WHAT IS RAW FOOD NUTRITION?

When I first adopted a raw-food lifestyle back in 1990, I was thrilled by the health benefits I started to experience but was puzzled by the lack of awareness and information about this approach to eating and living. Why didn’t more people know about raw diets? If these diets characterize a more natural way of living, then why haven’t we been eating like this for millennia? Why wasn’t this approach taught in nutrition classes at colleges and universities? Why wasn’t there more reliable and substantial information available on raw food nutrition?

This lack of awareness astounded me so much that I felt I needed to tell people about my own healing experiences. It was then that I realized why raw food was not that popular. Most people were not really interested in hearing anecdotal information about one person’s experience and were even less interested in changing their current eating patterns, because these habits seemed to suit them just fine. Not many people back then considered the connection between diet and health.

In the mid-twentieth century, processing and packaging of foods became very popular. The advent of these foods meant less time was needed in the kitchen, so people took advantage of this opportunity. These processed and packaged foods have become so much the norm that few people question their use. Anyone who avoids processed food as a way to improve their health is often seen as “different.” A diet based on whole foods is now considered alternative. It’s amazing how far we’ve come from what is truly natural.

Nowadays, there is much more awareness of the connection between food and health, and along with this awareness the raw-food lifestyle has become more popular. I’m very happy to see that people are looking for dietary approaches that help them reach their health goals. The popularity of various health care alternatives has also grown during this time. People are more willing to search beyond traditional medicine if they’re not getting the results they’re looking for.

There are certainly many answers to the question, why raw? Some are complex and some very simple. Although many of these answers are science-based, for Rick and myself, the simplest answer is that it works. A raw diet has improved our energy, focus, appearance, athletic performance and recovery time, sleep quality, and general sense of well-being. These experiences can be tough to quantify, but for us they’ve been notable. In fact, this dietary change has made such a difference that we decided to share our experiences and research with others through our series of Science of Raw Food Nutrition classes. Our goal is to give people an education about health from the perspective of the big picture and to also make sure they understand the individual elements important for its achievement.

Our raw-food journeys have certainly been varied, and admittedly we’ve tried many approaches to raw eating over the years, each with different and interesting results. So for us, understanding raw food diets has not only been about gathering information, but also about how to interpret it and put it together into a workable approach for eating in the real world.

This being said, eating raw is not the only consideration people make in their food choices, and we’ll address this throughout the book. We see the benefits of a potential continuum rather than a diet that’s either completely raw or completely cooked. While the focus of our diets is on whole plant foods in their uncooked state, we’ve found some circumstances in which cooking is appropriate, and this book addresses these circumstances. We also discuss the differences among various cooking methods, given that they don’t all have the same effect on nutrients.

The Definition of a Raw Diet

A healthy raw food diet is based on plant foods in their whole, natural form—food as it is grown. We think of eating raw foods as more of a lifestyle than a diet. The term “diet” is often used to mean an eating plan undertaken for a period of time with the intention of losing weight or dealing with a food intolerance or allergy. A raw food diet is much more than this, given that people embark on a raw-food program for many diverse reasons, including health improvement, a more youthful appearance, greater energy, environmental considerations, and animal welfare, to name a few. Just as there are many reasons for shifting to a raw-food lifestyle, there are as many approaches to raw food as there are people who eat this way.

If someone is eating a raw food diet, they’re generally consuming the majority of or all their food as whole plant foods in an unheated state. These foods may include some combination of the following:

• fruits (sweet, starchy, or fatty)
• vegetables
• nuts and seeds (dry, soaked, or sprouted)
• grains (generally sprouted)
• legumes (generally sprouted)
• grasses
• sea vegetables
• raw condiments, such as sweeteners
• edible algae and cyanobacteria (such as nori and spirulina)

The contents of a raw diet will vary by person. The consumption of raw animal products has become popular in some circles in the past couple of years, but since our experience is with plant-based nutrition, we focus on plant foods in this book.

