Raw food diet has been hailed but is it all good for your health?

Raw food diet is essentially a modified vegan diet that limits you to foods cooked below 46 to 48 degrees Celsius. Instead, you can juice, purée, soak or develop your meals.

A diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables is recommended by experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Raw foodies take it one step further, insisting that a raw food diet consists of only whole grains, nuts, seeds and raw fruits and vegetables is the healthiest way to eat.

Swiss nutritionist and physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner’s book, “The Prevention of Incurable Disease”, recommended eating 50% raw veggies, fruits, seeds and nuts, and the rest conservatively cooked veggies, eggs, meats and whole-grain bread.

Representative Image

Raw food diets consist of vegetables and fruits that are packed with vitamins and fiber. Vegetables and fruits contain do not contain animal fats. Also, natural sugars provide plenty of energy. At the same time, avoiding animal products and starchy carbohydrates is always a decently and ecologically superior way to live one’s life.

What are the ingredients’ of Raw food diet?

A raw food diet includes raw fruits, veggies, legumes and grains; seeds and nuts; extra-virgin olive oil; and raw coconut oil and butter, says Sharp. Some people even eat consume unpasteurized milk, cheese, honey, as well as raw fish and meats.

Things that are cooked or heated above 48 degrees Celsius is strictly off-limits. Many kinds of stuff that are heated in your oven or microwave processed foods should be avoided. Also, some intuitive foods off the menu include table salt, pasta and pasteurized.

Here are some of the benefits of a raw food diet:

The most important benefit of the raw food diet is that it cuts down on the processed foods and gets you eating way more fruits and vegetables enriched with disease-fighting antioxidants and phytonutrients.

Consuming green and fresh foods helps abundantly in maintaining the cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Simultaneously, it lowers the risk of heart disease.

Health nutritionists are of the opinion that the assumptions that all raw food is more nutritious than cooked is really just a myth.

However, bloating and gas are some of the harmful side effects of the raw food diet. Addition of fresh or uncooked animal foods into your diet too can be hazardous. Unpasteurized dairy carries Listeria with it (not always) and raw meat and eggs may bear other food-borne pathogens. These food-borne diseases are mostly harmful to pregnant ladies or for those who have a compromised immune system.

Should you try the raw food diet?

Nevertheless, while consuming raw foods one should always keep in mind that some cooking methods are better than others for preserving the nutrients in plant foods. However, experts say that boiling any veggie reduces the nutrients because they leach into the water. Instead, lightly steam or sauté – especially, disreputably gassy cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, which are easier on your digestive system when they are cooked.