Raw Food Diet

[waywardsister]

Nothing wrong with raw meat! I love a good tartare, and sashimi! Yum. I also will eat eggs raw, and prefer beef seared on the outside but pretty much raw inside. Always have.

I figure a mix is probably best though. Lots of veggies are structurally quite tough and to get at the nutes, we have to break them down (like how ruminants do in the first stomach, sort of pre-digesting). I mean most true veggies don't want to be eaten, unlike fruits (any vegetation that is the fruit of the plant and contains seeds) who depend on being eaten in order to reproduce.

Ever thought of giving fermentation a try? It's easy to do, and you get the raw veggie thing but in a sort of pre-digested state...also get lots of good bacteria, good for the gut.

[Lauren M]

Ever thought of giving fermentation a try? It's easy to do, and you get the raw veggie thing but in a sort of pre-digested state...also get lots of good bacteria, good for the gut.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is fermentation? Would it be somewhat like "pickling" vegetables? Or is it more like sprouting?

- Lauren

[waywardsister]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is fermentation? Would it be somewhat like "pickling" vegetables? Or is it more like sprouting?

- Lauren

Sorta like pickling - think sauerkraut, kimchi etc. Bascially letting things like carrots, cabbage etc sit in a brine and get acted upon by bacteria. Good, simple way to add probiotics to your diet (and cheap too). Stuff like kefir, yogurt, ginger beer, kombucha, wine, vinegars as well. Google "wild fermentation", it's a good place to start, and prolly Weston Price website as well. Fermented veggies are easier on the digestion than straight-up raw, in most cases. I'm still learning and experimenting with it, it's actually pretty fun if you're a food nerd like me

[darkr]

We have an all raw restaraunt here, which a good friend of my owns. And my mom is also raw. I have seen nothing but good things about the diet. I myself in fact am going to try it in the spring.

[Mtndog]

we have a raw cafe here called The Organic garden and it is all "live" food. There's actually a pretty big raw community in the town I live in (boy does that sound funny)! I've eaten there twice and they had a lot of gluten-free options and the food was delicious! Even the desserts.

However, with that said I personally wouldn't go totally raw because my body has a hard enough time absorbing nutrients and I seem to need a lot of protein (which I can't get from beans because I am legume intolerant ).

Raw meat does not appeal to me at all. Except some sushi.

I have heard great things about the diet. One of the BEST dishes I had was called zucchalini which was essentially linguini made out of raw zucchini with a spicy tomato sauce. 10x better than any linguini I've EVER had. Yummmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[darkr]

The place by me is called "Living Foods." One of the best dishes he creates is a Raw Pizza. Its so amazing it actually tastes exactly like pizza. its great

[Lauren M]

Wow, darkr, I really admire you for taking the "leap" to going raw. It's such a commitment, and although I really want to give it a try, I just don't see having time to do it 100%. I want to try eating more raw food though (trying to abandone my "all or nothing" style thinking and see that eating more raw may help me even if I'm not 100%).

A new raw cafe opened semi-near me, and I love their food (it's called Loving Life and it's in New Oxford, PA). As I said before, I could completely eat there all the time, but it's just not practical. And there's no way I could recreate the dishes I love there on my own.

As a side note - has anyone tried this stuff called Kookie Karma? I found it on Amazon. Here's a link to the banana bread.... I want to give it a try. They also have granola and cookies, all raw, but with Amazon you have to buy in bulk and I don't want to spend $$$ unless I'm pretty sure I'll like it! So, has anyone tried it?

Open Original Shared Link .com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...G1&v=glance

- Lauren

[Mango04]

As a side note - has anyone tried this stuff called Kookie Karma? I found it on Amazon. Here's a link to the banana bread.... I want to give it a try. They also have granola and cookies, all raw, but with Amazon you have to buy in bulk and I don't want to spend $$$ unless I'm pretty sure I'll like it! So, has anyone tried it?

<a href="Open Original Shared Link .com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000I6C2Z2/ref=ord_cart_shr/002-6627428-4997669?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A28LSEKOAJ8G1&v=glance" target="external ugc nofollow">Open Original Shared Link .com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...G1&v=glance</a>

- Lauren

Yep, I've tried Kookie Karma. I liked it. I think I even created a thread about it haha. It was a while ago though. They are pricey, but worth it on occasion I think

[shai76]

I've known a few people who suffered severe malnutrition on this diet. One girls hair started falling out and she looked extremely anorexic. The best diet is a well balanced one. Eating raw fruits and veggies is good, but your body needs more than that.

