Everyone knows it’s healthy to eat fresh, uncooked fruits and vegetables every day. That isn’t a new concept. A raw food diet simply says that these foods should be most (if not all) of what we eat.

Potential Reasons to eat raw:

· Vitamins and micro-nutrients: Most vitamins and other micro-nutrients are damaged or destroyed at temperatures above 130 degrees. Many of these newly discovered micro-nutrients are thought to help prevent cancer and other diseases.

· Enzymes: Enzymes are the most heat sensitive of all nutrients, and are damaged or destroyed at temperatures above 118 degrees. Raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds contain the necessary enzymes to make digestion easier on our bodies.

· Water: Our bodies are 70% water. Fruits and vegetables have a high water content, which will keep you well hydrated.

· Good Fats: Natural fats are very sensitive to heat (think of avocadoes and flaxseed oil). Heated and processed fats no longer have antioxidant qualities, and can be carcinogenic. Cooked fats are also sticky (think of a lasagna pan), which can cause blockages in the arteries and digestive tract, inhibit the absorption of nutrients, and reduce the body’s ability to transport oxygen.

· Good Elimination: The soft, soluble fiber in fruits and tender green vegetables keeps you regular.

· Proper acid-alkaline balance: Processed food, pollution, and stress leave most people too acidic, which prevents optimal immune system functioning, and leaches alkaline minerals from the body. Fruits and vegetables help keep you alkaline.

Fruits, vegetables, fats, algae, seaweed, grasses and sprouts and superfoods are the main food groups in a raw foods diet. Some raw superfoods are goji berries, cacao (AKA raw chocolate), maca, bee pollen, coconut water and raw honey.

Smoothies rock! They’re cooling, totally portable, and you can mix and match tons of different ingredients - including raw superfoods - according to your taste.

Ingredients:

1 ripe fresh or frozen banana, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
8 oz plain or vanilla rice or almond milk (more or less to taste)
1-2 tbsp raw nut butter (almond, cashew, coconut)
1 scoop protein powder (whey, hemp or rice)

Ingredient Options

• Add 1 tsp agave nectar, stevia or bee pollen for a sweeter taste
• Add 1-2 tbsps finely ground flax seed for extra fiber and omega-3s
• Add 1 tbsp dried coconut flakes for flavor and healthy lauric acid
• Add 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes for additional B vitamins and essential amino acids
• Use coconut water instead of milk (Highly recommended)
• Add 1 tbsp cacao powder
• Add soaked goji berries
• Add ½ tbsp maca, or to taste

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and whirl at top speed for approximately one minute or until smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy.

Note:

If you are using frozen fruit in place of fresh fruit you may choose to omit the ice. Another option is to omit the banana and add more frozen berries.

If you’re in an exercise rut, you’ve come to the right season! So often we view exercise as punishment for eating poorly, which makes working out a draining chore. Remember games and sports you played for hours as a kid? The best kind of exercise is the kind that’s FUN for you. It lifts your spirit, lightens your heart and makes time stop while you’re doing it. Make a list of all the activities you love to do, pick one and then start doing it. This summer, get outside and play again.