1. Eat a healthy, low fat raw vegan diet
2. Stop using an alarm clock
3. Finish your last meal at least 2 hours before bedtime

There was one important point that I forgot to address for becoming a morning person.  This one may actually be the most important tip of all…

Get Enough Sleep!

I know many raw foodists claim that eating raw means you get to sleep less and less and less, sometimes no more 5 hours a night.

NO, NO, NO!

This is one health and wellness area where mainstream medicine and media have got it right.  The average human – I
don’t care if you eat burgers and fries all day or live on sunshine and moonbeams – needs at least 8 hours of sleep
every night.

In fact, you may find that you need MORE sleep since going raw!  Many people discover that they are able to be (and actually want to be) more active and, as a result, need to sleep more.

But there’s no reason to rely on a number to tell you how much sleep you need.  As long as you are waking up naturally feeling ready to go – you did get rid of that retched alarm clock, didn’t you? – you are getting enough sleep.

Some days you may need more, some days you may need less.  Let your body be your guide!

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

I don’t know about you, but I love my mornings.  I generally wake up between 6-7am, even though I don’t have class until later in the day, and yet I never feel the need to turn over and go back to sleep.

I wake up completely refreshed and ready to start the day.

But I wasn’t always this way.

I used to absolutely despise mornings.  I was anemic for many years and would dread waking up.  I knew no matter how early I went to bed, I would always wake up feeling groggy and ticked off.

So just how exactly did I become a morning person?

I Adopted a Low Fat Raw Vegan Diet

The very first step that improved my mornings was switching to a healthy raw food diet.  While I didn’t go raw to solve my aversion to the AM, this just so happened to be one of the effects.

You see, when you no longer consume toxic cooked foods, your body is no longer over burdened and does not have to work so hard to process what you eat.

When you eat a cooked food diet, particularly a high-fat SAD version, your body is almost constantly digesting food.  Depending upon the types of foods you are eating, it can take hours and hours for your body to completely digest (digestion, absorption, assimilation, and elimination) just one meal.

So even if you eat an early dinner around 6pm, you will still be digesting your food well into the night.  Now your body has to continue working instead of resting, which means a less restful and deep sleep for you.

And we know how painful those Monday mornings are when we haven’t had a good night’s sleep!

When you eat a healthy low fat raw food diet, on the other hand, digestion takes much less time and effort.  Literally minutes after a large fruit meal, your body will already have run through the first few stages of digestion with relative ease.

And the final stage…you know the one…is not too far *behind*!

Haha, pun intended.

So if you eat dinner around 6pm, your body will have plenty of time to completely digest your food before bedtime.  This means a much more effective sleepy session and a much more peaceful, refreshed morning.

I Killed My Alarm Clock

The second step I took that made me impervious to morning grogginess was to get rid of my alarm clock.

Think about it: how in the world can you expect to wake up to loud, incessant beeping and feel comfortable, refreshed, and ready to start your day?

It just isn’t possible!

When you use artificial means to wake up, whether it’s the beep of an alarm clock or the not-so-gentle nudge from a spouse, you risk awaking during an REM cycle.

These cycles occur every 90-120 minutes and this is when you are at your deepest point of sleep.  Awaking during this time usually leaves you feeling super sleepy because you have not completed the cycle and, therefore, you have not gotten enough sleep.

Getting rid of your alarm clock means that you can allow your body to wake up naturally.  You will awaken when your body is ready, feeling completely energized and ready to go.

I Ate Dinner Earlier

The final step I took that helped me become a morning person was to start consuming my dinner meals earlier in the evening.  While it’s much less-noticeable change than the first two, adopting this technique does make a difference.

Even on a raw food diet, our digestion slows down in the evening in preparation for rest.  If we eat too late in the day, our bodies may still be working by the time we go to sleep.

