Raw food enthusiasts create a wide range of elaborate and gourmet meals and desserts from raw vegetables, fruits, sprouts and nuts. They have even developed raw versions of popular cooked favorites, such as pizza, bacon, burgers, bread, crackers, tacos and cheesy macaroni. These recipes, however, can be time consuming to prepare and may not be appropriate for busy people hoping to add more raw foods to their daily diet. You can, however, use raw foods to create a wide variety of simple, everyday meals.
Definition
A raw food diet consists of 50 to 95 percent raw foods, depending on whom you ask. There is very little scientific research on the diet, and most adherents follow a plan that works well for them. Any food that has been pasteurized or heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit is considered a cooked food. Many proponents of the diet, such as cookbook author Ani Phyo, avoid foods heated above 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
Function
Raw foods contain active enzymes that aid in their digestion. Cooking foods destroys these enzymes. The human body also produces digestive enzymes, but only in limited quantities that decrease as you age. Consuming too many cooked foods forces your body to work harder at digestion, leaving less energy for other tasks. It may also result in incomplete digestion, reduced nutrient absorption and gastrointestinal problems, according to Neutraceuticals World.
Benefits
Raw food enthusiasts associate many benefits with the raw food diet. These include increased energy, reduced need for sleep, clearer skin, improved mood, sharper intellect, better immunity and weight loss. Scientific evidence neither supports nor refutes the anecdotal claims. The raw food diet, however, primarily consists of the whole, plant-based foods nutritionists and other experts recommend for good health and improved immunity.
Staples
Raw food staples include fresh or pickled vegetables, fresh or dried fruits, avocado, coconut, seaweed, nuts, seeds, sprouted beans, sprouted grains, miso, olives, cold-pressed oils, raw vinegar, raw soy sauce and raw sweeteners. Some raw food adherents include unpasteurized dairy products and raw meat, such as sushi and sashimi.
These ingredients provide the foundation for a wide range of meals, snacks and desserts. Some are elaborate, but many are quick and simple--especially if you change the way you think about meals. Your breakfast plate, for example, might contain a veggie scramble made with avocado instead of eggs. Lunch may consist of raw almond or coconut butter spread on apple slices instead of bread. Dinner could be a pile of noodles made from zucchini or cucumber and topped with pesto or raw tomato sauce.
Tips
Try to make sprouting part of your regular routine. Bean sprouts are not only versatile and filling, but also highly nutritious and rich in enzymes. Use them to quickly build a completely raw meal, such as sprouted chickpea hummus, sprouted lentil soup or mung bean salad. You can also use them to easily add an enzyme-rich raw food to cooked meals, such as soup, stir fry, sandwiches and rice, egg or pasta dishes.
If you enjoy stir fry, reduce your normal cooking time so the insides of the vegetables remain raw. Many recipes that seem exotic at first are actually easy to make. These include french fries made out of turnips or jicama, rice made out of cauliflower, burgers made out of a marinated portobello mushroom, sandwiches made with large leafy vegetables instead of bread, mashed potatoes made out of cauliflower, broth made out of miso and hummus made from zucchini.
References
- Nutraceuticals World; The Past, Present and Future of Enzymes; Rohit Medhekar; June 2007
- "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen"; Ani Phyo; 2007
- Third Age: The Virtues of an Uncooked Diet
- USDA: 2010 Dietary Guidelines
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