Raw Meals Vary

July 15, 2021 – Vegetarian encompasses various types of plant eaters: those part timers who also eat poultry or fish; those flexitarians who stick with plants unless circumstances direct them in a different direction; those full timers who include animal products with their plants along with or without oil; those vegans who abstain from animal products and/or oil. And then there are the raw foodists.

Most raw foodists steer clear of any food that has been heated more than 118 degrees Fahrenheit because they believe that cooking destroys the number of nutrients and enzymes found in the plant’s raw state. Some studies support their claims; some don’t, and some don’t have a large enough sample to definitively make such a statement, according to dietitians Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina, who investigated the surveys before writing Becoming Raw.

The few studies that don’t support eating all raw foods indicate that red, yellow and orange plants(those with carotenoids) that are cooked with oil provide human bodies with more benefits, and some cooked mushrooms are safer to eat.

Not surprisingly, many raw foodists prefer their food straight from the ground, but some have become attached to a dehydrator to make homemade crackers(See June 21, 2019’s DIY chips and crackers expand experimentation…) or to change the softness of their normal food fare.

Raw foodists who adhere to a living-food diet have embraced sprouting and soaking(See Aug 15, 2019’s Are soaking and sprouting complicated?), which Davis and Melina say activate the plant’s enzymes; Cherie Soria provides instructions for the processes in her Angel Foods. Living food adherents include fermented and cultured foods, juices and sea vegetables in their diet.

Another group of raw foodists eat mostly fruits, which they define as seed-bearing plants: at least 75 percent for fruitarians; 50-74 percent for those who follow a high-fruit diet. Like comedian Dick Gregory, the followers of this diet include nonsweet fruits like squash, tomatos and avocados. Some add nuts and seeds, which can be gathered without killing the plant. High fruit members balance their diets with raw vegetables that do not die when gathered.

A third group adheres to the the natural hygiene diet, which tries to imagine how the earliest humans digested their food before they discovered fire. Some members follow the Paleolithic diet, which downplays carbohydrates; are guided by their senses, and some fast. Some refrain from nutritional supplements, super greens and plants that are sprouted, fermented, spicy, herbal or from the sea.

In this country the earliest vegetarians of European descent who ate unfired food followed leaders who didn’t strictly adhere to their own regulations. Sylvester Graham inspired the graham cracker; Bernarr McFadden, Physical Culture restaurants; Herbert Shelton, supervised fasts. Most didn’t vary their vegetables, and they weren’t aware of the importance of vitamin B12. Germany and Lithuania provided most of the European raw foodist roots in the US.

Indigenous raw foodists who forage for food tend to avoid dairy products and grains. Examples include the iKung tribe of the African Kalihari Desert, the Hazda tribe of Tanzania and the Hopi tribe of the United States. Like indigenous people, Europeans and their descendants, other raw foodist cultures believe that a life source is present in their food. Panamanian Aris LaTham called it “the electromagnetic energy of living people.” While many early raw foodists became so for health or religious reasons, some today might add environmental or ethical concerns as reasons for their eating lifestyle..

Before La Tham, raw food, like most vegetarian fare, was considered rather bland. From an Afro-Caribbean family, LaTham started Sunfired Foods in Harlem, NY, where his gourmet raw food creations debuted in 1979. He became an executive chef of one of Lithuanian plant eater Ann Wigmore’s Hippocrates Health Institute centers. From his stoveless kitchen, his tasty dishes appealed to members of both the high-fruit and the living food diets. As a result, he was named the father of gourmet raw foods cuisine.

Investigating six charges against the safeness of raw foods, Davis and Melina found one with no evidence and most baseless when eaten occasionally or selectively. The completely baseless charge that sprouts carry bad bacteria does not focus on the source of the bacteria – animal manure –, so clean seeds, not ones grown in manure, will avoid the bad bacteria. Eating sea vegetables, alfalfa sprouts and buckwheat greens occasionally will not cause reactions to the small amounts of toxic compounds that they contain; eating small quantities of sprouted beans as part of a health-promoting diet actually reaps healthy benefits. Sticking to sprouted lentils or mung beans, instead of other sprouted legumes, which contain more substances that block absorption of plant nutrients, avoids unpleasant reactions; cooking those other beans kills their harmful substances. Cooking mushrooms also kills their harmful substances; however, raw buttons, crimini and portobellos seem safe enough to eat.

Have you ever tried eating only raw or dehydrated foods for snacks or dessert? Have you ever had a completely raw meal?