* What’s New?: No, YOU Rock!

* Feature Article: Is Apple Cider Vinegar Healthy?

No, YOU Rock!

Thank you so much to everyone who filled out my survey last week! I received a lot of great suggestions on my upcoming program Your First 30 Days Raw.

I’m still working on putting everything together and it looks like I’ve already included many of the things people are asking for in a 30 day raw program (e.g. recipes, recipes, and more recipes!), which is fantastic!

I also received some really lovely comments, like this one…

Thanks so much for providing this amazing information to the public!!!

And this one…

Swayze, I love what you do – your enthusiasm is so infectious

And here’s another…

You rock!

Okay, just one more…

Swayze, Keep on making this world a better place one person at a time.

Aww shucks, you guys are the best. Anyway, Your First 30 Days Raw will be released this Spring 2011 so I’ll have much more detailed info coming up very soon!

Swayze

Is Apple Cider Vinegar Healthy?

Apple cider vinegar is touted for its amazing medicinal abilities, anything from curing your arthritis to lowering your blood pressure and helping you drop excess weight.

And this popularity is also present within the raw food movement. Many raw foodists use ACV as a healthy way to add flavor to raw dishes like salads and soups.

But should apple cider vinegar really be considered a health food? Let’s take a look at some of the many health claims about apple cider vinegar and see for ourselves.

Is ACV Full of Nutrients?

No. Apple cider vinegar is a processed product. Much of the vitamins and minerals that were present in the original fruit are gone.

In fact, ACV doesn’t really contain much of any of stuff you need. One tablespoon of apple cider vinegar contains only tiny amounts of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, and iron and not one drop of fiber, amino acids, or vitamins A, C, E, K, B6, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, or folate.

If you want to eat something that’s full of nutrients, and I know you do, turn to the real thing. Eat your fruits and veggies!

Is ACV a Good Source of Enzymes?

Yes, it is. But does this really matter, in terms of your own digestion and overall health? No, it doesn’t.

The idea that plant enzymes somehow help you digest your food is a huge misconception. The only enzymes that can function in your digestive system are YOUR OWN digestive enzymes.

The best way to have great digestion is to eat the foods that your body has evolved to digest, absorb, assimilate, and eliminate easily and efficiently. You know, good ole’ fruits and vegetables.

Does ACV Heal Your Body?

No, because no food heals your body. The body heals itself.

Drinking apple cider vinegar won’t help you heal and get healthy. Eating a low fat raw vegan diet will.

Should You Consume ACV?

No. While there are definitely worse ingredients to spruce up your nightly salads (bacon bits being one of them), apple cider vinegar still isn’t a good choice. There’s a reason you can’t drink the stuff on it’s own and even when combined with other alkaline foods, your eye’s still water and your nose still runs.

All vinegars, including ACV, are made by diluting the poison acetic acid with water. When you ingest apple cider vinegar, you are ingesting small doses of poison.

As Dr. Douglas Graham says in The 80/10/10 Diet (pg. 254):

Vinegar should not be considered food.

If you’re having a difficult time giving up apple cider vinegar, look to healthy alternatives. Lemon or lime juice will add nice acidity to your salads and other savory dishes and fresh herbs like cilantro will add great flavor and a hint of bitterness. A few sun-dried tomato halves is a great way to add a little healthy punch and depth of flavor to any dressing.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. Looking for healthy and tasty raw vegan recipes that don’t include popular-but-UNhealthy raw ingredients like apple cider vinegar? Then check out my e-book:

“Low Fat, Fruit Filled, High Fun Raw Recipes”

Delicious and Healthy Raw Vegan Favorites for Every Meal

www.fitonraw.com/low-fat-raw-vegan-favorites

So you’ve been on a raw food diet for a while now and you feel stuck. You have cravings all the time, you have low energy, you haven’t experienced the health and vitality that everyone talks about, and you definitely don’t have “the glow”.

You aren’t alone. There’s a reason you and so many like you are dismayed by your results (or lack thereof) from your switch to raw foods. You’re doing it all wrong.

But don’t worry, it’s an easy fix. Take a look at these 5 common mistakes made by raw foodists to see if one, two, or even all of them can be blamed for your raw food woes.

