You’ve most likely heard people talking about raw food diets and how beneficial they are for you, but did you ever wonder what exactly it is they are talking about? You might have pictured raw beef or oysters on your dinner plate – but that’s far from correct.

If truth be told – a raw food diet is simply eating food in its natural, untreated state. You are, in essence, already on a partly raw food diet – If you snack on fruit and vegetables without cooking them.

Unprocessed food, or raw food – is much better for you, since processing food deprives it of a lot the vital nutrients contained within it. You have almost certainly heard that cooking vegetables removes a lot of the vitamins and that it also destroys vital food enzymes. Packaged foods, like dehydrated potato powder to make mashed potatoes – have been processed in some way to create an easy packable meal. These packaged meals not only have little-to-none nutritional value, but your body simply can’t process these foods. If you consider raw foods as being natural foods, then it makes perfect sense that food in its raw state, are easier for our bodies to process – since this is what our great-great-great ancestors ate and thrived on for millennia.

Why is raw food so healthy?

Raw foods are bursting with vitamins, minerals and essential food enzymes. The aforementioned food enzymes are crucial, even though you don’t hear a whole lot about them. One function performed by enzymes is to help you digest your food, since sufficient enzymes can aid your body with the digestion process – which requires a lot of energy. Therefore, if your body requires less energy for digestion – you should have more energy to do what you really want. Have you ever wonder why you feel so drained after you have eaten a cooked meal? This is because the food enzymes have been destroyed by the cooking process. As a result, there are no enzymes available to help your body digest the big meal you just consumed.

Folks who follow the raw food diet consume about 70% of their food in a completely raw state. This includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, sprouts other foods in their natural state.

Raw Food Preparation

Raw foods can be prepared in a few ways. One of the most widespread methods is juicing. Scores of people go on juice fasts, in which they ONLY drink the juice of raw organic vegetables and fruits. By simply drinking a glass of fresh juice in the morning, can have major health improvements.

If you want to try the raw food diet – you can gradually increase the amount of raw foods and you should notice how much more energy you have.

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This article was provided by food lover, ScribeZA, for a top online quick & easy recipes provider in South Africa.