How To Be Energetic With Raw Food In The Winter Season?

Vegan Recipes News | November 29, 2019 | Food Consciousness | No Comments

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Why does Raw food in winter sounds cold and makes feeling chilly to many?

Can you be energetic with raw food in the winter season? In the fall and the beginning of winter, the days are much cooler again and it starts the time, where it is not only the raw foodies who are shivering. Many people think that this is a good reason to give up on raw food.

We are not created for raw food in our northern areas, is the argument. In fact, many people find it challenging to only eat raw food in the winter, especially in the first year of conversion. Many are cold at minus degrees and snow already if they think of raw food.

Why is that? Here, we want to highlight the reasons, answer common questions, and point out various tips for a raw-food diet in the winter season.

Why do many people think they need something warm?

Almost all people use to eat at least one hot meal a day.
However, it is nothing but an old, deep-rooted belief that warm food warms the body. In reality, however, the equation “warm food is equal to a warm body” is not right.
Our body can not adapt overnight to new circumstances. At first, it feels strange and unsatisfactory to break habits we have been comfortable with all our life.

The warm soup gives a pleasant feeling and peace of mind. Often you associate with memories. Warm food relaxes and makes you a bit tired. It brings us in a relaxing evening mood.

Is the belief “I need something warm” correct?

It is exhilarating to question your conviction, “I need something warm.” In most cases, hot food only makes you warm for a short while and at the same time, a bit tired. The fatigue is explained by the increase in white blood cells, which follows as a defense reaction to cooked, also called digestive leukocytosis.

Although a cooked, warm meal gives a short heat effect, physically it is not possible to achieve a long-lasting heat effect. The digestion of a cooked meal even costs the body a lot of energy, since cooked food is unnatural to the organism. The digestion of cooked food then decreases from the energy that the body needs for internal heat production.

The raw food diet is just the opposite: The body gains more energy with less effort and less stress, which is then available to him for heat generation.
However, there are many people who freeze despite raw food. This is not a good condition for the winter. What is going wrong?

How does body heat develop?

No species on this earth eats cooked food, and in fact, our bodies do not need a hot meal either. First and foremost, the body generates heat through metabolism and muscle work, and nutrient-rich foods and exercise are essential for this. It is the efficiency of the food that results from the sum of enzymes, biophotons, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that activates our metabolism.

Why does raw food In the winter season seem to be cold and frightening for some?

It happens primarily when the raw food diet is associated with the image of “carrot nibble,” which pops up. This approach is counterproductive and does not make you healthy or happy.

Instead, it should be about nutrient richness and well-being and not about fulfilling a 100 percent raw food diet. The trick is to find out for yourself how much raw food you feel comfortable with and whether a cooked meal is pleasant in the evening.

As a rule, a high proportion of raw food gradually leads to more vitality, awareness, and clarity, and automatically leads to an increase in the proportion of raw vegetables because it results in the well-being

Back to nature

Very beneficial is the return to nature: The plants are our food and contain life: Only they can turn sunlight into organic matter carbohydrates, fats, and protein. It would be better if we talked about sun food instead of raw food because it is much easier to associate sun food with heat.

However, there are many people who freeze despite raw food. This is not a good condition for the winter. What is going wrong?

Often it is because these raw foodies eat a lot of fruit. The fruit itself is very healthy, but only as Mother Nature intended. In our modern way of life, there are very few commercially picked natural fruits on the market. Unripe picked, imported fruit is usually no longer able to ripen properly and is not really healthy.

More regional vegetables instead of imported fruits

According to the idea of nature, trees prevent the early picking of unripe fruits because they do not taste good or are not digestible in the digestive process. This is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that unripe fruits over-acidify the body and contain substances that it can not degrade and activate the detoxification processes to get rid of them.

If you eat permanently unripe fruit, your body is in a permanent detoxification phase, which costs him a lot of energy. One of the consequences is permanent shivering. In winter, when the cold increases the energy expenditure of the organism, this is doubly counterproductive. That’s why it’s an advantage to eat more local vegetables than imported fruit in winter. The native vegetables are long-lasting and resistant.

