Foods are intended to supply the body with materials that can be converted into heat and energy and facilitate tissue formation and repair. All natural foods supply these materials in varying amounts.

Just as a fire can be smothered by too much fuel, so the body fires can be dampened by too much bad food.

Though foods are intended to create energy in the body, the over - consumption of bad food produces the opposite effect. The result is a greatly reduced amount of healthy energy.

A reduction in energy is just part of the problem. When your body is unable to convert foods into the necessary vitamins and nutrients, the unused foods may create waste products within the body. Serious chronic ailments may develop as a result.

Thus, healthful eating results from wise selection, proper preparation of alkaline foods in the right combinations and quantities. If you will pay attention to each of these important elements, your body will be able to burn foods properly to create the right balance of energy and nutrition.

Tip 1: Raw fresh fruits (without sugar) or raw vegetable salads or raw fruit juices or raw vegetable juices should be eaten at every meal. If your breakfast is so small that you ordinarily eat only toast and a vegetable, stop eating the toast and take fruits or fresh juices instead.

If your lunches are usually light ones, eliminate the sandwich or pie that you may have been filling up on, and substitute a raw drink or raw salad in its place. Have a large salad and raw juice before you eat a heavy entree at dinner. This way, you will be sure to eat all of the salad instead of finding yourself too full to finish it.

Tip 2: Limit proteins in your diet because they are acid-forming. Flesh foods and eggs are highly toxic and, if eaten at all, large amounts of alkaline-forming foods should be eaten with them. You can enjoy large healthful desserts at every meal when made of alkaline fruits with very little or no sugar.

Tip 3: Do not eat more than one starch food at a meal. You can choose non-starch vegetables as the main fillers at each meal. If you use sugar and sweets eat it only for desserts - just something small at the end of your meal to satisfy your craving. Make it a habit to satisfy your appetite completely with the salad and main course dishes, and then smaller portions of dessert will suffice. Large healthful desserts may be enjoyed at every meal when made of alkaline fruits with very little or no sugar.

Tip 4: Drinking abundant water tends to relieve constipation, flushes out the kidneys, removes waste matter and keeps the million of you body cells in better working condition. Did you know that water is one of the best regulators and eliminators we have?

It is always best to drink between meals, but if you must drink water during meals, avoid using water to moisten or wash down your foods. This is a bad habit that we have since early years. Eating food dry is one effective way of eating less.

A good rule to follow is to drink eight (8 oz.) glasses a day. More water is required during hot weather or if you do a lot of physical exercise.

Tip 5: All foods originally come from the plant kingdom. Animals cannot originate foods. Plants are food producers.

The little chlorophyll cells (the part that makes plants green) are the mystic laboratories that make foods out of the lifeless, inorganic elements. In these little green plant factories, by means of the sun's rays, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, calcium and other elements are converted into living organic substances. Chlorophyll cells function as a sort of trap that captures sunshine and stores it in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and other food elements.