Saturday, 4 July 2015

How can you be sure your children are getting the nutrition they need?

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Most parents would worry that if they keep their children from eating those fatty foods that they love, and only offer vegetables, that the children will starve, or have nutritional deficiencies.  These parents feel that the kids will just not eat the food.  If you think about it this way, how much nutrients are they receiving from the fatty, processed foods now? 

  If their diet consists of French fries, mashed potatoes, apple sauce, chocolate pudding, and maybe chicken fingers, how could it be worse if you only offer fruits and vegetables?  Sure, maybe they will demand to have the foods they like, and not eat.  They will eventually get hungry and if you keep offering fruits and vegetables and do not give in, you will see that they will begin to enjoy it, especially if they see everyone else in the family eating healthier.

Incorporate bean soups, such as yummy lentil soup and if that doesn’t work make your lentil soup into a “lentil burger”.  You may have to gradually change their eating styles.  Try making fresh bean and/or vegetable soups with some cheese sprinkled on it.  Make sure it is tasty, and not too spicy.  Make homemade pancakes with wheat and only sweeten it with pure raw honey.  Make fruit shakes and throw in a carrot or romaine lettuce. Make tasty salads with homemade dressings….and also make faces out of the tomatoes and cucumbers and carrots.  Make tasty salmon and have them try it. 

There are so many possibilities and recipes that you can try.  Do not give up on your child because they have shown a dislike for a vegetable or fruit.  Just eat it around them and watch them ask you for a piece.  Keep offering it to them at dinnertime and ask them to eat a couple of bites. 

If children eat plenty of fruits and green leafy vegetables, they are also getting their calcium requirements.  But you could also include some almond milk or rice milk if you want.


The focus is to keep introducing them to new foods so that they develop a taste for natural foods that we as humans were meant to eat.

Eating organic and going raw can get expensive. Here are some tips.

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When we change over to eating raw foods it can be quite expensive. The ultimate is to grow your own garden. If you have a back yard you can grow a pretty decent sized one. Otherwise, get a few planters and grow a couple of tomato plants along the patio wall, and put a couple of eggplants inside the porch door with one large circular planter. Make each vegetable plant its own design with surrounding works of art. I put a little garden here of one type of veggies and then another one on the south side of the yard. The sky is the limit what you can do.

If you can find someone who has an organic garden, offer to help them in exchange for food items. Most people need help, and the larger the garden the more help they will need. You could weed, take care of the greenhouse, monitor customers who need assistance, and prepare plants for reselling.  Very few people refuse good honest labor; I know I wouldn’t! Working in a garden all spring, summer and fall is exhausting work; someone to help us would be a blessing.

If you can find sales on organic or fresh vegetables toward the end of the summer seasons, buy them at bulk and either freeze or can your favorite dishes.  If you have a large deep freeze you can freeze quite a bit of items. Otherwise, get a dehydrator and dry your food items. These do not need special storage and can be added to soups and stews, casseroles, or just eat by the hands full in the middle of winter as it is snowing outside.

Look around and see what you have in your neighborhood or local city area. There are many, many opportunities that are waiting for your attention and skill, but they won’t come knocking on your door!


Good luck with your new raw food ways!

No more cans! Fresh is the way to go!

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Buying food items in cans lack in nutrition and are usually loaded with salt and preservatives in today’s food markets. The process of freshness goes from fresh fruits and vegetables, to frozen foods, and down to canned foods. Last on the list, these canned items are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

When the canned foods go through the cooking process, this heating process destroys about one-third to one-half of the vitamins A and C, riboflavin and thiamin. And then the sit on the shelves as they are stored, losing an additional 5% to 20% . But the remaining vitamins only decrease their values slightly.

A lot of produce when picked for harvest will begin to lose some of its nutrients. If it is handled properly and canned quickly, it can be more than or as nutritious as fresh fruit or vegetable.  This fresh produce will lose half or more of its vitamins with the first two weeks: but if not kept chilled or preserved, the fresh vegetable or fruit will lose nearly half of its vitamins within the first few days.  The average consumer is advised to eat a variety of food types each day as compared to only one type of food.

The thing to remember is everything depends on the time between the harvesting and the canning and freeing process. Generally, the vegetables are picked immediately and taken to canning or freezing divisions when their nutrient contact is at its peak. How the food is canned affects the nutrient value also. Vegetables boiled for longer than necessary and in large amounts of water lose much of their nutritional value as compared to those only lightly steamed.


When we pick fresh vegetables or fruit at the farm, they are always more nutritious than canned or frozen – this is a fact. If you cannot buy fresh, at least buy frozen. 

Find natural Alternatives for flavor!

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Alternative seasonings are becoming very familiar in the kitchens in today’s world.  Rows after rows of organic or alternative spices now line the cupboards in our kitchens as compared to the few we grew up with. We had salt and pepper, and maybe some garlic or onion salt. Slowly this changed to garlic powers or onion powders. We learned that the corn cooking oil we used was bad for us, and moved to olive oil and canola oil. We learned to educate ourselves on a daily basis.

Organic kelp granules are a wonderful salt alternative with low sodium and have iodine in it.  Low temperature dried and untoasted kelp granules spice up the kitchen dishes in a healthy way with a unique flavor. I like to boil spinach pasta and add it as a flavoring.  There is only 45 mg of sodium per ½ tsp that is very good for me also. The main ingredient is organic raw kelp.