When heating food, significant changes occur

Heating destroys most of the vitamins and enzymes that bring the food to aid digestion. As a result, the body has to provide many more of its enzymes. This energy would be otherwise available to the body. Carbohydrates are broken down and lead to faster blood sugar increase. The heating of the food more than 43 degrees denatures the proteins.

There are thousands of new chemical compounds developing and sometimes also addictive substances:

Gluten-containing foods produce gluteomorphins and dairy products casomorphins, a reason why it’s hard to do without them. The natural sense of taste is irritated. Even zoologists can confirm that if animals have access to cooked food, they uncontrolled attack it, and develop civilization diseases

When heated, acrylamides will form by combining carbohydrates and proteins. The body can only poorly metabolize acrylamide. They tend to deposit in the connective tissue. Also, they are suspected of being carcinogenic and mutagenic.

Promote blood circulation

We begin to freeze when the blood vessels and capillaries are blocked.
The organism has to warm itself from the inside. The prerequisites for this are clean vessels. Lemon juice, organic apple cider vinegar, and linseed oil, for example, cleanse the blood vessels. By eating raw, live foods, the vessels are cleansed and the blood becomes warm. This does not happen immediately, but inevitably.

What is the raw food diet in the winter season?

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) makes a difference in yin and yang-rich foods. Yin-rich foods, which include water-rich fruits such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and melons, have a cooling effect, while Yang-rich foods such as root vegetables and leeks have a warming effect.

Cooling and warming food according to TCM

Traditional Chinese Medicine divides foods into warming, neutral, and cooling foods. It assumes that every food, apart from the calorie count, exerts a specific influence on the energetic balance of the organism and its internal and external energy pathways the meridians.

According to this philosophy, breath, exercise, and nutrition influence the individual electromagnetic field of the organism. They change the frequency of the vibrations and accelerate or slow down the healing process.

Here is a list of cooling and warming foods for guidance. Of course, only for vegan raw food. Not considered cooked and animal products, since they do not make sense here.

The cooling, yin-rich foods usually are available in the summer season or come from southern countries, so they have a cooling effect on the organism.

The yang-rich foods warm the body from the inside, naturally stimulating blood circulation and metabolism

So if you do not want to freeze, avoid water-rich fruits in winter and prefer denser, warming foods. The key is to eat seasonal and regional vegetables and fruits. From the autumn on we have many warming foods available:

Warming food

Spices: mustard, coriander, garlic, radish, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon.
Vegetables: carrots, beetroot, all types of cabbage, onions, peppers, squash, celeriac, parsnips, kale, pumpkin, and bulb plants
Leafy greens such as lamb’s lettuce, spinach, and, even better, wild herbs such as chickweed, clover, blackberry leaves, nettle warm, sate and supply enormous amounts of protein and minerals.
Nuts and seeds
Fats: Olives, avocado, nuts provide healthy fats and have a warming effect.
Sprouts e.g. buckwheat, broccoli, alfalfa, peas, lentils, mung beans, radishes are pure solar energy and help you to get rid of the cravings – without the feeling of having to do without something.

Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, dehydrated raw healthy bread, and crackers also reduce cravings for unhealthy and cooked foods.

Cooling food

Fruits: citrus fruits, watermelon, bananas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits as well as berries.
Vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, celery, asparagus.

Humans with ingenuity and adaptability to almost any living conditions can always find a way if they want. The climate does not always play the most important role
It can take a few years to break the old thinking about hot food. Especially the first winter is a real challenge for most people. During this time you can remain raw with some knowledge about the effect of certain raw foods and their clever use.

Luckily, there are many effective practical measures that will help you stay raw, energetic, and still warm in the cold season.

Here are some tips on how to be energetic with Raw food in the Winter Season

Choose seasonal and regional fruits and vegetables like apples, cabbage, kale, pumpkin. They are tasty, nutritious, filling and give your body the energy and minerals that it needs in winter

Warming spices such as ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, cumin, garlic, and curry will make your raw foods, smoothies, and juices tasty and warm you from the inside thanks to the stimulating effect on blood circulation.

