Raw Vitamins

The Language of Raw Food

Before embarking on the raw food journey, it might be wise to explore some of the lingo associated with it. Here is a short list of some terms you may encounter:

Raw foodists or Rawists: those who thrive on the live energy of raw foods

Living Food Diet or the Raw Food Diet: a diet made up of organic, natural plant foods

Natural Hygiene: is a science of health and its advocates are called “natural hygienists”—most of whom follow a raw foods diet

Fruitarianism: is the practice of a diet that excludes everything but fruit, seeds, and certain vegetables.

Raw veganism: is the practice of a diet that disallows consumption of all animal products but allows for uncooked fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains and legumes in the diet

Raw vegetarianism: is the practice of a diet that excludes all animal flesh, including poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustaceans; vegetarianism allows for uncooked fruit, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, dairy, eggs and honey in the diet

Sproutarianism: allows for mainly sprouted seeds in the diet

Dehydration: is the process of heating foods at a maximum temperature of 100-120 degrees. This supposedly preserves digestive enzymes and increases the life of the food.

Living foods: foods which still have live enzymes circulating in them

Raw food: food that is grown and eaten in its uncooked form

Enzymes: catalyzed proteins that break down food so that the organism can absorb it; raw foodists say that raw foods are packed with enzymes

Enzyme inhibitors: present in seeds and nuts, these can interfere with the body’s enzyme production. Sprouting the seeds/nuts is said to reduce enzyme inhibitors.

Sprouting: involves soaking seeds, nuts or beans for several hours until the food begins to develop a tail-like protrusion on one end

The following recipes not only are on the more “semi raw” side of food preparation, but they also will keep your kitchen (and you) cool for these last days of summer. What a deal! High nutrition your body craves and needs in a form your body can assimilate, all while keeping your cool and testing out this raw food thing.

There are thoughts on the raw lifestyle that cut both ways. While most see some benefits in eating raw foods (especially vegetables and fruits), they may stop short of buying in 100 percent to the raw movement and what raw foodists believe.Here are some quotes, however, from those who advocate the raw food lifestyle.

Fiber of Life
Fiber is the indigestible remnants of plant cells found in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and beans. As they work their way through the digestive tract, they increase the elimination of waste matter in the large intestine and give you an urge to have a bowel movement. Eating fiber can turn the [...]

Trans Fat Free and Healthy?
The war against trans fats has been an ongoing battle that reached a peak in recent years. In 2003 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided that trans fats should be listed on food labels. A year later, mounting scientific data led an FDA advisory committee to publicly [...]

The Colon and Digestive Disease Center of Huntsville, Alabama. “Super green foods are a wonderful way for people who aren’t consuming 5 or 6 servings a day to get those nutrients. They are good for all the reasons vegetables are good for you.”

Tea has been used as a health-promoting beverage for over 5,000 years. Modern research is now confirming tea’s extensive range of health benefits such as increased metabolism and energy levels, antioxidant protection, and cardiovascular and cellular health.

Back to school means a busier schedule for you and your kids. Try these simple healthy snacks for those on-the-go quick-fixes or healthy staples for your kid’s lunchbox.

To prevent free radical damage the body has a defense system of antioxidants. Antioxidants are molecules that defend the body from cellular damage by “sacrificing” themselves and ending the free radical chain reaction before vital molecules are harmed.

A baby’s earliest solid foods should be mostly animal foods—especially nutrient-dense organ meat. The reason? When weaning begins, the nutrients protein, zinc, iron and B-vitamins begin to wane—and one food group providing these nutrients in ample amounts is meat.