A Closer Look At Raw Food Diets

Raw food diets have been around since the 1900s. Over the years, they have evolved into a large movement with many advocates, supporters, and followers. And at present, these types of diet are already among the most popular eating patterns among those who are into weight loss and health improvement programs.

What is Raw Food Diet?

As its name implies, raw food diet revolves around the intake of raw and fresh food. Raw foodists, the people who follow the raw food eating pattern, believe that natural produce are the best foods because their nutrients are still intact. Meanwhile, cooked or heated foods are avoided because their nutritional content is usually lost during the preparation process. Raw foodists believe that exposing food to temperature above 116 degrees Fahrenheit dissolves their nutrient content and also reduces their enzymes, which is an important component that aids in the digestive process.

The Advocates of Raw Food Diet

At present, the raw food movement has already grown and has already attracted a lot of people. In fact, there are already different books advocating the raw food way of eating. Among the people who greatly contributed to this movement are:

•    David Wolfe. Wolfe is one of the biggest advocates of raw food diet, plus eco-friendly and green living. He is a nutritionist that has authored such books as Naked Chocolate and Eating for Beauty. He is also a popular success speaker and is the originator of Sunfood Nutrition, the first company that offers and distributes natural and organic products like cacao and goji berries.
•    Aajonus Vonderplanitz. Vonderplanitz has also contributed a lot to the rawfood diet movement. In fact, he has been into a raw food diet for almost four decades now. He is the president of the group named "Right To Choose Real Food" and he created one variation of the raw food diet, called the primal diet. This diet involves more on raw meat and less on fresh fruits and vegetable, plus honey and dairy products.

These two personalities are among the prominent figures in the raw food diet movement. Others include Hollywood celebrities like Mel Gibson, Demi Moore, and Uma Thurman.

Forms of Raw Food Diets

Raw food diet can be classified into two, although these two types are often overlapping and are actually best combined.

•    Raw Vegetarianism. This type of raw food diet focuses on fresh plant-based foods like fruits and vegetables, seeds, beans, nuts, seaweed, and legumes. These foods can be prepared by juicing, drying, and dehydrating, among others.
•    Raw Animal Diet. This type of raw food diet covers raw sea foods and meat. Vonderplanitz' primal diet is a very good example that falls under this category. Among the processes that can be used to prepare these foods are curing and smoking, although some raw foodists do not adhere to the last process because it still involves heat.

Going for raw food diets is easy and simple. These diets offer a lot of health benefits, as well as practicality when it comes to food preparation. Although it may be a challenge at first, the benefits are all worth it.