Humans aren't what we were 100,000 years ago. Because we've developed a use of fire and cooking food, we've changed the types and amounts of bacteria and other chemicals in the body. As a result, we're not able to break down foods very well, and are more susceptible to bacterias.

While eating some raw food IS good for you, a totally raw diet isn't that smart nor healthy.

Learn more here:
http://www.vegetarian-nutrition.info/updates/going_raw.php

I found that eating raw fruits and veggies gives me a noticable energy boost, but it is difficult for me to keep it up long term, as I start to feel lethargic. I have found that this is probably due to my metabolic type, which is a Protein type, which means I need more protein.

More info on metabolic types at www.mercola.com

I do try to eat more raw foods, but I make sure it's balanced metabolically.

meh

that is not really all that true.

that article says that the enzymes dont survive the stomache. um, where exactly does ptyalin (and other Amylolytic enzymes) break starch down? in the mouth after secreted from your tongue! not in the stomache and that is what breaks down strach in typical SAD-diet food (thats RAW for Standard American Diet)

that article also says "Cooking or baking legumes, grains, potatoes and other starchy foods is important for improved digestibility, since raw protein and starch are very difficult to diges" again, the whole thing about Raw is called "pre-digestion" germinating legumes, and grains and turning the starches into bioavailable sugars (or fermentation, and/or dehydration). again, that websites info is disinfo...

i got fired from my job at a health food store once for telling a customer that they will get more B12 from 4 day-old lentil sprouts, than from a jar of processed pills. the boss didnt like that too much because he makes $1.25 off the bag of organic lentils and $18 off the pills... everyone has an agenda, and someone teaching nutrition certainly holds a lot of issues dear.

But the truth is that RAW diets lead to increased health and vitality (look at the research from the Hypocrates center or Tree of Life in Patagonia) or read "Survival into the 21st century" by kulvinskas... or Dr Edward Howell's Nobel winning research in enzymology...

not only health and vitality, but you have 95% less garbage (if you compost) whenyou go raw. there are no waxed boxes or evil wasteful packaging...

and even moreso-- if you live in a place that uses coal for electricity then going raw you will cut down drastically on the amount of energy needed to prepare the food, hence reduce emissions.

oh and add to it the fact that you get way more vitamins and minerals from sprouted food, and therefore nweed less of it to eat (not to mention it all gets bigger when sprouted) so you can feed more people with less food. Adn when 40,000 babies starve to death daily on the planet already, the idea of haviong food for more people may appeal to some...

just because we needed to fire our foods at some point in our evolution doesn't mean that we can't evolve to a new level of conscious eating....

hey sorry for the triple post, feel free to delete two?

(A bit off-topic)

Babylon Biobus, correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've mananged to read on the subject, it sounds like we have food coming out of our ears in this world, particularly in the West. There's even lots of food aid sent to developing countries. It sounds like the main reason people are starving is not that there's no food, per se, but because warlords and criminals intercept the food, or because economic systems are not reformed enough to enable people to obtain the food. Is that an acurate picture of the situation?

A minor point, but it was my understanding that while starch breakdown begins in the mouth, it also ceases when it hits the stomach because the enzymes do get destroyed. Starch breakdown doesn't resume until it hits the small intestine. Very little digestion actually happens in the stomach, but bacteria gets killed, proteins unravel, etc. in preparation for their actual breakdown and absorption farther downstream.

That said, my one nutrition class was a while ago...

I first found out about raw foods and the raw food diet about 3 1/2 years ago. I thought my friends who were dabbling in it were nuts. It didn't make any sense to me at the time, but I found that if I ever ate raw food with them, I had more energy than I knew what to do with.

About a year later, I had been toying with the idea of learning more about raw foods, and thought that I might try a couple of months of it the following summer. It was October at the time, and I was spending the winter in British Columbia from living in LA. One day in November, my body decided it was time to make the switch, and I haven't turned back since, 2 1/2 years later.

I feel fantastic, and don't have any desire to go back to eating cooked food. I've noticed such a positive change in my body and mind. I have much more energy, and am much clearer mentally and emotionally than before.

I was warned by people that had made the transition that there would be a lot of fatigue and unpleasantness at first as my body detoxed from all the stuff that I had put into it previously. That was certainly true. I detoxed hardcore for about 3 months, with flu-like symptoms at first, and a lack of energy off and on. Any time I would try to exert myself doing exercise or dancing, I would get very tired and sometimes even nauseous. But, that would soon pass, to be replaced by an almost continuous supply of energy and vitality.

I had heard people say that it is very hard to be raw in a cold climate. You need hot foods to stay warm. I had no difficulty with it, and found that the opposite is actually true. The body receives it's warmth from the heat produced from digestion, not from the warmth of the food. Digestion of raw foods produces more heat than cooked foods, so more body warmth is the result. Mind you, I was in British Columbia with 4 feet of snow on the ground, coming from living in Los Angeles, and I felt fine.

