Happy RAWgust!
This month we focus on the benefits and ease of enjoying a greater percentage of raw organic fuel in your diet to enhance your health. As you know, I am a big advocate of the raw food diet. It has helped me heal and strengthen my body, improved my concentration levels, digestion, endurance, eyesight, healthier hair and skin, lost body fat, eliminated candida issues amongst many other great benefits. It’s also a more environmentally conscious way to eat as it takes less energy (water, fuel, electricity) to produce and transport raw fruits and vegetables and of course less packaging required!)
Recently I've seen a number of customers jump from the high fat, low energy fast food/take away diet to incorporating the fast food of a Miss Organic home delivery into their week, they've not only heavily increased their energy levels - feeling more vibrant, they're looking healthier, have dropped body fat, are more hydrated and their desire for junk food has subsided, some even stopping their caffeine/energy drink habits. It’s no secret, that whatever you put into your body today is going to fuel you for tomorrow and beyond.... you are what you eat, raw fruits and vegetables are nature's perfect foods, they're ready to eat once they're picked, perfectly designed by Mother Nature. Great results guaranteed!
Congratulations Justin Mead who enjoyed and thrived from a completely raw month last month (as well as dry July!), fuelled by our delicious Raw Foodies Boxes, Justin has been supporting and inspiring many of his friends to take the RAWgust adventure. Even if you don't wish to go the whole way, incorporating more raw foods in your day, you'll notice health improvements and have a cleansing experience too! Read below for some simple tips.
Raw Hero Week 1: Tim Van Orden
Each week of RAWgust I will feature one of the many people who have been thriving since changing their diet to a raw food high energy lifestyle and have been an inspiration to my raw, health and fitness journey. If you read my newsletters, you'll notice that I frequently write about this first Raw Hero, and that is because he achieves higher levels of excellence and personal bests so regularly. Tim has been an inspiration to me, a great mentor who encourages me to constantly improve and realise what is possible in health, nutrition and life!
I found out about Tim last year through his website Running Raw. The Running Raw Project is a grand experiment in diet and athletic performance. It was started by Tim in November of 2005 with a simple question: Can one be an athlete while eating a 100% raw vegan diet? Tim was not always an athlete and has not always lived on a raw food diet; he only began shortly before he launched "Running Raw" nearly six years ago. Tim is now 43.
In events including trail running, stair-climbing and showshoe racing he has recorded a great list of achievements whilst powered on raw fruits and vegetables, he's just recently won the Masters Mountain Runner of the Year title again and you can check out his recent results here. I love it how he runs home after his races too!
Not just an incredible athlete, Tim Van Orden is an entertaining, compassionate & very knowledgeable presenter on nutrition and fitness, speaking from a lot of experience, loads of research and a kind heart. Tim has a number of audio books that can be purchased from his website I've just bought his latest, Turbo Charge Your Life, I know it's going to be special, I am saving it for my plane trip on Sunday!
About The Running Raw Project From Running Raw
Questions:
- What happens when you combine a raw vegan diet and athletics? • Would this diet give you greater endurance and strength? • Would it allow you to recover faster? • Would it remove age as a factor? • If all of this was possible, would other athletes take note? • Would other athletes consider fruits and veggies over steroids and doping?Mission:
- To see what's possible. To be what's possible.- To unite people in a global effort to create a better world through sport.
- To promote health and ecological stewardship among athletes of all ages and abilities.
- To scientifically prove that an organic, plant-based diet, consisting of uncooked, unrefined, and unprocessed whole foods yields the highest performance for the human body.
- To get other high level athletes to consider the advantages of this diet.
- To get those athletes to endorse and promote the idea of whole food nutrition to the youth of America, who are in desperate need of dietary transformation.
Motivations:
- Americans still have not made the connection that Diet equals Health.- The prevalence of obesity quadrupled in the past 25 years among boys and girls - currently 15% of the U.S. population. In minority youth, this statistic climbs to 20%.
- Type 2 diabetes accounted for 2 to 4 percent of all childhood diabetes before 1992, but skyrocketed to 30 to 50 percent by 2004.
- Americans are dependent on harmful drugs and pharmaceuticals, and yet...
- In 2006, 1.5 million Americans died from dietary related diseases, at a cost of $800 billion.
- Agri-business and food processing account for 60% of US oil consumption.
- Conscious eating = reduced oil dependency and a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.
- To dispel the belief that this diet is for non-achievers and non-performers.
Since launching this project and achieving sensational results, the world has taken notice; many athletes are incorporating a lot more raw fruits and vegetables into their diets and even going completely raw to get the edge in their sport. I could spend all day reading TVO's blog, there are plenty of really informative posts, search back in the archives too!
I'm really looking forward to meeting Tim and learning more from him at the Woodstock Fruit Festival.
Stay tuned to next week's Raw Hero, who will it be?! :)
QUICK TIPS: Putting more RAW into your day
Simple ways to enjoy more Raw:
- Buy a Miss Organic box! We'll deliver all the essentials to your front door, all you have to do is open the lid and get stuck in.- Start your day off with fresh fruits
- Grab a bowl bigger than your head and use your fresh ingredients to make at least one green salad each day, night time is perfect. It takes less than 5 minutes to whip up a crunchy green salad.
- Blend up tasty green or fruit smoothies, visit Miss O recipes for some ideas.
Some of the many reasons to be more Raw:
- More energy, endurance, mental clarity, increased concentration levels, eliminate stored toxins from the body, shed unwanted body fat and fluid retention, we're made of around 70% water, fruit and veggies have high water content and are perfect fuel for your body. When you eat more fruit, life is cute :)Great Raw References:
- Green for Life - Victoria Boutenko- 80/10/10 Diet - Douglas Graham
- Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 days
More inspRAWation next week! :)
