Health Benefits of Eating a Raw Food Diet
Health Benefits of Eating a Raw Food Diet.. Eating raw helps maintain valuable nutrients that nature has to offer: Vitamins, minerals, enzymes and trace elements- provided that you take certain precautions. So it is not a bad idea to have more vegetables as appetizers and different salads for lunch.
Raw vegetables can give you great tastes, flavors and sensations. Beyond the great taste, they are also good for your body. It is not for nothing that the followers of raw food diet and living food speak food vitality. According to recent studies, such a diet would even help live longer in good health and even cure certain serious diseases.
Raw food diet is to eat only raw foods in order to fully benefit from their nutrients. The initiative is part of a way of life in a global approach to have respect for life , which we find traces even before the birth of Christ. The Essene community was developed from the second century BC, a peaceful way of life based on harmony between Man and Nature. The Essenes ate mainly raw plant foods and no animal products. The legend says that some members of the community were able to live up to 120 years.
More recently in the 1930s, in US, the Lithuanian Ann Wigmore launched the movement of live food with the fundamental principle of using the benefits of enzymes and chlorophyll to fight against the toxicity and deficiencies in the modern diet and preserve and restore good health.
Eating “living” is not eating denatured or devitalized, it means raw products of plant origin having undergone minimal processing, except dehydration, germination or lacto- fermentation. In living foods, although cooking at a temperature less than or equal to that of the human body is tolerated- max of 43 degrees Celcius, a distinction is made between living foods, raw food and the dead- cooked.
When the temperature rises, a chemical reaction occurs between sugars and proteins. Under the effect of heat new molecules that differ from those present in the natural state of the food appear with different chemical and biological properties: Aromatic, but also peroxidative- lipid oxidation and toxic. Acrylamide, for example, a molecule responsible for the browning of foods is known to be potentially carcinogenic . By cooking, food may seem more appealing and develop other flavors, but at what price?
Most enzymes disappear from 50°C onward, vitamin C disappears at 60°C and most other vitamins at 110°C. With only a few exceptions, most vegetables can be eaten raw, including broccoli, fennel or zucchini, which is very well tolerated by the digestive system because it contains little dietary fiber .
Those that follow a raw diet, in addition to favoring the absorption of raw fruits and vegetables and sprouts at the beginning of the meal, they highlight the benefits of green juice for their high chlorophyll. True “blood” of plants of green color, green pigment in leaves is involved in photosynthesis to intercept light energy from the sun and convert it into chemical energy.
Its structure is comparable to that of hemoglobin oxygenation and acts on and cell regeneration. Ann Wigmore claims that chlorophyll can protect us from cancer better than any food as it strengthens the resistance of cells, detoxifies the liver and bloodstream, chemically neutralizing polluted elements.
When cooked, most of the enzymes naturally present in vegetables disappear. Real active proteins, enzymes act as catalysts of biochemical reactions that take place in the body such as digestion, nervous and hormone system. They are present in saliva but also in gastric juices, pancreatic, intestinal and divide the nutrients ingested in small units so that they can then be properly absorbed by the small intestine and pass into the humoral fluids: Blood and lymph.
Their role in the digestion and assimilation of nutrients is essential. Our body has the capacity to produce, but it only has a predefined number, hence the increase in digestive problems and nervous or hormonal diseases with age.
Many people are deficient in enzymes without even knowing it. Symptoms of an enzyme deficiency? Poor digestion, bloating, a difficult transit, a feeling of heaviness in the stomach. Fortunately , some foods naturally contain enzymes and consumption of them fills up the stock and help keep a good digestion. Vegetables and fruits such as cucumber contain digestive enzyme that promotes the assimilation of proteins.
Similarly, sprouts, but also some dry fruits like nuts (almonds, hazelnuts , walnuts … ) which contain dormant enzymes. To wake up the enzymatic potential of these nuts, simply soak them overnight in pure water, then rinse them thoroughly before eating. To promote digestion, it will definitely help to start each meal with a plate of raw vegetables.
When the Escherichia coli bacteria was found in sprouts that caused 53 deaths in Germany in 2011 gave the authorities a reason to play on the fears reminding people the need to cook all food to destroy harmful bacteria they may contain. It is true that cooking, while killing all that is living in food, also gets rid of potentially harmful bacteria. Before going ahead and eating everything raw, first make sure to wash fruits and vegetables carefully and brushing them before eating, especially if they are organic.
Many people complain about bloating and digestive problems after eating raw vegetables. Indeed, between fiber intake and the risk of intestinal fermentation, raw vegetables can cause bloating or colitis, inflammation of the lining of the intestines. To minimize the inconvenience, opt for green juices and raw vegetables before the meal then you can reintroduce them gradually. And above all , avoid fruits for dessert, have them at least one hour before or after meals.
Also remember that cooking is not the only detrimental thing for the vitality of fruits and vegetables. Vitamins and minerals oxidize in a few days. So to fully enjoy their benefits, choose local veggies and fruits, eat them quickly after picking and with their skin on because the simple act of peeling removes 25% of their vitamins.
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