There is so much misinformation about food, and how humans supposedly need cooked food. I can't tell you how many times people have told me that it is difficult to absorb the nutrients from raw food, and they need to eat cooked food. I don't understand how that could possibly be true. How could food that has most of it's nutrients destroyed from heat possibly offer you more than food in it's original wholesome form with all of its nutrients intact?

I think that we humans are addicted to things that are not good for us in many forms, and that cooked food is just one of them. It may taste good, but what is it really offering you?

(sorrt continuing the offtopic thread!)

Well SamIam i don't know if you can blame the warlords and criminals really, tho that was the song they was singing with somalia big time.. but really yes, there is enough (I heard 4.5 lbs) food grown on th eplanet for everyone to eat. but 1) when we eat complex proteins instead of lower food chain legumes & grains (1 lb beef = ?16lbs of grain?), and cook our grains, it adds to a problem....

that doesn't mean that the problem doesn't already exist, and it does, thanks to "enclosed land", food dependance and xeports eating up people in devloping countries (and pushing them off land and into cities), not to mention taht sometimes it's apparently saner to let yoru grains rot so the price oif them goes up, and the mad money made off "Food-Aid" (one more reason why our "supermarket to the world" donate so much money to both parties when they are trying to get elected...)

sorry back on topic:
best way to ever convince someone that RAW is amazing is to take them to Juliano's for a feast!!!

Have there been any peer reviewed studies I can read on the raw food diet? All the information I’ve seen seems somewhat sketchy. One of the reasons I went vegan was because there was a large amount of research behind the proved the benefits. I don’t need any raw websites or anti-raw websites, just plain boring numbers that are respected amongst the scientific community.

I have done raw foods fasts (I call it a fast, because to me it is something spiritual, os it is not only eating but also praying, meditation, reading, etc...) at least for a week about 5 timnes in my life. Last one was in December with my new wife, the first one we do together.

Anyway, I find that while eating raw foods I have more energy if a t home, I fell lethurgic at work. That is probably the norm, but it becomes even more noticeable during these times. I love it, after the last "fast" my wife and I have completetly changed our diet, to include as many raw foods in a day as possible.

By the way the raw sweets are the best. Where I live there is a raw bakery, with cookies and cakes galore, yummmm....

I did a raw food diet a number of years ago. The idea was to eat only one food at a time. No salt or flavorings--just the food. It was like eating fresh peaches off of the tree and not stopping with every meal. You were supposed to smell the food, if it smelled good, taste it. If it tasted good eat it. Then don't stop eating it until the taste changed. It was intense, but very gratifying. Here is the thing, fish, meat, and eggs were included.

The first time I ate raw meat, I ordered a quarter pound of organic stew beef. I went out to my car and decided to try it. Smelled ok so I tasted it. Flavor exploded in my mouth and I literally wolfed down the rest of the package. I had been a vegetarian for about 8 years and had recently gone for a monthly burger with my girlfriend. Ten minutes later, I was back at the meat counter asking for another quarter pound. The clerk looked at me funny and said, "weren't you just here?"

By the way, egg yolks were pretty good too.

Well, if boring data is your thing, I could point out T. Colin Cambell's "The China Study" which makes it very clear that the fact that plant proteins are harder to digest that animal proteins IS A GOOD THING. Slow and steady, like complex carbs vs. simple sugars, is optimal. I would infer from this fact that the best foods to eat for most nutrients tend to be fresh (raw) veggies and fruits. Cooking may be an easy way to cheat for beans, legumes, nuts, grains, etc.; sprouting is probably better and your diet would do well to be focused on fresh, uncooked veggies and fruits.

hey Someguy: sorry I don't know of anything online with peer reviewd nutritionists (the same peers, like the FDA, who made Nutrasweet legal even though it turns into formaldahide when heated past 125 degrees? hmmmm....)

But that guy i mentioned before, Howell did get a Nobel Prize for his work on enzymology you might want to check his book out, and if you can get your hands on (yes, he's a live fooder, so be wary) Victoras kulvinskas' Sprouts for the Love of Every Body there are over 50 charts with all the vitamin contents and mineral contents done from labs... while not peer reviewed the info is pretty great and you can fact check it easily..

ultimately if you want to know about it, i would say the best way is to do it. try 30 days, or even a week like they mentionued up there.. then you will have a better understanding than reading peer reviewed journals and pro/ant raw sites...

but speaking of pro/anti raw sites, if you do want to ghet more info on the whole thing (or are bold enough to try a 30 day test) then you will want to go to Natures First Law, the Amway of raw/live food, they not only have hundreds of books (some more scientific than others) but they also have yummy raw goodies like raw white cacao butter, raw organic powerbars and goji berries! and all the tools you will need to know about.. and I know you said you didnt want proRaw sites, and these guys are pretty blatant, but let the science guys answer with peer reviews, in the meantime, here's the antithesis to what you asked for, some blatant rawfood propaganda from one of the founders of natures first law. called Raw Courage World in it's entirety. but a warning; it could be insulting to people stuck in the SAD....

Raw Food Scientific Study--

"Raw food vegans thin but healthy"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7317449