Depending on the type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selection of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including sprouted whole grains such as gaba rice), eggs, fish (such as sashimi), meat (such as carpaccio), and non-pasteurized/non-homogenized dairy products (such as raw milk, raw milk cheese, and raw milk yogurt).
Varieties of raw foodism
Raw foodism can include any diet of primarily unheated food, or food cooked to a temperature less than 40 °C (104 °F) to 46 °C (115 °F). The most popular[citation needed] raw food diet is a vegan diet, but other forms may include animal products and/or meat. Raw foodists can be divided between those that advocate raw veganism or vegetarianism, those that advocate a raw omnivorous diet, and those that advocate a 100% raw carnivorous diet.
Raw veganism
A raw vegan diet consists of unprocessed, raw plant foods that have not been heated above 40 °C (104 °F). Raw vegans such as Dr. Douglas Graham believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost much of their nutritional value and are less healthy or even harmful to the body. Advocates argue that raw or living foods have natural enzymes, which are critical in building proteins and rebuilding the body. Heating these foods kills the natural enzymes, and can leave toxins behind[citation needed], however critics point out that enzymes, as with other proteins consumed in the diet, are denatured and eventually lysed by the digestive process rendering them non-functional. Typical foods included in raw food diets are fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains and legumes.
Among raw vegans there are some subgroups such as fruitarians, juicearians, or sproutarians. Fruitarians eat primarily or exclusively fruits and nuts. Juicearians process their raw plant foods into juice. Sproutarians adhere to a diet consisting mainly of sprouted seeds.
Raw vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is a diet that excludes meat (including game and slaughter byproducts like gelatin), fish (including shellfish and other sea animals) and poultry, but allows dairy and eggs. Common foods include fruit, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, dairy, eggs and honey. There are several variants of this diet.
Raw animal food diets
A sashimi dinner set
Included in raw animal food diets are any food that can be eaten raw, such as uncooked, unprocessed raw muscle-meats/organ-meats/eggs, raw dairy, and aged, raw animal foods such as century eggs, fermented meat/fish/shellfish/kefir, as well as vegetables/fruits/nuts/sprouts, but generally not raw grains, raw beans, and raw soy. Raw foods included on such diets have not been heated at temperatures above 104 °F (40 °C). Raw animal foodists believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost much of their nutritional value and are harmful to the body. They also believe that raw meats should come from healthy sources, such as raw, grassfed meats or raw wild game rather than unhealthy, raw grainfed meats.
Examples of raw animal food diets include the Primal Diet, Anopsology (otherwise known as "Instinctive Eating" or "Instincto"), and the Raw Paleolithic diet(otherwise known as the "Raw Meat Diet").
The Primal Diet, is a diet consisting of fatty meats, organ meats, dairy, honey, minimal fruit and vegetable juices and coconut cream, all raw. The founder of the Primal Diet is Aajonus Vonderplanitz. Vonderplanitz has estimated that there are 20,000 followers of his raw-meat-heavy Primal Diet in North America, alone. Books by Vonderplanitz include "The Recipe for Living Without Disease" and "We Want To Live".
There are also those who follow the "Raw Meat Diet", otherwise known as the "Raw, Paleolithic Diet", which is a raw version of the (cooked) Paleolithic Diet, incorporating large amounts of raw animal foods such as raw meats/organ-meats, raw seafood, raw eggs, and some raw plant-foods, but usually avoiding non-Paleo foods such as raw dairy, grains and legumes.
A number of traditional aboriginal diets consisted of large quantities of raw meats, organ meats, and berries, including the traditional diet of the Nenet tribe of Siberia and the Inuit people.
History
Raw foods as a dietary health treatment was first developed in Switzerland by medical doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner, inventor of muesli. After recovering from jaundice while eating raw apples he conducted experiments into the effects on human health of raw vegetables. In November 1897, he opened a sanatorium in Zurich called "Vital Force," named after a "key term from the German lifestyle reform movement which states that people should pattern their lives after the logic determined by nature". It is still treating patients today.
Max Gerson M.D. used a diet to cure Albert Schweitzer of type 2 diabetes after previously curing Schweitzer's wife of pulmonary tuberculosis when all conventional methods had failed. "In a carefully monitored clinical trial, 446 out of 450 skin tuberculosis patients treated with the Gerson diet recovered completely."
Weston A. Price, in a 1936 work entitled Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, observed dental degeneration in the first generation who abandoned traditional nutrient dense foods which included unprocessed raw milk. Price claimed that the parents of such first generation children had excellent jaw development and dental health, while their children had malocclusion and tooth decay and attributed this to their new modern insufficient nutrient diet. Weston-Price also noted, in his book, that the healthiest tribes he visited all incorporated some raw animal foods in their diets.
Leslie Kenton’s book, Raw Energy - Eat Your Way to Radiant Health, published in 1984, popularized food such as sprouts, seeds, and fresh vegetable juices. The book brought together research into raw foodism and its support of health. It cites examples such as the sprouted seed enriched diets of the long lived Hunza people and Max Gerson's use of a raw juice-based diet in conjunction with detoxification methods to cure cancer.The book advocates a diet of 75% raw food to prevent degenerative diseases, slow the effects of aging, provide enhanced energy, and boost emotional balance.
Other notable proponents from the early part of this century include: Ann Wigmore, Herbert Shelton, and Norman W. Walker (inventor of the Norwalk Juicing Press).
