Since cooking destroys important enzymes that your body needs for digesting and assimilating foods, the more raw vegetables and fruits you eat, the more enzymes and nutrients your body will take in. However, if your digestive system is out of balance, you might find that initially, for about one to two months, you will do best eating only steamed or cooked vegetables and then gradually increasing your raw food intake with each meal - taking digestive enzymes along with both.
Food Combining
Proper food combining involves eating either protein with vegetables or grains with vegetables but avoiding mixing protein with grains at the same meal. Doing this is beneficial for some people who have digestive problems. Others find that having a little protein along with grains at each meal, whether from an animal or a plant source, keeps both their blood sugar and energy levels more stable. The answer for you lies in listening to your body. If you're hypoglycemic, meaning you have low blood sugar, you'll do best to start off your morning with protein and work your complex carbohydrates into your lunch or dinner meals.
Most people have blood sugar imbalances and do best eating three meals a day plus a snack mid-morning and in the afternoon, as this keeps their metabolism and energy levels balanced. If you are prone to excessive weight loss, however, eat only the three meals a day and avoid snacking in order to slow down your metabolism.
Juicing
Juicing is a great way to nourish your body. Fresh vegetable juice that has had the fiber extracted will immediately fill your bloodstream with live enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. Juicing is also alkalinizing to your body because it leaches out acidic waste products.
Juicing correctly is important when you are using it as a health treatment. First, don't make more than eight ounces of fresh juice at one time. Drinking large quantifies, such as sixteen to thirty-two ounces of carrot juice at one time, can do more harm than good because this is too much sugar for your system.
Second, drink juice on an empty stomach, either an hour before a meal or two to three hours after a meal. Since the juice acts as a treatment for your bloodstream, do not drink it with a heavy meal. Third, drink your juice as soon as you make it. Many of the vitamins and minerals become oxidized within thirty minutes of being exposed to the air. Fourth, drink your juice slowly. Swish it around in your mouth to mix it with your saliva, and then swallow. There are many books on juicing you can use to find recipes that you like.
The Vitamix food processor is a wonderful way to eat whole foods and to make soup, but I don't recommend using it for juicing vegetables and fruits. It keeps the fiber in the mixture, and your digestive system has to work harder to break it down. I recommend the Breville juicer, which can be bought online or in many local department stores.
Nutritional Supplementation
In today's world, a good diet alone cannot keep your body healthy. If you want to experience quality aging, your body also requires supplementation. Because modern agricultural practices have depleted our soft, we must eat five times the amount our grandparents ate to obtain the same nutrient value. Our bodies must also cope with more environmental toxicity from pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and synthetic chemicals than ever before. On top of that, increased stress levels have weakened our bodies, making supplementation necessary to offset the imbalance. To find out more, you can check out Candida Diet Recipe Ideas.