Butters are becoming a thing of the past we have all grown up with. High fat content, it possibly contains residues of pesticides along with environmental toxics which both tend to concentrate in the fat.  When we walk down the dairy counters at the grocery store, we have many choices available to us. At one time it was a choice between butter and margarine; now neither is totally good for us. Peanut butter is now made from whole peanuts, as compared to the original peanut butter made from sugar and salt.  This healthy peanut butter avoids hydrogenated fats, which will add years to our life and our heart can maintain its low blood pressures along with normal pulses.


Red wine vinegarette dressings on salads and honey as sugar are just a few of the changes in the alternatives we have today for our kitchens.  The old fashioned meals we ate at our grandmother’s table are gone – what is available are meals with health in mind.  Even pancakes made out of wheat  is covered with pure maple syrup instead of the sweetened corn Karo syrup we grew up with. 

The next best alternative to ice cream? Easy to make homemade sorbet. (fresh fruits)

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Probably one of the best desserts you can eat yet is tremendously good for you is Sorbet. It is a frozen dessert made from iced fruit puree and any other ingredient you would like to add for a light dessert.  It is sort of a gelato that has no milk in it so is very good for lactose free individuals or milk allergies.  Some sorbets contain alcohol that lowers the freezing temperature and makes it slightly softer.  It is very dense and flavorful, matching ice cream for quality and taste.  The Villa Dolce, makers of Italian gelato, are one of the best producers of sorbet on the web.

Sorbet has a history behind it that says the Roman Emperor, Nero, invented it during the first century AD.  The story said Nero had runners along the Appian way, passing buckets of snow to the mountains to his banquet hall, where it was mixed with honey and wine.  Other countries also laid claim to the original invention, but the mixture of snow, juice and fruit pulp is delicious.  The French served it traditionally between the starter course and the main course, and is served as a non-fat and vegan alternative to ice cream.


Sorbet is made from water, and fruit puree.  It is an excellent source of Calcium and Vitamin C, and is naturally fat free and low in calories.  They make excellent fruit smoothies and are good for you in health aspects. They would be similar to fruit whips where you put ice, fruit, and some light flavoring in a blender to whip a light and airy, non dairy drink.  Very tasty, natural, and healthy.

Why you should reconsider consuming soy milk often? Soy is the Most mucous forming food on the planet.

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Most milk is mucous forming.  When a cold develops or pneumonia sets in, the last thing offered should be a milk product due to the mucous in it. Soy is still milk, even though it is called a “vegetable milk.” Children under two years of age are being advised not to drink cow’s milk due to the high protein in it. Yet soy milk is high protein also, and is seriously being promoted for children today, especially those who have had milk allergies.  The soy milk is curdled and hung in a cheese cloth, this forms a sold curd which is called tofu or soy cheese.  Processed soy products is the most mucous forming food on the planet!

It has been proven in Japan that soy has goitrogens in it, which depresses thyroid function. It also is high in phytic acid and is 99% genetically modified, plus having one of the highest percentages contaminate of pesticides there is.  Scientists are beginning to agree that grain and legume based diets high in phytates are helping spread mineral deficiencies in 3rd world countries. 

Soy has come to us from the Orient where it is called “the meat without a bone.”  Tofu is a very natural protein based product from soy that replaces meat in the Orient. Traditionally, it was eaten by the Japanese as part of a mineral-rich fish broth.  Recent studies show vegetarians who eat tofu and bean curd as meat substitutes for dairy products and meat, are at risk for mineral deficiencies. Supplements need to be added to compensate for this deficiency.  Vegetarians who consume tofu and bean curd as a substitute for meat and dairy products risk severe mineral deficiencies.


The Chinese did not eat soybean as other legumes and lentils. They felt that the soybean contained large amounts of harmful substances.  Many reasons are cited for it, but soy products continue to grow in the United States at an alarming rate. Chocolate soy milk and vanilla soy milk are just a few products that we find in our grocery stores today. 

Why you should only take sips of water during mealtime? Large glasses of water impedes the digestive process by diluting the gatric juices

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Taking several sips of water at a mealtime as compared to drinking a couple of large glasses per meal seems to be a personal preference unless there is a medical reason or a weight loss is desired. Several sources say that at the present time there is no proof at all that water aids in the digestion process.  There is enough water in the fruits and vegetables to supply this. 

But what I noticed is that an excessive amount of water consumed at a meal dilutes stomach acid concentration. This is very necessary for food breakdown of protein and other nutrients.  I also noticed that the body couldn’t handle large amounts of water at one time because most water at a meal usually has ice in it. If water is drunk lukewarm or at room temperature, it will not interfere with the body’s temperature as much as ice water does. If a person has a medical condition like a hiatus hernia, too much water at a meal will trigger it.

Water drank between meals, not during meals, is the most important time for its consumption regarding health issues. To remove toxins and waste products from the body, water is needed for the flow of their elimination. It also is important for the circulation of our body’s fluids and temperature regulation.


In 1910, a study was done on a young man who drank 3 liters of water with his meals for five days in a row. The findings showed: an increase in body weight of two pounds in the five days; increased amount of excretion of urinary nitrogen; increased output of ammonia, due to an increased output of gastric juice; decreased excretion of feces and of fecal nitrogen; and a decrease in the quantity of bacteria excreted daily. 

Drinking a daily vitamin packed drink of your choice that includes romaine lettuce, celery, stalks kale, apples, lemon, and fresh ginger (or make your own drink)

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To eat healthy we need to eat daily one pound of raw vegetables for each 50 pounds of body weight. By juicing this amount, it is very easy to get 50% of your body weight’s requirement of raw vegetables.  Raw food is important to our body because when it is consumed, it does not raise our white blood cells like cooked food does.  It did not change when raw foods or low temperature cooked foods were consumed.

