PMS, or acne. In fact, your skin may be glowing, and you will feel rejuvenated. 

Community supported agriculture (Photo credit: yksin)

AND you will be saving money because you can either grow your own vegetables or buy them at a local CSA or farmers market. Buying organic food is good for the earth and provides agricultural support to small farmers, which is much needed. 

This type of eating also slows the aging process. Your senses will be enhanced; you may be more flexible and fertile. You may find you're more creative, motivated, and also relaxed. You will focus more on relationships and be more environmentally attuned and inwardly attuned, and you may feel more spiritually connected to the world.

Of course, you may not experience all of these benefits, but these are just some reasons why some people choose to embrace a raw-food lifestyle. But remember, you don't have to go cold-turkey, and you may never choose to eliminate all cooked foods, but even just increasing the percentage of raw foods that you eat, and cutting out processed foods and excess meat and dairy will make a huge difference in your health and well-being.

How Eating Raw Triggers Detoxification

Cleaning is an every-day part of our lives. If we’re not cleaning the house, we’re doing laundry, cleaning the car, cleaning out the garage or attic, or clearing our desk of the never-ending piles of bills, junk mail, and coupons we accumulate. For the computer-savvy, cleaning is even an every day process in order to maintain an optimally-running, reliable and safe system. We even clean the outside of our bodies in some form or fashion on a daily basis, from showering to teeth brushing.

So, if cleaning is such a healthy part of our every day lives, logic would dictate we should do the same for the inside of our body as well, right??

Anterior view of the abdominal region. Skin is translucent in order to see the lymphatic system (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Detoxification and tissue cleansing is the process of purging environmental and chemical toxins from your body. Such toxins can disrupt every system in your body. If our body is polluted with such toxins, its own detoxification system – namely the liver, lungs, skin, kidneys and lymphatic system – cannot work properly, and these unruly poisons set up shop in every cell of our body, and soon begin to wreak havoc with our physical, mental and emotional well-being. (For more on toxic load and and how to minimize its impact on your health, visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/toxicload.html.)

These contaminants can create such problems as lethargy, foggy thinking, unhealthy skin, decreased vision, mood swings, and digestive disorders. However, by adopting a healthier and cleaner lifestyle, including eating healthy raw foods, our body can conduct its own ‘spring cleaning.’ And contrary to what most might think, raw foods are actually more easily digestible than cooked foods are.

Eating raw foods also enables the digestive system to ‘clean house’ and begin the process of purging the dangerous environmental and chemical toxins from the cells of the body, thereby restoring the systems to their optimal states. In addition, since raw foods are so nutrient-dense, they also simultaneously provide the body with much-needed and missed nutrients, vitamins, and minerals it needs in order to continually perform optimally on an ongoing basis.

Whether you choose to continue on a raw food diet long-term is up to you, but it's great for cleansing and purging toxins from your body on a short term basis as well.

Why Go Raw? (Or Why Your Body Is Overweight and Undernourished)

Because cooking takes so many nutrients and vitamins out of food, you automatically start feeding your body what it needs when you stop cooking food and start eating uncooked, nutrient-rich foods. A raw carrot has exponentially more nutrition than a cooked carrot.

Blood flow visualization (Photo credit: Argonne National Laboratory)

Cooking also alters the chemistry of foods, often making them harder to digest. Why do we have so many digestive problems in this country? Because we’re putting foods into our bodies in a form that we weren’t designed to absorb. High-fiber, high-water-content fresh produce helps alleviate constipation of the bowels, cells and circulatory system. Obstructions are cleared and blood flow increases to each and every cell in the body. 

Enhanced blood flow is significant for two reasons: as mentioned above, blood delivers nutrients and oxygen to living cells, and carries away their toxic metabolites.

Obesity is endemic in this country. The diet industry is more profitable than the oil companies. Why? Because the way we eat and prepare our food practically guarantees that we’ll overeat. Psychologists tell us that we overeat because our souls are hungry. But in reality, our bodies are hungry, even though we may feel full. When you start giving your body the nutrients it craves, overeating will cease.

Eating raw foods is a boost to your metabolism as well. It takes a little more energy to digest raw foods, but it’s a healthy process. Rather than spending energy to rid itself of toxins produced by cooking food, the body uses its energy to feed every cell, sending vitamins, fluids, enzymes and oxygen to make your body the efficient machine it was intended to be.

You’ll naturally stop overeating, because your body and brain will no longer be starving for the nutrients they need. A starving brain will trigger the thoughts that make you overeat. The brain and the rest of your body don’t need nearly the quantities we Americans feed them - instead, they need quality. 

