By Mary Mucci
Note to my Viewers,
After meeting David Dreyfus, you can’t help but be intrigued by his experience with raw food. He was not very overweight. In fact he only wanted to lose 10 or 15 pounds. But he was a triathlete, and, despite the high intensity workouts, he couldn’t lose the weight. Imagine that….all that running and biking and swimming and stuck with extra weight. Hard to believe. Now he says he’s proof that the food we eat or don’t counts more than the exercise we do. Of course, exercise is important, but it wasn’t until he went on raw food that he lost weight. Then he lost it fast. Ten pounds in one week. Sounds great, right?
It’s not easy to make major changes in the way one eats. You have to really want to change. And when it comes to raw food, it actually takes time for your body to get used to the extra fiber. So don’t go too fast, advises David.
Fortunately, I already like vegetable juice, and salads with flax seeds and avocado. The kale salad we made together was really delicious. I tried a version at home with some cooked beans and it was totally satisfying. Another easy raw dish is nori or California rolls without the rice. Seaweed is one of the most nutritious foods on earth. And I would guess among the most alkalizing. What makes a food alkalizing is the mineral content. Sea weed or veggies are abundant in minerals including iodine which is a breast cancer preventative and so lacking in the American diet. That alone is a reason to eat it. But actually sea veggies can be really delicious.
So why does eating raw food make such a difference? The answer according to proponents is that the abundance of natural enzymes enables our bodies to digest and absorb all the nutrients. They theorize that we are all stuffed but starving. Our bodies give us the signal to eat because it is hungry for vitamins and minerals.
If you want to give eating more raw a try, summer is the best time. Remember David does not advise eating raw meat or even raw fish. There are too many health issues with those. So cook your protein, but cut back in favor of raw food.
To Your Health,
Mary
Contacts for Raw Cuisine:
David Dreyfus
Un-cooking lessons and how to transition to a raw foods diet
Mt. Sinai at 631 331 7798
Chris Califano - The Best Weigh
Group and Individual preparation classes
Glen Cove at 516 759–2606
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