[waywardsister]

I stumbled across this article elsewhere, and thought it was appropriate to post here. It's about Austrailian Aborigines and their traditional diet. What's interesting is that although one hears quite often that all raw is how our ancestors originally ate (or that it's more natural, or more healthful etc), most of the foods eaten here are cooked or processed in some way, even the fruit. Reason being, to obtain the nutrients from them, or to neutralize anti-nutrients. The whole article is at the Weston Price website (can I post links?) but some highlights below:

Plant foods required more careful preparation since many of them were difficult to digest and even poisonous. Aboriginal women spent many hours washing, grinding, pounding, straining, grating, boiling and cooking plant foods. Water was boiled in bark troughs or in large sea shells.6

Fern roots formed a staple article of food in many regions. They were dug up, washed, roasted on hot ashes, then cut into lengths, pounded between a pair of round stones and eaten. Other types of fern roots were dried in the sun, lightly roasted to remove the hair rootlets, then peeled with the fingernails, chopped on a log to break the fibers, mixed with water and other ingredients and finally rounded into a lump for cooking. These fern root cakes were eaten with fish, meat, crabs or oysters. The grass potato is a palatable fibrous root that was roasted and then pounded between two stones before eating. Some foods, such as orchid pseudobulbs, were dried first, then ground up and mixed with water and cooked. Yams were dug out with a stick

[gfp]

Nothing wrong with raw meat! I love a good tartare, and sashimi! Yum. I also will eat eggs raw, and prefer beef seared on the outside but pretty much raw inside. Always have.

Wow the idea used to make me nausious... let alone actually eating it ....

BUT ....

Raw meat is easier to digest.....

I was brought up to eat meat cooked so much that there was no pink left...the tiniest drop of blood on my plate and I'd gag...

However.... sushi and especially sashimi became "safe foods" for me.... very low CC risk... the first few times I iterally had so much gluten-free soy sauce and wasabi I couldn't taste anything and just swallowed... like one of those contestants on those stupid progs where they eat cockroaches and stuff.... (again Japanese influenced )....

I had to force myself to try carpaccio and then tartar.... For the first few times I had to swallow it several times... my mind wouldn't let me swallow it... However my meat got gradually rarer ... I now eat my steak French rare.... or blue... I love tartar and carpaccio.... If I can do this anyone can.... and I can tell you its easier to digest.... anyone who tries it will tell you the same because its not even close...

As someone else pointed out....we eat lots of raw hams etc. and "sausages" like salami's... we just don't realise it.

Also raw beef, unpasturised cheese etc. contain PROBIOTICS .....

[shayesmom]

The raw diet is really something that I would love to get into...but just not ready to commit (first responsibility is feeding the family and I don't think they'd go for it...lol).

There's a really good book out on the raw food diet by Carol Alt...'Cooking in the Raw". The foreword is written by Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, MD. It's absolutely fascinating. Up until a couple of years ago, I had never heard of Dr. Gonzalez. He is a doctor who is treating pancreatic cancer patients with incredible amounts of success. He does not use chemo or radiation. He uses diet, supplements and detoxification. His pancreatic cancer patients are living 3 times longer than those treated conventionally (we're talking about stage IV patients with anywhere from days to weeks to live). His diet is basically made of raw foods....it's their enzyme content that is especially healthy. And for those who have noticed being able to better digest raw foods...it's because that they are full of enzymes and are basically self-digesting. They give our own pancreas a "break" and it takes less effort for the body to metabolize and process food.

Dr. Gonzalez is actually following a protocol first established by Dr. William Kelley, D.D.S.. Now THERE is an interesting (and controversial) story! In any case, when contemplating the raw food diet, these two doctors have discovered that one must pay attention to metabolic type. There are 4 different types and about 90 sub-types which determine meat, vegetable ratios and types of foods that are best suited to the individual.

Some basic background is available here: Open Original Shared Link. It's really quite interesting.