The Skinny on the Raw Food Diet

The last few decades mark an increasing interest in the correlation between food enzymes and health. Researchers found an interesting association between the body's enzyme pool and the aging process - which means, the older one gets, the fewer enzymes the body will have and the more vulnerable to disease one becomes. I have addressed this important topic in The Warrior Diet book (new revised edition by Blue Snake Books, Dec. '07 - available at amazon.com). I have covered the importance of ingesting live enzyme-dense foods (including naturally fermented foods) under the title Enzyme Loading. Nonetheless, I am quite concerned with the emotional impact of this topic on health consumers. Those who read articles, such as the one published recently at Weston A. Price may reach the conclusion that unless raw, sprouted or fermented, all foods are not viable. If this is true, even raw nuts and seeds may not be good enough in this respect. There is a growing crowd of people who currently follow the so-called "raw food diet" based on the premise that eating raw food only (including of course vegetables, fruits, legume sprouts, sprouted grains, raw dairy and even raw meat and marine food) is the only way to grant maximum nourishment. Since I've already addressed this topic in The Warrior Diet book, let me just note here that the raw food diet misleads people to believe that all cooked foods are inferior to all raw foods. The truth is that in many cases, such as with cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage) and nightshades (tomatoes, eggplants), the cooked versions of the above are more digestible and by far more nutritive than the raw version. The active phytonutrients in broccoli and tomatoes (indoles and lycopene, respectively) can be released and absorbed hundreds of times more efficiently in the cooked version.

As for enzymes, certainly enzyme loading from raw, sprouted or fermented foods is highly beneficial but let's put things in proportion.

First, plant enzymes are not digestive enzymes. They work on a different pH than the body's digestive enzymes and therefore cannot support digestion directly.

Second, while some enzymes inhibitors may be harmful (premature sprouts or uncooked legumes), other enzyme inhibitors can be highly beneficial, such as some protease inhibitors (phytates) or aromatase inhibitors which have been found to be potentially anti-cancerous. The notion that nuts and seeds must be sprouted before ingestion is preposterous. Raw nuts and seeds are perfectly fine to nourish the human body whether in a sprouted form or not. There are no harmful inhibitors in mature nuts and seeds and any rancidity or inadequacy in these foods can be instantly detected via smell or taste.

Third, eating raw meat may seem "Paleolithic and healthy" but nowadays it can be detrimental. Besides hosting pathological bacterium, meat is a host substrate for harmful viruses, most notable of which is the toxoplasma virus that has shown to cause serious neuro damaging effects on animals and potentially on humans. Eating raw meat today does not make sense, to say the least.

Fourth, note that the article at Weston A. Price was written by two ladies to promote the sales of their cooking book.

In conclusion, raw, sprouted and fermented foods are great but it doesn't make sense to commit to eating these foods only. You can certainly benefit from eating cooked foods as well with a big bonus of pleasing your palate with a larger variety of meals.