Eating Raw for Health

Eating raw is one of the easiest ways to help keep your body healthy and fit.  Now, I’m not proposing that you switch over to eating raw meats and fish – what I am suggesting, however, is a change to more raw fruits and vegetables.  Cooking vegetables removes a lot of the nutrients and also breaks down the healthy fiber in them.  Eating more fruits and vegetables in their natural raw state gives your body more of the good stuff that it needs for health.  As an added bonus, raw is more filling – you can eat a LOT of food, and still maintain a healthy weight!

There are several ways to incorporate more raw food into your diet.  The most common and easiest of course, would be salads.  It’s always a good idea to start each meal with a very large salad.  Use a variety of dark green leafy vegetables and don’t forget to add some nuts or seeds for protein and crunch.  Sunflower seeds make a great salad topping, as do peanuts, almonds or pecans.

Morning breakfast smoothies are another great way to add raw food to your diet.   Some put some frozen fruit (bananas and berries work great for this!) and a cup of shredded kale in a high powered blender (like the Vita Mix 1300 Turboblend 4500) with a little soy or rice milk or fruit juice.  It’s absolutely delicious and full of antioxidents and vitamins.

Another way to get more raw food in your diet is to eat raw soups – throw two or three of your favorite vegetables into the blender with herbs and seasonings, a bit of avocado (adds healthy fat and texture) and puree until smooth.  You can eat it cold or gently warm it up on the stove – just bring it to temperature, you don’t want to cook out the vitamins!

It goes without saying that a very good blender – like the Vita Mix 1300 Turboblend 4500 – is a necessity.  When pureeing raw vegetables, you need a blender that’s strong enough to really make it smooth, and not leave tough bits in the mix.  Pureeing veggies is hard work, and it takes a tough blender.

Good luck in bringing more raw fruits and vegetables into your diet.  Your body deserves the very best you can give it – take care of it, and it will take care of you!

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