Raw food diet: how it works, benefits, contraindications



The raw food diet is a diet that is based on the intake of uncooked foods to preserve their nutritional characteristics, with the exception of beverages, which can be heated up to a maximum of 40 ° C. Let's find out better.

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What is the raw food diet

Those who follow a raw food diet, also known as Raw diet, embrace a precise food choice based on a fundamental assumption, which can be summed up in these terms: satisfy hunger without lighting the stove .

The intake of uncooked food is a functional choice to preserve the nutritional characteristics of each food: in fact, once cooking exceeds 50 °, foods lose all their enzymes and the vitamins they contain.

The only use of heat allowed in the raw food diet is to warm drinks, which must not exceed 40 ° C. The raw food diet, in addition to cooked foods, also excludes those already on the market already sterilized and pasteurized (such as milk).

The raw choice is also motivated by ethical and philosophical arguments, since it is a diet that aims to preserve the vitality of the foods that heat would disintegrate. It is not so much an extreme decision as it is a different way of thinking and perceiving food.

The main foods

The raw food diet is mainly based on the consumption of vegetables and seasonal fruits, oilseeds and nuts. Saturated fats and sugars are not included. If you decide to follow a raw diet, know that there will be useful blenders, centrifuges, food dryers and sprouts.

The sprouts allow to obtain sprouts in a simple and cheap way, simply by soaking the seeds (beans, lentils, wheat, quinoa). The sprouts can be kept in the refrigerator even for a week and can be used as ingredients for salads, sauces, patés and meatballs.

Discover the buds, to grow energy and vitality

Benefits and contraindications of raw food diet

The elimination of any cooking technique, in addition to not altering the natural composition of foods, also makes them more digestible. If even in non-raw food diets it is advisable to start a meal with a raw food, it is because it provides digestive aid enzymes ; it is therefore easy to understand how detoxifying the raw food diet can be.

The environmental effects of the raw food diet on a global scale are also positive, since it eliminates 90% of the waste produced every day, contributing to environmental protection, as well as drastically limiting the use of gas and electricity.

We must accept the waiver of certain foods in their version after cooking. For example, the spinach with cooking loses the oxalic acid of which they are rich and the same goes for the solanine contained in the peppers. The raw food diet is poor in meat for a simple reason: as regards food of animal origin, it is essential to know the exact origin and have guarantees of hygiene, since, if they are consumed, they will not be subjected to sterilization given by cooking.

Raw food diet: ideal if

There is a certain weakness of the digestive system or there is a conflictual relationship with food (diseases such as anorexia, bulimia ). Useful in case of food intolerances or allergies .

Raw food diet: contraindicated if

Even in undertaking the raw choice, it wants graduality, the body will be able to tell you how to make this transition. If you have a tendency to suffer from colitis it is good to follow the raw food diet with caution, since it provides a large concusmo of fruit and vegetables in season.

Furthermore, if you take this path it is better to follow a precise regime, which eliminates the products that contain active ingredients or raw components that are not good at all: phytic acid, glucosides, avidin, are substances that are eliminated with cooking and that could raw cause problems to the body or slow down the functioning of the thyroid.

Faithful and famous of the raw food diet

Lots of VIPs have become convinced raw foodists, a little for fashion a little for actual benefit. Rather than listing them one by one, we prefer to give space to Sara Cargnello, head of the Italian site of reference on the raw food diet.

La Cargnello, better known on the net as Miss Vanilla, after a degree in Environmental Science, nutrition scholar, naturopath, 20 years of vegetarian diet and 7 raw food diet, has created a space in the network entirely dedicated to those interested in the raw food diet or wants to embrace another perspective on food.

Slowly, Miss Vanilla has become a real Italian guru on the subject and, between a click and a smoothie, she has also found the time to write together with Stefano Momentè, a recipe book called Solo crudo, published in 2007 for Macro Edizioni .

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