Going Raw for the Summer
There’s no better time to go raw than the summer time. With daily temperatures extending close to triple digits, many people turn to outdoor cooking to beat the heat. However, eating foods and herbs in their natural raw state have so many benefits not available even with the cleanest of cooked plant-based diets.
Benefits can include:
- Increased energy
- Detoxing
- Improved digestion
- Weight loss
- Healthier skin and hair
- Improved immunity
- Decreased inflammation
All of these benefits can make transitioning into flu season easy and stress-free. You’ll also maintain that healthy summer glow well into the colder months!
If you’ve never eaten a primarily raw diet, here are some tips to make this way of eating work for you.
Use fresh herbs instead of dried.
Fresh herbs are raw herbs. They are packed with nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Herbs such as mint can impart a refreshing taste to any fruit salad, but it also improves digestion and decreases inflammation. While dried herbs still have beneficial properties, those present in fresh herbs are undiluted.
Add cooling herbs to your meal.
Every plant has cooling or warming properties. Even if refrigerated, ginger and cinnamon are always warm in nature. In the same way, lemon balm, mint, hibiscus, and burdock are cooling. When dealing with hot and humid weather, these cooling herbs can assist the body in cooling off, avoiding inflammation, and cleansing the stomach (a source of excess heat generation).
Eat raw foods with cooling properties.
Cooling foods such as dark leafy greens, sea greens, cucumbers, watermelon, celery, and many other fruits and vegetables paired with cooling herbs act synergistically in the body to cleanse out excess heat and toxins that tend to accumulate during the summer. You can include these herbs and food easily in a salad, in a dressing or as part of a smoothie!
Make a cooling tea or plant water.
Steeping cooling herbs as a tea is another great way to receive their nutritive benefits. If you’re not a fan of warm tea during the summer, you can enjoy it chilled as a refreshing summer drink. You can also add herbs such as basil and mint, or food such as fresh berries or cucumber to water for added flavor and raw nutrients.
When it comes to getting the most from your food, eating raw is the way to go.
At the House of Imhotep, we offer an array of cooling raw herbs such as Burdock Root , Barley Grass Powder, Dandelion Root, and Peppermint Leaf to name a few. For more herbs, check out our extensive selection on our site.
And to learn more about herbs and their many uses, grab our book “The Divine Fiat: Black Excellence in Herbalism” here.
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