If you like your sauces green instead of white, try my raw food Pesto. Like the original, my recipe calls for basil leaves, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pine nuts. The only difference is that the pine nuts are raw instead of roasted.

One of my favorite raw food sauce recipes is the Mock Peanut Sauce that I created for Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People. Traditionally, this sauce calls for roasted peanuts, but I use raw almond butter instead.  As well as retaining more nutrients, I think raw almond butter actually tastes better in the recipe.

You can make your own almond butter or purchase it in stores. Just make sure you choose raw almond butter.

Mock Peanut Sauce

• 1/2 cup raw almond butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons tamari
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• Dash cayenne
• Dash salt
• Place all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth

This simple raw food sauce can be kept for up to five days in the refrigerator. Drizzle it over your favorite veggies at lunch or dinner or use it as a dipping sauce to add Asian flair to the crudités your serve at your next party.

Exercise burns fat. Excess weight causes a cycling effect. You become more fatigued with more weight and less apt to exercise or do other things that will help maintain a lower weight. Even eating moderately without exercise will result in increased weight. It doesn’t have to be a 3-hour stint at the gym to become healthier. You can lose weight without that huge block of time at the gym. Gradually increase the exercise and you’ll find yourself breaking that negative cycle.

Eating well balanced meals are the key to maintaining your health as a diabetic. Combine this with a daily exercise regime to use more calories than you take in. “Give me meat and potatoes!” used to be my motto. Then the doctor told me my triglycerides were up and if I didn’t start eating better I’d end up with diabetes. Talk about a scare! That caused me to start eating on a smaller plate, taking smaller portions and eating more vegetables. Eating fewer calories than you use (i.e. eat 1200 calories – use 1400 calories) is the key to gradual weight loss and a healthier body.

There are two schools of thought about vegetables. One supports the benefit of more enzymes in raw vegetables. The other raves about the extra flavor you can add even though you lose some of the beneficial enzymes in the cooking process. Raw fruits and vegetables provide more enzymes and fewer calories. Those vegetables that provide extra fiber in your diet also help you feel full without eating a lot of extra calories.

Freshly squeezed juices are much better than store bought. The processing procedure to package juices kills not only the bad bacteria, but a lot of the good elements we receive from juices. The solution to this problem is to use a blender at home and prepare your own juices (preferably without adding extra sugar). You need to develop a taste for certain juices such as pomegranate or guava, but when you can make your own, it is much better for you. Check the sugar content of fruits before making your juice. Some are naturally high in sugar and you may want to stay away from those. Try some guava or red grapes. Those both are great for controlling blood sugar.

Doctors say we are an obese society. (My wife types doctors’ notes. I remember when she was typing a report the doctor noted a person being obese and she said, “He better NOT say that about me when I go in!”). Well, it’s true. Fast food restaurants pour on the fat and the sugar and then want to know if we want to “super-size” it. YOUR objective is to balance the things you eat.

Foods rich in fiber help clean fat and blood glucose from your system. Naturally, this lowers the blood sugar levels. We talk about foods high in fiber being vegetables and a lot of those are found in salads. Naturally, we consider salads good for you to keep your body clean. The next thing to consider are the salad dressings. Take care here because things like mayonnaise and extra sugars are used to enhance the dressing’s flavor. If you pour on the dressing, you’re defeating the benefit of eating the salads in the first place. Moderation is the key to using dressings. Another option is to use low-calorie / low-fat dressings.

The pancreas produces enzymes to digest food in addition to insulin to regulate the sugar level of the blood. Over a period of time, the pancreas starts to lose its ability to produce both in most people. This simply means a good diet becomes more important as people get older. Many doctors end up suggesting patients add a dose of acidophilus to their diet to ease the stress placed on the pancreas by adding bacteria into the system that assists with the digestive function.

Four of the fat-fighting compounds you can always count on are calcium, fiber, omega-3s and vitamin D. Calcium is found in dairy products. When considering dairy keep in mind it’s best to use fat-free or soy milk products. Whole grains, fruits and vegetables are high in fiber. Walnuts, flax seed and fish contain a lot of omega-3s while vitamin D is found not only in dairy products, but also in eggs and fish like tuna, salmon and sardines.