Raw Food Diet

[Lauren M]

I'm sure that most people have heard of the raw food diet. If you haven't, google it and I'm sure they will be able to provide you a much better description than I. Basically, no food is heated above a certain degree.

A raw food restaurant recently opened near me, and after talking with the owner, I was excited to hear that everything on the menu was gluten-free! Not only this, but raw food is naturally vegetarian. I've eaten there a couple of times, and the food is incredible! Not only that, but I feel really good after eating it.

I've been looking into the raw food movement, and it seems like it's a really good "back to basics" approach. However, making some of these goods is very time consuming. The raw food diet is not just eating fresh fruits and veggies - to recreate meals like pasta, tacos, pizza, and even desserts, they use combinations of veggies, fruits, nuts, etc. It seems to rely heavily on expensive devices such as dehydrators and heavy-duty juicers like the Vita-Mix. I have a food processor and blender, but that's about it.

So, has anyone tried a raw food diet? Does anyone know any easy recipes, or have a recommendation for good resources for more information on the subject? Anyone have any opinions - good or bad?

Thanks in advance

- Lauren

[CarlaB]

I used to try to eat 50% raw food because of the health benefits (now I have braces and everything has to be cooked for me to chew it!). I do think raw food is healthy. Some foods, like broccoli and cauliflower, I found I needed to lightly steam.

However, I don't think it's balanced. I ate vegetarian for about 5 years ... well, except for holidays and friend's houses ... I finally needed to add back meat. I looked and felt healthier once I did. I TRIED to eat enough protein, and I'm not saying it can't be done, but I needed animal protein ... especially when I started lifting weights.

I think raw foods are good, and are a good addition to a balanced diet. I don't think it's good for a long-term diet. That's just my opinion ...

You might like the Fit For Life books. Harvey Diamond, the author, also has a my space.

I used to do raw food for a few days or even a week in order to detox better. I found that helpful.

[RiceGuy]

I do prefer to eat most things as raw as I can. I think they taste better, and of course there is the nutrient value. However, I did find that my digestive system was sadly not up to the task of breaking down a number of veggies unless I cooked them more. Recently though, I have been using a blender to puree the veggies, which really helps. So not only can I digest them easier, there isn't the need to cook them much at all, which I'm sure helps with the nutrients. The downside is the 'baby food' type consistency of it, but I'm hoping I won't be needing to do this for too long. Certainly different, and at least I don't have to eat mushy broccoli. Besides, have you ever tried to get green peas to soften and yet still taste good? Pea soup never seemed so nice as it does now.

There are apparently some veggies which can offer more of certain nutrients after being cooked though, so that might be something to consider. I don't know whether pureeing them accomplishes this task. How you'd eat raw legumes or grains is something I currently don't see.

As for juicers, it seems to me that to get the most out of a fruit or veggie, one needs to eat the whole thing, not just drink a juice without the pulp. So I have no intention of using a juicer. There are cheap attachments that can be used on my cheap blender if I want to use different sorts of blades and whatnot.

Anyway, if you feel better on a particular diet, then stick with it I'd say. I don't eat meats because I feel better without them.

[Viola 1]

Actually I like raw veggies, having said that, I don't eat a lot raw as I find it hard to digest. And yes, balance would be a problem.

If this is "going back to basics", like before cooking ... what about evolution (sp)? I mean aren't we supposed to evolve and get better, and smarter? Besides, people died a whole lot younger in those days. They didn't have a very long life span at all! I don't think I want to go back to that kind of basics.

I think I'll keep my stove

[flowergirl]

Hi Lauren, I don't follow the raw food diet but eat lots of raw fruit and veg. Some veggies I just stir fry in a pan slightly under low heat or sometimes steam slowly under low heat. Anything to try to have them as nutricious as possible and secondly to make them as digestable as possible. Lots of health benefits.

[ArtGirl]

I feel better eating lots of raw veggies. I'm not vegetarian, though, and eat a fairly balanced diet. I do best when my diet is at least 50% veggies and half of them raw.

Rice Guy - I puree my veggies also. I call them my "veggie smoothies".

I used to have stomach aches from eating too much raw vegetables, but after a couple months gluten-free, I don't have any more problems digesting them. And I think the smoothies are easier on the digestive system, too.

[BRUMI1968]

Besides, people died a whole lot younger in those days. They didn't have a very long life span at all! I don't think I want to go back to that kind of basics.

Actually, when determining the average life span of an entire people, accuracy is completely lost. For example, two parents could live to be in their 70's, but had two children that died at birth - the average life span comes out to be 37 years. The other things that calculations cannot factor in is the dangerous lifestyle of hunting, freezing, starving, etc. The diet itself was probably not the thing killing the folks, but rather being mauled by buffalo or elk or starving or freezing or warring or accidents.

