Montgomery - Raw challenge: the 30-day program to help you lose weight and improve your diet and health with raw foods

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Raw Challenge

Text Copyright 2013 Lisa Montgomery

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eISBN: 978-1-57826-480-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Cover Design by Carolyn Kasper / DCDesigns

Interior Design by Carolyn Kasper / DCDesigns

v3.1

I would like to thank everyone at Kimberton Whole Foodsespecially Drew Hunt, who first came up with the idea to hold the Raw Challengeand all who participated and helped to make Raw Challenge a success. From the challenge itself, to the workshops and the book, none of it would have been possible without the help of the participants (a.k.a. the Raw Challengers), Jennifer Vanderslice, and Josh Batman, my rent-a-son. Thank you to everyone who helped to bring the Raw Challenge workshop and Raw Challenge the book to fruition.

I f you want to transform your life and your health, Raw Challenge will help you to do just that. You are about to embark on your own personal Raw Challenge, and using this book as your guide, you will begin the transition to becoming the best you you can be. The quest to grow emotionally, spiritually, and physically is a lifelong endeavor. I am always striving to expand and grow beyond my current limitations; in my mind, there is no ceiling on what you can accomplish. Once I started to live a healthier lifestyle with raw foods, I grew so much emotionally and spiritually. You would not believe how much bad food choices and an unhealthy lifestyle can hold you back from reaching your true potential.

Raw Challenge will help you on your journey to transform yourself and your health. To have peace in your heart and mind is a priceless gift. By changing what you eat, you will begin to feel and look better. Youll start to feel better about yourself and your circumstances.

Last fall Drew Hunt, the caf manager at Kimberton Whole Foods (my local health food store) approached me about holding a Raw Challenge at their original store in Kimberton, Pennsylvania. As a passionate supporter of the raw lifestyle (not to mention the fact that Kimberton Whole Foods is practically my second home), my response was an immediate, Sure, lets do it!

This book is a product of the experiences from this Raw Challenge. The participants in my Challenge were not world renowned raw chefs sequestered to a beautiful desert islandthough that would have been nice! The participants, my Raw Challengers, were real people living in the real worldpeople you can relate to. They were changing and adapting their lives while balancing their everyday routines at work, at home, with their family and friends. Many of the recipes in this book were created by the Raw Challengers themselves, which means if they can create recipes, so can you. I want you to see that this inspiring group of people is just as amazing as you are, and if they had the courage to change their diet and lifestyle, so can you.

The format that we used for the Raw Challenge is the same format that we have used in this book. We have a proven track record. It worked for our Challengers and it will work for you.

Be content with living and eating a healthy lifestyle. People often think they are giving up what they enjoy by eating healthfully. However, the reality is that when you eat a healthy, raw diet you are actually gaining so much more. One of the biggest benefits of eating raw is that you are emotionally balanced. Not only do you have more energy, but you are also calmer, more at peace. I want to live dynamically, and the only way I have found to do that is to live this lifestyle. Once you change your mind to see what you are gaining you will realize that eating healthy is a wonderfully positive change. Many of us think that the struggle of switching to a healthy diet is going to kill us when in reality not eating healthy will kill us. We think if we eat healthy we are sacrificing something, when in reality we are opening a new and exciting world with great and wonderful potential.

What I learned from the Raw Challenge and what I want to share with you is to stay focused on how great you feel. That is the ongoing reward.

D ENISE D I J OSEPH (www.MiAura.com)

Whether you are a novice or have been eating a raw diet for years, we all have our own reasons for choosing raw foods. As baby boomers, many of us thought that we somehow would be exempt from aging and getting wrinkles. Yet we were wrong, and the wrinkles came. The good news is, by living and eating healthy, I honestly feel as if I am getting younger instead of older. In fact, my general practitioner once said to me that I am the healthiest person in his practice, which sees approximately 3,500 patients. If you eat healthfully, and get regular exercise and rest, chances are you will no longer need to see your doctor other than for annual checkups. In addition to improving your overall health, a raw diet can also increase your energy levels. I have found that I now have so much energy that I leave the Energizer Bunny in the dust. I always strive to be the best that I can be and to feel my best, and eating raw enables me to continue this quest.

Perhaps you are not switching to raw foods for health reasons, but because you want to look good. When you start to eat healthfully, your body feels better and it shows on your face. There is a raw glow on the skin of those who eat healthy. I have had more people say to me, You know why people will want to eat like you: because of your skin. I also know people who, after starting a raw diet, notice that their grey hair has turned back to their original hair color.

My adventure into raw food began in October, 2009. Surprisingly, I discovered JOY in the most unexpected place. What started as an exploration into healing resulted in a whole new toolbox for creating food that is literally ALIVE with color, texture, flavor, healing nutrients and LIFE! I quickly fell in love with a whole new palette of ingredients and a new palate for tasting them.

Raw is beautiful. Its alive and it offers me an incredible challenge to CREATE new and exciting textures that are decadent, delicious and nutritious. And the best is, Im eating food that is chock full of healing properties, the way nature intended. Uncooked food from nature comes with its own enzymes, which means the body does not have to work as hard to digest it. If you are chronically ill, this enables your body to conserve some of its resources that can be used towards healing.

B ARBARA S HEVKUN of Rawfully Tempting (www.rawfullytempting.com)

Healthy eating will not only strengthen you physically but it will also give you an opportunity to be strengthened emotionally and spiritually. Eating and living healthy empowers you and gives you confidence in what you think and feel in the here and now. When living a healthy lifestyle you are no longer numbing yourself with cooked foods, meat, alcohol, and so on. This gives you an opportunity to really look inward and decide whether you like what you see or if you need to make some changes in your diet and in your life. Oftentimes, we spend too much of our lives living in a fog, without being fully awake and living in the present. The raw lifestyle gives you an opportunity to truly wake up.