Mistake #1: Eating Too Much Fat

By far the biggest mistake made on a raw food diet is overdoing it on fat. You may think this is hard to do on only raw foods, but you are mistaken. Avocados, nuts, seeds, olives, and oils are all comprised of mostly fat (75%+)

What’s the problem with too much? For one, a diet high in fat is the true cause of high blood sugar, but it also interferes with the transportation of oxygen through blood and has been linked to several mental and physical ailments.

Plus, fatty foods just are not satiating. Even if you get enough calories, you will likely still experience tremendous cravings for foods like bread and pasta because your body need carbs. Lacking fuel, fatigue will set in as well.

Remedy: Limit your fat intake to no more than 10% of total calories. It’s okay to have some days that are higher in fat, but the average should be 10% or less. This typically means one to two ounces of nuts/seeds or half to three quarters of a medium avocado.

Mistake #2: Eating Too Little Fruit

The reason it’s so hard to maintain a diet of mostly fat (raw or not) is because your body naturally craves sugar-rich carbohydrates. Your entire body runs on sugar and everything you eat, carbohydrate-rich or not, has to be converted to simple sugar before it can be fully utilized by the cells.

Now, I’m certainly not telling you to go chow down on pasta or garlic bread. Grains should definitely be avoided for optimal health. What I’m saying is that you need to eat more fresh, whole, ripe, raw, sweet, delicious, nutritious, and simple sugar-rich fruit.

If you want to succeed on a raw food diet, you have to get the majority of your calories from fruit.

Remedy: Eat as much fruit as you want for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Make sure all the fruit you eat is good quality and at the peak of ripeness.

Mistake #3: Eating Too Much Salt

Besides eating far too much fat in the form of avocados, nuts, and oils, raw foodists are known for consuming waaaaay too much salt.

Ever wonder why you hands and face swell up and your heart races after eating a particularly salty meal? It’s because salt is a toxin. Your body is doing its best to completely eliminate it from your body.

If you REALLY want to see your health soar, you need to completely eliminate all salt (yes, even “healthy” sea salt) from your diet. You can get all the minerals you need, including sodium, from fresh fruits and greens.

Remedy: Eliminate all salt from your diet. Instead, turn to ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes, lemon juice, and mild herbs to add great flavor to your savory raw salads, soups, and sauces.

Mistake #4: Eating Too Many Refined Foods

Even though many raw foodists love to claim that they eat a 100% raw and natural diet, the simple fact is that the vast majority of them eat way too many refined foods. Dried fruit, dried nuts and seeds, and refined sweeteners are used in abundance to make everything from flax seed crackers to chocolate mouse.

Remember, this is a RAW food diet we are talking about here. Refined foods, even if they are only sun-dried, are no longer truly raw.

Remedy: Keep refined foods like dried fruits to a minimum. The bulk of your calories should come from whole, fresh foods.

Mistake #5: Eating Complicated Recipes

Finally, a huge mistake in the raw food movement has to do with complicated recipes that ignore food combining. To show you what I mean check out this popular raw dessert:

Raw Brownies

Brownies

• 1 cup ground pecans
• 1 cup dates
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar

Icing

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon avocado
• 1 tablespoon agave
• 1/2 tablespoon cacao powder

Not only is this recipe high in fat (over 50%!), but it’s very poorly combined. It’s full of sugar (dates and agave) and fat (pecans, coconut oil, and avocado) which do not digest well together.

It’s okay to have a complex recipe with multiple ingredients every once in a while. But these should never make up the majority of what you eat.

Remedy: Keep recipes simple by limiting the number of ingredients used (the fewer ingredients, the better) and always remember to follow proper food combining rules.

Staying Raw is Simple

If you want to see fabulous results and succeed long-term on a raw food diet, you’ve got to limit your intake of fatty and dehydrated foods, cut out the salt and poorly combined recipes, and increase your consumption of fruit. Only then will you start to see dramatic and lasting health improvements.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. So you’re keeping your fat intake low, your fruit intake high, cutting back on refined foods and complicated recipes, and avoiding all salt. You’re doing everything right, but there’s a problem…

You still have massive cravings!

