If you enjoy eating raw vegetables and fruits, you're familiar with part of the raw food diet. However, this dietary approach is a bit more far-reaching. According to Medical News Today, while raw food diet followers primarily eat a plant-based diet---ideally organic foods---a significant amount of them also eat raw meat and raw animal products. The thinking is that raw foods are healthier because the nutrients aren't destroyed during cooking. But, this isn't the full picture.
Advantage - More Energy
A raw food diet may boost energy and fight fatigue. Raw food is rich in enzymes, vitamins and minerals that allows your body to easily digest food. Followers of the diet believe that cooking food destroys these nutrients so your body has to use up its own enzymes that should be used for other bodily functions, including metabolism and energy production.
Advantage - Weight Loss
If you're trying to lose weight, a raw food diet can make it easier--it uses less of your body's own enzymes and it increases metabolism. As Canada.com further explains, weight gain can result from your body working harder to get fewer nutrients from cooked foods. Also, by significantly limiting your intake of meats and meat-products and eliminating prepackaged foods, you avoid saturated and trans fats--two culprits often linked to weight gain.
Advantage - Better Hydration
According to Brenda Watson, author of "The Detox Strategy," when you eat cooked food, your body has to use its own fluids to moisten it, which creates a dehydrating effect. Dehydration is linked to several conditions, including constipation, dizziness, lethargy, and in severe cases, seizures. On the other hand, raw foods require less of your body's own fluids for digestion.
Disadvantage - Nutrient Deficiencies
A raw food diet can cause you to miss out on vital nutrients such as calcium, vitamins B12 and D, iron and zinc. In an article in "Harvard News," anthropologist Richard Wrangham noted that in a review of several hundred German raw food followers, 25 percent were chronically underweight and 50 percent of the women had such low energy levels that their menstrual periods had stopped.
Disadvantage - Chemical Exposure
Non-organic fruits and vegetables are exposed to a variety of pesticides and insecticides, while non-organic meat comes from animals that are injected with hormones and antibiotics. If you're not eating organic raw foods, you'll be more exposed to these toxins and chemicals.
Disadvantage - Digestive Problems
If you're not accustom to eating most food raw, you may experience digestive problems, states Medical News Today. Gas and bloating can occur when eating lots of fiber-filled fruits and vegetables. However, the product Say Yes to Beans can provide relief, states Michael Greger, a physician and author based in Washington D.C. In some cases, raw foods may also expose you to bacteria or viruses that cause diarrhea, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
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