Eating raw food was how our ancestors survived another day, this before the taming of food and the use of fire. Today, the raw food diet is an adopted lifestyle as well as a method of better health. This naturalistic approach excludes all cooked foods, most animal products, processed and refined foods.
The raw food diet is growing into mainstream popularity and not a fad. The consumption of raw foods, also referred to as living foods, offers superior health benefits than anything that needs to be heated or prepared.
A food is essentially considered raw if it’s kept below 115 degrees Fahrenheit, as once the temperature rises above this, the enzymes which the food contains are destroyed.
What eating food in its raw form ensures is an opulent intake of complete nutrients, healthy oils, fiber, and life preserving enzymes. Raw food is also a lot easier to digest, taking up to a third of the time less than cooked food. So around 24 to 36 hours as compared to 40 to 100 hours.
Most raw fruits and vegetables are also predominantly alkaline, which helps in optimizing the body’s pH balance, as approximately 70% percent of alkaline foods are recommended for the body to be resistant to disease and illness.
Single ingredient whole foods or raw juices are recommended as an ideal raw food diet. Dehydrators are also used to effectively concentrate the flavor of certain raw foods, and presents itself just as well as any cooked dish.
The Raw Food Power Movement
The majority of raw plant foods are extremely healthy, regenerative, energizing, cleansing, predominantly alkaline, and loaded with natural vitamins, minerals, enzymes, healthy oils, antioxidants, all which promotes better health.
The consumption of raw foods also enhances better digestion while protecting against aging and disease. Raw food diets are excellent for those looking to lose weight, while experiencing clear flawless skin.
The benefits that are offered by eating raw food becomes yet more apparent, this when compared to what the effects of cooking has on the constituents in food.
The Damaging Effects Of Cooked Food
What cooked foods are known to do is deny our body of much needed nutrients, this since what applying heat does is it alters the food to the point that their value is partially or completely destroyed.
The nutrients in cooked food becomes either coagulated, caramelized, rendered inorganic, and at times can even become toxic and pathogenic, this once inside the body.
There are also the indigestible end byproducts which are found in cooked foods which can linger in the stomach, which clogs the intestines while interfering with the natural detox process.
What then happens is a build-up of toxins, carcinogens, and mutagens. The carbs also begins to ferment, the proteins putrefy, and fats can become rancid, which creates free radicals which enters the blood stream.
Lipufuscin, which is known as the aging pigment, is a waste product that’s created from damaged fats and proteins. What happens is they’ll begin accumulating in the skin, which can become visible as “liver spots” on the skin and around the eyes.
The Destruction Of Enzymes
What the cooking process does is it destroys the enzymes in our food. Enzymes are extremely delicate and heat sensitive proteins which loses its stabilization once the temperature reaches 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Enzymes are found in abundance in most raw foods, are highly functional catalysts which regulates a variety of tasks in the body, such as breaking down food for digestion, removes toxic waste, and provides nutrient delivery, which strengthens the endocrine and immune systems.
Every living cell contains enzymes which are able to function in cooperation with the other minerals. Since enzymes can become scarce, eating foods which contains them removes the burden off our organs to produce digestive enzymes, which frees them for other metabolic purposes resulting in more energy.
The Loss Of Nutrients And Proteins
The cooking process can lose up to 95% percent of all water soluble vitamins B and C, and up to 40% percent of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
The heating process also denatures the proteins, which modifies their molecular structure, rendering them ineffective. Bacteria that’s in the gut then feeds on the undigested proteins which tends to putrefy, producing toxins.
What raw foods are able to provide are healthy, readily available protein in greater abundance, this without undigested residue.
Fats And Oils
What heat can do is destroy the value of cooking oil, altering their molecules which then generates toxins and free radicals. Unrefined oils which are cold-pressed, will keep their natural healthy properties.
Cold pressed oils such as olive oil and flaxseed oil are rich in phytonutrients, and are excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids. These oils should be kept refrigerated and stored in dark sealed containers for maximum optimization.
The Importance Of Fiber
Fiber is extremely essential for your health as it helps in flushing out the intestines, while scrubbing them clean and aiding in the elimination of toxins.
What cooking food fiber does is it turns them into a soft substance, which loses its brush like cleansing properties. Cooked fiber can also partially rot, ferment, and then eventually putrefy in the stomach, which causes toxins, heartburn, and gas.
Eating Raw Super Foods
Eating select “superfoods” can enhance a raw food diet even further. Superfoods are considered super because they’re more potent, richer in antioxidants, more nutritionally dense, fights disease better, has anti-aging properties, enhances better mood, beautifies the skin, and boosts the immune system.
What consuming these raw superfoods such as berries, nuts, oils, and seafood does is they ensure the optimum intake of nutrients and phytochemicals, this for superior health.