Foods which have not been heated or processed are still alive. - Photos by Avia Collinder

Melissa Reid, resident of Farm district in Exchange, Ocho Rios, told Outlook recently that she was 50 per cent raw in terms of her food intake. Dishes which she enoys include uncooked plantains. "I have eaten uncooked plantains mixed with curry, pepper, onions and thyme and it was good," she told Outlook.

Research shows that a natural or raw food diet can significantly reduce blood cholesterol, blood pressure, induce weight loss and have many other beneficial effects on the body.

Ray Tyndale, raw food chef based in Ocho Rios states, "I know that everyone can't be 100 per cent raw, but everyone can add fresh, fruits and vegetables and juices to their diet."

Fruits and vegetables

Ray Tyndale prepares cashew cheese.

According to Tyndale, the incorporation of lots of fruits and vegetables in their natural or unrefined form will neutralise the many acids in the system, provide minerals and high quality water directly to the body and increase digestive efficiency.

Incorporating raw foods into the diet also provide enzymes which act as the catalyst for every metabolic reaction which takes place int he cells of the body.

Digestion costs energy, the naturalist states, noting, "The lighter the digestion, the less energy it costs the body. Raw food nutrition is a way of reducing digestive load and return lost powers and abilities including clarity of thought.

One should eat only the leaves of green leafy vegetables - no stems and stalks. The leaves of plants are an excellent source of iron which, if heated to 220 degrees by normal cooking, is destroyed.

"Callaloo is as thin as paper. It is easy to make it palatable by using herbs and spices to soak it," states Tyndale. Instead of cooking make your meals palatable by adding herbs, omega 3 oils, flaxseed oils and spices. If you cannot move immediately to a raw food diet, try instead to incorporate salads into your daily diet. Roughage from these salads will aid digestion and also calm the mind and body.

High quality oils

Increase raw fruits and vegetables, adding high quality oils such as hemp seed, flaxseed oils to your salads and other meals. These oils return cellular membrane heath and also lubricate the joints and tissues, states Tyndale.

Your nuts and seeds must be soaked 12 hours before eating as they have enzyme inhibitors which prevent digestion. Peas and other legumes should also be soaked. Soak peas until it sprouts. "By soaking you reintroduce life into the nut or seed," the naturalist notes. He notes that there is a loss of water when food is cooked. "We are eating dehydrated food, and a diet which is 70 per cent solid, but our body is 70 per cent water says Tyndale. "Reverse the balance and give the body what it needs through natural foods which still have water in them.

The body needs water which is why at times it forces us into illnesses where all we can do is drink. The body will demand rest from food through illness."

Tyndale advises that we should also rest one day from food by drinking only coconut water which he calls a super food and a true 'liquid meal". The coconut from the seaside he states, is best.

Eat more of nature's foods in the natural state.

"When trees breathe out, we breathe in. We are at one with nature," states Ray Tyndale.

- Outlook team