The Raw Food Diet: Some things you may not know

With the raw food diet, dieters focus on consuming plant foods that have not been processed or cooked. Proponents of the raw food diet believe that cooking food reduces its nutritional value; they also believe that food heated above 460°C will destroy the enzymes found in food. These enzymes are believed to aid in the absorption and digestion of food.

The benefits of the raw food diet include:

• Surge in energy

• Radiant skin

• Food is digested much easier

• Steady loss of weight

• Risk of heart disease is lowered

• Far less Tran’s fats and saturated fat

• High in potassium, magnesium, fiber and phytochemicals

• Sodium consumption is lower

All these benefits have been shown to lessen the risk of some major diseases including cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

With the raw food diet a minimum of 75% of what is consumed has to be raw or living. Here are some of the foods to be eaten:

• Water

• Coconut milk

• Whole foods including, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains and dried fruit. These foods however must be unprocessed or organic

• Natural foods

• Fruit and vegetables, juiced with no additives

• Of the food eaten over three quarters must never be heated to temperatures over 460°C

On the raw food diet most of the food is not cooked, but for food that is, cooking is done so that heating does not exceed 460°C. Thus food is slow heated most of the time. By cooking food in this manner foods become easily digestible. Other preparation techniques include extracting the juice from fruits and vegetables, dehydrating, soaking dried fruit and sprouting grains.

One of the more popular pieces of appliances for those on a raw food diet is a dehydrator. A dehydrator gets rid of the water in foods by blowing air through them at temperatures below 460°C. A juicer, which is used to juice vegetables and fruits, a food processor, glass containers of different sizes, to facilitate the soaking of grains and beans.

One of the major criticisms of the raw food diet is that the body does not need the enzymes food in that is heated, as it uses its own enzymes for digestion. Other critics argue that by cooking food certain phytochemicals are absorbed easily including beta-carotene.

Children, pregnant women, anyone suffering from anemia, and persons who are at risk for osteoporosis are advised not to go on the raw food diet.

For anyone considering going on the raw food diet, they must be prepared to completely devote themselves to all that is required by this diet. The raw food diet has a lot of foods that is starch based and some of the foods are not easy to locate. For the raw food diet many visits to a natural foods store may be necessary.