| Do I Have to Eat All Raw Foods On a Raw Food Diet? |
| Written by Kelly Cannon | |
| Wednesday, 07 April 2010 | |
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If you'd like to eat a raw food diet, you should be eating a minimum of 75% raw foods. These living foods, like fruits, sprouts and vegetables, are considered to have much higher levels of the essential vitamins and enzymes when compared to cooked foods. Why? It's believed that the enzymes in food is destroyed by cooking at temperatures above 116F.
If you'd like to eat a raw food diet, you should be eating a minimum of 75% raw foods. These living foods, like fruits, sprouts and vegetables, are considered to have much higher levels of the essential vitamins and enzymes when compared to cooked foods. Why? It's believed that the enzymes in food is destroyed by cooking at temperatures above 116F. Even though we aren't cooking, there is still preparation involved in a raw food diet: fruits and vegetables are juiced; beans, seeds and grains are sprouted; and dried fruits and nuts are soaked to make them more palatable or for use in recipes. A food dehydrator is often used to create dried fruits and vegetables; although it uses hot air on the food, the temperature never goes above 116F. Do you have to eat 100% raw foods at each meal? No, it's not necessary - although it's definitely worth your while to try and incorporate raw food into your diet as much as possible. For instance, snacking at work is a problem for many. Try keeping dried fruits on hand, or taking in a bag of carrot sticks to munch on. It's becoming easier to find packaged, pre-sliced fruits and vegetables at grocery stores now, which makes it easier to have something ready to take to work with you. Because it's so easy to pick up something from the snack machine at work, people have been resistant to making the change to healthier eating. True, it does take more effort and time to slice up fruits and vegetables to take to work. But with more supermarkets seeing the raw fruit trend and taking it seriously, there's no reason not to stock up on the items they provide - packaged carrot or celery sticks, sliced apples, and dried fruits are all available at most grocery stores now. Now, organic foods are the best option, and these 'convenience' raw foods aren't always organic. But eating anything raw is much better than getting some highly processed, cooked food. When you can, slice and prepare your own healthy snacks from organic fruits and veggies. But if you're pressed for time, don't stress about it or give up, thinking you can't do it. Any foods from the produce section at the supermarket will be better than what you get from the snack machine or a fast food joint. The Article Author: Looking to find more information on raw food diet menus? Visit Kelly Cannon's raw food diet foods to learn about foods you should avoid! |
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