As to raw food - I have done it probably 70%-80% for a month or so in the summer. I found that I felt great (though I did have some bloating, probably due to candida which the fruit both dried and fresh was feeding -- so candida free would be an important step). What I found was that once Fall/Winter rolled around, I was dissatisfied. i added back some rice and some potato.

Also, doing a vegetarian raw foods diet usually causes immense weight loss. I have seen good looking football playing shaped guys become gaunt and awful looking. They felt great, they just were melting away. I found that I had to add meat to my diet to keep on the weight. It turned out that having the protein after 15 years of veggie-ism was great for me, and I feel better for it.

I believe one should eat seasonally, and it would be hard to do raw food seasonally, unless you live i Hawaii or something. So it is my intent to do spring raw food about 40%, summer raw food about 70%, fall raw food about 30-40%, and then winter be damned..just nuts and dried fruits on the raw side. Winter is for bacon, I say.

that's just my experience. You might want to look into the Paleolithic diet. It does not insinuate raw food consuption, though it suggests it in most cases.

Good luck.

[lonewolf]

Did anyone see "Wife Swap" on Monday night? There was a family on that eats a totally raw diet - even meat and eggs. The husband and children went in for a checkup and were very healthy.

[lorka150]

A lot of raw foodists aren't fully raw, but instead vegan that emphasize a raw diet (at least at first). Check out Alissa Cohen's site - she is the raw guru. Open Original Shared Link

[linds]

i watched wife swap on monday and was grossed out by them eating raw meat and eggs. they were healthy but i think that part of it was because they had all their own chickens and cows and stuff so at least they knew if the meat they got came from a healthy animal. i only eat raw vegetables. i don't like the taste of cooked ones and eat a lot of fruit but i also feel as though i need the cooked food in my diet for variety.

[lonewolf]

Just to be clear - I don't think it's a good idea to eat raw meat. I was grossed out too. I just thought it was kind of interesting.

[RiceGuy]

If this is "going back to basics", like before cooking ... what about evolution (sp)? I mean aren't we supposed to evolve and get better, and smarter? Besides, people died a whole lot younger in those days. They didn't have a very long life span at all!

Not to vier off-topic, but...

As noted by Bully4You, the average age is skewed considerably. Massive die-offs due to plagues probably mess up the figures also. Note how the black plague wiped out so many, and when a large number of children die, it brings down the average. Just take a look at an old graveyard and see the ages. Things like hygiene were a major problem, hence the plagues, all the young women whom died after giving birth, and the infant mortality rate. But once into adulthood, they often lived just as long then as today. Simply look at the history books for the ages of historic figures.

OK, 'nuff said.

[loraleena]

You should read up on raw meats. This is very healthy. I have a friend who did it for a year and all their health problems disappeared. When they started adding cooked foods, the problems came back. There is lots of good info on the web about this. Yes it seems gross, but that is from our society creating that fear. I have not tried any raw meats or eggs yet, but I might. Still a it squeamish myself.

[Lauren M]

Oh let me be clear, I would not be eating raw meat or eggs! But yes, I actually did see a bit of that episode of Wife Swap... yuck. Where do they find these people??

Anyway, I checked out the Alissa Cohen website and it was very informative and inspiring. I would absolutely love to try an experiment and go raw for a couple of weeks, just to see how I feel - but just looking at the recipes, they seem so time consuming! Added to the fact that I don't own a dehydrator, or Vita Mix, or the other tools they use, I don't know if it would be possible. I mean, I would certainly invest the time and money on this lifestyle if I knew I would feel great...

Thanks, all, keep the ideas and opinions coming!

- Lauren

[Nancym]

Raw food doesn't necessarily have to be vegetarian.

But my opinion is this, we've been cooking food for, if memory serves, over 100,000 years and it has been an important evolutionary step for humankind. Why? Well, cooking breaks down cell walls on in food that normally can't be broken down, so we can get at more nutrients. We can also eat more cooked food, simply is easier to eat, and so can get more calories and nutrients that way. True, cooking does destroy some vitamins that is why a mixture of cooked and raw foods is usually considered best.

[kbabe1968]

nancym - u must eat sushi! LOL!

I investigated it. It was very interesting. There is a book out there called RAW...it's a cookbook and really has some neat recipes.

I got one for almond milk that I still use, and occasionally make cheese out of it. I used a regular blender. And you don't need a dehydrater, just a slow oven (200 degrees) and a lot of patience. I did have a dehydrator...but it took so long!!!!

