Ever tried a raw diet?

[surreal]

Has anyone here ever eaten a raw diet? It looks pretty interesting to me, anyone want to tell me about your experiences?

I'm thinking about trying it for a few weeks but I'm not sure where to start.

[Chuckiechan]

I don't have to tell you how careful you have to be with sterilization. My daughter in law went through her "natural foods" stage in the hospital eating "organic strawberries"... what could be more organic than chicken manure?

[Socalgal]

I did all raw for awhile; imo it's the healthiest way to eat (provided the food is certified organic), but it was hard for me to stick to a totally raw regimen. I still eat lots of raw food - fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc., but l like to cook too much to go all raw all the time. Raw food can be heated up to a certain temperature (forget what.) and still be considered raw.

Here's some info from Juliano's in Santa Monica http://www.planetraw.com/

Btw, I read where you lost 35lbs - oustanding! congrats!

[no1_vern]

Ive heard of it and read about it, How useful it is im unsure about. There are a lot of nutrients locked in foods that our bodies simply cant absorb without cooking some foods. I also consider it unsafe because of lethal bacteria that may be on and someimes in the food.

A lot of food is good that is served raw and should be served raw -nuts, many vegetables, fruits, etc. . ., but properly cooked foods such as grains, meats, beans(legumes), poultry, (some)vegetables, - not to mention pasturized foods such as milk, cheese, and yogurt ensure the food I eat is actually healthy instead of simply a carrier of foodborne illnesses or parasites.

Also note that the definiton of "cooking" plays a roll - there’s abig difference between deep fried and blanched.

Keep an eye on your protein intake, and you may want to take a B12 vitamin as well if you try this diet.

[surreal]

There are a lot of nutrients locked in foods that our bodies simply cant absorb without cooking some foods. .

Like what?

[dr_roberts49]

I went that route in the late 60s, early 70s. Maybe the food supply was safer then or because it was local produce (lived in Laguna Beach). Anyway, I never suffered any ill effects, but I did have to eat a lot. I was more active then too. Surfing, playing in a rock band. I could never get enough food. It got boring though, and there was a lot of cooked produce that was too tempting. I was more into not eating meat than anything else.

Robert

[surreal]

I've read about a guy that consumed 8.5 lbs of food daily in his raw diet.
You do have to eat a lot more of the raw foods.

Thanks socal, but it just happened I didn't do anything like deprive myself when I lost the weight.

[surreal]

I don't have to tell you how careful you have to be with sterilization. My daughter in law went through her "natural foods" stage in the hospital eating "organic strawberries"... what could be more organic than chicken manure?

The problem is we can't sterilize our strawberries, lettuce, or spinach and other fresh vegetables. I saw a program on CNN about the e-coli problems of just farming in general. It's because there are so many dairy and cattle farms their waste just flows with the water in a rain storm and that's how the problems happen. I think the biggest one was last year for Taco Bell, they had purchased tainted lettuce. There aren't enough people to test this stuff in the packaging plants.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/13/news...tuce/index.htm
whoops, it was a couple years ago.

[no1_vern]

Like what?

Cereals - How many cereal grains(wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, sorghum, and millet) have you tried to eat raw? Not so good, huh? For us to be able to eat them we have to cook them(or process or ferment them) to make them soft enough for us to eat.

Legumes or beans. I prefer my cilli cooked with meat, beans, and other spices. Trying to eat uncooked chilli just doesnt work.

Anyway all of this info comes from the Vegan site http://www.beyondveg.com:
Why do cooked or denser foods often improve raw/vegan health?

For those who do not thrive on raw vegan diets, do the benefits experienced from grains/dairy outweigh any downsides?

Long-term concerns.

Mitigating circumstances.

Noteworthy difference between lacto-vegetarian subpopulations and raw-foodists adding grains/dairy.

For previous raw-foodists, the supplemental amounts are usually relatively modest.

Information about cooking's ultimate impact on health at the biochemical level of detail is still inconclusive.

Big picture is more clear: Impact of cooking is likely to be much less important than other overarching considerations.

Magnitude of effect from macronutrient ratios likely plays the most influential role.

Types of fats, and their ratios and sources.

Factors that may precipitate Syndrome X.

Eating all natural foods or all-raw by itself does not automatically result in a prudent diet.

Which foods are, in fact, the most natural for humans.

Which natural foods can be important to minimize or avoid.

What balance of macronutrients, whether raw or cooked, results in best long-term nutrition?

Update on protein intake and bone loss

Effects of cooking on digestibility
Starch
Protein
Do "food enzymes" significantly enhance digestive efficiency and longevity? (assessing the theories of Edward Howell)
Vitamins
Minerals
Does cooking render minerals "inorganic" or less assimilable?


From my link above(first post, first link):

The following should be consumed with caution:

Buckwheat greens are toxic when raw, particularly if juiced or eaten in large quantities by fair skinned individuals. The chemical component fagopyrum is known to cause severe photosensitivity and other dermatological complaints.[17][18]
Kidney beans, including sprouts, are toxic when raw.[19]
Rhubarb: when eaten in sufficient quantity, leaves can be toxic when raw, stalks are completely safe to eat when harvested early.
Potatoes: a member of the nightshade family, can produce the toxic alkaloid solanine. The flesh of the potato just beneath the skins is usually green if solanine is present, but one may be present without the other. Solanine can be removed by peeling the potatoes, or neutralized by cooking in a deep fryer.[20] In processed potatoes such as chips and fries, there is little hazard since peels are removed and they are fried.[21][22]
Raw foods contain bacteria and may contain parasites, which may cause foodborne illnesses. Washing properly according to Health Department or common sense will cleanse the food properly along with proper storage.

Also, you need to remember the "modern marketplace" ie-supermarket, has only a limited number of fruits/vegetables. Ideally you need to get nearly a third as many different vegetables as are being sold at any one time in a supermarket.

On the other hand, the range of foods available in our supermarkets and health-food stores is implicitly intended to be sufficient for people using a stove, but might not be adequate for those who don't, since many of the tubers (i.e., potatoes) and vegetables (turnips, kale, etc.) are barely edible raw; and modern, highly bred fruits are excessively high in sugar compared to their wild counterparts.

The fact that most of the vegetables have been bred to NOT PROVIDE essential nutrients is the humdinger of a problem in anyones diet plans. How do you know what your buying now is what actually matches the nutrition books??

[GroundZero3]

Surreal what exactly are you wanting to do?

[jokostel]

Sounds like she wants a good case of food poisoning.
It's just another diet gimmick that doesn't work.
You know what does? CUTTING BACK... slowly working out... staying active....
.
Why people put themselves thru these diets is beyond me. It does NO good... and usually when you stop you balloon PAST your previous weight.