When transitioning to a raw food diet, meeting others that are raw or transitioning can be quite helpful. In fact some will say it's essential to thriving with raw food living.

Where do you find link-minded individuals interested in raw foods in your area?

One of the better places is at a raw food potluck dinner. I just attended my first potluck here in Phoenix, AZ and not only were the dishes delicious, those that I met were interesting and a pleasure to get to know. One of the important, although often overlooked parts of transitioning to a raw food lifestyle is the social aspect. You needn't be alone. Meeting others that share a passion for better health and whole, living foods is not only fun, but helps many stay with the lifestyle, answer questions, share personal experiences and make friends that are like-minded.

A great place to find raw food events in your area is at MeetUp.com. Just look for your city and then search for either raw food or vegetarian/vegan events. MeetUp.com lists thousands of events for all sorts of interests and hobbies, and they're adding more every day.

Go find a potluck in your area and enjoy the raw delights!

Mark
Vegan / Raw Diet

One of the questions I often hear is whether or not exercising is necessary since we're already eating a healthy raw food diet.

There is a common misconception that just eating a better diet is enough to gain better health or lose weight. Yes, eating is one main part of the equation, but it's only one part of the big picture.

Read more...

A 12 year study of middle-aged women concluded that increasing intake of fruits and vegetables lowered the risk of obesity and weight gain in middle-aged women by 24-28%. The more they ate, the lower the risk. Read more at:

Study

Being vegan, many people ask where I get my calcium if I don't eat dairy foods (among other nutrients).

For years, I've studied the available research on milk and other dairy products and have always believed that milk, especially in it's current form, is not an essential part of a healthy diet that I would recommend, and can actually be harmful to your health.

Case in point. Some years ago I was speaking with a mother that complained about how many reoccuring ear infections her daughter had and that she was constantly on antibiotics. She also suffered from colds and was sick more often than what she would consider normal. After asking some questions about the girls diet, I found that she drank milk more than several times a day, and consumed other dairy foods and foods containing dairy by-products. I recommended she cut out all dairy products and substitute unsweetened soy or rice milk, fresh vegetables and when she had a craving for something sweet, a non-dairy frozen dessert (made with soy or rice milk).

In less than a month, the mother reported that her daughter hadn't been sick at all during that time, and over the next two years, she had only been sick once or twice with a minor cough or cold. This was a major relief for the mother and a blessing for the girl since she not only felt better, but felt good not having to take medicine all the time.

Now comes evidence that the calcium benefit the dairy industry claims is vital to growing children... well, really isn't. In one of the most comprehensive review of over 27 studies looking into the benefits of calcium from milk sources found that only three out of the 27 studies found any benefit, and very little benefit at that. Read an article detailing the studies here.

Some of the existing research notes that fruit and vegetable sources of calcium are better absorped by our bodies, and that after milk is pasturized and fortified, the calcium is no longer in a form that is easy for us to assimilate and thus not much of a benefit. Studies note that getting out, staying active and exercising will do more for strong bones than drinking milk, a powerful statement that the dairy industry doesn't want you to hear.

Dairy products have been know to cause excess mucus, carry growth hormones (in almost all non-organic milk and dairy products) and cause allergic reactions to a large portion of humans that can't digest or are in some way allergic to dairy products (dairy allergies are one of the top allergies we may have - but most don't know it).

The way I look at it, why go through all the problems associated with dairy products when you can get plentiful calcium in other fruits and vegetables, bio-available vitamin supplements and get stronger bones by exercising and staying active?

Peace.

Mark
http://vegandiet.blogspot.com

In the beginning, before fire, there was raw! In 1931 a team of Swiss medical researchers proved that the body's immune system treats dead, burnt, factory food (cooked food) as a disease and raw living foods as an ally. The cooking process removes the water and ruins the nutrients in food leaving a toxic, indigestible, addictive and ultimately fatal substance. The words "alive" and "living food" mean that the food has THE POWER OF PRO-CREATION! A SEED! Every piece of fruit and every leaf further contain an active, functioning immune system, a life force & according to equipment designed to look at brainwaves, a consciousness as well! Where living food has intricate readings, processed foods & flesh have no reading at all, a complete flat line (dead)! (You are what you eat!)

Long after fruits have been picked, sit at the market and then in your fridge, it's still alive! ... it continues to possess a life force, water still pumping through its veins, one of its tiny seeds still able to pro-create more then billions of giant fruit baring trees! Dead foods are dead, and they spoil and rot deep in your guts, finally becoming some vicious mold (cancer) which in a delivery of excruciating pain eats you from the inside-out! just like you're going to be if you eat it!... but not before. Imagine what we would be like on a diet of life and perfection!

This is an introduction to Juliano's 'Raw In Denver' video where he demonstrates preparing raw dishes as well as the benefits of raw foods. Insightful piece. You can see the video online at 'Raw Food How-To'.

Be Rawsome!

Mark

A 15 year study following approximately 30,000 postmenopausal women found that by substituting vegetable for animal protein (effectively removing or reducting meat and dairy consumption from their diet), their risks of coronary heart disease and cancer dropped 30%.

This shows a direct relation to the benefits of increasing consumption of vegetables and removing red meat and dairy, essentially a vegan diet.

Read more at:
Associations of dietary protein with disease and mortality- PubMed

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.