The raw food diet is based on the belief that uncooked and unprocessed food can help you to achieve better health and prevent diseases.
One of the main reasons the raw food diet discourages cooking is because of the belief that cooking destroys the natural enzymes in foods. That’s why in French this diet is also called « alimentation vivante » (which literally means « alive food »).
At the beginning of my journey to natural health, as I wasn’t getting the results I was expecting, I was obsessed with finding the right diet for me. So I kept documenting myself a lot, and of course, I read and heard tons of people saying everybody should eat only raw food. I don’t know why but I didn’t really like this idea. I guess my intuition was telling me that only raw food wasn’t good for me. Problem was, I was consistently second-guessing myself on this. And each time I was cooking my food I was feeling guilty about it. Until I heard that in Ayurveda (the traditional Indian medicine) people who have a Vata constitution are least able to tolerate a raw food diet.
As it is explained in the article "Raw foods: an ayurvedic perspective", when you are Vata you have to keep raw food intakes to a minimum.
As it happens my Ayurvedic constitution is Pitta-Vata with an imbalance of Vata. So Finally I had my answer!!! No second-guessing nor guiltiness about cooking my food!
My point is, a diet based on raw fruits and vegetables seems like a healthy choice for anyone, but that's not necessarily the case. Depending on your own features, a raw food diet might not be the best option for you. What is good for one person’s physiology will not always be beneficial for someone else.
You can also read my thoughts on food intolerance here.
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