How You Can Do Body Ecology RAW! An Interview With CBE and Living Foods Consultant: Jennifer Boddie

Body Ecology or the raw foods diet… it’s not an either or proposition! In fact, you can incorporate both the Body Ecology system of Health and Healing with its Seven Principles into your raw foods diet easily greatly improving the benefits of raw foods.

Certified Body Ecology Coach, Jennifer Boddie (pronounced Body) has actually combined Body Ecology with a vegan, raw food diet with great success.

In this article, Jennifer gives us tips on how to do BODY ECOLOGY RAW for incredible physical and emotional health benefits.

Q. Which came first, Body Ecology or raw foods?

A. Actually, Body Ecology came first. I was achieving great success with Body Ecology, but it wasn’t until I studied raw, living foods, that I realized I had forgotten a key principle of the Body Ecology program: the principle of 80/20.

Instead of eating 80% vegetables, I was actually treating the Body Ecology program as a high animal protein “low carb” diet in a way…focusing on too much animal protein.

After 10 days in a raw foods program, I noticed that a diet of mostly vegetables boosted my energy. And the fact that the vegetables were raw really helped. You see, raw foods are living…they have greater life force energy than foods that have been over-cooked or processed. If you digest them when you eat them, you can feel that “life force energy” in your own body. It improves vitality and even boosts mental clarity.

So I credit my 10-day raw foods program with teaching me what raw foods could do for mind, body and spirit…and also, with bringing me back to the Body Ecology principle of 80/20. Approximately 80% vegetables from the land and the ocean.

Q. How much of your diet is raw foods?

A. While it varies for everyone as to how much raw food to incorporate, I found that 65% – 75% raw food work best for me. It changes a bit during the seasons.

In the warmer months of spring and summer, I tend to require fewer foods that are heated, and I increase the amount of raw, juicy, high-water-content foods. When I do eat cooked foods they are only slightly heated or lightly steamed

I still think it’s healthier to have some cooked vegetables and in the winter it is natural to want your vegetables cooked and warm to create heat if you live in a colder climate. And of course there are certain vegetables that really need to be cooked so that you digest them. This is especially true for the cruciferous family that includes green vegetables like kale, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. If they are eaten raw they suppress the thyroid. (Of course, if you have an overactive thyroid you may want to suppress it. But most of us have an underactive thyroid so these foods should be cooked or fermented.

Q. Are there benefits to following Body Ecology AND raw?

A. Absolutely. And the key is how incredible the 7 Body Ecology principles are for your health. If you understand the Body Ecology foods and follow the principles, you can incorporate just about any other healthy diet into your life and do it better than before…including raw, vegan, vegetarian (with eggs and dairy) or even animal protein diets.
With Body Ecology YOU choose what is best for YOU. This is the Principle of Uniqueness: Eat what YOUR individual body needs at this moment in time. And that changes. For me I need more raw and fermented foods.
BODY ECOLOGY RAW has a strong emphasis on eating fermented foods and liquids.

Instead of eating vegetables raw…you can eat cultured veggies which are very easy to digest because they are predigested. They are even better than raw.

Fermented foods contain much more beneficial micro-flora than raw foods do…although raw foods do naturally contain some.
Body Ecology’s fermented liquids can be added to any raw smoothie making it a potent probiotic smoothie.

Some benefits of doing the raw food diet the right way…the Body Ecology Way are:

• Balanced Nutrition – Most people eat way too much sugar on the raw foods diet. It is easy to grab a banana. Or to use dates to sweeten a smoothie thinking it is okay…after all it raw. But sugar feeds yeast and make us more acidic…aging us quickly. Eating more fermented foods and liquids in your diet helps digest some of the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables.

  It is common for raw foodists to overeat on too many nuts and seeds to obtain protein. This often equates to too much fat. This was not good for me and in the long run, it can be imbalanced for many people.

  Raw nuts and seeds also have a lot of the amino acid arginine and this can cause a problem with low grade, chronic viral infections from especially from the herpes-family.

• More grounded. With time many raw foodist who are eating lots of fruit become spacey. This would be fine if you want to sit on a mountaintop meditating. But most of us need to be focused and more alert.
• Easier Digestion – For many with weak digestion raw foods go right thru them. These people will do better if they ferment their vegetables for a while to strengthen digestion. Also the raw foods diet does not typically emphasize the principle of food combining and I have seen some pretty terrible combinations of foods. So gas is a common problem for many who try raw foods.

