Raw Foods Diet | Five Things You Need To Know

Over the years we’ve all witnessed various fad diets, tricks and tips go around, and quickly fade out. In some cases, thankfully, they are fading out before the diet itself has time to do any damage to the body. The irony right? Now, I am not by any means suggesting that raw foods are bad for you – but what I am suggesting is that there are pros and cons to eating a completely raw food diet. 

So first things first. 

What Is a Raw Foods Diet?

Think of uncooked, unprocessed, mostly organic foods. Your staples would be things like; raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. Some people will eat unpasteurized dairy foods, raw eggs, meat, and fish.

Your food can be cold or even a little bit warm, as long as it doesn’t go above 118 degrees.

It is believed that when a food is cooked beyond that temperature, that the nutrients are destroyed. What shouldn’t be overlooked is that cooking foods beyond the above mentioned temperature breaks apart fibres and cellular walls that releases nutrients that otherwise wouldn’t have been made available to our bodies. 

Raw foods, specifically fruits and vegetables do contain protein, which becomes more concentrated in freshly made fruit and vegetable juices. Other good plant sources of protein are nuts, seeds, grains and beans.

Cooking Temperatures

Cooking foods to certain temperatures can also reduce certain chemicals in vegetables that prevent or slow down the absorption of minerals like zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium. Now on the other hand, Vitamin C and Vitamin B are lost during the cooking process, however, because they are so rich in other nutrients and vitamins, there isn’t enough sufficient evidence to indicate whether this is a major problem or not. 

Cooking foods with antioxidants called beta-carotene and lycopene (like squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes, for example) helps release their nutrients and make them more absorbable (not to mention taste better!)

 Cooking is also useful for killing bacteria and pathogens that can live in some foods, like certain fish or eggs and meat.

Raw Foods and Enzymes 

Yes. It is true that during the cooking process, enzymes in foods are destroyed by the heat. But, what’s interesting is that, it’s OK – because our bodies create our own digestive enzymes, to break larger molecules into smaller ones.

So although the statement is true ‘cooking foods beyond 118 degrees kills enzymes‘ it is qualified with ‘its OK our bodies make them anyways‘. So rest assured, all is well in this department. 

Detoxing Your Body With Raw Foods – Wrong

I read an interesting article on Live Science, that I wanted to quote when it came to this topic of using raw foods to detox our bodies.

‘At best, juicing, fasting can help by virtue of not placing more toxins in our body for a day or two. And a healthful, plant-rich diet with plenty of water can, in general, help your liver and kidneys process and remove toxins more effectively’

Which sums up a big part of the mission that Ki’s Kitchen delivers to their clients/customers. If your main meal is lacking them or needs more fiber, order vegetable sides or incorporate a salad. The roughage of the salad helps elimination. The bitter taste of the salad increases bile production and flushes the gall bladder, helping you digest heavy fats. Have your salad with a vinaigrette dressing instead of ranch. The sour taste of vinegar also aids in fat metabolism by stimulating bile production.

Below you will find the recipe for Ki’s Kitchen cancer-fighting salad that we include in all our meals. 

– 2 handfuls of any combination of dark leafy greens ie. kale, arugula, spinach, swiss chard, etc.