Posts Tagged health

11
Jul

Nutritional Value Of Raw Food Diets

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How Good Is Raw Food?

A raw food diet is a diet that consists mainly of uncooked vegetables, fruit, legumes and seeds. The raw food diet may also contain eggs and other food that can be eaten raw but not everyone does it that way and there are some risks associated with eating raw eggs and raw meat. As a result, most people who do the raw food diet follow a vegan diet.

The raw food diet is argued to be beneficial to the human body in more ways than one. The main concept of the raw food diet lies with the fact that many vegetables and fruits lose a major chunk of their nutrients once the food is cooked or overcooked. To counter this loss, the concept of raw food diets is fast becoming popular.

However, with advantages, the raw food diet has its own disadvantages. Some critics have argued that a raw food diet is not a complete nutritious diet for people. Therefore, people should ensure that they have the require substitutes for the nutrients that they would not be getting once they adhere to a raw food diet. Also, bear in mind that most experts who support the raw food diet say that only eighty per cent of the diet needs to be raw to get all the benefits.

The diet may be lacking in vitamins like the vitamin D and vitamin B12 if you ONLY eat raw food. Also, vitamins that are present in meat, like the B6 vitamin, may not be available for people who are adhering to the raw food diet 100%. Also, a raw food diet does contain very less zinc, protein and iron. Be sensible about it, listen to your body and include pulses and some protein and you should do well on the raw food diet. A totally raw food diet is not suggested for a pregnant woman or even a growing child. Many medical authorities believe that a raw food diet does not have the necessary calories to feed a pregnant woman or a growing child. Also, recent tests have shown that a completely raw food diet cannot be followed by any person because of the essential nutrients that are not present in a raw food diet. Remember the 80-20 guideline and get a balanced diet.

The most important aspect of any diet is the enzymes. The body needs enzymes to perform a variety of the daily functions. Therefore, enzymes like amylase and protease are quite important for the healthy living of a human. The raw food diet you are following should have the essential nutrients you need for your daily life. Many of these enzymes are destroyed by cooking. The enzymes are also necessary for the body, because they help in increasing the immunity as well as decreasing the fatigue levels of the body.

Therefore, it can be safely said that raw food diets offer advantages over cooked food, but for it to be embraced as a full time diet, you should also include whole grains which have of course been cooked, and a good source of protein. There is several raw food diet recipes available, what with the many cookbooks related to the raw food diets. Also, the Internet is a good place to look for the raw food diets. Just a simple search on any of the major search engines will give you a list of all the websites that cater to raw food recipes and raw food diets.

 

 

 

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Tags: Food industry, health, Lifestyle Choices, Nutrition, Raw foodism, Veganism, vegetable, Vegetarianism, Vitamin B12

6
Feb

Fruit Or Fat

Posted in Fat, Fruits | No Comments »
A raw vegan tomato sauce with olives, celery, ...
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Fruit or Fat – How to get your Calories on the Raw Food Diet

We have gotten pretty phobic about fat in these health-conscious days. The Holy Graille of diets seemed to be the elimination of all fat. There are two facts about that which make it a bad idea:

1. You can’t avoid fats altogether – it is impossible.

2. On the good side, you should know that some fats are good for you.

The raw food diet helps you to eat the right kinds of fats that give your body what it needs without clogging up your arteries. Too much fat thickens the blood and that leads to clogged arteries, strokes and heart attacks.

Calories are units of energy. We have grown so used to seeing calories as the enemy that many of us have lost sight of the fact that we need to consume a certain amount of calories each day. On the raw food diet, you will be getting most of your calories from fruit or fat; sure, you’ll be eating a lot of vegetables too but they are so low in calories that you would need to eat an awful lot of them in order to get all the calories that you need. Most vegetables don’t have very many calories in them and those that do, the starchy ones, aren’t very nice to eat raw.

Your raw food diet won’t be very high in protein, because high protein vegetables like avocado and nuts tend to be high fat too and that isn’t very good for you. So, to get the bulk of your calories on a raw food diet, concentrate on fruit and fats. You will much more successful in sticking to the diet and in deriving all the health benefits from it.

A diet which is rich in fruit is, overall, healthier than going down the high fat route. It is a good idea to limit fat to no more than fifteen per cent of your overall diet. Five per cent of your calories should come from vegetables. That means that apart from fatty fruits such as avocado and coconut, around eighty per cent of your calories comes from fruit in a healthy balanced raw food diet. Fruit have a lot of vitamins; vegetables have a lot of minerals and so together they are a powerful combination.

You’ll be eating a lot more food than you did before you started the raw food diet since fruit and vegetables are low in calories. That’s why a lot of people find the raw food diet an effective way to lose weight, but you still need a certain number of calories each day. Bananas and mangoes are among the fruits highest in calories, which just one piece of this fruit averaging at just one a hundred calories. The great thing about including fruit in your diet is that often it needs little or no preparation such as peeling etc.

There is good, sound, scientific argument that states that a diet high in fruit is the best way for humans to eat, and that has caused a big increase in the popularity of the raw food diet. Think about what nature is telling is here – our nearest biological relatives are gorillas, chimps and orang utans. They eat an awful lot of fruit!

A raw food diet high in fruit tends to allow people to reach their optimal weight for their height and build. They also increase their energy levels and boost their immunity so they get sick less often.

 

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