While we all love a warm, cooked meal, but it is extremely beneficial to our bodies to eat raw foods and all-natural juices!
Proponents of raw food diets stay away processed foods and restrict anything cooked above 116 to 118 degrees Fahrenheit insisting this prevents diseases and promotes optimal health. Going raw means lots of fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, seeds, and beans. And while devotees of this diet enjoy munching their food whole, it’s becoming increasingly popular to juice as well. Here are some reasons why people are going raw and drinking juice:
You get plenty of antioxidants. That’s because the main components of this diet are fruits and veggies packed with antioxidants, substances that help protect your cells from damage. Why is this important? It can not only help your body fight certain illnesses, including cancer, but it can help you look and feel younger and more vibrant.
It aids in digestion. Raw food fans believe that eating whole, unadulterated food packed with enzymes will allow your body to cleanse itself. And any diet based on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is good for your digestive tract, helping to prevent constipation, and possibly reducing your risk of conditions such as diverticulitis and diabetes.
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It has heart benefits. The raw food way of eating is high in fiber and low in saturated fats, and this has been shown to reduce your cholesterol and your risk of heart disease. Also, raw foods are high in antioxidants and magnesium, and low in sodium — adding up to more good news for your heart.
You’ll likely lose weight. Counting calories with raw foods and juice is not equivalent to the calories you count on a traditional diet of cooked and/or processed foods. Nothing is wasted, as the body knows how to assimilate all the calories in raw live foods, whereas a regular diet of 2,000 calories for example, might only have about 1,200 useable calories and the rest is “wasted” or stored as fat.
It may help you quit smoking. You may find after following a raw foods diet that you don’t want to put “bad” or unhealthy products back into your system. A raw foods diet that incorporates juices for a prolonged length of time might help resolve all kinds of habits: smoking, alcohol, even nail biting. (By the way, these are usually symptoms of a pH imbalance, or rather, being too acidic).
