Monday, 23 April 2012

A Raw Food Diet For A Healthier You

Raw foodism or rawism is a way of life promoting the use of un-cooked, un-processed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet. Raw food diet followers characteristically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits. Raw food diets may possibly encompass an assortment of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish and non-pasteurized/non-homogenized dairy products (such as raw milk, raw milk cheese, and raw milk yogurt), depending on the results and benefits preferred.

Cooking is considered to weaken the nutritional value of food. Raw food experts state that usually, at least 75% of the diet must be living or raw. Proponents of the raw food diet deem it has plentiful health benefits, including increased energy, improved skin appearance, better digestion, weight loss, reduced risk of heart disease etc. The raw food diet is low on trans fats and saturated fat than the typical Western diet. The sodium content is also low and content of potassium, magnesium, folate, fiber and health-promoting plant chemicals called phytochemicals is high. These properties are connected with a reduced danger of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

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Specific cooking techniques make foods more digestible and add variety to the diet, including sprouting seeds, grains, and beans, juicing fruit and vegetables, soaking nuts and dried fruit, blending, dehydrating food etc.

Some people experience a detoxification reaction when they start the raw food diet, especially if their previous diet was rich in meat, sugar, and caffeine. Symptoms include bad breath, chills, headaches, daytime drowsiness, mental fogginess, concentration problems, low libido, and an unstable yo-yoing of my alertness and emotional states.

People who shun raw food diet say while it’s true that some enzymes are inactivated when food is heated, it doesn’t matter because the body uses its own enzymes for digestion. They also say that cooking makes certain phytochemicals easier to absorb, such as beta-carotene in carrots. Another point they put forwars is that the human body has changed in response to eating cooked foods.

Nonetheless, raw food diet is indubitably worth trying and in fact many people have warmed up to it. The raw food diet contains fewer trans fats and saturated fat than the typical Western diet. It is also low in sodium and high in potassium, magnesium, folate, fiber and health-promoting plant chemicals called phytochemicals. These properties are associated with a reduced risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. For example, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that consumption of a raw food diet lowered plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations.

By: Jim Lue

"Jitendra Jain Says" : Raw food diet followers characteristically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits.For more details about Raw food diet visit: rawfoodlifetoday.com/

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