Eating raw foods is great for advancing health and beauty

Incorporating more raw foods into your diet may sound like it is something not for the chic and fashionable circle. However, the raw food diet is actually very helpful for keeping your beauty quotient high. A lot of times the raw food diet is presented in an abstract way, with statements such as “enzymes are the life force of the food our body needs to vibrate and create” and other hokey statements. While this is all very true, the presentation of the information can turn someone away from the raw food diet if they are not concerned about their vibrations and creations! Here you will find concrete information about how the raw food diet will help you to be even prettier.

Improved skin – Everyone wants that great skin glow, and most pretty people faithfully use a regimen of products or visit dermatologists. Eating more raw foods will help your face and body to glow from within, without the help of gels and creams. Many people who eat raw foods find that their blemishes are eliminated, dark marks are faded and pore size is reduced.

Increased energy – If you look fabulous but don’t have the energy to enjoy it, then there is no reason to be concerned about looking good. What good is it to be pretty but not have the energy to strut your stuff? Eating more raw foods will help you to feel energized and make the most of each day.

Improved digestion – Raw foods naturally have more fiber and will improve your digestion. You can throw away those cleanse pills and fiber caplets, and reduce your appointments with your “colon irrigation specialist” if you take it to that level. Raw foods will keep you digesting your food properly and regularly.

More money – Lets face it, the cost to being pretty can add up. Between the salon appointments, the personal trainers, and massages it can take quite a toll on the wallet. Eating more raw foods will reduce your expenses in other areas that will help you to have more money to allocate to an extra manicure or two. Expect to spend less per year on groceries, doctor visits and copays, vitamins, pots and pans, and other kitchen appliances when increasing your raw food intake.

Weight loss – Everyone knows that extra weight is aging and that dropping a few pounds can make you look great! The raw food diet is great for getting rid of excess fat. Just make sure not to overdo it or risk looking like an unfortunate starlet.

Sports Illustrated swimsuit supermodel Carol Alt has taken this pretty theory to the masses with her books about looking great while eating raw foods. If you want more info check out her books along with a few other choice raw foods selections below:

Using exercise to increase your metabolism

Today was a pretty successful day. I decided to try to go for 75% raw and 99% vegan today, just to see if I can do it. I started the day with a cocoa-coffee mix (from the gas station convenience store) and a fuji apple (from my grocery store stash). For lunch I had a salad with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a banana. For an afternoon snack I had a cocoa packet mixed with hot water. For dinner I had my trusty Tofu Pad Thai with added vegetables. This plan only brought me to about 60% raw, but I definitely was 99% vegan.

I also worked out like crazy today because I attended a new bootcamp and went to the gym to meet my lifting partners. This added up to about 2 hours of working out in one day. One of the readers recently asked a question regarding how to increase the metabolism – thanks Vanessa! Well, the good news is that exercise and building muscle can increase the rate that the body uses calories for energy. So in essence, working out more often and with high intensity will increase your need for energy and thus increase your metabolism. The so-called “afterburn effect” is when your metabolism is higher for an hour or two after intense weight lifting or interval cardio. Also the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate will be. Each extra pound of muscle you carry will burn up to 50 calories just to maintain itself! So if you are working out hard at the gym and building muscle, take heart, your metabolism is being boosted from all of your hard work.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Set mini goals throughout your journey to challenge yourself. Try for a day to get to 100% raw or 100% vegan, or some other percentage goal.
• Weight Loss – If you are eating well but find yourself not shedding the pounds evaluate your sugar and processed carbohydrate intake. It may need to be decreased in order for your body to release the fat and build the muscle.
• Workout – If you find yourself needing excitement to break up the routine, try a new group exercise class or bootcamp. It will help you to meet more likeminded exercise partners and give you a new challenge.

Today I am not feeling well and stayed back from work. I ate about 25% raw and 100% vegan. I had toast and melon for breakfast, vegetable fried rice for lunch, and more of the same vegetable fried rice for dinner. I tried to drink as much water as possible because I feel so bad. I have no fitness tips today, except for everyone to stay safe and take care of their health.

Surviving the “Current Economic Climate” the Raw Food and Vegan Way

Today I continued my streak of skipping breakfast, never a good thing. Work is still, well…..work. I’m sure every company right now is expecting their employees to do more for their clients with limited resources, and my company is no exception. I am grateful for the opportunity to still have a position in the “current economic climate” so I’m definitely not going to complain about the situation. This morning was extremely busy with very little opportunity for me to take a break, and the afternoon was no different. I was able to get out to Panera Bread for lunch. I ordered their classic salad with an apple, a Jones soda, and a brownie. However I only ate the salad, by the time I was finished with the salad I was full, and I actually didn’t finish it. Again this is not a good sign because it may mean my metabolism is slowing.
I thought I would save the apple, brownie and soda for later in the day but never got the opportunity to eat it. I just wasn’t hungry and I’m starting to wonder about that and if possibly my change in diet composition is playing a part in my appetite.

