There are a few health concerns associated with eating uncooked food but many more praise the positive effects that they have on digestion, energy levels and reducing the risk of heart disease.
The idea is to cut out acid-forming foods such as meat, caffeine, alcohol, dairy as well as anything processed in favour of uncooked organic fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains.
There is a worry that these diets are low in iron, protein, calcium and zinc normally found in dairy products, meat and eggs (which puts vegetarians at risk already).
So if you're going to reap the rewards of the raw food diet you have to do it right.
Adding a little bit of cooked food to a raw food diet doesn't work well, because acid is then produced in the stomach, and it is bad for raw food. Acid and raw food tend to create indigestion.
Consult a nutritionist to begin planning your diet and familiarise yourself with suitable food in your local supermarket (going to specialist shops gives you more variety but at a much greater cost). Also consider growing your own produce.
But until those crops begin to soar, here a few easy recipes to get you started from 'Detox Delights'.
Dark dream smoothie
2 bananas, peeled
1 punnet of blueberries
1 papaya, skinned and de-seeded
2 dates, stoned
Chop the dates. Blend all ingredients and drink.
Italian soup
This is a very simple and tasty soup. Vary it with other flavours.
1 avocado, peeled and stoned
4 tomatoes
A handful of basil
1/4 of a cup of cold pressed olive oil
Blend all ingredients. If it's too thick add some freshly made tomato or cucumber juice.
Sunset pudding
2 bananas, peeled
1 mango, skinned and stoned
10 strawberries
2 dates, stoned (optional, because this is a very sweet pudding)
Chop the dates. Put everything in a food processor and blend until it looks like a pudding.
Warm feeling inside salad
This salad is guaranteed to have you beaming on the outside and the inside!
1 lettuce
1 or 2 fennel bulbs (depending on size)
1 red onion
1 clove of garlic
1 red pepper, de-seeded
1 orange pepper, de-seeded
6 tomatoes
1 cup of pumpkin sprouts or seeds, soaked
4 sticks of celery
2 avocados, peeled and stoned
10 macadamias
1 cup of watercress
4 dates, stoned
Prepare the lettuce in your favourite way, chop the fennel, onion, peppers, tomatoes, watercress and celery. Finely chop the garlic and dates, and slice the avocado. Toss all the ingredients together except the macadamias - you need to throw these on top.
If there's one thing to remember it's that the blender is the greatest weapon in the raw food diet's arsenal, so experiment with it and find something you like!
Article reproduced from www.supanet.com
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