Better nutritional content

Fruits, vegetables and plant foods are packed with nutrients, including vitamins, minerals and other health-promoting phytochemicals. Heating, however, destroys a fair bit of them.

Vitamins are destroyed, proteins are structurally spoilt, and minerals are converted from their organic and absorbable state to a state whereby they are not easily assimilated by the body.

Water-soluble vitamins, such as vitamins B and C, also get leached out of foods during the cooking process.

Naturally, raw food is thus more nutritious than its cooked counterparts.

Dr Ann Wigmore, one of the most well-known proponents of raw diets, even suggests that over 80% of the nutrition in food is destroyed via cooking!

It is often believed that foods which grow in the wild are the most nutritious.

Life-giving and health-promoting enzymes, too

Raw foods contain high levels of enzymes, which assist in digestive processes as well as contribute to good health in other ways.

By eating raw foods, we reduce the need for the body to produce its own digestive enzymes. This frees up energy which the body can then use to carry out other important work, such as healing, cell repair and rejuvenation, fighting off foreign invaders, etc.

More enzymes would also be available for various uses by the body, including healing and the regulation of metabolic processes in the body.

On the other hand, since enzymes are killed by heat, cooked food is virtually devoid of them. The consumption of a largely cooked diet thus hampers digestive processes in the body, causing the production of excessive amounts of toxic by-products.

Excess energy usage, poor digestion and excessive toxin production – these are the reasons why we often feel tired, sluggish, and lethargic after a heavy meal of cooked food, while we would feel light and energetic after having a salad and a glass of fresh juice.

Further, the pancreas is overworked to produce the additional enzymes the body needs, enzymes which could have been obtained from raw foods. This contributes to long-term degenerative conditions.

 

To finish this exellent article go to......www.all4naturalhealth.com/eating-raw.html

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 12:17 PM and is filed under Health Issues . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.