Common practices
Beliefs held by raw foodists include:
Some raw foodists believe that digestive enzymes in raw foods (such as amylases, proteases, and lipases) aid digestion. Heating food above 104-120 degrees Fahrenheit (40-49 degrees Celsius) degrades or destroys these enzymes in food. A few raw foodists such as Dr. Douglas Graham dispute the importance of enzymes in foods.
Raw foods include bacteria and other micro-organisms that affect the immune system and digestion by populating the digestive tract with beneficial gut flora. In addition, many raw-foodists, particularly primal-dieters, are believers in the hygiene hypothesis, a concept which focuses on the health benefits of exposure to parasites and bacteria.
Raw foods have higher nutrient values than foods which have been cooked.
In addition, most raw foodists believe processed food and convenience food often contain excitotoxins (such as flavor enhancers) which can cause excitotoxicity. Foods with added chemicals, preservatives, additives, colouring agents/dyes of any kind are frowned upon by most raw-foodists.
Raw foodists believe that raw foods are the ideal food for human consumption, and the basis of a raw food lifestyle. Irritants or stimulants like coffee, alcohol, and tobacco are recommended against. Also heated fats and proteins like fried oils and roasted nuts are to be avoided on a raw-food diet, as they are deemed by raw foodists to be carcinogenic.
Wild foods followed by organic whole foods are more nutritious than conventionally domesticated foods or industrially produced foods.
Cooked foods contain harmful toxins, which can cause chronic disease and other problems,Heating oils and fats can produce trace amounts of trans fats. Cooking foods produces advanced glycation end products ("glycotoxins", see also Maillard reaction).
Raw foods such as fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants and raw-foodists believe they can help to stifle signs of aging.
Food preparation
Vegetables in a market
Many foods in raw food diets are simple to prepare, such as fruits, salads, meat, and dairy. Other foods can require considerable advanced planning to prepare for eating. Rice and some other grains, for example, require sprouting or overnight soaking to become digestible. Many raw foodists believe it is best to soak nuts and seeds before eating them, to activate their enzymes, and deactivate enzyme inhibitors. The amount of soak time varies for all nuts and seeds.
According to some cookbook authors, preparation of gourmet raw food recipes usually calls for a blender, food processor, juicer, and dehydrator. Depending on the recipe, some food (such as crackers, breads and cookies) may need to be dehydrated. These processes, which produce foods with the taste and texture of cooked food, are lengthy. Some raw foodists dispense with these recipes, feeling that there is no need to emulate the other non-raw diets or increase sales of kitchen appliances.
Freezing food is acceptable, even though freezing lowers enzyme activity. This view is only held by some raw-foodists, with many raw-foodists actually viewing freezing as harmful, though not as unhealthy as cooking.
Several raw food preparation books have been published including:
Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis (William Morrow, 2005)
RAWvolution: Gourmet Living Cuisine by Matt Amsden (William Morrow, 2006)
Everyday Raw and Entertaining in the Raw by Matthew Kenney (Gibbs Smith 2009)
Everyday Raw Desserts by Matthew Kenney (Gibbs Smith 2010)
"Everyday Raw Express by Matthew Kenney (Gibbs Smith 2011)
Raw: The Uncook Book: New Vegetarian Food for Life by Juliano Brotman and Erika Lenkert (Regan Books, 1999)
12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Addiction to Cooked Food by Victoria Boutenko (Raw Family Publishing, 2002)
The Complete Book of Raw Food Lori Baird, Ed., and Julie Rodwell, Con. Ed., (Healthy Living Books, 2004)
Raw by Charlie Trotter, Roxanne Klein, Jason Smith, and Tim Turner (Ten Speed Press, 2003)
Raw Truth by Jordan Rubin (Garden of life 2010)
Raw food movement
Early proponents include St. Louis Estes, Edmund Bordeaux Szekely, Johnny Lovewisdom, Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas (co-founders of the Hippocrates Health Institute), Arnold Ehret (author and advocate of fasting), Aris Latham (of Sunfired Foods, Inc., known as the godfather of raw food), Arshavir Ter Hovannessian and Norman W. Walker (who advocated the consumption of vegetable juices).
Notable contemporary proponents include several chefs, published authors and lecturers, such as Dr. Douglas Graham, Rene Oswald, Matthew Kenney, Tonya Zavasta, Alissa Cohen, Aris Latham, Aajonus Vonderplanitz, and Elijah Joy, as well as representatives from rawfood producing companies, such as Natural Balance Food's founder, Jamie Combs.
Celebrity proponents include Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Jason Mraz, Ben Vereen and Carol Alt. Woody Harrelson has published books on raw food, starred in a raw food film, created a raw food website and also opened O2, a raw food restaurant and bar. Model and actress Carol Alt includes raw animal products in her diet; she has written several books on her version of the raw diet and lifestyle.
Interest in the "Raw Foods Movement" continues to grow today and is especially prevalent in the UK, Germany, Australia and the western United States, like California. Restaurants catering to a raw food diet have opened in large cities, and numerous all-raw cookbooks have been published.
Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw is a feature-length documentary film about the raw foods diet, made by Jenna Norwood, a former public relations consultant turned independent filmmaker, health educator and raw food chef. In the film, inspired by Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, Jenna ate only raw foods for thirty days, to document the effect it would have on her health.
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