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Are These Unhealthy Habits Holding You Back?

by Swayze

While eating lots of raw foods is conducive to living a healthy life, it is not the only health factor.

In fact, many will argue that what you DON’T eat is actually more important than what you DO eat.  You can eat all the raw foods in the world, but it won’t make a lick of difference if you’re still participating in destructive habits on a regular basis.

This actually makes a lot of sense.

For instance, let’s pretend that you eat a high fruit raw vegan diet for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Then each night before bed, you scarf down a Big Mac, french fries, and a large shake.

No matter how much fruit and greens you eat during the day, it will not be able to combat the destructive effects of eating such a large amount of greasy, fatty, salty food each and every day.

While you’re probably not eating that much junky food that often, you may be holding onto a few destructive foods, substances, activities, etc. that are keeping you from achieving health greatness.

Unhealthy Habit Hangups

Here are some of the worst culprits (in no particular order) that should be completely avoided:

  • Cigarettes
  • Alcohol
  • Drugs, prescribed or otherwise
  • Coffee, chocolate, and other stimulants
  • Salt, spices, and other condiments
  • Animal flesh and by-products, i.e. milk, butter, cheese, etc.
  • Grains and legumes
  • Too much fat
  • Improper food combining
  • Lack of sunshine
  • Lack of exercise
  • Lack of sleep

You may consider yourself a raw or high-raw foodist, but there is a good likelihood that you are still hanging on to at least a couple of these unhealthy habits.

Mainstream raw foodists are known for eating poorly combined meals, tons of salt, too much fat, sprouted grains and legumes, stimulants like “raw” chocolate, and getting far too little exercise and sleep.  There simply is no way you can experience superior health if you are holding onto any of these unhealthy habits, raw or not.

Amount Matters

No matter what any raw food guru tells you about the “evils” of cooked food versus the “life-giving” power of raw foods, a little bit of boiled veggies or steamed rice here and there is not going to kill you.

Even drinking alcohol or or eating meat and cheese won’t make that much of a difference if it is an occasional occurrence.

What really matters is what you do on a regular basis.  That’s what a habit is, something that is done frequently, making it difficult to give up.

Let’s return to the example above where you eat a high fruit diet for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday.  Rather than having a fast food meal every night, you have it just once per month.

One unhealthy meal out of 90+ really won’t make that much of a difference.  You’ll will probably feel pretty sick afterward, given the fact that your body has been used to clean and simple food, but the long-term effects will be minimal.

So if you’re worried about indulging in salty, fatty raw food recipes at your monthly raw potluck or having a glass of wine a couple when you go out with friends, then stop worrying!  As long as they are infrequent occurrences, they won’t make much of a difference with regards to your overall health.

How to Break Em

If you are hanging on to unhealthy practices and you’re ready to give them up, there are a few different ways you can go.

For certain substances like caffeine, alcohol, and cigarettes, the overnight approach is usually preferred.  That’s exactly what I did with coffee.  I went from drinking a cup every morning to absolutely nothing in one day.  While I did have a headache for a a few days, that was the extent of my detox.  It only took a few weeks for me to lose any and all cravings for coffee.

For other lifestyle changes such as giving up certain foods like meat, cheese, salt, etc., I recommend a gradual transition.  There are many different ways you could go with this, such as eliminating one food group at a time while incorporating more fruits and greens into your diet.  The key is to ensure that you are still consuming the same amount of calories, which will prevent cravings.

Starting an exercise routine requires a gradual approach.  Jumping headfirst into an hour a day of intense movement is a surefire way to get injured.  You want to start as slowly and easily as possible (walking is always good) and only increase the duration, intensity, and/or frequency when you feel comfortable.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze