Friday Feature: The Benefits of Eating Raw

A Raw Food Meal. Photo credit: The Daily Ritual Blog

Yesterday I mourned, and still do, for a troubled marriage and a mother who lost her twins in the womb. Mine was a heavy day full of disappointment, misery and many tears for them and me, but God had prepared me for this, prompting me to go on a raw food fast the first three days of the week. If not for the fast I would not have been able to handle their pain and would have felt the pressure to provide answers. I pressed passed pain and provided direction all because the Holy Ghost led me on a fast I hadn’t ever done. I was strong in the spirit and able to easily hear exactly what God wanted me to say.

And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.—Isaiah 58:11.

God guarantees spiritual and physical benefits when we fast. Of course I had experienced many benefits with the different fasts I have done, including the Daniel Fast, called such after the Prophet Daniel who requested not to eat King Nebuchadnezzar’s food but instead only “pulse,” food that comes from the ground. This includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and grains. There are also six raw food categories, all plant-based, non-cooked foods: fruits, green vegetables, vegetables (all non-green produce), seeds, nuts and sprouts. Eating solely in this way challenged my creativity and cravings, but the spiritual, mental and physical benefits kept me going.

Spiritual Acuity

In addition to the above example I was able to connect with and prophesy to a couple of people right in their moment of need. Though prophecy is one of my spiritual gifts, my focus, even with other types of fasts, just hadn’t been so sharp.

Mental Clarity

Even though I have three children I didn’t suffer much from pregnancy brain, but most of this year I have struggled with my memory. Historically, I’m the go-to person to recall happenings from an event, someone’s name or other details others had trouble remembering. Recently, I was the one who forgot conversations, phone calls made and received and where I put things. It was so bad that my husband bought me some pills to help my memory. Though all natural, I didn’t use the pills but instead slowed down and got more rest. But since eating raw, my mind has been clearer, helping me to complete sentences without constantly searching for the right words and to remember where I put my glasses. I’m sure the nutritional benefits of a raw food diet caused my mental fog to clear.

Physical Vitality

As soon as something is cut from its source it begins to lose strength: a newborn losing weight before leaving the hospital; a tumor that no longer connected to a person’s blood supply and even fruits and vegetables removed from their vines. Though some of the nutrients diminish with all fruits and vegetables, you get more when eating them raw as opposed to cooking them, which can destroy enzymes that help you digest food. Digested food sends nutrients to your bloodstream, causing you to feel the nutrients work. Though I ate raw foods, I also drank fresh squeezed juices and soups, which gave me instant and sustained energy. I am a morning person, but Monday night, my first night on the fast, I was able to watch a late night movie with my hubby without nodding or falling asleep.

In addition to more energy I had
• less aches. I had gotten used to inflammation in my back from arthritis and other unattributable discomforts. I normally get headaches when I fast and most literature says this is an expected side effect when your body is detoxing, but I didn’t have any headaches while on the raw food fast. This is a perk that raw fooders (people who eat raw as a lifestyle) promote.

•less weight. I dropped six pounds day one. Six pounds is the usual water weight loss AFTER week one on a weight loss diet. I was not starving myself physically or nutritionally. Just imagine how trim I’ll be if I continue with the raw foods.

• a stomach smaller. As with most fasts, my stomach got smaller. When I began to transition back to my normal vegetarian way of eating, I found myself full with just a small amount of food. This definitely helps me not to overeat.

• sensitive taste buds. Usually only after ending a longer fast (at least a week), my taste buds quickly notice ingredients I have eliminated, but this happened to me after three days going raw. I could immediately taste sugar and really appreciated the pure flavor of organic foods. I found that if I listen to my body, there is no need to eat the sugar and snack foods like I did before being on the raw food diet.

We are temples of the Holy Spirit and a raw food diet helped me to focus on the great benefits of caring for my house of God. This fast has motivated me to incorporate more amounts of raw food in my diet, use my extra energy toward a consistent exercise plan and to control my food intake. Eating raw has been such a blessing to me. Won’t you try it (if you already haven’t) and share with us your benefits?

Copyright 2011 by Rhonda J. Smith