There are many different philosophies about which types of raw food are optimal, given someone’s individual needs. Here are some of the most popular types we see:

High-sweet fruit diet. People opting for this approach obtain most of their calories from sweet fruits, such as bananas, berries, citrus, dates, figs, mangoes, melons, papayas, persimmons, and stone fruits. Low-sweet fruits (see the list that follows) are included, along with starchy vegetables, such as carrots, and nonstarchy vegetables, such as leafy greens and celery. Some people who eat this diet include varying amounts of nuts and seeds.

Low-sweet fruit diet. Someone with this diet avoids sweet fruits or keeps them to a minimum but may include other botanical fruits, such as bell peppers, cucumbers, lemons, limes, summer squash, tomatoes, and zucchini. This approach may include leafy greens, sprouted grains and pseudograins, sprouted legumes and seeds, avocados, nonstarchy vegetables, algae, grasses, nuts and seeds, and sea vegetables.

Intermediate raw diet. This diet is the combination of the high-sweet fruit and low-sweet fruit diets.

80-percent raw (20-percent cooked) diet. This intermediate raw diet may include some steamed vegetables and cooked yams, legumes, grains, and pseudograins.

An Introduction to Macronutrients

In order to understand how raw diets can be nutritionally plentiful and promote health, you’ll need a basic understanding of the nutrients in foods and how they work together. The nutrients we derive from food can be classified as carbohydrate, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (such as antioxidants).

Carbohydrate, protein, and fat are considered to be macronutrients, since they’re consumed in the greatest amounts and provide us with energy in the form of calories. They also serve as building blocks for the formation of cells and tissues throughout the body. Fiber, also considered a macronutrient, is the indigestible portion of plant matter that’s often referred to as roughage. Although it doesn’t make a direct nutritional contribution, fiber plays critically important roles in various aspects of intestinal health, blood sugar and cholesterol regulation, and weight management, in addition to other health benefits. The amount of a nutrient that’s commonly accepted by scientists to meet the requirements for 97.5 percent of healthy people in each stage of life is called the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA).

Here are some helpful definitions:

Calorie. The amount of energy that we get from food is measured in kilocalories (kcal), more commonly referred to as calories. Your daily personal calorie need is dependent upon your weight, height, sex, genetic factors, and the amount of energy needed for movement and exercise. There is no RDA for calories, likely because of this variation in individual need.
Protein. Protein has both structural and functional roles in the body, where it is used in the production of enzymes, hormones, connective tissue, cartilage, bone, muscles, and organs, to name a few.
Carbohydrate. Carbohydrates provide energy for most cells in the body, are used to create the building blocks of the genetic code (DNA and RNA), can be stored in the form of glycogen, and have numerous other uses in the body. Nondigestible carbohydrate is also known as dietary fiber.
Fat. Fats contribute to energy storage, cell membrane structure and function, and cushioning of organs, among other functions.
Dietary fiber. The indigestible portion of plant foods is known as dietary fiber. An example is cellulose. Some functions of fiber include the following:
• keeping food moving though the intestines by helping to optimize intestinal transit time
• helping to slow down the digestion of carbohydrates, thereby decreasing their rate of absorption and helping to stabilize blood sugar levels
• binding to excess cholesterol in the digestive tract, keeping it from being absorbed and helping to maintain blood cholesterol levels at an appropriate level

Macronutrients in Whole Plant Foods

All whole plant foods contain some combination of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Even fruits contain both protein and fat, which is surprising to many people.

For comparison, red meat, poultry, and fish contain some combination of protein and fat. Dairy products contain combinations of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. The carbohydrate found in dairy products is lactose, the only sugar of animal origin. Measuring macronutrients as a percentage of calories allows us to compare the proportion of calories from carbohydrate, protein, and fat found in a particular food or group of foods. The water and fiber content of a food contributes to the food’s weight but not the calories it contains. (For more information on this, please see pages 117–120.) Table 1.1 (page 6) shows the carbohydrate, protein, and fat content, as a percentage of calories, in a sampling of foods consumed by raw-food enthusiasts.

