# Raw Food



## petite libellule (Jul 4, 2012)

I was curious if anyone has any experience (or knowledge off hand) about the raw food diet.


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## android654 (Jan 19, 2010)

I messed around with raw food a bit. The experience was not unlike being vegetarian. It left me zapped of energy, my weight fluctuated like crazy, and worse of all it was the only time of my life where I got sick during the season changes. It was the flu about three different times that year. I personally wouldn't recommend anyone going off meat as a permanent change to their diet.

If your considering it because of the "benefits" in terms of nutrients, there's no solid evidence to suggest raw vegetables have higher efficacy in introducing nutrients or digestive benefits into your body than frozen vegetables.


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## 3053 (Oct 14, 2009)

I was eating 60 - 90% raw during the Summer to help with Bulimia. It didn't work out for me just because there is a shit availability of fruit here, too expensive. 

I did feel really good, though. Eating sufficiently helped bring down the number of binges I'd have a day. I wanted to go running most days, which seemed like something I had to force myself to do prior to eating this way. It's important not to overdo it on the nuts/oils though, they'll constipate the pants off you, and slow you down in general! 
It's pricey, but there are ways to work around it, like buying in bulk. 

For me it was nice while it lasted, just wan't sustainable at the time: being a poor college student, geographically disadvantaged, coping with Bulimia etc. etc.


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## NT the DC (May 31, 2012)

It seems like an idea taken too far.
Processed food = bad.
Anything not completely natural = bad.

lol, I'd say cutting the processed food out is sound advice.
Eating more raw veggies and fruits is sound advice

The rest are like ok buddy.


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## FiddleheadFern (Aug 20, 2012)

I did it for a summer...I lost 15 lbs or so, probably because only part of the food actually gets digested. I felt great for a while, but eventually hit a point (probably I lost all the excess weight my body had to spare) at which I felt ravenous and starting contemplating eating the couch cushions or the cat. I was STARVING. (Actually, I think it's when I started doing 30 min of cardio a day, and my poor body just couldn't hack it). I think we're evolved for eating cooked food, though the enzymes from some raw fruits and vegetables are beneficial to our bodies in reasonable doses. About 50% raw is a good balance/fit for me.


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## Hurricane Matthew (Nov 9, 2012)

Humans evolved to eat cooked food since we've been eating it for so many thousands of years. Cooking makes it easier for the body to digest and it is believed that the human brain grew quite a bit in size once our species embraced the power of fire and began cooking food. Carnivores who eat raw meat, like lions, sleep tons of their day away because raw food takes up a lot of energy. Herbivores have complicated digestive systems to digest their food and they have to repeatedly throw it back up into their mouths to chew over and over again. Eating cooked food has the benefit of giving a body more free time as less time/energy is spent on digesting. With this development, humans were able to become more inventive and creative. Some things are still good raw, like fruits, but a completely raw diet doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. I can't think of what the possible benefits might be when the main thing it affects is its ease on digestion.


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## Aslynn (Jun 2, 2012)

I'm going to echo the posts above and just say that, while the basic ideas of raw food are good, it's too extreme. Avoiding processed foods, eating lots of raw, fresh produce and less meat, etc - all sound premises, but when you get into strict food combining, acidity level obssessions, no-food-above-a-certain-temperature territory, you've gone too far.


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## ester62 (Jan 17, 2013)

It is very healthy


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## nádej (Feb 27, 2011)

I did this for a while in my late teens and felt really healthy for a few weeks before getting incredibly sick and rundown. It wasn't sustainable for me, either due to nutritional needs of my body that such a diet can't meet, or my own inability to do it well.

Eating raw fruits, veggies, nuts, etc. is great and and certainly an important *part* of a healthy diet, but it's not the be-all-end-all.


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## Quenby (Jan 31, 2013)

Raw food diet is good for the health and fitness because this diet provide us more natural foods elements in shape of vitamins, protein, calcium, mineral, and nutrition. 
Raw diet in shape of fruits and vegetables work well to control the cholesterol level and lose the excess body weight.


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## waterviolet (Apr 28, 2010)

A good rule of thumb is to avoid foods that aren't as they come out of the ground or off the animal. This doesn't mean you should avoid mashed potatoes, just the instant boxed mashed potatoes! Let's face it, anything you can just add water and a pat of butter to probably isn't good for you. It's the additives, sodium, and preservatives that get you when it comes to processed food. Watch your portion sizes but eat what you would have eaten at Great Great Grandma's dinner table. Oh, and just think of how hard it was to get your hands on sugar back then...dessert is a treat meant for special times!


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## Quenby (Jan 31, 2013)

Quenby said:


> Raw food diet is good for the health and fitness because this diet provide us more natural foods elements in shape of vitamins, protein, calcium, mineral, and nutrition.
> Raw diet in shape of fruits and vegetables work well to control the cholesterol level and lose the excess body weight.


Any comment?


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## HandiAce (Nov 27, 2009)

Matthew Nisshoku said:


> Humans evolved to eat cooked food since we've been eating it for so many thousands of years. Cooking makes it easier for the body to digest and it is believed that the human brain grew quite a bit in size once our species embraced the power of fire and began cooking food. Carnivores who eat raw meat, like lions, sleep tons of their day away because raw food takes up a lot of energy. Herbivores have complicated digestive systems to digest their food and they have to repeatedly throw it back up into their mouths to chew over and over again. Eating cooked food has the benefit of giving a body more free time as less time/energy is spent on digesting. With this development, humans were able to become more inventive and creative. Some things are still good raw, like fruits, but a completely raw diet doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. I can't think of what the possible benefits might be when the main thing it affects is its ease on digestion.


This for the most part I agree with. The ideal diet would include cooked vegetables AND raw vegetables. The reason being is that indeed some important nutrients are lost in the process of cooking, even if many can be held onto if vegetables are steamed or cooked in soups. However, while cooked vegetables lose some nutrients, the bio-availability of other nutrients also increases (source). Not to mention, too much coarse and scratchy fiber from raw foods can irritate the valve between the small and large intestine (this is why juicing is almost essential if you want to survive longer on a raw food diet).

As others have mentioned, the raw food diet is an overkill response to avoiding all of the foods or toxins that cause chronic illness in the first place.



Quenby said:


> Any comment?


Yes. The raw food diet could possibly help you out in the short-term. Indeed, you will be consuming a lot more nutrients per calorie. With that said, go ahead and include more raw foods in your diet. You don't even have to go 100% and I would not go that way either. I think you'll feel better, especially if you live in a warm climate.


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