Thinking about a major dietary change? Raw/organic diet (not necessarily vegetarian).?

I agree mostly with armandica82. So I second that motion. Eating raw fruits and vegtables and going natural is the best thing a person can do. Don't worry about the word organic so much. Water, Juice, Nuts, fruits, wholegrains, Soy Products, Salads with some natural suppletments is the way to go. If you see a recipe you like and it has one of the vegtables you can't eat just sustitue for one you can eat, there is noting wrong with that. Have you heard of tomatios. It is a little green tomatoe like chili. Chilies are good for you too and some are not hot at all. My wife is alergic to tomatoes but she can eat tomatillos. I will advise you to do more research on your own and make the changes as you go. You can start right now. If you wait tell later it will be harder and youll only get older and as you get older the more disease we get. Most diseases are diet related. And the three main cuprits are Meat, dairy, and processed foods. Meat being the worse and processed foods being last(dependent on ingredients and nutritional value). Animal diets kill, plant based diets heal and cleanse. There is no kneed for all these diseases if we simply cut way back on these three culprits or cut them out completely. Chicken and fish are just as bad especially if you buy at the regular supermarket. Chicken has only 3 grams less fat and cholesteral than beef and the omega 3 in fish your getting it second hand with all the other fats and bad stuff, because the fish eat plants wich have the omega 3 in them. Omega 3 is more naturally accuring in flaxseed than in fish. You can still get protein/calcium from vegtables, fruits, and nuts, you don't need them from meat and dairy. Meat and dairy are not raw, it has to be cooked at high temps because of the bacteria, hormones, and diseases. Animals are eating animals and baby male chicks are being thrown away. Chickens are being modified. Animals are being tortured and fed road kill, animal waste , and garbage. The main industry is making the animals grow faster, grow more fat and cholesterol, produce more eggs, more milk, more babies. The farm animals now are not the same as they used to be save a few small farms. Processed food has alot of garbage like corn syrup and processed bleached flour, partially hydrogenated oils ect oganic or not. It may have less chemicals but processed is processed. Natural and raw is better but you still have to do the research. I agree with Farmers market, Whole Foods, Natural Markets, but get to know the places you visit and the poeple and their companies and the products and the ingredients. Study each ingredient and how the company produces it and the technology behind it. Do Google searches on each item and ingredient. There is no quick easy answer and it will take a life time to perfect it but with positive thinking you will get the job done and it will be a fullfilling task. And you will become a vessel to help others in need. The best meat is at Whole foods if you going to eat meat, because they grain feed their animals and they are RANGE FREE, they don't abuse the animals, they have less fat, no chemicals or diseases, no hormones. That surpasses organic its natural. However you still have to cook the meat and the meat, chicken and fish is dead nutrition anyway. The omega 3 is cooked. What good does it do. There are alot of meat substitues that are real good. One good one is Soyrizo, honestly can't tell the difference. Then there is the taco filling, i tried that and i swore it was meat. Rice cheese and soy cheese is not so bad. The chocolate rice cream with chocolate coating was good as the real thing also. The other stuff might take some used to but with a little innovation like marination, mixing it with a little lean fish, chicken or beef, or even turkey is good. The less processed the bread the better also. The higher the fiber the better. With food it is endless. where there is a will there is a way. The FDA says that 30% fat is ok, but research states that with the food pyramid the way it is set up there is no way poeple get less than 30%. More and more doctors are going to a lesser 10% and plant based diet. Many dotors say anything around 170-200 bad cholesterol is considered high normal. Well many alot of doctors are coming out and saying it should be under 150 or even as low as 100 TOTAL CHOLESTEROL. So you do know the truth about cholesterol and obesity, and diabetes? All these diseases are caused by inflamation and toxitity and not by genetics. Diseases are caused by the fat cells in the body and blockage in the colon(bad colon health) and the more fat cells the worse it gets, and the blockage and toxitity and oxidation and immune system gets worse. This is based on the Rave Diet and companies like Herbal life, which in research has reversed heart disease, high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, asthma, impotence, arthritis, depression, etc, and most cancers; YES I SAID CANCER. It is proven that there is a cure for cancer and it is right in your body. It is called the immune system. Think about it. We have millions of cells multiplying every day. Research has it that we produce at least one cancer cell a day and there is nothing we can do to stop it from happening. The only defense and cure is our immune system which attacks these mutated cells if our immune system is strong and has plenty of enzymes. Most people believe that it is normal to have heart disease, diabetes ect. The fact is that it not natural and is totaly preventable and reverseable in the mist of actuall being told to have surgery or die. Meat and dairy and processed foods, attack our immune sytem, clogs our arteries and our digestive tracks and elimintaion systems, makes us fat and causes all these diseases. You may not be fat now and it is good that you watch what you eat but a person can be skinny and really be fat in the inside and eventually you will have to make a disciscion to cut back even more as you get older. Your muscle to fat ratio could be really off and all the mass that an individual can be mostly made up of fat tissue especially females. An example would be two females both wieght 130, however one is in her 30's and the other in her 60's. The older lady has two things working against her, age and motabolism. So unless she is real active and has a great diet she is going to have less lean muscle mass than the younger women. The key is LEAN MUSCLE MASS. The older women would be more prone to disease. But if she had that right diet and the right physicall activity she can improve and prolong her life. Now lets say the younger women started now in her 30's well its more likely if she continues that she may live longer than if she started when she hits 60. I am not trying to convince you to go totally veggie but the more the better. There are alot of natural supplements you can take also. You can make protien;fruit smoothies in the morning mixed with granola or a little non-dairy whipped cream, even the dairy kind is not so bad. Rice cream is very good. You must go to Whole foods and try every thing from the restaruant to the frozen section, to the produce. I want to advise you not to get