The raw food diet is based on the belief that uncooked and unprocessed food can help you to achieve better health and prevent diseases.
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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 eating only raw food wasn’t good for me. Problem was, I was consistently second-guessing myself on this.
Ayurveda and raw food
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!
Traditional Chinese Medicine and raw food
Later on, I also found out that in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there's a saying : "what the saucepan hasn't cooked, it's your body that will have to cook it". Which means that you need to have a strong "digestive fire".
In other words, according to TCM, cooked food is easy to digest, whereas cold and raw foods take up extra energy, causing the digestive process to work less well.
Conclusion
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. One person's food can be another one's poison. So listen to your body!
And if you want to know more about Natural Living, you can read about how I've been Healing Naturally My Autoimmune Disease or about the link between Gut Health and weight loss or find some more Natural Health Resources.
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lion
Saved as a favorite, I really like your blog!
Cobble
Your style is so unique compared to many other people. Thank you for publishing this article. Guess I will just make this bookmarked.