My daughter was searching for a diet Thanksgiving afternoon. She kept pestering me, "What diet is good", "How can I lose weight?” I was busy reading. Finally I told her to look up the Raw Food diet. I had read somebody lost about 300 pounds on it.

Next thing I knew, I was on the diet against all my objections. I told her that it would be too hard. No bread, no meat, nothing cooked???!!! I would try it until I couldn't stand it anymore. I would give it a month.

My daughter told me that I would have more energy, think clearer, my skin would look better, and my eyes would improve. I had told her that all diets made claims they couldn't keep.

Three months later and I am still on it. All the claims were true. I have lost 23 pounds and I feel great. We eat fruits and vegetables, some cheese, sprouts, and some whole grain bread. I am going to invest in a dehydrator and a high speed blender.

My friends worried about me getting enough protein. I never realized that dark leafy greens had protein. No-one ever told me about ground flax seed. It makes the salad look as if it has dirt on it, but it tastes delicious and has all the amino acids!

The raw food diet is a fairly simple concept. Eat raw food like fruits and vegetables. Do not eat processed foods. Do not cook anything over 116 degrees F. Cooking food over 116 degrees F destroys the enzymes.

Enzymes are chemical catalysts that lower the amount of energy it takes to produce a reaction. The enzymes found in raw, living food allow you to digest food easier and allow for greater absorption of nutrients. Both raw and living foods have enzymes, but living foods have more.

People ask me what is "living" food. A good example is the type of sprouts you put on you salad. I never knew how many foods you could sprout until I started this. The most common sprouts found in supermarkets are the leafy sprouts such as alfalfa and clover and bean sprouts such as mung. You can sprout many more leafy greens and beans than just these. You can also sprout nuts and grains.

Sprouters were the first addition to my kitchen after beginning this lifestyle. I was on the diet for about a month and thought I could not take another minute of it. Sprouts changed that. I thought they would be difficult to grow (having no green thumb), but it turns out they are very easy. To see how to grow sprouts go to the link above.

With a food dehydrator you can make warm food! You can make sprouted "breads", sprouted "burgers", even desserts. Of course, you don't use any flour or sugar, they are processed foods.

The nice thing about this diet is you don't have to go 100% raw. My son was unable to put up with this diet, but he also is losing weight. We no longer have any processed foods around for him to eat, except some wholegrain bread. Snacks now consist of fruits, vegetables or nuts.

As I said in the beginning, I did not believe the claims. I gave it a month and I felt so good, had so much more energy, better skin and my thought processes were improved that I stayed with it. Previously I often had heartburn, especially in the middle of the night. This is no longer a problem. Another thing I find amazing is that I get hungry less often.

Try it; I think you'll like the results!