I Like It RAW

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This post may be a bit lengthy so bear with me…sometimes when I start yapping about this stuff I get carried away.

There will be recipes at the bottom of this post though so there is light at the end of the tunnel!

It has been over a decade since I first got sick with what many experts thought was Crohn’s Disease. As many of you know already, I “beat the odds” and fought back using natural foods to nurse myself back to health.

I knew there was just no way I was going to spend the rest of my life taking dangerous experimental drugs and relying on doctors to save me.

These days I am in the best physical shape of my life and I feel better than ever. I attribute that to a multitude of factors, with the main one being raw juicing.

(Sorry to disappoint if you thought this post was about something else…get your mind outta the gutter!! )

Raw juicing is very important when battling an illness because when we get sick, many vitamins, especially B-Complex vitamins and Vitamin C, as well as minerals such as iron, copper, selenium, and zinc get used up rapidly in the body.

This is the main reason we feel run down, tired, weak, and have no energy while sick.

Foods are also very difficult to digest and assimilate when you are sick and you can end up overworking the digestive system. The nutrients in juices (vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytochemicals, carotenoids, bioflavonoids) are easier digested and assimilated via juices giving your system a chance to heal while the body can focus energy on healing.

There are 20 acive vitamins needed by your body and 17 minerals and trace elements. Juices can provide them all.

When I was sick and searching for answers I remember reading this quote somewhere and it stuck with me: “Nutrition is the foundational healing art, absolutely necessary before any kind of healing can take place in the body. This is due to the fact that only the chemical elements from foods can rebuild cells or correct defects in cells, and because our ultimate source of chemical elements is foods; the success of all other healing arts depends on this one healing art.”

This quote spoke volumes to me and probably saved my life. Soon after I stumbled onto this powerful quote I went on a raw juice fast and then slowly implemented raw foods into my diet after I broke the fast.

I was sick for over two years but this strategy helped all of my intestinal ulcerations healed within a 9 month period. After hearing the news that my colonoscopy checkup revealed no sign of disease it was the happiest day of my life.

Now I DO eat meat these days and don’t follow the same sort of raw food diet plan but I still advise eating at least 50% of your food raw. Frankly it is just healthier. Raw foods are chock full of more enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and bulk because they are “living” foods.

Keep in mind that foods are NOT medicines. It isn’t the foods that are doing the healing, all the foods do is assure that you have all of the elements necessary in order to be healthy. Foods only provide the resources for the body to heal itself. Foods do not heal. However, you can help boost the body’s natural ability to heal by making sure the right nutrients are available via healthy foods.

The Most Powerful Supplements On Earth

Most of you probably know, I am a big fan of whole, natural foods that are left in their pure unaltered state. Of course we all know that fruits and veggies are good for us but I consider them to be the most powerful supplements in the world. Regardless of what you read in many muscle magazines, there are a ton of healthy compounds being discovered in fruit & veggies constantly, and there is no supplement on the planet that contains all of these unique compounds.

Whole Foods is my favorite place to buy organic fruit & veggies

It is well documented that fruits and vegetables are great sources of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and many other powerful nutrients (including phytochemicals which have been shown to even fight cancer). The craziest part about this is that each particular plant appears to produce their own unique blend of phytochemicals that combat cancer in their own unique ways!

With all of the evidence out there that fruits and veggies can help fight disease, and that each one has the ability to fight different diseases, you may want to think about including a wide variety of fruits and vegetables into your diet.

Oh and yes I strongly recommend you eat fruit. There is a big myth out there that states that you can’t get ripped if you eat fruit but that is the biggest bunch of crap I’ve ever heard. Eating fruit will not make you fat and I’ve never seen an overweight fruit-a-tarian in my life.

But I digress…

With our fast paced lifestyle and hectic schedules it can be very difficult to eat the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables that your body needs daily, but juicing will allow you to consume virtually all of the health promoting components of the plants without having to waste hours of your day munching away.

And please don’t get juicing confused with buying juice from the store. The type of juice I am talking about here is made from raw (preferably organic) fruits and vegetables! This is the only type of juice you should ever drink because all of the healthy components remain intact and it does not contain any processed junk or other contaminants.

Some people may disagree, but the facts are that many water soluble vitamins, especially Vitamin C, can be damaged the overcooking, and over-processing that most store bought juices are subjected to.  Important enzymes (proteins that you need for digestion) are also damaged by high heat cooking and processing. So don’t believe the hype when you see 100% Vitamin C on your favorite bottle of “orange drink”.

This is why I recommend only drinking fresh juice from fruits and vegetables in their pure raw form. You’ll consume all of the plants’ healthy ingredients in a form that is very easy to absorb and digest without having to worry. As an added bonus you’ll also become more alkaline and feel much healthier.

I believe that the regular use of fresh vegetable and fruit juices are one of the best ways to allow our bodies to function at their peak and I do believe that it can promote healing. I don’t have any lab research or peer reviewed studies to prove my theories but I firmly believe in the power of raw juicing.

You don’t need to be an “expert” or research geek to see some of the remarkable improvements that can take place when you provide the human body with the nutrients it needs, even after years of long-term deficiencies and chronic abuse. I am living proof of that. And I challenge any so-called expert out there to prove me wrong.

Here are some of my favorite juice recipes to help you get started:

Jamin’s Ulcer Special

½ head of cabbage
2 carrots
Sliced ginger root
1 handful of spinach
1tbsp aloe vera juice
3 sprigs fresh parsley

Fountain Of Youth

5 carrots
1 large handful of kale
1 large handful of spinach
½ head of cabbage
3 sprigs fresh parsley
1 beet (include the tops)
1 clove of peeled garlic

Green Machine

½ chopped sweet potato
1 large handful of kale
1 carrot
½ pear (peel if not grown organically)
1 apple (peel if not grown organically)
Pinch of ginger

Tooty Fruity

½ cup blackberries
½ cup raspberries
1 green apple (peel if not grown organically)
1 small bunch of red grapes
1 firm kiwi (peeled)
½ banana

Natural Energy

6 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 apple (peel if not grown organically)
½ beet (include the tops)
½ handful of wheatgrass
½ handful of parsley

Juicing Directions: Be sure to thoroughly wash all vegetables and fruit, especially if they were not organically grown. Chop up the fruit and/or vegetables and place them in a juicer. Drink within 15-30 minutes.

I’ll close with this quote from Tom Spies, M.D.

“All diseases are caused by chemicals. All diseases can be cured by chemicals. All the chemicals used by the body except for the oxygen, which we breathe, and the water, which we drink, are taken in through food. If we only knew enough, all diseases could be prevented and could be cured through proper nutrition.

As tissues become damaged, they lack the chemicals for good nutrition. They tend to become old. They lack what I call ‘tissue integrity.’ There are people of forty whose brains and arteries are senile. If we could help the tissues repair themselves by correcting nutritional deficiencies, we can make old age wait.”

So do you have any favorite raw juice recipes of your own? I would love to hear them! So feel free to share in a comment below.

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