Health Benefits of Eating Raw Foods

The entirely new and exciting cuisine that we will explore today is gourmet raw food. This is where fruits, vegetables, sprouts, seeds and nuts are prepared in novel ways, often as much healthier versions of familiar cooked dishes. This food will blow your mind with its flavour, texture and satisfying heartiness. Everything from pizzas to burritos, burgers to lasagne, even ice-cream, can be prepared using 100% raw food.

Raw food, sometimes called live or living food, is food that has not been cooked, or in other words exposed to temperatures over 40°C (104°F). At those temperatures, the natural enzymes in food are destroyed.

We all benefit from the addition of raw food to our diets. Research has shown that when our diet is composed of 50% raw food and 50% cooked food, we function well and our immune system is in balance. But when our diet is composed of more than 50% cooked foods, our body starts going into digestive leukocytosis. The immune system reacts to the overabundance of cooked food as if it is under attack, sparking an increase in the white blood cell count. As a result, we see increased allergic reactions, chronic inflammation and various types of immune-system dysfunction. The easiest way to avoid this is to consume lots of raw foods such as fruit and vegetables as well as fermented foods such as kefir and sauerkraut that are rich in enzymes and heat-sensitive vitamins.

Health benefits of including raw foods in your diet

Raw foods can provide the following health benefits:

• Increased life force and vitality, and greater longevity – this is due to the abundance of enzymes, vitamins and antioxidants in raw foods
• Detoxification – raw plant foods are wonderful detoxifiers
• Maintenance of alkaline–acid balance in the body
• Weight loss
• Clear skin
• Reduced risk of disease
• Increased energy

Plants have a cleansing effect on the body and have alkalising properties, especially in their raw form, while animal foods help to build up a body. Ideally, in keeping with a healthy and balanced diet, humans ought to eat both plant and animal foods.

Why not try raw food in your diet? One of my bestselling nutritional classes is “Balance your body effortlessly with living raw foods“. Join me and learn how to add exciting raw food dishes in to your diet.