Very popular among Hollywood stars, the raw food diet it is a diet based on the consumption of uncooked foods, therefore fruit and vegetables, but also fish and meat that can be eaten raw. Its proponents believe that using the cooking brings with it numerous disadvantages: it inhibits the sense of satiety, makes foods unnatural, destroys the vitamins, proteins and enzymes. On the contrary, the raw food diet would have an anti-free radical action, with a consequent detoxifying effect for the whole organism.
These ideas can be traced back to a study led in 1937 by the doctor Kouchakoff thanks to which he demonstrated that cooked foods were responsible for an increase in white blood cells. In 1934 Dr. Lusignani had discovered that not cooking also involved a relaxation of the smooth muscles of the capillaries with a consequent vasodilatory effect. What are the benefits and disadvantages of the raw food diet? Let’s find out together.
Types of raw food diets
There is no single version of the raw food diet, but several typologies each of which has a precise philosophy. We therefore have:
- Il vegetarian raw food: you can eat fruit, vegetables and animal products, but not meat and fish;
- Il vegan raw food: you can consume fruit and vegetables, but not products of animal origin;
- Il omnivorous raw foodism: in addition to fruit, vegetables and animal-derived products, fish and meat can be eaten but the latter must derive from game or animals reared in the wild;
- Il fruitarian raw food: you can only consume preferably organic fruit.
Raw food diet, permitted foods and food processing techniques
The favorite foods of the raw food diet, as already mentioned, are the fruit and vegetables that can be used in a versatile way, for example by preparing juices and centrifuges. To these are added GABA rice obtained by germinating the seeds in hot water ei cereals which are never taken raw in order to ensure greater digestibility. Naturally, fish and meat must be eaten raw, as well as milk and its derivatives for which pasteurization is not contemplated. Supporters of this diet prefer foods rich in vitamins and minerals such as:
- Goji seeds;
- Hemp seeds;
- Cocoa seeds;
- Pollen;
- Germinated grain;
- Maca.
The only ones processing techniques Allowed foods include marinating, induction, sprouting, and dehydration. The maximum temperature to reach is 42°; exceeding it would result in a loss of enzymes, vitamins, proteins and mineral salts.
The advantages and disadvantages of the raw food diet
According to supporters of this diet, not cooking food has a number of benefits. First a slimming faster and longer lasting guaranteed by the considerable amount of fibers that induce a constant sense of satiety. Added to this is the daily increase of important quantities of antioxidants which, with their action detox, counteract the harmful effects of free radicals. Finally, we must not forget that the raw food diet is cheap and induces psychophysical well-being thanks to continuous contact with nature.
Despite this, there are many specialists in the health sector who do not recommend this type of diet. Indeed, the consequences of the same must be kept in mind. The most feared danger is the bacterial contamination. Raw foods are breeding grounds for parasites, molds, yeasts and bacteria. In addition to a possible state of malnutrition, followers of the raw food diet can also complain of intestinal problems such as flatulence, bloating, irritable colon and abdominal tension.