Health juices are not a new thing over history. Limejuice cured scurvy in the16th century, saving thousands of sailor’s lives. But our generation has only recently discovered the nutritional and biochemical properties of fruit and vegetable fresh juices.  Juicing is the cheapest and most economical method to maintain the health of the individual in our time today. It was discovered that the best time to take a juice drink is in the morning and during the evening.


Freshly squeezed juices from vegetables and fruit contain more vitamins and minerals, along with enzymes, than any canned or fresh juice. When making your juice, always include a dark leafy vegetable such as spinach, broccoli, cabbage, or beet tops. It was discovered that the best time to take a juice drink is in the morning and during the evening. Within ten minutes after consuming the drink they are absorbed into the bloodstream. This is an advantage to drinking freshly juiced vegetables as compared to eating fresh vegetables and fruit. Eating solid foods take several hours to digest, while a fresh fruit or vegetable drink is absorbed quickly into the system. The fiber is lost due to the juicing process but a higher amount of nutrients goes into the body and its system. 

An Enema will also Keep the system clean and fresh, detoxified

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When an enema is given, there are specific purposes for it.  They are a form of colon cleansing, so other than warming and cleansing the colon through a series of enemas, the system needs to be alkalized, any foreign protein is removed from the colon, and the bowel system is hydrated.  Tap water or soapsuds dilates the bowel and stimulates peristalsis. It also lubricates the stool and feces to eliminate toxics in the lower area of the intestine.

Enemas are used as a treatment for constipation, a colon cleansing therapy, or for any other health reasons person is suffering from. The colonic uses more water than the traditional enema to cleanse and flush. An alternative to an enema is the herbal colon cleanser that is taken by mouth in the form of a drink or capsule.  Many individuals find it more hygienic than the enema, with immediate results within the first two hours.

When a person needs an enema and is full of toxics, they feel out of energy and excessively tired, depressed and bloated … and not entirely in that order. We are designed to have anywhere from two to four bowel movements a day, but if our system is not working properly, constipation will begin to form.  When the bowel begins to get impacted problems will arise such as colon cancer. Symptoms of these problems are headaches, bad breath, allergy symptoms, depression, exhaustion and fatigue, bloating and chronic infections.


An oil retention enema is used in the same manner but in a lesser amount to soften the hardened stool inside the bowels, allowing for a normal bowel movement. Another type enema is for the delivery of mediation to the immediate bloodstream.  Steroid enemas solutions are given for individuals with ulcerative colitis or antibiotic enema solutions for localized bacterial infections. 

Why would you consider getting a colonic as a part of your detoxify program?

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Approximately two million people in this country have colon problems such as colitis, ileitis, and diverticulitis.  A colonic, or colon hydrotherapy, is a cleansing of the colon using a warm water flush that lasts about 45 minutes per session along with 15 gallons of water. The primary purpose of the colonic is the rid the body of waster through a series of muscular contractions known as “peristalsis.”  This colonic cleansing removes toxic waste that has been left in the colon, which would have been reabsorbed into the bloodstream resulting in illness or disease.

I would consider cleansing of the bowels essential to improved health. Over the years most of us have developed toxics in our body due to improper eating habits, environmental pollution, medications, recreational practices and anything else associated with our lifestyle. What is lining our colon due to this is impacted dried mucus, which forms a wall similar to plastic lining on the inside of the bowels.  Our bloodstream picks up any and all toxic particles, which will eventually seep into our blood through this colon if left unattended.


The toxic colon is the primary cause of disease and death, degeneration, aging and premature death of individuals who died only because of a toxic colon that inhibited digestion and normal bowel movements. Many didn’t even realize that there were such a thing or they had the option to cleanse it.  But due to our lifestyles, we have about 10 to 25 pounds of dried fecal matter in the intestine. This fecal matter causes body imbalances and eventual death. 

You can get plenty of calcium from green leafy vegetables; cow’s milk isn’t the best for your body..

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For excellent food therapy, calcium derived from dairy products, leafy greens, some nuts, and any calcium-fortified products are much better than through supplements.  If the body assimilates more than the needed intake of calcium, it will flush out what it doesn’t need.  Calcium is important for building bones but organic calcium does the job better than the inorganic calcium does in the form of supplements.  

A juice made from fresh green leafy vegetables and fruits maximize this intake of calcium. The chlorophyll that is found in green plants and vegetables contains magnesium, which is very important in the “uptake” of calcium. Elaine Bruce, experienced naturopath, homeopathic and director of the UK Centre for Living Foods, said, “The chemical composition of chlorophyll and blood is very similar which further facilitates this uptake.”

All vitamins and minerals work together as a unit. A synergistic combination of two or more vitamins is used together to form a stronger unison. But this type of unisons can work against each other. When we take antibiotics for infections and illnesses, we reduce greatly the Vitamin C absorption within the body, which protects against infection itself.  The National Institutes of Health recommend the dosage of calcium per day as 1,000 to 1,500 mg.  If calcium carbonate is taken instead of calcium, it contains only 40% calcium; a 1,500 mg tablet of it provides only 600 mg of calcium.


Cow’s milk is not as good for the body as we have been led to believe. Its protein content is extremely high and creates acidic residue. By continuing large amounts of milk, or acidic food consumption, a loss of alkaline minerals will develop from the bones. By losing these minerals, bones will become weak and prone to fractures. 

