Eating raw means that the foods you eat are not cooked. A raw carrot that you picked out of the ground yourself, after you have wiped the sand off, is a raw food. But also when you have washed the carrot under the tap it still is a raw food. When you are starting to cook the carrot and put it in a soup for instance, then the raw carrot is not raw anymore after cooking it. And so there are a lot more products that you can eat raw, cooked or fried: onion, capsicum, many types of lettuce, herbs etc.
Why would you eat raw foods? Eating raw is recommended by some above cooked and friend foods, because raw foods would be more healthy and natural. By steaming, cooking, frying, many vitamins and nutrients disappear in many foods. The tomato is an important exception. When you cook tomatoes the concentration of lycopene is a lot higher. Lycopene is the natural pigment of the tomato. The redder the tomato, the more lycopene it contains.
Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants ensure that free radicals, that are present in the body and can do damage to the body, are made harmless. Tomatoes are thus very healthy, it has been scientifically shown that the lycopene in tomatoes protects against cancer. Eating tomatoes raw is healthy, but they are even healthier cooked. There are many books recommending raw diets and many people as well. But it is still not so clear if eating raw is that healthy for people as they say. You can of course make a combination of raw foods and cooked foods, or you interchange it daily.
When you think about raw meat, beef comes to mind. Now you do not want to eat beef completely raw. That is even dangerous, you can get quite sick.
The eating of raw eggs is discouraged. Body builders often eat raw eggs however to gain many protein in a simple way. A raw egg can be infested with the salmonella bacteria. An infested egg is only dangerous if you eat it raw, the risk is close to zero when you heat the egg sufficiently.
When an egg is infested and you eat it raw you run the risk of getting food poisoning, and that is not fun! So it is better to fry or cook an egg so that you don't run any risks. When raw eggs have been processed in a meal then you have to consider the hygienics. Use an egg splitter perhaps, so that the egg whites and the yokes are not coming into contact with the eggshell. When raw eggs are inside a food, make sure you eat it the same day.
There are many delicious raw food recipes to be found online. You can also find raw food diets online. The eating of only raw vegetables and fruits takes quite some getting used to and you need a lot of will power to keep doing this. Know why you are doing it however. Eating raw gives you many benefits, that you can start to experience quite quickly. Think about: a cleaner skin, a better weight, less troubles with congestion, more energy, better moods and better nights sleep. It is worth the effort to try eating raw for a while, and who knows you don't want anything else afterwards.
There are people who consciously eat raw, because they are convinced that eating raw is a lot healthier, no additives in the foods. Read the story about Tom Watkins and his mother Francis Kenter, or watch the documentary that has been made about them. From his fifth year of age, Tom was only getting raw foods from his mom. She is convinced that she made the right choice by choosing raw foods over other products that cause diabetes, obesity etc. She has been through a lot of criticism because she chose raw foods.
Raw vegetables are harder to digest than cooked vegetables. Cooked vegetables are often preferred by most people, taste wise. Carrots are however often eaten raw, and many types of lettuce. You can eat many vegetables raw. The following kinds of vegetables are better not eaten raw: mushrooms, potatoes, aubergine, cabbage and brussels sprouts. Capsicum, beets and broccoli are better consumed raw, these products namely contain a lot of antioxidants that you can lose through the process of cooking. Products that you can better cook because they then contain more nutrients are: carrots, tomatoes, asperges and spinach. A golden rule is also to vary raw foods with cooked foods.
