What Foods Are Eaten on the Raw Food Diet?

1. Leafy Greens

Leafy greens are said to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet, as they are rich with calcium and many other vital nutrients that can help you to live a long and healthy life. The darker the green, the healthier they are for you. Leafy greens include kale, spinach, collards, endives, lettuce and many more.

2. Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are also an excellent part of the raw food diet. Fruits are not only sweet and tasty, but they can contain up to 80% water, which helps to hydrate your body from the inside out. Fruits and vegetables include avocados, pineapples, mangoes, peaches, pears, apples, all types of berries, carrots, broccoli, celery and radishes.

3. Herbs and Spices

Herbs and Spices are not only healthy but they can add flavor to all your favorite dishes, whether sweet, sour or salty. These include ginger root, cinnamon, nutmeg, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, sage, dill, mint and lemon balm.

4. Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are high in protein, and contain all the essential oils that your body needs such as the essential omega fatty acids.

5. Other Foods
Other foods that are a part of the raw food diet include protein powders and shakes, raw cacao, maca powder, carob powder and healthier sugar alternatives as well as many other foods. You may not able to find all these foods in your local grocery store, but you can find them in most health food stores. 

 

All of the above foods are rich with antioxidants which help to neutralize toxins and free radicals so that you can live a long and healthy life, free from diseases. In  addition they contain all the necessary enzymes and amino acids for your body to create its own nutrients.

Pranayama - A Science of Breathing

1. Breath and Prana

Breathing is a vital process which starts at the time of birth and stops at the death. The important Oxygen is provided to all the parts, organs and cells of the body. The maximum time a person can survive without oxygen is about 4 minutes. All the metabolic processes require oxygen. Oxygen is life, a vital force. This vital energy is called Prana.

2. Mind and breath

The mind, consisting of thoughts and emotions is closely related to the breath. When the mind is calm and relaxed, the breathing is smooth and slow. If you are stressed breathing is fast & shallow but mostly through chest. When one gets angry, the breathing becomes fast and forceful, in depressed states sighing, when in pain gasping, in anxiety shallow and rapid. In this way, the mental and emotional states affect breathing.

3. Rhythmic Breathing is Pranayama

All the processes and organs like heart, brain, digestive organs, endocrine glands in the body have rhythms. Also the breathing has specific rhythms. Pranayama is Rhythmic breathing, bringing the breath in natural rhythm by controlling the process of inhalation, exhalation and retention.

4. Physiology of Yogic breathing

In process of breathing, one uses diaphragm, intercostals muscles in the chest. The diaphragmatic breathing is called vertical breathing and is considered a more efficient way to inhale air than inhaling while expanding the chest which is called horizontal breathing. In pranayama, one should utilize the diaphragm efficiently to get more oxygen without making more efforts. The diaphragm is attached to the organs like heart and lings, also the liver, spleen, pancreas and stomach from the bottom side. Efficient movement of the diaphragm makes the functioning of these organs more efficient.