Raw Food Diet

Not everyone know this but I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 12 years old. The reason not everyone knows this is because I spend all my time in yoga and Pilates classes telling people about having pizza, or ice cream, or Chinese, or M&S treats, or CHOCOLATE!!! They also wouldn’t know to look at me because I am overweight (with a pot belly that stopped being cute when I left my 20s) and I pretty much always have spots somewhere on my face or chest. Lovely! So after over 20 years of eating mostly a wheat-based diet with mostly pre-prepared foods, I have finally decided to diet. And not just any old diet but a raw food diet!

According to http://altmedicine.about.com/od/popularhealthdiets/a/Raw_Food.htm:

“People who follow a raw food diet believe it has numerous health benefits, including:

• Increased energy
• Clearer skin
• Weight loss
• Reduced risk of disease

The raw food diet contains fewer trans fats and saturated fat than the typical Western diet. It is also low in sodium and sugar and high in potassium, magnesium, folate, fiber, vitamin A, and health-promoting antioxidants. These properties are associated with a reduced risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. For example, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that consumption of a raw food diet lowered plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations.

The raw food diet is also thought to have a favorable acid-alkaline balance, being low in acid-forming food. Too much acidity in the body is thought to result in disease.

Besides the immediate benefits, the raw food diet may theoretically slow the aging process and reduce inflammation, because it contains fewer advanced glycation end products and other potentially damaging compounds.”

I don’t want people to start panicking though, because I’m only doing this for a week to see how it goes and then I’m going to reintroduce more processed foods (like bread, pasta, chocolate – PLEASE). I have been doing this since Sunday and, although it’s only Tuesday, I have noticed that my stomach is not as swollen as usual and my skin has a real glow about it. Plus I feel full of energy so long may this last!

Victoria