Your Raw Wellness

You probably know the advantages that raw food diet brings about. A raw food diet is a type of dietary plan of which the literally involves the consuming of uncooked, unprocessed fruits, vegetables, sprouts, seaweed, nuts and juices. The main idea behind the raw food diet is that cooking and processing removes the much needed vitamins, enzymes and nutrients that our bodies need in order to have a healthy life. Below are types of raw food diet that you may want to try.

Fruitarian

This is probably one of the most interesting types of raw food diet. Fruitarians essentially mean the consumption of foods that primarily consist of fruits, nuts and grains or a “fruit only diet”. Fruits provide nourishment and are quite refreshing. They don’t obstruct the circulatory system of the body; in fact, they clean the arteries and blood vessels.

Juicearian

Drinking fruit and vegetable juice is considered as the best way to remove toxins. Juice is a type of concentrated nutrition. Individuals who drink prefer this type of diet opt for fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sproutarian

This type of raw food diet focuses more on consuming sprouts. You may not know it but sprouts are rich in vitamins and nutrients. As a matter of fact, contain all of the required elements a plant needs for it to live and grow. The seed of the sprout acts like a depot of carbohydrates, protein and oil. And when the seed develops; the seeds is then filled with predigested amino acids and natural sugars that provide nourishment to the plant. Sprouts are rich with energy that will provide us with additional vigor and life.

Raw food diet is the best way to give your body the nourishment it needs. Most of the people in the United States nowadays are overweight. Being overweight does not mean you have all the nourishment that your body needs, as a matter of fact overweight individuals usually crave for the essential nourishment that their body needs. The reason that they are overweight is because of the processed foods that they consume and the way the foods served. Almost all of the processed provide only a small amount of what the body really needs. Therefore, they tend to consume more processed food than what their body needed and still do not have sufficient nourishment. And in order to be healthy, you must have a healthy diet.

Only in the small “health nut” circles has the idea of eating a raw diet been mainstream. Lately, however, it is gaining more wide-spread popularity. An increasing number of people are now promoting the variety of benefits from eating raw food.

Advocates of a raw food diet believe it is the most logical diet for humans. After all, our hunting and gathering ancestors ate a large majority of their diet in raw form. Proponents believe raw food contains enzymes and nutritional content lost in the process of cooking the food.

Types of Raw Food Diets

There are varying degrees of a raw food diet.

* Raw foodism refers to a diet without any food restrictions as long as it’s raw or warmed to less than 105 degrees.

* Raw vegans consume only fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts and legumes, and no animal products (meat or dairy).

* The Raw Paleolithic Dieters eat meat, organ-meats, fruit, vegetables, honey, nuts, fish, shellfish, and eggs. They exclude dairy, grains, legumes and vegetable juices from their diet.

Within their food restrictions, they all require that at least 75 percent of foods in the diet are eaten raw, or are warmed to a temperature of no more than 105 degrees prior to eating.

Benefits of the Raw Food Diet

* One of obvious benefits of a raw food diet is weight loss. As most raw food dieters eat only plant foods, fewer calories are usually consumed. The diet is also usually low in fat, unless a large amount of seeds and nuts are eaten regularly.

* Improved digestion is also a benefit of eating a raw food diet. This is due to the digestive enzymes present in raw foods, allowing the body’s own enzymes to maintain their focus on regulating it’s metabolism. People who complain of a low metabolism may benefit from eating more raw food. Others who complain of digestive issues such as acid reflux may also benefit.

* Those on the raw food diet often report an increase in energy. The body doesn’t have to work as hard to produce enzymes, as they already exist in the raw food. They also tend not to combine proteins and carbs in the same meal which slows digestion and zaps our energy.

* The downside of eating cooked food in which the enzymes have been destroyed makes digestion more difficult. This could lead to toxins accumulating in the body, obesity and chronic disease.

* Raw foods contain beneficial bacteria and other micro-organisms that benefit the immune system and digestion by increasing the healthy gut flora in the digestive tract. You may have heard of taking probiotic supplements to achieve the same thing.

The raw food diet may sound like a life of deprivation to some, but it is not as limiting as one might think. Advocates believe there are a number of benefits backed up by scientific evidence. Try incorporating more raw food with each meal and experience the benefits yourself.

For example, try adding fresh fruit with breakfast, fresh cut vegetables at lunch, nuts and seeds for a snack and a salad at dinner. Experience for yourself the benefits of eating foods the way nature presents them.