Fruit or Fat – How to get your Calories on the Raw Food Diet

March 2, 2009 | 413 views |  Print |  Email

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We have gotten pretty phobic about fat in these health-conscious days. The Holy Graille of diets seemed to be the elimination of all fat. There are two facts about that which make it a bad idea:
1. You can’t avoid fats altogether – it is impossible.
2. On the good side, you should know that some fats are good for you.
The raw food diet helps you to eat the right kinds of fats that give your body what it needs without clogging up your arteries. Too much fat thickens the blood and that leads to clogged arteries, strokes and heart attacks.
Calories are units of energy. We have grown so used to seeing calories as the enemy that many of us have lost sight of the fact that we need to consume a certain amount of calories each day. On the raw food diet, you will be getting most of your calories from fruit or fat; sure, you’ll be eating a lot of vegetables too but they are so low in calories that you would need to eat an awful lot of them in order to get all the calories that you need. Most vegetables don’t have very many calories in them and those that do, the starchy ones, aren’t very nice to eat raw.
Your raw food diet won’t be very high in protein, because high protein vegetables like avocado and nuts tend to be high fat too and that isn’t very good for you. So, to get the bulk of your calories on a raw food diet, concentrate on fruit and fats. You will much more successful in sticking to the diet and in deriving all the health benefits from it.
A diet which is rich in fruit is, overall, healthier than going down the high fat route. It is a good idea to limit fat to no more than fifteen per cent of your overall diet. Five per cent of your calories should come from vegetables. That means that apart from fatty fruits such as avocado and coconut, around eighty per cent of your calories comes from fruit in a healthy balanced raw food diet. Fruit have a lot of vitamins; vegetables have a lot of minerals and so together they are a powerful combination.
You’ll be eating a lot more food than you did before you started the raw food diet since fruit and vegetables are low in calories. That’s why a lot of people find the raw food diet an effective way to lose weight, but you still need a certain number of calories each day. Bananas and mangoes are among the fruits highest in calories, which just one piece of this fruit averaging at just one a hundred calories. The great thing about including fruit in your diet is that often it needs little or no preparation such as peeling etc.
There is good, sound, scientific argument that states that a diet high in fruit is the best way for humans to eat, and that has caused a big increase in the popularity of the raw food diet. Think about what nature is telling is here – our nearest biological relatives are gorillas, chimps and orang utans. They eat an awful lot of fruit!
A raw food diet high in fruit tends to allow people to reach their optimal weight for their height and build. They also increase their energy levels and boost their immunity so they get sick less often.