And the misnomer with a Vitamix is that it actually DOES cook the food - the motor is so powerful. I watched a demo at a Costco once and the Vitamix Salesmen was touting it's cooking ability. He threw in a bunch of cold ingredients and let it run. Within 2 minutes he had piping hot tortilla soup. It was yummy too. SO, Yes a Vitamix is powerfull BUT if using the blender feature at full speed, the food will cook - this direct from Vitamix.

The problem I had with it is that SOME foods actually need to be cooked to be brought to their most nutricious potential (i.e there is more lutien in a cooked tomato than in a raw one).

I would say, though, if you're trying to clean out all the junk, and do it temporarily to kind of "clear the pipes" it would be awesome.

Overall I think I eat about 50% raw...but I'm married and have three kids. I would probably do more if I were single....not complaining, love my family!

[Nancym]

nancym - u must eat sushi! LOL!

Actually, there are lots of delicious cuisines that use raw meat. Usually they're steeped in something acidic though which kills bacteria. I had a tex-mex salad once that had raw beef in it. Lots of sausages prepared traditionally are raw, but the meat is cured with bacteria like the sort used in making yogurt. And yes, there's always sushi.

[sfm]

Actually I like raw veggies, having said that, I don't eat a lot raw as I find it hard to digest. And yes, balance would be a problem.

If this is "going back to basics", like before cooking ... what about evolution (sp)? I mean aren't we supposed to evolve and get better, and smarter? Besides, people died a whole lot younger in those days. They didn't have a very long life span at all! I don't think I want to go back to that kind of basics.

I think I'll keep my stove

LOL! I agree 100%!

Sheryll

[Lauren M]

I didn't mean to insinuate that the raw foodies preach their diet as a "back to basics" approach - as in the way humans used to eat. I meant that for me, eating strictly unprocessed foods would be going back to basics. The raw food diet is not a pre-evolution diet

I'm still kicking around the idea, but also still majorly overwhelmed by the idea of it.

- Lauren

[BRUMI1968]

I was just thinking, too, of this book I read years ago called "Food and Healing" by Anne Marie Colbin. I really liked it, and it got me started eating well. (Now I disagree with her recommendations to eat lots of beans and grains, but that is another story.) She talks about very rigid diets -- might they contribute to very rigid people. I think we should probably view food on various levels:

1) calories (heat/energy)

2) nutrients (vitamins/minerals)

3) psychic (as in, how does this make me FEEL, think of feel good foods)

4) metaphorically

So it is probably number 4 that sounds nuts...but I honestly think there is something to it. If we hyper control our diets, what else are we going to hyper control? ourselves? others? etc. We need flexibility, especially since we HAVE to avoid gluten and probably dairy for most of us.

I have waffled between hyper control (ZERO of this or that) and no control (TOO MUCH of virtually everything). Both sides of the pendulum have their problems. I'm struggling to find the balance right now. Obviously I eat ZERO gluten, because that is my number one issue. From there, I need to seek balance.

I guess I think of this because there is a young woman in one of my classes (college) who is extremely rigid in her views - she is always right, no other opinion exists, in fact, opinions don't exist - just her truth. I watch her eating in class - it is literally a floret and stem of broccoli. Eaten there, all of it, raw. Not even with the stem peeled. Or a carrot. Raw. Eaten as is. Even with dirt still on it. I respect this in a lot of ways -- but seeing her made me think of the book. I've never seen her smile. She is shockingly thin. It also made me think of how many eggs I've been eating lately - at the same time I'm looking for a new beginning. I started wondering about it.

I don't know. just some thoughts.

If you do go substantially raw, remember the importance of calories. I was eating for pure nutrients a few months ago, and could not keep enough calories for energy. So heat/energy/calories are important...even if they are nutritionally deficient.

[Lauren M]

I was just thinking, too, of this book I read years ago called "Food and Healing" by Anne Marie Colbin. I really liked it, and it got me started eating well. (Now I disagree with her recommendations to eat lots of beans and grains, but that is another story.) She talks about very rigid diets -- might they contribute to very rigid people. I think we should probably view food on various levels:

1) calories (heat/energy)

2) nutrients (vitamins/minerals)

3) psychic (as in, how does this make me FEEL, think of feel good foods)

4) metaphorically

So it is probably number 4 that sounds nuts...but I honestly think there is something to it. If we hyper control our diets, what else are we going to hyper control? ourselves? others? etc. We need flexibility, especially since we HAVE to avoid gluten and probably dairy for most of us.

