Are you really overweight and think you don’t look as good as you would if you were thinner? Do you worry about how you look to the point of being moody or simply refusing to go out unless you just have to?  When you go out are you constantly looking to see who is looking at you and especially who is laughing? Have you found yourself binge eating while in those moods or after coming back from being out?

You know I could go on and on asking questions like this but I don’t really have to because you know what the questions are and how you react to things. What I want to do is interpose an answer that may help you to look at things a little differently. I want you to see that you have choices in life and that they are not limited by your weigh, your height or your education.

You may not think of the questions that I just ask you are related in any way to stress but I have to tell you that they are. Any time that you feel fear you are introducing a state of stress into your life. Fear is what precipitates the fight or flight response in us. There are different levels of fear and therefore different levels of the fight or flight response.

It doesn’t really matter how much fear is introduced into a situation, stress still comes into ply. Once stressed if the body doesn’t respond to that stress in a way to reduce and eliminate it it becomes chronic. As stress becomes chronic in our lives it causes things to happen in the body. One of those things is the introduction of cortisol into our blood stream.

Cortisol is an important hormone in the body, secreted by the adrenal glands and involved in the following body functions:

• Proper glucose metabolism
• Regulation of blood pressure
• Insulin release for blood sugar maintenance
• Immune function
• Inflammatory response
• and more

Normally cortisol is present in the body, at higher levels in the morning, and at its lowest at night. Even though stress is not the only reason that cortisol is secreted into the bloodstream, it has been termed “the stress hormone” because it is secreted in higher levels during the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to stress, and is responsible for several stress-related changes in the body.

What we are concerned about here is how it affects weight control. You see chronic stress can cause cortisol levels to be keep very high. The cortisol over time causes your metabolism to slow down and therefore what you eat has a higher tendency to turn to fat. As you gain fait you lose muscle and the loss of muscle also reduces the calories you burn each day, causing even more fat to accumulate with the same amount of food intake.

Do you see how this can hinder you attempts to lose weight?

Chronically high cortisol levels also affects proper glucose metabolism and therefore blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels affect mood swings, fatigue, and conditions like hyperglycemia. All this affects your health and  your activity level. Your health and activity level affects the amount of calories your body burns each day thereby causing even more fat to accumulate with the same amount of food intake.

Ancient man figured out many years ago that it was a wonderful idea to eat meat that was cooked, as opposed to raw. Since then, civilization has gone screwy, employing that same old cooking idea to all food. You can have too much of a good thing! Apart from a salad, The majority of people eat a very small amount of raw food. But in recent years, the focal point is on healthy eating and diminishing the chances of contracting diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and strokes has thrown the focus on raw foods.

All that we’re talking about right now is eating fruits, vegetables and nuts that taste excellent just as Nature intended them: in their raw state. That is certainly a change for nearly all people, so in order to generate that change you will need to know exactly why you would want to do it. You  need to understand why your raw food diet is healthy for you. Listed below are ten reasons to eat raw foods:

1. Raw foods have a better nutritional value. Cooking food decimates vitamins, and denatures protein and fat.  It also breaks down the enzymes which are naturally in the foods that will help you digest them.

2. You will find youself replete ever more rapidly in eating raw foods because they are a more nutrient dense food, contain ever more water and ever more fiber, so fill you up much more successfully. Your hunger will be satisfied and your bodies nutrient requirements will be fully fulfilled so you will eat much less on a raw food diet. For those reasons people find  a diet high in raw foods allows them to reduce the weight and supplies the body the essential nutrients to mend itself.

3. Raw foods are much more saporous than cooked foods are. That means that you have less of a necessity to add flavorings such as salt and spice. Refined salt and other highly processed flavorings can irritate your stomach and additional parts of the digestive system and be too stimulating for internal organs such as the liver, which valiantly struggles to detoxify the body from all these seasonings that it sees as toxic.

4. A raw food diet can be quite low maintenance! People who detest spending hours in the kitchen readying meals will savor the simplicity of the raw food diet. You can even employ your children in readying raw foods; that way, they are much more liable to eat it! That furnishes you a break, increases the child’s self-esteem and as a incentive helps them to build an appreciation for eating healthy foods.

