Some Raw Food Books

Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko - this is one of the best books and easiest to read books I have ever read for anyone wanting to improve their well being! Green smoothies have changed my life and I wish I had known about them before..so I just hope to inspire people to read this fabulous, definitely worth a read book.

12 Steps to Raw By Victoria Boutenko. A great book about giving you tips on how to go raw. And it is also easy to read. I think this is a great book for new comers to Raw Food. This really helped me understand more about why eating raw food is good for you.

Rawvolution by Matt Amsden is one of my favourite Raw Food recipe Books because it easy to follow & it has great recipes with great photos! Also it has the famous onion bread recipe.

Sunfood Success Systems By David Wolfe An excellent book. He talks about super foods and raw foods. And goes into how much we should eat in terms of nuts, vegetables, and fruits. He is mine of information. There are some fantastic Kirlain photos of raw foods too, showing you the proof of how full of energy raw food really is! It is a great handbook for anyone interested in raw food. A must have book if you want to educate yourself.

Amazing Grace By David Wolfe and Nick Good. This combination of personal story & motivational guide offers a wealth of ways to improve life, health & spirit by adopting this nurturing, intuitive lifestyle.

Raw. The Uncook book. By Juliano. He is a raw chef and is famous amongst the showbiz celebrities. His recipes are amazing and so are the photos ! Now out of print.

The Kitchen Garden cookbook By Steve Meyerowitz This book is full of great information all about sprouting your own beans, seeds, nuts & grains. He gives good information on the nutritional value of all the sprouts. Its full of funny cartoon images and is quite an entertaining book. This was one of my 1 st books that I bought when I heard about the benefits of sprouts on our immune system! It has quite a good selection of recipes too.

The Complete Guide to Sprouting Sprouts The Miracle Food By Steve Meyerowitz (Sproutman) Another book on how to sprout . More about sprouting .than the previous book.

Eat Smart Eat Raw By Kate Wood . This is one of the first books I bought on raw food. I would recommend this to any beginner who is about to indulge in the raw food. Full of easy to follow raw food recipes. Even although there are not a lot of photos in this book, it doesn't burn a hole in your purse.

Rainbow green Live-Cuisine By Gabriel Cousens M.D.This book introduces an Ayurvedic dietary approach. It is a book for anyone interested in nutrition and much more than just recipes. I love this book. The photos of live blood analysis are amazing showing you what your blood is like before and after going on a raw food diet.

Conscious Eating By Gabriel Cousens M.D. Another great book where Gabriel Cousens provides loads of facts & wisdom in support of a raw food diet. It is a 30 year investigation into the at, science & practice of raw food.

Some tips on how to get into the raw & stay raw!

My reason for turning to the raw food lifestyle was for health reasons. I had seen many a therapist for advice until I visited a leading Naturopathic Iridologist who was able to advise ``Eat raw food``.

It has been a difficult and long journey to reach the 100% raw label, but it has had such positive impact on every aspect of my being. I did not know that eating just raw food would lead to other wonder-full insights into other areas of my life. But that's another story. I can honestly say that going 100% raw is not always the easiest thing to do and for this reason I think for the majority of folks they might find these tips of help:-

• introducing say a GREEN SMOOTHIE every day is just a great way to start- 60% greens & 40% fruit -this helps to stop cravings.
• Its about just adding one or two things on a daily basis and then maybe avoiding one thing say like dairy or red meat.
• The less stress you introduce into your daily plan of action and also keeping things SIMPLE then you are more likely to have success. (if you compare us to an elastic band then if you pull this too much in one direction it will only` ping` back to the beginning!)
• Stress is a big influential factor in any life-changing -habit.
• Never ever give yourself a hard time if you eat the wrong thing.
• Try and ask yourself at that moment in time of weakness ``What could I eat that could be I step better than this?`` eg if you are going for a packet of salty crisps then you might find going for unsalted crisps better or maybe even promising yourself to make some dehydrated crackers next time.
• Using dehydrated foods is a great way to help you transition from the typical high carb diet into the raw health way of eating.
• Think of it as a lifestyle change rather than use the word DIET-eeek!
• PREPARE raw dishes in advance- organise! So you don't catch yourself eating things that are not raw when you are feeling hungry – this is one of the biggest secrets to any life changing eating habits.
• INSPIRATION is the key! Go to as many raw food orientated social events like potlucks, demos, visit raw friends, go to raw food festivals, join websites that help to SUPPORT raw & read raw food magazines!
• Surrounding yourself with POSITIVE loving people helps too.
• Try EXERCISE that you enjoy- it makes you feel really good about yourself.
• Keep yourself grounded with exercise & relaxation/meditation –stress makes the body acidic!
• Listen to some uplifting music.
• NEVER GIVE UP- just start again, and again how ever many times it takes because it is our intention that counts.
• Remember that addictions & cravings can often be allergies. The human body never craves anything that's destructive to it-so when you crave unhealthy foods it is the psyche-often these unhealthy foods numb our emotions. Food is often tied up with loads of emotional memories - from Mums homemade cookies to homemade custard & how you felt around those times.
• The longer you stay on raw food the more you notice the awful taste & texture of some of those things that you used just love & that just do not compare anymore to say a scrummy raw dessert!
• If you have emotional things to sort out get support (click here for all the things I used to help me heal my heart)
• I think its also helpful to see/consult someone who knows about nutrition and raw to help you transition.
• Food state supplements, super foods, herbs are sometimes very helpful especially when raw vegan & help some cravings if there is a imbalance/lack of nutrients in the body.
• Most of all learn to love your self more.