Among the existing types of diet, the Raw Food Diet recently has been one of the most preferred ones. Because people today believe that the most healthful food for our body to consume is the uncooked ones. However, it doesnt mean that all food in this type of diet is eaten raw; some are heated with the acceptable temperature, which is below 104 to 118 degrees Fahrenheit.
So what is wrong with cooking our food? Doesnt it help to protect us from certain diseases because cooking kills bacteria, etc? Those are the question you might ask regarding this diet. Besides killing bacteria which may cause certain diseases, cooking your food is also thought to denature the enzymes which naturally present in the food. And as enzymes are the life force of the food for it helps us to digest food and absorb nutrients, eating too much cooked food will force our body to work harder to produce more enzymes. Eventually, the lack of enzymes from food may lead to digestive problems, nutrient deficiency, accelerated aging, and also weight gain.
Not only that, cooking food can also diminish its nutritional value; especially foods which contain cancer-fighting compounds like broccoli. There are certain vitamins which can be destroyed by heat, such as vitamin C, folate, and sulforaphanes or the cancer-fighting compounds contained in broccoli. Another disadvantage of cooking foods is that it promotes the formation of potentially harmful compounds in food during high heat cooking, such as advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and heterocyclic amines.
Although most foods lose some of its nutrients after cooking, there are other foods which become more healthful after cooking. Tomatoes, for example, will contain three to four times more lycopene after cooking compared to the raw ones.
If you decide to do Raw Food Diet as part of your lifestyle, there are different ways people follow this type of diet. Most of them are vegan, but some still consume raw animal products, like raw milk, cheese made from raw milk, sashimi, ceviche or raw fist, or carpaccio (raw meat). Some may only eat raw food, but some other may include cooked food for variety and convenience. Most people who claim themselves as raw food dieters usually consume about 70 percent or more raw food.
Raw foods which are prepared to be consumed normally soaked, sprouted, dehydrated, blended, fermented, pickled, or turned into juices. We are going to discuss more on dehydrating foods, which normally uses a piece of equipment called dehydrator to simulate sun-drying. With food dehydrator, the foods will be heated below 118 Fahrenheit degree the temperature which is still tolerated by the diet performers.
There are plenty of food dehydrators available in any local stores lately; one of the most well known brands is Nesco/American Harvest. This brand provides various models and designs of dehydrators with affordable prices. If you like round-shape dehydrators, you can choose Nesco FD-75PR or FD-61, but if you want your dehydrator to be square you may opt for the FD-80.
No related posts.