Common claims about the benefits of raw:
- Raw foods have more vitamins and nutrients
- Raw foods have their digestive enzymes intact, so they are more easily processed by the body
- Raw foods have healthy microorganisms that can aid the immune system
- Raw foods don't have any toxic dyes, chemicals, or preservatives
When did all this raw business start?
You're never going to believe this... the raw movement actually began in the 1830s, and the man who pioneered the plan was none other than Sylvester Graham - better known for his self-named Graham cracker!
Obviously, Mr. Graham wasn't always a raw foodie, because the Graham cracker is a deliciously cooked little biscuit... but it turns out the Graham cracker was made for the expressed purpose of creating a healthy supplement to a vegetarian diet. The Graham cracker was made with whole wheat flour, in a time when people found refined flour to be a symbol of prosperity... That humble healthy cracker is probably in my mom's pantry right now, a strange connection between my modern fascination with raw and the traditional influence of Mr. Graham in my life. I guess the raw diet and the obsession with health didn't save Mr. Graham because he died at age 51. I hope current raw experiments turn out better.
How did raw get moving in the US?
A man named Juliano... no last name, just a first name... opened the first raw food restaurant in the United States in Los Angeles in 1995.
Apparently, Juliano grew up in the kitchen of his father's Italian restaurant, where he was surrounded by meat and fish, but he turned into a vegetarian who brought raw food into the cooked food mainstream. He has become a super celebrity, training everyone from Steve Jobs to Demi Moore on the basics of raw cuisine. I suppose I have him to thank for this new topic of interest.
Okay, so I look at Graham, and then I look at Juliano. Clearly, Graham was not a happy looking man, and I could chalk that up to his all-consuming obsession with this daily intake of raw veggies and barely cooked wheat, but Juliano follows much the same line of thought, and he looks amazing! Juliano claims that he has more energy because of his raw food diet, maintains his weight more easily, and has better overall health.
I have tried to get clear answers about what raw food can do to cure disease, by reading real studies, but the fact remains that the issue seems cloudy. No one can really tell what benefits come out of eating raw. The few raw foodies I have spoken with are enthusiastic, but they don't seem to be able to do much with their friends. They can't eat at restaurants. They can't enjoy a cocktail on the weekends. It seems to be a life that's all about conviction, but never about actual enjoyment. I can't help but wonder if all of these raw-a-holics don't feel like they are gaining some sort of social capital by choosing such a difficult diet. Maybe they will perpetually feel better than their peers. I'm not really sure.
I have come to the conclusion that a healthy diet needs a balance of raw and cooked... but I am definitely not sold on the benefits of 100% raw because I've now read that there are some serious drawbacks about eating all raw:
- Dietary lycopene and carotenoids are more active in cooked foods
- Baked bread allows the body to absorb more zinc and calcium
- Cooking aids in digestion (those raw bean-eaters are in for serious pain in the long run)
- Cooking kills harmful bacteria (yes, sadly, salmonella exists on vegetables, too)
Now that I've decided that Raw on its own can't do anything for me, I am on the hunt now to find raw weirdos.
