Benefits of Raw Food Diet

Wih the exception of some monkeys that cook their food, most of the animals on the planet eat raw food except for humans and those raised by humans.  And those that eat cooked food tend to have a shorter lifespan and more widespread disease.  Take a look at the benefits the raw food diet has to offer. 

When you cook food, you lose a lot of the nutrients.  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 and only eating sprouted grains.  While many of these diets are difficult to stay on forever, you can try simply cutting back the amount of cooked food you eat and enjoy some benefits.  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 better, resulting in a greater benefit to the body.

If you want the benefits of this great lifestyle, there are tons of books and resources you can find to help you get started here:  Raw Food Diet- benefits and how to's and here: Raw Food Secrets

So - How Do I Add More Raw Foods to My Daily Diet?

Here a few simple ways to add 50% of raw foods to your daily diet:

• Eat a simple green salad with lunch and dinner. Make sure to eat it before your main meal because it aids in proper digestion.
•  Cut up raw vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, green onions, and celery to go with your dinner. You would be surprised how delicious a raw tomato is with beans and rice.
•  Make a salad with just avocadoes, tomatoes, green and black olives.
•  Make a bruschetta spread with tomatoes, garlic, and green olives. Dice the vegetables; add olive oil, sea salt, and basil. Chill and eat over toast, crackers, or by itself.
•  Pop a piece of fruit in your mouth. Yes, they are raw foods too!
•  Make smoothie. Did you know a smoothie does not have to have milk? Just freeze the fruit, place in blender once it is frozen, add ice, sweetener of choice, some ground flax seeds, and blend.
•  Juice it! Oh the benefits of having a juicer. Try a carrot, cucumber, and ginger blend for energy, focus, and clarity. Juicing is very beneficial to your over all health.
•  Try sprouts. The most enzyme rich foods are sprouts. They are filled with some of the most potent sources of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and many B vitamins. Just about any vegetable or grain can be consumed from sprouts. Try alfalfa, broccoli, bean, or mung bean sprouts.
•  Make a raw granola, trail mix, and raw fruit bars.
•  Eat raw nuts. No, not the salted ones in the store. Find raw nuts in health food stores and crunch away. You can even add them you your salads.