Great foods that pass through body quickly and easily

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There are certain types of foods that are eliminated by the body quicker than others. These are unprocessed foods containing adequate fiber in foods such as fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and whole grains. If these types of food would be consumed more, bodily conditions of diseases, constipation and other bowel complications would be avoided. 

When foods types like beans, peas, green vegetables, fresh fruits of all types, whole grain breads, and cereals are eaten, an easily managed mass of residue is easily passed through the intestines. The time frame of 72 hours or less is normal for the remains of the consumed foods to pass through the bowels with elimination of four to six hours for extremely healthy people. This short time span is easier on the gastrointestinal tract than the consumption of white flour and sugar foods that are low fiber residue.

The body becomes more active and alert when the body does not consume food for a period of time.  It is believed that three hours or more is adequate between meals before another meal should be eaten.  Of course, this varies on the type of meal that is eaten, what types of food, and how much is eaten.


It is also a natural tendency of the human body to rest while it is digesting food: ten minutes before consuming a meal and half-an-hour after consuming the meal is thought to be the most beneficial.  The largest meal of the day should be eaten around noon as the body’s physiological capacities are at their peak during this time.  This would be a problem in today’s world as after the meal, lying down for about half-an-hour may present a problem.  So, many individuals eat their largest meal after work or at the end of the day when they can relax at leisure. 

Eating foods that are hard to digest

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Even if we are not sick and look healthy, we may not be getting enough adequate nutrition.  We can improve our state of health by simply knowing what nutrition we need. Nutrition is about what the food is all about, the amount we need, its function, and the basic materials we need for our body in order for it to continue on with its daily activities.  By knowing how to take care of our body through nutrition, we can maintain its high performance levels instead of being unable to because of the low levels.

When we eat meals, it is important to understand that we should not mix raw food with cooked food, as this will produce acid in the stomach. This acid does not mix well with the raw food and will create indigestion. Another thing to think about is when eating raw fruits and vegetables, we should try to stay with organic foods due to the amount of pesticides that are usually on the non-organic foods.

Foods in different categories that are mixed together can cause an imbalance in the body. For example: when we eat a meal high in both fats and simple carbohydrates, we become tired and exhausted while we develop muddled thinking. The reason is our tissue is not receiving enough oxygen.  Carbohydrates are simple and complex: simple carbohydrates should be totally eliminated while complex ones are very beneficial for us. Fresh fruits and vegetables produce elimination while vitamin D milk and cheese counter it. When we send mixed messages to our body because of our lack of knowledge about its nutrition, it causes disorder and disease.


When we go for periods of time in-between meals, the body becomes very active and more alert when food is not consumed.  It is believed that three hours or more is adequate between meals before another meal should be eaten.  

Can you feed your children raw food?

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Every mother wants the best for her child.  You want your child to look healthy, grow proportionately, feel energized and have a great immune system.  So, why do most parents in America feed their children junk food by the time they start eating table food?  Why do most restaurants serve French fries or macaroni and cheese for side orders and not steamed broccoli?  It is really a sad situation to watch young children who are obese.  Even schools offer peanut butter and jelly or ice cream for lunch. 

To ensure that your child is eating correctly you must feed them plenty of fruits and vegetables.  But the trick is to make it delicious and fun.  For instance, for breakfast, arrange a platter of fruit, oranges, grapefruit, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, they will love it!  Make faces out of the fruit.  Have them drink only water and no sugar 100% fruit juice that you juice yourself.  Get them used to eating vegetables that are uncooked.  

Whenever they get hungry, offer small baby carrots, or celery, they will grow to love the taste just the way it is.  You can introduce a new vegetable each week and learn how to hide it into your food.  For instance, chop up Portobello mushrooms in a chopper and add it to your pasta sauce and watch them gobble it up, barely noticing the mushrooms.  Make blanched broccoli (plain) and eat that for dinner.  If they see you eating healthy, they will learn early on to eat that way.  Do not let them eat packaged foods, such as macaroni and cheese, or fried chicken fingers, or anything fried for that matter.  Make sure that they eat vegetables at every meal and be careful when you go out to eat. 

Offer natural desserts that you have made at home, such as homemade sorbet, or fruit smoothie, or peach cobbler pie (all natural).  Stay away from cakes, cookies, etc that have preservatives and other unnatural flavorings.  Make it yourself and offer it occasionally.  You will find that they watch you and what you eat and if you incorporate a much healthier menu, so will they. 


The best part of raising your children to learn to love fruits and vegetables is that you will notice that they will turn down junk food when you are not around.  At that point you will know that you have done your part in raising healthy adults.

Why go “raw”?

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So, now that you know what a raw food diet is all about, you need to decide, is it right for you?  Well you do not need to incorporate raw food 100% of the time.  You can just eat more fruits and vegetables and no processed foods.  Try drinking fruit juices until lunch time and then eating a healthy veggie sandwich.  

For dinner, eat some blanched vegetables with a cooked meal with no meats.  When you gradually detoxify your body, you will see dramatic results.  First, you will go through the detoxify process, where you will feel tired, have headaches, skin eruptions, etc.  Once you are over this tough time, you will feel light, not dragged down, energetic, vitality, and conscious, among other things.  You will have more mental clarity and therefore be more productive.  Your body will feel cleansed, you will be able to treat disease and prevent new ones from forming.  You will see a dramatic weight loss, for instance five pounds a week.  

You will also notice that you do not seem weighed down with colds or sicknesses because your immune system is much stronger.  You will be saving money because you can either grow your vegetables or buy them at a farmers market.  Buying organic food will save the earth and provide agricultural support, which is much needed.  You will also save time and money because you will not be in the kitchen cooking up a storm.  

