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Raw foodism is a movement promoting the consumption of uncooked, unprocessed, and often Organic Food s, as a large percentage of the Diet . Raw food diets may include a selectıon of '''''raw''''' Fruits , Vegetables , Nuts , Seed s (including Whole Grain s), Eggs , Fish , Meat and Unpasteurized Dairy products (such as Raw Milk , Cheese and Yogurt ). A ''raw foodist'' is a person who consumes primarily raw food, or all raw food, depending on how strict the person is. Raw foodists typically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits. Some believe raw food prevents and/or heals many forms of Sickness and many Chronic Disease s. Freezing food is considered acceptable by many raw foodists; although decreasing enzyme activity, it is still a raw food - and some choose to preserve nuts and seeds in a Freezer . BACKGROUND History Raw food, being the diet of almost every species of animal for all time, necessarily dates to Prehistoric eras, before humans began Cooking with Fire . Some believe that prehistoric humans were largely Vegetarian s, and thus that, the Human Digestive System is configured for Raw Vegetarianism . Others believe their primitive ancestors were chiefly hunters who ate raw meat. Raw foods gained more prominence throughout the 1900's , as proponents such as Ann Wigmore and Herbert Shelton claimed that a diet of raw Fruit s and Vegetable s is the ideal diet for humans. Artturi Virtanen ( 1895 - 1973 ), a Nobel Prize -winning biochemist, showed that Enzymes in uncooked foods are released in the mouth when vegetables are chewed. It is believed that these enzymes interact with other substances, notably the enzymes produced by the body itself, to aid the digestion process. (This research was unrelated to his Nobel Prize .) Leslie Kenton 's book, '' The New Raw Energy ,'' in 1984 popularized food such as sprouts, seeds, and fresh vegetable juices, which are now moving into the mainstream. The book brought together research into raw foodism and its support of health, citing examples such as the Sprouted Seed Enriched Diets of the long lived Himalayan Hunza People , as well as Max Gerson 's claim of a raw juice-based Cancer cure. The book advocates a diet of 75% raw food in order to prevent degenerative diseases, slow aging, provide enhanced energy, and boost emotional balance. The raw food lifestyle has gained acceptance, although not all nutrition experts condone it. Restaurants catering to this diet have opened, especially in large cities, and numerous all-raw cookbooks have been published.[http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/Amazon/VegRawFoods.htm Celebrities including Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson , who have been known to follow a raw food diet, provide additional exposure. The Independent "Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw" is a documentary feature film of an overweight woman who allowed her ‘experiment’ to be filmed showing the beneficial effects of a 30 day vegan, organic raw food detox diet."Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw" {Link without Title} Beliefs Those who follow this way of eating may believe:
The benefits of the diet are said to include: a stable Body Mass Index , clear Skin , more energy, and minimising a range of common illnesses, from the Flu to obesity-related illnesses. Some raw food advocates believe cooked food is Toxic because cooking the food converts some particles into harmful chemicals. They also often believe cooked food is less digestible than raw food because cooking destroys the Enzyme s contained in food. One source for this belief is the work of Artturi Virtanen , a biochemist. Anthropologist Peter Lucas of George Washington University in Washington, DC , US, was reported in New Scientist magazine in 2005 as having the theory that man being the only mammal with chronic poor Dentition , and the only mammal to significantly process and cook his food, are causally linked. He believes that the adoption of food processing and cooking reduced the size of our jaw through evolutionary processes, but not the size of our teeth. Dr. Joel Fuhrman , Dr. Gabriel Cousens , Gillian McKeith and Professor T. Colin Campbell (author of the China Project ) advocate diets high in raw, unprocessed foods. They claim that Social Trends over the past several centuries have diverged from this diet, together with less active lifestyles, contributing to the increase of Noncommunicable Disease s and Obesity -related illnesses in developed countries. These include Cardiovascular illnesses, some Cancer s, Diabetes and some Auto-immune Disease s. RESEARCH Early 20th century A 1933 paper by E. B. Forbes says, "Cooking renders food pasty, so that it sticks to the teeth, and undergoes acid Fermentation . Furthermore, the cooking of food greatly diminishes the need for use of the teeth; and thus tends to diminish the Circulation of blood to the jaws and teeth, and to produce under-development of the Maxillary and contiguous bones—thus leading to contracted Dental Arch es, and to Malocclusion and Impaction of the teeth, with complications of great seriousness."The Ohio Journal of Science. Vol. 33, No.5 (September, 1933), 389-406 In a 1936 work entitled '' Nutrition And Physical Degeneration '', dentist Weston A. Price observed dental degeneration in the first generation who abandoned traditional nutrient dense foods which included unprocessed raw foods e.g. un-pasteurised milk products, fruit and dried meats. 