live well, change the world.

there is a lot of confusion about raw food diets and cleanses. what constitutes raw? can you eat meat? how raw do you really have to be to feel the effects? what are the effects?? if you are not one of those people who can handle a lot of roughage and feel your stomach distending everytime you eat a salad, i am sure the raw food diet scares you off.

as someone who tries to maintain a 70-80% raw diet for most of the year, i have asked all of these questions. and i have days (especially those cold new york days where it seems like the only satisfying dinner option is a steak and potatoes) where i am unsure of my commitment to the lifestyle and don’t know if i am doing it “right.” 

what i find most attractive about the diet is that it is not a diet at all. it is really a way of life. if you like having energy, if you like feeling positive and want to do good, if you enjoy being physically active and social-then eating raw is something i would strongly consider.

the staple foods most of us are familiar with-  nutritionally dense superfoods, enzyme-rich vegetables and fruits- these are just the beginning of the raw food lifestyle. what appeals to me most, and works well with my lifestyle, is the approach to raw food as living and eating SIMPLY. enjoying food in its simplest form, enjoying it, and relishing the ways in which your body repays you for nourishing it in such a clean, holistic way. 

if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. our bodies work really hard for us, but there is only so much damage we can do to it  before we incur a large debt. eating poorly once in a while is not going to kill you, but eating poorly on a regular basis will add up to disease, discomfort, and ultimately, dissatisfaction with life. now, think about the opposite happening. think about how little work your digestive system has to do when you eat foods that are easy on it. the less energy your body has to use moving food through you, the more energy you have to put into all of the other things that are important to you and your daily life.

the easiest tips i have for someone interested in trying a raw diet might surprise you. they are not about fasting or even eating salads for every meal. you don’t have to be stringent- if you want to have a fish or meat, you just need to know how and when to eat it, and try to remain as raw as possible for the earlier part of the day.

if i were to give someone three things to try to dip their toes into the raw lifestyle, i would say this:

–properly combine your foods! mix veggies with anything, but keep starches and flesh foods separate from one another. this means you can eat a potato with veggies or a piece of fish with veggies, but don’t eat either with one another. if you’d like to eggs and dairy (i prefer raw goat’s milk products), make sure you eat them with vegetables only. this means- hold the hash browns with your egg white omelette, and opt for greens on the side instead. sprouted grain bread (ezekiel brand is one of my favorites) is a great alternative to whole wheat toast- it is raw and contains a complete protein. i like to eat this with avocado, lemon juice, and himalayan salt for lunch on the days i don’t feel like eating a salad. this meal contains healthy fats, protein, and carbs and takes very little time for your body to digest, giving you energy without robbing you of any.

–most people think that eating fruit along with their main meals is a good way to stay healthy. without properly understanding the body’s digestive cycle over a 24 hour period, many people consume fruit in a way that will not bring them any nutritional benefit. having lots of fruit with your main meals or eating it as a desert after meals is not the way it should be eaten. you should always eat fruit on an empty stomach. after eating fruit, make sure you leave at least 30 minutes before eating any other food, as it takes that long to digest. don’t mix fruit with any other food– yes, that’s correct. no more strawberry cheesecake, or even fruit with cheese. the reason is this: when fruit is digested in the intestine while you are digesting other food at the same time, it causes fermentation. essentially, fruit will rot the food that you are currently digesting. and no one wants anything rotting inside of them, so try to skip it when you can.

–the third tip for eating according to a raw lifestyle is to try and incorporate vegetable juice into your life. to me, this is probably the most important of all. essentially, vegetable juice delivers the enzymes and nutrition of the veggies we all know to be so healthy for us straight to our blood stream, detoxing our blood and cleansing our bodies without activating our digestive system, which obviously needs a break from all the work we give it. for people that want to give up coffee, i find that this is the very best alternative. there is no better energy than the energy you get from the oxygen of plants going straight into your veins. i promise you, this is more fulfilling than a caffeine high. there is no sweating, racing heart, and best of all, no crash. the big mistake most people make in trying to go raw is that they forget (or opt out of) the veggie juicing, which is a key element to successfully benefitting from the power of detoxified, raw living.

