Cooked Foods on a Raw Diet

Eating a raw food diet does not have to mean never cooking foods again. Sometimes you just want a hot meal or snack. Luckily eating raw does not mean giving up heated food, you just have to learn a different way to do it.

Raw food is very perishable, in heat it starts to break down and loses much of its value. At temperatures over 118 degrees F, the nutrients and vitamins break down significantly. Even the special enzymes that help us digest food begin to change when heated too high.

There is a way to enjoy warm comfort foods without disrupting the delicate vitamins and enzymes. Steaming or blanching vegetables is one way to heat them up without stripping them of important nutrients. For other dishes, quickly heating them to no higher than 118 degrees F is often enough to warm you up without killing your food.

Dehydration is also used to "cook" raw foods while keeping them whole. A good dehydrater can help create everything from a loaf of bread to sweet potato chips. Many raw foodists say a dehydrator is just as important as a food processor is when creating meals from raw foods.

Adding warm spices is another way to heat up meals without actually cooking them. Using how spices in foods will heat you up on even the coldest day.

Choosing a raw food diet is a great way to lose weight and get healthy. You do not have to give up your favorite hot foods to do a raw food diet, you just need to learn how to cook foods differently.