Close to 50 percent of my daily calories have recently been coming from imported oranges from Spain.
One of the big differences from eating a cooked diet compared to eating raw foods is that you need to choose your foods very wisely. You should always choose the best foods that are available no matter what diet, but when you're eating 100% fresh foods, it's very important that they are just that - fresh and ripest possible.
Raw vs Cooked processed foods
It doesn't matter too much which pre-packaged dinner meal you choose at the supermarket; if it's the same brand they'll all be very similar in nutritional value and taste. The companies make sure to use the best available foods or price competitive produce, and their products always taste very similar. If you eat two identical frozen pizzas you won't notice any difference in the taste as long as they're prepared the same way.
However, eat two different mangoes, oranges or melons, and you are sure to notice everything from minor to huge differences in taste and quality. The the most important thing to act upon when eating a raw diet is to eat whatever is the best quality, which in almost all cases gets reflected in the taste of the fruit or vegetable.
It's simple! Eat whatever satisfies you the most, and for me what does exactly that consistently has been the yellow, vibrant oranges from Spain!
5 simple ways to pick out your fruit and vegetables
- Your senses are your guidance system, smell, touch and use your eyes to chose the best possible options available - trust your instinct.
- Learn more about what to look for in the different fruits and vegetables, some similarities in most foods are vibrant colors, good smell and that the fruit has a mature appearance. (example, bananas should be thick and bulky as this is a sign of longer ripening time on the plant)
- Taste if possible, I always taste grapes in the store without any shame at all. I've never been confronted with it and I usually only do it with the produce that I'm very certain is good quality so therefore I end up buying 80 percent of the grapes anyway.
- Buy fruits and vegetables in season.
- Limit or stay away from heavily spread fruits and vegetables (see which ones here)
The benefits of eating fruit
Eating fruit is very healthy, fruit contains usually above 70% water content which is a close match to the human body. Fruit hydrates us at the same time it gives us all the nutrients we need.
Fruit is the highest form of food on this planet; it's whole in and of itself, its taste is rich and complete without any cooking, spices or additives. There are no other food groups that can compare to fruit in its original state.
If you eat more fruit, you'll reap the benefits of feeling more whole within yourself - food does affect us in a great sense, more most of us imagine. When we eat healthy, nutritious, high-water content fruit, this gets reflected within ourselves in a clear mind, stable emotions and lots of physical energy.
If you eat foods that are heavy to digests and dry, like meat, diary-products, and bread. Every food choice you make will affect you: Energy can get depleted from the cumbersome digestive process. We can create cravings and unstable emotions by eating foods that mostly stimulates our feelings instead of giving us real nourishment. Sugar, wheat, to much salt, spices, and fatty, greasy foods are examples of this. To avoid this, just eat fruit!
Fruit is free from what many people try to avoid, gluten, salt, processed sugars, MSG, oil and other additives. Fruit only contains what your body truly benefits from.