What is a raw food diet?
How a raw food diet can help you find a healthy lifestyle, and put you at risk.
Health topics: What is a raw food diet?
A raw food diet is just what it would appear to be – a diet that focuses on eating raw products rather than cooked ones. The advantages of a raw food diet are not, as one might expect, so much the result of raw foods “jump-starting your metabolism!” or “energizing your diet!” as fad advertisements have testified. Rather, one loses a great deal of weight on a raw food diet simply because most of the foods one can eat raw are low in fat and fair-to-high in carbohydrates, a combination that is inclined to improve your metabolism across the board. Raw food diets also incline people to eat more natural foods, such as fruits, vegetables and dairy, as these things are among the bulk of foods that can be eaten raw. This means that people who eat only raw foods get a better supply of the assorted micronutrients and macronutrients associated with good diet and good metabolism, the lack of which can be a leading factor in causing obesity or poor health in general.
One danger of eating raw foods is a danger associated with any primarily vegetarian diet, and that’s the generally low input of protein. This is exacerbated by the fact that raw fooders don’t typically have a great deal of bean intake, because most beans aren’t edible raw, and beans are a large source of vegetarian protein. Meats may have their own dietary dangers, but they are an excellent source of protein–if you find that you can’t incorporate meats or beans into your raw food diet, you may wish to increase your dairy intake, as milk and cheeses can be good sources of natural protein. Nuts can be a good source of fats and protein as well, for the raw fooder. Another alternative is to use any one of the numerous protein supplements on the market, which, while not natural, will make sure that your body gets all the nutrients it needs from a diet that, while beneficial, can sometimes be awkwardly balanced.
As most disciples of ‘raw fooding’ are aware, the process of cooking food is known to leech out certain nutrients. Despite this drawback, cooking has the benefit of making food sterile, something that raw food frequently is not. Those who experiment with raw foods will take in a great number of harmless bacteria as well as a great number that can be mildly noxious, so you should be careful about washing thoroughly any produce you consume. More importantly, frequent experimentation with raw meat is discouraged, even though many recipes for raw meat preparation do exist, especially in fish. It is all too easy to run across low-quality or insufficiently fresh meats, especially when you eat them regularly, and your chances of parasitic infection when consuming certain raw meats are exponentially higher than those faced by the general population.
Above all, when deciding upon a raw food diet, be careful. Remember that raw food is not magically better for you than cooked, it simply can be more nutritious as a rule of thumb. When in doubt, break your rules and cook it. Don’t deprive yourself of what you need, including protein, and don’t be afraid to take supplements if you think you might be falling behind in one department or another. However healthy natural eating can be, remember that the race has been practicing ‘natural eating’ for millions of years, and only in the past few hundred has the average human life span passed forty years. Be cautious, and be scientific, and the principles of a raw food diet can dramatically improve your health, but if you are reckless, or if you ignore basic principles of health, your diet may be detrimental to your body. Finally, always remember to practice moderation: just because it came from a health food store doesn’t mean you can eat all of it you want. Keep an eye on your sugars and your fats, just as you would with any diet.
Vegetarian, Raw food and Vegan with Bill & Sheila
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