You will not be eating animals, because these animals have been pumped with high hormones and that wouldn’t benefit you anyway, but instead toxify you.  This in turn, puts an end to the torture in animal farming.  You will not be plagued with depression, pms, or acne.  In fact, your skin will be absolutely glowing, you will feel rejuvenated.  

This type of eating also slows the aging process.  Your senses will be enhanced; you will be more flexible and fertile.  You will be more creative, motivated, and also relaxed.  You will focus more on relationships and be more environmentally attuned and inwardly attuned.  What you will notice is an amazing spiritual awakening that you have never experienced before because you have changed your vibrations to a higher level capable of clearer thought patterns.

Food Dehydrators

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Making dried fruit and fruit leathers isn’t hard and it doesn’t have to be expensive either. While some food processors and juicers can get really pricey, a dehydrator isn’t going to cost that much and it’s a lifesaver to have fruit leathers, dried fruit or fruit jerky on hand when you can’t get out to the store for fresh food.

When buying a dehydrator, some things to consider are the materials and construction used to manufacture the product, the size, heating elements, fans and guarantees. Make sure you have room for the dehydrator in the space you have planned for it.  Choose one that’s multi-purpose, with multiple trays and special trays for fruits and herbs. A side-mounted or horizontal fan is best when choosing a food dehydrator.

Here are some food dehydrators to consider. But do a little research to find just the right one for you!

Nesco American Harvest – A very inexpensive food dehydrator with five trays that don’t have to be rotated. Price is $40-$55.

Excalibur Dehydrator – Has over 12 square feet of drying space. Comes with 9 free sheets and has a horizontal fan for maximum drying efficiency. Fast drying times, no tray rotation needed and fast cleanup. Price approximately $200-$220.

L’Equip Dehydrators – Comes with special mesh for drying sheets, plus special sheets for making fruit leathers and fruit roll-ups. Has a compact design and good, uniform drying. Price is around $150.

TSM Commerical Dehydrator – When you’re really serious about drying foods! Comes with 12 racks, 1600 watts of power, dual 6” fans for strong air flow. Can dry 15-18 pounds of jerky. Priced at $650 and up.


And don’t forget a food slicer for all that fruit drying! The Chef's Choice 645 food slicer has a powerful 130 watt geared condenser motor for smooth, quiet, fast operation. A large 7" nonstick stainless steel slicer blade cuts fruit & vegetables. Micrometer control dial selects slices from deli-thin to 9/16" thick.

Dehydrate fruits

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One of the problems facing anyone trying to eat healthier, especially for someone trying to move towards eating more raw foods is the convenience factor. Raw and natural foods are so much healthier for you, but it’s not as if there are drive-through raw foods restaurants on every street corner in the country.

And of course, there’s no such thing as a raw foods snack machine, is there? So if you get hungry during the day, you’re going to have a challenge of finding something appropriate to eat if you haven’t  packed any raw fruits and vegetables. And when you’re rushing around in the morning, sometimes it’s next to impossible to find the time to put together a selection of healthy snacks to take with you.

One thing to try so that you have healthy snacks available quickly is to dehydrate your fruits or make fruit leathers. Those fruit roll-ups you see in the grocery store are derived from a pretty good idea – fruit leathers. But it’s better to make your own – commercial fruit leathers are going to be loaded with preservatives and sugars – just the things you want to avoid.

When you’re switching to a raw foods diet, that doesn’t always have to mean fresh off the farm. It means not cooking foods with processes that strip all the essential vitamins, amino acids and enzymes from them. Drying fruit is a great way to add variety to your diet and make yourself tasty snacks of dried fruit or fruit leathers. It’s not hard to do. There are recipes and inexpensive food dehydrators on the Web. These are also great snacks to pack for your kids’ lunches!


You get all the benefit of the raw fruit, just packaged and preserved in a healthy, nutritious way!

Types of Juicers

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If you’re eating more raw foods and making that important lifestyle change, at some point you’ll need to consider investing in a juicer. A blender is NOT the same thing. To get all the benefits of juicing fruits and vegetables, you need to be able to process every part of the food – seeds, stems, peels and pulp. That’s where all the vitamins are. A blender just can’t do that effectively.  A juicer will extract all the nutrients from fruit or vegetable that not even your stomach can adequately do.

Juicers routinely used to cost $300-$400 and more. The best ones still do, but if you’re just getting into juicing, there are less expensive styles on the market as well. Here are a few you can research to find the best one for you. Natural food stores and cooking catalogues like Williams-Sonoma also carry juicers.

Here are some reasonably priced juicers to consider.

Omega 1000 – Makes good, virtually pulp-free juice. It’s a high-yield juicer but not good for juicing leafy greens. This juicer will not process wheatgrass. Price $150-$200

Commercial Champion – Better juice quality, pulpy with good nutritional value. Also a multi-purpose machine that grates and churns and can make nut butters. A good heavy-duty juicer, high volume, good for families. Does not process wheatgrass. Price $230-$300.

Solo Star – Create a pulpy juice, but very high nutrient value because the motor is a lower RPM. This is a multi-purpose machine that can grate, churn, make nut butters and extrude pasta. It can process wheatgrass. Price $190 - $300.


