I'm sure that
many of you already include some 'living' or raw food in your
diet each day, even if it is only a fresh green salad. In this
article I hope to show you some of the advantages of eating more
of your food uncooked. I'm sure that
many of you already include some 'living' or raw food in your
diet each day, even if it is only a fresh green salad. In this
article I hope to show you some of the advantages of eating more
of your food uncooked.
These days many of us lead rather hectic lives and when we're too tired, or too busy to cook a nutritious meal, it's easy to snack on junk food or to eat convenience food instead. Eating this sort of food will of course supply us with all the calories we need (and often many extra ones too!) but frequently these highly processed types of foods contain too much fat and sugar and not enough of the really important nutrients - the vitamins, enzymes and minerals that we need to keep us in top form and to keep our metabolism working at peak efficiency. When our bodies are unable to obtain enough of these vital nutrients from our food, our metabolism slows down and we often develop food cravings and sometimes even chronic hunger. Our body is urging us to eat more and more food, not because we are really hungry and need more calories, but because it is suffering from a nutritional deficiency. And if we're not careful we get fat! Perhaps not so convenient after all? So, the next time you're in a hurry, don't waste valuable time searching the shops for suitable vegan convenience foods when you would be much better off buying some extra fruit and veggies and eating them raw instead. In fact raw food is the ultimate in fast food: quick but bursting with all the nutrients that our body needs - unlike many 'convenience foods'.
In fact eating raw food is much better for us than eating our food cooked. Cooking food destroys it and can even make it toxic to the body. Heating food can create free radicals, mutagens and carcinogens and it can also destroy many of the food's enzymes. Even light cooking, such as steaming is enough to destroy many enzymes. Enzymes are physiological catalysts and are of vital importance in the process of digestion. Raw foods naturally contain almost all of the enzymes needed for the food's complete digestion. However, when we cook food we destroy the food's own enzymes and in order to digest cooked food properly our bodies then have to make more of their own digestive enzymes. This can put a great strain on the body's enzyme system, particularly as we get older.
Vitamins are also destroyed by heat and many vitamins are lost into the cooking water when food is cooked. And let's face it, these days food has often travelled great distances to reach us and may not contain that many vitamins even before it is cooked. And that's why, even if you are following a healthy, well-balanced, vegan wholefood diet you also need to make sure that you include some raw food in your diet each day.
There are many other advantages to eating a higher proportion of your food raw. Firstly, your fuel bill probably won't be the only thing that is reduced in size - your spare tyre may shrink a bit too! For a high-fibre, vitamin-packed, raw food diet is a boon for slimmers. On a diet containing a good proportion of raw foods you will probably also find that you have more energy, can think more clearly, that your athletic performance improves and wait for it..... you may even start to look younger! Eating raw food, seems to offer some protection against disease too, for as well as being high in fibre, vitamins, enzymes and minerals, fresh fruit and vegetables also contain many other health-enhancing substances including: pycnogenols, isoflavones, flavonoids, isothiocyanates, indoles, carotenoids, phyto-sterols, saponins, phenolic acids, protease inhibitors and omega-3 fatty acids. It isn't yet known exactly how all of these substances work to protect us from disease, but many are known to have anti-oxidant properties (like the vitamins A, C and E) and can help to prevent damage to the DNA. Others offer protection against cancer, heart disease, premature ageing or free radical damage.
There are many different types of raw food diets including: sproutarian, living fooder, natural hygienist, instinctive eater, essene, fruitarian, liquidarian and raw fooder. If you want to know more about these different types of raw food diet, then you should read the article at the Living Foods website. Of course, not all raw food diets are vegan and some raw food diets do allow a certain proportion of cooked food to be eaten. 'The Raw Food Bible' by Leslie Kenton offers an interesting program of raw food recipes. The authors recommend that 50-75% of the diet should consist of uncooked raw foods, so this book is perhaps a good starting point, if you don't want to give up cooked food completely. It contains many ideas for interesting raw food meals and although the authors are not vegan, most of the recipes are quite suitable for vegans to use, particularly if soya yogurt is substituted in some of the recipes. Personally, I don't think that I could ever exist on an entirely raw food diet as I'm far too fond of eating hot food in the winter! During the summer though, I'm usually quite happy to eat a much higher proportion of my food raw, particularly if the weather is hot. Why don't you experiment a little this summer and perhaps try combining more raw food meals with your usual vegan diet? Here's how!
