WHY FOLLOW A RAW FOOD DIET?
Raw foodism is the idea that the healthiest foods are those that are uncooked and unprocessed, so they’re as close as possible to their most natural state.
Proponents of raw food diets claim that cooking with high heat destroys most of the nutritional content of foods and that natural enzymes found in raw plant-based foods are essential for good digestion and good health, reports nutrition.about.com.
A typical raw food diet includes mostly fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts and mushrooms, but may also include raw milk, cheese made from raw milk, and unpasteurised uncooked eggs.
ARE RAW FOOD DIETS BENEFICIAL?
Experts
say that any potential benefit of this diet is due to the increased intake of plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouts.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that most people need to eat more fruits and vegetables, and it’s hard to imagine a raw food diet that doesn’t consist mostly of fruits and vegetables.
A raw food diet is also much lower in saturated fat intake than a standard diet because meat intake is reduced or eliminated. One will also avoid the various artificial ingredients and enormous amounts of sodium found in highly processed foods.
But be careful, natural ingredients aren’t always better than artificial ingredients.
Raw foods are mostly nutritious, but it is not a given that all foods that you eat must be raw to be good for you. It’s true that cooking depletes some of the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, but many nutrients aren’t affected by cooking.
For example, lycopene and some polyphenols are more concentrated in foods that are cooked or processed. So it would be a good idea to eat some raw fruits and vegetables every day, and some that are cooked. Not all processing is bad. Eggs and milk don’t lose any of their nutritional value after they’re pasteurised, and they’re safer to eat than their raw counterparts.
Experts are also not convinced that enzymes found in raw plants offer any health benefits as claimed. Since enzymes are small proteins, they’re probably just broken down and digested by stomach acid and pancreatic enzymes.
Raw foods are mostly nutritious, but it is not a given that all foods that you eat must be raw to be good for you