What's raw food all about?

[Anonymous]

If you eat a raw diet, is everything you eat literally raw? What about hard veggies like turnips? Do you just not eat them or do you at least steam them a little? What about dairy and meat? Do you do some minimal processing at home, like blanching nuts? Any free sources of info I can read? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It's too hard to get vitamin B12 or zinc. Humans are meant to eat a mix of raw and cooked. Eating a wide variety of foods helps ensure minimizing toxins and maximizing nutrients.

I agree with keeping things minimally processed, but personally I don't think the processing you do at home is bad. Homemade bread is a far different food than store bought.

[Anonymous]

Ok, but does that mean a "raw" diet is only partially raw? I'm still trying to understand what it is.

[Anonymous]

"Raw" diet is really, at its most extreme, eating largely uncooked unprocessed vegetables and grains and some dairy/meat/fish. How raw you want to go really depends on your goals.

There are lots and lots of sites to get info on going raw. Just google "raw diet".

The truth is ALL of us should eat more raw foods than we do- the easiest way is to eat more fruits and vegetables in the form of salad, etc.

Light steaming of vegs like broccoli helps to preserve most of the vitamins, but the people who are hard core raw prertty much say nope, ya gotta eat it raw.

I think most of the health benefits claimed by raw proponents can be derived from a far less extreme version of it. Eating foods closest to their natural state (whole grains vs processed) is the way to go.

[Anonymous]

The theory is that heating food above 180 degrees kills all of the nutrients. Most people who eat a raw diet are vegan. A big treat is cashew butter, cocoa nibs, tangerines, kimchee, etc. Juicing can be a big component.

[Anonymous]

farting, basically.

Also, many frozen veggies have more nutrients than uncooked in the produce dept.

I'd say "raw" in moderation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The theory is that heating food above 180 degrees kills all of the nutrients. Most people who eat a raw diet are vegan. A big treat is cashew butter, cocoa nibs, tangerines, kimchee, etc. Juicing can be a big component.

I have a friend who's a raw foodist. His big thing is about how you kill the enzymes by heating things over whatever temperature. Slightly different than nutrients, as pp mentions above.

He isn't 100% raw (and I think most proponents aren't either) and eats things like bread. And dairy is fine as long as it has been cultured (as in yogurt) or aged (as in many cheeses), as those things have living enzymes.

Soaked nuts, soured veggies (like saurkraut), avocados, cheese, soaked flax seeds, unpasturized beer, wine, etc.

All good, but personally, I think cooking is pretty cool too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:farting, basically.

Also, many frozen veggies have more nutrients than uncooked in the produce dept.

I'd say "raw" in moderation.

Thanks for your honesty! I've always wondered how people can tolerate an all raw foods diet. I don't think I could, although I do love raw vegetables.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a raw foodist by any means, but I wanted to add more veggies to my diet so DH and I started making raw veggie smoothies every morning in our Vitamix.

At first, I followed the recipes in the Vitamix cookbook, then started just creating my own. The base always has either tomatoes or carrots (or both) for the sweetness. We then add any or all of the following: Spinach, Kale, Broccoli, Zucchini, Cucumber, Peppers (I like to add half of a chili pepper for heat!), cilantro, parsley, beets, etc. Add ice as well to keep it cold and thin it out. The sky's the limit and you get a lot of veggies in one big glass of smoothie.

But I think you need a really powerful blender like a Vitamix and run it for a full 2-3 minutes once everything purees otherwise it's too grainy and thick.