Do you ever wish you could just make easy meals without committing hours of your time to cook them?
Or do you simply want to cleanse your body of toxins while also continuing to eat food?
Well, a raw diet may just be the answer to both of those things, as it’s both easy to incorporate into your daily life while also being incredibly healthy.
Essentially, you’ll swap cooked foods for their raw alternatives, and optimally, you’ll take the meat out of your diet entirely for the time being.
What you’ll focus on are raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and grains, all of which are extremely nutritious and useful in their own right, so long as you can utilize them properly.
A lot of foods contain natural enzymes that can help us fight off diseases, but most of these get destroyed when food is cooked, turning it into nothing more than a tasty treat.
The dos and don’ts
If you do decide to get on the raw food diet, you must first understand what foods you can and can’t eat, as well as which of these foods require additional processing to be edible.
Most commonly, people that employ the raw food diet tend to eat only fruits, vegetables, and nuts, but some go the extra step and consume animal products such as raw meat, dairy, fish, and eggs.
We won’t be touching on that, as we’re trying to promote a vegan-friendly approach to raw food, and there are definitely a couple of tricks to getting the most out of it.
One of the most common misconceptions regarding raw food is that it has to be served cold, which is completely false.
As long as your food’s temperature doesn’t go over 118 degrees, it’ll be considered raw, allowing it to keep its natural enzymes and retain its positive qualities as it enters your body.
How hard can it be?
While it does seem like an easy task, putting together a plate of raw ingredients, and knowing how to prepare them is crucial.
If this wasn’t enough, most supermarkets won’t have the majority of the organic ingredients you may need, and it may result in you going out of your way just to make a single meal.
Prep work can also be extensive, but once you get used to working with a blender, things become much easier, as it’s the #1 way to process food without actually cooking it.
You must also look out for foods that require a thorough wash before consuming, such as lettuce, sprouts, and raspberries, all of which can contain tiny snails that can carry devastating diseases.
If you’re pregnant or are cooking for a child, it’s recommended to stay away from raw foods, as they can pose a risk to the baby’s or child’s health, and this also applies to just about anyone with a weaker or undeveloped immune system.
Does it actually work?
Usually, people on the raw food diet tend to lose weight, a lot of it, and it’s mostly due to the rapid switch to lower calorie foods that have a much higher fiber content.
On top of this, you’ll gain a number of nutritional perks, as the foods you’ll be eating are packed full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, as well as enzymes that will help your body fight off disease and illness.
The downside, however, is that it’s lacking in some other nutrients, such as protein, vitamin B12, and calcium, which are commonly found in animal products.
Currently, it’s not recommended as a treatment for any conditions out there, but it can be beneficial for anyone looking to cleanse their body and make use of this innovative diet.
You should definitely talk to a doctor before committing to it though, just to make sure your body can handle the strain it may cause.
The recipes
Naturally, a raw food diet can be as diverse as a standard one, so long as you’re innovative enough to make something that is both delicious and healthy.
One good example is cauliflower and rice sushi balls, which are a modern and vegan-friendly spin on the standard sushi roll, this time with veggies instead of raw fish.
Mushrooms are another incredibly healthy food that can also be consumed raw, although this can depend on the type of mushroom you’re planning on eating.
Portobello mushrooms are perfectly safe for consumption even raw, and if you like to get creative, you can use two mushroom heads as burger buns for a nice, tasty cashew cheese and vegetable burger.
Finally, there’s raw carrot pasta, which you can make at home, and while this recipe does call for the use of eggs, it’s too good to pass up on, and you can even garnish your pasta with some peanut sauce mixed with a ginger-lime juice, for some extra zing.