Unless you eat an awful lot of convenience food, you will probably have most of the necessary ingredients already in your store cupboard. You will find the following ingredients useful if you want to try out some raw food recipes: dried fruit, sea vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes/pulses, extra virgin olive oil, wheatgerm, blackstrap molasses, herbs, miso, tahini, tamari and yeast extract. Of course you will also need an abundant and regular supply of fresh fruit and vegetables, preferably organically or home-grown if possible.
Meals in a raw food diet tend to be based on uncooked fruit and vegetables, sprouted seeds/legumes/ grains, sea vegetables (e.g. powdered kelp, wakame, nori, hiziki etc.) and nuts and seeds. Some raw food diets also allow the use of tofu, although stricter raw food diets classify tofu as a cooked food. If the diet isn't completely raw (e.g. The Raw Food Bible) you are also allowed to eat lightly cooked vegetables, cooked grains and bread.
Frequently breakfast is a 'fruit only meal' and up to a pound of fruit can be eaten at a time. Individual pieces of different fruits can be eaten, or various fruits can be chopped into bite-size pieces and mixed together to make a fruit salad. Fruit has a high water and carbon content and is good for detoxifying the body because it encourages the removal of wastes. It also makes the blood more alkaline and helps to neutralise the acidic by-products of stress and metabolism. Fruit is best eaten alone and is usually eaten on an empty stomach. It needs little energy to digest and most fruits only remain in the stomach for 20-30 minutes, although bananas need a little longer - usually about 45 minutes. Many fruits can be processed in a juice extractor and delicious fruit (or fruit and vegetable juices) can be made in this way. Juices are good for breakfast, can be drunk between meals, or used as an appetizer before a main meal providing the next course is not eaten for at least 20 minutes. Raw muesli can also be eaten at breakfast time. A proper muesli does not contain a lot of grains, but is more of a fruit dish. To make a muesli, oatflakes should be soaked in water or fruit juice overnight so that the starch can break down into natural sugars. This grain base is then served with grated apple, raisins and a little soya yogurt (or fruit juice) and more fruit (e.g. berries, soaked dried fruit or slices of banana) can be added for extra flavour. Ground seeds, coconut, wheatgerm or nuts can be sprinkled on top of the muesli. Energy shakes (made from fruit and yogurt) or nut milk shakes can also be served for breakfast.
A large living salad is often eaten for lunch. If lunch is the main meal of the day you can also serve side dishes, such as cooked rice, with your salad. Salads are often made up using the root vegetable, leaf vegetable and bulb vegetable principle (bulb vegetables include peppers and tomatoes) and are usually served with a protein-based or vinaigrette dressing, salad sprinkles and sometimes bread. When preparing your salad, use the freshest and tastiest vegetables you can find. Better still - grow them yourself, perhaps on your windowsill! Seeds are often sprinkled on top of salads. Use pumpkin, sesame, or sunflower seeds, or try a ground combination of all three. Chopped nuts, seed and nut cheeses, chopped fresh herbs, sprouted seeds and pulses, or toasted, crumbled nori can all be added to your salad for extra protein or flavour. Crudites (raw vegetable sticks) also make a nice lunch, especially when served with a dip such as guacamole. Use slices of carrot, cucumber, celery, peppers, pieces of apple/orange, mushrooms, broccoli or cauliflower florets, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and radishes. Or you could try a cold soup such as gazpacho. Or how about some raw vegetable kebabs made from cherry tomatoes, pepper or cucumber chunks, button mushrooms, chunks of tofu, olives or soaked dried prunes or apricots, all threaded onto a scewer? These are lovely served on a bed of lettuce with a spicy dressing.