No worries. I’ve got the perfect thing:

“How to Conquer Your Cooked Food Cravings Once and for All”

A Guide for Destroying Cravings on a Raw Food Diet

www.cookedfoodcravings.com

In this 95-page e-book, you’ll learn exactly what it takes to completely eliminate your cravings. Just click on the link below to learn more and purchase your own digital copy today:

Oh yeah, and check out the bangin’ bonuses, too!

===> www.cookedfoodcravings.com

* Feature Article: How to Naturally Get Rid of Your Cold

* Your Questions Answered: Healthy Iodine Sources?

How to Naturally Get Rid of Your Cold

It’s that time of year, when the world…

Falls in love?

Forgives and forgets?

Fills up on sweets and treats?

Nope, Nope, and Nope.

It’s that time of year when everyone catches the common cold!

Luckily for you, there are three easy steps you can take right now to get rid of your cold in just a few days time.

First things first…

#1: Step Away From the Medicine Cabinet!

The last thing you want to do when you have a cold is take any sort of cold medication for your symptoms.

You see, the symptoms you experience when you have a cold – a runny nose, a sore throat, achy muscles, etc. – are actually a good thing! These are all signs that your body is actively fighting off the virus and getting you well.

When you take any cold medication, you are only slowing this process down. Instead of continuing to fend off the virus, your body now has to work to expel whatever medication you just took.

And be sure to stay away from over-the-counter pain-relief medications too, as these have been shown to suppress your body’s ability to produce antibodies that are necessary to fight the cold virus off.

So while you may feel better after taking a couple DayQuil capsules or Tylenol that reduce your symptoms, all you’re really doing is interfering with your body’s natural healing process and thereby prolonging your sickness!

You do want to get rid of your cold as quickly as you can, right? Then here’s what you should do instead:

#2: Rest

Pretty much everyone who is sick with a cold experiences fatigue along with their other symptoms. Your body is working overtime to fight off the virus and so you feel tired.

What should you do when you feel tired? Rest. That means remaining horizontal and doing as little as possible. Even if you are not able to sleep, you should still be lying down somewhere comfy and cozy.

By resting as much as possible, you are interfering with your body as little as possible so it can continue to do its job.

The more rest you get, the faster you will get well!

#3: Fast

Mothers of the world have it all wrong. Filling up on food when you’re sick to “keep your strength up” is not a wise move.

There is a reason animals (people included) experience a loss of appetite when they are sick. Any food you eat – even if it’s healthy raw fruits and vegetables – requires energy to digest it. This energy is much better spent fending off the virus than digesting your food.

That’s why the best thing to do is fast. Ingesting nothing but water will allow your body to focus as much of its efforts as possible on getting you well.

Just be sure to stay hydrated with plenty of water!

If you’re sick but still have an appetite, feel free to eat something. Just be sure to keep it light and healthy.

No, I don’t mean loading up on OJ from a carton or chicken noodle soup from a can. I mean eating only fresh fruits and tender greens that are full of water and digest easily.

Stay away from any and all cooked and processed foods and only stick with produce that you can eat in its whole, raw state. Your body, not to mention your waistline, will thank you for it.

Go raw, be fit, and get well,

Swayze

Healthy Iodine Sources?

Kathy asks:

I love your Low Fat, Fruit Filled,High Fun Raw Recipes!

The last five years my hair has been thinning out – my thyroid is low on iodine. I could supplement with dulse, but, being seaweed, it is full of sea salt. I prefer to go the natural route, but I don’t know any recipes that would be high on iodine.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Hi Kathy,

Thank you so much!

First, are you sure you are deficient in iodine? Have you been tested? Hair thinning can be caused by any number of problems.

Second, when handling deficiencies, the most important thing is to improve your absorption rate. This is done by avoiding cigarettes, alcohol, drugs (prescribed and illicit), limiting fat intake, avoiding unnatural foods (meat, dairy, eggs, etc.), exercising, etc.

Third, if you know for a fact that you are deficient, the best option is to purchase fruits and vegetables grown in iodine-rich soils. Typically this means foods grown near the coast, but you can find out more by contacting the growers.

