The above picture represents the American eating cycle. We came up with this picture to show just how many people die from poor eating habits and misinformation. Most of these diseases and deaths could have been prevented just by eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet. A whole-foods, plant-based diet doesn’t mean that you sit around eating lettuce all day. We are saying, however, that most of your calories each day should come from plant foods: fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds. A diet rich in these foods will promote healthy lifestyle changes, proper brain activity, and LESS disease.
One of the best documentaries to show how important diet is when it comes to overall health is called Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. As of right now (Feb. 12, 2013), you can watch it free on Hulu.com. This documentary shows the life of a few people who decide to go on a juice fast for approximately 60 days. Joe Cross, the narrator, shows you just how much healthier you can be from drinking pure and fresh fruit and vegetable juices than processed juices. If you’ve been trying to lose weight the right way, juicing is for you. Check out our friend’s blog who decided to juice fresh fruit and vegetable juice. He has already lost 35+ pounds in less than 30 days! And this is the healthy way of doing it. Essentially what happens is once you start consuming more plant-based foods, you start craving them. The more you crave them, the more you eat of them, and the healthier you become. It’s a “win, win…win” situation.
If you find yourself taking pills every day because you have heart condition, skin condition, or other medically related problems, please consider watching Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. At the least it will give you a better understanding of health and hopefully help you make the switch to at least eating a few more fruits and vegetables each day. The stories from this documentary are real and they have helped many people change their eating habits for the better.
This type of eating lifestyle resembles that of vegan. Learn more about vegans here.
We get asked so many times each week, “Where do you get your protein, fiber, and all that other stuff TV commercials tell us we need?” In short, plants. The longer version? Fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
Did you know that Americans only need between 2.5% and 11% of their diet to come from protein? Read more about protein here. Ok, so you’ve got protein covered. What about fiber? Did you know that fruits and vegetables are LOADED with fiber? One of our favorite sources of fiber is dates. Medjool dates are SO deliciously yummy and in each date there’s a whopping .75 grams of fiber! Bananas have fiber, apples do too, and tons of other fruits and vegetables have more natural fiber than these fake, processed foods! Eat more of them and you’ll get plenty of the good types of fiber; fiber that hasn’t been processed down so much that you’re not receiving many nutrients.
“What about sugar? Doesn’t fruit have a ton of sugar?” Yes, fruit does contain the GOOD type of sugar. You can eat as much of this type of sugar as you want and you won’t gain weight (assuming you don’t eat more calories than you burn – it’s REALLY hard to overeat with fruits and vegetables). We dare you to try eating as much fruit and possible and see how much weight you lose. Take these people for example, Michael Arnstein – The Fruitarian, Fully Raw Kristina, and Karl Ess. They’re all vegan, eat as much fruit and vegetables and they want and they’re in incredible shape! Any person that is vegan and is overweight is consuming more man-made, processed foods than they probably should. Not everything that’s vegan is good for you, but ALL fruits and vegtables are good for you. Eat more fruits and vegetables and your body will thank you.
You: Ok, body, I’m going to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Body: Thank you!
If you’re really interested in learning more about juicing and the benefits that come from drinking nothing but fruit and vegetables juices, check out our own list of juice recipes. And if you’re curious as to why we’re trying to promote this way of eating and lifestyle changes, check out The China Study. It’s an in-depth book about diet and how you can potentially reverse cancer growth just by changing what you eat!
