What is food? Do we really need a definition? Technically, food is defined as ‘any nutritious substance that people eat or drink to sustain life and growth’. Sounds pretty common-sense – but how nutritious is the stuff we are putting in our mouths nowadays?
The truth is, though we live in a society where food is readily and abundantly available, most of us are actually lacking in key nutrients due to our processed, deficient diets. Take a look at the average supermarket trolley: heavy on packaged, refined, branded and cleverly marketed foods, light on fresh produce and whole foods (when was the last time anyone ran an advertising campaign or a ‘buy one get one free’ on broccoli?). Processed food nearly always appears cheaper, more visually appealing, and more convenient than fresh, yet the long-term health effects of poor nutrition can quickly wipe out any perceived benefit of opting for so-called convenience foods!
With healthcare costs spiralling and an increasing incidence of Western diseases like cancer, heart disease and type II diabetes, we can no longer continue to overlook the root cause of many of our ills: our Western diet. It’s time to return to our roots and start eating the way our ancestors did. If you study nutrition as I have, you’ll discover that the nutrients in plant foods are best suited to the needs of our bodies, and this is supported by research into the longest-lived peoples on the planet, who eat an unprocessed plant-based diet.
You might think that as a Raw Food Coach, I encourage people to adopt a diet of 100% raw food. Well, that’s not entirely true. Whilst raw food is rich in the live enzymes and nutrients that our bodies so desperately need, you don’t necessarily need to eat exclusively raw to benefit from them. By all means try to incorporate as much raw produce as possible into your daily diet, but as long as you are sticking to whole, unrefined plant foods as the bulk of your food intake, you are well on the way to improving your health, your hair, and your vitality. If you follow the blog or subscribe to our newsletter, you’ll already be getting tried and tested plant-based recipes straight from the Tassahai kitchen, so why not give them a try? In the meantime, here are some more health-giving recipes to inspire your culinary adventures.
Enjoy!