Weight Loss Secrets of Raw Food Diet

The raw food diet is one of the healthiest and most effective ways to keep your weight under control. It revolves around the belief that raw uncooked foods are the healthiest for the body and that cooking denatures the food and gets rid of the healthy enzymes they contain.

How It Works

Cooking destroys enzymes and nutrients in food. These enzymes helps the body digest food and allows it to absorb the nutrients that come with the food. Thus, if food is cooked, the body has to produce its own enzymes to digest the food properly. But over time, the body’s ability to produce enzyme may be compromised if there is no supplement from outside.

Overall, the raw food diet also contains less of the harmful trans fats and saturated fats, and also has lower levels of sodium and sugar. On the other hand, it gives the body access to more potassium, folate, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and magnesium, among other healthy antioxidants.

Thus, if the food loses its natural nutrients, and the body does not have enough enzymes to aid in digestion, every time you eat, you only add unnecessary contents to your body, contents that the body cannot fully make use of and that end up in your body’s fat stores instead. This is why some studies showed that the raw food diet helps lower the plasma total cholesterol levels and triglyceride concentrations in the body.

All these factors may together lead to digestive problems and lack of nutrients, which, in turn, may lead to faster aging, slower metabolism, and weight gain. So by eating only raw foods, you take in only what your body can use as nutrients. Also, your body can easily digest the food, taking what is needed and eliminating what is not. This helps keep your metabolism at its peak performance, so you do not gain unnecessary weight.

Tips on How to Start A Raw Food Diet

Most people cannot imagine eating food without cooking it.  Here are some tips to help you out and to convince you to start this diet.

• The raw food diet does not mean that all the food you eat is raw. Mild heating is acceptable, as long as the temperature is within 104 and 118 degrees Fahrenheit.
• You can mix in some cooked foods so you won’t get bored with your meals or won’t find them bland. However, make sure to keep your meals at a 70-30 balance. It should contain 70% raw foods and 30% cooked foods.
• Try to switch to a vegetarian diet, in which cooking is also not commonly needed.
• Make a list of raw foods that can readily be eaten. These include carpaccio or raw meat and sashimi or raw fish, nuts and seeds, grains, beans and legumes, and herbs and spices. For fruits, you can eat apple, avocado, banana, grapes, lemon, mango, raisins, raspberry, and strawberry. For vegetables, you can eat bell peppers, celery, garlic, ginger, lettuce, onion, spinach, tomato, and zucchini, among others.
  Make a list of foods that should be avoided

Raw foods such as carrots, greens like spinach, and mushrooms are healthy and can help make the body strong against cancer.

Preparing Raw Foods

There are a number of ways on how you can prepare raw food without destroying their enzymes and nutrients. These include soaking and sprouting, which can be used for beans, nuts, legumes, and seeds, as well as dehydrating, blending, fermenting, juicing, and pickling. A blender, a thermometer, a juicer, a dehydrator, and a food processor will come in handy in unlocking the weight loss secrets of raw food diet.