What Is The Raw Food Diet

Have you started hearing about the Raw Food Diet? It's gaining popularity and buzz, not just as a diet to lose weight, but a diet for a long and healthy life. We eat so much in the way of processed food that we don't even stop to think about what we're putting into our bodies, and how far we've come nutritionally from our ancestral, agrarian roots.

A raw food diet means consuming food in its natural, unprocessed form. There are several common-sense rationales for why this is a good idea. Processing and cooking food can take so much of the basic nutritional value away. Think of some of the conventional wisdom you've heard about for years, such as: If you cook pasta just to the al dente (or medium) stage, it will have more calories, yes, but it will have more the nutritional value in it than if you cooked it to a well-done stage. Or you probably remember hearing not to peel carrots or potatoes too deeply, because most of the nutrients and values are just under the surface.

The raw food diet means eating unprocessed, uncooked, organic, whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, dried fruits, seaweeds, etc. It means a diet that is at least 75% uncooked! Cooking takes out flavor and nutrition from vegetables and fruits. A raw food diet means eating more the way our ancient ancestors did. Our healthier, more fit ancestors. They cooked very little, and certainly didn't cook or process fruits and vegetables. They ate them RAW. Their water wasn't from a tap; it was natural, spring water. Maybe they drank some coconut milk on occasion.

Doesn't it just make sense that this is how our bodies were meant to eat? It's a way of eating that's in harmony with the planet and in harmony with our own metabolisms. Our bodies were meant to work, and need to work to be efficient. That means exercise, certainly, but it also means eating natural, raw foods that require more energy to digest them.

Recommended Reading

1. Vegetarian Compared To Raw - Is there a difference between vegetarian and raw food diets? A raw foodist is a vegetarian, but one who generally...
2. Why The Raw Food Diet - Because cooking takes so many nutrients and vitamins OUT of food, you automatically start feeding your body what it needs...
3. Cooked Foods On A Raw Diet - Does moving to a raw foods diet mean never eating hot food again? No, it doesn't. Sometimes you want something...
4. Changing Raw Food - Although it is difficult for some of you to transform your diet completely, you do not have to go 100%...
5. Raw Food, Less Water - When you start eating more raw foods, you may find you're not as thirsty or don't need as much water...