Raw Food Diet

What Is The Raw Food Diet?

The Raw Food Diet basically follows the strictest form of the vegan diet: no meat, fish, milk, dairy products, eggs, or cooked foods. Only raw, minimally processed foods are permitted in this way of eating. Some followers do eat meat, Carol Alt among them, but most avoid it.

Sometimes, raw foodists will fast or go on a special detoxifying diet, such as The Lemonade Diet. These types of diets address the individual's specific health concerns or cleanse their systems further from the pollutants and toxins so prevalent in highly developed societies.

What Does It Promise?

The purpose of eating a raw food diet is not only to help a person lose weight and feel better, but also to slow the aging process by helping a person look and feel younger. In their several books, Carol Alt, Tonya Zavasta, and the Boutenko family each tell their stories of health problems cured and youthfulness achieved after following the raw food lifestyle.

The Premise

Raw fooding is all about enzymes. Enzymes are present in all raw foods, but most are either completely destroyed or are rendered inactive by cooking. Hence, the premise of a raw food diet lifestyle is that it is far more healthful to feed the human body foods in which the enzymes are present and active.

Because heat destroys enzymes, raw foodists are careful when purchasing juicers and dehydrators to ensure that the food will not be heated excessively. Studies have indicated that enzyme action is destroyed at temperatures of 118 degrees or greater. In Your Right to Be Beautiful [1], Tonya Zavasta recommends buying a low-wattage dehydrator that can be set at 95 degrees or lower, as most raw food recipes do not call for temperatures above 110 degrees.

What Foods Are Permitted?

• Raw fruits and vegetables
• Raw nuts and seeds
• Dried fruits
• Sea vegetables
• Herbs and spices (unprocessed)
• Raw soy sauce
• Bragg's Liquid Aminos
• Certain fermented foods (like sauerkraut), prepared in the home, are also included.
• Nuts and seeds are used to make nut milks and nut cheeses.
• Grains are used only after being sprouted.

While some adherents allow the use of raw, unprocessed olive oil, others discourage it.

Do They Just Eat Salads?

Raw foodists eat far more than salads and sliced fruits and vegetables. Juicing is a large part of this lifestyle. Also, many raw food dieters use their dehydrator to produce crackers, cakes, cookies, and other foods similar to the cooked versions.

Tonya Zavasta's excellent "uncookbook," Beautiful on Raw: Uncooked Creations, includes numerous raw food recipes for everything from special juice combinations (targeting specific health concerns) to lasagna to carrot cake.

Among the many other raw "cookbooks" available for those who wish to pursue The Raw Food Diet lifestyle are these:

Eating in the Raw: A Beginner's Guide to Getting Slimmer, Feeling Healthier, and Looking Younger the Raw-Food Way, by Carol Alt

The Raw Gourmet, by Nomi Shannon

Raw : The Uncook Book: New Vegetarian Food for Life, by Juliano Brotman and Erika Lenkert

Personalities In The Raw Food Movement

Carol Alt, actress and former supermodel

Igor, Victoria, Sergei, and Valya Boutenko

Tonya Zavasta, motivational speaker

Angela Stokes, author and motivational speaker, lost around 160lbs with a raw lifestyle