I thought I’d start my series by discussing raw food. I frequent a health forum and many of the people on that forum are raw foodists so I hear a lot about it, it’s benefits and it’s drawbacks. Actually, I hear more about it’s benefits then it’s drawbacks.

History

Human beings started out eating raw food. Archaeologists believe that humans only started cooking their food between 250,000–400,000 years ago. In the early 1900’s researchers determined that eating cooked food contributed to tooth decay. Weston Price, a dentist who traveled around the world in the 1930’s examining traditional diets and people’s teeth, was one proponent of eating raw food. Find out more about Weston Price and his research here.

Price’s brand of raw foodism included animal products. These days most raw foodists follow a vegan diet. Ann Wigmore was a holistic health practitioner who believed that living raw foods provided the body with more nutrients. Click here to find out more about Ann Wigmore and the Ann Wigmore Institute.

Types of Raw Foodists

While most of us are familiar with the vegan raw food lifestyle, raw foodists fall into three categories. There are vegans, who eat no animal products what so ever. This includes fruitarians who eat only fruit. There are vegetarian who include honey, raw (unpasteurized) milk and raw eggs into there diets. Finally, there are omnivores who include raw meat and fish in there diets. All of these foods of raw foodists eat lots of vegetable. Vegetables make up most of their diets.

Some raw foodists sprout grains and beans to eat. Others don’t because of toxins contained in uncooked beans and grains.

Health Benefits

Many raw foodists claim amazing health benefits result from following this diet. Research has shown that raw foodists have lower levels of “bad cholesterol” and triglycerides in their bodies. Research also shows that women who eat raw food have a decreased risk of developing breast cancer. Eating raw food can also help you loose weight.

Raw foodists make many other claims that have no scientific evidence to support it. They claim that eating raw gives them more energy. They need less sleep and their minds are clearer and sharper.

Raw food can be heated to slowly to no hotter than 104-120 degrees Fahrenheit. They believe that heating the food any hotter than this destroys the enzymes contained in the food.

The Down Side

Like with everything there’s always a down side. Women on a raw food diet tend to be underweight and many stop menstruating. People on a raw food diet have lower bone density. (I seem to remember reading somewhere that even though they have lower bone density they aren’t more prone to getting osteoporosis. I can’t find the article anywhere though so don’t quote me on that.) Eating an exclusively raw vegan diet has been associated with tooth erosion. Raw vegans also suffer from vitamin B12 deficiencies.

Consuming raw meat, dairy, eggs and seafood has its own obvious risks–bacterial contamination.

My Two Cents

I think that eating an exclusively raw food diet seenm inconvenient to say the least. I eat quite a bit of raw food and peruse raw food websites looking for recipes. I wouldn’t consider going completely raw myself at this point because the freedom to eat out is really important to me, but I think that everyone’s diet could improve from including more raw foods.

Photo by adactio

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• My Take on Traditional Diets
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• My Take on Vegetarianism
• My Take on Veganism