AJsBodBlog

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Make It Simple / Make It Happen

Think of raw foods as an interesting dietary option that is easy to try and healthful for almost anyone. -- Charles Gerras, feasting on raw foods (no downside, is how I like to think of it. -- ajw)

After I read how fresh produce kick-starts fat-burning, I Googled "Green Smoothies" a term from a raw food website for smoothies made from fresh fruit and veggies. One young woman normalized her weight by losing a hundred pounds on a Green Smoothie fast in a few months. Alex in Colorado, a beautiful healthy Raw Baby, was raised on raw food, including raw breast milk, of course. (picture, below)


With no downside I could see, I tried Green Smoothies in 2007. I had more energy than the Energizer Bunny, zapped back and joint pain, and normalized blood sugars, which had been creeping up, a family problem. I have been overweight most of my adult life, not for lack of dieting, but on smoothies my weight tends towards normal. Eating mostly fresh (raw) food and drinking smoothies I lost up to a pound a day. Eating traditional cooked meals with one morning smoothie, I lost 1 to 3 pounds/wk, for a total of 25 pounds September through November 2007.

On one fresh produce smoothie a day for six months, my brother’s blood pressure dropped like a stone from high to low-normal. My sister-in-law lost 30 lbs.

Strategy is your overall plan. Your strategy for health and reverse-aging is eating more fresh and raw food.

Tactics Because I am always trying to improve and incorporate evidence-based research, I am still working on tactics. My tactic for eating more raw food is Make It Simple / Make It Happen. There is a limit to how many raw salads, however delicious, I am likely to eat daily. Smoothies are my “Salad In A Blender”. Work days I have two; weekends I have one. With about two ounces raw plantain daily in my smoothie for the "second meal effect" I can eat a variety of common cooked foods up to four hours after my smoothie, without blood sugar and insulin swings / reactive hypoglycemia.

I eat more:

  • Salads (including seared ahi)
  • Raw Smoothies*
  • Finger Snacks (apples, celery and carrots, broccoli slaw, raw nuts, etc.)
Consider taking High Dose Fish Oil as recommended by Barry Sears, PhD.

* For One Raw Smoothie: Fruit and veg ingredients washed, trimmed, and cut into uniform-size pieces, as for a salad. Rinse frozen fruit / veg and pre-washed greens, then blend all in blender until smooth. If you want your smoothie frosty, use cold ingredients, and about half the produce you use in your smoothie should be frozen.

For one serving smoothie:

  • 1 serving raw fruit (smallish peeled kiwi, or one half pear or apple, or 5 large strawberries, or a handful of blueberries, etc)
  • 1.5 serving raw veg (small handful napa cabbage, packaged cole slaw, handful broccoli slaw, or other packaged salad, rinsed in tap water, PLUS half a peeled zucchini, half a peeled cucumber, a summer squash, or other mild-tasting vegetable.)
  • For adults, 1/3 to ¼ peeled sliced green banana or plantain as tolerated, about 2 ounces
  • 1 scoop whey protein powder 15 – 20 gm protein, under 6 gm carb
  • ½ tsp finely ground cinnamon
  • homemade unsweetened tea concentrate, cold coffee, cold water, ice cubes, other non-chlorinated or raw liquid
  • non-caloric or raw sweetener to taste – I use the pink sweetener -- or try stevia or raw cane juice
  • 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp, use a variety of healthy oils: first cold pressed olive oil, high-lignan flax and other minimally-processed monounsaturated and omega 3 oils
  • optional 6 oz. plain active-culture yogurt
color note: the peeled kiwis go nicely with a handful of frozen greens and a mild veg like zucchini or peeled cucumber, and make it a pretty green color. Strawberries and cherries make your smoothie pink and blueberries make it purplish-blue. Apples, pears, and bananas brown, and aren't attractive if you are saving half your smoothie for later.

IMPORTANT: If you are under treatment or taking medicine for any medical condition, tell your doctor you are changing to a diet that may reduce the need for some medication. If you are diabetic or take blood pressure medicine, check and record blood pressure and blood sugar, because raw food can dramatically reduce the need for insulin, oral hypoglycemics, blood pressure and cholesterol medicine, among others. For the chronically ill, very old, very young, or immune compromised, check with the doctor before changing your diet. Increasing the raw component of your diet up to around 80% may reduce general inflammation and improve immunity from infections.

Labels: ,