The general rule is to eat your last meal 2-3 hours before you go to sleep.  So instead of eating dinner at 8pm or so, I began eating between 5-7pm.  This way, I could make sure that my meals were fully digested before my head hit the pillow.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to start eating early in the day.  If you eat three meals a day and have breakfast at 9am, you could wait four hours between meals and have lunch at 1pm and then dinner 5pm.

*Easy, but I do have a little caveat:*

If you are brand new to raw foods, I do not recommend worrying about eating late just yet.  It is more important to make sure you are getting enough calories and become comfortable with this way of eating first and foremost.

Even if you continue to eat late, you will still see a remarkable change in the way you sleep and how you feel when you awake if you adopt a low fat raw vegan diet and say bye-bye to your alarm clock.

When I first went raw and had trouble with undereating, I often woke up in the middle of the night and ate grapes or other fruit.  Even with this late night snacking, I still woke up early and felt a BILLION times better than when I was a poor little anemic cooked food alarm-loving vegan.

Go raw, be fit, and embrace your mornings,

Swayze

P.S. If you are finding it too difficult to stick with a healthy low fat, high fruit raw vegan diet, you may interested in my step-by-step, daily  program 21 Days to Conquer Your Cooked Food Cravings

Check it out here:

www.cookedfoodcravings.com

I’m here to tell you that you can significantly increase your energy by doing just one simple thing.  But first, let me dispel a few myths…

Do Certain Foods REALLY Increase Your Energy?

Have you seen those Emerald nuts commercials?  You know, the ones where the people fall asleep during important tasks because they haven’t got enough energy.  Then a friend gives them some nuts and woo hoo, they have energy galore!

I want to let you in on a little secret: there is *nothing* you can eat that will increase your energy…not fruit, not vegetables, and certainly not nuts!

Digestion is a process in your body and it *requires* energy.  That’s why everyone retires to the couch after a large Holiday meal…your body is working overtime to process all of the food, leaving you too worn out to do anything else!

Which brings me to my next point: there are certain foods that require *less* effort from your body to digest.  Raw fruit, for instance, only takes *minutes* to go through the digestive process.

But again, even raw foods do not give you energy.  It just uses up less, providing you with optimal fuel and letting you retain more of your own energy than if you had eaten, say, a bologna sandwich.

What About Exercise?

If simply eating an apple requires energy, you know what exercise does, right?  Yep.  Exercise saps your energy!

Think about it: you decide to go for a jog.  You spend a good 30 minutes on the track.  How do you feel afterwards?  You feel a little worn out, right?  And probably a little hungry.

With that said, making exercise a regular part of your life will *improve* your energy expenditure in the long run.  Because your body is now engaging in more intense periods of movement, average daily tasks will become even easier to perform.  They will require less energy from you than they did before an exercise routine was implemented.

Exercising also makes the *true* energy booster even more efficient.

So what does give us energy?

Good question!

The *only* thing that we can do that actually restores our energy is…

*SLEEP*

That’s right.  Good ole’ sleep.  It’s easy to do, you can do it in the comfort of your own home, and it’s free!  What’s better than waking up naturally after a good night’s rest?

When you sleep, your body goes into hibernation mode.  Because you are not moving, eating, thinking, etc., you are creating less of a demand for your body.  All of your organs, muscles, etc. are given the chance to rest and recover.

How much sleep do you need?  It’s an easy answer, but you might not like it…enough.

You need enough sleep.

You want some numbers?  The general guideline is 8-10 hours every night.  However, this changes from person to person.  Someone who is training for a marathon will need much more sleep than someone who only goes for long walks on the weekends.

Tips for getting quality sleep

As evidenced by the vast number of sleeping pills and potions used by the general public, people have a hard time getting quality sleep.

