Raw Food Diets - Extreme Good Health

Raw food diets are often misunderstood by people who aren't familiar with them. Those who are on a raw foods diet, however, will tell you that if you can learn how to incorporate raw food dining into your daily life, the benefits are substantial.

Proponents of raw food diets point to the clear health benefits - eating raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts provide the body with almost all of the essential vitamins and minerals you need along with plenty of dietary fiber. Add to this the advantage of eating only foods that are low in sodium, sugar and carbohydrates and it's easy to see why losing weight and keeping it off can be easy with raw foods.

A raw food diet takes vegetarian diets one step further by eliminating cooking of any of the fruits and vegetables eaten. Cooking is believed to destroy many of the helpful enzymes that aid in digestion and the break-down of foods into essential nutrients. By eating everything raw, these enzymes and nutrients are kept intact.

There are a few drawbacks to a raw food diet that you should consider, however, including:

• Lack of some vitamins and minerals. While you will get most of what you need, Vitamin B12 (found in meats) and calcium and iron (found in dairy products and red meat) are usually lacking, so you need to take supplements to ensure you are getting enough of them.
• Raw foods are difficult to eat every day if you dine out frequently; most restaurants don't offer much beyond salads for anyone looking for a raw foods meal.

In order to keep variety and proper nutritional balance in your diet, you'll have to put some time and effort into making sure you eat sprouts, beans and legumes. Since they can't be cooked, you'll need to invest in items like a dehydrator, a juicer and a food processor. You'll also need to start growing sprouts and learning how to prepare them properly.

Once you've decided that a raw foods diet might work for you, be sure to change over gradually. After you've cut meat out of your diet, cut back on all cooked foods except some cooked vegetables. Add salads, raw fruits, smoothies and beans (properly softened and prepared) and sprouts for most meals. Eventually you can stop cooking your vegetables and go completely raw.

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