Debunking Typical Raw Food Myths
Myth #1: To benefit from the raw food diet, I need to eat only raw vegan foods.
Unlike many raw food books, The Raw Food Detox Diet allows and even emphasizes the inclusion of some cooked food in the diet (recommending different percentages of cooked food for each raw food transition level, as described in part II of this book). When you begin to eat raw food, it's healthy to keep some cooked food in the diet to prevent an overly intense detoxification response, to promote gastronomical pleasure and emotional satisfaction, and to take into account personal circumstance. Too often, raw food books adhere to the misguided goal of becoming a 100 percent raw foodist. In fact, that kind of diet is not for everyone, much less for those of you who are just starting out. Similarly, you will also find mention of nonvegan foods in this book. Not everyone is successful as a vegan or desires to become one. As you read,
Debunking Typical Raw Food Myths
Myth #1: To benefit from the raw food diet, I need to eat only raw vegan foods.
Unlike many raw food books, The Raw Food Detox Diet allows and even emphasizes the inclusion of some cooked food in the diet (recommending different percentages of cooked food for each raw food transition level, as described in part II of this book). When you begin to eat raw food, it's healthy to keep some cooked food in the diet to prevent an overly intense detoxification response, to promote gastronomical pleasure and emotional satisfaction, and to take into account personal circumstance. Too often, raw food books adhere to the misguided goal of becoming a 100 percent raw foodist. In fact, that kind of diet is not for everyone, much less for those of you who are just starting out. Similarly, you will also find mention of nonvegan foods in this book. Not everyone is successful as a vegan or desires to become one. As you read, you will learn why becoming vegetarian or vegan does not guarantee health and weight-loss success.
Over the years of working with my clients, it has been clear to me that there is a place for some natural, cleanly prepared animal products within a highly raw, plant-based diet. Many of you may be committed vegans and vegetarians. You will easily adapt the detox diet to your philosophy. But for those of you who do not wish to give up every last morsel of "flesh" foods, you will learn that it is unnecessary to do so. Now that you know that you can still eat some cooked or flesh foods on this diet, you have one less excuse for not detoxing!
Myth #2: Increasing my raw food intake means spending time soaking and sprouting nuts and dehydrating foods.
Soaking, sprouting, and dehydration are not featured in this book and do not have to be a part of a raw foodist's routine. Why? First, moderate amounts of nuts may be enjoyed in their unsprouted state without interfering with detoxification and, as you will learn, are often easier to digest than presoaked nuts. Second, I know my audience to be a busy, hard-working, hard-playinggroup that wishes this process to be as easy and uncomplicated as possible. Dehydrating foods for eight or more hours is not my clients' (nor, I presume, my readers') idea of an easy long-term lifestyle regimen.
Some of you may love the idea of making your own dehydrated raw breads, cookies, and other delectable dishes, and for you there are many raw recipe books that will perfectly complement this program. But this book is also for those of you who wish to spend little to no time in the kitchen while you cleanse and make this way of eating a lasting lifestyle. For you it's got to besimple and delicious -- no hassles! The recipes in this book were designed with these ideals at heart. You do not have to have your own raw food chef or spend more time than usual in the kitchen. Besides, demand has sparked supply. Now, many raw food companies produce exceptionally delicious, low-temperature, dehydrated raw items, or "raw treats," that anyone on a raw food diet can enjoy without going anywhere near a dehydrator tray or being forced to wait longer than it takes to undo a wrapper to get their "fix" of a mouthwatering sweet or savory raw treat.
Myth #3: To become a raw foodist, I probably have to become a health nut -- but I'm really only interested in weight loss.
The Raw Food Detox Diet speaks directly to weight loss. For most people, getting into raw foods is about weight loss, and this book was created to deliver the most consistent results in this area. There are tips and tricks for every level along the way so that you can avoid plateaus and get maximum results until you reach your ultimate, desired natural weight. With this diet will come a renewed sense of youth and well-being like you've never experienced before, including relief of many chronic symptoms and a dramatic increase in energy. At first, my clients are typically motivated by weight loss, but then they make the broader connection between this way of eating andfeeling better than they ever have before. The Raw Food Detox Diet is, quite frankly, the most healthful diet on the planet. On the other hand, to get preachy about health and not speak to the reason most people are attracted to the raw food concept -- weight loss -- is not what this book is about. Your weight-loss goals are of primary focus here and you can reach them!
Myth #4: If I just eat all raw foods, I'll be healthy and lose all my excess weight.
One of the least addressed but most critical components of successful detoxification in The Raw Food Detox Diet is the complete removal of the toxins that are drawn up from eating raw foods. Inthis book, I will guide you through simple steps that will facilitate the elimination of waste matter from your body. Contrary to popular belief, it is not what we put into our bodies that makes us healthy (various vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and so forth), but the removal of waste matter -- built up from years of improper eating -- that brings us into a state of glowing health. This book explains exactly how to get rid of that waste matter in the most comprehensive, efficient ways. When you do this in combination with the dietary steps, you will be able to reach a level of health and leanness that very few people in our culture ever experience.
Myth #5: If I'm going to eat raw foods, I need to go "all raw" tomorrow.
Finally, it is a myth that you should be able to change your lifelong eating habits overnight. The Raw Food Detox Diet fully appreciates the transition you are making to this way of eating and will allow you to do so very gently. For most of you this new approach to foods will be very differentfrom what you have tried until now. I respect that it is not just your mind and desire to change that we will be working with but also your emotions, your physiology, your cravings, and your life circumstances. Taking all this into account, this book will help guide you to the perfect level of transition, leaving plenty of room for personal tastes, choices, and the speed at which you adopt the program. Absolutely anyone living on this planet can find unparalleled success on the Raw Food Detox Diet.
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Excerpted from The Raw Food Detox Dietby Natalia Rose Copyright © 2007 by Natalia Rose. Excerpted by permission.
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