You see, when you eat raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains and beans, you actually increase the alkaline forming minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium as opposed to acid forming minerals like sulphur and phosphorous.

Are you lost? Here, let me break it down for you; in simple lingo you actually don't want a high acid forming diet as it is not the most conducive for optimum nutrition - a balance of alkalinity and acidity is essential.

The simple added value of raw foods and an alkaline forming diet has these advantages: first and foremost, it is high in antioxidants, which are fully usable unlike pharmaceutical supplements. Antioxidants such as vitamin C, E, and several polyphenols (nutritionally potent plant extracts) are important in preventing numerous diseases such as heart diseases etc.

Secondly, a raw food diet is one of the best cancer-fighting solutions as cancer cells cannot multiply easily in an alkaline environment and this environment is also known to boost immunity.

If you love your bones, then go raw my friend, a raw diet protects your bones from mineral loss thereby preventing osteoporosis. When someone has osteoporosis (which literally means porous bone), they break their bones extremely easily.  Imagine tripping over your shoelace and ending up with multiple fractures, not nice hey. 

Now this is one of my best reasons for banishing the stove or open hearth and eating raw foods for a few days regularly; raw foods increase the alkalinity of the brain, which in turn increases the brain function making it more efficient - so basically upping one's intelligence. Now tell me, how can you just not love the raw stuff? As if this was not the best reason, wait there's more. It has been shown over and over again that people on raw foods have healthy glowing youthful skins, and are not prone to water retention and puffiness. This reminds me of some monks of the Himalayas that I came across some time ago. I simply could not believe their ages.

Throughout our lives, each one of us has been gathering our own unique assortment of ideas and feelings about food and nutrition - right? By just being a consumer, by participating in family, ethnic, and religious traditions and by being exposed to information in the media and advertising you know something about nutrition. And you have become convinced that somewhere in this frenzy and barrage of information (fad or scientifically tested) that food and nutrition is important to health and well-being.

Unfortunately, most people in modern societies don't instinctively eat foods that contain the nutrients they need. With all the junk around us, deciding which foods is the most beneficial to eat can be a huge challenge. If you've relied on modern technology and all the advertising of the modern day for nutrition information, without doubt you have come across some contradictory views. At times it feels like nutrition is a moving science, like the phone, hi-fi  and computer technology there are so many new developments and discoveries that can end up leaving the average Joe in gross confusion and frustration. How can you sort which information is valid and applicable to you?

That is why it's always wise to keep it simple and close to nature when it comes to food and your nutrition. For the most part if you cannot pronounce it, let alone spell it, then stay away from it.

Chances are it has been tempered with so much that whatever you eat may not be beneficial at all, the body may not even recognise it. And this is the whole point with natural ingredients versus processed gunk; anything artificial can never be efficiently absorbed by the body. The best source of optimum nutrition will always remain FOOD, especially food of the wholesome and raw kind...

 I still have to see a person who has survived only on processed synthetic food supplements. If you do come across them please give me a shout as I would love to study them. Stay real, stay raw at times!
Monitornutrition@yahoo.com