Michigan and surrounding areas are known for having iodine-poor soil.

Finally, as a last resort, look for an iodine supplement that doesn’t contain salt or mercury.

Swayze

P.S. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes!

* Special Offers: Ready to Conquer Your Cravings?

* Feature Article: Raw Food Fallacy #1: If It’s Raw, It’s Healthy

Ready to Conquer Your Cravings?

As promised, I’ve just added a new bonus to my recently released cravings killer:

“How to Conquer Your Cooked Food Cravings Once and for All”

A Guide for Destroying Cravings on a Raw Food Diet

www.cookedfoodcravings.com

But before I raise the price, I want to offer you an opportunity to get in on the current low priced action.

For the next 72 hours, you can purchase How to Conquer Your Cooked Food Cravings Once and for All at the current price and still get the bangin’ new bonus!

Speaking of bonus…it’s an audio recording of the entire 95-page e-book!

To learn more and purchase your copy today, visit the link below:

===> www.cookedfoodcravings.com

Swayze

Raw Food Fallacy #1: If It’s Raw, It’s Healthy

If you’re familiar with Fit On Raw, then you know that I talk a lot about the popular fad “Hollywood” raw food diet and its inherent problems.

If you’re new around here, then check out these past posts where I criticize the mainstream raw movement and its perpetuation of the UNhealthy high fat raw food diet:

1. 3 Raw Foods I Never Eat on a Raw Vegan Diet
2. 4 Ways to Improve the Mainstream Raw Food Diet
3. What I Learned From High-Fat Raw Gurus
4. The Raw Food Gurus are Lying to You

Unfortunately, there’s still more to be said!

To continue the crusade for healthy raw foods, I want to talk a bit more about raw food fallacies. I’ve determined four fallacious beliefs that are spread far and wide within the raw food movement.

Following these beliefs will surely put you on the path of raw food failure so I think it’s about time we squashed these major mistakes, don’t you?

Then let’s kick this week off with the first fallacy:

If It’s Raw, It’s Healthy

Yes, it’s true that the best diet is a 100% raw one. You definitely don’t need to eat any cooked food if you want to be healthy.

However, this does not mean that you should eat any and all food that happens to be raw. Just because a food is in its natural state does NOT mean it is healthy for you to eat.

I mean, what about poison sumac? It’s definitely raw so does that automatically mean we should ingest it?

Goodness no!

Okay, obviously no raw gurus are going around advocating eating poisonous plants. But what about popular raw food items like Braggs Liquid Aminos, “raw” cacao, and hot peppers that I talked about here and here?

Given my three simple rules for choosing healthy foods from last week…

1. It must be health promoting.
2. It must be non-toxic.
3. It must be whole

…it’s pretty clear that none of these foods are healthy.

Braggs is nothing but water-retaining salt, the caffeine in cacao wears out your adrenals, and the capsaicin in hot peppers burns your hands and mouth (among other *ahem* places).

If It’s Healthy, It’s Raw

All healthy foods are raw, but not all raw foods are healthy.

Believe me, it would be easy if you could just eat any and all raw foods and be healthy. But this just isn’t the case.

If you want to experience optimal health, you need to be a bit more discriminating and choose foods that are not only raw, but health promoting, non-toxic, and in their whole and truly raw state.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

* What’s New: Did You Have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving?

* Feature Article: The Real Reason Americans Are Fat

Did You Have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving?

I know I did! Not only did I have lots of fun with my family just lazing around the house, but I had lots of delicious and nutritious fall fruit as well.

No thankless turkey or stifling stuffing for me!

In fact the whole weekend was great! We put up the tree (our first real one in several years), decorated the house, did some shopping, played tennis (the weather was just beautiful)…

And then to top it all off, Roger Federer won the Barclays ATP World Tour this Sunday, defeating Rafael Nadal 6-3, 3-6, 6-1!

All in all, it was a beautiful holiday. And being healthy, fit, and not having to focus on food made it that much better.

Swayze

The Real Reason Americans Are Fat

According to Doctors Douglas J. Lisle and Alan Goldhamer, the authors of The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health & Happiness, it isn’t how much you eat that is making you fat.

