The FastDay Forum

I just watched a segment on TV program Sunrise about the benefits of consuming only raw food

I remember the episode on Sex and the City where Samantha met her "hunk" who was waiting tables at a raw food restaurant. It was hilarous.

Anyway..

What are your thoughts on the concept of eliminating cooked food and instead, opting only for raw food.Raw food fanatics generally revolves around vegetarianism, not eating meat, but dwells more on the fact that we aren't heating and boiling and frying and simmering either

Personally, yes, I agree that having some nights of no cooked food must have some essential health benefits. A green juice and a no mayonnaise salad must be good for you but....
I couldnt imagine life without a sizzling steak or roast kitchen or a warming stew.

Ill wait aorund for the video from Sunrise and put it up


Any thoughts about the raw food phenomena?

[carorees]

Well...some foods are actually more nutritious when cooked. In fact, one theory about why prehistoric humans were able to out compete highly specialized hunters and herbivores (e.g. lions and antelope) is that they were able to eat foods that are either poisonous or poor in nutrition when raw. Thus they avoided directly competing with other animals.

I was a raw vegan for two years. I can honestly say I loved it. I never felt better, I looked younger (you really do get the glow), lost weight and really got into the gourmet raw food movement which is about preparing it in a fancy way. It even changed the colour of my eyes. Major downsides:

It's dead antisocial. Invites to dinner dry up!
People think you are weird (but they think I am anyway, so what's new)
It's hard to sustain practically. Travel, work commitments, holidays etc etc. that's why I gave it up.
It can be really high in sugar because many of the amazing sweet treats are often touted as guilt free but frequently stacked with gazillions of dates, agave (yuk) etc. so carby.
Some veggies are better cooked to get their benefits eg lycopene in tomatoes is only available when they are cooked. Some veggies are downright poisonous raw.
If you are a low fat person (which I'm not), the fat content can be incredibly high because of the nut content. Unless you follow a very extreme version such as Doug Graham's 80/10/10 which means 80pct carbs and 10 pct protein and fat respectively. Would not recommend but he has a cult following on sites such as 30bananasaday.

Upsides:
It changed my attitude towards food completely. When I am on my own, I tend to default to vegan or raw vegan naturally and my OH also enjoys it too.
I know how to make the most amazing salads.
I learned about the power of sprouting pulses and seeds

Lots of raw food gurus around but they are not as active as they used to be five years ago when it was quite in vogue. However to get a sense of what it is about (there are different approaches like fasting), look at these folks:
Victoria Boutenko who is well known for her green smoothies and how her entire family shifted to raw food for health reasons.
Salma Melngailis if you are a foodie. Best non cooked cookbooks I have.
Mimi Kirk who looks amazing for a 70 plus year old and whose book 'Live Raw' is probably the best one and most practical for dipping your toe in the water with easy to make dishes.

Five years on I still use my raw food cookbooks but often served with a steak or piece of fish

And people call 5:2 a fad. What a load of nonsense. Some food is good raw. Some food is good cooked. This is both for flavor and nutrition. I read a good sensible write up on this recently I think in the 'really?' section of the health page at the NY Times. It said approximately what Caroline said.

My son is interested in eating just raw foods. He is gradually working towards it, he has the sprouted seeds, the green smoothies, wheat grass etc., his juicer is on the go several times a day and he drinks distilled water.
He seems to be much healthier now.

My son is interested in eating just raw foods. He is gradually working towards it, he has the sprouted seeds, the green smoothies, wheat grass etc., his juicer is on the go several times a day and he drinks distilled water.
He seems to be much healthier now.

Good for him. It's really hard to go totally raw, but even if he can have half of his intake a day on raw he will feel the benefits.

Last year in Holland a mother and her son were in the news. For years they had been eating only raw food but the government got involved when she started to keep him home from school as his class mates were teasing him. GPs were worried about his less than average growth so there was some discussion about it only being suitable for adults. I must say though, the skin of both of them was the most beautiful I had ever seen.