Would You Eat A Raw Food Diet?
March 10, 2008
Photo by E p i t a
A menu consisting of raw foods sounds kind of boring, huh!
Yet, people who eat raw food diets claim they feel younger, have increased their energy, healed their body of certain ailments, and have even lost weight.
But, before you answer the question above - “Would you eat a raw food diet?” - let’s clear up the definition of “raw food” as it seems everyone has different opinions. Raw does not mean eating nothing but raw vegetables …. or salads. A raw menu, according to Carol Alt over at Raw Nutrition, can consist of sandwiches, smoothies, soup, granola, hummus, and desserts. Raw simply means foods that have not been cooked. And that can include vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, grains, unpasteurized dairy products, fish, and meat. Raw can also mean (and this is where some may disagree) food that has not been sprayed with pesticides, has no added preservatives, or has not be irradiated (treated with ionizing radiation to kill germs). I personally think of the latter as organic, but for some people this falls under the raw category because its causes foods to lose their vitality.
There are pros and there are cons to cooking these foods.
The pros are the main purpose for cooking the foods . . . to destroy all bacteria and other pathogens that could cause serious illnesses. And for that reason alone, many people understandably choose not to eat a raw food diet.
And the cons . . . that eating foods cooked at high temperatures (more than 112 degrees) can increase the rate at which we age plus it can contribute to weight gain. Again, according to Carol Alt, this is due to four things happening to the food when it is cooked at high temperatures:
1. The molecular structure changes.
2. The enzymes are killed.
3. The vitamins and minerals are destroyed.
4. The acid alkaline balance changes.
All this has an effect on how our body digests food which in turn prevents us from absorbing all the nutrients we need. The end result … the onset of weight gain and aging more quickly.
The health benefits of choosing raw foods over cooked include,
1. Weight loss
2. Slower aging
3. Better digestion
4. Increase energy
5. Improved skin appearance
6. Reduced heart disease
By simply changing how foods are prepared, we could shed our body of fat and we could lessen the effects of aging. But before giving up all our home-cooked meals, we need to decide which is the better risk,
1. Consuming foods that are cooked and considered bacteria free but which could promote weight gain and early aging, or
2. Consuming foods that are raw and facilitate weight loss and anti-aging and which perhaps is not bacteria free, but the fact that it provides better absorption of nutrients may be enough to protect against diseases.
For recipes for a raw food diet, consider Carol Alt’s book, The Raw 50: 10 Amazing Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Drinks for Your Raw Food Lifestyle
Technorati Tags: raw food diet, Carol Alt, benefits of raw food, health, wellness, weight loss
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Would You Eat A Raw Food Diet? : Health & Wellness Post…
Cooking foods at temps higher than 112 degrees destroys enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. This article shares the benefits of a raw food diet….
As is the case with all diets, it is important with this type of diet to make sure that you are getting all of the essential nutrients if you are going to cut out meats. However, if you do eat raw meats, you have to be extremely careful, because as Julie mentioned there is a real threat of illness from bacteria.
Thanks for that important information on meats, Tom. I personally find eating raw meat to be too risky. But I know there are people who consume it that way. Caution should definitely be taken.
Indeed true that everything has to be balance. It can be bad if all you will eat for the whole day are all raw food. Because theres a lot of health benefits from cooked foods like rice and bread. However I wont be happy to eat cooked caesar salad…. So everything has to be balance
Another con: Cooking tomatoes concentrates lycopene in much greater quantities than fresh, and makes it more easily absorbed. Lycopene is a very good anti-oxidant.
How do sandwiches, presumably with bread, qualify as raw food? Hummus - isn’t that made from cooked chick peas?
To A,
So true about the lycopene in cooked tomatoes. Which is a plus for me because I don’t like raw tomatoes. But I make sure my family gets plenty of lycopene through tomato sauces and paste.
As for the hummus and bread, here is a raw recipe for hummus: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Raw-Hummus/Detail.aspx
And while raw bread may not sound too appealing for everyone, here is a recipe for raw bread: http://goneraw.com/recipes/show/2
Maybe you should have a look how the french are cooking. They take a lot of vegetable and roast it for such a long time, that sure enough nothing is left of the vitamines. And then they drink wine, red wine.
They live really long with the mediterran food
Rainer,
I’m sure I’ll be hearing plenty about how the French cook as my daughter is getting ready to go study abroad. I can’t wait for her to return home and do some of that French cooking for me.
While I did a post on raw diets, I personally only eat a few raw food items.
Although, I would not eat everything raw, this encourages me to eat more raw fruits and vegetables. I like to juice things too. At least I know what is going into what I drink.
Weight Loss drugs…
This worked for me. Yesterday I was able to stick to the Fat Flush plan with no problem. When I diet like this, I do not use recipes or make good food for myself. I just eat a couple hard boiled eggs or open a can of packed- in- water tuna. I eat to su…
Raw food diets are one of the hardest diets for me to do. There are so many benefits from eating raw foods because you are allowing the body to save energy and pancreatic activity. Digestion can use up 80% of our body’s energy. I work for Enzymedica’s education department. They make digestive and therapeutic enzymes. Digest and Digest Gold are products that are ideal for anyone suffering from digestive issues but ALSO for people who are not. When stress is reduced to the system responsible for breaking down and assimilating the foods consumed more energy and thus more metabolic enzymes (body’s natural enzymes) are available for all other systems responsible for overall health. Healthier YOU! Please feel free to check out their website (enzymedica.com) or to ask me any questions.
Alessandra
With vegies, i think you can eat them either half cooked or raw. I love veggies! :p
If I could consistently grow tomatoes like the one in the picture, I know I would eat more raw veggies. Nothing is as good as a homegrown beefsteak tomato slice on a toasted bagel with fat free cream cheese. Heaven on a roll.
I found a great video on google about six McDonalds-munching Americans eat 100% vegan live foods for a month. In four days, they are off insulin and in 30 days, their diabetes is totally reversed. Their diet was all raw fruits and vegetables. Here is the link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1407054601065907544&hl=en
Great info, I’ve added a link to your site in a post “Let the Games Begin” today.
Feel like playing a little tag? I’ve been tagged so now it’s your turn, go here:
http://wellforce.blogspot.com/2008/04/let-games-begin-tag-that-is.html
On the question of foods being organic (whether they’re irradiated, etc.) it actually has little to do with how much they’ve been processed to receive the “organic” label. For example, organic milk is still pasteurized, vs. Raw milk.
I’d like to try a raw food diet. But I haven’t because of the time it would the cost of buying all those fruits and vegetables and I don’t think I’m disciplined enough to make sure I’d stilI be getting a balanced diet. I think for me, the biggest problem would be how much I’d have to eat. There are not many calories in fruits and vegetables, so I’d have to eat a lot of them in order to get the same amount of calories. I think I would waste a lot of time constantly preparing, buying, washing, cutting and eating the fruits and vegetables. And I’d pretty much have to be eating nonstop all day. The benefits are appealing though. Maybe I’ll give it a try this summer.
LOL! In answer to that question in the headline, my first answer would be an emphatic NO! But then i read the rest of the post and saw that there are sufficient alternatives included in ‘raw’ food for it to actually be an option! Interesting!