Composition of Raw Food Diet
According to popular diet reviews, eating the raw food diet is a radical way to eat. Many believe that it keeps them smart and healthy. The focal point of this diet is on eating uncooked, highly nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables to lose weight rapidly and efficiently. Certainly, these foods are low in calories and might seem extremely good, but eating them raw or uncooked is favored as it is believed that they lose nutritional value when cooked.
A raw foods diet consists of unprocessed raw vegan foods that have not been heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius). Dieters or or the so-called raw foodists believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost their enzymes and thus a significant amount of their nutritional value and are harmful to the body, whereas uncooked foods provide living enzymes and proper nutrition. Proponents of a raw food diet claim that there are many benefits to eating raw foods, including weight loss, more energy, clear skin, improved digestion and improved overall health.
Unprocessed Foods
Completely unprocessed foods consist of those that basically go straight from the plant to the dinner plate. Some foods that fit into this category are the following:
Fresh fruit
Fresh vegetables
Beans and legumes
Nuts and seeds
Seaweed and marine plants
Edible flowers, sprouts and roots
Spices and natural herbs
Minimally Processed Foods
When people with traditional diets think of processed foods, they often imagine Twinkies or boxed dinner kits that are packed with sodium. However, no self-respecting raw foodist would go anywhere near these items. They have a different definition of what constitutes processed. For them it means foods that are altered somewhat from their natural state but are still in their purest form. Foods that fit this description are:
Syrup made from pure tree sap
Dried produce
Foods fermented in vinegar (pickles, kimchee, soy sauce)
Vinegar
Drinks
There are actually a large variety of beverages that fit into the raw food diet. Most fruit or vegetable juices qualify, as long as the juice is either fresh squeezed or made with the help of a juicer. Commercially available juices usually have additives, such as sugar, and may be pasteurized. Pasteurization heats foods to a temperature unacceptable to raw food diet followers. Soy and nut milks are also acceptable, as long as the ingredients are not heated. Of course, there is always pure, unadulterated water, which is about as raw as it’s possible to get.
