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Want to lose weight?  Raw food weight loss is one of the best ways to shed those stubborn pounds.  Weight loss on a raw food diet is QUICK and practical.  Best of all, it’s totally natural.  With raw food, you don’t need to drink processed shakes, count calories, or swallow terrible-tasting (and ineffective) pills.  Our bodies were naturally designed for fresh, raw foods. 

Here’s How the Raw Food Weight Loss Diet Works…

When you’re focused on losing weight with raw foods, you never feel deprived because everything you eat satisfies your body’s nutritional needs.  If you’re still hungry, have some more raw food.  You can eat as much raw food as you like (when following a few simple rules)—because the food you’re eating is healthy and nutritionally satisfying.  With raw food weight loss, there are no empty calories.  Raw food provides maximum nutrition with minimum calories!

Do you know why people overeat?  Often, it's because your body is not getting the nutrition it needs.  This problem disappears on a raw food diet.  A raw food weight loss diet gives your body the nutrition it craves.  It gives your taste buds the delicious taste they need, and it satisfies your stomach.  With raw foods, you get a mega-dose of nutritionally dense foods – plus the satisfying feeling of being full.

Here’s What You’ll Discover When Following a Raw Food Weight Loss Diet…

• How to super-charge your body’s natural ability to burn fat—fast.
• How to end late night hunger cravings, and cravings for unhealthy foods.
• Eat as much food as you want, as long as it meets a few simple criteria.
• How to enjoy food, and never worry about counting calories.
• Release weight naturally using a system that has been proven.
• How to get a slimmer, trimmer, and more beautiful body.
  

A raw food diet is the healthiest diet you can follow.  My friend Angela Stokes has been featured on CNN and BBC for her incredible raw food success story.  Angela lost 160 pounds on a raw food weight loss diet!  Here’s a video from Angela’s appearance on CNN.

Losing weight on a raw food diet is simple and easy – once you have a proven plan to follow.  Find out how Angela can help you lose weight, and get the body of your dreams.

About Angela Stokes:  Angela lost 160 pounds, and recovered from morbid obesity by following a raw food weight loss diet.  Angela has been featured on CNN and BBC for her incredible weight loss story.  You can start losing weight today with a 30-day raw food weight loss plan, plus easy raw food meals.    

Raw food has benefits for everyone.  Eating lots of raw food can make a big difference in your energy, health, weight, mood, and quality of life.  Let’s look at 7 raw food benefits that you can experience by eating more raw and living foods. 

Raw Food Benefit #1:  More Energy

One of the biggest raw food benefits is having more energy and feeling younger.  Raw food contains simple sugars, enzymes, nutrients, and minerals that our bodies need in an easily digestible form.  Since less energy is needed for digestion, you have more energy available for other tasks—such as working, playing, exercise, or anything else you want to do.  Which brings us to raw food benefit number two…

Raw Food Benefit #2:  Easier & Faster Digestion

Raw foods contain living enzymes that help your body digest food quickly and easily.  These enzymes are destroyed when food is cooked above 118 degrees Fahrenheit.  When you eat a big cooked meal, a large amount of energy is required to digest the meal.  This explains why you feel tired and sleepy after a big Thanksgiving dinner (or any large cooked-food meal).  With raw food, digestion & elimination are quick and easy.

Raw Food Benefit #3: Lots of Fiber and Naturally Detoxes Your Body

Raw food assists in naturally detoxing your body.  When you eat plenty of raw foods, you’re getting lots of fiber, allowing your body to release mucus, toxins, and accumulated waste.  When you eat clean food (fresh fruits and veggies), your body can focus on detoxing—instead of having to focus on digesting unhealthy, artificially processed, dead, and packaged foods.  Good health requires good elimination—and fiber assists in that process.

Raw Food Benefit #4: Rapid Weight Loss

Another fantastic benefit is raw food weight loss.  When you eat a raw food diet, you’ll probably lose weight.  Why?  Because raw food is pure – it doesn’t contain junk food, harmful additives, hydrogenated oils, or lots of empty calories.  Raw food provides maximum nutrition for minimum calories.  Plus, fruits and veggies are naturally low in fat.

Raw Food Benefit #5:  More Nutritional Value than Cooked Foods

Foods cooked above 118F° will lose enzymes, nutrients, minerals and vitamins.  You can compare the energy that surrounds living food to the energy that surrounds cooked/dead food using Kirlian photography.  Living foods have more energy, which can be seen with Kirlian photography. 

Raw Food Benefit #6: Feeling More Rested & Possibly Needing Less Sleep

Among other raw food benefits, you might experience the need for less sleep.  When we eat large amounts of cooked food, the energy required for digestion taxes our bodies.  As a result, we need to sleep more to recover.  Many people report feeling more rested, and needing less sleep on a raw food diet.   

