I'm Aileen de Guzman, vegetarian for about 8
years, a Wellness Advocate and Green Living proponent... finding out
the tastiest and the easiest way for me to sustain this lifestyle
led me to become a Raw Foodist. I studied Bio Nutrition at Wellness
Institute, got my Raw Food instructions with a Chef at The
Farm, Sun Cafe & Nourished Kitchen in US and continuing my studies with various health and wellness
gurus. September last year I attended a Wellness Conference in California featuring the SuperFoods and Chinese Herbalism.I have been teaching Raw Food and Nutrition for about 4 years, conducting workshops and demos on RAW FOOD preparation and discussing its benefits at our center also on Wellness venues, Earth Day events, vegetarian groups and restaurants. Featured in Cook Magazine, Food Magazine, Money Sense, Good News of GMA, Salamat Dok, Mornings at ANC and Ma-Beauty Po Naman with Cory Quirino. As an advocacy I would like to see more people try turning raw and be successful with it !!
Some people would
think twice about eating raw food. Why should they re-consider
this proposition?
In a nutshell, eating raw food is the best way to get maximum
benefit from everything we eat. It is based on the belief that
it is the most healthful food for the body. Though heating food is
acceptable as long as the temperature stays below 104 to 118 degrees
Fahrenheit.Cooking destroys most vitamins in the food and enzymes which is the life force of foods. Enzymes are naturally present to help us digest and absorb nutrients. If we over consume cooked food, our bodies are forced to work harder by producing more enzymes. Over time, a lack of enzymes from food is thought to lead to digestive problems, nutrient deficiency, accelerated aging, and weight gain.
By eating food raw food, the nutrients are preserved. But most of us are weaned to eat cooked ones, and that the loss of nutrients can be compensated by supplements. What are your thoughts on this?
Cooking food can diminish its nutritional value. For
example, the cancer-fighting compounds in broccoli, sulforaphanes,
are greatly reduced when broccoli is cooked. Certain vitamins, such
as vitamin C and folate, are destroyed by heat. Others however,
become more healthful after cooking, because the fibrous portion is
broken down. For example, cooked tomatoes contain three to four
times more lycopene than raw tomatoes.Though we can always supplement, the raw foodist believe that the best source of nutrients should come from nature. Because in nature, everything is designed to be bio available and compatible to our body. For example, if we eat” talbos” in it's raw form ( specially through juicing or blending) all the nutrients, co-enzymes and co-factors are present for the body's easy absorption and metabolization. There's also the cleansing and detoxifying benefits that we can get when we do juicing since it hardly requires digestion while providing high levels of nutrition. Since most of us grew up eating cooked food, how long does it usually take for one to "transition" from an omnivorous diet to an organic-based one? Do you recommend abandoning meat-based food or can one go "back-and-forth" from his old diet to being a vegan?
There are different ways and paths to transition to a raw food diet. It varies according to the need and condition of a person. It is best to start slow, learn more and to listen to what your body needs and go from there. But in case of medical emergencies transition maybe abrupt with the help of a health care professional.
Most people who follow a raw food diet are vegan. Some consume raw animal products, such as raw milk, cheese made from raw milk, sashimi, ceviche (raw fish), or carpaccio (raw meat). Some people eat only raw foods, while others include cooked food
for
variety and convenience. The percentage of raw food is usually 70
percent or more of the diet.
Raw food detox diets or cleanses are entering the mainstream. People typically go on a detox diet for 3 to 21 days. After the detox diet or cleanse, they may continue a raw food diet, return to their regular diet, or try to improve their daily diet by consuming more raw and whole foods of at least 25% to 50%.
Those concerned about loss of flavor and taste of food in a raw, vegan fare, what do you tell them?One might decide to pursue a raw food diet because of the taste experience. Even if you don't care about benefits, the taste experience is incredible. A raw food diet is not about eating salads, carrots and celery sticks all day long. It's nothing of the kind. A raw food diet is about haute cuisine -- like smoothies and blended recipes – food combinations that you do not ordinarily have, it is something you have to experience!
If you think you've tried all types of foods, cuisines and never tried raw foods, you are in for a big surprise! You are missing out on a whole universe of taste experience. Tasting raw food for the first time is a totally new adventure. it is a journey into a new realm of food experience that will expand your reality because you will be living with some of the most exciting food in the world.
Food provided by nature -- raw, natural (unprocessed) fruits, vegetables ,berries, nuts, seeds, roots, anything in its natural state, this is how they are meant to be taken, so it makes sense that raw food offer perfect compatibility with the human body.
Balance is the key. Good quality whole foods is the way to go. With the right preparation you can maximize the benefits of every food you eat at the least cost to you. That is what we teach in all our workshops. We target dishes with 5 ingredients, 5 minutes to make and 5 minutes to clean up (the 555 rule). What better way to switch to a healthy lifestyle that will benefit you and the planet.
Exploring new realms of taste experience with raw foods cuisine. These are foods that awaken your senses. I believe they actually enhance your intelligence, because having sensory complexity is the most effective way to create new connections in your brain. The taste experience can be an enlightening experience, and that's what you get with raw foods.By the way, my diet is currently about 70% raw foods. I make sure to eat a raw food element with every meal, and I drink at least one raw food smoothie (blended with live sprouts that I grow myself) every day.
Before people had a fridge, cooking their food was the best way to kill parasites and bacteria. Louis Pasteur "invented" pasteurization to ensure that food was safe to eat for everyone. However, today this method is obsolete. It doesn't just kill the bad bacteria, it also kills the good ones, as well as the enzymes, makes the food acidic, takes away vitamins and minerals, etc.Today, we have much better methods for keeping our food safe. Some methods are:
- Refridgeration
- Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide
- Vacuum Sealing. We also tackle food safety in our workshops from sourcing, cleaning to storing of our veggies. It is of utmost importance to handle food properly especially raw food. It may be detrimental to one's health to eat raw when they are not properly cleaned, handled and prepared. A common practice these days is to spray vegetable with pesticides and other chemicals to keep pests off and keep them lasting longer.
Other relevant information which would help us get into the "vegan" lifestyle.
As what Hippocrates quoted "Let your food be medicine and your medicine be food...." the Raw Vegan Lifestlye could attest to that. Nothing feels greater than having great health of the Body, Mind and Spirit. This type of lifestlye has been life changing to many.
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| At Mercola Consulting Services Wellness Event |
I currently conduct Raw Food Workshops at our Wellness Place where high quality supplements, supperfoods, rawfoods and other wholistic products will be easily available at very affordable prices. Future plans include, a Raw Food Elixir Bar, healthy eating, while listening to wholistic naturapathic lectures and other Wellness activities and events for Companies and like minded individuals. Like us on FB www.facebook.com/healthsprings or call us at our contact numbers 8909161 / (0919) 2127190 email healthspringph@gmail.com for inquiries..
