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Tips for Traveling Raw

Tips for Traveling Raw

In response to a request for an actual list of suggestions from a friend who will soon be traveling to Italy (lucky her!), here it is:

1. Be prepared! Dehydrate your favorite foods in advance, so you will always have something to munch on if you are hungry and don't want to be tempted.
2. Carry your snacks, including prepared carrot, celery, cucumber sticks, etc. in plastic baggies for easy disposal.
3. Bring some quick and easy snacks with you for the plane ride or other travel, such as homemade fudge balls, organic raisins, goji berries (soaked is best), other dried fruits, nuts and seeds. Just be sure it is what you really like and will actually eat!
   
4. Be sure to bring a bottle or two of distilled water. It's a great help that most places sell bottled, distilled water nowadays, just don't forget the importance of staying hydrated. As my friend Nathan informs me, the airlines now allow only 3 ounces of any liquid, so be aware of that. If you are traveling by car, you can take more; just don't let plastic bottles sit in a hot car, allowing the plastic to leach into the water.
   
5. The very best source of water being fresh, raw, delicious fruits, take some along or buy them at the airport. Airport food, including fruit, is ridiculously expensive, but it can be worth it if you really want to stay raw and healthy.
6. Remember that you can easily make a meal of fruit and be satisfied and perfectly nourished. Bananas are especially filling and easy to obtain, although they don't travel very well.
7. If possible and practical, bring your VitaMix with you! This means you can make your own healthy and delicious green smoothies wherever you go. Remember, green smoothies are concentrated nourishment, delicious, and filling.
8. When you go into a restaurant, be prepared with an index card (bring a few) to give to the waiter for the chef, saying something like this: "I eat only raw vegetables and fruits. Would you make me a salad containing as many of these ingredients as you can, please?", and then list the veggies you particularly like.
9. You can bring your own containers of a healthy salad dressing, or you can just squeeze an orange onto your salad for dressing. Blend beforehand (if you bring your VitaMix or blender) a tomato and a mango and you've got another delicious and simple dressing.
10. Write and and bring a list of the reasons WHY you are eating raw!
11. Bring a motivational book about the raw diet and lifestyle to reinforce your goals.
12. Remember to Keep It Simple! Don't worry that you will run out of good food to eat - fresh fruits and vegetables are usually available anywhere you go.
    

When you go to another country, or visit somewhere special, don't be too hard on yourself, diet-wise! If you want to taste the cuisine there, don't think it's the end of the world if you try something you normally wouldn't eat.

Remember why you went raw and all the benefits you have gained from it, and don't want to lose. What you eat is YOUR decision, and will either contribute to your well-being, or to your harm.

By all means eat health-fully, but don't make a religion of it or feel like a complete failure if you stray a bit. Just decide before hand how far you are willing to go and ENJOY your time there.

Hope this helps. Have a great trip, Yvette, and I'll see you when you get back!

Spring is Here!

Spring

A time of new beginnings, new hopes and dreams. A time to start planting!

Time to start thinking about an exercise plan, and getting in shape for the beach this summer. I just ordered Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD and can hardly wait for it to get here. I happen to love exercising in just about any form, and I love her other workouts - really tough, but results-oriented.

Along with weight and fitness goals, why not make this a time to start a healthy new diet?

I know, there are approximately 3.2 zillion diets out there from which to choose, but may I suggest something simple, yet effective, that you can start doing right away and see immediate results?

Begin incorporating a quart of green smoothie into your diet on a daily basis, and you will be amazed at the results you get right away. In case you don't know yet what a green smoothie is, please click on the link for more info and how to make one.

All you need is a blender, some fruits (including bananas) and green leaf veggies such as kale, chard, spinach, or parsley, and water.

Basically, it's approximately 2/3 fruit and 1/3 veg, with enough water to make a smooth mixture. Containing predominately fruit, it tastes delicious, and you won't even know how healthy it is while you're drinking it!

Just taking that one step, adding green smoothies to your daily diet, will bring you so many benefits, even without changing a single other thing about your diet.

If you try it, would you let me know what results you get? I'd love to hear from you!

Links to Health Articles

Hopefully this alphabetical index of Health Articles will make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. If you have suggestions for any particular subject you'd like to see here, please let me know!

This section is constantly being added to, so please check back frequently.