Raw Food Benefit #7:  Anti-Aging Benefits

Raw food contains anti-oxidants, which play a big role in reducing the signs of aging.  Researchers have concluded that free radical damage causes oxidation — and this is the central process of aging. 

Free radicals are created as a side-effect of natural metabolism. They are also caused by drugs, environmental poisons and pollutants. The antioxidants and micronutrients in raw foods (fresh fruits & vegetables) reduce free radical damage, and help prevent the signs of aging.

Want a simple recipe for a green smoothie?  The simplest way to create a healthy (and great-tasting) green smoothie is to combine greens with fruit, and add a small amount of water.  I never measure anything when creating green smoothies.  I just add greens, fruit, and water to the Vitamix blender, and blend.  If the smoothie tastes too bitter, you can always add more fruit.  If you're new to creating green smoothies, I'd start-off with a 50/50 mixture, and then increase the greens or fruit to your liking.  

Basic Green Smoothie Recipe

60% Fruit
40% Greens
A small amount of water

Add all ingredients, and blend until smooth.  Using frozen fruit is great because the smoothie is already cold.  You can also add one or two iced cubes.  However, people who follow Ayurveda and natural hygiene don't believe in adding ice cubes.  The theory is that cold foods—such as ice cubes—slow (inhibit) digestion.  I do add ice cubes occasionally.   

 In the video below, Robyn shows you how to make a green smoothie.

New to raw foods?  Do you feel overwhelmed with all the raw food options and choices?   Would you like an easy-to-follow raw food plan? 

Laura Bruno has written a very practical book called The Lazy Raw Foodist's Guide.  The Lazy Raw Foodist is perfect for people who want a practical, simple, and EASY raw food plan.  There's a great chapter called "Sneaky Ways to Get More Greens" with 7 ways to add more greens into your diet. 

The "Deficiency or Excess" chapter covers 9 potential deficiencies to watch out for—and I especially liked the chapter on raw food and dental issues (lots of people have questions about raw food and their teeth).  Another helpful chapter was "The Great Raw Pretenders" which discusses 24 foods that are NOT raw, even though many people think they are. 

Inside the Lazy Raw Foodist, Laura covers…

• How to quickly create delicious raw food meals (no complicated ingredients needed). 
• Raw food recipes, including soups, salads, appetizers and desserts.
• Understanding your motivation: Why do you want to eat raw foods?
• What you need to know about detoxing.
• Choosing which raw food path you want to follow — Should you follow the 100% Raw path, the cleansing crowd, the High Raw path, the 80-10-10 diet,  the Superfood/Cacao Crowd, or the Essene approach?

• What about colonics, cleanses, and juice feasts? 
• Superfoods and the cacao controversy.
• How to find raw-friendly health-care providers.
• Understanding fruitarianism, natural hygiene, and under-eating.
• The truth about the Vitamix Blender.
• Is the Excalibur dehydrator more than hot air?
• 8 beauty tips (for guys and gals) to get you glowing
• Food combining made easy.

About the Author:  One of the more amazing facts about Laura is that she successfully recovered from a traumatic brain injury (brought on by a car accident).  Since her recovery, Laura has helped many other people regain their health through her work as an energy healer, Life Coach, Medical Intuitive, and Reiki Master.  You can find out more about Laura and The Lazy Raw Foodist here.  

Do you have questions about the raw food diet?  Would you like a step-by-step guide to eating a raw food diet, creating delicious raw food recipes, reversing disease, and losing weight? 

My friend, Dr. Jim Carey, has created a massive raw food home study course, based on the teachings of Dr. Ann Wigmore. 

Jim's raw food home study course (now in version 4.0) is jam-packed with raw food recipes, step-by-step guidance, resources, instruction, and everything you need to succeed with raw foods.  Over the years, I've purchased a lot of raw food products—but nothing I've seen is quite as comprehensive as Dr. Carey's raw food home study course.  It's massive!  In the video below, you can see just how large and comprehensive the course is.   Read the rest of this article…

Many of you are already familiar with Steve Pavlina, a well-known personal development writer and pro-blogger.  Steve is now eating a raw foods diet (after experimenting with a 30-day trial), and it’s exciting to see how much publicity Steve has created for raw foods.

Steve recently published his first book, called Personal Development for Smart People, which is well thought-out, organized, and practical.

Over the years, I’ve read a number of personal development books.  Steve’s book has a very spiritual/metaphysical feel to it—more so than other personal development books that I’ve read.  Personal Development for Smart People begins by describing the core principles of personal growth—these are Truth, Love, and Power.  Secondary principles are: Authority, Oneness, and Courage.

