Health News Archive

Carol Alt recommends Eating Raw

At 40+, supermodel Carol Alt looks better than ever. So what's her beauty secret?

Carol often goes to Manhattan's Whole Foods Market, her fountain of youth: her health secret is eating raw. Carol's has written a book, "Eating in the Raw". It reveals her diet secrets; it's full of useful raw food dos and don'ts guidelines.

"This is guilt free eating, man," Carol says. "It's guilt-free and hunger-free. I'm always full, that's the thing; raw food is nutrient-dense. What that means is that it is constantly feeding your body."

"My body got younger and my face got younger," Carol said of her experience on the diet. "It saved my life."

It also saved Carol's career. Eight years ago, Alt was about to do a shoot, and she admitted, "You know what, they couldn't shoot me because I was not in bathing-suit condition."

Carol Alt maintains her long and lean fit shape. Carol joins other raw food lovers such as Alicia Silverstone, Demi Moore and Natalie Portman, Woody Harrelson, Moby and Alanis Morrisette. But you don't have to live in Hollywood to eat raw, just follow 4 basic rules for better health and beauty:

1. Don't heat food above 118 degrees.
2. Read labels carefully. "We want the raw with the enzymes," Carol reminded us.
3. Plan ahead. "One day a week, you put together your stuff for the week and move on," she recommended.
4. Make sure its fresh. Avoid old bruised fruit and vegetables whenever possible.
   

And if you want to get started eating raw but don't want to go totally raw right now, try these suggestions:

A) When cooking, add cold-pressed olive oil afterward. If you're making a pasta sauce, for example, don't use oil at all with your tomatoes to get the sauce started. Stew them in water and then, just before you're ready to serve, add the cold-pressed (raw) olive oil. You'll get the benefits of the raw oil and spare yourself the detriments of cooked oils

B) "Sauté" in water instead of oil -- just remember to stir more.

C) On salads don't give in to the temptation to use bottled dressings. Mix cold-pressed ones like olive oil, Udo's Choice oil or flaxseed oil with raw apple cider vinegar. Add spices if you wish.

D) Eat foods you are already familiar with, but make them raw. Guacamole and salsa are easy to make raw. The easy recipes are in Carol's book. When you shop for cheeses, look (and ask) for the raw-milk varieties from licensed cheese vendors. If you eat whole-grain breads, you'll love sprouted breads. Get used to finding them in the frozen food section and keeping them in your freezer at home until you're ready to make a sandwich.

E) Stay away from highly-processed foods like canned gravies and soups and begin reading lists of ingredients on packaged foods. You'll be amazed what sorts of strange additives with unpronounceable names are in what we eat every day.

Here's a sample "Raw" recipe that you can try:

PASTA A LA MARINARA

(by Quintessence, New York City)

Serves 5

Ingredients

5 pounds of yellow summer squash

Marinara Sauce

6 large tomatoes

1/2-cup sun dried tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

1/2 bunch of fresh basil

1/4-cup (loosely packed) fresh oregano

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4-cup red onion, chopped

1/2-cup cold-pressed olive oil

1/4-cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

5 dates, pitted

1 tablespoon evaporated sea salt

Top with

1/4-cup olives, chopped

1/4-cup tomatoes, chopped

1/4-cup red bell peppers, chopped

1/4-cup red onions, chopped

For the "pasta," thinly slice the yellow squash with a sharp knife, or use a turning (spiralizing) slicer to cut squash into curly strands. Set aside. For the marinara sauce, put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and puree until creamy. Pour sauce on spiralized yellow squash pasta and top with olives, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions.

A "parmesan cheese" substitute can be made by putting an equal proportion of sea salt and raw sesame seeds in a coffee grinder and blending until flaky, like the consistency of ground parmesan.

Back 19.03.2006.