Green Power – A premium juicer, although a more complicated machine with more parts that need to be cleaned. Creates the least pulp with more nutrients. It is a Twin Screw Press type of juicer that is superior to masticating or centrifugal juicers. It will process wheatgrass. Also a multi-purpose machine. Pricey, but may be well worth it. Price $450 - $650

Benefits of juice

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Eating raw foods is a way to give your body some of the nutrition it desperately needs. Many of us are at least slightly overweight, and even the morbidly obese are starving for essential proteins and amino acids. All the processed, cooked foods we eat give us only a small percentage of what we need. Consequently, we eat and eat and yet we’re still not nourished. Psychologists try to tell us we’re eating to make up for an emptiness in our souls. Wrong! Our bodies our empty and trying to tell us so.

Eating raw foods is good for us on so many levels. It’s satisfying to eat them. They take more time to chew and swallow, so we don’t eat as fast. And we’re getting so much more in the way of nutrition by consuming fruits, vegetables, nuts and sprouts.

It can take time to prepare raw foods, however. Which is why a juicer is an important addition to your kitchen once your start to be serious about raw foods. A good juicer can process an entire apple – seeds, stems, peel, pulp and all – and turn all that into a healthy, nutritious juice.


Buying apple juice is NOT the same thing!!! Don’t even look at apple juices or even ciders in the grocery store. Put that $2 or $3 aside and save up for a juicer. Buy bags of apples, orange, bananas, carrots and make your own juices to get everything from the fruit that you’d get by eating it raw. Now you’re getting juice that’s as fresh as the fruit or vegetable you made it from. No preservatives, no processing that strips most of the energy from the fruit. And think of all the delicious combinations you can make with the many tropical fruits that are available now in most grocery stores. You can customize your fruits and add non-typical ingredients like pumpkin to an orange juice. Now that’s a powerhouse of a juice!

Juice vs. blend

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We saw an interesting article about starvation in which the comment was made that there are really two types of starvation. One, of course, is caused by too little or no food at all. But there is another type of starvation caused by serious malnutrition, and even though the U.S. is the fattest nation on the planet, our bodies are starved for important nutrients and enzymes. It’s partly why we’re so fat, because we keep eating and eating, but we’re eating highly processed, cooked foods that have the essential components burned out of them. Cooking removes up to 80% of food’s important amino acids, fibers and vitamins.

It’s one reason why switching to a raw foods diet makes such compelling sense. When you start eating raw foods, you’re suddenly getting all the nutrition from food that nature intended you to get. It’s the way our bodies were meant to eat, in balance with the planet.
We suddenly become the vibrant, healthy animals we’re supposed to be.

But we still live in the modern world, with all its pressures and time constraints. It’s one reason why getting your whole foods from juicing is a good idea. You can still get all the fiber you need without taking the time to cut, peel or slice the food. Raw foods do take a little more time to chew and swallow and that’s a good thing. But if you don’t have the time for that, then you should consider using juices for at least a portion of your raw foods intake.


You do need to invest in a good juicer though, and that’s different from a blender. A blender can’t process the fruit peels that contain most a fruit or vegetables vitamins and enzymes. A juicer is a more high-powered appliance that will process everything – seeds and stems, peels and pulp. It’s designed to do it quickly and efficiently. They can be expensive, but there are many more options today than there used to be as this concept has gained in popularity.

Tools for preparation

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You don’t need to make a huge investment in eating raw and living foods. In fact, you’ll probably be saving money by cutting back on highly processed convenience foods. All that high-fat, high-sodium microwaveable foods are pricey, too!

If you’re new to this, eating raw foods isn’t just about putting something different in you mouth. It’s an experience that goes beyond the act of eating. When you’re shopping for your food, make it an aesthetic experience as well. Fill your cart up with all the colors of these delicious live foods.

Invest in a good juicer. There are cooks’ catalogues that carry them. Shop online. Maybe you can find a good used juicer on an auction site. A juicer is NOT really a blender. It’s much more powerful because it needs to liquefy foods that can be highly fibrous.

You want some good knives too, for cutting up your fruits and vegetables. Invest in a few good ones. Turn the work of chopping up your food into something artistic.

If you don’t have a steamer, invest in one of those too, so you can lightly steam your vegetables if you want. Buy specific types of steamers. We’ve seen an asparagus steamer that’s especially designed to steam the woody bottoms more than the tender tips.

Get a few chopping tools that are also garnishing tools. It’s just as easy to cut up carrots with a ridged cutting knife to make them more attractive. There are special slicers that get your fruits and veggies really thin and therefore more fun to eat.


And do invest in a new cutting board. You don’t want to use the same cutting board for all your fresh new foods that you’ve used through the years to cut up chicken or other foods. No matter how much you scrub, your cutting board can absorb bacteria. Start fresh in all things – not just your food!

Transform your fridge

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You don’t have to give up all the foods you’re used to eating to become more healthy and to start eating raw, organic and live foods. You know the best place to start changing your life and your diet? It’s at the grocery store, of course. Even if you’re at a good weight and pretty healthy, take a tip from dieters. Go shopping with a list and don’t go to the grocery store hungry. Make sure this shopping trip you can resist those Oreos and potato chips.

Clean out your refrigerator and your cabinets. Throw out the half-empty bags of snack foods. Put any microwaveable foods in a dark bag and stash them somewhere in the back of the freezer. Out of sight, out of mind.

Do stock up on dried fruits and nuts for snacking. Transform your kitchen from a processed food haven to a healthy kitchen. Invest in a good juicer. Clean out those crisper drawers to get them ready for an influx of new organic and raw foods.

Load up on fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. If you can’t give up meat and fish, consider getting super fresh tuna that you can just sear and serve with sesame seeds and a small amount of soy sauce. (I’m getting hungry just thinking about this!)

