What Are Raw Foods?

You may have heard about the “raw foods” diet trend that is sweeping the nation. What is the raw food diet all about? Will a raw foods diet really lead to better overall health and weight loss? Here’s what you need to know about raw foods, also called living foods.

Depending on the type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selection of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including sprouted whole grains such as gaba rice), eggs, fish (such as sashimi), meat (such as carpaccio), and non-pasteurized/non-homogenized dairy products (such as raw milk, raw milk cheese, and raw milk yogurt).

“Raw foodism (or rawism) is the practice of consuming uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet.” from Wikipedia

A raw vegan diet consists of unprocessed, raw plant foods that have not been heated above 40 °C (104 °F). Raw vegans such as Dr. Douglas Graham^[3] believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost much of their nutritional value and are less healthy or even harmful to the body. Advocates argue that raw or living foods have natural enzymes, which are critical in building proteins and rebuilding the body. Heating these foods kills the natural enzymes, and can leave toxins behind^], however critics point out that enzymes, as with other proteins consumed in the diet, are denatured and eventually lysed by the digestive process rendering them non-functional. Typical foods included in raw food diets are fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains and legumes.

Among raw vegans there are some subgroups such as fruitarians, juicearians, or sproutarians. Fruitarians eat primarily or exclusively fruits and nuts. Juicearians process their raw plant foods into juice. Sproutarians adhere to a diet consisting mainly of sprouted seeds.

Raw vegetarianism

Vegetarianism is a diet that excludes meat (including game and byproducts like gelatin), fish (including shellfish and other sea animals) and poultry, but allows dairy and eggs. Common foods include fruit, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, dairy, eggs and honey. There are several variants of this diet.

Related articles

• Going. Going. Raw in 90 Days. (becomeabetteryouin365days.com)

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