Raw food diets are one of those eating plans that seems to have a perennial buzz—people always want to know if they should hitch their healthy-eating wagons to this way of life. As a registered dietitian, I get plenty of questions about how to go about healthy eating, and the raw food diet is no exception. Here, the most important pros and cons you should know before trying out this lifestyle. When you’re focusing less on things like dairy, tofu, eggs, fish, and meat, you naturally have more space in your diet for fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. She adds that raw diets are consistently high in the superpower nutrient fiber, which most Americans actually don’t get enough of. Fiber bulks up as it digests, meaning it helps keep you fuller longer, which can help you make healthy eating decisions throughout the day. Besides potentially helping you maintain or lose weight, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is excellent for your skin, your weight, and the environment, plus it lowers your odds of developing chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, Dana Hunnes, Ph.
The raw food diet is based on the belief that uncooked and unprocessed food can help you to achieve better health and prevent diseases like heart disease and cancer. This diet may put people at risk for food-borne illness if raw meat and dairy are consumed. The raw food diet has roots as far back as the late s when a doctor believed he cured his own case of jaundice by eating raw apples. The diet has evolved into its current form though it has waxed and waned in popularity. People sometimes shift from a vegetarian diet to a vegan diet, then to a raw food diet. Gently heating food is considered acceptable—the temperature just cannot go above degrees Fahrenheit. Foods like fresh fruits and vegetables are easy to identify as raw. Other ingredients, such as nut butter, agave nectar, almond milk, olive oil, soy sauce, and cocoa, aren’t always raw. You may need to read labels and take the time to find brands that pass muster on a raw food diet.
On the road to good health, there are many forks. Some paths, such as vegetarianism or the Mediterranean diet, have considerable science supporting them. Others, such as the vegan or plant-based diet, which shuns all animal products including eggs and dairy, are winning converts. And then there’s a new offshoot, the raw vegan diet, which deems cooking to be unnatural and unhealthy. An increasing number of celebrities — most recently, tennis sensation Venus Williams — swear by this diet as the best way to prevent and reverse diseases and to stay young and vital. Testimonials from ordinary folks are endless, boasting advantages along the lines of having more energy, better skin, improved relationships with woodland creatures and so on. But on your road to good health, the raw vegan diet would likely be a U-turn.