By: Melissa Mango, Author and Raw Food Bada$$

A customer once told me why she doesn't eat vegetarian or vegan; every Vegan she had met was pale in skin color, scrawny, overweight or ill due to choosing to be vegan. Of course this would turn off anyone desiring to change their eating habits to vegan or even live foods. It is important for vegans, vegetarians and Raw Foodists to understand that the quality and variety of what they eat is vital for success.

You cannot go "RAW" and be healthy if all you consume is out-of-season, conventional oranges, handfuls of dry, un-sprouted almonds from of a bulk bin or all pre-packaged raw foods. This lack of balance does not make sense, yet it is a common pitfall.

I encourage people not to discount the Raw Food Lifestyle based on meeting someone who looks unhealthy while proudly stating they are a  "Raw Foodist".  I meet "Raw Foodists" everyday who look and act very unbalanced and are a complete wreck. I also meet meat/ processed food eaters who appear to be much healthier at first glance...

Why is this?

Yes, I have met vibrant, meat-eating, whiskey-drinking people who appear to be healthy on the outside. Yet if you take a look at their interior, you discover another element that needs to be included in the equation. Through poor lifestyle choices, their emotions may be a mess (yet considered normal), they may be skeletally misaligned and have cirrhosis of the liver or damaged kidneys.

There is always the Uncle "Bob" argument, "My uncle lived to be 80 years old, worked on the farm 14 hours a day and all he ate was rare-cooked meat, chicken fried steak and cigarettes, so what's the big deal?"

We do not know what exactly Uncle Bob was eating, or other elements that contributed to turning Bob into an iron horse. I would guess what kept him healthy was the fact that he grew his own food or ate locally from surrounding farms because that's what people did back then. I would also assume that Uncle Bob loved working hard every day and did not eat the junk we are fed today sitting in front of TVs and computers.

What you leave out of your diet is just as important, if not more important, than what you put in. Some of our ancestors, who lived in the early settling days even on through the 60's, were fairly healthy due to simple lifestyle practices that we are not accustomed to today. These lifestyle choices were not decisions made; it was simply how life was lived. These details may have included not being parked in front of the TV, being more physically active, and the fact that there were no high processed "junk foods" back then riddled with denatured ingredients and empty calories.  Factor in what they did not eat, the land on which they lived, and their emotional state.

Beyond what a person eats, the principle of balance is key. To be balanced for the long term on a Live Foods Diet, one must consume a large variety of fresh, in season, ripe, raw, organic produce! If you are consuming foods that at fit three of the criteria listed here during most of your meals, you are doing great!

If you eat an all Live Food diet, yet feel unbalanced and ungrounded, don't panic! You may be experiencing detoxification reactions, which last a few weeks/months and need to be addressed. Are you doing any cleansing to help the body flush out the old junk? Do some research on gentle cleanses that will help you flush your organs mindfully, and get all of the junk out of your trunk for good!

You may also need to reevaluate what types of foods you are eating based on what your nutritional needs are, which are dependent upon your activity level and lifestyle as a whole.

Strive for consistency rather than perfection!

-Melissa Mango

Author of Melissa Mango's Green Cuisine, Melissa is a live food chef in the Santa Cruz area also catering David Wolfe events. As a dessert magician and food combining mistress her talents taker her abroad to consult and share the healing magic of Live Foods.

As a new mother; her book on raw meals to support a healthy raw pergnancy and beyond will be released this summer.

Check the Mango Mama out here: http://www.melissamangosgreencuisine.blogspot.com/