Again you can have a large supersalad with side dishes as described above. If you want to include some cooked veggies with your main meal, then cook them as quickly as possible, preferably either by steaming or stir-frying them. A baked potato, or a cooked grain dish goes well with a main meal salad. You can also have either cold soup or fruit/vegetable juice for a starter. And for dessert, if you fancy a change from fresh fruit, then I am sure that you will find many delicious recipes for no cook desserts - just try visiting some of the recipe websites listed below:-
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| The following bread recipes require the use of a dehydrator: |
The following techniques are often used to prepare the food which is eaten in a raw food diet:
Raw fruit and/or vegetable juices are often consumed in the high raw food diet. Packed with nutrients, minerals, enzymes and vitamins, they are far better for you than modern soft drinks which are largely made from empty calories and artificial chemicals. Drinking freshly prepared juices regularly can make you feel more energetic, strengthen your immune system, detoxify the body give you a nice clear skin and freshly made fruit and vegetable juices are even supposed to make your wrinkles recede! Juices are usually made in a centrifugal juice extractor. This type of juicer separates the juice from the pulp. (But don't throw the pulp away though, as it can be composted!) You can also buy 'Total Juicers' which use the entire fruit or vegetable and the pulp is processed with the juice rather that being discarded. Juices made with a total juicer are higher in fibre, not as sweet and have a thicker and smoother texture than juices made in a conventional juice extractor. They are also better for people with blood sugar problems. If you want more information on types of juicing machines, then visit Rawtimes. (Afraid there isn't a direct link to the juicing section here, so at the website click on recipes and then on juicing which is the top link in the list).
All produce used for juicing should be fresh and preferably organically grown. Juice is best drunk as soon as it is made, but will keep in a fridge (or a flask) for a few hours, if necessary. Carrots, apples, pears, berries, citrus fruit and beetroot are just some of the fruits and vegetables which can be juiced. You will find many lovely (mostly vegan) juice recipes in the 'Raw Energy Bible' by Leslie Kenton. (See Book Two, Juice High. p171-334.) Juices are often used by natural healers to treat diseases such as cancer. (Visit the Gerson Institute to find out how raw food can be used treat cancer, heart disease etc.) Sprouts, green vegetables, cereal grasses, ground hempseeds and algae such as spirulina and chorella can all be added to home-made juices for extra goodness and flavour. Spirulina is an important nutritional supplement. It is rich in vitamins (e.g. B12, B6 and B1) and essential fatty acids and can help to detoxify the system. Chorella is also a good source of many vitamins including vitamin B12 and will supply iron and calcium, too. It enhances immunity and helps to remove poisons, such as pesticides, from the body, as well as protecting the liver. The cereal grasses and the algae mentioned above are usually sold in health food shops.
Sprouts are the cheapest form of organically-grown, natural food. Anyone can produce home-grow sprouts - you don't even need a garden, just a reasonably warm place to grow them in! They will grow in a jam jar on your windowsill, or in garden trays and most grow so quickly that they are ready to eat in under a week. (Note: Sunflower sprouts take only 1-2 days!) If you are on a tight budget, sprouts are an inexpensive source of vitamin C and many types of sprouts have anti-cancer properties, too. You can sprout many wholegrains and seeds or use mung beans, aduki beans, chickpeas or lentils. My favourites sprouts are alfalfa sprouts, sunflower sprouts and mustard and cress. Add your home-grown sprouts to living salads or soups, or blend them into your freshly-made juices. You will find more information on how and what to sprout in the March 1997 Issue. Or purchase one of the books on sprouting that I've recommended below. Anne Wigmore's book 'Sprouting' is very useful and Chapter 11 in the 'Raw Energy Bible', by Leslie Kenton is also devoted to this topic.
Yogurt is a living food and can be eaten in a vegan raw food diet. Vegan yogurt can easily be made at home using soya milk with a few tablespoons of a live soya yogurt used as a starter. You will find more information on making vegan yogurt in the May 1997 Issue.
These cheeses are made from nuts and seeds and do not contain any dairy or soya products. The seeds and/or nuts are first ground, then seasonings, such as herbs or spices, are added and enough water to make a firm paste. The cheese can then be eaten fresh or left to ferment in a warm place for about eight hours, covered with a tea towel. Cheeses can be made using cashews, almonds, pecans, sunflower or pumpkin seeds and are usually flavoured with garlic, herbs, nutmeg or curry powder. The cheeses can be added to your salads or spread on rye bread, oat cakes or crackers.
It's usually possible to obtain supplies of seeds and pulses easily from most health food shops or supermarkets. However, if for any reason you are finding it difficult to obtain seeds to sprout, then you many be interested to know that the John Chambers Wild Flower Seed Catalogue (address below) offers a good selection of seeds for this purpose. (Minimum quantity 1/4 kg.)
The following raw food books/booklets can all be obtained by mail order:
You may also find the following literature interesting to read:
You will find a list of good raw food books in last month's Vegan News
Summer 1998
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Copyright © Pauline Lloyd 1998