Is Raw Food Health Destroyed by Cooking?I eat cooked food and have no intention of stopping that for the sake of raw food health. Am I wrong? Let's see. Perhaps you have heard or read that wild animals that eat raw food do not suffer many of the ailments of modern man. For the most part, men and women eat a lot of cooked food. The list of raw foods for many is a scant part of their diet. For instance, I know people who avoid totally fresh fruit and vegetables. Do you know anyone like that? What is the chance of those people maintaining normal blood pressure or other measures of good health? Probably not too good. The good news is that some raw food is better than none. You might want to increase your raw food intake, particularly fruit and vegetables. People who eat only raw food are mostly vegetarians, but not all, for a list of raw foods could contain uncooked meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products. Well then, what are raw foods? What makes food raw? Simply put, raw means uncooked. You go to the store. The meat you buy (not deli) is fresh. The produce is fresh. Eggs from a cooler - all that is raw. If you cook them at home, they are no longer raw. Food you find in cans or boxes or packages is cooked already. Some frozen food is cooked, some is raw. You can get raw nuts, seeds and dairy products, but you usually need to go to a natural foods store for those. Eating organic does not mean eating raw food. Raw food health is not the same as organic food health. Now, are there reasons to eat cooked food? Raw versus cooked - Some pros and cons Some might debate these statements. Let's see what you think. 1. Cooking destroys enzymes and vitamin and mineral complexes in food. 2. People tend to overeat cooked food more than raw food. 3. People who eat cooked food often eat unbalanced meals, heavy on starch and protein. 4. Cooked food eaters tend to eat fast without chewing well to predigest their food with saliva. 5. Depository illness and inflammation are more prominent with those eating cooked food. On the other hand, 6. Cooking destroys germs and parasites in raw meat. 7. Cooking can destroy pesticides on raw fruit and vegetables. 8. Cooking often makes food taste better (matter of opinion). 9. Cooking brings into food preparation greater variety in meals. Did you thinks of some other reasons for raw or cooked? How about a compromise? Maybe you don't have to go whole hog either way Maybe you can do what I do. I keep a variety of raw fruits and vegetables around. Here are some that I have right now in the kitchen: apples, grapes, grapefruit, peaches, sun-dried raisins, fresh lemon juice, and raw pumpkin seeds. So far today I've eaten or drunk a fruit shake containing grapes and peaches in juice, raw pumpkin seeds, a cooked hot dog and a cooked hamburger. At night I will most likely have raw celery, raw broccoli, fresh lemonade, a soda and some sort of cooked food. My diet is a blend of Mediterranean, Blood Type Diet, and no diet at all. Nevertheless, I recommend eating more raw foods to promote your normal blood pressure. For those of you who find raw food boring, try Eating for Energy for interesting ways to prepare and eat raw food. Raw food health doesn't mean you need to be a vegetarian. But you should introduce more raw food into your diet if you are not already eating a lot of it. Raw food health benefits can be yours. Actually you can work it into whichever diet you choose, be it vegetarian or other diet. Go to Vegetarian Diet
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