Be sure to check back for the rest of this series and how eating raw naturally detoxifies your body, as well as some tasty raw food recipes!

Why The Raw Food Diet Isn’t Really A Diet

I've been wanting to do a raw food series for a while. Eating raw can really be a great way to cleanse and detoxify your body in a way that is gentle and healthy, and it can even become a way of life if desired (which you may once you feel how good it makes you feel). I can't think of a better time to try going raw than in the summer - after all, who wants to slave over a hot stove when it's 90+ degree outside anyway? So that's why I'm doing a 2-week series on raw foodism, from benefits, to detoxification uses, to recipes - starting with today's post on why raw foodism is more a way of life than it is a diet, even though it can be used for "dieting" purposes (i.e. losing weight).

Our busy lives can sometimes make it difficult to stick to our dieting plans when we’re trying to lose weight. We’re either keeping track of our fat intake, our sugar intake, our carbohydrate intake, or our caloric intake. With all that counting, it’s no wonder most of us become discouraged and ‘fall off the dieting wagon.’ Add to that the surplus of convenient diet foods that are out there that are chock-full of preservatives and additives that we choose when we’re tired from a busy day and don’t have the energy or time to prepare a nutritious meal, and we’re headed down a wrong-way street trying to navigate our way through our weight-loss journey.

English: A close up of a fresh raw food dish (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Enter the raw foods lifestyle. Not only are raw foods full of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals our bodies need to perform optimally, they provide enzymes for proper digestion, and will also result in the purging of toxins and the cleansing of your body systems. 

The best part? You can eat as many fruits and vegetables as you like…and you will lose weight.

In addition, the natural high fiber content of most raw foods will help you feel fuller, thereby reducing your food intake. They’ll assist in turning up the thermostat in your body, helping to melt away that excess fat and nourishing your body’s cells to continue with the fat-burning process. 

Most raw foods are naturally low in calories, and obviously much lower in calories, fats, sugars, and carbohydrates than the dieting convenience foods we’d been reaching for in the past. Add the extra bonus of increased energy, regulated blood sugar and blood pressure levels, sharper vision and improved mental functionality, and you’ll wonder why you didn’t become a ‘raw foodie’ sooner! 

And, once you reach your weight loss goals, you’ll realize how healthy you’ve become in the process, and how good you feel, and the raw food lifestyle may just become a way of life.

Video - How To Make Your Own Natural Perfume

Here is a short video of an actual class on making your own natural perfumes. This class gives a basic though somewhat technical overview of the different types of scent you will need to make your own perfume, and an understanding of top, middle, and base notes, and how to combine them into the proper balance. So check this out, and try making your own perfume - feel free to share your own recipes below!

ACHS.edu Making Natural Perfumes
Join Dorene Petersen, President of Australasian College of Health Sciences, as she introduces the easy and fun methods to create your own natural perfumes with essential oils. A free download of the class brochure is available at www.apothecary-shopp...


Essential Oils For Making Perfumes:
   

Smell Good & Feel Good With Natural Essential Oils

If you want to use perfume without all the harmful chemicals we discussed on Monday, making your own is a great way to smell great, and also reap the benefits of various essential oils. Essential oils have been used for centuries to remedy a variety of ailments both physical and emotional.  Some, like peppermint oil are great for digestion while others like grapefruit are known for their fat burning properties.  However, the most common use for essential oils is to help induce a state of relaxation or calming, which is great when it comes to perfume - not only can you smell good, but your perfume may even help you relieve stress! 

Here are 4 essential calming oils and how to use them.

Essential Oils Box (Photo credit: luxomedia)

Rose Oil

Rose oil has several uses including being used as an antidepressant, anti-wrinkle, to treat chronic bronchitis and asthma and to help improve sexual potency.  It’s also used to induce calming and relaxation.  And is said to be able to heal emotions and trauma by bringing warmth to the heart and soul.

It’s often blended with other calming oils to produce an all encompassing calming effect and blends well with Patchouli, Cedarwood Oil, Bergamot, Sandalwood, Chamomile, and Ylang-Ylang.   You can place it in a lotion and apply directly to your skin. You can place rose oil in massage oils or bath products.  You can also place in a diffuser and enjoy the scent in a room that you find calming.  Say your bathroom, bedroom or study.

