The Benefits of Raw Food

Eating raw foods only might seem downright strange to you....like something straight out of the animal kingdom. Yet one of the latest diet crazes is the raw food diet. It may seem like an odd idea to eat all your food raw, but it’s really a very natural way to eat. All the animals on the planet eat raw food except for humans and those raised by humans. Raw food was what humans started out eating...we only adapted to eating cooked food. Those that eat cooked food tend to have a shorter lifespan and more widespread disease. Before you dismiss raw food as the latest fad diet, take a look at the benefits it has to offer and there are many.

When you cook food, you get rid of a lot of the benefits it has to offer. The most important thing humans need to live is water. Our bodies are made up of mostly water; if you are lacking nutrients, you may feel sick, but if you are lacking water, you die. Cooking foods removes a large majority of their water content, making them harder to absorb and digest and increasing the amount of water you need to drink. Cooking food also eliminates significant amounts of protein, vitamins and other vital nutrients.

While you don’t always think of it that way, cooking is a chemical reaction. It chemically changes food and changes how good or bad it is for your body. Most of these changes make things like protein and fats harder to digest. When cooked, fats become easier for the body to store; some even become carcinogenic. When you eat things that are easier to digest, you get the energy from them faster (without expending as much) this makes you feel better overall and more lively. If your goal is to lose weight, this will not only help you lose some pounds, but give you energy to work out and burn off more.

One of the most important benefits of the raw food diet is active enzymes. Most foods in nature contain the enzymes needed to break them down. When we cook food, we destroy these enzymes. This means we have to break them down ourselves using our own digestive juices. Why is this bad? Well our enzymes aren’t as efficient as the natural ones, and our body has to work really hard to make them. This draws resources away from out immune system, causing us to be more susceptible to illness and disease. Plus, we can only produce so many in a lifetime. If we eat raw food that helps digest itself; we don’t have to draw on these resources and can actually live longer, healthier lives.

With recent e coli outbreaks, you should be careful about what you eat raw. Cooking kills off beneficial organisms, but it also kills off harmful ones too

Most raw food diets include other healthy suggestions including: eating only organic food, not eating certain foods together, and only eating sprouted grains. While many of these diets are hard to stick to, you can try simply cutting back the amount of cooked food you eat. Another tip is to make sure you eat one raw food with each meal, this could be as easy as adding a few nuts, seeds or a fresh salad or fruit to your meals. By doing this you are adding active enzymes that will help you digest the food faster.

If you want the benefits of this great lifestyle, there are tons of books and resources you can find to help you get started.

Looking for some raw inspiration? Check out our raw food blog!

Raw Food Books:

Vita-Mix Super 5200

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