29 Nov Have You Ever Considered a Raw Foods Diet?
Have You Ever Considered a Raw Foods Diet?
If you don’t know what this is, it involves eating unprocessed, whole plant-based, preferably organic foods. This isn’t necessarily a vegan or vegetarian-only diet, there are some raw foodists who consume raw meat and raw animal products. The idea is that weight loss and weight stability can be achieved through consuming mainly uncooked foods.
Food isn’t supposed to be heated above 116 degrees Fahrenheit, and by keeping preparation temperatures low, essential food enzymes in raw and living foods aren’t destroyed.
Those enzymes are believed to help boost health and fight disease.
There are actually a lot of celebrity raw foodists!
Jason Mraz, Demi Moore, Donna Karen, Woody Harrelson, Darryl Hannah, Howard Stern and Jared Leto are just a few, but Steve Jobs really and truly lived the raw food lifestyle. It was in reading his biography that I really started thinking about the pro’s and con’s of a raw food diet.
I really like the theory behind a raw foods lifestyle. Eating fresh unprocessed food, eating organically, and coincidentally eating foods that are high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Obviously the Raw Foods diet includes fresh fruits and vegetables, but it also includes beans, seeds, nuts, legumes, grains, seaweeds, coconut milk, purified water, and sometimes raw eggs, fish, meat, and non-pasteurized, non-homogenized milk and dairy products.
Frankly this approach eliminates a lot of the gluten issues a person with celiac disease may encounter when eating processed foods.
However I can definitely say that this is a challenging lifestyle to follow.
Made even harder by the demands of family members and maintaining a social life. A lot of raw foodists regularly use a dehydrator, and it’s a labor intensive process. I’d love to say that I can live on grabbing an apple, a banana and a handful of raw almonds, but I can’t.
I have serious concerns about the ability to consume a balanced diet with enough fats to support daily bodily functions, and enough proteins to help build and maintain lean muscle mass. You may not realize this, but certain foods like tomatoes and carrots require cooking to release key nutrients. Tomato sauce is high in lycopene, as is ketchup. Carrots release carotenoids when cooked.
Most of the foods consumed in a Raw Foods diet are low in both Vitamin D and Calcium, which can lead to low bone mass in certain people.
I’m writing this because I like so much of what I’ve learned about the Raw Foods diet, and there’s so much that I already incorporate into my own nutrition plan.
However, you have to be sure to analyze your lifestyle and activity level, as well as any health concerns you may have, to make sure this is the right path for you.
What I’d rather see is incorporating raw foods in moderation into your diet, while making sure you get the carbohydrates, proteins, and fats required to support your training.
Excuses or Solutions, YOU decide!
Natalie Jill
