Losing weight doesn’t have to be boring when you focus on living foods. What does this mean? Simply by making sure your plate reflects a range of colors, you’ll naturally create more balanced and healthful menus, complete with a range of living foods.
What are living foods? They are re live, colorful, fresh and raw – fruits, vegetables and salads!
Let’s Look At The Positives
1. Colorful foods have no preservatives and no added color!
2. Provide an abundance of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, water and trace elements.
3. Have a high water content – an excellent source of hydration for the body.
4. Are visually appetizing.
5. Their firm textures demand a good chew, so we eat them more slowly and feel full afterwards.
6. Are quickly and easily processed and assimilated by the body – less work for the digestive system.
7. Are safer – contain less undesirable man-made chemicals.
8. Are as nature intended (unlike processed, pre-packaged modern fast foods!)
9. Are pure energy – living food.
Consuming Cooked Foods
1. Heat destroys the vitalizing nutrients in colorful foods. So much so that sometimes, you may as well be eating cardboard for all the good it does your body!
2. The effectiveness of fiber in cooked fresh foods is reduced – vegetables that are floppy and overcooked pass through the body with a reduced ‘cleansing’ action.
3. If you cook vegetables, always steam them lightly and aim to retain their ‘crunch’!
4. Cooked vegetables tend to turn out soft and therefore require less chewing, which means they are usually eaten more quickly, so are less satisfying.
5. Heat also destroys the enzymes in fresh foods, which are essential for digestion. This means the body has to tap into its own precious supply of enzymes to support the digestive process.
6. Heat also destroys the enzymes in fresh foods, which are essential for digestion. This means the body has to tap into its own precious supply of enzymes to support the digestive process.
Living foods are whole fruits and vegetables, fermented fruits and vegetables, sprouted nuts and seeds, fish, poultry, and whole grains[1]. While a raw food diet could lead to temporary weight loss, most people will not be able to sustain it long term because it can be challenging to meet all of the body’s nutritional needs[2]. However, incorporating living foods into your diet can be beneficial for weight loss. Lean protein such as eggs, vegetables like avocados and apples, berries, nuts and legumes like lentils and black beans are some examples of healthy foods that can aid in weight loss[3][4].