if you incorporate these three elements of the raw lifestyle into your diet, i believe you will want to take it further. for anyone that wants to expand, try experimenting with goji berries and raw cacao, blue green algae, and other superfoods like raw honey. these high vibrancy foods are packed with minerals and vitamins that will leave you feeling full of vitality, glowing, and simply put, just HAPPY. and the other fabulous thing? you don’t have to worry about calories. you can eat whatever you want and as long as it follows the guidelines above (sticking to mostly raw plantfoods, properly combined, fruit on its own, and green juice once a day), you won’t gain a pound. if anything, you will drop weight very quickly. i know it’s hard to believe in this world of psychotic diet regimens that you can eat delicious and nourishing foods in abundance and not worry about calories but it is true!

if you’re interested in deepening your education on the raw lifestyle, please visit www.davidwolfe.com and www.detoxtheworld.com. david wolfe and natalia rose are two of my raw inspirations. another fabulous blog is www.welikeitraw.com, which incorporates a few brilliant personalities into the mix. it is a fun, informative, and creative forum where you can get a lot of valuable information and inspiration.

i encourage all of you to take a ride on the high vibe journey…if nothing else i believe that you will learn to take better care of yourself and appreciate life at least a little more. and who couldn’t use that?

my lovely friend alyson sent me this link a few minutes ago. i am so excited by all this attention to the issue of justice and safety within the food and drug industry lately. although this is a long road, these strides are so important in getting the message out there that something has got to give.

the article makes a good point when it states that it is hurting the industry in unimaginable ways when one 50 acre farm has contaminated spinach and suddenly the entire country is no longer purchasing spinach at all. the resources the FDA has to deal with problems like these are slim, and reorganization is necessary.

i do, however, feel like more attention should be paid to the causes in general of these types of contaminations.  i am so sick of hearing about outbreaks of diseases in foods like peanuts, spinach, jalapenos, and tomatoes. the reason these foods are contaminated in the first place are a direct result of the poor conditions of factories that produce meat and poultry. so while the sales of those foods continue to rise, americans are afraid of eating healthy vegetables, fruits, and legumes for fear that they will contract a foodborne illness. and i dont blame them.

what do you think?

i was pleased to read this article today about Michelle Obama and her plan to help educate the public on healthy eating and local foods. it is refreshing to see that during this time of transformation in the white house, leaders are finally focusing on issues that are largely overlooked, such as our nation’s obesity crisis and the fact that we are, in fact, what we eat and when what we eat is killing us, we are essentially doing the opposite of living.

by speaking out about the value of local foods and demonstrating how simple it is for people to donate fruit and healthy items to homeless shelters, michelle obama is making a huge stride on behalf of the health of the american people. i especially love her point about the flavor of fresh, local food. if people realized how delicious these foods could be, there is no doubt in my mind they’d be eating them every chance they can get. unfortunately, most of us are subjected to dry, flavorless greens and bland fruit that would make anyone reach for junk food.

by emphasizing that nutritious food should be a right and not a privilege and a source of simple pleasure instead of a dreaded chore, mrs. obama is using her platform to be a voice of reason around an issue that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. hopefully that changes today.

so, i wanted to get into high fructose corn syrup and i decided today was the day. as i said in my earlier post, the only way social change can really happen, is if we start on an individual level. and that means educating people first. starting a dialogue about what is actually going on in society, and stirring people up. in order to do that, we need to begin with the facts. 

the below video is an example of how the food industry uses the lack of knowledge  people have about high fructose corn syrup as a mechanism to make people laugh off an issue that is not simply serious, but also potentially deadly.

the whole point of this ad is based on the fact that “what you don’t know can’t hurt you.” well, guess what? it can. the corn refiners would like you to believe that their product is a harmless sweetener that is derived from a natural substance. it is shameful. hfcs is a highly processed substance that starts out with genetically modified corn that is then processed in such a way that it is stripped of its nutrients and left simply as starch. after this, the starch is converted into a unique blend of fructose and glucose through genetically modified enzymes alpha-amylase, glucoamylase, and glucose-isomerase. what you end up with is a mixture that is 55% fructose (and infused with fungus from the enzymes, fermentation liquid, and chemicals that are all hidden on labels we read on our food packaging). 

even though this process is quite complicated, high fructose corn syrup is cheaper than sugar and easy to transport. it mixes easily, prevents freezer burn, and extends the shelf life of many foods. it even keeps breads soft, which explains why you can find it on so many labels for sandwich breads, muffins, and buns. hfcs it came at a great time for corn growers, as they were experiencing a drop in business when soybeans became popular for use in margarines and shortenings. so this was a successful way for corn growers to reclaim their brand. another example of big business making life EASIER for themselves, and DETRIMENTALLY WORSE for the american people. why on earth would anyone want a sweetener that has gone through all of that chemical altering, when they could use pure sugar from sugar cane, or agave straight from a natural plant? i don’t think that they do. i think that they simply need to understand what they are eating.

