What is raw food?
Raw food isn’t just a fad any longer—it’s a health choice. Here are some simple tips to get you started, courtesy of Living Raw Food author Sarma Melngailis
By Sarma Melngailis
Many people (myself included) talk about eating raw as something to be discovered, as though it’s a brand-new innovation or a revolutionary and alternative way of living. However, while it still is somewhat alternative, it’s hardly new at all. In fact, it’s more like turning the clock backward, and a very simple concept. What’s so revolutionary about eating only plant foods that grow naturally from the earth and are fed by sunlight? What’s so crazy about eating plant foods that haven’t been sautéed, boiled, roasted, flame-broiled, grilled over flaming coals, fried in sizzling-hot oil, zapped in a microwave, or otherwise manipulated into a state of altered molecular structure? Why not leave the molecules as they were meant to be?
Raw food generally refers to a vegan diet that goes beyond just steering clear of animal products. There’s no cooking in the traditional sense (in that nothing is heated above approximately 118 degrees Fahrenheit), and ingredients are not chemically processed, pasteurized, homogenized, genetically modified, hybridized, or otherwise compromised. The basic premise behind a raw food diet is that cooking and processing foods generally decreases their digestibility and vitamin and mineral density, as well as their overall health-promoting qualities.
The creativity in raw foods as a type of cuisine comes from blending, soaking, marinating, slicing, dicing, drying at low temperatures, and incorporating fresh herbs and spices. This can be done in quite innovative ways, all while preserving the food’s integrity.
Part of that integrity has to do with letting enzymes survive the food preparation process. Apparently (though I’ve never tried this myself) if you split enzymes under an electron microscope, you’ll find an actual electronic charge, which is why many refer to enzymes as life forces. Why would anyone want to destroy these little life catalysts? When your food comes with its own living enzymes ready to do the heavy lifting in digestion, you won’t have to draw as much from your body’s enzyme reserves. When you eat raw food, there’s no more food coma. The effect of easier digestion is that you end up with energy to spare to put toward other uses, such as allowing your body to heal itself, or any activity you can think of that is more fun than digestion.
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Excerpted from Living Raw Food, copyright 2009 by Sarma Melngailis, courtesy HarperCollins Canada
I've been "raw" for almost a year now after looking for help with my diabetes diagnoses. I had been on medication for diabetes for a year when I decided to try the raw diet. After only a week I was off my medication and my blood sugar numbers have been fine ever since. I lost about 30 lbs since the new diet, which obviously would help any health issue.
I also noticed that little tingly sensations in my feet disappeared as well. I don't know if that was from the diabetes or from the medications for the diabetes. But I know diabetics have circulation issues for feet and hands, mostly feet.
Sometimes I miss the SAD (standard american diet) diet, but most of the time I'm fine. Mostly from realizing that the cooked or processed foods are like consuming poison for me. My pancreas almost died from it, and I think this raw diet saved my life and added years to it. Good years too. Not hospital bed ridden years, with parts of me being amputated. I just turned 53.
Some foods were never meant to be consumed raw, however they are being touted as health panaceas, when consumed raw, for the last few decades by the nutrition community. I'm talking about the cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, etc. These vegetables contain goitrogens and other problematic agents that will interfere with the thyroid, and cause severe intestinal upset when consumed raw, by some.'
I would say that a good portion of fruits and vegetables can be consumed raw, and for those who cannot tolerate them raw, cooking is just fine when nutrient-preserving methods are employed. Or, for an even healthier alternative when heat is an issue, pickling of fruits and vegetables yields a highly palatable food and very nutritious without altering so-called "enzymes" present in raw, living food.
"Apparently (though I’ve never tried this myself) if you split enzymes under an electron microscope, you’ll find an actual electronic charge, which is why many refer to enzymes as life forces"
If you split any molecule under any circumstance you will create a charge. Otherwise, what would be holding the molecule together? This isn't a "life force" its an electrostatic force, the same as what holds together almost every material you can see or touch. Enzymes may be called a life force because they catalyze biological processes but that doesnt make the above statement any less rediculous. I agree, raw and whole foods are healthy but if you are going to write an article and try to use "science" (if you want to call the evidence in this article that)as a backing at least reacall your basic highschool chemistry.