Fast dishes like thick green smoothies to spoon with wild herbs, spinach, chard, a few apples or pears, and some ginger are a wonderful pudding alternative.

Avoid cooling foods

Avoid cooling foods like oranges, lemons, and grapefruits. Even they are considered to be the perfect source of vitamin C, especially in winter. Nevertheless, these and other tropical fruits are not suitable for warming the body they cool it. It is not a mistake of nature, because these fruits grow only in hot regions, where people are more in need of a cool down.
Reduce the consumption of citrus and other tropical fruits to a minimum and also the consumption of dried fruit, because both have a cooling effect.

Eat locally grown fruits and vegetables

Incidentally, our local fruits and vegetables have much more vitamin C to offer than the whole tropical fruit and do not cool us down!

Chickweed, kale, kohlrabi, fresh rose hips, and sea buckthorn berries are the perfect ingredients for vitamin C needs.

Eat warm soups Sometimes you need warm food because you long for security and spiritual warmth. A raw-creamy soup heated to a maximum of 42 ° C in the blender gives the comfortable feeling of a warm meal and has a warming effect on the psyche.

Try these recipes with warming soups, which help you to maintain vitality and coziness on the cold, dark winter evenings their colorful and soft consistency will make a cozy atmosphere.

Eat more nuts, seeds, and avocados. They are particularly good sources of heat with their high content of natural healthy oils. They produce concentrated sunlight and bring your body into a heat metabolism mode in which the body produces more energy in the form of heat. When eating nuts and avocados, pay attention to a healthy food combination!

How To Enjoy Raw Foods During The Winter Time!

Stay Hydrated

Drink warm water and if necessary herbal teas. We often pay less attention to drinking enough water in winter, because the thirst, unlike the hot summer days hardly comes up. It’s really hard to drink a lot of water when it’s cold. While we do not need as much fluid in the cool season as in the heat, it is still important to be hydrated and to aid in the release of poisons.

If there is a constant lack of fluid, it can lead to circulatory disorders, and we are sensitive to cold, especially on the hands and feet. Besides, water also serves as heat storage, whereby it comes in a well-hydrated body to a continuous release of heat.

Warm water with lemon makes it much easier to drink. Hot teas are also a solution if necessary. They are not raw, but you can treat yourself to herbal or ginger tea, to satisfy the need for a bit of warmth and coziness. It is better to have hot tea in the evening and to feel well than to be unhappy.

Try alternating hot-cold showers or sauna.

The alternating shower stimulates the metabolism, strengthens the immune system, and cures perfectly against the cold. The skin is trained to deal with temperature differences and becomes less sensitive to cold.

In the sauna, it is also about the hot-cold principle. After a good sweat, jump into the ice-cold pool or sit under the cold shower. Repeat the procedure 3 to 4 times and finish the procedure with cold water.
A long-lasting effect for better thermoregulation but you only achieve by regular alternating showers or sauna.

Exercise preferably in the fresh air.

You can get warm without cooked foods. Doing regular sports in the fresh winter air is the ideal solution! If you do sports, then you know its warming effect. Fast walks and jogging several times a week are a sure way to boost your metabolism, stimulate blood circulation, and warm you from the inside.

We all know that if we sit still too long, we will be cold. Exercise, especially in the fresh air, but also at home on the trampoline, improves blood circulation, activates the lymphatic flow and oxygenation in the body – it warms us from the inside.

Wear warm cloth

Warm cloth does not sound very special but is very effective. Instead of turning on heating, warm, cuddly socks, a thick sweater or cotton tights can help.

Sufficient sleep

Get sufficient sleep because when you are not well-rested, you will feel cold, did you notice this? Lack of sleep slows your metabolism, resulting in lower body temperature. So put a lot of emphasis on a sufficient, healthy sleep in a well-ventilated room.

What can it be when you are still cold?

