So what is Raw Food?
The easiest way to describe it is to say that raw foods are plant based living foods, free from animal products and haven’t been heated over the critical temperature that it’s thought most of the enzymes are lost (around 41 degrees celsius/105 degrees fahrenheit). When we heat food even higher, we then start to lose other nutrients such as the vitamins, minerals and other proteins and fats.
What are Enzymes?
Enzymes are made up of various proteins and are part of every one of your body functions, including sight, hearing and, most importantly in this case, digestion. Simply put, without enzymes we don’t function. We have enzymes that our own body produces and we also get enzymes from the food we eat. And this is the critical point: if you eat food with the enzymes still intact then your body doesn’t have to overwork to use the enzymes it produces to digest that food. There are many different types of enzymes so nature has done a wonderful job by placing within each type of food exactly the type of enzymes that are needed to digest that particular food.
Heating the food by boiling, roasting, steaming, baking etc ruins these enzymes and leaves the food ‘dead’. When your body isn’t overloaded by having to make more enzymes, what does it do with all this spare time on its hands, time that it used to have to devote to making enzymes and work hard on digestion? Simple, it goes back to what it was designed for, it relaxes, rejuvenates, it sleeps, it renews, it calms, it strengthens, it repairs, it brings on a sense of well-being, it COPES with life, it anti-ages, it becomes vital once again and importantly it builds immunity and core health.
Where do I get my protein?
Cooking de-natures up to 50% of protein, so all that protein you believe you are getting from your SAD (Standard Australian Diet) may be much lower once you cook your food. Many nutritionists agree that we only need 5-10% protein (as a percentage of calories) in our diet and as you can see from the list below plants can provide more than enough protein for our needs and do not come with added nasties such as blood, mucous, urine, anti-fungals, anti-bacterials, growth hormones and preservatives.
Protein levels in some plant foods:
- Sprouts 55%
- Green leafy vegetables 35-50%
- Nuts & Seeds 12-20%
- Other vegetables 10- 45%
- Grains 8-20%
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Fruits 1-10 %
