What’s all the excitement about raw food diets? Well if your idea of a good meal is a vegetable laden salad and you relish the crisp textures of fresh fruit and the tastiness of nuts, you just might be interested in the lifestyle and health benefits of raw foodism.

Start Your Kids Eating Raw Foods
with Raw Recipes for Kids

Most people who decide to become a “raw foodist” try to ensure that at least 75% of their diet consists of raw, uncooked and unprocessed foods and 25% or less cooked food. A raw foodist typically adheres to this 75/25 breakdown with relative gusto because the belief is that improved health is linked to greater consumption of raw foods.


The old adage “you are what you eat” has taken on renewed significance with the raw food movement.

Raw Food Diet Health Benefits

Those who eat a raw food diet believe that eating food that is raw or alive helps to create energy in the person digesting this food, and creating other health benefits .  Consuming cooked or “dead” food offers less opportunity for the body to absorb vital nutrients and enzymes that can help the body to digest food.

Researchers have confirmed that food cooked above a certain temperature (generally above 112º F) kills enzymes that can help the body with digestion. As a consequence, raw foodists believe eating raw food helps to increase a person’s energy levels and natural vitality.

Think about a plant sprout and the energy within a seed that causes that sprout to erupt. That growth is caused by living enzymes in that seed. Only raw food has functional live enzymes like that found in a seed. To eat food that can release that kind of energy is a powerful concept that many say passes on significant health benefits including improved digestion, healthier weight levels, and reduced risk of heart disease.

Raw Food Recipes Is a raw food diet sustainable? I agree with many health advocates that it is more difficult to maintain a raw food diet without some variety or offerings from the cooked food group. Meat, eggs, fish and cheese are often difficult dietary items to drop especially when many of these food groups contain significant nutritional value even in their cooked form. For this reason, I and many raw foodists include a small percentage of cooked food in our diet. A typical raw foodists’ diet may, therefore, include a selection of raw fruits, vegetables, beans, seaweed, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, meat, and un-pasteurized dairy products (e.g., yogurt and raw milk).

What also makes this “lifestyle” so appealing is that so many of the food choices available are already widely known to have significant health benefits. For instance, many raw foodists include chocolate beans in their diet, and these beans are believed to foster a feeling of wellness while suppressing appetite-no surprise there. A little less familiar food item that is gaining great popularity in the raw foodist community is algae. Algae is rich in minerals, vitamins and a substance that many believe removes toxins from the body.

The nature and degree of health benefits may vary between individuals but there is little to dispute about the attributes of the foods included in a raw food diet. By and large raw food diets contain fewer trans fats and saturated fat than the typical Western diet.

While some argue that human beings have been cooking for hundreds of thousands of years and our bodies have adapted to the digestive challenges of cooked food, there is consensus that fresh fruits and vegetables provide necessary fiber that ultimately helps the body to better absorb key nutrients in our food.

Some interesting cooking techniques that can be incorporated to make a raw food diet interesting include juicing fruits and vegetables and blending or pureeing vegetables and herbs to create interesting flavors and recipes.

One of the best “byproducts” of raw foodism is that it’s an environmentally friendly lifestyle. There is far less wrapping and packaging involved in the transport and retail of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts than processed foods. Once raw foods are consumed, peels and seeds can go into the compost or can be used in other ways.

Diana Walker, Cravings Coach, CEO, Diana’s Healthy Lifestyles

Recommended Raw Foods:
The Sunrider whole foods are not raw – but are created in a way that keeps them as “Whole Foods”, and as close to nature as possible.  Many raw foodists enjoy the Sunrider whole foods on a daily basis.
Dr. Tei Fu Chen, founder of Sunrider International, takes great care in keeping the nutritional value intact, making the exclusive formulas extremely nutritious.
Check out –

1.    Diana Walker Sunrider Whole Foods site

2.    My sons Jesse Walker and Gabe Walker talking about their Experience with Raw Foods Whole Foods

3.    How damaging Microwaving is to foods Raw Foods Chart and Microwaving

I’m pleased to continue my talk this week with Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health as we further discuss the benefits of eating a raw food diet and how it can help you to lose weight.

