Archive for January, 2010

When is the Right Time to Eat Raw?

I was recently sent an email from reader Bethany regarding when is the best time to eat delicious, fruity raw meals.

Bethany said:

Are there “certain time frames” that you should eat raw food, to preserve optimal digestion? I hear from some that you shouldn’t eat after 6 or 7 PM, some that say don’t eat breakfast, or do eat breakfast, or dont eat after 3, or dont snack, or do snack…all this conflicting info, and it leaves me befuddled.

Thanks for the email, Bethany!  I’ll do my best to “un”-befuddle you.

Dinner

The general rule when it comes to night eating is that you should finish your last meal at least 3 hours before bed time.  This ensures that you have fully digested all of your food before you go to bed, which is important because digestion can compromise your sleep.

So if you’re a total homebody and social dunce like me who actually enjoys going to bed at 9pm, then you would finish your last meal no later than 6pm.

Personally, I find my own time frame to be much more lenient than this.  While I do try to have dinner between 5-6pm, there are plenty of times when I don’t finish eating until 8pm.

I still sleep just fine.

Now, waking up and snacking during the middle of the night is a whole different issue.  Not only does this waste your precious sleepy time, but it can definitely effect the quality of your sleep for the rest of the night.

Breakfast

The argument behind skipping breakfast is that most people are not hungry early in the day and that it is better not to force yourself to eat, but to wait for true hunger.

There is really no hard and fast rule on this one, but the raw foodists who do decided to follow this rule typically stick to very few meals (for obvious reasons).

For instance, when I skip breakfast, I generally do not eat until between 12-2pm and so it would be very difficult for me to eat 3 full meals on those days.  It is much easier to make my first meal a large one – which is perfect since I have not eaten all day – and then have a “normal-sized” dinner meal a few hours later.

If you find that you are not hungry until later in the day, feel free to forgo breakfast until you are truly hungry.  If you find that you are absolutely ravenous first thing in the morning, by all means, EAT!

Snacking

For various reasons mentioned in my week as a raw food grazer, I much prefer eating 2-3 big meals during the day as opposed to 4-6 smaller ones.

To recap, grazing means:

• Constant Hunger!
• Tiny, Unsatisfying Portions!!
• Boring Meals!!!

In my opinion, eating a few large meals is just so much easier.  I really hate having to constantly prepare meals…even though “preparing” typically means grabbing some bananas or starting up the blender.

I love food, but I simply do not have the time to eat and think about eating all day!

The Big Picture

All this aside, I really would not worry about any of this in the beginning.

If you are new to raw foods or having any sort of trouble maintaining a raw food diet, it is much more important for you to get used to eating a large quantity of fruit and to ensure enough calories are obtained first and foremost.

In other words…

• If you find that you are hungry an hour before bedtime, then go eat some fruit!

• If you find that you wake up hungry in the middle of the night, get up and eat some fruit!

• If you find that you must eat breakfast to get enough calories during the day, then eat breakfast!

• If you find that you need a fruity afternoon snack to keep you on track, well then, snack it up!

Once you feel comfortable with the basics of a low fat raw vegan diet, then feel free to move on to the m

Free Radicals and Cell Damage – Antioxidants and How to Fight the Good Fight

Our body is a very efficient machine for the most part, but even the best maintained machine has its issues from time to time. For the body, this issue is free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that are responsible for tissue damage, again and certain diseases as well.

Our body relies on oxygen for every function that it carries out, from the smallest and most mundane to the most complex. It also relies on fuel in the form of calories from the foods that we eat, to have the energy to transport this oxygen to every cell. The entire process is carried out by thermogenesis which is a fancy term for heat generation.

Heat is created when we digest food and when we process oxygen. Of course, just like with other actions or processes, there are reactions or by-products. In this case, the byproducts are known as free radicals.

While some radicals are generated by our natural processes and therefore can never be one hundred percent prevented, there are other, unnatural causes of free radicals that contribute to their build up in our body. Some examples of these unnatural causes are cigarette smoke, pollution, poor food choices, overexposure to the sun, and certain chemicals. Free radicals, even when they are generated from within our own bodies are dangerous and can be very damaging.

Free radicals are unstable molecules because they are missing an electron. Their goal is to seek a replacement for this electron and they do not care where they scavenge it from. Free radicals steal their missing electron from DNA, enzymes, protein, and from any other cell type that happens to be around them. They can damage the cell membrane in search of their electron. Cells sustain up to ten thousand free radical hits each and every day.

To prevent or at least lessen some of the damages caused by these unstable compounds, it is necessary to incorporate antioxidants into the body’s line of defense. Antioxidants give up one of their own electrons to stabilize and neutralize the dangerous effects of the radical.

Our body produces some antioxidants, but this natural production is often inadequate to handle the free radicals that have accumulated. This is especially true if we are at risk from external sources like our own environments, bad habits, and bad food choices. The more free radicals we have to deal with, the more antioxidants we will need to incorporate to handle them.

There are beneficial antioxidants in some foods as well as in some supplements such as vitamins. Natural foods are a good source of antioxidants, especially fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Hopefully, the antioxidants in the good foods that we eat, in addition to those our body naturally produces will be enough to help us win the ongoing battle against free radicals and their cell damage.

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