Let’s eat it raw

Raw food has recently gained popularity among those who are looking for a lifestyle change. Though it may seem like one of those “new fad diets”, it has been around for many years. Raw food, when compared to that of cooked food, has many benefits in transforming the body into a healthy one. Here are the reasons why raw food is beneficial.

Raw foodists consume only organic raw vegetables, fruits, sprouted grains or beans, nuts and seaweed. They claim that there are many benefits of a raw food diet. Raw food detoxifies the body by riding it of toxins that accumulate from eating cooked, processed, and refined foods. Ridding the body of these toxins and supplying the body with living foods and nutrients, one can, instantly, notice a change in how their body feels. Weight loss is not the purpose of the diet; however, it comes as a great advantage as raw food helps the person to lose weight and maintain it. Other noticeable changes include: Increased energy, cures to several diseases and ailments, and a more youthful appearance. Jinje from thegardendiet.com is a 40 year-old mother of five who maintains a youthful appearance of a 25 year-old. Jinje used to weigh 180 pounds, and has now maintained her ideal weight at 135. Jinje says, “I was 25, overweight and tired, starting to feel pains I knew I was too young to be feeling. Then I met Storm (her raw food husband)! With his influence, I began to eat a mostly raw diet with a few simple vegan dishes like rice and beans and began to lose weight and feel better. After about a year, I went 100% raw and after a few months, I began to feel the most incredible health! I quickly and easily dropped to my ideal weight and became filled with energy. The difference between 100% raw compared to 75% was like night and day.”

With a raw food diet you are able to consume as much raw food as you want without gaining weight. According to Alissa Cohen, an internationally recognized author, speaker, raw food chef, consultant and writer for alissacohen.com says, these raw plant fats do not cause the body to gain excess weight because they still contain the enzyme lipase; this is the enzyme that is needed to digest fat. Cooking fats destroy lipase; along with other important enzymes and minerals. The fat digesting enzyme, lipase, breaks up the raw plant foods as they are eaten and help to digest the oils in these foods. This food is getting assimilated and digested properly, so it is not clogging up the blood and arteries, causing all kinds of chronic and degenerative diseases. It is not getting stored as excess weight in the body.