Raw Food Movement

Since I've become vegetarian, I've became vegan. Since becoming vegan, I've been curious about raw food. Vegetarian was a gateway for me. I figure that most vegans venture down that road as being healthy becomes a obsession.

"Obsessed is what the weak and lazy call the Dedicated" <-- not my quote Raw food diets have been more mainstream over the years. This calls for 75% of the food you consume has to be raw (food that has not been cooked or when cooked under 104 degrees F.) To get as much nutritional value out of these foods, they also must be unprocessed and organic. People who ear mostly raw have reported to feel better, be more energized and weight loss.



Raw Food consists of the following:


~Fresh fruit
~Raw vegetables
~Nuts and seeds
~Legumes
~Sprouts

Planning out meals works for me so that I don't have to hurry or stress about what will I eat tonight?

Food charts are easy and helpful when learning what you should eat, quantity, what to avoid, etc.

Source: Website is in the picture.

Overall, one should focus on these tips below:

~Lost of fruits and vegetables (the more variety, the better)
~Mostly green leafy veggies
~Include nuts, seeds, and other suitable protein sources into your meals
~Iron and calcium (dark leafy vegetables)
~Water & fresh juices (good idea to invest in a juicer)

There are plenty of websites out there to make research and finding sample meal plans efficient and easy.


Meal Ideas

~Adding lemon to water helps energize your body
~For snacks feast on raw almonds or other nuts or a piece of fruit
~Juice juice juice! Add 2 or 3 types of fruits and 4 or 5 vegetables for a fresh highly nutritious drink. I recommend The Juice Bible.
~Make salads! Using kale, spinach or dark lettuce mix with hemp seeds, nuts and a ton of other vegetables is a great way to feel full while enjoying a variety of foods.
~Raw snack bars. Not only do they taste great but they are affordable! I recommend "Raw Revolution" in any flavor!
~Mix in avocados whenever you can. They are regarded as a superfood and a complete food.

If you want to learn more about this incredible diet, a great resource (where I got some of my information here from) is:

http://vegetarian.lovetoknow.com/Raw_Food_Diet_Meal_Plans


Happy Raw fooding!

Juicing for Life

As I grow older, I realize once I really started getting into fitness, my curiosity led me to look into how to fuel my body.

Watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead got the boyfriend and I thinking we should start juicing. The benefits are unbelievable. The body is able to digest the micro-nutrients easier and you are able to consume more fruits and vegetables rather than just eating them.



We purchased a Masticating Juicers / Single Gear / Single Auger Juicers.

Below is a recent juicing frenzy we went on. All of the ingredients are organic.

From left: pineapple, pears, gala apples, grapefruit, kiwis, limes, raspberries

From left: carrot juice, spinach, broccoli, apple pears, celery stalks, beets, fennel, asparagus, kale, cabbage, lacinto kale, potatoes, cucumbers, sweet potatos, carrots.

Making carrot juice

From left: cabbage, red cabbage, broccoli, kale, fennel & potatoes ready for juicing

From left: kale, apples, pears, celery, more kale in line

Cabbage cabbage everywhere

All of the juice from all of those yummy vegetables & fruits.

Each juice had it own flavor and of course we mixed flavors for a little excitement.
Juice is wonderful on your skin, digestive tract as well as your immune system.