Raw Food Diet Basking Ridge NJ

By Jennifer Winger

For Gabrielle Chavez, author of The Raw Food Gourmet (North Atlantic Books, 2005), switching to a raw food diet of uncooked, vegan fare involves more than just eating your vegetables—it is about a physical, emotional, and spiritual commitment to health. This commitment can challenge you, warns Chavez, but living in a vitally nourished, energetically sparkling body, rewards the raw fooder amply.

Q What are the health benefits of a raw food diet?

A Most people will notice an immediate increase in their energy levels since their bodies are no longer diverting energy to digest or detoxify what they just ate.
Cooking not only robs us of a food’s nutrient value by destroying its enzymes and changing molecular structures, but it also can create new, potentially toxic compounds such as cancer-causing acrylamide and nitratrosamines from frying and grilling. Microwaving and "flash pasteurizing," which may raise the internal temperature of foods to 3,000 degrees, bursting the molecular bonds, may do the most damage of all. Our systems do their best to make tissues with what we provide, but bodies built with damaged goods are weaker and likely will pass the weakness down through generations.

With a raw food diet, over time, the illnesses and problems associated with diet—everything from acne and allergies to cancer and heart disease—improve and even fall away.

Q Does eating raw mean expensive grocery bills?

A I thought it might, especially since I purchase large quantities of "luxury foods" such as avocados, pineapples, dates, and macadamia nuts as staples. But since I don’t buy eggs, cheese, juice, or canned or packaged foods anymore and buy quite a bit in bulk, my grocery bill is less than half of what it was before I went raw.

Q How can foods that are not cooked be satisfying?

A I suggest letting go of expectations of what a meal is. Instead, eat as much of whatever you like whenever you want as long as it’s not cooked. Raw gourmet dishes provide a range of tastes and textures to satisfy almost anyone, with the added pleasure of guilt-free eating.

Q Is a raw food diet compatible with a busy lifestyle?

A It can be. What is faster than munching a fresh apple, zipping open an avocado, or chowing down on carrots? If you crave more culinary variety, as I do, you‘ll have to figure out how to make it work. After you‘ve learned a few food preparation techniques and re-stocked your kitchen with raw staples, it‘s quite doable.

Everything you make in a blender, from soups to salad dressings to smoothies, takes just a few moments, once the ingredients are ready. Remember there‘s no cooking time—dehydrator treats are an exception—and cleanup is a quick rinse. Food shopping is a breeze: No matter how big the store, only one aisle, produce, is relevant. Plus, from my experience, energy-filled raw fooders need one to two hours less sleep.

Author: Jennifer Winger

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