Raw Foods Diet
Raw food diet in review.
Although the reasons are not clearly known, Raw Foods diet does create major improvements in human health. It normalizes weight, which certainly means that energy is allowed to burn instead of being converted into fat.
A large part of the cooked food goes into fat production as heat and acid alters it, making it un-metabolic. Raw food breaks down into components that could be directly metabolized in a variety of cells. A visible improvement resulting from Raw Foods diet is in the digestive system. Since raw food digests faster, the person does not notice the acid, bile and the residual effects of digestion that normally go with cooked food.
Raw nuts and seeds like sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, filberts, etc. are common sources of protein as also are sprouts. Since plant proteins do not have the same balance of amino acids as animal proteins, a variety of sources are needed to balance it. The easiest sprouts are from the lentils. Just soak it in a large plastic cup for 8 hrs and then drain to keep it moist by spraying and occasionally rinsing. Take them as soon as they get soft. Sprouts may be allowed to grow for a couple of days.
Sprouts make a person hungry as also many other types of raw food, hence there is hardly any chance of getting under-nourished. It is almost impossible to put on excess fat. So obese people can revert to raw food diet. There is however, the social inconvenience that such diets create. The routine seldom fits established eating habits and many see this as ‘rabbit food’.
What to eat (raw food): The best raw food, that is also low in pesticide is frozen peas put to warm water to thaw but not cooked. The best protein is raw sunflower seed, soaked for an hour to soften. The second best source is lentils soaked for 8 hours and rinsed several times to keep fresh. For essential fatty acids, Omega 3 is of cardinal value, which is mostly available in fish oil. For those who do not relish fish oil, an alternate form is alpha-linolelic acid, which is found in green leafy vegetables and walnuts.
Problems in raw food dieting: Changing from cooked to a raw food diet does not work well since acid is produced. Acid and raw foods tend to create indigestion. Another problem with raw food is that they are generally high in pesticides and sometimes it becomes difficult to get rid of them. Then again, fruits and vegetables cannot usually be consumed at the same time. Hence, it is advisable to eat fruit in the mornings only and vegetables for the rest of the day. It is also not easy to obtain enough calories from raw food because there is large amount of fiber and H2O in it. Thus you will need to eat every two hours to gain calories.