Kevin explains how a raw food diet improves your awareness about what you eat so you make much healthier choices. He also tells us about his friend who has lost 200 pounds (yes! his starting weight was 400 pounds!) in two years by changing his eating habits and following a raw food diet.

Kevin also answers listeners’ email questions, such as “What do you eat for breakfast on a raw food diet?”, “Can you still have the benefits of a raw food diet if you don’t follow it 100% ?” and “Is there any special equipment I need to follow a raw food diet?”

You don’t want to miss this show!

Diana Walker, Cravings Coach

photo credit: naughty architect

My guest this week is Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health  and he is a firm believer in taking those baby steps so the changes you make will last you a lifetime. In Part 1 of my interview, Kevin explains how he became an advocate of the raw food diet, the experts who have influenced and taught him about health, and how he has been able to change his eating and health over an 8 year period.

Kevin Gianni went from a “Beer Slugging Loser” (his words!) to a Fitness Expert, teaching Holistic, Healthy Living.  Kevin explains what raw food is, how your body adjusts to dietary changes, and how you can still be successful eating raw foods even if you don’t follow all the rules 100%. Trying to live up to any label – in this case, eating 100% raw foods – will lead you to feeling guilty and shameful if you vary the plan.

The key to making any dietary changes is to adjust these changes so they fit into your life. This is not a short term plan – this is a lifestyle change.

Diana Walker, Cravings Coach
photo credit: WordRidden

Raw foods are becoming more and more popular for weight management.

You could start your day like this (this is my son’s invention for a morning drink):

Gabe’s Vegetable Green Drink Recipe

Whiz up in the blender, the following
Celery, 6 inches
Cucumber, 6 inches
1 Carrot, 8 inches
1 Tomato, medium
Add distilled or purified water, about 1 cup
Blend – well it does look more red/orange because it is not all green!
Drink!   You will grow accustomed to it, if you don’t immediately love it – and you know you’ve already had lots of vegetables to start your day.

Dr. Oz on Oprah has a Green Drink Recipe  (my son invented his 4 years ago)…

As featured on Oprah, here are the ingredients for the Dr. Oz Green Drink Recipe:

2 apples, cored
2 big handfuls of spinach
half cup chopped parsley
1 celery stick, chopped
1 inch length of ginger root, peeled
1 lemon – juice only
1 medium cucumber
Place ingredients in a blender, add 4 ounces of spring water, or a handful of ice cubes, then puree quickly for one minute.  Makes 2 glasses of Dr. Oz’s green drink.

Drinking either of these green drinks will help to reduce cravings for junk food, sugar, and processed foods by providing power packed nutrition, which means your body is not always hungry and searching for something else to fill it.

The raw foods and power packed nutrition can lead to weight management and weight loss.

Diana Walker, Cravings Coach

This photo is from a different Oprah Show with Dr. Oz, where they are drinking Dr. Oz’s Green Drink.  I’ll talk about that more later. 

I would say that forced cleanses are not effective because:

1.  It can be too hard on the body, with such a backup of toxic material, and can overload the cleansing systems like the liver and kidneys. 
2.  People just go back to their old ways of eating afterwards and undo any good they may have done for themselves.

Eating more raw foods – but even better “whole foods” is the answer in my opinion.  They can be cooked foods, but lightly cooked, and mostly plant-based.

I did find it fascinating that a British group of 9 volunteers were monitored and required to eat 11 pounds of raw fruits, vegetables and nuts every day for 12 days. 

They were monitored and at the end of 12 days, the participants had lost 10 pounds, their cholesterol was 25% lower and their blood pressure decreased by 10%,  and most had lost 2 or more inches off their waists. 

No More Cravings

Food in America is particularly stripped of nutrients.  Therefore people are still hungry after eating, especially when eating foods lacking in nutrients such as manufactured and processed foods.

A diet with lots of fruits and vegetables (rich in nutrients), makes the body feel satisfied.  The satisfaction signals the brain that the nutritional needs have been met…… then you have no more cravings!

 Diana Walker, Cravings Coach