Have you been hearing recently about the Raw Food Diet? This concept is gaining in popularity. For many people, eating raw is not necessarily a fad or short term weight loss diet, but rather a lifestyle change, one that they believe can lead to a long and healthy life. If you are interested in learning more about this type of diet, this website will give you basic information and tips for how to make this change your life.
Many people feel that we have way too many processed foods in our modern diet. Processed food are foods that have been changed in any way from their natural form. Not all types of processing are ‘bad.’ For example, freezing vegetables retains many of their vitamins and nutrients, but makes them more convenient to use. However, some processed foods, such as pre-made packaged mixes, have many additives and preservatives that some people consider not nutritious and even harmful.
A raw food diet concentrates on consuming primarily fresh fruits and vegetables in their natural, unprocessed form. There are several reasons why this is considered the optimal way to eat your food. The first is that some forms of processing and cooking can take away basic nutritional value. Have you ever heard that if you cook pasta just to the al dente (or medium) stage, it not only has more calories, but it also has more nutritional value than if you cook it to a well-done stage? Or you’ve probably been told not to peel carrots or potatoes too deeply, because most of the nutrients lay just below the surface of the skin.
Another thought is that eating unprocessed, uncooked, organic whole foods is much closer to what our ancestors ate, therefore, what our bodies have evolved to process. Before they had regular access to fire, ancient people would primarily depend on gathering their food sources. They cooked very little and certainly didn’t cook or process the fruits and vegetables they found. They ate most everything RAW. And their water wasn’t filtered or fluorinated, it was natural spring water. Isn’t this the way nature meant it to be?
Besides fruit and vegetables, many raw foodists also eat dehydrated fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, seaweed and more. Now, despite the name of this diet, not all of the food is uncooked, but at least 75% is. Food is considered raw if it is not heated above 116 degrees Farenheit, so many people choose to use a dehydrator to lightly dry their food.
Doesn’t this diet make more sense when you think that this is how we were meant to eat? It’s a way of eating that is more in harmony with the planet and with our own metabolisms. Our bodies were made to break down what we consume and by eating primarily raw, natural foods, we are providing our system with the essential ingredients to do that. Nature itself has given us everything we need to fuel our systems and if this sounds great to you, you might be a perfect candidate for the raw food diet.
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