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 (which would have included a proportion of raw food). Dr. Edward Howell, an Illinois physician, wrote '' Food Enzymes For Health & Longevity '' in 1941. Forty years later he published '' Enzyme Nutrition '', a book which claimed that the Pancreas is forced to work harder on a diet of cooked foods, and that food enzymes are just as essential to digestion as the body's self-generated enzymes. The book was based largely on ideas from his previous book, and ideas derived from early enzyme research from the 1930s before it was established that enzymes were proteins. Recent research Raw dairy products A study by the University Of Toronto and another published in the Journal Of The National Cancer Institute suggest that ingesting cooked or pasteurized Dairy Products may increase risk of Colon Cancer . The increased risk is due to the effect of heating Casein , a Phosphoprotein found in dairy products. Promotion of colonic microadenoma growth in mice and rats fed cooked sugar or cooked casein and fat Promotion of Aberrant Crypt Foci and Cancer in Rat Colon by Thermolyzed Protein A study of 14,000 children in Europe by the University Of Basel in Switzerland showed that drinking milk which was obtained directly from a farm (either raw or pasteurized) was correlated with reduced asthma and allergy risks. Drinking farm milk may cut asthma risk Raw meat Several studies published since states that cooking meat below 212º F (100º C ) creates "negligible amounts" of HCA's. Also, Microwaving meat before cooking may reduce HCA's by 90%. Raw vegetables German research in 2003 showed significant benefits in reducing Breast Cancer risk when large amounts of raw vegetable matter are included in the diet. The authors attribute some of this effect to heat-labile Phytonutrients .Nutr Cancer. 2003;46(2):131-7 Pottenger's Research Research was conducted by Dr. Francis Pottenger in 1932 to determine the effect of cooked foods in Cat s. For 10 years, Pottenger fed half of the cats a diet of raw meat, the other half a diet of cooked meat. At the conclusion of his study, he reported that the cats who were fed raw meat appeared to be in better health. In addition, the exclusively cooked diet led to congenital problems including birth defects and deformities, after several generations. Pottenger's Cats - A Study in Nutrition Pottenger's study was conducted in a time before the nutritional needs of cats was understood - especially the role of Taurine in the diet. Since cats cannot synthesize adequate amounts of taurine, they must get taurine from food. Heat renders taurine inactive; cooked food without taurine supplements can cause health problems in cats. However, this finding does not apply to humans - since humans, like most other animals, synthesize their own taurine. Lesson of the Pottenger's Cats Experiment--Cats are Not Humans However, when comparing the cats fed 1/3 raw meat and 2/3 raw milk to the cats fed 1/3 raw meat and 2/3 pasteurized milk, there were significant differences in the pasteurized cats, including an undeveloped heart, fatty atrophy of the liver, and poor intestinal tone. Milk vs. Pasteurized There IS a difference! However the point was made that changing from a traditional diet of several thousand years could result in serious health problems in only a few generations. RAW FOOD MOVEMENT Early proponents include Johnny Love-Wisdom , Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas (co-founders of the Hippocrates Health Institute ), Arnold Ehret (author and authority on Fasting ), A Hovannessian and Norman W. Walker (who advocated the consumption of juices, living up to the age of 99 years). The principles of Natural Hygiene promote a mainly Raw Vegan Diet . Famous natural hygienists have included Herbert Shelton and Anthony Robbins . Raw food diets A raw foodist may follow either a Carnivorous , Omnivorous , or Herbivorous diet. The following popular diets include only raw foods: RAW FOOD DIET PRACTICES Food preparation 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 before eating them, in order to activate their Enzymes . Preparation of ''gourmet'' raw food recipes usually call 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 foods, feeling that there is no need to emulate the other non-raw diets. Care may be required in planning a raw food diet, especially for children. There is little research on how to plan a nutritionally adequate raw food diet; however, nutritionists and raw M.D.s are usually willing to provide professional advice. Raw foodists claim that with sufficient Food Energy , essential fatty acids, variety and density, people of all ages can be successful at eating raw foods, although whether the diet works for any one person depends on their unique metabolism. Avoiding poisoning As the consumption of raw foods gains popularity, some unsafe foods have re-entered the diets of humans. The following should be consumed with caution: |
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