The Raw Food Detox Diet: A Review

As the busy older mother of ten children, I am always looking for ways to both keep weight off and increase my energy. I've looked at many popular diets that promise to do both things, and so far, the best I have found was in a book, "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose.

This book starts off explaining how eating the typical American diet will poison your cells, and flood your body with toxins and waste from the sugars your body can't break down. The waste your body retains is the weight you gain. But by using this diet, you will begin to clean your body and make it like new again, or even better than new.

You are given a list of transition foods and shopping tips. She explains why energy bars and the 'old school diet foods' are really guaranteed to squash any weight loss you attempting. Then, Mrs. Rose gives you 'quick exit' food combinations to minimize the waste matter that can accumulate in your body. If you look at this as a life long way of eating, rather than a diet plan, you will be healthier and avoid weight gain for the rest of your life!

One thing Mrs. Rose does not suggest is that you jump right into this diet. You begin slowly, and build up your organs so that they are strong enough to push the waster matter, and therefore the toxins from your body. If your body is overwhelmed with old waste matter to try and flush out, it will back up and cause your body to retoxify.

After explaining how and why this diet will work to cleanse your body, Mrs. Rose has a list of questions to help you determine your transition level. Once you have determined your level, there is a plan for you to follow:

A level 5 person is someone who almost always eats cooked, processed foods. This person is told to start with small changes. Baby steps will gently initiate your body into detoxification, so that they are not as likely to experience uncomfortable symptoms.

Several suggestions for starting at this level are given.

A level four person is ready for a change and eager to try this diet for a couple of weeks. This person is encouraged to begin by having a fruit/vegetable juice for breakfast, and make half of their lunch and dinner raw foods. The main battle for this level is not eliminating the morning cup of coffee, but to begin getting real foods into their system.

A level three person is likely to be someone who has already begun to try this kind of eating. They are less likely to have as many cleansing responses (headaches, acne and indigestion). The plan for this person is to 'eat raw' until dinner every day. This was the level I was at when I read this book, and I was very pleased at how easy it was to do this. I would eat raw until dinnertime, and then eat a cooked meal with my family.

A level two person is to eat 90 to 95 percent of their food raw. This person is encouraged to expand their recipe repertoire, buy plenty of raw treats for their raw dinners, and make sure their elimination activity is keeping up with the detoxification response.

A level one person is at the most advanced point, which means they are eating entirely raw except for maybe one or two dinners a week. Battles are few at this point.

The rest of the book includes menus for all transition levels, recipes and tips for real life scenarios of eating out, planning holidays, dieting on a limited budget, and detoxing your kitchen, bathrooms and wardrobe.

This is an easy to read interesting book. I come back to it often. You can find it on Amazon and many books stores. I would highly recommend it!