While people going from the Standard American Diet to the raw foods diet may feel better in general, those of us who’ve embraced food combining on Body Ecology know that this principle makes digestion even easier. A boost in energy and immunity are big benefits of following this principle.

In my own experience, additional benefits of a raw foods Body Ecology lifestyle are:

• Better sleep.
• More energy.
• More focused and productive mentally.
• Improved discernment emotionally and spiritually.
• A deeper meaning in my life.

Q. What is a typical day of meals like for you…are you in the kitchen all day?

A. Not at all. My meals are very simple, not elaborate like you see in some raw foods cookbooks. They are beautiful and tasty, but not very rich. I attribute this to my Body Ecology training – my foods taste great and are bursting with color…but I keep it simple.

I don’t eat animal protein but find proteins from the vegetable world. Vitality SuperGreen is an example of a food that provides protein from algae and cereal grasses and it has fermented foods in it well.

After some experimentation, I used my energy levels as a gauge as to what my ideal diet should be. This is in alignment with the Body Ecology principle of uniqueness…each person is a bit different and we can listen to the signals of our bodies to help us find what’s right for us.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our series on doing Body Ecology raw. In part 2, Jennifer Boddie will give you guidelines for incorporating raw foods into your Body Ecology diet (with more raw foods recipes!)…and she’ll tell you the common raw foods pitfalls (overeating, low thyroid, low vitamin B12 and more!) that you can avoid with some simple Body Ecology tips.

About Jennifer Boddie:

Jennifer Boddie, owner of Boddie Essentials, is a Certified Body Ecology Coach and Living Foods Nutrition Consultant. You can reach Jennifer for a consultation by phone at 770-483-7994.

Sign up for Jennifer’s Yahoo Group, where you can join in with others who are interested in doing Body Ecology raw:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/BodyEcology_Antiviral-Raw_Diet/

Jennifer is currently writing her “Un-Cook Book” that incorporates raw foods and Body Ecology recipes. Here, she shares an excerpt of her book – a few simple lunch, snack and dinner recipes that are tasty and easy to make!

Lunch:

Cold Cucumber Avocado Soup

1 1/2 cup of fresh cucumber juice (2 large cucumbers)

1/4 cup Fresh lemon juice or YCK

1 Tablespoon of chopped green onion

1 Tablespoon of chopped red onion

1 Tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley

1 large garlic clove, minced

3 springs of fresh basil, chopped ( optional)

1 teaspoon of wheat free Tamari

1-2 teaspoons of curry powder, or to personal taste

1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

Fresh basil, for garnishing the soup.

Directions:

Blend ALL ingredients in your high powered blender again, add avocado once ALL other ingredients are decently chopped up in the blender. Taste of Avocado can slightly change when OVER processed. IT will also slightly “dull” the vibrant green color in over processing it!

Chill Soup slightly, then enjoy!!!!

Dulse Salad

1 cup of dulse, shopped

1 cucumber, peeled and diced

two medium carrots, grated on medium setting

2 scallions, minced

1 tbsp. dried orange peel

Directions:

Combine and mix well before serving. Remember to ” pre soak” the dulse!

Snack or Dessert:

Healthy Pudding Parfait

This is good if you are in stage 2 of Body Ecology – Make Young Coconut Kefir pudding and flavor it to taste with coco powder, and Stevia or Lakanto. Layer it with Body Ecology vanilla pudding (recipe available in The Body Ecology Diet) alternating this snack in dessert glasses: one layer of Young Coconut Kefir pudding, one layer of Body Ecology vanilla pudding. Sprinkle the top with a mix of cinnamon blended with Lakanto.

Dinner:

Fresh Marinated Stir Thai

Suggested Veggies in quantity of YOUR choice

Bok Choy, Chopped ( lightly ) blanched in hot water for a minute or less

Sweet Yellow peppers

Shataki mushrooms ( optional) rehydrated

Zucchini, cut into strips

Snow pea’s

Red onion, minced

Mint leaves, minced

Marinade

1/4 cup of Nama Shoyu or Wheat free tamari

1/4 cup of pumpkin seed oil ( RAW or roasted your choice)

1/2 packet of Stevia luo han ( or to personal taste)

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp of Young Coconut Kefir

Directions:
Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add mushrooms and onions and leave to marinade for at least 6 hours.  Toss together all other salad ingredients and add marinade over the salad to coat!

Enjoy!