5. You will not singe your fingers, mouths, tongues or lips with raw food diet! Also, you won’t burn your house down in a kitchen fire because you can’t be cooking much!

6. There is less cleaning up after creating a raw food meal and the cleanup process is easier; you will not have any greasy dishes with baked on food to clean and you can put any leftovers directly on the compost heap and give back to nature.

7. A raw food diet is amazing for your general health and has even been shown to have a positive effect on serious chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. This is because with the raw food diet one doesn’t have the difficulties caused by free radicals that are produced in the cooking process. Fewer free radicals means less risk of cancer.

8. A raw food diet is high in nutrients and so it delivers you just great natural protection against common illnesses such as colds and flu and also a lot less common illnesses such as measles. Raw food allows to keep your body fit and working well. You are also much less apt to encounter digestive disorders such as gas, heartburn, constipation and indigestion.

9. A raw food diet is environmentally responsible. It advocates organic farming and we will use less energy resources because we wouldn’t be cooking the food or transporting it as far as we do now. Emissions of carbon dioxide will be cut back and there would have to be new orchards planted to keep up with the requirement for fresh fruit. This will release ever more oxygen into the air and we will help to minimize the Greenhouse impact.

10. A raw food diet will help you to save money. You wouldn’t only save money on food bills but also on energy bills, and also stoves, pots, pans – and medical bills!

The raw food diet is a great way to protect your body, save your money and save the planet.

People who don’t honestly know what raw food dieting is may think it’s a diet that just rabbits will like. those very same people might assume that a raw food diet is just like a vegetarian diet in that a person on a raw diet eats not a thing but fruits and vegetables, so the idea that raw food dieting is for rabbits. It’s true that rabbits ingest fruits and vegetables, even so a raw food diet has a lot more to it than eating merely eating carrots, lettuce, or apples.

Exactly what is meant by raw food dieting?

This fashionable eating habit is a diet including not just the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. But it also has eating nuts, seeds and sprouts. It includes drinking purified water, and dairy products that aren’t pasteurized. Because of that raw food dieting may incorporate the eating of all unprocessed food that’s free of chemicals. It’s true, that’s what raw food dieting is, no kidding.

Benefits of Raw Food Dieting: Pittsburgh Meet up 2009

Raw food dieting is in no way a modern, quirky idea. Human beings as a whole has been a raw food eater since the beginning of time. In fact, raw food is everything our early ancestors ate, primarily because at that period in our existence we were rather nomadic, going from place to place from day to day. We hadn’t devised fire yet. It was less difficult just to pick and eat berries, nuts, fruits, and vegetables as we moved over the earth’s surface.

Raw Food Dieting and Celebrities.

Presently the raw food diet has a large established following and has even drawn many celebrities to its followers like Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore to mention just two. There have additionally been a plethora of books created and published on the subject to guide any person with an interest in raw food dieting. There are also specialized courses in colleges and universities for the nutritionist to study about raw food dieting.

To be a actual raw foodist, the raw food diet should be made up of between seventy-five and ninety percent raw foods. That’s foods that aren’t cooked by any means. The rest of the diet can consist of foods that are sun-dried or dehydrated, but with this finished at temperatures below 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The basic element of a raw food diet is not to eat any foods which are cooked, baked or microwaved.

It is believed by advocates and followers of raw food dieting that fixing foods by any form of cooking damages the food and cooks out a great many valuable nutrients. And there is significant scientific evidence to confirm this belief. There are many foods that when cooked, have numerous nutritional elements that become neutralized and hence of no real value for the body and whenever consumed the body needs to then waste energy to eliminate them.

Medical benefits of a Raw Food Diet.

There is as well medical evidence that suggests the body benefits from a raw food diet. Studies intimate that those individuals who are on a raw food diet manifest greater energy and are at a lower risk for blood pressure and heart issues. In addition, there are less complaints about digestive issues, not to mention reports of meaningful weight loss from raw food dieters.

The raw food diet, even though fantastic for nearly all, may not be good for us all. In contemplating any diet plan, that does include a raw diet, it is normally best to consult your physician before getting too far along in the diet.