hfcs constitutes a HUGE part of the everyday diet of many american people, and as we live in a continually globalized world, it is rapidly infiltrating other countries as well. hfcs is used in everything from soda, to cereal, to ketchup, to chips, to places we would not normally think– salad dressings, canned soup, juices, pasta sauces, energy bars, even a low-fat, fruit-flavored yogurt can have 10 teaspoons of hfcs in one serving. and unfortunately, people are being lied to about it. there can be a certain amount of hfcs that is unaccounted for in foods labeled “all natural,” leading a person to believe they are drinking a natural fruit juice, when in fact, they are guzzling sugar.

we now eat about 155 pounds of sugar per person, per year, and the majority of this sugar in the american diet is fructose. it represents 40% of the sweeteners added to food and drinks, and is the sole caloric sweetener in soft drinks. is there any wonder that generations of people are living (if you can call it that) with diabetes, and kids are developing this terrible disease at rapid rates?

while corn growers will repeatedly preach that there are no known links between high fructose corn syrup and health concerns such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, it is proven that what happens to your body when you digest fructose is that it is metabolized in your liver. in studies done on rats, they are able to see that rats fall apart rapidly when they are given fructose. their livers look like those of alcoholics, and they have high cholesterol, anemia, and females have trouble reproducing. there are in fact direct correlations between hfcs consumption and obesity. recent studies by the AMA have shown that fructose-eaters have heightened levels of triglycerides and cholesterol and decreased insulin sensitivity, a danger sign for diabetes.

additionally, the effects of fructose are strongest on the growing organism, so people should be especially careful when giving it to their children. and that means fruit too, as it contains fructose as well. however– please keep in mind that fructose in fruit is VERY different from that found in hfcs. it is simply not natural, and not coupled with the enzymes and fiber that fruit naturally contains. by giving children food with hfcs, we are instilling in them a preference for sweet foods that will lead to consuming highly caloric foods and impact their health in a serious way.

it’s time to take these facts and start making better choices. i have faith that people who have this information will want to take matters into their own hands and cut these things out of their diets as well as those of their families. and eventually it hopefully won’t matter how much money the food industry has, because people won’t be listening to their deceiving messages. they will have the truth.

i find myself embarking on my blogging  journey today, march 3, 2009,  because of an article i read in the new york times this morning. you can find it on the front page of the business section, titled “Harvard Medical School In Ethics Quandary.”

the gist of the article is that the drug industry pays notable faculty members at Harvard Medical School to be paid consultants to multiple drug companies, a fact that the professors leave out while they are lecturing their medical students on the benefits of specific drugs. although this is not news to me, or maybe even to you, i bet this is something that most of america still does not understand. this kind of deceit- educating students that are trying to serve their country and improve the health of american citizens on drugs that they are paid to endorse- well, it is along the lines of the many other bureaucratic irrationalities that occur on a daily basis in institutions around the country.

take the American Dietetic Association. now, i have nothing against the men and women who are registered dieticians and aim to improve nutrition in the american people. what i DO have a problem with is the association itself being sponsored by brands such as coca-cola company, pepsico, and kelloggs. do you think these brands have any interest in the field of health? (maybe you shouldn’t answer that). it is atrocious to me that on one hand, an organization exists to help people decide what to eat to lead long, healthy lives, and on the other, that organization is given direct money by brands that list high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient in almost all of their products (we’ll get into that later).

i was happy to read that a committee has been formed at Harvard Medical School to start addressing these conflicts of interest and to stand up against this insane commercialization of an industry that started out about Care and Healing. after all, is that not what health is about? the students have now secured a requirement that all faculty ties to drug companies be disclosed in class, which is a start, seeing as even school officials do not keep tabs on how many millions of dollars pharmaceutical companies are paying faculty each year, for personal gain as well as research grants (can you really imagine those  research results NOT being skewed??).

as the article proves, it is going to have to be the students, the generation of young people in our country, banding together and standing up in order to make things right. and that starts with discourse.

thus, i could not bear to hold off on this blog any longer. we all need to help and get our voices out there.

are you in?