All you really need is a little inspiration. The benefits of eating raw food are hardly rocket science, yet most of us repeatedly transform vital fresh produce into lifeless staples on our dinner plate – then head to the pharmacy to buy synthetic vitamins to offset nutritional deficiencies.
Two local qualified raw food chefs, Peter and Beryn Daniel, are doing much to highlight the potential rewards of healthy eating with a four-part DVD series, Rawlicious: Elements for Radiant Health, which is an addendum to their 2009 book, Rawlicious: Recipes for Radiant Health.
Split into four sections:
Air – Elements of Health,
Water – Cleansing & Detoxing,
Earth – The Abundance of Nature and
Fire – Feasting & Fun,
this colourful series illustrates how to make delicious meals quickly with little fuss.
The DVDs debunk stereotypical myths around healthy lifestyles, using mouth-watering meals easy to create on any budget.
“We understand that there is a stigma surrunding healthy eating, which is why the DVDs show you exactly how simple and delicious it can be. Often it just took preparing a meal in front of friends for them to believe just how fun making nutritious food can be,” Beryn says.
“In this way we’ve managed to convince most of our friends to embrace some level of raw food into their lives. We wondered how we could get more people into our kitchen, now the DVDs allow us to bring our kitchen into your kitchen.”
What is the raw food movement, and why should you consider increasing your raw percentage? Raw is the practice of consuming uncooked, unprocessed, organic foods as a large percentage of one’s diet.
It is characterised as unheated food, or food cooked to a temperature less than 47°C – a diet extremely beneficial to physical and mental health.
The Daniels recommend a high raw food diet – if you are at 20 percent raw and increase that to 50 percent you are going to notice massive health benefits. They say 75 percent to 80 percent raw is even better. Cutting out processed foods and adding in high quality, nutrient dense raw foods is a simple shift that can yield massive rewards.
Raw eating is a sustainable lifestyle that can provide you with improved physical and mental health.
“We transitioned to a high percentage raw food diet over the course of about six months,” says Peter. “From then on our bodies were our guides and every time we ate cooked foods we felt tired and lethargic, whereas on the raw foods we were feeling light, energetic and happy.”
“We did not realise that we were in poor health before we went raw, but now we know how good radiant health really feels and that we were nowhere close to it when we were eating a standard Western diet,” says Beryn.
“We have experienced better mental clarity, healthy glowing skin and hair, easy maintenance of ideal body weight, abundant energy and so much more.”
With more people embracing the transformative potential of raw and living foods, the Daniels decided to bring out the DVD series.
“It has been an exciting, challenging project, a labour of love.”
The discs feature interviews with Carol Shaw and Werner Meijer, who relay how raw food changed their lives.
Jenny Louw talks about the ecosystem and boosting your soil base – the key being microorganisms and preparing beds for planting.
Chapters include green juicing, juices and smoothies, soups, cleansing and detox, macronutrients and micronutrients, balanced diets and how to harness maximum nutritional value.
The Daniels suggest eating as close to nature as possible and urge you to question what you eat.
To get you motivated to take control of your health and vitality they offer eye-catching recipe ideas presented in a clear, accessible format.
In no time at all you can make anything from sunflower sprout salad and pesto stuffed mushrooms to buckwheaties, nut butter, dripping dried figs, mango gooseberry cheesecake and other party feasts.
The duo also import superfoods, which are plant-based wholefoods high in vitamins, minerals and phyto-nutrients. - Cape Times
l For more information on the DVDs and Soaring Free Superfoods, see www.rawlicious.co.za