Ever want to eat a healthier diet of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and
seeds? The raw food diet is gaining in popularity because it enables
your body to not only prevent, but also reverse disease. In addition,
it gives you the energy of your youth. Models and Hollywood stars such
as Carol Alt and Demi Moore know it is also a beauty secret for
maintaining great looks well into middle age. Here is an easy way to
go raw.

1. Start with breakfast. Have a smoothie. An example recipe is ½ cup
of freshly squeezed orange juice, 1 cup water, ½ bunch kale and/or 3 T
hemp seed protein powder, 1 T coconut oil. If you care for some
melon, eat it 20 to 30 minutes before anything else as it doesn't
combine with other foods. Pack an apple for a snack. You are now
eating about 25% raw.
2. When you are ready, pack a salad of organic vegetables for lunch
with some homemade dressing of raw apple cider vinegar, extra virgin
olive oil, and a bit of raw agave or unheated honey. (There are plenty
of raw dressing recipes; this happens to be one of the easiest.) Add
some raw nuts or seeds that have been soaked overnight to get rid of
the enzyme inhibitors. (Be sure to rinse them.) Also make your own
sprouts to add to the salads. You are now eating about 60% raw.
3. For a snack have the apple and some raw trail mix: organic goji
berries with raw nuts and seeds, any sundried fruit, and shredded
coconut. Be creative. Now you are eating about 70% raw.
4. When you are ready, switch dinner to raw. There are many free
recipes on the internet. Simple ones include raw soups, kelp noodles
to make pad thai, and Chinese stir "fry" with various raw sauces.
Dinner is when most people are tempted to eat cooked food. If you are,
have some lightly steamed vegetables sprinkled with walnuts ground up
in your coffee grinder or Vitamix.

You won't feel deprived. When you eat 80-100% of your calories in raw
foods, you will feel so much more alive! When we eat a cooked food
diet, we use about 85% of our energy digesting the food.

Susan Schenck, LAc, MTOM, is raw food coach, lecturer, and author of
The Live Food Factor, The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for
Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet, with Victoria BidWell. Go to
www.livefoodfactor.com to check out more free articles.