Eating In The Raw

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years (which is highly likely if you’re a new mom), then you will know that raw food is a hot trend that is showing no signs of cooling off. Basically, raw food is food that has not been heated over 116 degrees. Basically, it’s still alive. If there is any confusion, just imagine the difference between slicing the top off of a carrot and sticking it in a shallow plate of water. In a week or two, you’ll have fern like leaves sprouting out of the top. Now try the same thing with a cooked carrot, and in the same amount of time you’ll have a stinky, disgusting mess. Living food contains enzymes and a heck of a lot more nutrition. Cooked food is completely devoid of enzymes and many, sometimes most, vitamins are destroyed by heat.

So, What’s the Deal with Enzymes?
Enzymes are substances that assist in the digestion of food. When we eat food that does not have enzymes, we often cannot get maximum use out of the foods that we eat. Our bodies contain enzymes that we use to break down and digest food. However, continually needing to secrete large amounts of acid and enzymes to aid in digestion can compromise your health in many ways, especially by suppressing your immune system. This is one reason you will find that people who eat at least half of their diet in raw food often do not have the fevers, sniffles, and sneezes that affect so many others. Their immune system is up-and-running.

Good On All Levels
Raw food is just good all around. Eating raw food strengthens our immune system, staves off disease, gives us needed vitamins and minerals, and also helps us maintain a healthy weight. But that’s just the beginning. Think for a minute about all of the resources that went into producing that frozen blackberry cobbler in the grocer’s freezer – factories to cook it and package it, factories to create the packaging, fossil fuels to ship it frozen, energy cost to store it and sell it, fuel to carry the trash to the landfill, and landfill space to store the waste. Now take a trip to your farmer’s market and think about the resources that went into buying that pint of blackberries – a farmer and his land, and the resources to carry his bounty to market. Not only is raw food good for your body, but it’s good for the planet, too.

No Need For Extremes
Don’t go throwing out all of your instant oatmeal just yet. Real changes come in small increments. If you would like to incorporate more living food into your diet, then do just that. Make it a daily effort to obtain a certain percentage of your diet from raw sources. Begin with “five a day” (five servings of raw fruits or vegetables daily), and up it a little every week. Pretty soon, you’ll begin to feel better than you ever have – both for what you’re doing for your body as well as your planet!