What Is The Raw Food Diet? Is it Healthy?

The raw food diet is a relatively new thing to catch on in the diet world – its proponents claim that it is much healthier than eating cooked food and that there are numerous benefits including weight loss, etc.

It’s true enough that a lot of processed food can be bad for us and we certainly have too much of that in our lives at the moment, but is a raw food diet the answer?

Needless to say, the main opposition to the diet is that eating uncooked food has health risks of its own – cooking kills germs, and that’s good. But the general belief is that if you eat carefully you can get the advantage of the benefits that this diet offers without giving yourself food poisoning.

The Benefits:

Toxins

Cooking food breaks down the chemicals within it and in general, raw food contains fewer chemicals than cooked, these chemicals are also ones that our bodies do not recognize, and hence may be considered toxins as they are harder to digest.

Energy

Because of the above point, raw food is often digested more effectively and completely – meaning that we get more energy from it. The ease of digestion also means that you don’t get the ‘food coma’ effect after eating.

Overeating

Generally, raw food is more fibrous and more solid; this means that it takes longer to chew and hence longer to eat. It is well-accepted that eating more slowly tends to make us less likely to overeat, so this point alone could help with your diet.

Weight Loss

Easier digestion means that your body is better able to manage blood sugar levels, in turn, you will find that your appetite is controlled and you will feel hungry when you need to eat but not when you don’t.

Also Read: Healthy Snacks for a Healthy Life

How To Start A Raw Diet

The tough part is figuring out how to make a raw food diet work with your lifestyle since most restaurants don’t cater to such diets and you might end up living off the salad. Another downside to a raw food diet is that if you are not careful you can miss out on the variety of food and nutrients that your body ideally needs to be healthy.

Most people who try out this diet don’t actually eat 100% raw though – you might start off with a 75% raw diet and still eat cooked food most evenings. This way you will gradually get used to the food and the routine and ultimately you can adjust your cooked food intake until you find something that works for you.

Summary

The truth is that no matter how far you want to go, it is worth considering the principles of raw food dieting and maybe working some of the more interesting meals into your life. There are certainly some delicious raw food recipes to be found online if you have a look.