http://www.rawandfit.com Wed, 19 May 2010 01:47:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.rawandfit.com/do-you-take-any-medication-while-on-a-raw-food-diet/ http://www.rawandfit.com/do-you-take-any-medication-while-on-a-raw-food-diet/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 03:46:45 +0000 Casey http://www.rawandfit.com/?p=316 Before I knew much about raw food, I used to think that taking an occasional Tylenol was cool. Or popping 500 mg of aspirin was a good idea if I couldn’t get to sleep. Then, after some time on a high-raw diet, I realized the startling truth:

You don’t need to take drugs to feel great!

Your body naturally wants perfect health and every chance it gets, it moves in that direction. When you eat garbage food, your body works hard to either grab every last bit of nutrients out of it, or get the toxins out of the body. But when you add healthy, life-giving foods into you, your body responds by assimilating as many nutrients as it can.

But there’s a caveat here. After watching ‘Raw for 30 Days’, a great movie about diabetics on a 100% raw food diet, I realized that people can ween themselves off of their medications pretty easily. So much so that it’s a *shock* to the medical world. The movie really pushes the idea that Western Medicine treats only symptoms and not the root problem. That’s why including a lot of raw food in your diet helps. It solves the high-fat problem too many Americans face.

I recently had a problem with an itch. It’s been with me for over 8 months, and it’s annoying. I tried every natural remedy I could find to alleviate the problem… for 8 months! The itch was so bad that I was breaking skin weekly. Finally, I decided to see what a pharmacist would say. I biked down to the local shop and asked. Turned out, I had a hemorrhoid and my best bet was an over-the-counter 1% hydrocortisone cream.

This was the FIRST time in a looooooong time (over a year) that I’ve used any form of medication. And let me tell you — it solved my problem! Almost immediately, I felt better. The itch subsided and I am honestly relieved!

I bring this up because so many raw foodies shun the medical world. They think that all doctors are in it for money, and harm people with their prescriptions. I can understand this way of thinking, but there are good times and places for medicine. For instance, no amount of raw food can save you from a torn bicep. You need surgery. And pain killers. Sure, a raw foodie may recover a lot faster than someone on the Standard American Diet, but you still need the care.

I hope everyone can be reminded that although most medicines in the world are poorly prescribed, only on the market to create profit and hurt people, there are still some very good uses for Western Medicine. I know for a fact that I am much happier after taking some OTC meds!

Stay raw, and use your brain!

– Casey

P.S. — What’s your biggest concern about your medications and a raw food diet? Write it below in the comments!

]]> http://www.rawandfit.com/do-you-take-any-medication-while-on-a-raw-food-diet/feed/ 0 http://www.rawandfit.com/is-acai-effective-safe/ http://www.rawandfit.com/is-acai-effective-safe/#comments Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:47:12 +0000 Casey http://www.rawandfit.com/?p=267 In 2007, I spent 5 weeks in the flood plains of western Brazil during the wet season. Life was tough there – long hot days, water up to their necks, and a never-ending amount of work. While I was there, I ate the local food like it was going out of style. Fresh fruit smoothies, roasted chicken hearts, alcoholic caipirinhas, the whole deal.

I even got to taste the *super weight loss cure overnight*, the acai berry. This was before that berry went nuts in the US, and everyone thought it was some sort of miracle cure.

Let me tell you what I saw – people eating this berry every day were still overweight. They were still tired. They were still not performing with massive energy. It seemed as though they had all the things available to them, native to them, but didn’t do anything with it.

That got me thinking about what my grandma used to say – “You are what you eat.”

I think her insight was beyond my understanding at that time. So much so, it took me another year to really “get it”. So, I began to look into that… I am what I eat? After the realization in Miami, I decided to look at my diet and how it affected my energy levels. I kept a journal of my entire 2 weeks of monitoring and had AMAZING insights from it.

I want you to be able to do this for yourself, because this is YOUR LIFE.

Here’s A Tip You Can Use Tomorrow:

Monitor your heart rate before and after you eat. Write down your emotional and energy level before and after you eat.

I would write in my pocket notebook a very simple account of the meal (including snacks and drinks), including date, time, ingredients in the meal, what I had to drink, beginning heart rate, emotional state and energy level.

I’d set my alarm clock on my watch to beep 30 minutes after I finished my last bite and record my levels after that.

Essentially, I was tracking how my body was responding to what I was putting into it.

Give that a try tomorrow. You’ll notice things about your body that will open your eyes. You’ll start to bring your body into focus and really connect with yourself. That’s where you’ll find energy and personal power…

*Honestly, this is the most important thing I did. It changed my life! Do it tomorrow. You’ll be on your way to more energy, losing a ton of weight, and getting connected with your inner self.*

Stay POWERFUL!

Casey Stanton
RawAndFit.com

P.S. — What are your results? How are you going to include consciousness into your everyday life? Your body is telling you what it needs. Are you listening? Write in the comments below!

]]> http://www.rawandfit.com/is-acai-effective-safe/feed/ 0 http://www.rawandfit.com/how-to-quit-drinking-coffee-caffeine/ http://www.rawandfit.com/how-to-quit-drinking-coffee-caffeine/#comments Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:30:31 +0000 Casey http://www.rawandfit.com/?p=261
Fast-forward into my college years… Somewhere between exams and partying, I developed a taste for that brown water. It could have been a girlfriend who worked at the coffee shop where I studied who gave me free drinks, or maybe it was the prestige of drinking an espresso after dinner. Whatever the reason, I was hooked.

Over the course of the next 3 years, I was a coffee fanatic! Starbucks, home brewed, McDonalds, double shots of espresso, triple shots of espresso in coffee with heavy cream. It didn’t stop there. Monster Energy Drinks were a favorite of mine when I had to work, then class, then party at night.

Ever hear of a Monster BFC?

I’d do 2 pounds of sugary caffeine loaded energy soda in the morning for breakfast, then coke with my Jack Daniels at night.

I was a caffeine monster! I couldn’t help myself.

It was this crazy cycle of not having enough energy, and always drinking more coffee or having another Monster (hey, 2 for $5 was a steal!). I remember waking up for class and being so exhausted, so I’d reach in the fridge and grab a Monster from my recently purchased case.

Once I decided to take accountability for my life, I looked into caffeine. Did I really need all that caffeine to stay awake, or was it some sort of cycle that kept me tired and gave me a false sense of energy? Was I just caught up in something that I wasn’t aware of?

Yes. I was addicted.

The next suitable thing to do was to slowly start weaning myself off caffeine. I began to limit my coffee intake to 1 cup a day, slowly dropped out the energy drinks. It took me about a month to be fully caffeine free. It was tough, but well worth it.

That’s something you should do tomorrow. Start focusing on your caffeine intake and start to reduce it. We’re talking about giving you REAL, LASTING energy – not some fake alternative. In the next few days, we’ll look into natural ways to give you the energy that the caffeine was pretending to be.

Trust me, you’ll be a lot happier with the change!

Stay Awake!

P.S. Green tea, chocolate and sodas all have caffeine. You’ll want to monitor your intake of those in your journal and see how you feel without them.

]]> http://www.rawandfit.com/how-to-quit-drinking-coffee-caffeine/feed/ 1 http://www.rawandfit.com/raw-food-diet-transition/ http://www.rawandfit.com/raw-food-diet-transition/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:03:53 +0000 Casey http://www.rawandfit.com/?p=72 ]]> http://www.rawandfit.com/raw-food-diet-transition/feed/ 0