What makes living foods so amazing?

Living foods are alive! Full of vitamins, nutrients, and enzymes. This plant-based style of eating focuses on fresh local produce and is made from fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains. What does that mean? No bad fats, no bad cholesterol, nothing processed—that’s right just pure food for your body to live on!

What makes living cuisine so different from other types of plant-based diets?

Your health! Living foods are designed to give your body optimal nutrients for healthy living naturally. Since nothing is processed, everything is functional and provides your body with regenerative nutrients on a daily basis. This diet has been proven to clear up cancers, high cholesterol, heart disease, allergies, asthma and more. Even if you simply begin by adding something living to your diet and increase slowly to a higher percentage of living foods, you will start to experience greater health.

When I discovered living foods almost a decade ago, I though “I’ll try it, what’s the worst that can happen? I go back to eating meat and potatoes right?” I had no idea the amazing health benefits that were about to take place in my life. Eating this way and living this lifestyle has the power to heal your body and your mind on several levels.

Here are my Top 5 reasons why choosing a living foods lifestyle is so amazing:

1. Incredible Vibrant Health: Several modern health conditions are a result of a poor diet. Basic health issues such as GERD, insomnia, acne, obesity, bloating and chronic fatigue can all be distant memories if you make a commitment to changing your diet. When you feed your cells with living nutrients they are able to help your body regenerate and the result is incredible vitality—every day!
2. Beauty: “Your skin, hair and nails never looked so good” or “You look so much younger, wow you are glowing.” These are things I started to hear the more living foods I ate. I was already feeling lighter, happier, and more at ease with myself and I noticed I didn’t feel heavy anymore, like the world was weighing on my shoulders. Instead I felt like dancing! This feel-good feeling has been an anchor in my life the last decade and it can be yours, too. It’s true beauty inside and out!
3. It’s Green!: Let’s face it, unless we get serious about making a change on the planet we won’t have much of a life here for too much longer. Eating a plant-based diet is one of the easiest ways to help the planet. Did you know that it takes more than 500 lbs of grain to feed one pig raised for meat? That same grain could feed 6 families for a year!
4. Stay Hydrated: We all know our body is over 70% water right? But the food we eat is devoid of water and keeps us dehydrated and acidic. A living foods diet puts the water back in our bodies, hydrates us and is an alkaline way of eating. What does that mean? No more brain fog, indigestion, food comas, and dry brittle hair—suddenly we are rejuvenated and our cells are working for us not against us. Eating an alkaline diet is the best way to combat aging, fatigue, and depression.
5. Energy!: It’s a fast-paced world we live in and so it is easy to feel tired if we do not feed our bodies right. Living food is full of energy, so we are in turn energized. This style of eating is much easier for the body to process so we can go about our day offering more of who we are to the world. Athletes, business persons, moms and more—no matter what your role is when you give your best—it’s a good feeling. Making a few simple changes in your diet may just make you feel like you have found that secret fountain of energy and youth!

Here is an easy way to get started today: Swap your bacon and eggs for a healthy smoothie (see recipe below) that will give you great energy and optimal nutrition in every bite! If you start to do this every day, you are now 30% raw!

Merry Monkey—Supercharged!
1 Organic Banana
1 Tbsp Raw Almond Butter
1 Cup Raw Nut Milk (Or Apple Juice)
1 Cup Kale or Spinach
1 Tbsp Hemp Seeds or Maca Root
1 Tbsp Raw Agave Nectar
1 Cup Ice (Optional)
Blend all ingredients well and enjoy!

The Inspiration of Doreen Virtue

I met Doreen Virtue (coauthor of The Art of Raw Living Food) in Laguna Beach as she was first exploring the world of living foods. We immediately discovered that we each shared the same passion for positive energy and vibrant living. Doreen and I connected when we started talking about the transformative power of living foods in our own lives.

During one such conversation at 118 Degrees (my living foods restaurant in Costa Mesa, California) where Doreen was in dining with family and friends, the idea for a user-friendly book that could help inspire others to follow the road of this incredible lifestyle was born.

I am so honored to share the experience of writing this book with Doreen. She has been inspirational to me and so many others through her numerous titles (Losing Your Pounds of Pain, The Yo-Yo Diet Syndrome, Eating in the Light, Healing Your Appetite, Healing Your Life).