It's Awesome to be Rawsome!
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 2:35AM Mark Twain wrote: “To eat is human, to digest divine.”
These festive times & celebrations play havoc with my body.
Recently, I and my other two co-workers who have similar secondary health problems agreed: that after these particular holidays it is really hard to get up in the morning, you feel groggy all the time, energy levels are low, muscles are sore, and you feel more vulnerable to illnesses. Not to mention the obvious fact that we have gained some extra kilos. Considering all the tantalizing, more than tempting dishes offered ,tasted and thoroughly enjoyed over the Christmas and New Year it isn’t necessary to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce who is the culprit for these widening waistlines and their repercussions. For me, the only and most radical way to tackle the problem is the pursuit of Rawsome!
As you know, I have passion for cooking and like to try different kinds of herbs. Even with my growing love affair with all things culinary would not make me jump head first into a 100% diet of raw food.. What I simply try to do is to incorporate more raw foods into my diet (Maybe 50-70 %). As my healthy friends’ testimonials and the researchers found out, raw food or enzyme rich food can help us many ways, and I’m glad to announce following my previous post, these can help us stay young and more energetic. One of my friends who had a minor psychological problem cured herself by eating vegetarian and uncooked food. Therefore, put aside WTF recipes for a month or so, and enjoy these more wholesome goodies I am about to share with you and shout out loud “how awesome to be rawsome”
What is rawsome?
Rawsome means never heat any foods to above 42 degrees Celsius. Basically this means eat uncooked food, such as salads, fruits, seeds and nuts or uncooked meat (Except, at least for me, Sashimi, I still cannot eat uncooked meat) fit in this category. We are constantly warned to avoid “processed food”. Unfortunately, if we shop in supermarkets, we find many products claiming they are “Natural” products like 100% Apple juice. However, when you take a closer look at the package, the word pasteurized is plainly in view. This means the natural ingredients have been destroyed in the process of pasteurization. Cooking (heating) is also a manmade processing. Therefore, consuming these different processed foods, we are missing out on the goodness of old-fashioned fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds which are considerably more beneficial and ideal food for us humans.
For example, when I was making an apple & cinnamon mixture for my apple tarts, I had to boil the fresh crispy apple to squashy and mushy apple mixture. What happened with the fresh color after heating? The cooked apple’s color was lost! It looked dull and when I tasted it, the taste like rotten apple, I was thinking ‘um’ now the apple is completely dead, it is time to put honey and cinnamon to disguised the smell of dead body” I had to add spice and sugar to enhance the flavor so it wouldn’t be too offensive to our dear tender taste buds. When we cook food, not only the original color, texture and flavors are altered, worse still, almost all of the nutritional value is lost as well.
Why we can maximize health with Rawsome?
1. Essential nutrients are very vulnerable to the effects of the heat:
Essential nutrition’s, such as fatty acids which are essential for a healthy nervous system and cell walls, enzymes (I will explain more later), high temperature also destabilize their protein molecular structures, leading to deficiency of some essential amino acids. Antioxidants which are renowned for helping fight against cancer and decreasing the aging process are also destroyed. Therefore raw food is extremely rich in many beneficial nutrients and it ensures you get all the health benefits and bliss nature intended!
2. Detoxification, a process to clean waste from within our bodies
We all know that raw food or fresh juice is a means of reducing waste. It is because cooked foods not only take longer to digest but will also ferment within our body. Especially free radicals will be produced when the fat and protein are heated. Cooked foods quickly ferment and putrefy in the intestinal tract while raw foods are almost systematically absorbed before they are oxidized.
3. Help to lose weight
Fresh fruit and vegetables are nutritionally dense foods, so eating more of them means that the body progressively requires less food? Why? As you absorb nutrient rich raw food, the body steadily gets healthier which means your metabolic efficiency increases naturally in turn. Of course, moderation and balancing are important; quality proteins (I prefer planted based protein such as soya) are all vital for weight loss and maintain good lean muscle too.
4. It is better for your emotional stability
Researchers have stated that “live” food eaters tend to feel better and are often happier. They are less subject to stress and nervous tension than conventional eaters suffer from. At least for me, raw food is definitely a guilt free food as it is lower in calories and has less fat content. A real testimonial is the one of my girlfriend who suffered from minor psychological problems; she had visited some famous psychologists in Hong Kong and was prescribed medication. When her friend (who is an owner of a popular organic vegetarian café in Soho) suggested she stop taking pills, do Yoga and eat vegetarian food. she decided to take his advice and within 3 months, she could go without pills and ended her sessions with psychologists once they had confirmed her improvement . So I believe that food and the mind have very direct connections.