Lavender Oil

Lavender oil may be the most common essential oil using for relaxation.  You can find it in the grocery store isles in lotions, bath gels, shampoo and even candles.  Lavender is everywhere.  In addition to being wonderful for relaxing and calming, lavender oil can be uses as an analgesic, diuretic, styptic, rheumatism, muscle pain, depression, headaches, hypertension, insomnia, stress and skin diseases.
Like Rose Oil, you can combine it in a number of personal care products including perfume, put a few drops in your bathtub, or place it in a diffuser and enjoy it throughout your home.

Jasmine Oil

Jasmine has a most recognizable fragrance and is commonly used as an aphrodisiac, to treat headaches, for fatigue, to soothe coughs, to improve and tone skin and to calm menstrual issues.  Jasmine is also tremendous oil for calming. 

While jasmine oil is more expensive than just about any other essential oil, it is very powerful oil.  To use you can blend into personal care products like bath gels, massage oils and lotions or you can place a few drops of jasmine oil in a vaporizer and let it permeate your home.

Jasmine oil blends well with Bergamot, Rose, Sandalwood and Citrus oils.

English: Glass vial containing Roman Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis) Essential Oil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chamomile Oil

Chamomile oil, both Roman and German, are wonderful for their calming and relaxing properties.  They also help with treating PMS and other menstrual and menopausal problems and to heal and regenerate tissue. 

Many practitioners recommend using Chamomile to treat irritable children and colicky infants.  To use, blend in massage oil, place a few drops in the bath, blend into lotions and creams and place a few drops in a vaporizer or diffuser.

To create a powerful relaxing effect you can blend Chamomile with jasmine, lavender or rose oil. 

Essential oils have many wonderful properties. By combining a few of these, you can create your own signature scent which leaves you feeling happy, calm and peaceful - and without putting a whole bunch of nasty chemicals on your skin. You can also use them in diffusers in your home, to make your whole house smell and feel good. Try making a few of your own signature scents using these calming oils, and feel free to share your favorite recipe below!

  

Is Your Perfume Toxic? Avoid These Common Chemicals

You may not realize that perfumes and colognes contain many chemicals, some of which may affect your health. Those who have chemical sensitivities and/or allergies often find that perfume will bring on symptoms - which can range from mild allergic symptoms such as congestion or sneezing, to more serious symptoms such as wheezing, rash, or difficulty breathing. Following is a list of some of the common chemicals found in perfumes and the health concerns linked to them.

Shelves of perfumes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* Benzaldehyde is used in many cleaning products and cosmetics such as deodorant, lotion, shaving cream, and shampoo.  It is said to depress the central nervous system and cause irritation in the respiratory and digestive tracts. Some studies suggest it may even cause kidney damage.

* Acetone, the chemical found in nail polish remover, is also in many perfumes. The US Environmental Agency (EPA) lists acetone as a hazardous waste(!). Breathing acetone can have a profound effect on the nervous system, causing dizziness, sleepiness, slurred speech, and possibly even coma in extreme cases.

* Benzyl alcohol is found in perfume, air freshener, deodorant, and fabric softener (to name a few). It can affect the respiratory tract and the central nervous system, causing headache, nausea, and respiratory irritation and even failure.

* Methylene chloride is a perfume ingredient that was banned by the FDA in the late 80s, but some claim the law is impossible to enforce. The problem with this chemical is that it is stored in body fat (many chemicals are fat soluble) where it is metabolized by the body into carbon monoxide. This can lead to symptoms of oxygen deprivation, such as headache, fatigue, and tingling in the extremities.

* Limonene is found in a lot of cleaning products as well as perfumes. It is considered carcinogenic, and is a skin and eye irritant. Inhaling the vapor of limonene is considered dangerous.

* Ethanol is also found in perfumes, as well as a host of other products. In fact, ethanol is in so many products that it's hard to believe it's on the EPA's hazardous waste list - from colognes to makeup, facial cleansers, toilet bowl and shower cleaners, and more. Whether ingested or inhaled, ethanol can cause blurred vision, drowsiness, and disorders of the central nervous system.

These are only a few of the toxic chemicals found in perfumes. If you are concerned about the possible health effects of perfume but still want to apply some sort of scent, consider making your own scented spritzer or oil, or buy a commercially-prepared, non-toxic scent - several companies now make non-toxic perfumes. (For help finding non-toxic beauty products, visit www.thenaturalproductdirectory.com.)

To make your own scent, mix a few drops of the essential oil of your choice with an ounce of rubbing alcohol and 2 ounces of water. Put in a small spray bottle and use as a spray-on scent. You can also blend essential oils into a neutral carrier oil such as sesame oil that can be rubbed on the skin.

Natural Perfumes & Information On Making Your Own: