Welcome to the world of living foods—the vibrant, nourishing gems that Mother Nature offers us to truly thrive. Have you ever wondered what living foods are and why they are the secret to a radiant, energized life?
In my recent podcast episode, we delved deep into the world of living foods. The response was overwhelming, with our listeners flooding us with questions. They were eager to understand the significance of living foods in promoting a healthy life and how to ensure they’re incorporating an ample amount of these vital foods into their daily diets.
So, let’s uncover the significance of living foods and explore practical ways to integrate them into your daily life.
What are Living Foods?
Living foods are plant-based foods in their natural state, meaning that they are uncooked and unheated. Live foods contain a wide range of vital nutrients and enzymes that your body needs to work at its best.
If you’re eating a healthy plant-based or vegan diet, then you probably get a ton of living foods in your diet already!
Here’s a short living foods list to give you an idea:
- Fresh fruit
- Fresh vegetables
- Whole grains
- Nuts and seeds
- Sprouts
- Microalgae like spirulina
- Seaweed
Other living foods include dried fruit, fermented foods like kimchi and kombucha, sprouted seeds and sprouted grains.
Health Benefits of Living Foods
Living foods, in their purest, uncooked, and unheated state, are the epitome of nutrition in their most vibrant form. It’s essential to grasp that although not universally detrimental (we’ll delve into this shortly), cooking often robs these raw living foods of their precious nutrients and vital enzymes. To borrow the wisdom of Dr. Ann Wigmore, cooking can be seen as a force that extinguishes the life essence carried by these foods.
The consumption of live foods can be a potent shield against diseases, serving as the cornerstone of a robust and vibrant life. These foods play a dual role: they stave off nutrient deficiencies, ensuring your body receives a comprehensive array of essential components for thriving while also aiding in the elimination of toxins, preventing their accumulation and the resulting harm.
That’s not all! Living foods are a natural treasure trove, brimming with an array of vital elements: vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, enzymes, healthy fats, and precisely the right protein content necessary to fuel your body with optimum health and boundless energy. This holistic spectrum of nutrients collaboratively nurtures your body’s well-being and vitality.
Food to Avoid on a Living Foods Diet
The living food diet is 100 percent vegan and does not include dairy, meat, or any kind of animal product. So you definitely want to avoid those on a live food diet.
Processed Foods: These culprits, particularly the infamous junk foods laden with excessive sugar and a cocktail of chemical additives, are prime candidates for exclusion. Consuming processed foods on a living food diet is akin to inviting “dead” sustenance into your system.
Fast Food: Another category to avoid is the realm of fast food, characterized by its high levels of processing, synthetic additives, and unhealthy fats. It starkly contrasts the vibrant, life-sustaining qualities of living foods.
Refined Carbohydrates: Foods such as bread, white rice, and pasta that are bereft of whole grains fall into the category of refined carbohydrates. These items, stripped of their natural vitality through extensive processing, offer little to no nutritional value and can leave you feeling lethargic and bloated.
Termed “dead” food, these processed edibles deprive your body of the life-affirming nutrients it craves, resulting in sluggishness and an overall sense of discomfort. The living food diet, in contrast, hinges on the consumption of natural, living foods that furnish your body with everything it requires for thriving.
Only natural, living foods can give your body everything it needs to thrive.
But you might be thinking that living food automatically equals raw food. This isn’t quite the case.
Living Food versus Raw Food: What’s the Difference?
All raw food is living food, but not all living food is raw food. Let me explain.
As I said earlier, living foods are plant-based foods in their most natural and pure forms. When foods are at their most natural, they contain the greatest amount of nutrients. However, eating living food does allow for some gentle cooking (think more like stir-fry than deep-fry) because it makes those wonderful living foods easier to digest.
That said, you might think that raw fruits and vegetables are the best way to nourish your body. Not necessarily! While I followed a strictly raw food diet for quite a while, I also know that when it comes to getting the most out of your diet, going 100 percent raw isn’t the best way to go.
Why The Raw Food Diet Isn’t Perfect
Don’t get me wrong, a raw food diet is a great way to give your body what it needs, but it’s not the perfect way to do that.
As I mentioned earlier, diving into the living foods lifestyle allows for some light cooking when needed. This thoughtful approach recognizes that gentle cooking can make certain foods easier on your tummy than their raw counterparts. You see, not everyone’s digestive system is thrilled about processing raw foods, and we want to ensure your body can absorb all those fabulous nutrients these foods have to offer.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Some folks go full-throttle into a strict raw food diet, thinking they’re doing their bodies a favor. But guess what? They might encounter some unexpected health quirks along the way. Things like an overly acidic body, missing out on essential nutrients, and yes, even the surprise appearance of acne! Why, you ask? Well, it turns out that navigating an exclusively raw food diet can lead you down some unexpected health alleys. It’s like walking a tightrope; if you’re not careful, you might miss the balance your body truly needs.
Common pitfalls to an all-raw diet include:
- An “anything goes as long as it’s raw” approach, causing them to load up on the wrong foods.
- Not sprouting beans or nuts— sprouting removes inhibitor enzymes that are acid and mucus-forming.
- Not eating blended foods, like the Glowing Green Smoothie® (GGS). Blended foods are easier to digest while still retaining their natural toxicity-fighting fiber.
A raw food diet can help give your body the nutrition it needs, but compared to a living foods diet, it can miss the mark in very crucial ways. But don’t worry Beauty, getting enough living food in your diet is easy once you know how to get the most out of these amazing foods. :)
How to Get Enough Living Food in Your Diet
If you’re following the Beauty Detox lifestyle, then you’re already getting lots of live food in your diet! If you’re new to Beauty Detox or a vegan diet, here are a few tips for getting plenty of living food in your diet.
- Eat a wide variety of healthy, preferably organic food. This includes plenty of leafy greens, colorful fruit, and nutritious veggies. Buying local, seasonal produce is a great way to support local farmers too. :)
- Don’t be afraid to cook! While it can strip living food of some of its nutrient profile and enzymes (especially if you overcook or fry them in unhealthy oils), cooking can actually increase the availability of antioxidants and nutrients in other foods, like tomatoes. Not only that, but remember what I said earlier— cooking can help make food easier to digest too.
- Enjoy blended foods like smoothies and smoothie bowls. Remember, blended— not liquefied— foods are easier to digest while still keeping their beneficial fiber intact.
- Enjoy sprouted beans, seeds, and grains. You can (and should) still eat unsprouted foods, but incorporating sprouted foods helps prevent your body from becoming acidic.
- Avoid dead food like animal products, fast food, and even premade meals.
- Get plenty of fermented food in your diet. These foods nourish your gut bacteria and help boost your digestion.
- Take digestive enzymes before each meal. These help you digest your food more efficiently and help you absorb all those vital nutrients better.
Related: The Ultimate Grocery List (Beauty Detox and Budget Friendly!)
Maximizing Digestion with Solluna’s Digestive Enzymes
Embarking on a living foods diet, even for the most dedicated health enthusiasts and dieticians, can be impossible to stick to. Processed foods often find their way onto our plates due to convenience, time constraints, or taste preferences.
Unfortunately, these processed foods can wreak havoc on our digestive systems. They lack the vital enzymes present in living foods and are often stripped of their inherent nutritional value during processing.
This is where digestive enzyme supplements step in as a valuable aid. Solluna’s Feel Good Digestive Enzymes are meticulously crafted to help compensate for the enzyme deficit in processed and cooked foods. Incorporating our supplement into your diet can effectively bridge the gap between your dietary choices and optimal digestion!
Remember, your diet doesn’t have to be absolute! If you skip a day, you skip a day! It’s about finding balance in the modern world while staying true to your commitment to well-being.
Enjoy Living Foods to Really Feel Alive!
Living foods stand as a cornerstone of not just a healthy diet but also a vibrant life. Our bodies crave the rich diversity of living foods to ward off diseases, shield against toxicity, and maintain peak health. Regrettably, the Standard American Diet (appropriately abbreviated as SAD) often leaves us devoid of these essential nutrients that fuel our well-being.
The remedy lies in returning to the fundamentals of nutrition. By embracing a diet rich in living foods, we can reclaim our health and experience a profound shift from lethargy, weariness, and illness to a life bursting with energy and vitality.
All my love,
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