Here are some pictures of living a raw lifestyle… enjoy!

Here’s a quick healthy snack.. especially for those times when you’re transitioning and hungry for something sweet.

Banana Treat

• 1-2 Ripe Bananas
• 1-2 Soft, Pitted Dates
  or
• Handful of soaked raisins
• 1/2-1 Tbs Raw Almond Butter

Mash the bananas in a bowl, add raw almond butter and dates (cut them into small pieces) or soaked raisins and mix together well. Quick, easy and delicious. Enjoy without guilt!

To your best health,

Mark
Vegan and Raw – The Ultimate Diet For Weight Loss, Healthy and Life

Most of those interested in the raw food diet are looking to lose weight… to release extra weight. But some are concerned about maintaining their weight when transitioning to a raw food diet.

Here’s a question I received recently:
Read more…

One of the benefits of eating a raw vegan diet, meaning a diet of fresh, raw vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, is the ability to condition your body almost effortlessly.

Why do I say almost effortlessly?

Here’s why conditioning your body is quite easy when you remove the obstacles… remove the toxins, processed foods, cooked foods and most unnatural substances from your diet and environment.

You see, when your body doesn’t have to continue to struggle with obstructions, meaning the toxins we just mentioned, it can respond much easier to physical activity, and not need much recovery, if any to longer or more frequent activities.

For example, recently I found myself at a new aquatic center near my home. I normally don’t swim often since most pools I’ve been to in the past in the area use a wide array of chlorine chemicals. To my surprise, this new center uses a salt based filtration system so I decided to enjoy the water.

To give you a quick background, the most I’ve probably swam in a pool throughout my entire life is 2-3 laps continuously without stopping. That’s been the extent.

I noticed that there was a requirement for eligibility in order to be able to attend evening ‘lap night’ and found that you must be able to swim at least 20 laps without stopping. Oh my, 20 laps? Without stopping? Based on the fact that I hadn’t swam for more than 2-3 in my entire life, I wasn’t sure about 20.

Well, always enjoying a challenge, I decided to see how many laps I could do… without stopping.

30.

I was a little sore for a few minutes, but soon felt normal and energetic. In fact, I felt I could have continued (energy wise) but was getting a little dizzy :).

Now I’m not special, anyone can do this if they remove the obstacles our bodies battle with every day when we eat cooked foods, processed foods, ingest toxins and dangerous chemicals as well as being exposed to toxins in our environment.

On a raw vegan diet your body easily stays conditioned and you won’t experience cramps, soreness and have plenty of energy to accomplish anything you want. Run 6 miles? Sure. Go hike a mountain? Of course! Swim 30 laps non-stop? Absolutely.

Just stay active regularly and eat a pure, raw, fresh, low fat, whole food diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

And this isn’t just me, ask any raw vegan athlete and they’ll share the same story. I had a friend that could do most any exercise, in most any length of repititions or distance without exhaustion or muscle soreness. He could go on as long as he wanted and enjoyed every minute. Of course this was after he transitioned to a raw vegan lifestyle.

Another benefit to the raw vegan diet.

Peace!

Mark

Related:

Use these two exercises you can do at home, without expensive club memberships or equipment, to stay conditioned, lose weight or tone up.

One of the many questions I receive is along the lines of… “it’s hard for me to get more greens in my diet, how can I do it?”

The short answer is, it couldn’t be easier… if you want to. Making your salad the main dish for dinner is a great start… and then start experimenting with different greens. There’s an abundance of green leafy vegetables that you can make into dozens of salads, burritos, wraps and many more.

Here’s a favorite that’s quick, easy and a great way to increase greens in your diet.

Blended Salad

One of the benefits of blended salads is that you can get a large amount of greens into a meal.. and you can be creative with what you add to the mix. Here’s one of my favorite recipes:

(serves 1-2 … adjust accordingly)

3-4 Kale leaves
5-6 Romaine Lettuce leaves
2 Roma Tomatoes
1/4-1/2 Cucumber
2-3 Green Onions
Handful of fresh Cilantro
1/2 Avocado
Handful Sun Dried Tomatoes
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 Red Pepper
Sprouts (alfalfa, brocolli, etc)
Sprouted Pumkin Seeds

Add all ingredients except green onions, red peppers, sun dried tomatoes and avocado into a blender or food processor and blend until you get a smooth consistency. I recommend adding a little at a time and saving the sun dried tomatoes until the end and blend partially to leave small chunks. Top with chopped avocado, green onions, pumpkin seeds, and sprouts and you have a super green meal! You can be creative and make any combination you’d like… toppings, different greens, vegetables, seeds… make a different one every time and have fun!

Enjoy!

All good things,

Mark

One of the things many talk about when transitioning to a raw food diet is ‘how do I travel when eating raw?’.

Some look at it as a challenge, some as an obstacle, some as the natural thing to do.

Read more…

A major, comprehensive new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in January shows that the less meat is eaten, the lower risk of colon cancer. Previous studies have show similar findings, but this is the longest (20 years) and included a large group of people. In fact, related studies show your risk of colon cancer on a vegetarian diet is 50% less than if you ate red meat regularly. If you need another reason to eliminate meat from your diet, here it is!

Related link:
PCRM Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – News Release