Raw food diet: benefits and how to eat more raw food

A diet rich in raw foods increases immunity and responsiveness of the organism, and prevents ailments related to an excess of fats, proteins and refined carbohydrates.

From a therapeutic point of view, naturopathic doctors often prescribe diets with between 75 and 100% raw foods. In this article we tell you how to introduce more raw foods into the diet and what benefits you get from doing so.

What does it help to eat more raw food?

A raw diet is rich in fiber and organic fluids, low in calories, and fair in protein.. Following it helps to:

lose weight or maintain weight eating. Raw foods have a low caloric value and are satiating due to their richness in fiber. They can be eaten without quantity restrictions in slimming and maintenance diets.Longevity. It has an anti-aging effect, sincelongevity seems be related with diets low in calories and moderate in proteins.Constipation. The stimulating effect of peristalsis of vegetable fiber from raw vegetables and algae can correct this pathology in a few days.Migraine. A significant percentage of migraines has its origin in chronic constipation that releases toxic substances from intestinal putrefaction into the bloodstream. The raw diet, rich in ferments and digestive enzymes and fiber, is excellent in these cases.allergiesThe amount of foreign substances that we incorporate with food, such as additives, preservatives, antibiotics and hormones from foods of animal origin, or products resulting from the frying of fats and proteins (histamine) is behind allergies. Incorporating abundant raw foods, or the temporary raw diet, cleanses the body and improves this pathology.Arthritis. A diet rich in raw reduces inflammation, purifies and regenerates tissues.skin problems. Many dermatitis and skin rashes improve or disappear after following a raw diet for a few days.Diabetes. Its richness in fiber regulates glucose absorption and its ferments and enzymes help control type 11 or adult diabetes.infections and colds. The abundance of vitamin C in the raw and its immunostimulating and revitalizing power prevent and help to resolve infections.Cancer. In the crudes there are a large amount of phytonutrients recognized as cancer protectors or tumor growth slowers (flavonoids, lignans, glucosinolates, phytates, carotenoids, resveratrol…).

What foods can be eaten raw?

Almost all plant-based foods that we know in our diet can be eaten raw.

Fruit

They are part of the quintessential raw food.

They stimulate the five senses for its colors, textures and shapes, its aroma, its variety of flavors and its crunchy sound when chewed. They provide living water, together with organic sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose…), vitamins, minerals, fiber, pigments and phytochemical elements.

For his energy intake and good quality fatswithout cholesterol, we must not forget fruits such as olivesfrom which an excellent crude oil is obtained, and the avocadoa healthy vegetable “butter”.

The sweet dried fruitsresult of the drying or dehydration of some fruits (raisins, figs or dried plums, dried apricots, dates… ) are a powerful energy source that concentrates the nutrients of the fresh fruit without altering.

Vegetables and vegetables

can be consumed almost all raw in salad (lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, asparagus, cucumbers, radishes, artichokes, cabbage, spinach… ), although some they need cooking to avoid their toxicity (potatoes and aubergines).

They are an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.

Those of the family of cruciferous (cabbages, turnips, radishes… ) and liliaceae (onions, garlic, leeks… ) contain nutrients that have been shown to effective in neutralizing carcinogenic substances and stop its growth when the process has started.

They also contain not inconsiderable amounts of protein.

Nuts

Rich in good quality fats and nourish the nervous systemcontain a csignificant amount of protein some of them in a higher percentage than meat, although they are taken in smaller quantities.

Eating them raw takes advantage of all their nutrients (minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, phytosterols…), which does not happen if they are roasted or fried (they lose up to 75% of vitamin B1).

Seeds

Sunflower, pumpkin or sesame seeds have properties similar to oilseed nuts if eaten raw.

Cereals

When they are whole not only provide carbohydrates, fiber and calories, but also proteins, minerals and vitamins.

Except for young corn and unroasted flakes (oat flakes, for example), they cannot be incorporated into the diet as raw foods, but they can be eaten sproutedwith the advantage that they provide the provitamin A and vitamin C that are lacking in dry grains.

can be prepared bread or base for pizzas made from sprouted cereals as the Essenes already did, a religious community that fed fundamentally on raw foods.

Legumes

In general, they are inedible in their natural state. since they contain toxic substances and are also indigestible, so you have to cook them.

However, peas and broad beans can be eaten raw and, on the other hand, the germination process turns all legumes into a high-quality raw food.

In sprouts, the large reserve of starch, protein and fat in legumes is already predigested, free of antinutrient or toxic factors; Their richness in vitamins, minerals and enzymes gives them great vitality and makes them living foods with great regenerative and cleansing power, and proportionally few calories.

The most commonly used sprouted legumes are mung bean (green soybeans) and alfalfabut lentils and chickpeas can also be easily sprouted.

Algae

They are foods little used in our western culture, but of long tradition in populations that have subsisted depending on the sea. For example, in Japan its ancestral use has been related to longevity.

Algae are the first living beings that were capable of transforming solar energy into nutrients, and therefore those that They laid the bottom of the food pyramid.

By consuming them raw, in addition to ingesting high-quality minerals, trace elements, proteins and fiber, we incorporate solar energy in its maximum expression of order and vitality.

How to introduce more raw foods into the diet

The crudes provide all the energy that they have transformed from the sun and are rich in vitamins, fiber, enzymes and other nutrients that protect health. These are some suggestions to increase its presence in the diet.

At breakfast

Sour fruit salad like oranges, strawberries, kiwis, pineapple…juicy sweet fruit (peach, grape, watermelon, cherimoya… ), accompanied with banana.Vegetable muesli by crushing raw oat flakes and soaked overnightwith apple, pear, sweet and oily nuts, wheat germ and honey.

Half morning

Fruit. A single piece of fruit: an apple to curb your appetite or a kiwi to relax…Natural juices carrot, beetroot, apple, grape, pear, celery…

In the food

Salad. always a first course salad with all kinds of raw vegetables (lettuce, escarole, spinach, tomato, cucumber, carrot, beetroot, radishes… ), fatty fruits such as avocado and olives, seaweed, germinated (soy, alfalfa… ), seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame…) and first cold-pressed virgin olive oil.

At snack

In the dinner

Mixed salad as a first or only dish.

as dessert

apple or pear. For dessert, in the naturist world is traditionally advised apple or pearpapaya or pineapple. Some people recommend papaya or pineapple after a protein meal, as they are rich in digestive ferments that help digest proteins (papain in the case of papaya and bromelain in that of pineapple).

How to adapt to a raw food diet

Incorporate raw foods into the diet can cause adaptation problems. The intestinal flora lives at the expense of what we eat, so when changing foods, for a few days, they can produce flatulence and digestive discomfort: some bacteria disappear and new ones begin to repopulate the mucosa intestinal.

It must also be borne in mind that foods with very few pigments, which usually they are the ones they have not received sunlight because they are buried (onions, garlic… ) or wrapped by outer leaves (cabbages, cauliflower, artichoke hearts, lettuce hearts, endives…) they are more indigestible and produce more gas even if they are healthy

People with digestive problems who do not accept raw should resort to anti-inflammatory plants (chamomile, thyme…) and cooked diets that do not excessively stimulate the acid secretion of the stomach and intestines, to gradually incorporate the raw. the natural fruit and vegetable juices They are very helpful in this case.