Consuming a raw food diet is beneficial to your health for numerous reasons. Raw food is easier to digest than cooked or processed foods and it is almost entirely usable by the body. Cooking destroys enzymes and can deplete vitamins and other important nutrients while also creating harmful free radicals.
All chemical activity within the body relies on the actions of enzymes, eating a diet of mostly cooked and/or processed foods requires your enzymes to work overtime to digest and assimilate the few available nutrients. Because raw foods contain all of the enzymes necessary for their digestion and the body can produce and use enzymes solely for maintenance and repair.
It can also be used as a “quick fix’ weight loss solution!
Your Top 10:
Green leafy vegetables: Eat them raw, throw them into a broth, add them to juices. Their chlorophyll helps swab out environmental toxins (heavy metals, pesticides) and protects the liver.
Lemons: You need to keep the fluids flowing to wash out the body and fresh lemonade is ideal. Its vitamin C, considered the detox vitamin, helps convert toxins into a water-soluble form that’s easily flushed away.
Watercress: Put a handful into salads, soups, and sandwiches. The peppery little green leaves have a diuretic effect that helps move things through your system. And cress is rich in minerals too.
Garlic: Add it to everything — salads, sauces, spreads. In addition to the bulb’s cardio benefits, it activates liver enzymes that help filter out junk.
Green tea: This antioxidant-rich brew is one of the healthiest ways to get more fluids into your system. Bonus: It contains catechins, which speed up liver activity.
Broccoli sprouts: Get ‘em at your health-food store. They pack 20 to 50 times more cancer-fighting, enzyme-stimulating activity into each bite than the grown-up vegetable.
Sesame seeds: They’re credited with protecting liver cells from the damaging effects of alcohol and other chemicals. For a concentrated form, try tahini, the yummy sesame seed paste that’s a staple of Asian cooking.
Cabbage: There are two main types of detoxifying enzymes in the liver; this potent veggie helps activate both of them. Coleslaw, anyone?
Psyllium: A plant that’s rich in soluble fiber, like oat bran, but more versatile. It clean up toxins (cholesterol too) and helps wipe them out. Stir powdered psyllium into juice to help cleanse your colon, or have psyllium-fortified Bran Buds for breakfast.
Fruits: They’re full of almost all the good things above: vitamin C, fiber, nutritious fluids, and all kinds of antioxidants. Besides, nothing tastes better than a ripe mango, fresh berries, or a perfect pear.
