Raw Food Diet: Benefits, Risks and How to Do It

Raw Food Diet: Benefits, Risks and How to Do It

A raw food diet, also sometimes called “raw foodism,” is about eating mostly or all unprocessed and uncooked foods so you get all the nutrients without the dangerous additives.Raw foodism traces back to the late 1800s, when Maximilian Bircher-Benner, a doctor, discovered he could cure his own jaundice by eating raw apples. Thus began a series of experiments testing the effects of raw food on human health, and the diet has continued to evolve. Raw food hasn't been cooked, processed, microwaved, irradiated, genetically engineered or exposed to pesticides or herbicides. It includes fresh fruits, berries, vegetables, nuts, seeds and herbs in their whole, natural state. Proponents say cooking obliterates most of the vitamins in food and nearly all of the immune-boosting plant nutrients (though scientific evidence to support these claims is lacking). Most who follow the plan consume only half the calories they would eat on a cooked diet. 

What You Can Eat and What You Can't

Think uncooked, unprocessed, mostly organic foods. Your staples: raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. Some eat unpasteurized dairy foods, raw eggs, meat, and fish.Your food can be cold or even a little bit warm, as long as it doesn’t go above 118 degrees.
You can use blenders, food processors, and dehydrators to prepare foods.

How much does it cost?

A raw food diet can be pricey. Organic ingredients tend to cost more than other types, and not every grocery store carries a wide array of raw and organic products. Plus, you'll need appliances: High-end blenders range from $300 to $600, for example, and food processors capable of slicing, grating and shredding can go for $700. Dehydrators cost about $100 to $200.

Will you lose weight?

Very likely, provided you follow the rules. Research suggests that raw food dieters tend to eat fewer calories and weigh less than other types of dieters.

• In a small study, 32 people adopted a diet that got at least 62 percent of daily calories from raw food (and the rest from cooked foods). That's pretty standard, since most raw foodists go 75- to 80-percent raw. After nearly seven months, the participants had lost an average of 8 3/10 pounds, according to findings published in the Southern Medical Journal. And in a three-month study reported in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 43 people following a raw food diet lost 9 percent of their initial body weight. If you're overweight, losing just 5 to 10 percent of your current weight can help stave off some diseases.
• In another study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2005, researchers compared 18 people on a strict raw food diet with 18 on a typical American diet. After four years, body mass index – a measure of body fat – and midsection fat were lower among those in the raw food group than those in the other group. BMI, for example, was 20 7/10 among men and 20 1/10 for women on the raw food diet versus 25 1/2 and 25 2/5 in the other group – the difference between "normal weight" and "overweight." And total body fat in the raw food group was 13 9/10 percent for men and 24 1/10 percent for women, compared with 20 4/5 and 33 1/2 percent among the nonraw food dieters.
• In a study of more than 500 people who followed a raw food diet for nearly four years, researchers found that body weight decreased as percentage of daily calories from raw food increased. By the study's end, body mass index was below the normal range for 14 7/10 percent of male participants and 25 percent of females, according to findings published in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism. The researchers also found that roughly 30 percent of the women younger than 45 developed amenorrhea, which means their menstrual period stopped due to insufficient calories. Participants eating high amounts of raw food (more than 90 percent of daily calories) were most likely to be affected. Since many raw food dieters were either underweight or experienced amenorrhea, the researchers concluded they would not advise a strict raw food diet on a long-term basis.

Who Can Benefit from a Raw Food Diet?

We can all afford to eat a healing diet with more raw fruits and vegetables, and here’s the primary reasons why …
While you might think otherwise, cooked foods are usually harder to digest than raw foods, plus cooking nutrient-dense foods tends to destabilize some of their valuable enzymes and destroy certain antioxidants and vitamins. Raw foods also help alkalize the body, reduce acidity, and have less of a chance of fermenting in the gut and causing inflammation/autoimmune reactions. This applies to all of us, but some people who can especially benefit from eating more raw foods include those with:

• cancer
• heart disease
• high blood pressure and high cholesterol
• osteoporosis
• kidney disease
• gallstones or gallbladder disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• autoimmune disorders
• food allergies
• fatigue
• joint pain
• muscle aches and pains
• headaches
• PMS
• hormonal imbalance
• trouble with weight gain/obesity