RAW CLARITY

Before I left for Los Angeles, my boyfriend Stefan and I stopped by the Chelsea Market for smoothies. Right now I’m waiting for him to arrive in Santa Monica so we can start our road trip up the coast. Yeah!

Had a quick ”coffee” aka orange juice with Ashley and Ok! Magazine’s Jen Birn at a little place called Toast on 3rd.

Frederic Patenaude explains why you should continue eating fruit…

“There’s this growing trend of people who are starting to think that because sweet fruit contains simple sugars, that automatically that sugar is the same as the refined white sugar we all know is bad for us.

First of all, most of the diseases that people associate with sugar consumption are actually caused or exacerbated by a high-fat diet. For example, conditions such as candida, hypoglycemia and diabetes would not occur if on a low-fat diet, even if your diet contained some refined sugar.

Of course, by eliminating ALL sugar you can partially mask the symptoms of the disease, but you’ll never fully heal from it until you attack it at its very roots, which is done again by:

• Lowering your body fat to healthy levels
• Lowering the fat content in your diet to 10% or less by calories
• Increasing your fitness levels and exercising regularly
• Paying attention to the other important factors of health (sunshine, fresh air, sleep, etc.)

Secondly, the “sugar” found in fruit is not exactly comparable to the refined sugar found in a cake. It’s in a form that’s readily digestible, but also comes in a complete package which includes water, fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and co-enzymes.

Finally, you might want to ask yourself “how much fruit sugar is too much?”

If you’ve never eaten 20 bananas in a day, it might sound to you like this would be too much. And indeed, it might be too much, for you, because your nutritional requirements are different. But if all you eat is fruits and vegetables with minimal quantities of fat, and if you need about 2500 to 3000 calories in a day, then eating 20 bananas is certainly not “too much”. It’s the right amount.

The same energy could be found by eating other fruits, but in the end it would still look like a lot of fruit to most people! It’s only by doing the nutritional analysis of what’s eaten that you’ll find that this amount is just amount right to cover your nutritional needs.

A person needing 1500 calories a day will eat less fruit than a training athlete. So how much “too much” is, is simply determined by your daily caloric needs, which will be dictated by your hunger. In other words, if you’re still hungry, it’s because you haven’t eaten enough, even if eating more fruit beyond that point would seem to you like being ‘too much.’”

(Info from http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/blog/?p=175)

What would you give your body if you had a nice juicy pear today?

Dietary Fiber (normalizes bowel movement, lowers blood cholesterol levels, helps control blood sugar levels, and aids in weight loss), Vitamin K (improves bone density and cancer preventing), Vitamin C (protection against immune system deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, prenatal health problems, and eye disease), and Copper (energy production).

(Image: barefootandfrolicking.blogspot.com)

In Los Angeles for the next few weeks (so sweet, since this is raw food heaven). Already have a list of places I NEED to try. But before I do, some work needs to get done. We’re doing the Byron & Tracey Beauty Bar in Beverly Hills today, so need to fuel with a beautiful fruit plate.

Reminder that if you want a green smoothie in Sweden, go to Blueberry and try the “Eat Your Greens” smoothie. Had several while I was home this summer.

It has Spirulina… and why exactly is that good for you? Hmmm below are a few reasons…

1. With ten times more beta carotene than carrots, spirulina is an excellent source of disease fighting antioxidants.

2. An excellent source of vegetable protein with all of the amino acids to build muscle.

3. Spirulina contains a high concentration of B Vitamins, important for maintaining cardiovascular health as well as breaking down carbs and lipids.

4. One of the few sources of GLA, Spirulina is a powerful anti-inflammatory that can benefit arthritis sufferers as well as prevent heart disease among other benefits.

(Benefit info from herbal-supplements-guide.com)

“I just never really liked meat. I had a really tough time even eating chicken. I would start imagining what I was eating and the life of the animals and all that kind of stuff” – Tobey Mcguire

(Image from gliving.com)

After a long powerwalk along Hudson River – I grabbed some fuel at Chelsea Market… Now if only my boyfriend can get home from golf so we can start our Saturday… hehe.

Viktoras Kulvinska, the founding father of raw & living foods, has been a great inspiration for my whole family – we catch his lectures every year at the New Life Expo in New York. He resides in Costa Rica, where he runs a raw food retreat. He even inspired my dad… (a big meat lover).

Below are his tips to raw food success for beginners…

1. At the entry level everyone is severely depleted of enzymes and many have difficulty digesting raw food, so everyone needs to take an enzyme supplement.
2. Start eating more and more raw foods. Try to have one meal a day that is all raw and then try to have one day a week that is all raw, etc.
3. Big things that help are: eat only when hungry, eat smaller meals, and chew your food thoroughly. How much food is the right amount? If blended up it should never equal more than three cups in size. More than that causes spoiling of food in your system.
4. Most people need to drink at least an ounce of water per pound of body weight. This gives the body a chance to have good chemistry and expel waste.
5. Start sprouting.
6. Make fermented food; it nurtures friendly bacteria, and is loaded with enzymes and B-complex vitamins. Fermented foods provide protection against pathogenic micro-organisms and microbes – you’ll become invulnerable to infectious diseases. Cultures that are long-lived always include at least one form of fermented food on a daily basis.
7. Do it gradually and support yourself with supplements and it’s very easy. Take blue-green algae and enzymes and a mild herbal laxative at bedtime because the digestive tract is very sluggish. There’s nothing you can’t do if you do all this.

Ready to get started? And years to your life?

P.S can you believe Viktoras is over 70 years old!?

(Image: meetup.com and Viktoras tips from Get Fresh Magazine, Autumn 2008)

If your skin looks old, so do you… Skin care should be about keeping your skin clean and feeding it with nutrients through your diet. So if gorgeous skin is your goal (um hell ya!), be sure to get plenty of essential fatty acids and vitamins A, C, D, E and K.

(Image: Reallynatural.com)