Commonly Asked Raw Food Questions

Ever since I started the raw food diet, I have been asked many questions pertaining to the "diet" itself. The number one question is about my husband, "what does the rest of your family eat?" I think there are some misconceptions of the categorizing word, "diet" and what the new lifestyle I have ensued upon myself and family.

First of all, the raw food diet is not something new to the world of humans. Eating raw food such as nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables are what the beginning humans had to eat everyday. It is true that these early humans did not have a long life, but it is a myth that the food to nourish their bodies was the cause. Rather, humans served a very harsh life in the beginning of time that did not have the securities such as stable housing, protection against wild animals and so on. The raw food that was eaten daily was the supplements that their bodies needed to continue throughout the day.

That brings me to the second most common misconception of the raw food diet. When talking about the raw food diet, the word diet is used in the sense of "what goes into the mouth". The Random House Unabridged Dictionary states the definition for diet means "the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group." Therefore, the raw food diet is basically the food that one consumes to fuel the body throughout the day and night. It is not a weight lose diet, although that is one of the secondary benefits that arise.

In fact, studies are showing that obesity has decreased the amount of life expectancy age levels in Americans. Obesity, as many people are aware is caused by the American diet. Basically that means that Americans are putting garbage into ones mouth to fuel the body however it in turn is shortening our lives. Therefore, the only solution is to change our lifestyles so that we can live longer. Although I love to believe that the raw food is the only solution to a healthy, long living life, it is all about making a change in our eating habits.

To be healthy not everyone needs to eat 100% raw vegan, this is a misconception. Rather, humans have a wonderful hard working digestive system that can handle the good and bad foods that we put into our bodies. Each person should listen to his/her own body and find a "happy-medium" for eating. This may mean that you are eating 80% raw vegan while also able to have a few cheats a week. If you are thinking about going raw, I suggest trying to eat two meals a day that are raw vegan and then eat one meal that same day that is something you would traditionally eat.

In my case, one day I woke up and decided that my family was going to go raw vegan. My family has always been health conscious however most days we had issues getting to the end without a few cups of coffee. Studies have shown that coffee is good for the body however we wanted our bodies to provide energy for itself instead of with supplements. We found that just eating two meals a day of raw vegan food was very rewarding, in fact life-changing. So, we decided that we were going to go 100% raw vegan with "cheating" once a week.

By cheating I mean that our family will be able to have one meal that isn't raw vegan. My husband usually chooses the meal that we cheat on and it unsurprisingly is usually pizza from Papa Johns or homemade spaghetti. There are other weeks that we have Japanese food such as Sorobodan or Soba. It just depends on what we are craving, some weeks we don't have one cheat. We love raw food however we do not want to start binging on garbage food just because we miss the flavors.

Our bodies have made a drastic change since we started the raw food diet. Personally I lose around ten pounds in one month and my skinny husband has started to increase body muscle naturally without an increase of exercise. In addition, we have noticed that our digestive system is keeping more regular and our energy levels have increased. It is amazing how much cooked food can weigh a person down physically and mentally. Another positive feedback point is that when we do cheat, we do not feel guilty and our digestive system does not slow down. We keep very regular, which is a drastic change to my IBS that I previous was inclined to have on the American diet.

Hopefully these answers have filled in some explanations to your questions about the raw food diet. These are just a few questions that I have personally been asked and felt that people should know about when deciding to go on the raw food diet. It is important to remember that the raw food diet is not a weight-lose plan but a lifestyle change. It helps you feel better both mentally and physically; I am not sure why anyone would not want to try it. In addition, please remember that the raw food diet is not a cult of eating carrot sticks and bean sprouts - it is about a culinary experience with Mother Nature's influence.