Why is eating raw food so important?
Raw foods are live foods, bundled up with nutrition and energy. Proponents of the raw food movement believe that the moment we cook our food, we change its chemistry and its nutrition component, stressing out our digestion system.
What constitutes as raw food?
A food is considered raw if it has not been heated over 40–48°C. It should also not be refined, pasteurized, treated with pesticides or otherwise processed in any way. The raw food diet is usually plant-based, being made up mostly of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
Juicing, blending, soaking & sprouting are allowed in the raw diet.
Why is raw food better than cooked food?
- The digestive enzymes in food are heat sensitive and deactivate easily when exposed to high temperatures. Nearly all enzymes are deactivated at temperatures over 47 degree C (see source).
- Some nutrients are easily deactivated and can leach out of the food during the cooking process. Vitamins that are water-soluble such as Vitamin C and B are particularly susceptible to this loss (see source)
- Boiling vegetables can reduce the content of water-soluble vitamins by as much as 50-60% (see source)
- The longer food is cooked, the greater the loss of nutrients (see source)
While there are several benefits to eating raw, some foods are better digested when they are cooked. Examples of such foods are Asparagus, Mushrooms, Spinach, Tomatoes, Carrots, Potatoes, Legumes, Meat, Fish and Poultry.
A good way to balance raw and cooked food is to ensure you include a vegetable juice or salad alongside each meal.