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Raw food diet - details, pros, and cons
How to follow it, what to expect, and how to enjoy eating raw
food?
The
Hollywood
celebrities are the ones to often start a trend -
particularly when it comes to
eating and
fashion.
And this time they have definitely added momentum to the
raw food diet trend. Reportedly
Donna Karan and
Carol Alt eat only a raw diet. Other celebrities such as
Sting and fitness guru
Denise Austin have said that they
too eat a lot of raw foods. Donna Karan said that after
the death of her husband she gained a lot of weight and
nothing could help her lose it, but the raw diet worked
wonders for her.
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Carol
Alt, the former model and author of a raw diet book, has
said that in her early thirties she literally had an
eating
disorder, including an Irish coffee in the morning (yes, with
alcohol). She suffered from allergies, lack of energy, and
gastritis. She thought this was normal, but when her looks
started to suffer and she was not bikini ready for her
work, she turned to raw foods and everything changed.
Carol has a non-retouched picture on the cover of her book
and she looks extraordinarily beautiful for her age.
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 What is a raw diet?
The obvious answer is that these are diets that include
only raw foods or at least 70% of raw foods. In contrast
to to
what you might think, followers of raw food diet
can be
vegetarians (vegans), ovo-lacto vegetarians (milk
and eggs included) and non-vegetarians. Milk and eggs have
to be consumed raw as well. Since it is recommend that fish be
eaten raw, sashimi is a popular dish.
Carol Alt follows a non-vegetarian raw diet. She enjoys
sashimi, raw milk products, raw eggs, and occasionally pan-seared meats and fish.
Since raw diet is very flexible and lets you decide what
to eat and how, different followers
use their own version. That means that there are several
versions – some more extreme than others are.
Why should one eat raw foods?
According to the raw foodists (that is how they
like to be called), when food is cooked, the enzymes
contained in the foods are destroyed. According to Dr.
Nicholas J. Gonzales, who has written the foreword in Carol Alt's book, when the enzymes are cooked at 120 F or more,
they are destroyed. He explains that our bodies have the ability to
create their own enzymes, but if we eat enzymes by eating
“living, uncooked foods,” our bodies can use the energy
and effort in maintaining themselves instead of processing
food. Thus, they become more efficient and allow us to stay
younger and healthier. (Related:
Organic cotton clothes)
Benefits
of the raw foods diet
Dos and don’ts of raw diets
- Food may not be exposed to more than
120 F (even 100 F, according to strict followers).
- Fresh, organic produce.
- Filtered, purified or distilled
water.
- Raw means "raw." In other
words, pasteurized foods, blanched vegetables or nuts
and all processes that expose foods to temperatures
above 100 F are not acceptable.
- Do not consume any food additives.
Choices of food for raw dieters
Followers
of raw diet have developed a comprehensive cuisine
that many people are unable to even figure out that
these dishes are "raw." Depending on the type
of diet you choose to follow - vegan, vegetarian
with milk and eggs or non-vegetarian - you can eat:
- Nuts, beans, cereals, and seeds
(including milk from some of them)
- Fresh produce fruits and
veggies (including bean and seed sprouts)
- Cold press oils
- Coconut and baby coconut water
- Seaweeds
- Fresh juices
- Dried and sun-dried fruits,
without additives, of course
- Celtic salts or non-heated sea
salts
- Spices and herbs
What do the experts think
about raw diets?
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Not
much yet since scientific studies are few.
There was a study on raw vegans (no milk, no eggs)
and it concluded that the people studied had lower
bone density but were otherwise in good health.
There have been concerns about feeding babies raw
diets or children of mothers who are following raw
diets but there are no conclusive studies yet.
Some
doctors agree that it is true that the food’s
enzymes get destroyed when cooked, but our body puts
them back. Some doctors have concerns that the lack
of variety in raw diets, especially in the more
severe types, can lead to lack of some nutrients,
such as vitamin B12. While some vitamins evaporate
during cooking, some nutrients are released and
absorbed better when the foods are cooked, for
example,
lycopene from tomatoes.
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 There
is no evidence either that totally raw diets are
healthier than the normal cooked dishes or vice
versa. Carol Alt, for example, highlights how bad
she was eating prior to embracing the raw diet and
how great she felt eating only raw foods. But that
begs the question What if she would have just ate
healthy? Did she need such a radical change in her
diet?
Is it difficult to follow?
Our
conclusion is that this diet is relatively easy to
follow for
vegetarians and people who cook regularly. It
will be difficult for people who are used to
eating out or eating takeout meals. There are a
lot of new flavors and it will take some getting
used to it. It requires planning ahead of time and
costs more than a normal diet because it recommends
organic produce. But you can still
incorporate some of the principles of raw diet
without becoming a real follower. Most doctors
recommend eating some raw vegetables for fiber and
vitamins. We should also not overcook the vegetables
and use better cooking practices - cook only as long
as needed.
How to get started?
Start
by eating at a raw food restaurant a few times to
find out if you like it. That is what we did.
The food in restaurants such as Quintessence in New
York is just delicious. People on this diet are
skinny, they look healthy and they told us that they
have not been sick in years. They do not think the
diet is difficult to follow (they lived in New York)
and they are very happy with their diet and do not
miss normal cooked food. In fact one person we spoke
to said that he gets ill if he has to eat regular,
cooked dishes.
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