Raw Foods Tips

The Benefits of Raw Food and Juicing

The Standard American Diet, more commonly known as SAD, is heavily dependent on processed foods. An average American’s diet is full of packaged easy to cook food which is more often than not laced with preservatives and other chemicals harmful to health.

Several health problems arising out of this system of diet are not unknown. Obesity in America has reached epidemic proportions while the number of people suffering from Type II Diabetes is constantly on the rise, posing a major threat to the health system o the country. Consumption of high fat foods as a part of SAD results in high cholesterol levels and hence an entire array of heart diseases.

Heavy intake of cold drinks starting from kids to the older populace results in high sodium levels in the blood and hence high blood pressure. Equally harmful is high caffeine consumption. High meat diet increases acidic balance of the blood and may result in cancer. Dairy products are also harmful in that the blood never takes all its calcium needs from milk, but from the bones. Excess lactose may be injurious to health.

The good news, however, is that all these conditions are not irreversible. Health can easily be corrected by shifting to a more congenial diet. This is where a raw food diet comes in. in such a diet, food is eaten in its raw form, without processing or cooking so as not to lose any of its vitamin, mineral and other nutrient content. Also the presence of active enzymes helps detoxify the body.

Benefits are wide ranging for such a kind of diet. Apart from the fact that it helps in weight reduction, raw foods also help cleanse the body. They help in vitalizing and energizing the human system as not much energy is expended in digesting the food in their basic form.

Other hazards mentioned earlier such as acidic content of blood and cancer and heart disease risks can also be avoided. So can constipation and Type II diabetes concerns.

Another important aspect f a raw food diet is ‘juicing’. As is well known that any food that is consumed needs to be broken down first into its liquid form and then further into simpler substances to be digested by the body. Intake of juices helps in saving the energy used in masticating solid foods, the energy which can then be used to cleanse the system of toxins.