I can see how confusing it is when you get thrown all sorts of gargle at you. Everyone has ideas about how to get this mineral or vitamins or how to combine foods to get the best phytonutrient absorption. For Pete’s sake, just relax!

Here are what I think are the most basic of health principles.

1. The closer the food is to it’s original form the more healthy it is for you. When you eat whole foods you give your body the maximum nourishment available. Even eating more raw food will help you reap the total benefits of the food you eat. Heat can often times kill or deactivate enzymes in our food.

The bottom line is: when you are adequately nourished you will consume less and maintain a healthier weight. So make your meals from scratch and stop eating out of a can or a box!

2. Artificial sweeteners etc. do not stop you from losing weight. Studies show that artificial sweeteners actually cause weight gain. When you eat garbage like diet pops you are assaulting your digestive system and that affects how your metabolism works. You will gain weight and could cause damage to your body. There have been studies that show that when rodents are exposed to artificial sweeteners they develop tumours and have babies with birth defects.

You can read the article and view the comments on my artificial sweeteners article for starters.

3. Try to eat less sugar (even natural sources of sugars (not including fruit)). Sugar suppresses your immune system and makes you more likely to get sick. It also affects your mood in a negative way. You’ll be happier without that box of chocolate chip cookies. Trust me.

Cut out all forms of sugar for a week or two and you’ll be able to eliminate the craving. If you choose to do that just be aware that there is sugar in all  sorts of items you wouldn’t automatically think of…like bread for instance.

4. Watch your portion sizes. Meat is one of the items that is often over eaten. I am quite serious when I say that meat will kill you. You would be better off switching to plant sources of protein. These help fight disease instead of encouraging it’s growth and will help keep your digestive system more regular and healthy. Try to incorporate more vegetables into your diet. These are your disease fighters! Plus they keep you regular and that is a major component to good health.

5. Make better choices by reading labels. Let’s say you really want a salty treat. Potato chips are out. See my post on MSG. You can substitute with some tortilla chips (I choose one that uses organic corn because I try to avoid GMO when I can) and some homemade or organic store bought salsa or guacamole. I really try to advocate for making your own food but certified organic can be almost as good since they can not use chemical preservative etc. When it’s organic it has to be food! You can’t have organic chemicals.

Just find a better alternative to your craving. An organic dark chocolate bar instead of a Snickers, a cup of fruit juice instead of pop.

6. Get some fresh air and sunshine. This will make you happier and therefore healthier.

7. Try to use less chemicals in your home.  I have been cleaning with lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar and cream of tartar for over a month now and it works just as well. If you clean with vinegar though, make sure you air out the room before you have company over. The smell does linger a bit. But it’s still better than that stinging Windex smell to me.

But most importantly, just enjoy your food. Don’t get frustrated that you don’t know which salad to eat. Just take it one day at a time.

The raw food movement has been picking up speed. Although I don’t eat more than about 30% raw I still believe that it has merit.

The point of eating raw is that you are eating foods in the form that contains the most enzymes. Enzymes are beneficial in helping your body digest food and absorb nutrients. Raw foodists also believe that you get more nutrition from food in its raw form. While that is true, there are some nutrients that are unlocked with small amounts of heat.

I believe that when tomatoes are heated slighted that their lycopene becomes more easily digestable.

So I suppose the healthiest way to eat would be to eat raw and cooked. Don’t overcook your veggies though. You can leach the nutrients out of your food by overcooking. I tend to leave my carrots etc. a little crunchy on the inside.

One of the easiest things to eat raw is smoothies. I am, of course, talking about smoothies that don’t have ice cream and junk like that in them.

One of the simplest smoothies is just a banana, some strawberries or whatever frozen fruit you like and a bit or water or juice. I like to add EFAs and hemp protein powder to mine as well.

Another easy raw snack is granola bars. Experiment with these to find the flavour and texture you like.

I made a batch tonight that has dates (soaked), rolled oats, sesame seeds, flax seeds, some strawberries, carob powder and sprouted buckwheat. These are bit sticky so I am going to let them sit overnight to dry up a bit.

I also made a batch that has peanut butter, peanut oil, honey, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts and raisins. They are quite crumbly so I will try to add a little something extra into the chunks tomorrow morning if they haven’t solidified a bit better. And if that all craps out, I’ll cook it in my oven and make a tasty granola!

These are healthy, packed with nutrition!

I have some new recipes. I have a new pancakes recipe that totally trumps the last one and I have some raw recipes to add.

Eating raw is a great way to get the maximum amount of nutrition out of your food and so if I can find something raw that is nice and tasty enough to fool Kevin I will make that instead. Vegetables are full of health promoting agents and nothing makes you feel more energetic than a light nutritious meal!

My delicious flaxjacks (not raw):

First make your flax egg (1 tbsp of ground flaxseeds with 1/4 cup of water). Let sit until last. 

1 cup of whole wheat flour, 2 tsp of baking powder and 1/8 tsp salt (optional).

Then add 3/4 cups soymilk, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp sugar or maple syrup or agave nectar and 1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Mix together then add the flax egg. Then just cook in an oiled pan just like you normally cook pancakes. There are flavourful (not like my last recipe) and fluffy.

Some raw recipes now:

Marinara sauce:In a food processor add 1 large tomato (cubed and seeded), 1/4 -1/2 of a red pepper, 2 tbsp of olive oil, basil, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper to taste, 1 small clove of garlic (DO NOT go over this amount. Fresh garlic is REALLY potent). To make this completely raw you can put it on zucchini pasta (just shredded zucchini) or salad or anything else. I like to put mine on cooked (and cooled) whole grain pasta though.

Stuffed mushrooms with walnut pate. 

 You just stuff mushroom caps or a portabella mushroom with a pate made from 1 cup soaked (overnight) walnuts, 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp of olive oil, 1 tsp of soy sauce, a dash of salt, a tbsp of onion (finely chopped) and some parsley (optional). You just toss it all in a food processor and mix until it has the consistency of a pate.

Another raw meal is sushi without rice. Just toss sprouts and veggies in these lovely nori sheets, roll, cut and dip in soy sauce if you want. They look just stunning!

Peanut butter/carob truffles: 

This recipe is mostly raw. It’s the peanut butter that makes it not raw (because peanut butter is made from roasted peanuts).

In a food processor mix: 3/4 cup of all natural peanut butter, 1/2 cup of sliced almonds, 2-4 tbsp of agave nectar (you do need this to make it stick so if you don’t have any, substitute with maple syrup a little at a time or as a last resort, corn syrup), 1/4 cup carob/chocolate chips, 1/4 chopped dates and 1/4 cup carob powder/cocoa powder.

Roll into little balls. Since natural peanut butter is runny at room temperature I would recommend keeping these in a refrigerator.

 Well that’s all for today folks. Good luck and good eatin’!