By: Lisa Paris

After a year or two on the raw wagon, you're feeling good and loving life. Then you notice that the leaps and bounds you've made with your fiercely sexy health have begun to level out. What's a little raw foodie to do? Follow this top ten list of moves that will take your vitality to a whole new level. These tips will help you kick it up a notch, and just in case you're well versed in all the tidbits I have to offer, will also teach you how to count to ten, backwards, in French. Ooh la la!

Numéro Dix: Breathe Big Or Go Home

It's quite incredible what a little deep breathing can do for you. Before I became aware of this, I was rocking about a tenth of my lung capacity with each inhalation. How unfortunate. Breathing in slowly and calmly relaxes the body, oxygenates the brain, and can make one feel quite high. Take some time each day to focus on your breath. Breathe in slowly a few counts, pause, and breathe out slowly for another few counts. Pause when you're angry or stressed and focus on your breath to alleviate woes. Consider meditation and, if you want to get really high, explore a little Kundalini yoga. It's like psychedelics for the lungs.

Numéro Neuf: Freshen Up

Does the majority of your produce have packaging similar to a bag-o-chips? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe spinach is grown that way... "Convenience produce" filled my fridge until the idea of food energy was brought into my consciousness. We thrive on a raw diet because of the sunlight energy that is transported through our food. This energy is at its peak when plucked from the tree or vine and slowly depletes thereafter. Lengthy shelf times, especially when packaged, result in lower vitality food. So hit your local farmer's market or start growing your own grub. Fresher food will equal a fresher you.

Numéro Huit: Be One With The Season

Think you'd catch me sporting a wool coat in the middle of July? Hells no. In life, most things are best utilized at their proper time and the same holds true for the fruit and the veg. Eating with the seasons is a stellar move for many reasons; one being that your food will taste incredible. It's hard to beat a ripe peach in the summer sun or gooey persimmons around the holidays. Food at its tastiest will leave you ultra satisfied and beaming. Not to mention that the nutritional quality is higher in food when it's in its prime. Can't decide what to eat? Tap into the source and let Mother Nature finagle your menu.

Numéro Sept: The Winning Combination

I went buck wild raw my first year and ate everything that came my way. This worked out initially, but over time my bizarro food combinations began taxing my energy level and wrecking shop on my stomach. Certain foods do not digest well with other foods. Some people come equipped with an iron stomach and take no notice, but for the rest of us, bad food combos lead to a world of creepy tummy situations. Although you may not notice the adverse effects of improper food combining, your energy levels have the potential to blow the roof off if you try properly combining your meals. Give proper food combining a chance and you could also drop a few pounds, as you're likely to hold excess weight if your meals aren't being efficiently digested, and burned as an energy source. All the info can seem overwhelming and whack at first but I found Natalia Rose's explanation of the food combo conundrum extremely accessible and helpful. Rose isn't fully raw or vegan but she knows what's up with digestion. Get the low down from her book Raw Food Life Force Energy if you'd like to give food combining a proper whirl.

Numéro Six: Digestion Breaks Are The New Coffee Breaks

As a huge fan of food, I use to partake in good old fashion snack sessions on the hour. An apple here, some carrot sticks there- I loved being raw because I could eat all the time! Though I tried to convince myself that I was fueling up for extra energy, piling food on top of food in my stomach wasn't doing me any favors. A lot of energy is used to digest food. Give your body breaks between meals, and it will hook you up with a vivaciousness that sparkles.

Numéro Cing: A Chill Pill On The Nuts 

Nuts taste amazing but what isn't amazing is the queasy feeling that follows overeating them. Many gourmet raw recipes are nut based because nuts make it easier to mimic mainstream dishes and the fullness you were accustomed to back in the day.  Nuts are great in small portions but frequently eating large amounts can weigh down those spry energy levels of yours'. After your initial dissent into raw your palate will lighten up, so if you're still nut crazy a little push to cease and desist may be all you need.

Numéro Quarte: Emerge From The Bat Cave

Staying inside all day, with unnatural lighting and stale air, equals bad. Taking in the glory of fresh air and radiant sunlight equals good. It is amazing how energized you feel after some face time with Mr. Sun. Once I had this realization I was hooked. Now you'd have to strap me to an ottoman to keep me inside on a nice day. Yes, life can be chaotic, but taking breaks to scope out the outdoors is doable when you make a point of it. Your Atari may not work among the rolling hillside, but just being there will make you feel more alive than level five of Frogger ever could, guaranteed.

Numéro Trois: Bump Thy Head On The Ceiling

I had heard about the secret benefits of rebounding (jumping on a mini trampoline) for years before I actually started to listen. If you don't have a rebounder, get one. If you have one and don't use it, put your sweatband on, pump up the jam and get hopping. Jumping as little as 16 minutes a day will do wonders for your lymphatic system, muscle tone and all over body bliss. This is the only work out I have ever enjoyed doing and my short stint of daily bouncing has already spawned noticeable results. You drop weight when you go raw... throw in a free butt lift and who can resist?

Numéro Deux: Deux H's And An O

I use to drink beer like it was water but I never actually drank water like it was water. What a disservice... all the energy I put into a raw lifestyle and here I was depriving myself of what the body needs most! Getting into the habit of staying hydrated does wonders for skin, mental clarity, flexibility, digestion- you name it.

Drink it up while there's plenty to go around, and speaking of drinking...

Numéro Un: Fresh Juice Is The New Crack

Discover the power of the juice! To clarify; juicing is not making smoothies. By juicing, you extract the vitamins and minerals from the fiber of your produce. Drinking this up is comparable to shooting pounds of plant nutrients straight into your bloodstream. Being that your body doesn't have to break down any of the plant fiber, you will feel markedly pepped up after a sweet little juice session. The energy you get from juicing is palpable. I realized this first hand after watching guests bounce off the walls, scrub my juicer, ask me where they could buy one, how much they cost and brainstormed what they could sell to fund the purchase. Call me a pusher. Label me an enabler. The juice will take you to a whole new level of raw.

Disclaimer:

Though I may look ultra professional in a pair of prescription-less designer specs, I am not a doctor. The information on this site comes from personal research and inductive reasoning based on experimentation within my own life. Apply the ideas at your own risk. Possible side effects include higher energy levels, a general enhancement in disposition and an increase in utter sexiness.