to hooked up on the idea of organic vs conventional. The real war is bettween Natural vs conventional and Natural vs pharmacutical. Natural would be more salad and less pizza. Natural would be more water and Freshly squeezed or non processed juices instead of milk shakes and soda. Natural would be instead of going to the phamacy go to more natural cures. Raw is Natural. Natural is organic but organic does not mean Natural. However just because it is Natural does not mean it is the best thing for you. Organic is supposed to be Natural but the word Organic has been tossed around like a rag doll and is now used very loosely. Organic is supposed to be chemical free, menure free, abuse free, disease free, not-genitically modified, free from all pesticides, and picked at the right time to ensure the best flavor and nutrition, free roaming, of course envrionment freindly, and hormone free. Natural is unprocessed, and organic at the same time. Here is the catch, if you milk a cow and make butter, ice cream, fresh milk, yogurt, cheese, and live off it; you will have a high fat diet and eventually it will catch up to you even if you use it sparingly. It is called "The Animals Revenge" because every time we eat them or drink thier milk they leave a little bit of themselves behind in us. So during the duration we all are faced with the facts and have to make a happy medium bettween a not so healthy diet and a real great healthy diet. One example of a good natural product would be the naturally flavored waters that have been coming out lately with naturally accuring vitamins, herbs, minerals, and natural sugars like cane juice which is totaly unprocessed. They even have sodas with naturally unprocessed surgars. I don't know if you have heard of super or whole food suppliments. One capsule or a couple of spoon fulls of this poweder mix it with anything and it is like you ate a big salad with the earths greatest super foods and fruits. Another example would be Noni Juice. Juices like blueberry, mangosteen are great. You can make a parfait in the morning. This is what i do and i don't do alot of messuring just grab and go. I get some fresh blue berries and strawberries, slice then up in a big bowl, some crunchy dried fruit like blueberry, strawberry, maybe rasberry, apple (i like the product(JUST BLUEBERRY, JUST STRAWBERRY, ect by whole foods), add some of your favorite nuts like almonds and walnuts, or granola with fruit and nuts or favorite cereal, then add a little honey, a pinch of stevia plus, a couple spoonfulls of soygurt or yorgurt, then top it with some whiped cream, either non-dairy or dairy, you can layer it or mixed it all up and any time you run out of whip cream in the bowl just add some more. it real fun you should try it. The options are limitless. Just a little imagination and your tastebuds. If you are in a rush put every thing in a blender to your likeing maybe even add some healthy icecream or even try rice cream and try almond milk by bluediamond or rice milk(they taste better than soymilk) in your cereal or shake, or blend it all in there with or with out ice. You can create your own recipes. Samething with lunch and dinner. You could put veggies in the blender with an ounce of chicken/ fish or alternative, put some broth, put some cheese or alternative, put some smart balance butter, put a little warm water and blend. It should come out nice and thickn creamy. You perefer chunky lower down the blender. You can steam the vegies a little to but not to much. Stir fry is ok to but don't keep it in there to much. Bakeing should be limited to meat and cake, bread. Barbecuing on the grill is ok and could be lightly brushed with olive oil or avacado oil. Avacados are real good especially in salads. Mushrooms are really good too. There are so many diffent kind of salad leaves, spinach, and other leaves for salad. There is green and purple. All plants have phytonutrients. Phyto comes from the greek meaning plant. so phytonutrients are plantnutrients. If you go to your doctor they can not tell you about nutrition and the effects of phytonutrients. This is why i am not a doctor and rather be a nutritionist or nutricutical compared to a doctor and pharmacutical. Phytonutrients contain vitamins that include antioxidants. We are every day bombarded by pollution, the sun, and the chemicals in water and the food we eat. Sciencetist have stated that we should eat 7-9 servings of fruits and veggies a day. Even vegans have a hard time doing this. It gets tougher still. Now they say color content has something to do with it also. You have to go by the covering of the fruit, root or the leaf. The colors are Green, Blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, white and throw in brown. But there are supposed to be 7 main ones and they say we should get all seven every day. No one does that. why all seven? Because of the day we live in requires more. It requires a team of antioxidents. Each color and fruit has its own properties. Not all antioxidents are equal and are the same and do the same exact thing. But one thing they have in common is to fight free radical damage caused by oxidation wich leads to aging and disease. We can work on the environment but that is not the cause of cancer, it has very little impact. The best way is to eat the most anitoxidants in the widest range possible. We need a team of phytonutrients and antioxiddants. Not just one or two can do all. You can eat limitless amount of plants with limitless positive effects but we have to limit our selves with Meat, dairy, and processed foods and haveing to face consequences down the road. Antioxidents are all natural, organic with very few exceptions and you don't have to stuff your self if you use supplements. Don't worry so much about calories. The main thing would be phytonutrients and nutional value/content. The rave diet does this but is very strict and has some holes in it. Companies like Herbalife have been changing lives all over the world. There is no perfect diet and Herbalife has holes also and is not promoteing any one diet in particular but the sciencetist and doctors there do tend to lean more on the plant based diet. Colleges, Doctors, surgeons, sceincetist are jumping ship and joining Herbalife in either support or joining the panel. However the revolutionary products do allow more fredome in your diet but it is not an escape goat to be lazy and indulge. But while supplementing with herbal life you will have more energy, feel full and satisfied, feel sick less often if at all, boost your motabolism, and improve your bodies muscle mass, and improve your skin, and overall health, at the same time you can ejoy a little life also. You don't necessarily have to use herbalife but it is just one of the many great natural based companies around. You Can have a more plantbased diet and still treat yourself. And if you use herbalife and incorporate stuff like Noni juice and super/whole food suppliments, you will feel and notice the diffence and you could even cheat more often. It doesn't really matter to much about organic, but natural and raw is so much better. If anybody is interested in knowing more about what I said or has a question email me at crodz1973@sbcglobal.net