Here are some easy tips to help you *finally* get some sound sleep:

• Go raw!  As stated earlier, eating healthy raw foods require less energy, allowing you to sleep much more soundly.
• Don’t eat too late.  Try to finish your last meal a few hours before bedtime so that your body is not digesting food while you are asleep.
• Be a yogi!  Just a few minutes of yoga, or any kind of light stretching, is a great way to calm your body and mind before sleepy time.
• Start an exercise routine.  You will be amazed at how wonderfully exhausted you feel when bedtime rolls around.
• Turn off the computer or put down the laptop at least an hour before you go to sleep.  I’m really bad about this sometimes, but it truly makes a difference.

As far as getting *enough* sleep, you simply have to get into the habit of doing so.  The easiest way to do this is to gradually add on time to your nights.  For instance, start by going to bed just 20 minutes earlier than you usually do.  Add 20 more minutes the following week, and so on.

You can also try just adding a few restful moments throughout your day.  That means no TV, no computer, and no phone!  While this isn’t as restorative as sleeping, it does provide your body with a little bit of recovery time.

I have one last little point to make.  If you wake up in the morning exhausted, that’s because you are!  The absolute best thing you can do is go back to bed.  Even if it means skipping exercise, go back to bed.

Yes, it’s that important.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

These are some of the top 10 benefits of the raw food diet that most every raw foodist has experienced.  If this doesn’t convince you to go raw, I just don’t know what will!

#1: Improved digestion

If I had to give you my top raw food benefit, improved digestion would be it.  It is the one result that almost every single person who attempts a healthy raw diet experiences.

Not only that, but it usually occurs very quickly.  Almost every digestive issue can be solved in just a few short days, if not less.  Whether you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome or just the occasional upset tummy, you will see major improvements after going raw.

However, if you continue to abuse the #1 food combining rule, than your results will not be as great.  No amount of raw food can undo the effects of the sugar-fat combo.

#2: Permanent Weight Loss

Hmmmm…maybe permanent weight loss should be the top benefit?

I don’t think it’s going too far to say that close to 99.9999999% of people struggle with their weight at some point in their lives.  Many of us go on diet after diet after diet hoping that we will see *some* kind of change in our weight.

Unfortunately, the only change that most of us witness is a higher number on the scale.  And if we do happen to lose weight, it’s usually at the expense of our health (i.e. calorie restriction, dangerous diet pills, frozen food programs, etc.) and typically comes back to haunt us sooner or later.

On the other hand, eating a healthy raw food diet allows you to lose weight *permanently* while improving your health substantially.  Plus, you get to eat *pounds* of food on a daily basis, without any guilt!

#3: More Energy

Unlike what you read/hear from many well-known raw foodists, raw foods do *not* give you energy.  Nothing you eat does, whether it’s a burger or a banana.  Eating food of any kind *requires* energy, just as everything else that you do during the day requires energy.

What makes following a healthy raw vegan diet truly special is that it requires less energy to process inside your body.  2 pounds of grapes literally takes *minutes* to be fully digested by the body.  This is opposed to cooked foods, or even a complicated fatty raw dish, which take hours to be digested.

The one *true* energy provider is sleep, which brings me to benefit #4…

#4: Better Sleep

Since I’ve been raw, I rarely ever feel tired when I get into bed.  Even after being raw for so long, I still get ready for bed sometimes and think, “Gee, I’m not going to be able to fall asleep right now.  Maybe I should just stay up for a little longer.”

However, I convince myself to get into bed and the moment my head hits the pillow, I feel so relaxed.  Within minutes, I’m out.

The best part?  When I wake up, I feel completely awake and ready to begin my day.  No more groggy mornings for me!

This is a far cry from my bedtime routine from two years ago.  My routine was this: feel absolutely exhausted by 4pm.  Try not to fall asleep at the wheel on the way to a client’s house.  Feel a little better after a 30-minute nap.  Feel exhausted again by 7pm.  Get into bed still exhausted by 10pm.  Remain awake for an hour.  Wake up at 7am groggy and grouchy.  Repeat.

Yikes, that makes me tired just writing it!

