by Marissa-Catherine Carrarini.
Adolescence is a time when we need to take extra special care of ourselves and raw food can play an important part in that care.
Eating a high-raw diet as a teenager can have profound benefits on health and wellbeing. You might start to have more energy – find that it isn’t so hard to get out of bed in the morning; that you no longer want to sleep in all day. You may feel calmer and more alert, and that you are able to focus better in class.
Eating raw is also known to be a bit of a beauty pill. While processed foods can leave you looking years older, with grey skin and bags under your eyes, raw foods help your skin look bright, rosy and alive. It’ll also help brighten eyes and leave hair soft and strong. A diet high in colourful antioxidants and essential fatty acids (all your yummy nuts, seeds, flax seeds and hemp seeds) can help leave acne by the wayside and clear away blotchiness.
At the same time, a diet free from sugar, hormone- disrupting trans fats and hormones from factory farming will help to balance hormones. This could beautify skin even more, and reduce period pain and other PMS symptoms such as bloating, painful swollen breasts, chocolate cravings and irritability.
For you sporty or intellectual types, eating plenty of raw food rich in protein – luscious greens and sprouted grains – will give you bountiful energy and strength to excel at whatever sporting activity takes your fancy.
Finally, raw food is the ultimate fast food. For busy teens who don’t have the time (or inclination) to prepare a cooked meal, little can be faster than mashing an avocado with a few chopped tomatoes, lemon juice, pepper and olive oil and spreading it on flax crackers or making a protein shake with plenty of fruits, hemp protein powder and maybe some nut butter.
Bio
Marissa-Catherine Carrarini is a naturopathic nutritional therapist who loves working with people on raw/vegan diets. She owns and practises at her London clinic and health store, Snowsfields Wellness. For more information see snowsfields.co.uk.
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