Raw diet fans go nutty over sprouts, fruits
Although all people need food to live, one group of health enthusiasts has no interest in what's cooking.
Proponents of the raw food diet, the group instead sticks largely to fresh, uncooked produce, juices, sprouts and some foods dehydrated at low temperatures to provide a taste and texture similar to cooking.
By definition, the raw food diet eliminates all the foods that can cause health challenges when eaten in excess. Those include processed, chemical-laden foods, refined sugars and starches as well as meat and dairy.
According to sources like Wikipedia, raw diets were promoted in Switzerland as early as the late 1800s. The trend resurges periodically as books or documentaries are released.
“The raw food diet provides a diet rich with enzymes, vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals, fiber and biophotons,” said Janet McKee of Pittsburgh, a holistic health counselor and member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.
“All enzymes are destroyed when food is cooked. Vitamin C is harmed by heat and oxygen, so we lose 50 percent of vitamin C when the food is cooked,” said McKee, who also teaches raw foods classes and is a co-organizer of the Pittsburgh Raw Food Meetup Group, which includes 450 members.
McKee said the benefits of vitamin E, another powerful antioxidant, are largely diminished when food is cooked.
However, cooking can sometimes release beneficial properties.
“Lycopene is more available to our bodies when the tomatoes are cooked,” McKee said. “(But) what is interesting, however, is that there are two other nutrients from the tomatoes that are harmed in the cooking process: phenolics and flavonoids.”Carrots are another vegetable whose benefits change, based on how they are prepared.The beta-carotene in carrots is slightly more available when the carrots are lightly cooked than when eaten raw. When they are juiced, however, the beta-carotene is even more enhanced, she added.“Most people who do raw diets eat a percentage raw instead of all raw,” said Heather Young of Summit Township, who estimates her diet at 50 percent raw. Young said several food allergies and dietary restrictions have caused her to get creative with her family's food.“Using a food dehydrator retains more of the vitamins and enzymes than cooking does. For instance, we buy raw milk and don't heat it above 110 degrees in order to retain the natural enzymes, which allow our bodies to process it while we are unable to process pasteurized milk,” said Young.“We also soak nuts overnight then dry them again, a process which breaks down the enzyme inhibitors in nuts, making more vitamins and enzymes available to the body,” she added.As part of their diet, the Youngs eat homemade fermented butter, raw milk, kefir, raw yogurt and raw milk cheese. They also eat lacto-fermented sauerkraut, pickles, dilled carrots and beets, as well as plenty of salads and whole fruits and vegetables.Protein comes from raw egg yolks from local free-range chickens and nuts. They also supplement their diet with grass-fed meat as well as cooked eggs and vegetables.“The raw food diet is definitely a good way to help cleanse the body — though in that case you want to make sure that the raw foods you are ingesting are free of pesticides as that defeats the purpose,” said Young.Deborah Tracy of Butler Township has incorporated raw foods into her diet for decades.She begins each day with a green smoothie and often grows her own sprouts. Her dehydrator is used to make raw, healthy snacks.
“I think we need to eat as close to the Earth as possible for our health,” said Tracy. She touts sprouts as her go-to health food.“Sprouts are storehouses of nutrients that multiply during the sprouting process. Most any seed, nut or grain can be sprouted and eaten in a salad, made into a spread or pesto or crackers,” Tracy said.“I grow a mixture of red clover and radish sprouts every week at my kitchen sink,” she added. A gallon glass jar produces almost a pound of sprouts.Dehydrating is popular in the raw food lifestyle. Keeping the temperature at 115 degrees is best to maintain the enzyme activity in living foods.“It it easy to make cookies, crackers, pizza crust, kale chips, nut burgers, all kinds of things in a dehydrator,” Tracy said.Most dehydrator recipes that call for nuts and seeds recommend soaking them prior to use and, like Young, Tracy believes they are healthier and easier to digest that way.Dr. Jaison Golojuh, of Golojuh Family Chiropractic in Penn Township, agrees that raw foods are healthy for cleansing. While he acknowledges the benefits of a raw diet, he is concerned about the long term ramifications of a 100 percent raw diet.“There is a question if it is really healthy over the long term. For example, vitamin B12 would be difficult to come by and there are some essential fats and amino acids you can really only get through meat,” he said.“I use the raw diet to help the body heal, detox and just generally clean up. I consider it a ‘break' for the body,” he said.