Around 4pm I had a cocoa-coffee in order to stay alert. For those of you wondering, a cocoa coffee is a packet of cocoa mix and half water, half coffee. I really don’t like the taste of coffee, and the cocoa dulls the bitterness. I will sometimes bite the bullet and drink it if a meeting is particularly tough, and today was one of those days. After leaving work and completing a heavy lifting day at the gym (back and legs, whoa!) I went to Perkins for dinner. I had pancakes, breakfast potatoes, eggs with veggies, and a cherry coke. I ate about half of everything and was full. Again, my appetite is proving to be smaller because usually I have no problem eating the full-Americanized-and-too-large restaurant serving sizes. I was 50% raw today and about 80% vegan due to the eggs at dinner.

Healthy Travel Fitness Tips

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Pay attention to your emotions when you are eating. Ensure your nutrition has everything to do with physical hunger and nothing to do with negative feelings.
• Weight Loss – Consistency is often the name of the game. Remember to have patience and enjoy the process of your clothes fitting loosely.
• Workout – When you feel that you are mastering the exercises, change your routine. It will give your body a shock and force you to use new muscles.

Today was an absolutely fabulous day in terms of the taste of my food, but unfortunately I don’t think I hit the 50% raw target. I started this morning with a fruit salad and pancakes with maple syrup. I grabbed a few Grippos potato chips before heading to the gym in the mid-afternoon. For an early dinner I had Mongolian BBQ veggie stir fry with brown rice and fajitas. I also had by favorite cola, the sugar free Jones Black Cherry flavor. Late evening (visiting another friend) I had a baked potato with butter and pepper. I’ve found that by simply asking for what you want or need, people will be accommodating enough to provide it to you. That goes for green grapes, a baked potato, or a beverage. This generally only works for friends and family, but when at work you may want to keep your dietary needs private.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Ensure your condiments are as high quality and whole as they can possibly be. Things like syrup and ketchup can make a big difference in your intake of HFCS for the day.
• Weight Loss – Checked in with your accountability partner lately. Have a set meeting time if it seems like you are letting yourself get lax.
• Workout – Utilize your local park trailway system and get in a few long walks or runs outdoors. Mileage markers should be easy to find along the trail or on a parks and recreation website.

Today started with me sipping on the left over Dr Pepper from last nights dinner while catching up on work. I made it to the airport at noon and had a strawberry banana smoothie with a scoop of protein powder from the Freshens stand. At 5pm I was still working and grabbed a Green Machine smoothie from the refrigerator. I finally finished working around 8pm (on a Friday, whoa!) and headed out. Around Around 10pm I had a bunch of green grapes from the refrigerator at a friends house party. I was so grateful that she had the grapes, they were absolutely delicious. By 12:30 I stopped at a local soul food restaurant and got a few sides: baked beans, greens, and yams. I ate most of the beans, but very little of the yams and greens. For whatever reason I was so busy today that I didn’t realize I was hungry until the day was done. I will need to focus more on getting my body nourished and feeding it on a consistent basis throughout the day. Looking back I realize that I ate very little, and that has to change if I want to keep my metabolism boosted.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Don’t be afraid to ask your friends to make concessions for your dietary needs. More than likely they are interested in what you are doing and if they are a true friend they will be eager to support you.
• Weight Loss – Sometimes a schedule for eating may be as necessary as a schedule for working out. Depending on how busy you are it may help you to stay on track.
• Workout – If you have children try to incorporate them into your workouts. It’s great for the little ones to learn the importance of fitness at a young age.  