Appetite versus Hunger
Benefits and Blessings of Good Health
Caffeine, a Legal Drug
Carob versus Raw Cacao
Do We Need Salt – or Sodium?
Exercise – It Does a Body Good! Part 1
Exercise – It Does a Body Good! Part 2
“Green” or just Goofy?
Green Smoothies!
Green Smoothies vs Juicing
Harmful and Healthy Sugars – Part 1
Health is a Matter of Choice!
Is Decaffeinated Coffee Better Than Regular?
It's Time for Your Flu Shot – Or Is It? Part 1
It's Time for Your Flu Shot – Or Is It? Part 2
More Effects of Cooked Foods
The Problem With Cooked Foods
What is Natural Skin Care? Part 1
What is Natural Skin Care? Part 2
More Dangers of Salt
More Tips for Getting a Good Night's Sleep
Not By Diet Alone...
Our Body's Need for Water – Part 1
Our Body's Need for Water – Part 2
Our Incredible, Self-Healing Bodies
Our Environment – Indoor Concerns
Our Need for Sunshine
pH in the Body – What's That?
Sleep, Sweet Sleep
Spring is Here!
Still More Dangers of Salt
The “Healthy” Oils Controversy
The Swine Flu Scare
Trouble Sleeping? Here are Some Tips
Variety, the Spice of... Gluttony?
What Exactly is a Healthy Diet?
What is a Tan?
Why Not Wash with Soap and Water?
Will a Good Diet Alone Make You Healthy?

Tips for Eating Healthy this Thanksgiving!

It seems hard to believe, but Thanksgiving will be here again before we know it.

Thanksgiving - a time of giving thanks to God for His abundant blessings, and a time to be with family that maybe we haven't seen all year. Lots of food, laughter, football games on tv, food, the sound of of children playing, more food, lots of talking and catching up, and still more food.

Let's face it, food is a HUGE part of this holiday. So how can we get through this holiday without those extra pounds and that feeling of regret the day after?

I've seen lots of tips on the internet and in magazines for eating "healthy" - but they include the usual turkey, mashed potatoes with cow's milk, and gravy made with a little less oil than usual. Is this really healthy?

If you really want mashed potatoes, at least make your own and use a nut milk, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil or safflower oil into it, and add some herbs. But please skip the turkey!

But, if you really want to eat healthfully this year, I've got some ideas that will help.

• Make a couple of healthy dishes to bring and to share – one entree and one dessert. Extra food is always appreciated and often will be a good conversation starter. It may also help someone there who wants to eat healthy but isn't sure how and doesn't know that there are delicious options.
  

Of course if you are hosting the get-together, what you make is completely up to you! And it will be one Thanksgiving everyone is sure to remember.

• If you are going out, eat something really healthy first, before you go out or before company comes! Especially if you think you will be tempted, fill up on it so you're not even hungry when you get there.
  

• Another trick is to eat or drink something sweet but healthy. Maybe a quart of green smoothie, or a banana/carob/date drink. Those are both really filling and satisfies a sweet tooth and helps greatly with those unhealthy cravings, and with feeling like we are missing out on something.
  

• Brush your teeth right before you leave or before company comes. I found years ago that there is something about having a clean mouth that discourages the desire to eat. This would help with the pre-dinner snacks.
  

You may even want to bring a toothbrush and toothpaste (a healthy one without fluoride or abrasive chemicals that strip the enamel) with you, if you think that will help, to keep from snacking later on.

And, most importantly,

• Decide well before you go, what you want to do. That way you won't feel pressured to sample everything that you really don't want to.

Remember that it is an attitude, or mindset – you are not being deprived of anything, not at all! Quite the opposite. You are making intelligent choices to live longer, be free from pain and sickness, and eat a delicious diet. How great is that?

This is the first in a series of articles entitled, "How to Eat Healthfully this Thanksgiving - and Enjoy It!". I do hope these articles will be helpful to you.

Phyllis Towse

Green Smoothies vs Juicing

In my article yesterday on Green Smoothies, I talked about what a green smoothie is, and listed some of its benefits. I also gave some suggestions for ingredients.

Today I'd like to talk about some of the differences between green smoothies and juicing.

So what is the difference between juicing and a green smoothie, and how do you know which is better?