It’s what you eat.

Lisle and Goldhamer believe that if you consume a healthy plant-based diet, you will not gain weight. On a natural diet composed primarily of fresh produce, your body will be able to accurately assess the amount of calories and nutrients in the food you are eating.

You will automatically eat just the right amount of food for your body. No more, no less.

Put another way (page 65):

In a natural setting of caloric abundance, animals will consume the correct amount of food needed for optimal function.

Lisle and Goldhamer call this “The Law of Satiation”.

Skinny the Chimpanzee

To show just how important the Law of Satiation is to our survival, the authors give the example of Skinny, a make-believe chimpanzee who needs about 2000 calories each day to fuel his body.

But Skinny has a problem.

You see, Skinny’s bodily mechanisms of satiation do not function properly. Instead of recognizing the need for 2000 calories, Skinny’s neural system estimates that he needs only 1980 calories. As a result, Skinny consumes a deficit of 20 calories every day.

A 1% difference may not seem like much…until you look at the long-term consequences (page 66):

Over the course of a normal lifetime – if he could survive – Skinny would consume one percent less food than he required, or about 1,000 pounds of food less than needed. This amounts to approximately 400,000 too few calories, a caloric deficit that would have to be compensated by the burning of his own tissues for fuel.

This caloric deficiency translates to more than 100 pounds of body tissue, a caloric deficit that no 150-pound chimp could possibly survive.

All animals must obey the Law of Satiation in order to sustain a healthy bodyweight and thrive.

The Big Three

But how exactly does the Law of Satiation work? How is the human body able to so accurately sense when the right amount of food has been eaten?

By way of a few important bodily mechanisms, which all animals naturally possess, that make sure we do not consistently under or overeat. Lisle and Goldhamer call these the “three mechanisms of satiation” and they are (page 69):

1. Stretch Sensation
2. Nutrient Sensation
3. The “Yowel” Circuits

Stretch Sensation simply refers to the sensation in the gut triggered by eating a certain volume of food. This literal stretching of the stomach sends the signal that enough food has been consumed.

Nutrient Sensation refers to the sensation we feel when we’ve eaten enough calories. Our gastrointestinal systems have receptors for all three macronutrients – carbohydrates, protein, and fat – that help us sense how many calories have been eaten.

The Yowel Circuits refers to your body’s “fat reserve monitoring system,” which has the ability to detect your body fat percentage (via sensors all over the body) and relay this number to your brain.

According to Lisle and Goldhamer, these circuits only chime in if you overeat on a regular basis (page 72):

If this [overeating] continues, these special sensors begin to alert the brain that fat stores have become excessive and are beginning to compromise health and well-being. Their signal discourages eating. It is as if these circuits begin speaking to the hunger drive circuits, saying, “You’re Over-Weight, Eat Less!”

These circuits “yowel” to the brain’s appetite regulating centers, alerting them that the existing fat stores are excessive and that the hunger drive should be decreased.

Defying Nature’s Laws, One Bite at a Time

You may be saying to yourself, “If the Law of Satiation really exists, then why are Americans so fat?”

Because, as Lisle and Goldhamer argue, Americans and others like them are eating entirely the wrong foods.

The fatty, fiber-less foods being consumed in abundance are too low in volume to trigger the stretch mechanism, severely lacking in nutrition to trigger the nutrient mechanism, and far too concentrated in calories to trigger the yowel circuits.

In Friday’s article, I’ll talk more in-depth about this Westernized law-defying diet, as well as the two rules you must follow if you wish to achieve lasting weight loss.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. If you’re ready to start losing weight right now with a healthy raw food diet, be sure to check out my recipe book:

“Low Fat, Fruit Filled, High Fun Raw Recipes”

Delicious and Healthy Raw Vegan Favorites for Every Meal

www.fitonraw.com/low-fat-raw-vegan-favorites

Not only are there over 35 recipes to try, but I’ve even included a 7-day meal plan to help you get started and go raw right away!

Simply follow the link below to learn more and purchase your own digital copy:

www.fitonraw.com/low-fat-raw-vegan-favorites