Miracle Food

Quick quiz: what food does the following:

* lowers LDL cholesterol (the bad kind)
* reduces the risks of dying from heart disease anywhere from 16 to 41 percent
* lowers blood pressure
* decreases the risk of a stroke depending on how much of it you eat
* reduces the risk of all types of cancer, particularly of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, pancreas and stomach
* leads to spontaneous weight loss and even prevents weight gain
* increases bone density
* reduces the risk of type-2 diabetes

Give up? Well, it actually isn’t a food, but a food group. Two, actually. Fruits and vegetables. Yes, you’ve heard it before and now you’ll hear it again. 5-10 servings of fruit a day leads to all the above benefits. (What’s a serving? Either a large piece of fruit, or a fist-sized amount of smaller pieces.) It’s not really that difficult. Right now on the Transitional Raw Food Diet, I’m eating about 7-8 servings a day, some days one or two more, some days one or two less.

The best fruits and veggies? Tomatoes, for their lycopene; citrus fruits such as oranges; and cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli.

And if you’re scratching your head wondering what else to eat to get those 5-10 daily servings, how ’bout:

Apples, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, carrots, celery, cherries, corn, cucumbers, grapes, honeydew melon, kiwi, lettuce, mushrooms, peas, pears, peppers, pineapple, pumpkin, spinach, squash, strawberries, string beans, sweet potatoes, watermelon? And these are the ones off the top of my head that I’ve tried and liked. There’s probably two or three for every fruit and vegetable listed here that I haven’t tried yet, but will, in the future.

Good eating!

PS: After four weeks on the TRFD, I'm averaging about 2/3 of my daily consumption to be raw fruits and veggies. I started the month off by-the-book, eating about 80% raw the first ten days. It was during this period I dropped 8 pounds. Then, the backsliding. Over the next two weeks I estimate I ate at about 60% raw, interspersed with about 4 or 5 days where I only ate about 20% raw. I gained back 4 pounds. I want to finish strong over the next three days (especially with Halloween coming up) and get that daily average percentage raw at about 3/4. And maintain that ratio until the end of the year.