turning Up the Heat eating Raw!

Raw food and heat? Huh? I know it sounds very counter intuitive, but according to raw food expert, author and researcher, Victoria Boutenko, consistently eating a raw food diet will actually straighten your adrenal glands and improve your circulation over time.

In this excerpt below, she get to the root of why one feels cold in the winter. Believe it or not it is NOT the raw food, it's the cooked stuff!

"Can we eat raw food in the cold climate? I know many persons who quit the raw food lifestyle because they were afraid that they would become too cold during the winter. Let us take a closer look at this situation. Would a quarter pound of rice physically keep a 160lbs body warm? In order to get warmed by it, one would have to fill a bathtub with warm rice and sit in it for 20 mins.

So why do we feel warmer after consuming cooked food? A hot meal, a cup of coffee or ice-cold shots of vodka warm our body in the same manner. When any impure substances get into our blood through the walls of the intestines, they irritate our adrenals, the endocrine glands located above the kidneys. The adrenals immediately begin to produce epinephrine, norepinephine and a variety of steroid hormones. These hormones stimulate our sympathetic nervous system, which is why we feel awake at first. They also force our heart to beat faster and pump larger amounts of blood through our body, which makes us feel warm. This feeling doesn't last long and we pay a high price for it. After 10-15 mins our body gets exhausted from performing extra work, sleepy and even colder than before. However, we remember only the feeling of getting warmer after eating cooked food and repeat such stimulation again and again. This harmful practice wears the body out and by the end of the winter many people feel exhausted and depleted.

Another reason why it is hard for many of us to tolerate cold temperatures us because eating a cooked food diet severely impairs our capillary circulation. According to Dr. Alexander Zalmanoff, author of "Sacred Wisdom of Human Body" 80% of all blood in any human body is located in the capillaries and only 20% in arteries and veins. Tiny capillaries get clogged easily by unnaturally large particles of cooked food, and the blood no longer circulates adequately.

If you truly ant to feel warm during the cold season, a raw food lifestyle is an inevitable choice for you. During your first "raw" winter you may experience some coldness due to your weakened adrenals, so put on an extra sweater, take a hot bath, exercise and do yoga. If you continue being raw, your adrenals will rest and recover, your capillary circulation will improve, your nervous system and your heart will naturally strengthen without any artificial stimulation."

If this is your first raw winter, let these facts help put your mind at ease-- you are doing the right thing so keep on eating those green juices, salads, blends, avocados, nuts and seeds.

But while you wait for your body to clean house here are a few other things that can help keep you warm inside and out.

• Add lots of ginger to your juices and blends
• Add warming spices to your dressings, blends and meals, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, curry powders, garlic, onions, ginger.
• Put a pinch ( and I mean JUST a pinch) of cayenne pepper in your socks and mittens-- instant hand and foot warmers!
• Sauna (Infra-Red is the best) once a week
  
• Get gravitational style colonics. When you cleanse the colon more space is created for your micro channels to release more toxins into. If your colon is clogged so is the rest of you!
• Let your food come up to room temperature before eating. Never eat or drink anything straight out of the fridge. Not only will you feel cold on the inside, you are weakening your immune system
• Exercise! Get that lymphatic system rocking and rolling and your heart pumping naturally with movement. Yoga, rebounding, walking, pilates, swimming, chi-running, dancing are all great, low-impact ways to increase circulation

Warm blessings to you all!
xokyle