Raw Food Diet

As many of us know cooking your food depletes certain nutritional values of the food and enzymes that help us to digest and absorb it. Knowing this fact, many have chosen to turn to a raw food diet for health and well-being. The people that chose this will have a diet consisting of mainly uncooked and unprocessed foods. Their diet will mainly consist of fresh vegetables and fresh fruits, nuts, beans, grains, and other foods such as these. The majority of their diet will either be raw or live.

The raw food diet boasts a great deal of healthful benefits, such as a diet lower in trans fat, saturated fats, calories and sodium. In addition, it will also add an increase in potassium, magnesium, fiber, folate, and phytochemicals. Not only does the raw food diet claim to offer its users better aid in digestion, a boost in energy, more improved skin appearance, weight loss, but also help to reduce your risk of heart disease.

In addition to the foods listed above the person on a raw food diet should not heat three-quarters of their food to over 116 degrees. The use of a dehydrator, juice extractor, food processor, and blender are common cooking utensils that you would see in the kitchen of a person on a raw food diet.

Although the raw food diet sounds like a breeze in the kitchen, as you are not really cooking, it involves processes that are time consuming and ingredients that are difficult to obtain in your local grocery store.

If you are new to a raw food diet you might experience some changes in your bodies while it undergoes an adjustment period to your new diet. Some things that you might notice are nausea and headaches. This will most likely occur if your diet previously contained foods that had a great deal of caffeine, meat, and/or sugar. Your body will have to detoxify itself and headaches and nausea are normal reactions to this.

Some nutritionists and other health professionals frown upon the raw food diet as it does have nutritional deficits in a couple of areas. The most notable is vitamin B12 which is only available in meat products. This type of a diet should not be used in certain people such as children and pregnant/nursing women. Other groups of people with an already weakened or deficit health system are also advised against the raw food diet.

Always check with your primary care physician before starting any new diet or exercise program to see if this is a helpful approach for your body. He will best advise you on the pros and cons of any new health regime according to your specific health care needs.