In the quest to find and maintain a healthy weight, switching to a living foods lifestyle may be the most effective and sustainable way to reach your goals. Eating a high raw or completely raw diet can help you burn excess fat, reduce inflammation, improve digestion, boost metabolism, and support the overall health of your body.

Why Raw Foods?

Living foods meals nourish your body on the cellular level. They can provide abundant amounts of nearly all the nutrients your body needs, with none of the processed sugar, rancid oils, refined grains, and other food-like substances that diminish health and promote weight gain.

Because raw foods are nutritional powerhouses, eating them can reduce cravings and prevent the feeling of deprivation that happens with most diets. This is especially true if you base your meals around large salads of leafy green vegetables, and include dense yet low-calorie foods like sprouted legumes and seeds.

How It Works

A raw foods diet supports healthy weight loss because it is easy. With a few basic kitchen tools you can prepare anything you like, so long as it is raw. There are no complicated rules to follow and no calorie counting, just lots of colorful and vibrant foods. Your meals can be as simple or complicated as you like, and it is easy to prepare delicious and simple raw meals.

Raw foods are low in sodium, sugar, fat (mostly), and inflammatory oils, and high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients. Raw foods also tend to be hydrating for the body because of their high water content.

Effective and Healthy Weight Loss on a Raw Foods Diet

The easiest way to lose excess fat is to eat foods with fewer calories and more nutrients. Eating nutrient-rich, clean foods, nourishes your body without gumming up the works, and enables you to assimilate all the goodness these foods provide.

To enjoy the greatest healthy weight loss success, you will want to choose foods that have more nutrients with fewer calories. Build your meals around green vegetables and high water-content fruits like melons and citrus. Eat some seeds and nuts for protein, but go easy on gourmet nut-based desserts that can have as many calories and fat grams as their cooked counterparts. Do not add oil to your meals unless it is an essential part of the recipe, and even then only in small amounts. You can get all the high-quality fat you need from soaked nuts, seeds, and the occasional avocado. High-sugar fruits like dates and dried mangos should also be considered a special treat, not a staple food, if your goal is to lose weight.

If you are new to eating raw foods, start slowly. Focus on eating more raw vegetables and fruit, and phase out meat, processed junk food, and refined grains and sugars. Start drinking more water. If you only get to 50 percent raw at first, that will still be a huge boost for your metabolism and digestion. Many people thrive on a 100 percent raw diet, others prefer 50 90 percent raw, and some practice the Raw before 4pm method. The key is to find out what works for you, and to have as much of your food be raw as possible while still feeling fulfilled.

Another key factor to losing weight on a raw foods diet is to eat when you are hungry. Living foods meals tend to digest quickly, and while eating lots of greens can help stabilize blood sugar levels, you still do not want to let yourself get too hungry. Going too long between meals could make your blood sugar drop significantly. This can force your metabolism to slow down in an attempt to conserve energy, which will inhibit your weight loss efforts. It is better to have several small yet nourishing meals throughout the day than to wait until you are starving and risk over-eating or depressing your metabolism.

Lastly it really helps to have support. Social eating situations have been the downfall of many a raw newbie. Talk to your family and friends about the shifts you are making and ask them to support you as best they can. Look for raw foodie gatherings in your area. Consider working with a nutritional consultant to help you make a plan that will work for you, and provide guidance and support on your weight loss journey.

Loosing weight healthfully takes time and dedication, but it does not require deprivation. It is best to think of creating a new, healthy lifestyle for yourself rather than seeking a quick fix to lose a few pounds/kilos. And with a raw foods diet, you can enjoy a wide variety of delicious and nutritious foods, feel healthy and energized, and let go of excess weight.