Make eating this way fun. Invest in those big, white square dishes that are good for serving sushi. It’s easier to arrange small portions of different foods that way. And getting new white dishes will be symbolic of this new, purer way of eating.  Get some good chopsticks so you can take your time eating. This is really fun!


Go to a bookstore and get a cookbook or a food book so you can learn about eating raw foods. Buy a big vase and a bunch of sunflowers to symbolize letting the sun into your diet. 

Why organic

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Food that is grown or raised without chemical pesticides or chemical fertilizers is called “organic.” We’ve become so accustomed to getting by with foods that have been grown with fertilizers and that contain harmful toxins, that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel truly “well.” We don’t know how good we can really feel.

Why else would you choose to eat organic food? We pay a lot in terms of flavor and nutrition to eat perfect-looking food. Yes, organic food might have an occasional bruise on its flesh – but so does food that’s been sprayed with harmful chemicals. Organic food, though, are generally fresher and more flavorful. Many times, they’re grown locally, so they haven’t been stored or refrigerated. Consider the difference in flavor between a vine-ripened tomato and a regular tomato. There’s just no comparison.


The body has to process everything you put into it and eliminate what it cannot digest. If your food contains toxins in the form of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, your body has to figure out a way to get rid of the toxins. When the body cannot get rid of toxins fast enough, it stores them until it has time to eliminate them. This can lead to many health problems. Many of the pesticides used in farming have been found to be carcinogenic. 

Reducing your exposure to these toxins can improve your health. True, some people eliminate toxins well. Still, the body needs to expend energy to eliminate toxins when it could be doing other things such as healing damaged cells, fighting off viruses and bacteria, or patrolling the body for cancer cells. Even people who can tolerate or eliminate toxins could feel substantially better without putting these poisons into their bodies. And if your system is sensitive to toxins, you’ll be much better off eliminating them from your diet as much as possible. Fortunately, it’s easier to do this because there’s a greater selection and variety of organic produce in our grocery stores.

Organic Products and Raw Food Diet

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Fortunately for those of us newly interested in eating organic and raw foods, there are lots of products out there. Natural and organic foods used to be found only in natural food stores, and those could be few and far between. While not as ubiquitous as McDonald’s, there ARE many more stand-alone stores. And the grocery chains are catching on too, with more organic selections than ever before. If you don’t see them in your grocery store, just ask. You’re probably not the only person in your neighborhood who’d like to see more of these options.

Many grocery stores now feature sprouts and other living foods in the produce aisle. Of course, if they don’t, there’s nothing easier to grow for yourself than sprouts!

There are also tons of sites on the Web where you can order raw and living foods. Just do a search on raw foods and you’ll come up with a lot of different places to order the foods you’d like to buy. Many of these sites are also full of useful information, to help you learn about eating raw foods, and help educate you on the specific food values.

What else? Experiment with what you like. Take the time to learn a little about what the different nutrients in foods do for you. A few examples:

Cabbage – High in Vitamin C; important for healthy cell function

Shitake mushrooms – contain essential fatty acids and antioxidants to support a healthy immune system

Kale – Rich in fiber and helps reduce calorie intake with less hunger. We like that!

Barley – Loaded with niacin, fiber and iron and is important for healthy blood sugar.


Pumpkin – So rich in fiber and vitamins; helps reduce appetite by filling the stomach with indigestible fibers

Eat raw up until dinnertime

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Are you interested in a raw food diet, but don’t think you can do it all the time? You don’t have to, certainly not to start. Many of us are conditioned to think of food as reward and comfort. We look forward to the end of the day, having dinner with our families, or going out to dinner with friends.

Try eating raw foods throughout the day. If you go to work every day, take carrots, apples, grapes or dried fruit with you to munch on. If you usually go out to lunch during the day, try to go places where you can get a salad. If you pack a lunch, include sprouts and fruit with it. Steamed brown rice and vegetables and a little fruit might not sound very interesting, but it’s a good energy lunch. If you’re like many people, those fast food lunches make you want to crawl under your desk and take a nap in the afternoon! They make you sluggish and tired. A lighter lunch of raw foods can keep you energized throughout the day.


The business culture is different these days, and there’s less of a routine than there used to be with a morning “coffee break” and then “lunch hour” and an afternoon “break.” That routine doesn’t work for a lot of people any more, but you can still get hungry during the day. By taking a variety of raw foods with you to work, you can munch periodically during the day. Sometimes it’s better to eat to avoid getting hungry. If we let ourselves go too long until we get ravenous, that’s when it’s easier to make poor food choices. Eating raw foods periodically throughout the day also keeps your metabolism humming along, and keeps your blood sugar at steady levels.  

Cooked foods on a raw diet

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Does moving to a raw foods diet mean never eating hot food again? No, it doesn’t. Sometimes you want something hot. Hot food has always signified comfort for many of us. And on a cold, rainy day, carrot sticks or wheatgrass juice probably won’t cut it for most of us.

Most raw food, like our bodies, is very perishable. When raw foods are exposed to temperatures above 118 degrees, they start to rapidly break down, just as our bodies would if we had a fever that high. One of the constituents of foods which can break down are enzymes. Enzymes help us digest our food. Enzymes are proteins though, and they have a very specific 3-dimensional structure in space. Once they are heated much above 118 degrees, this structure can change.

Once enzymes are exposed to heat, they are no longer able to provide the function for which they were designed. Cooked foods contribute to chronic illness, because their enzyme content is damaged and thus requires us to make our own enzymes to process the food. The digestion of cooked food uses valuable metabolic enzymes in order to help digest your food. Digestion of cooked food demands much more energy than the digestion of raw food. In general, raw food is so much more easily digested that it passes through the digestive tract in 1/2 to 1/3 of the time it takes for cooked food.

