Raw Food Diet

 have seen many videos on Youtube.com from people such as Ani Phyo and Jennifer Cornbleet, who claim that the best and healthiest way to eat is to never cook your food.  I can see their point is some ways but I just don’t think that I could handle it.  In the last two years I have given up eating meat which I found surprisingly easy.  My husband still wishes that I would get back to “normal” eating but I never have been able to eat like everyone else.  It seems as if I just look at the types of food that everyone else eats and I gain ten pounds.  

Raw food seems a little extreme to me in a way, but then again, many people find vegetarianism to be extreme.  In a way I guess it is, but not as extreme as being a vegan.  They use no animal products whatsoever.  They don’t eat anything that has any connections to animals at all, not even honey.  I don’t think that I would be able to do without any animal products.  I still have dairy, eggs, and occasionally seafood.  The first year I did not touch fish at all but my doctor told me that my Vitamin D was too low and she told me that I should start eating salmon.  I really did not want to in the beginning but I eventually gave in for the sake of my health (which is not the greatest to begin with) but I still only have it maybe once or twice a month.

But raw food is another story.  Giving up certain foods or food groups such as on the Atkins Protein Diet doesn’t seem as difficult to me.  I was actually following it at one time of my life, which is very hard for me to believe now.  But never being able to eat cooked food again is quite different.  I know they have alternatives like dehydrating or making substitutions for certain cooked items.  One substitution that I have heard of is ground nuts, seeds and dates in place of flour and butter for pie crusts.  It sounds much healthier, but it also sounds very heavy to me, even richer than the butter.

I actually did toy with the idea of trying this diet about six months ago so I did a bit of research on it.  I borrowed Jennifer Cornbleet’s ”Raw Food Made Easy For One or Two People” book from the library and read it through.  It also comes with an instructional DVD.  She shows you different recipes and methods of “cooking” raw food.  She also discusses different kitchen appliances you should have on hand if you are really going to follow the raw food diet seriously.  She said that she even carries certain small appliances around with her when she has to tour the United States to do demonstrations.  Wow, that’s definitely dedicated.  I believe that she stated that she eats about 90% raw.  

There are many different videos on youtube.com as I said on the raw food diet.  You can get a lot of good information on it there.  You can also check out http://www.aniphyo.com/ or http://www.learnrawfood.com/for some great recipes and advice.  If you decide to try the Raw Food Diet I would love to hear from you.  I’m very curious to hear if it is as good for weight loss and your health as I have heard.  I might give it a try for awhile, but I just can’t seem to get started.  Hot, cooked food is just so comforting.