One of the reasons people turn to raw food is because they are looking to eat more healthy food. That’s definitely one of my main reasons for giving raw food a try. (Remember that when I say raw food, I don’t necessarily mean 100% raw.)

Lately, I found myself giving out this little piece of advice: eating raw food doesn’t mean it’s necessarily healthier than other ways of eating.

Hear me out…

There are a lot of other things that go into your health, other than just the “label” you apply to your food. Maintaining healthy diets, for most of us can be tricky. So for instance, you might be eating raw food, but eating too much of it. Or you might be eating raw food, but eating too much of one category and not enough of another.

Neither of these scenarios is very healthy.

Or, you might be eating raw food but not drinking enough water, sleeping enough, or exercising enough. And then there’s your emotional and mental well being, all of which play into your overall health.

Now, let’s take a closer look at what healthy foods are.

The Healthy Foods List

Here is a basic list of healthy foods that most people can agree on:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Fresh leafy greens
• Cold pressed extra virgin oils
• Raw nuts and seeds
• Sprouts
• Seaweeds and sea vegetables

Now we can split hairs and argue that we should include other foods, depending on what lifestyle you follow. For instance some may want to add superfoods, others may want to add in raw dairy or meat, you get the idea.

But I think we can all agree that these are basically healthy foods. Especially fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Unhealthy Foods List

• Processed “white” foods like white breads, white pastas, etc.
• Refined white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame
• Addictive substances like MSG, and other “taste enhancing” chemicals
• Processed, denatured fats and oils that the body cannot deal with

Alright, so the unhealthy foods list is incomplete. That’s partly because it would take too long to include everything that might potentially be unhealthy. But it’s also because we don’t all agree on what’s unhealthy.

Some people go around telling themselves that they’ll be healthy if they eat “Everything in Moderation“. And while the adage that eating everything in moderation probably held true 100 years ago, it certainly doesn’t hold today.

There are more chemicals and ingredients that I can’t pronounce on a label for dried raisins than ever before. Dried raisins!

Imagine what’s in super processed junk foods for a minute. It’s not pretty.

How to Include More Healthy Foods and Less Unhealthy Foods

I honestly believe that in order to eat more healthy foods we need to leave some of the unhealthy foods behind. If you’re too full from eating an entire bag of chips and a 1L bottle of Coke, then you’re not going to be inspired to eat an apple. Let alone a salad.

Letting go of foods that aren’t good for you is a lot more complex than it might seem at first. Why? Cravings. That’s why.

I’ve been eating healthy foods for over 3 years now, and I’ve learned a thing or two about cravings. Get on The Cue list, and you’ll be the first know about my cravings busting techniques.

I’ve also noticed that once you start making changes to the way you eat, a lot of other little things start to fall into place. Or out of place. You notice certain things that used to be normal, but that now seem odd or out of place. Maybe it was normal to watch TV for hours while chowing down on a whole bag of chips. But suddenly you realize there’s more to life than that.

That’s one step toward changing the world.

Two people who know a lot about changing the world are my good friends Pace and Kyeli – cofounders of the Freak Revolution.

I had the pleasure of talking to both Kyeli and Pace about the work they’re doing to change the status quo. We had such an awesome conversation that I know will inspire you and give you insights into your own life.

Click here to listen to the recording now.

Since learning about the Freak Revolution, I’ve really been able to return to my true roots. (It even gave me space to make this the Raw Foods Witch, and not just the Raw Food Switch.)

If the idea of changing the world really calls to you, then you will LOVE the Freak Revolution Manifesto. You can download the Freak Revolution Manifesto for free now.

I encourage anyone who is interested in real change for our planet to grab a copy of the Freak Revolution Manifesto and share it with as many people as possible.

It’s a call to arms hearts, and we can do it together.

President Obama is calling for a health care reform, but it goes much deeper than that. This quote really brings home a crucial aspect of a healthy nation, and a healthy people.

“It also means cutting down on all the junk food that is fueling an epidemic of obesity, putting far too many Americans, young and old, at greater risk of costly, chronic conditions.

That’s a lesson Michelle and I have tried to instill in our daughters with the White House vegetable garden that Michelle planted.

And that’s a lesson that we should work with local school districts to incorporate into their school lunch programs.”

I think we should definitely work with local school districts to incorporate healthy diet changes, but also look to office cafeterias, hospitals, prisons, and other semi-public places.

This is a time for change, and we’re in this together. Let’s brainstorm some ways that we can implement these changes into our own homes and neighborhoods.