Fruits

Botanically speaking, fruits are the portions of a plant that contains seeds. Fruits can be loosely categorized into sweet fruits and nonsweet fruits. Fruits found in the rose family, including stone fruits (peaches, cherries, apricots, plums, pears, apples, and so on) can be classified as sweet fruits due to their high content of simple carbohydrates. (For information about simple and complex carbohydrates.

The cucumber or squash plant family has a number of fruits that contain more complex carbohydrates and are therefore less sweet. Examples include cucumbers, summer squash, and winter squash. This same plant family includes sweet fruits, such as melons. In culinary applications, nonsweet fruits of the cucumber family may be considered vegetables. Edible fruits in the nightshade family, such as tomatoes, eggplant, and bell peppers are botanically fruits, but may be considered vegetables for culinary purposes. White potatoes are also a member of the nightshade family and may be considered a root vegetable for culinary purposes.

Vegetables

As a group, vegetables tend to be more varied in their appearance and nutrient composition than other groupings. Vegetables can be loosely grouped into starchy and nonstarchy vegetables. Starchy vegetables tend to contain more calories per gram than nonstarchy vegetables. For example, yams have more calories per unit of weight than leafy greens. Leafy green vegetables would be considered low in starch, while carrots are much higher in starch. Yams and white potatoes can be considered starchy root vegetables.

Nuts, Seeds, and Oils

Nuts, seeds, and oils generally have the greatest fat content compared to other foods. Some exceptions include coconuts and avocados, which are grouped under fruits. There are several different types of fats in these foods, all of which have different roles in the body.

There are three oils listed in table 1.1: cacao butter, coconut oil, and olive oil. None of these three (or any other oils that have been separated from their whole food source) contain any protein or carbohydrates. In addition, unlike the whole food from which it originated, oil does not contain any water or fiber, making it especially concentrated.

Grains and Pseudograins

What’s the difference between a grain and a pseudograin? True grains are in the botanical family Poaceae, also known as the grass family. This includes wheat, rye, oats, rice, corn, and barley. We use the term pseudograin to refer to foods that have some nutritional similarities to grains, but are not actually in the botanical grain family. Three examples of pseudograins are buckwheat, quinoa, and amaranth. Buckwheat is in the knotweed family (Polygonaceae), whereas quinoa and amaranth are in the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae). The protein, gluten, and mineral content can differ significantly between true grains and pseudograins. Pseudograins are considered to be gluten-free, but we have observed that some very gluten-sensitive people may have trouble with them for various reasons.

Algae and Grasses

If you’re at all concerned about getting enough protein on a raw food diet (which we hope you aren’t after reading chapter 4), including relatively small amounts of the algae shown in table 1.1 can provide a lot of protein. Spirulina is one of the lowest calorie sources of protein that I’ve seen. It’s not botanically an alga; more specifically, it’s classified as a type of cyanobacteria, which can employ photosynthesis like plants can. Kelp is a brown alga, and nori is a red alga.

Powdered dried grass is often a part of green food formulas commonly consumed by many raw-food enthusiasts, often along with some of the algae listed in table 1.1. Powdered grasses are primarily composed of carbohydrates but also contain a substantial amount of protein and are relatively low in fat.

Legumes and Sprouts

Legumes, with the exception of peanuts, are low in fat and high in protein. They are frequently sprouted in a raw food diet, and alfalfa, lentil, and mung are popular types of legume sprouts.

In Summary

Now that you have an overview of the carbohydrate, protein, and fat content of various foods, we’ll delve more deeply into each of the individual macronutrients.

Written by Karin Dina with Rick Dina in "The Raw Food- An Essencial Guide to Nutrition Undesrtanding Raw RFood Diets Hand Book", Healthy Living Publictions, USA, 2015, excerpts chapter one. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.