I especially enjoyed the chapters on Courage, Power, Habits, and Career.  Steve’s thoughts on self-discipline (as it relates to personal power) were also very useful.  The most practical section of the book was the chapter on habits.  I will be applying a number of habits that Steve suggested.  I am especially looking forward to running a 30-day experiment on early rising.  To give you a taste of the book, I’ll include a handful of my favorite quotes… Read the rest of this article…

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the latest edition of the Raw Food Restaurant Guide.  Special thanks to: Jonathan, Lila, Paz, Eli, Penni, Gloria, Amy, Tina, Jessica, Karyn, Brian, Laurelee, Jim, Wiebe, Julie, Audry, Tina, Deb, Katrin, Nikki, Katie, Cathy, Paul, Miin, Alma-Jade, Anna, Giedre, Lucy, Sue, Gloria, Chantel, Judy, Connie, Lydia, Ellen, Lisa, Abby, Marianne, Jillian Ann, Aileen, Lila, Kevin, Joseph, Benita, Jermaine, Don, Davi, Jen, Bea, Diedre, Tone, Sarah, Nancy, Brenda, Lauren, Bob, Iryna, Melissa, Kostas, Erica, Sharon, Vanessa, Kimberly, Maya, and Erin.  

The latest edition of the Raw Food Restaurant Guide has been sent out to subscribers.  Enjoy! 

Florida Vegetarian & Raw Food Restaurant

Exciting news for Florida residents…a new vegetarian and raw food restaurant is opening in the Tampa Bay area. 

Leafy Greens Cafe will serve raw food dishes and desserts, along with some cooked vegan and vegetarian dishes.  The cafe will be located in North Redington Beach on the Gulf of Mexico (in Tampa Bay).  I'm very happy for Denise Becknell, who owns the cafe.  Denise has secured a great location, and is waiting on licensing before formally opening in August or September.  She writes:

"We are waiting on licensing and we will be all set.  I am really hoping to be open Aug 1 — but we are in a holding pattern waiting for the licensing.  The current owner shut down almost a year ago and is trying to get the old license reinstated so we can just switch ownership.  It could take 3-4 weeks.  The restaurant has a motel attached to it, and we hope to turn it into a raw food retreat in the future too!  This is only the second raw restaurant in Tampa Bay — we are SO ready for this here!  I am including vegan and vegetarian dishes because the kitchen is FULLY equipped and we can entice others into trying our raw food.  We plan to walk around with trays of sample raw food so that we can get people interested.  We are also located across the street from a beautiful Gulf Beach, and we are going to cruise the beach with food to get people into the restaurant to try our new place too!"

Florida rivals California for the largest number of vegetarian and raw food restaurants. 

Want to connect with other food lovers? 

Must Love Food is a new social networking site for foodies to meet, connect, and chat about their favorite foods.  Mark and his friends have created a social networking site exclusively for food lovers.  In addition to meeting other foodies, MustLoveFood plans to include recipes, and will invite chefs, food critics, guest bloggers, cooks and local restaurants to participate. 

Social networking sites are big—and food networking sites are becoming increasingly popular.

One of my subscribers, David, recently visited a number of raw vegan restaurants in Los Angeles, and Southern California—including Go Raw Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada.  David sent me his impressions, and agreed to share his raw vegan restaurant reviews with everyone.

Leaf (now Earthbar) - West Hollywood

Leaf, in West Hollywood, has been changed to Earthbar.  This is a "Great Earth Vitamin" store that has been trying to change their image.  This is a location that I am actually boycotting and have encouraged all my associates to boycott as well.  The working staff are very friendly and nice; however, the major complaint is the inconsistency on prices charged for the exact same drink. 

I always order the same combination of ingredients, same size drink, and have always been willing to substitute items if one of the ingredients is not available.  I have been charged up to 50% more for this drink at times.  When I confronted management, they advised me the owner would call me to discuss, as I am always willing to provide information to management, so smaller businesses will survive.  They don't seem to want to address the issue as I have not heard a thing. (P.S.  I am not one to expect or accept a free beverage or anything.  I just want consistency so I know what to expect when they go to ring it up). 

The other issue is Leaf is open until 8:00pm in the evening, but they inconsistently shut down their juicers anytime from 7:00pm - 8:00pm and try to get you to switch to smoothies (higher-priced) because that equipment is still used.  As you can tell, my experiences here have not been good and it is a shame that they don't care as I was spending about $50 - $100 a week here because I was also buying pre-packaged food and Raw ingredient and Organic Toiletries from this store.  They now get zero dollars from me and I have gone to the major stores like Erewhon and Whole Foods to get the products that I could be supporting small businesses with.