Concerns about Raw Food Diet

Though it is true that raw foods have several benefits, and must be a necessary part of any diet, it is also true that basing a diet on just these foods can be a lop sided one as the important nutrients that come with other kinds of foods may be missed out on.

Some of the benefits that come along with the consumption of raw foods include reducing the risk of heart diseases and several kinds of cancer. This is mainly because raw foods are low on saturated fats. Also, its rich fibre content along with low salt and high potassium levels makes it ideal for a low cholesterol diet.

However, as stated earlier, some other important nutrients can me missed out on if the diet consists only of raw foods. Food theorists are not exaggerating when they say that such a diet can be very restrictive. They are absolutely correct on the other hand because raw foods may not contain the adequate amount of vitamins and minerals that are required by the body.

Vitamin B12, for example, that is absolutely essential for the body is not received from a diet of raw foods.

Also, as far as proteins are concerned it has been proven that raw foods do not provide the body with all the thirteen essential amino acids. It is true that the body on its own is capable of producing several amino acids, but there still are some of them that the body itself cannot generate. External consumption of such amino acids in their more complex form, that is, the proteins, is necessary for a healthy body.

Another defense for raw foods that has been propounded by practitioners of such a diet is that they contain active enzymes which are supposed to be very healthy for the body. On the contrary, it is a fact that the several active enzymes that these foods contain are not even required by the body owing to the very specific functions they perform in the systems of the plants, etc.

Also, even if some of these enzymes are necessary for the body, it is important to note that the body does not make use of these enzymes in their original form. It breaks them up into simpler forms and then absorbs them. Hence, the presence of ‘active’ enzymes does not make any difference.

Also, the consumption of uncooked foods is not always necessary because in several cases digestion comes much easily is the food is cooked. Cooked foods can also retain nutrients, it has been found.

Since a raw food diet obliterates meat, potatoes, and cooked grains, it loses out on the essential nutrients that come along with them.