Raw Food To Your Diet Plan In A Healthy Diet

There are many advocates of eating raw food, from those who proclaim the amazing benefits of the fresh squeezed juice of fruits, vegetables, and wheat or barley grass to the government officials who recommend five servings of fresh fruit and vegetables a day. Controversy about the wisdom of eating food that has not been cooked or pasteurized complicates this subject.

There are those who never eat any cooked or heat treated food. They say that their skin, hair, energy level, and resistance to disease are all enhanced by the consumption of natural, whole, raw food. Others, a vast majority in many cultures, can not conceive of doing without charbroiled steaks and stir-fried vegetables. However, even those of us who eat mostly cooked or pasteurized foods usually have some raw things we routinely eat.

For those who have access to milk and eggs from their own animals and who practice scrupulous cleanliness, the benefits of consuming them in the raw state are many, including easier digestion and fewer allergies or food sensitivities. Eating meat or fish raw requires extreme trust in those who raise or catch the products and handle them at every step that leads to your table.

The main value in raw foods is that the enzymes inherent in the plant or animal of origin have not been destroyed by heat. Enzymes are natural substances in all living things that act as catalysts for the chemical reactions and biological processes of life. A food often contains enzymes in it that help break it down during digestion, making it easier and healthier for the one who eats it. A cooked food requires enzymes from the body of the consumer to be properly broken down; if these are lacking or insufficient, poor digestion often leads to inability to absorb nutrients and the negative reactions which we call food allergies.

Raw foods contain substances called enzymes, which are natural catalysts or triggers for metabolic processes such as digestion and tissue repair. Foods that have not been treated with heat usually contain the enzymes needed to digest them; if these enzymes are destroyed by heat or lack of freshness, the body of the organism that consumes the food must supply the enzymes needed.

Aging, malnutrition, and illness may cause a depletion of enzymes, which may be supplemented by supplements or the use of fermented foods. Natural apple cider vinegar, yogurt, and cultured products contain helpful bacteria that are rich in enzymes and aid digestion.

Raw foods from your garden, seeds and grains sprouted in your kitchen, fresh organic produce, green foods such as wheat and barley grass, and fresh squeezed juices contribute nutrition to your diet that you will not find in cooked and processed foods. Cooked foods that have been recently ‘living’, such as lightly steamed vegetables or sourdough breads and pancakes, have been shown to be healthier as well. Cultured foods are common in many countries, and this knowledge is being circulated around the world as their health benefits are recognized.

Wheat grass is another source of concentrated nutrition, and many people either grow this at home in shallow trays or buy it in nursery-style flats to take home. This is usually juiced for the health benefits of live, green food. Young coconuts, full of coconut water, are another source of vital electrolytes and vitamins. It is said that you can live for years on nothing but coconuts. However, we are blessed to not be limited to only one raw food but provided with a true cornucopia of nutrition.

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