Sounds like you're doing a psoriasis diet by eliminating the foods from the nightshade family. I'm not sure about the solanin content... That sounds a little witch-doctory.

The only thing I can think of right now is to also cut back on dairy products, including butter. Cook with cold pressed oils.

Ultimate Raw Food Diet : http://www.rawfoodhappys.com/Recommend

120 Raw Diet Food Recipes - http://go.stayeatingraw.com/?bpvf

no tomates peppers eggplant etc?? why is that???? A raw diet can be good becuase in general food in its natural state contains more nutrients .... the more processed a food is the more nutrients are taken out of it. I have a hard time with the "organic" stuff because basically it means it is grown without pesticides. However.... a lot of organic os grown with manure and who is to say what is in manure?!?! I think it isnt well enough worth it to go organic... And just because it is organic doesnt mean that you are going to get food that is free of bacteria (think baout the spinach recall because of e-coli.) Some non organic foods are also grown with very little pesticides so that is something you may want to think about..... I cant rememebr where I read it, but peaches / nectrnines have the highest amount of pesiticides on them for fruit (in general)

I think the more natural diet (wether you go with organic or not is good for many reasons...

A lot of packaged foods have gone through processing and the nutrients are taken out and afterwords a synthetic (sometimes) nutrient that was taken out will be putten back in wich is better than nothing, but the body doesnt use it as well as natural.

I would suggest eating a lot of salad and you can put soooo many differnt things in salads that are whole unprocessed foods. Also salad is cold and in its natural state- therefore you are not cooking it and taking out the nutrients. Fish like tuna is also good becuase of the omega 3 fatty acids wich are good for your heart as well as providing protien. BEans and legumes are also good for protien and some fiber. Try to see if there is a store near you that is a natural foods store.. they will have foods more in the natural state. Even for pastas and bread wich are not in their natural state but most bred is made with processed flour. THe natural foods store will more than likely have more "whole foods" and maybe flour and other things to make your own so you can avoid all thsoe preservatives. Also, if you have a farmers market try top check it out because the one we have where i live a lot of the local farmers use little or no pesticides. Also.. if you drink soft drinks or juices make sure to read the labels because many have hicg fructose corn syrup wich is bad for your body.. look for ones with more natural sugars or cane sugar. A good rule of thumb is when reading labels- the less ingredients the better it is for you. Also- if you cant pronounce the ingredients then it is probably something not needed.

As for a meal idea.. i dont have many but i found a recipe for tuna vegetable wraps that is very good.... I cant recall the exact but i can aproximate it for you....

1 can of tuna in water

2 cups of fresh veggies (i use zuchini, peppers and onion)- cooked just a little bit so they are still crispy but not super crisp

1 cup of black beans ( you can eve use organic)

1 cup of low fat sour cream ( this isnt as natural but still good for calcium)

mix all together in a bowl and put into wraps.. you can find whole wheat, organic, etc

I also will sometimes put some baby lettuce greens in mine... it makes i think 4 wraps but 1 will fill you up!

and drink lots of water!!!

check out this article about whole foods and nutrients...

http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx...

also eatingwell.com

weightwatchers.com (they often have good recipes also)