Eating fresh vegetables is something we’ve learned to love over the years, and many of us can’t understand why we refused to obey when our parents asked us to do it.
However, there may be a bit more to this “fresh food” thing than your mom may have initially thought, and it’s only recently being discovered.
Of course, we already knew the importance of both fresh and cooked vegetables and fruit in our food, but with the cooking process, a lot of the nutrients they have to offer to tend to evaporate.
This is why many sought to explore a raw food diet, and researchers from leading organic food companies believe it to be extremely beneficial.
On top of that, it’s the ultimate lazy food, as there’s no cooking involved, and all you’ve got to do is fill up a plate and season it to taste.
Why is it better
Compared to cooked and processed foods, raw fruits and vegetables are packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals, most of which aren’t as present once the food is cooked, boiled, or fried.
Prakriti Shakti’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Cijith Sreedhar believes that following the “you are what you eat” mnemonic is integral to maintaining a healthy body.
Raw food helps you establish a link between you and nature in a way that cooked food simply can’t, mainly due to it being the most natural way to consume it, just as our ancestors did before us.
Naturally, this doesn’t apply to foods that absolutely must be thermally processed, and it’s for the best to leave those out of this diet plan.
On top of this, eating food raw allows your stomach to struggle much less during digestion, as its natural makeup requires a minimal amount of energy to be spent.
It’s not for everyone
Even though it’s an extremely healthy approach to a diet program, some people should definitely stay away from it.
Those with nutritional deficiencies and gut disorders simply won’t be able to obtain as much energy from raw food as they would from what they usually eat.
Patients undergoing hormone therapy might also want to avoid switching to an all-raw-food diet as well unless they’re supervised by a naturopathic doctor throughout their cleanse.
Additionally, if you’ve gone through a dehydration period, it’s integral to avoid raw food before your body returns to its natural state.
On the other hand, patients with low blood pressure may be able to handle such a rapid change in their eating habits, but only with the help of some extra salt in all their meals.
If you feel that may ruin the taste of the meal you’ve prepped, you can include some lime juice or coconut water to balance it out.
The benefits
There’s a variety of things you can gain from a raw food diet, and they range from improving your physical health to reducing anxiety and helping deal with depression.
By dropping your sodium intake by just a little, you could substantially lower your risk of stroke, heart disease, stomach cancer, and numerous other malignant illnesses.
Due to the natural composition of the food you eat being preserved up until it reaches your stomach, your body will communicate with it that much easier, spending less energy and sparing you some painful trips to the bathroom.
Apart from this, studies have found that cooked food often has a lower percentage of the nutrients that we need to overcome stressful situations with ease.
Finally, adapting to raw food may help bring balance into your body and adjust your alkaline and acid levels to their normal values.
How to do it
Despite all this, you shouldn’t exactly replace your current diet entirely, and making a full switch to raw food is practically impossible.
This is especially true if you’re not a vegetarian or vegan, as meats and animal products are optimally consumed after being cooked or processed in another way.
On top of this, an intake consisting only of raw foods may have a negative impact on your nutritional state, especially if you’ve been on the diet for a prolonged period.
This is why you should switch back to your usual eating habits the moment the diet stops being enjoyable, as it’s likely your own body telling you that you need to change some things.
Recipes
However, none of this prevents you from incorporating some raw recipes into your daily life every so often, and among them, you’ll find food such as Broccoli Squares and Papaya Passion.
The former is a sort of a nut/veggie mixture paired with citrus notes, which is then neatly cut into squares to be snacked on.
Papaya Passion, on the other hand, is more of a smoothie, and it contains fresh papaya fruit, orange juice, coconut milk, honey, and lemon juice.
Once you blend all of these together you can drink it as a quick nutritional boost throughout the day.