Yoga Journal, Yoga Journal, July/Aug 2000: Joy of Not Cooking

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Yoga Journal - July/August 2000

 

The Joy of Not Cooking

Throw away your wok.

Raw foodists claim the human body wasn't designed to eat cooked food.

By Blake More

Raw Foodists claims that most health problems are caused by what we

eat, and whoever started cooking food 40,000 years ago didn't

realize that the human body wasn't designed to eat cooked food.

Whether this sounds like sage dietary advice or tomfoolery, it's no

surprise that a growing number of people are adopting a raw foods

diet. Overprocessed to the extreme, the average American diet lacks

vitamins, minerals, and enzymes -- nutrients that raw foods offer in

abundance. The raw foods diet (also known as the living foods diet)

takes vegetarianism to its outer limits -- pots and pans are traded

in for blenders, juicers, food processors, and dehydrators. In

practice, raw foodists subsist primarily on uncooked, unprocessed,

and organic fruits, vegetables, and seeds and more sprouts than the

average person encounters in a lifetime. Taboos include meat, dairy,

soy products, coffee, black and herbal tea, alcohol, and vitamin

supplements. The truly devoted eschew staples such as vinegar,

garlic, soy sauce, and herbs. Believe it or not, there are also more

extreme versions of the raw foods diet, such as the fruitarians, who

eat only raw foods with seeds, and the sproutarians, whose motto

is " if it doesn't sprout, it's not alive. " Stove and ovenless

cooking means giving up some culinary staples -- no pizza, no sushi

rolls (rice isn't raw), and no corn chips to scoop up guacamole. Raw

supporters say " no problem " since in return for their discipline,

they claim to get more of what everyone wants -- energy, vitality,

and health.

 

 

Why Raw?

What's the purpose of all this dietary denial? Raw foodists contend

that cooking foods above 105 degrees destroys many nutrients. " Not

only does cooking destroy vitamins and minerals, " says Stephen

Arlin, co-author of Nature's First Law: The Raw Food Diet (Maul

Brothers Publishing, 2000) and one of the more radical champions of

the raw foods lifestyle, " but cooked foods clog the intestines and

colon, leading to ills such as cancer and diabetes. The raw food

diet is the natural diet of all creatures, from amoebas to humans;

raw is simply the natural way to nourish your body. "

 

In response to these claims, Suzanne Havala, nutritionist and author

of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being Vegetarian (Macmillan, 1999)

says, " It is certainly reasonable to expect that a diet consisting

largely of fresh, organic produce is loaded with beneficial

nutrients, many of which are in very short supply in the typical

North American diet. " Michael Donaldson, Ph.D., a nutritional

biologist from Cornell University, elaborates based on his current

research findings: " We are looking at the links between raw foods

and cancer and degenerative diseases. These studies have opened my

eyes, because as scientists we are always trying to make the next

pharmaceutical breakthrough. " In one study, Donaldson evaluated the

seven-day intake of 180 people eating 60 to 80 percent raw foods to

determine the average ingestion of vitamins, minerals, protein, and

calories for those on a modified raw foods diet. He discovered that

vitamin and mineral intake was excellent; the ratio of protein to

calcium was right where it should be; sodium levels were low while

potassium levels were high; fat ratios were good, with 20 to 25

percent fat, coming mostly from flaxseed oil, extra virgin olive

oil, nuts, seeds, and avocados.

 

 

Cure for What Ails You?

Donaldson and his staff also conducted an intervention study looking

at how the raw foods diet affected people with fibromyalgia, a nerve

and muscle pain disorder. Over a course of six weeks, 30 people were

put on a program that included two to three glasses of carrot juice,

barley greens, raw fruits and vegetables, flaxseed oil, and some

cooked food at dinner (mostly whole grains). At the end of the

trial, two thirds showed remarkable improvement: two participants

overcame their severe depression; one woman went back to work after

being out on disability. " Generally the raw food diet works because

it is a synergy, " says Donaldson. " Vitamins, enzymes, a healthy

bowel, balanced emotions, positive outlook -- all of these

components come together in a living way. People overcome arthritis,

allergies, cancer, you name it. I am still amazed by the

testimonials that come back to us from people who have adopted a raw

foods diet. " Rose Lee Calabro knows what Donaldson is talking about.

Before turning raw she was an HMO nightmare: she suffered from high

cholesterol, high blood pressure, allergies, candida, chronic

fatigue, joint pain, depression, mood swings, gallstones, hair loss,

hearing loss, hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, difficulty

concentrating, chronic sinusitis, insomnia, gout, and early signs of

cancer in breasts and lungs. Although her transition to a raw foods

diet was gradual (first a vegetarian, then a cooked food vegan), she

truly began to notice changes after going raw.

 

" My whole outlook toward life changed -- mind, body and soul, " says

Calabro. " In less than two years, I lost the weight I wanted to and

cured myself of my health problems. " Calabro recently published a

raw foods recipe book entitled, Living In The Raw (Rose Publishing,

1998) and co-produces the annual Living Food Health Expo in San

Francisco.

 

 

To Cook, Or Not

Going raw does has its drawbacks. One is that some people find this

type of diet leaves them hungry for, well, something more, something

warm. " In the winter months, " says Havala, " calorie needs may be

greater due to the cold, and low calorie, water-dense foods such as

many fruits and vegetables might not provide enough calories for

some people. In that case, greater reliance on starchier vegetables

may help, but many of those are typically cooked, such as potato

soup and vegetarian chili. "

 

And the raw foods diet did come up short on protein and one vitamin:

B-12. " It is difficult to get sufficient B-12 in the raw food diet, "

says Donaldson. " A recent report in the American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition showed that even seaweed isn't an adequate source of

vitamin B-12; in fact, it suggested that foods such as spirulina,

dulse, and blue green algae actually reduce the body's available

supply of B-12 although some nutritionists recommend getting around

this problem by supplementing the raw foods diet with nutritional

yeast or a sublingual B-12 tablet once a week. Another disadvantage

of the raw diet is that it tends to be low in protein, roughly an

average of 40 grams a day for women, 50 grams for men. However,

adequate protein requirements are probably lower than most

researchers think. After all, the requirement for men is 60 grams,

and this is an average, meaning many men do fine with less. " Of

course, you don't have to go 100 percent raw to enjoy the bounties

of the garden. After eating 100 percent raw for more than two years,

I have cut back to 60 percent raw and actually feel better than I

did when I was totally raw. I love raw foods, but I couldn't live

without my herbal tea, balsamic vinegar, wild mushrooms (which make

me sick if I don't cook them), and steamed broccoli. According to my

body, this combination works great for me.

 

The raw foods diet is yet another opportunity to learn more about

the healing power of foods. Who knows, maybe it is time for somebody

to start a McRawnalds?

 

Blake More's articles have appeared in Alternative Medicine Digest,

Intuition Magazine, Utne Reader, and Tokyo Time Out. She has also co-

written two non-fiction health books: Alternative Medicine's

Definitive Guide to Headaches and The Photon Energy Diet.