I have waffled between hyper control (ZERO of this or that) and no control (TOO MUCH of virtually everything). Both sides of the pendulum have their problems. I'm struggling to find the balance right now. Obviously I eat ZERO gluten, because that is my number one issue. From there, I need to seek balance.

I guess I think of this because there is a young woman in one of my classes (college) who is extremely rigid in her views - she is always right, no other opinion exists, in fact, opinions don't exist - just her truth. I watch her eating in class - it is literally a floret and stem of broccoli. Eaten there, all of it, raw. Not even with the stem peeled. Or a carrot. Raw. Eaten as is. Even with dirt still on it. I respect this in a lot of ways -- but seeing her made me think of the book. I've never seen her smile. She is shockingly thin. It also made me think of how many eggs I've been eating lately - at the same time I'm looking for a new beginning. I started wondering about it.

I don't know. just some thoughts.

If you do go substantially raw, remember the importance of calories. I was eating for pure nutrients a few months ago, and could not keep enough calories for energy. So heat/energy/calories are important...even if they are nutritionally deficient.

I think you are so right on. I am not a rigid person so much in my views, but very much an "all or nothing" personality. And a control freak. I have used my "controlling" ways on my eating behaviors in the past, and I certainly don't want to fall back into that pattern. I have always said for myself, that I don't know the meaning of the word "moderation"!

And personally, I need a substantial amount of calories to keep weight on; just always been that way - so I don't know how that would work out if I went totally raw. Maybe just a "cleansing" detox?

Thanks for sharing that viewpoint, Bully4You, it really opened my eyes.

- Lauren

[Viola 1]

I was just thinking, too, of this book I read years ago called "Food and Healing" by Anne Marie Colbin. I really liked it, and it got me started eating well. (Now I disagree with her recommendations to eat lots of beans and grains, but that is another story.) She talks about very rigid diets -- might they contribute to very rigid people. I think we should probably view food on various levels:

1) calories (heat/energy)

2) nutrients (vitamins/minerals)

3) psychic (as in, how does this make me FEEL, think of feel good foods)

4) metaphorically

So it is probably number 4 that sounds nuts...but I honestly think there is something to it. If we hyper control our diets, what else are we going to hyper control? ourselves? others? etc. We need flexibility, especially since we HAVE to avoid gluten and probably dairy for most of us.

I have waffled between hyper control (ZERO of this or that) and no control (TOO MUCH of virtually everything). Both sides of the pendulum have their problems. I'm struggling to find the balance right now. Obviously I eat ZERO gluten, because that is my number one issue. From there, I need to seek balance.

I guess I think of this because there is a young woman in one of my classes (college) who is extremely rigid in her views - she is always right, no other opinion exists, in fact, opinions don't exist - just her truth. I watch her eating in class - it is literally a floret and stem of broccoli. Eaten there, all of it, raw. Not even with the stem peeled. Or a carrot. Raw. Eaten as is. Even with dirt still on it. I respect this in a lot of ways -- but seeing her made me think of the book. I've never seen her smile. She is shockingly thin. It also made me think of how many eggs I've been eating lately - at the same time I'm looking for a new beginning. I started wondering about it.

I don't know. just some thoughts.

If you do go substantially raw, remember the importance of calories. I was eating for pure nutrients a few months ago, and could not keep enough calories for energy. So heat/energy/calories are important...even if they are nutritionally deficient.

Now this is a really interesting view point. I've just been sitting here thinking about an uncle that is extrememly rigid in his diet, also "right about everything" no other view points needed around him. Isn't that funny ... I never thought about that before. He's so rigid in keeping his car that you have to clean your feet before you get in it.

I don't think I want to be that disciplined.

[babygirl1234]

why would you eat raw food to being with i would get sick from it lol

[Mango04]

Raw vegan food it pretty tasty. I love raw vegan pie, raw vegan ice cream and raw vegan ranch dressing.

A lot of their food is soaked and sprouted properly, so it's more easily digestible and nutritionally beneficial. I enjoy eating at raw vegan restaurants because all of the food is gluten, dairy and soy-free, and it tastes really good!

[prinsessa]

I saw the Wife Swap with the people who ate raw meat. I don't mind eating raw meat. I have never had raw chicken or pork (and don't think I would like to), but I have had raw fish and beef. The thing that grossed me out was their aged meat. They had what looked like moldy meat in containers and they kept saying how it was supposed to calm you down. It looked so gross.

I don't know if I could ever go raw, but I like to eat raw food sometimes. I love (and so do my kids) the apple pie Lara bars. I try to carry a few of those around with me when we go out. They are a great filling snack.