Raw food made easy with green smoothies

If you’re searching for ways to create or maintain a healthy lifestyle, consider the raw food diet using green smoothies. Food can be considered raw if it is uncooked or unprocessed and preferably organic. This diet plan can be tailored to your own preferences and usually involves eating at least 2/3 of your food in a raw or minimally cooked state. The many varieties of fruits and vegetables available offer you endless meal combinations. You can add to this nuts, seeds, algae, seaweed, grains and sprouts. An easy and simple choice this diet offers is the Green Smoothie. This concoction usually includes ingredients such as different fruits along with leafy greens such as chopped spinach or kale.

This raw food diet is also an easy way to get necessary nutrients, vitamins and enzymes. Cooking and heating meals has some negative effects on the food we consume. Most vitamins and micro-nutrients are destroyed or damaged when cooked at temperatures over 130 degrees. The same goes for much needed enzymes, which are practically useless if exposed to over 118 degree heat. These enzymes are vital for proper digestion. While our bodies naturally produce these digestive enzymes, consuming them as we eat speeds up digestion and uses less energy. So incorporating raw food in your diet can eliminate that tired, sluggish feeling you have after a heavy meal.

Another benefit of the raw food diet is that it helps balance the alkaline/acid levels in your body. Processed and cooked foods, along with pollution and stress can cause your system to be too acidic. This diminishes you immune system’s strength. Also, fruits and vegetables are one of the best sources of fiber, especially dark, leafy vegetables. This helps in the body’s elimination of waste which, when regulated, can also increase your energy. This raw food diet can also be called a water-rich diet since fruits and vegetables are partly made up of pure water. This helps hydrate the body.

This diet is a good source of the good type of fat. Once these fats are heated they can lose their antioxidant properties. They also thicken when heated which can explain blockages in the arteries and digestive tract. This sticky fat also inhibits how nutrients are absorbed and the flow of oxygen in the body. Decreasing this way of consuming cooked fat is another way to add to your energy and alertness.

Some preparing techniques are needed such as soaking nuts and dried fruit, juicing fruits and vegetables, and blending such as for the Green Smoothie. A person should make sure that any diet they follow is well balanced and adequately nutritious. Some people may suffer from a temporary detoxifying effect and crave the foods they were used to eating. Usually the mild nausea and headaches subside after a few days. This truly is an easy raw food diet if you think about the time saved in preparing meals since many times you can just wash, chop, and serve.  Get more info on healthy eating in the Health section of http://therepublicoflife.com.

Try this easy green smoothie:

Step 1

Pour 1 cup of water into your blender. (You need some liquid for the food to blend into)

Step 2.

Chop your favorite leafy greens (Spinach, Arugula etc) and add to the mix.

Step 3

Add your favorite fruit to sweeten. Bananas work great!