Let’s think about why one is freezing or why one is freezing more than the other. Animals that live in the wild do not freeze because they have their fur. We dress warmly in winter. Sometimes, however, the warm clothing is not enough and we freeze from the inside.

Various aspects can play a role here:
You must nourish your organism well and supply the cells well. In particular, iron, magnesium, or vitamin B12 deficiency we can associate with freezing.

Iron deficiency

Iron also plays an essential role in the circulation and oxygenation of the body. If the iron stocks in the spleen, liver, and bone marrow are near empty, this can manifest in constant freezing.

The perfect supplier of iron is dark green leafy vegetables and, thus, also wild herbs and microgreens. This herbal iron can be exceptionally well in combination with vitamin C, so for example, with vitamin C-containing ingredients such as peppers or dips with orange or lemon juice to be included.

Magnesium deficiency

More than 300 metabolic processes are magnesium-dependent. Magnesium first and foremost relaxes, but also regulates blood pressure and stimulates metabolism.

A magnesium deficiency can thus be associated with a lack of energy, fatigue, and subsequently lack of exercise and muscle loss. Especially women freeze fast because they have less muscle by nature.

You can counter a magnesium deficiency very well with Epsom salt in foot baths or bathing in it, for example, or rubbing with magnesium oil.

Vitamin B12 deficiency

Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin, and the body stores it in the liver. No other vitamin has a comparably positive impact on the physical well-being of humans than vitamin B12

As an essential co-enzyme, all cells of the body need it. It mainly helps in the formation of the red blood cells, which supply the body with oxygen. If we do not have enough, we become tired and, above all, cold-sensitive. If the vitamin B12 storage in the liver is empty, we also state that the liver is freezing.

Here, priority must be given to a healthy digestive system, as a person’s vitamin B12 supply is mostly dependent on healthy digestive and intestinal health.

Thyroid hypofunction

Thyroid hypofunction is associated with a slowing down of metabolic processes and can show in lack of energy and low blood pressure.

Permanent stress

In stress situations, as a result of the release of stress hormones by the adrenal glands, among other things, an increase in heart rate and muscle strength. At the same time, it reduces the energy supply for organ activities. If one is under stress over a long time, the stress hormone production in the adrenal glands will exhaust, resulting in fatigue, lack of drive, and feeling cold and freezing.

Acidity

An excess of acid in the organism we can feel in the fact that we already wake up cold in the morning. It is a sign that the body puts a lot of energy into the neutralization and the excretion of excess acids.

See >Alkaline Recipes Will Help You Against Acidification

Detoxification

Anyone who has fasted once knows this: one moves less, the blood pressure drops, the body detoxifies, one freezes quickly. Even the conversion to the raw food diet initiates gentle detoxification. Which explains the experience of many raw foodies that after the change in nutrition in the first winter the feeling of cold increases. They feel less cold in the second year.

The Best Tips On How To Do A Raw Food Detox

Conclusion

Active metabolism and organ processes take place in a well-nourished body. And the raw food diet provides us with an enormous wealth of nutrients.

With the raw, living diet larger temperature fluctuations can be withstood more easily.

If your body has done the biggest conversion work and the blood vessels are clean and your metabolism is running at full speed, your body will adjust to its natural inner heat.

You can even bring the whole family together on chilly days with the following recipe ideas:

Bowls – The preparation of bowls has the chance to make the whole family happy in their everyday life or at family celebrations individually to their needs. A buffet with all sorts of warming ingredients can provide for this:

Leafy greens, sprouts, microgreen, fermented, raw food bread, and patties. You do not need to prepare these ingredients every day. They are in stock in the raw food kitchen. Prepare freshly delicious dips. You can supplement these bowls with steamed vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, and those who want it classic can stock their bowls with, for example, tortellini, gnocchi, or a piece of pizza.

So the whole family can eat together, and everyone is satisfied.

Wraps – Prepare wraps that have similar benefits. These you can serve with cabbage leaves or corn patties, raw or fried patties. Again, salad dressings and delicious dips make it perfect.