Anyone heard of the "Raw diet"?!
Answers: I saw part of a documentary on TV about this "Raw" diet or lifestyle, rather..... I am curious as to what this is all about.... anyone care to enlighten me?
Not only have I heard of it, I have been following it for the past six months.
To me it is not a diet, it is a lifestyle choice, as I plan to stick with it for the rest of my life.
It has cured my chronic ulcerative colitis, chronic fatigue and depression - NO medication, just organic raw vegan foods.
I feel better than I have ever felt in my entire life.
There are some people in the raw community who are extremely fanatical, but I just avoid those sorts. I go at my own pace and currently eat around 90% raw vegan and 10% cooked vegan foods. Plus lots of blending, juicing & drinking of raw fruits and raw vegetables.
So you basically eat raw fruits, raw vegetables, soaked nuts, sprouted seeds.
Copied from the website link below…………”Raw and Living Foods are foods that contain enzymes. In general, the act of heating food over 116 degrees F destroys enzymes in food. Living and raw foods also have enormously higher nutrient values than the foods that have been cooked”
Since it is raw vegan, you avoid all animal flesh, dairy etc….
Most raw vegans are fairly strict but I still consume treats like chocolate and wine.
It sounds very limiting but you would be absolutely amazed at the different recipes available for eating this way. Once you get yourself a dehydrator, a decent blender and a decent juicer, the sky is your limit.
Here is a link to start you off:
http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/
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It just means that all the food you eat is "Raw" or not cooked above 110 degrees if I can recall correctly. ITs not bad if you like a lot of uncooked food but when its cold out side I want something hot.
raw diets are even more extreme than veganism, and are often vegan in addition, which is just ridiculously stupid. applying fire to food is the biggest development in history, we should look with suspicion at any one who suggests that this was a bad idea.
I would like to add that cooking food is often what brings out the nutrients and vitamins in the food. Also, too much raw food is hard on your body because its harder to digest. Thats not to say raw food is bad, because its not. But a raw diet is too much of a good thing.
Here is one person who is truly in better health because of his diet. He belongs to a community of enthusiasts all over the US. http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/pictures/lgep...
I also followed this diet for a few month last year. Lost some weight, felt really really good. But as I live quite up in the north, it is getting cold over here and organic food is not so freely available, then i switched to simple vegan diet.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...
this is also one nice documentary about raw family - Breakthrough.
It is worth watching. Will be enlightening for sure :)
A raw diet is meant to be easy to digest and supply maximum energy, increasing your strength, endurance and vitality. It goes on the basis that everything you eat should be uncooked and as fresh as possible.
Fresh and dried fruit, berries, raw or lightly cooked veg, salads, grains, nuts and seeds, fruit juice, wholemeal bread, honey, herbs and dairy products are acceptable.
I am going to be starting it soon as over winter i have became very lazy and my healthy diet has slipped somewhat. Too much comfort eating!
Eating raw food, as other have said, means food that has not been cooked over 110 degrees.
Raw foodists are vegans. They do not consume dairy products (which are not raw) and most do not eat honey.
A quote from an answer above:
"cooking food is often what brings out the nutrients and vitamins in the food. Also, too much raw food is hard on your body because its harder to digest."
Utter crap. Nothing could be further from the truth. The heating of foods (and other processing) DESTROYS vitamins and minerals, and most importantly, kills the enzymes needed to digest the food. Why are there so many "digestive aids," prescriptions for constipation, and heartburn and reflux medications?
Because people are living on processed foods.
Most of the medications people are taking are for something they could cure with food, and ALL medications have side effects, which eventually require more medications.
Raw is a great way to live. People always say they have more energy and feel better. Chronic illnesses and depression often disappear. My eyesight improved dramatically. (I've been raw for almost two years.)
And, you can make some AMAZING food! I'm having nut burgers on onion bread (made in a dehydrator) for lunch....
It's just that naturally, before humans discovered fire or started using fire for just about everything... we ate mostly or all raw foods. We started cooking our foods because otherwise, these foods we were trying to eat would be inedible. Many plants with natural poisons (potatoes and mushrooms for one) can be eaten after being cooked because these poisons are broken down with heat. Meat is also broken down with cooking and allows us to chew it and swallow it, unlike with meat eaters who just tear chunks and swallow whole.
Some people have established certain temperatures that should not be exceeded to remain in the raw category. So, low temperature heating is okay, such as low temperature drying of herbs, spices, beans, rice, fruit, etc.
Personally, I an not on a raw diet, far from it, but the more raw foods I eat, the better I feel, the better I look the better my skin looks, the brighter my eyes look... I think that if I lived in the tropics (I live in the north) with year round access to lots of fruits and veggies etc. I'd have no problem being totally raw.
John H. Tobe has a really good No Cook book. There are many other books too, such as The Un-Cook Book. I find that the older raw books are far better than the new ones that are just jumping on the whole trend and publishing books with lots of pretty photos and little else. I'll add that yes you can be a raw meat eater too, but of course it would need to be fresh kill.
take a look at these, my fav raw websites:
www.rawfamily.com
www.thegardendiet.com
Go to a raw potluck sometime. I did, it was great.