Best of all, raw food eaters become healthier and happier! As I mentioned, consuming a rawfood diet has been proven scientifically to improve our health significantly, increase energy levels, boost immune system and improve digestive function, clearing skin to name but a few benefits!
What are Enzymes?
The first time I met the renowned Hong Kong cinematographer, Henry Chung, I noticed he looked 20 years younger than his actual age. He didn’t hesitate to say that “Our body needs enzymes and amino acid.”
So, what are Enzymes?
According to Dr. Howell, who was the first researcher to recognize the importance of the enzymes has written a great metaphor” Think of it this way: Enzymes are the "labor force" that build your body just like construction workers are the labor force that build your house. You may have all the necessary building materials and lumber, but to build a house you need workers, which represent the vital life element.
Similarly, you may have all the nutrients -- vitamins, proteins, minerals, etc., for your body, but you still need the enzymes -- the life element -- to keep the body alive and well.
He goes on to explain “It's just as if you inherited a certain amount of money. If the movement is all one way -- all spending and no income -- you will run out of money” Dr. Howell
No matter how many vitamins, minerals and other nutrients we’ve digested, without enzymes, no chemical activity would take place in our body. We need enzymes to digest food, for assimilating the nutrients.
So…Where do the enzymes come from?
Yes, we have capacity to produce enzymes, saliva, gastric juices, pancreatic juice and intestinal juice can produce enzymes but the amount is limited and exhausted quite quickly. If we just solely reply our body to supply of enzyme activity, as mentioned by Dr.Howell, “we will run out of money” so our body doesn’t function well. Therefore, in order to get a sufficient supply of enzymes to run the brain, heart, and other organs and tissues, we need “Digestive enzymes”, which means digesting the raw food. Raw foods and living foods have lots of enzymes to aid digestion. Sadly, I have been eating an “enzyme-free diet” for many years. To go back to a previous point I made; once we cook food, it does not carry enzymes anymore, and the body is forced to use up its own stock of digestive enzymes. The worse scenario is, if we overuse our metabolic enzymes, disassociation may result and this has been noted as to have a direct link to cancer, coronary heart disease and other serious diseases.
4 Tips to incorporate rawsome into your diet:
1. At least one salad a day
As well as all the cooking, I love chopping vegetables, I feel it is a meditative process when I am handling such colorful veggie. I like putting red and yellow bell peppers in my salad. The bright vibrant colors of fresh veggie mean that it is packed with antioxidants! I have no difficulty choosing to eat salad for lunch or dinner. Whenever I eat out, I will almost systematically order a bowl of salad.
2. Take out your blender and make fresh juices
As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, I avoid juices that are pasteurized and prefer going through my fridge or fruit basket, choosing fruits that are on their way out and popping them all into my blender and savor a healthy juice. Another thing I have recently stopped doing is putting milk into my coffee as the milk is no longer truly fresh after being pasteurized. Out of curiosity you could “google” milk and its effects; you will find lots of evidence to possibly convert you as well. Choose Yogurt instead, it is cooled down and natural bacterial culture is added! Carrot juice is one my favorites, and I use blended cucumber with protein shakes.
3. Enjoy a powerful fruit breakfast
Yes, I am a brunch girl! I like a powerful breakfast…according to the principle of food combining, the ideal practice is to have fruit meal for breakfast. I have gotten into the habit of eating 3-4 Kiwi in the morning (better eat one fruit at one time), it’s a radical cure to keep you regular. If you don’t feel fulfilled just eating fruit for breakfast you could at least try to have fruit with empty stomach.
4. Prioritize your shopping route, shop for vegetables and fruits first!
Thanks to supermarket shelving strategies, the entrance is packed with colorful and vivid vegetables and fruits to provide pleasure for customers’ eyes. True, why not get into the habit of stopping by to pick up your favorite fruits and vegetables for salad and enjoy it on a movie night? Choose nuts and seeds instead of popcorn. My fridge is packed with fresh fruits and vegetables to ensure I will eat something healthy at home.
So! It is awesome to be rawsome. Wish all of you have an awesome rawesome day!