First of all, let me point out that they are very different. Both juicing and smoothies seem to have their own advantages. Each certainly has its own following and supporters!

When you juice vegetables or fruits, you are extracting the liquid and leaving behind all the fiber and some vitamins and minerals. It is certainly no longer a whole food.

There are many, many people who were extremely sick from many kinds of diseases, including terminal stages of cancer, who have juiced aggressively and found healing for their bodies. Dr. Norman Walker (inventor of the Norwalk Juicer), Dr. Lorraine Day, and Rev. George Malkmus are three examples that come immediately to mind.

Proponents of juicing claim that when the body is in a compromised state due to disease, the juice will get into the bloodstream much quicker than a whole food, and thereby nourish the cells and begin the healing process faster.

Certainly this has worked for many people, although in fairness I would also point out that along with the juicing they eliminated unhealthy foods from their diet.

Dr. Doug Graham, however, author of the 80/10/10 Diet, claims that our bodies need the whole food, that juicing refines the food and therefore is not as nourishing.

Victoria Boutenka claims in her book, Green For Life, that even when people simply added a quart of smoothie to their daily diets, without changing anything else in their diets, they experienced dramatic results.

I did not personally find that, but that is probably because my diet was already cleaned up.

Green smoothies are much easier and quicker to prepare, with less clean-up after.

They are best made with a high speed blender, but can be done with a regular blender.

The taste of a green smoothie is more appealing to many people.

Unfortunately, most people who recommend green smoothies claim they are good for us because they are what our nearest relatives, gorillas/apes/monkeys eat.

I believe their conclusion is sound, and agree that we are genetically similar to primates. That is not in dispute. And certainly green smoothies are extremely healthy for us, but the basis for their conclusion is fatally flawed.

We did not descend from the ape - evolution is technically not even a theory, it's so poorly contrived. However, we do share the same Creator. We ate nothing but plant food back in the Garden of Eden and thrived.

We are simply re-discovering an old truth, and it is God who deserves the glory.

Phyllis Towse

Green Smoothies!

Green Smoothies!

A super easy and delicious way to get the bulk of your vitamins and nutrients for the day is to start adding a green smoothie into your daily diet.

Green smoothies have been around for a long time, but they have recently been popularized by and generally given credit to raw foodist Victoria Boutenka.

So what exactly is a green smoothie?

Basically it's 1/3 bananas, 1/3 leafy green vegetables, and 1/3 juicy, sweet fruit and water.

One of the best things about this is that you can design them to suit your own particular tastes!

Suggestions for the leafy green vegetable portion are:
kale
Romaine lettuce
parsley
spinach
swiss chard


Suggestions for fruits include:
peaches
nectarines
mango
kiwi
strawberries
blueberries
apples
raspberries
pineapple

The benefits to adding a quart of green smoothie to your daily diet are many.

To start with, you can get all the nutrients from all the individual fruits and vegetables without having to sit and chew for an hour.

Your body can process all the vitamins and minerals much faster than if you were to sit and chew everything individually.

You can easily bring a quart of green smothie with you to work or while traveling, and know that you are getting your nourishment.

It will fill you up and satisfy your sweet tooth at the same time.

As far as quantity to put in, go by the size of whatever your blender will safely hold, and divide that into thirds. Then add maybe a quart of distilled water, depending on the size of your blender, again, and also how thick or thin you want it to be.

To get you started, use any kind of a blender from Wal-mart or wherever. You will most likely find that it will not stand up to daily use, though, for very long. Hopefully that will not be the case!

I recommend the Vita-Mix very highly, as it is the very best and most powerful blender around. I have had mine for over 10 years, and I use it nearly every day. It can handle frozen bananas, frozen fruits, even ice cubes with ease.

The Vita-Mix breaks down the foods better than any other blender, into a form even smaller than how our own teeth can chew it, so your body will assimilate more of the nutrients. Click here for more information on that.

I recently purchased a K-Tec blender just to compare, and to me there was just no comparison. I didn't even want the K-tec as a back-up! That said, however, there are many people that are satisfied with a K-Tec, but I cannot personally recommend them.

My favorite combination is bananas, peaches, kale and parsley. Yum!

Anyway, experiment with your own favorite combinations of green, leafy vegetables and sweet, juicy fruits and find your own favorite!