Experience the Healing Power of Live Foods!

The more I learn about nutrition (and I tell you it is an ongoing process given the changing nature of this field!), the more I have begun to appreciate, and personally experience, the healing power of live foods .

What do I mean by live foods?

Live foods are plant-foods that have not been heated, cooked, processed, or refined in any way. Live foods (or raw foods) include uncooked, organic vegetables and fruits, raw nuts and seeds, and sprouted grains and seeds of all kinds (alfalfa, sunflower, lentil, etc). These foods are loaded with nutrients and healing properties and should ideally comprise about 70-80% of your diet.

1. Live, raw foods have a high degree of life force or energy . Life force, also known as prana (in India ), or chi (in China ), is the most basic and primary nutrient on which our bodies thrive. The substances that increase our life force energy, include oxygen, sunlight, and live foods. You can actually see the life force energy of a particular food through a technology called Kirlian Photography. You can see from the pictures that a fresh, raw food has a large life force field, yet when cooked, the life force field is diminished. It is also interesting to note that people who have degenerative health conditions have been shown, through this same method, to have small life force fields, and those who are healthy have much larger life force fields. Different cooking methods affect the life force field of foods dramatically differently. Fried foods, processed and sugar-laden foods, and red meat, for instance have little to no life force energy. Lightly steamed vegetables, legumes, or grains have a far greater vitality than deep fried foods or cooked meat.

Live foods, including uncooked, organic vegetables and fruits, and raw or sprouted seeds, nuts, grains, and grasses, have the highest life force energy of any foods. Sprouted foods are particularly powerful, and are referred to as biogenic foods. They contain the secret of life itself, the germ, which contains the reproductive power of the plant. When seeds, nuts, and grains are sprouted, many of the nutrients are increased and they become easier to digest. When nuts and seeds are soaked and sprouted, digestive enzyme inhibitors contained in the nuts and seeds are destroyed, and the carbohydrates, fats and proteins become predigested into simple carbohydrates, free fatty acids, and free amino acids, allowing the body to absorb them more readily.

The more we include these high-energy foods in our diet, the more we enhance our own energy and health. If you want more energy, eat more live, raw foods.

2. Live foods have live enzymes which aid digestion when we eat them. If food is cooked, then these enzymes are de-activated and we have to draw on our own body's stores of enzymes to break down the food. The more we age and the more we eat processed, over-cooked foods, the more we deplete our enzyme reserves. Enzymes are essential for life (they are called often referred to as "the stuff of life"), and are integral in so many functions in our bodies from metabolism to fighting disease. The fewer enzymes we have, the quicker we age. So, by eating live, raw foods, we can actually start reversing this process.

3. Live (raw) foods contain loads of minerals, vitamins, and phyto-nutrients in their undestroyed state that boost immunity, increase energy, and help cleanse (detoxify) rather than clog the body, helping prevent diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Live foods enhance and maximize the electrical potential in cells and between cells, which gives cells the power to rid themselves of toxins and absorb nutrients and oxygen. Every time we eat over-cooked and processed foods, our immune system is stimulated to produce white blood cells, which stresses our immune system and eventually depletes it.

4. Live (raw) foods are alkalinizing to the body's fluids. This is important because acid build-up in the body from over-eating meat, sugar, and processed, refined carbohydrates suppresses the body's energy production and immunity. Keep in mind that cancer can only thrive in an acidic environment. And, acid leads to arterial clogging and heart disease. The more alkaline foods we eat, the better our health and energy, and the greater our resistance to disease.

5. Live (raw) foods are high in water content and fiber . Just think about it... Your body is 75% water. Your brain is 80% water. Doesn't it make sense that we would want to eat high water-content foods to feed our bodies the water it needs. Water is necessary for transporting nutrients into your cells, and toxins out of your cells. Water and fiber are essential for proper elimination of toxins from the body. Often when we experience hunger, we are really experiencing thirst. Eating high water content food helps to eliminate cravings and hunger. Water and fiber also help to stabilize blood sugar.

6. Green, nutrient-dense superfoods including dark green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli, sea vegetables such as spirulina, cereal grasses such as wheatgrass and barley grass, are especially high in alkalinizing, cleansing, and immune-boosting nutrients, and help our bodies achieve optimal health and energy. There are many ways you can get these superfoods in your diet:

• Drink fresh-juiced green vegetables once a day (e.g. celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, parsley, and some lemon and ginger);
• Eat a large mixed-vegetable and sprout salad at every meal
• Snack on raw vegetable sticks during the day
• Use a green superfood supplement such as EnergyFirst Greenergy.

Greenergy is a powdered blend of the most potent and beneficial live, green "superfoods" including wheat grass, barley grass, spirulina, spinach, green tea leaf extract, chlorella, blue green algae, Echinacea extract, broccoli, digestive enzymes, and a probiotic blend (to help improve digestion and assimilation of food nutrients). Mix 1 tablespoon of Greenergy powder in cold water (add a little fresh, unrefined apple juice for extra sweetness if you need it) and drink every morning to start your day off with loads of energy! When Greenergy is mixed in cold water, the taste is innocuous and refreshing. You won't believe how energized you feel! And, without caffeine!