Eating enzyme-dead foods places a burden on your pancreas and other organs and overworks them, which eventually exhausts these organs. Many people gradually impair their pancreas and progressively lose the ability to digest their food after a lifetime of ingesting processed foods.


But you certainly can steam and blanch foods if you want your food at least warm. Use a food thermometer and cook them no higher than 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Up to this temperature, you won’t be doing too much damage to the enzymes in food.

Junk food

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Try this, just for the heck of it. Once you’ve started incorporating raw foods into your food plans, keep adding them in and reducing the number of cooked and processed foods from your diet. Especially things like fast food, chips, cookies and snacks.

After you’ve done that for awhile, have a junk food day. If you really miss your junk food, or think you do, then plan for it. Make it truly memorable and junk-worthy.
If we were gambling types, we’d be willing to bet a LOT of money that mid-way through your junk food day, you’ll stop.

Once you’ve started incorporating raw foods into your diet, and getting most of your nutrition from them, and stayed with it for at least a week, junk food is just not going to have the same appeal to you. Because now you’re thinking about what you’re putting into your body. And if you really think about what junk food does to your body, all of a sudden it doesn’t look so good.

You know, it just happens naturally. We’ve started eating more and more raw foods in our home, and haven’t been able to touch things like chicken or a hamburger in ages. First of all, we really feel pretty strongly about not eating animals. But have you ever read the warnings about handling chicken that you’ve bought in the grocery store? Or ground meat? It’s recommended that you wash your counters with BLEACH if you’ve prepared meat on them. Now, do you really want to put something in your body that requires BLEACH to clean the germs from it off of surfaces in your home? Nope, when we see chicken now, all we see is germs. And there’s no flavor to it anyway. So why bother? 


And other junk food we used to love just doesn’t appeal to us any more. Nachos and cheese? Well, the cheese you use is so processed, it’s nothing but corn syrup and processed cheese and fats and chemicals. We can feel our arteries grinding to a halt just looking at it. We don’t even use dips for our vegetables any more. We really do enjoy the taste of vegetables and fruits all by themselves.

Raw nourishment

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You might agree on an intellectual level that eating raw foods is a good idea. But does the thought of abandoning a lifetime of eating habits for the sake of what seems like a good idea seem like more than you can do?

So don’t! That’s silly and the surest way to guarantee you won’t even give a raw foods diet a fighting chance. “Everything in moderation” and we think that applies to even the healthiest notions. It’s not healthy if you won’t do it!

Don’t think of trying a raw foods diet as taking anything AWAY. Try adding them in. We think if you add in things like raw vegetables, sprouts, fruits and juices, you won’t be as hungry and when you’re not hungry, you won’t give into impulsive eating. If you want that steak, or even a McDonald’s hamburger, plan for it and enjoy it. Once you start eating raw foods though, and notice how good you feel on them and how much more energy you have, that hamburger just won’t look as good to you.

You do want to be sure though, that you’re getting enough of the right kinds of nutrition. Eating raw foods doesn’t mean eating only the raw foods you like. Watermelon is good for you, but it’s not enough. The same with most foods. You’ll need to do a little research into which raw foods have the essential proteins, or what combinations of food you need to eat to get enough protein. Raw food eating is intended to nourish your body in a completely different way, but just being raw isn’t enough. You want to do this to be in balance, and you need to balance the raw foods you’re eating for proper nutrition.


One way to ensure that you are getting enough nutrients is to incorporate a new vegetable every week.  Buy something you have never heard of, like a “leek”, or “swiss chard.”  You will find a whole new world of tastes and textures open up to you.  You will feel more and more deterred by fast food.  I guarantee it.

Juicearian

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Many people have heard of juice fasts as a means of detoxifying the body. Followers of a raw foods regimen also include juices as part of their nutrition. Nearly anything can be juiced – fruits and vegetables, primarily. It’s a form of concentrated nutrition. Some raw foodists drink only fresh fruit juices. 

In addition, fruit and vegetable juices are good sources of the traditional nutrients. Citrus fruits (grapefruit, oranges, etc.) provide a healthy portion of vitamin C. Carrot juice contains large quantities of vitamin A, in the form of beta carotene. A number of green juices are a good source of vitamin E. Fruit juices are a good source of essential minerals like iron, copper, potassium, sodium, iodine, and magnesium, which are bound by the plant in a form that is most easily assimilated during digestion.

While fruit and vegetable juices are the most common form of juice, wheatgrass juice has been getting a lot of attention lately because of the denseness of nutrients it contains.
The primary advantage of truly fresh wheatgrass juice - juice made from raw, live, soil-grown wheat grass, is the apparent high level of life force energy that it contains. It is one of the few truly fresh foods available (sprouts are another). The grass is alive and growing right up to the time it is juiced, and hopefully you are drinking it within a few minutes or so of juicing. Most of us get our green veggies from markets, and they were picked days ago and refrigerated - losing vitality the whole time. (It is an even worse situation for fruit, which may be picked weeks before you eat it, and in some cases, held in cold storage for months - losing vitality the whole time.) In contrast, one can grow wheatgrass indoors, and enjoy it when it is truly fresh.


In conclusion, drinking plenty of fresh fruit juices daily will cleanse your system, make you feel completely energized and last but not least, you will look beautiful.  People will wonder what you are doing differently!

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