#5: Mental Clarity

I’m sure that many non-raw foodists will disagree with this one.  Raw foodists are supposed to be tree-hugging, hippie nut jobs, right?

On a raw food diet, because you are no longer weighing your body down with hard-to-digest cooked foods, you have more energy to use your brain!

Of course, this has a lot to do with sleep as discussed previously.  Because we spend less energy digesting our foods, we sleep more soundly.  This means that we have more energy during the day, meaning our thoughts are generally much clearer and our focus greatly improved.  We are more mentally, and even emotionally stable.

It’s really a cycle, isn’t it?  The more raw foods you eat, the better you sleep.  The better you sleep, the more energy you have.  The more energy you have, the more mentally stable you are.  The more mentally stable, the easier it is to stay raw.  The longer you stay raw…

#6: Soft, Smooth, & Clear Skin

To be honest, I’ve always had pretty good skin.  I’ve had maybe three blemishes in my entire life.  In fact, the worst my skin has ever been was for the first few months *after* I gave up salt!  But that’s for another article…

I’m not trying to brag.  I just want to be honest.  I’m not here to make up crazy transition stories about how going raw made me grow 5 inches taller and gave me the power of flight.  Although I have gone down almost 2 full shoes…

Anyway, I’m sure that many of you struggle with skin problems, whether it’s a blotchy skin tone, dry skin, oily skin, visible pores, blemishes, etc.

You *do not* need an expensive, chemical-laden skin treatment routine that only serves to further irritate your already abused skin.  All you need is a good heapin’ helping of water-rich raw fruits and veggies.

And some sunshine couldn’t hurt either.

#7: Thick, Healthy, & Shiny Hair

I’ve always had really thick hair, but it was very dry and hard to manage before I went raw.  The worst part was that I would shed like crazy!  My Mom was always pulling handfuls of my long locks out of the rollers of the vacuum.  Yuck!

Now that I eat plenty of nourishing, water-rich foods, my hair is silky and soft.  And I’m no longer a shedding machine!

#8: Healthy Teeth & Gums

But aren’t your teeth supposed to rot out of your head when you go raw?

NO!  The fact that so many long-term raw foodists have suffered tooth decay is simply a testament to the fact that the mainstream raw food diet *does not work*.

On a healthy raw food diet full of sweet fruit, moderate vegetables and little fat, you will not experience teeth problems.  In fact, the condition of your teeth and gums is likely to improve!

The real key is to have a solid dental care system in place and not to make dehydrated foods the base of your diet.

#9: No More Aches, Pains, or Minor Illnesses

How many of you have struggled with “everyday” illnesses and pains such as headaches, migraines, colds, flus, tummy aches, joint pains, muscle cramps, allergies, etc.?  We all have at some point!

I used to struggle with

• anemia
• restless leg syndrome
• muscle and joint pains in my legs and feet
• seasonal colds about 3-4 times a year (pretty much whenever the weather changed)
• the flu every couple of years
• headaches
• heavy menstrual flows and horrible cramps in my abdomen and lower back that left me in tears

And of course there were the seemingly random and unexplained aches and pains that would crop up every once in a while.

Every one of these has been *completely eradicated* since I went raw.  No more headaches.  No more colds.  Perhaps best of all, no more heavy periods and gut-wrenching cramps!  Sorry, guys, but that really is a big one for us ladies.

#10: Save Some Green

When you decide to take your health into your own hands and go raw, you can expect to save *heaps* of money in the process.

No more money wasted on unnecessary drugs, supplements or “superfoods.”  No more expensive doctor’s fees.  No more high insurance rates.

You can finally focus on *you* and spend that extra time and money on the things that actually make you more…well, you!

Still Waiting to Go Raw?

What are you waiting for?  Each day that you remain a slave to your aching back, your extra fat, or even your trip to the local pharmacy, is a day that you could be living raw and loving it!

Go raw and love it,

Swayze