PDA

View Full Version : To Cook or not to Cook the Debate


Jax
30-07-2009, 03:54 PM
This post is about an article that considers the potential problems of a 100% raw food program, so please bear in mind when reading the article they are looking at it from the higher raw perspective and not one of say around 75% raw.

From this article I deduce that when deciding to embark on including more raw food in your nutrition, to do it gradually so that the weight loss comes off at a slower rate and isn't a too dramatic change for your body.

The following is stated in the article -"But raw foodists, along with vegans, need to make sure they’re getting enough vitamin B12, calcium, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids, most of which are found naturally in animal products."

I would challenge some of this - B12 does seem to be difficult to obtain from plant based foods (http://www.vegsoc.org/info/b12.html) (NB there are other sites that state the same), Calcuim is found in many leafy green plants in abundance, this link (http://www.vegsoc.org/info/b12.html) links to many studies for Vegans, iron levels (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ilsi/nure/2002/00000060/00000005/art00001?crawler=true) may need to be monitored, but that can be said across the spectrum of eating regimes (http://www.springerlink.com/content/v4w31106g7h1k887/), Iron can also be found in dried apricots, prunes, leay green veg, pulses and tofu. Omega 3 fatty (http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/1708.html) acids are available from nuts, seeds and green leafy vegetables, but you can also include in your nutrtion cold pressed seed oils such as Good Oil (http://www.goodwebsite.co.uk/) or Cool Oil (http://www.groovyfood.co.uk/thingswemake/cooloil.html), the latter having the closest ratio to what the human body requires (Suzi Grant).

When talking about Vit D for non meat eaters (http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutrition/vitaminD.php), I personally think again, that this should be applying to everyone to monitor regardless of what they eat with the advent of skin scares and slathering on suncream - there's a whole big debate going on about that too though.


Link to the WebMD article - Raw Food Diet (http://www.webmd.com/diet/raw-food-diet) (many thanks to a friend for providing the link)


Here's a link to someone who seems to like to bust food myths (http://zerocarbonista.com/top-ten-food-choice-myths-busted/)

Jax
30-07-2009, 05:06 PM
This link (http://www.beyondveg.com/tu-j-l/raw-cooked/raw-cooked-1a.shtml#top) is about raw food versus cooked food and includes many many links about the debate, too many for me to review personally right now, but I thought it was good to include it for those who want to know more or are unsure what they may be getting into.

Patrick Holford (http://www.rawinuk.com/showthread.php?t=49) in his Optimum Nutrition Bible also looks at the scientific side to cooking methods and free radicals that are released, along with Acrylamide levels in cooked food. Acrylamide info from the Food Standard Agency is here (http://www.food.gov.uk/search?p=Q&mainresults=mt_mainresults_yes&ts=v2&w=acrylamide&submit.x=0&submit.y=0)

Jax
03-08-2009, 06:57 PM
Just been looking around Cath Parkers site (http://cathparker.wordpress.com/why-raw-food/) and liked the argument she's written in Why Raw Food?

I was particularly interested in this excerpt as I haven't come across anything like this before;

"Some scientists believe that we are born with a finite supply of enzymes, and that these run out as we get older. This would explain why we can eat cooked and processed food when we are younger (and our bodies have ample supplies of enzymes) apparently without adversely affecting our health and bodies."

Unfortunately though she doesn't include the studies that state this.