Today was another busy, high-stress, all day meeting and travel kind of day. I started off with a mini-bagel and sliced fruit (pineapple, grapes, and strawberries) from the meeting breakfast platter. I heated it for 10 seconds in the microwave and put some butter on it, which I know is not vegan but it’s better than the cream cheese that I really wanted. I need to investigate vegan cream cheese and how to get it while I’m on the road.  I really like bagels and cream cheese, comment if you have suggestions for good vegan substitutes. I had more of the fruit when mid-morning came around, along with a bottled mango smoothie. For lunch I had a croissant with lettuce and chips from the meeting lunch platter. Around 4:30 I had another two mini-bagels with butter and a packet of cocoa before leaving the office and heading to the airport. By 8:30pm I was considering whether or not to volunteer my seat on the flight home. I decided to volunteer in exchange for the hotel and a flight voucher on the airline. I had dinner at the hotel that the airline provided for me, luckily the room service had a really good organic vegetarian special menu. I had a grilled veggie gyro, yam fries and a Dr Pepper. In all, I had a lot of bread and starch today and I was not 99% vegan due to the butter. I was probably closer to 40% raw and 85% vegan.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Continue to make healthy choices even when your choices are limited. Attend meetings and team events where food is provided, and stick to your limits.
• Weight Loss – Carbs are not always your friend. Try to minimize the processed carbs and get them from whole sources like fruits.
• Workout – Make sure you are exercising with proper form, failure to do so can lead to serious injuries. If you are not sure, ask the fitness club trainer or an experienced friend to help.

Today was extremely busy and I worked well into the night. I started breakfast with a Power C smoothie. For lunch I had hummus from my grocery stash, along with celery and carrot sticks from the office cafeteria. Around 7pm I had an apple from my grocery stash. By the time I left the office the only thing still open was Denny’s. I had two scrambled eggs, two pancakes and a sprite. It was gross. Denny’s IMHO is not a good place to eat for vegans because the ingredients are not high quality and to be honest I felt sick afterwards. I’m super tired and not feeling the best about work, my lack of good food, and my lack of a good workout today. Fortunately, even though all of that I managed to meet my 50% raw goal. This day is a testament to the fact that one can be raw and vegan while working in a high-burn, high-stress, 100% travel environment.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Know where you will allow yourself to go and don’t exceed that. For example I allow myself some dairy in the form of eggs, but do not exceed that limit by eating items with cheese.
• Weight Loss – Cortisol (stress hormone) is powerful in keeping weight on you. When working in a high stress job try to keep your cortisol levels down by resting enough.
• Workout – Look for motivation every day to push yourself harder in your workouts. Copy pictures of your ideal physique to your phone and make sure you look at them every day…they will flash through your mind when you are considering skipping the last two reps.

Today was another extremely busy day. My mind was occupied with so many other things and making good food choices was not on the top of the list. However, because I have prepared myself with groceries for the week, I was not easily taken down too bad of a food path. I store my fruits and veggies in the office refrigerator because my hotel does not have a mini-fridge. I had two whole fruits yesterday, a banana for breakfast and an apple for an early evening snack. I also sipped a smoothie throughout the morning. For lunch I had a brownie, steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes with gravy. I’m sure the gravy wasn’t vegan, but it counts as my 99% and made the food taste better. For dinner I had edamame and Cantonese noodles with broccoli from the local Chinese takeout place. The noodles were very heavy, and I’ll keep that in mind when I go to the gym tomorrow because they will need to be worked off. Even though they were heavy, they were still very tasty. It usually comes with chicken but I asked for the chicken to be left out and for the cooks to add broccoli. It worked well and I’ll add it to my list of dinners to order, but only when I’m really hungry. I would approximate 40% raw and 90% vegan today. I’ll work tomorrow to get closer to my target.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Use the refrigerator in your office if you are not able to store food in a hotel mini-fridge.
• Weight Loss – Set mini-goals along the way and reward yourself when you meet them.
• Workout – Check your shoes to make sure they are appropriate for the activity you are doing. If you aren’t sure, invest in a good pair of cross-trainers.

Today I started my long drive to work with a big bunch of green grapes for breakfast. By mid morning I was getting sleepy so I stopped for a coffee and a glazed donut. Although I know it wasn’t healthy, the sugar boost and caffeine helped me to finish the drive and be ready for work. I was really busy and skipped lunch (not a good idea) but did grab a Naked brand smoothie. In the afternoon I had a banana. By 6pm I was eating dinner at my favorite Thai place….yeah, I have a thing for Thai if you haven’t noticed by now! I had vegetable tom yum soup and tofu pad thai. I hit the gym around 9pm, and while I made it through the workout it was much harder on to do after eating a full meal. After the enjoyable Easter dinner I am happy to say I am back on track at 50% raw and 99% vegan.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Prepare yourself by stopping at the grocery store before you start your work week. Having the right foods on hand and ready will help you to make good choices.
• Weight Loss – Have you taken your measurements lately. Sometimes inches will leave before the pounds do, so take stock in how your clothes fit or break out that measuring tape.
• Workout – If you are going to partner up, be sure to pick someone that is reliable and positive. Workout partners are great influencers and can help you to push yourself harder through the workout.