can eating only raw food really spice up your sex life and make you look 10 years younger _ mail...

8/14/2019 Can eating only raw food really spice up your sex life and make you look 10 years younger _ Mail Online.pdf

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Can eating only raw food really spice up yoursex life and make you look 10 years younger?

By Felicia Bromfield

PUBLISHED: 23:34 GMT, 18 October 2013 | UPDATED: 01:48 GMT, 19 October 2013

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Radical diet: Susan Reynolds hasn't eaten anything but raw fruit and vegetables for

seven years and her only exception is a bit of dark chocolate

What, if anything, would persuade you to swap a warm shepherds pie or a spicy curry for a cold, crispsalad? And not just for one night, but for the rest of your life: you would never tuck into a plate of cookedfood again.

Now the nights are drawing in, its not the most tempting proposal.

But what if the results were a crease-free forehead, cheeks as rosy as a Braeburn apple, twinkly eyes and atauter tummy?

On top of that, it would have you brimming with energy and put the spark back into your sex life.

Well, this is what eating nothing but raw food does for you or so says Susan Reynolds. She hasnt eatenanything hot for seven years, and is regularly thought to be ten years younger than her 29 years.


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Its not all about looks, she hastens to tell me, despite her striking make-up-free prettiness. I chooseto live like this because it makes me feel great.

When you eat heavy comfort dishes, you sink into what I call a food coma. You eat mashed potato, youfeel like a mashed potato.

But after consuming raw food you feel much more energised. You want to do things.

Imagine the impact on your sex life if, rather than slumping on the couch, you feel revitalised after dinner.

Youre like, lets go!

A cheeky glint enlivens Susans fresh-faced air of innocence.

For while this raw-foodist survives on a pretty spartan diet, shes not the dour puritan you might expect;she understands the lure of dietary vices.

Its not about denying yourself things, she insists.

You can still eat cake and chocolate. You just make raw versions of both.

Raw chocolate who knew? Its made from ground rather than roasted cacao (the botanical term forchocolate) and coconut milk is added instead of cows milk.

Raw cakes are made in a similar way to cheesecakes, with a base created from processed almonds, datesand coconut oil, set in the fridge, while the topping is sweetened coconut milk.

And although Susan no longer drinks alcohol (apart from the very occasional whisky with her dad), she saysshes discovered a chocolate tipple thats every bit as stimulating.

She explains: I make a special raw chocolate drink by blending it with chilli and a superfood called maca,which is actually an aphrodisiac.

It makes you feel like you want to go out and party.

The trend towards so-called raw-foodism has been gaining ground in recent years, the rule being you cant

consume anything cooked at more than 40c (104f), because above that temperature food loses much of itsnutritional value.

But while supporters claim that eating uncooked food can help you lose weight and fight chronic diseases,experts have raised concerns that they are putting their health at risk by cutting out vital food groups.

Susan says: The two main questions I get asked are, Dont you miss comfort food? and, What aboutprotein? She has answers for both: she says she gains comfort from other things like beautiful linensheets or listening to music and adequate protein from leafy greens such as spinach and rocket.

In fact I often have my blood taken and everythings fine. Im the healthiest Ive ever been.

Not that Susan has always been so virtuous. The youngest of three girls, she was born to a businessmanfather and artist mother in Edinburgh before the family moved to Manchester when she was five.


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Hot pie or cold soup: Susan's lifestyle might not be the most appealing as the winter

weather dr aws in but she claims it gives her mor e energy

We ate the average British diet, she says. Cereal for breakfast, meat and veg for dinner and snacks suchas crisps and sweets.

But when she reached her early teens, Susans mother fell ill with ME. It was really difficult for her, shesays. She had to go on a sugar-free diet for a while maybe two years and that really helped.

I guess her experience made me think more about my health.

Susan started going to the gym every day and during her late teens and early 20s she began experimenting

with different eating plans: going gluten-free, and trying out veganism and the Atkins diet.It wasnt a question of wanting to lose weight at 5ft 11in tall, she weighed a trim 10st. But she wassuffering from symptoms similar to those experienced by people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) andwas looking for a way to cure them.

When Susan was 22, she first started cutting out cooked food altogether in part as a result of a brokenheart.

Id just split up with my on-off boyfriend from university, she says. Mum took me out to lunch at this rawfood cafe to cheer me up.

I noticed the owner, who was in his 30s, and thought he looked incredible; so young.

That night she did some research online and decided to try it.

She says the benefits kicked in immediately: she didnt get that post-hot-meal slump and her digestiveproblems cleared up.


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Fountain of youth: Susan believes her extreme diet helps keep her healthy and young

looking - and had helped her land a 22-year-old boyfriend

She started going to the cafe every day for a smoothie on her way to work, and would go on to have afive-year relationship with the owner he taught her how to make the diet work.

So can a raw food diet really be a good idea?

Many raw foodies believe that the diet makes the body more alkaline, allowing it to better fight off toxins.Others claim that heating food causes the vitamins in it to leach out, and raises the levels of free radicals inthe food, which are linked to ageing and chronic disease.

They also claim it helps you to keep a healthy weight. A U.S. study published in 2005 found that raw food

volunteers had a lighter body weight, lower Body Mass Index and less body fat than those who ate a typicaldiet.

Although Susan didnt go on the diet to lose weight, she has lost a stone over the years, taking her down to9st.

There are other raw foodies Ive met who have lost half their body weight, she says.

Not that its easy it does require a change of lifestyle to become 100per cent raw. You can only shopin the first two aisles of the supermarket, for a start, she says.

If, just like Susan does, you also insist on only consuming organic produce, this lifestyle can be costly too.Yesterday I bought all my food for that day from Waitrose and it came to 20, she says.

In total, Susan believes she spends more than 7,000 a year on food.

But its not just the financial cost of the raw food diet that worries dietitians such as Helen Bond. She saysgoing raw could ultimately be bad for health and leave you feeling exhausted.


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The danger of this diet arises from all the nutrients youre missing out on, for example wholegrains whichyou get from rice, potatoes and pasta, all of which need to be cooked to be enjoyed.

These are important for fibre and energy and keeping your blood sugar levels low.

Then theres protein, which is needed for building healthy bones and muscles. Bond, who is aspokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, questions Susans claim that its possible to get sufficientlevels of protein from leafy greens.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed: But dieticians worry that eating only r aw food could mean

missing out on enough protein and essential minerals like iron

Theres very little protein in greens, so youd have to eat an awful lot to get your recommended dailyamount. I suppose you can get it from nuts and seeds but the best sources of high quality protein really areeggs and lean meat.

Id also be concerned about getting enough iron you can get some from vegetables, but not haem iron,the type of iron that helps to make sure your red blood cells are moving round the body.

She admits that a raw food diet would probably help you lose weight, but more because your repertoire ofavailable foods is so limited than because of any magical quality. And while some vitamins are lost fromvegetables when we heat them, this is not true for all foods: betacarotene, the nutrient found in butternutsquash, tomatoes and carrots, is much more easily absorbed into the body when its been cooked.

I do think we should incorporate raw food into a balanced diet, but people take it too far and thedisadvantages start to outweigh the benefits.

But Susan Reynoldss commitment to the diet is unwavering. She sticks to a litre of green juice made fromlettuce and herbs for breakfast, snacks on raw chocolate and berries during the day and has a large salad


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or soup for dinner.

And she insists that she has continued to enjoy the myriad benefits of the diet: Mental clarity, positivity,health and radiance.

Its the latter that has inspired the most interest from others.

I dont look in the mirror and think: I look so young! she says. But when I tell people my age they oftensay: 29 really?

Sure enough, these attributes are in evidence upon first meeting. And despite her modesty, surreptitiousglances at her forehead dont reveal a single line: pretty good going for someone touching 30, whateverdissenters might say.

Compare her to a photograph of her 22-year-old self taken before she started the raw food diet and ifanything she now looks more sprightly, more youthful. So much so she has recently acquired a 22-year-oldboyfriend, Liam.

These days she and a chef friend have set up Twist and Sprout, raw food and yoga retreats, as a way ofwinning others round to their cause. Certainly, you couldnt find a better advert than Susan.

But whether raw food is the key to eternal youth or not, what would you rather reach for af ter a long chilly

day: a bowl of cold soup or a piping-hot pie?

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kbw271186,West Sussex, moments ago

OLD news! DM only reported this the other day.

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NC-Kent,Margate, UK, 6 minutes ago

I don't have any forehead lines either and I'm 35! I've had a child, eat relatively healthily, but do enjoy snacking and a daily glassor two of wine. I definitely think your body needs a range of nutrients for optimum health, and a variety of flavours and texturesand pleasure from food is important for your mental well being! Not to mention the social aspect of eating and drinking. Oh, and

I'm 5'8 and a size 8-10, so similar body shape to this woman, but 6 years older and love my food! Don't listen to these weirdos,keep active & enjoy everything in moderation :-)

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Mel,Melbourne, United Kingdom, 6 minutes ago

"Certainly, you couldnt find a better advert than Susan." ... or a better advert for her retreats, it would appear! Is the journalist arelative of hers, perhaps?

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Sandy Brown,London, 9 minutes ago

We do not need to know about your sex life Dear!

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Jennifer,Bradford, 9 minutes ago

Life is short. Eat cake.

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Liz,Dundee, 10 minutes ago

Yes she looks healthy but 10 years younger! Absolutely not!

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jod05jod,York, UK, 11 minutes ago

this article was up 2days ago im sure

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figaro0314,Nowhere, 15 minutes ago

I'm not saying your social life would be affected... as long as you don't sleep in the same room when the raw foods have workedtheir way through the body...

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simplysimon,Derby, 16 minutes ago

she says she gets her protein from spinach and rocket. For approximately every 100grams of this posh grass she would get3grams of protein - not enough for growth, repair or development. So by the time she's 49 she'll look 69 - go girl go!


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EnglandsCalling,London Uk, 20 minutes ago

she can eat my raw cucumber if she wants

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can eating only raw food really spice up your sex life and make you look 10 years younger _ mail...

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