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The Health Benefits of a Raw Food Diet

The Healing Power of Raw Food
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Nutritional Impacts of Cooking on Food

Cooking food destroys nutrients and enzymes, alters the structure and, thus, digestibility of food, and creates byproducts that may be harmful. For example, cooking vegetables decreases water-soluble and heat-sensitive nutrients, such as carotenoids. The insoluble fiber in vegetables, which helps decrease fecal transit time and increase binding and excretion of carcinogens, decreases as a result of cooking. (15)

Let’s look at some of the evidence. 

Toxins From Cooking

Toxins in Cooked Food

Grilled and fried foods, especially meats, contain harmful toxins, which can cause chronic diseases and other health issues.

These include:

  • Trans-fatty acids produced by heating oil
  • Acrylamide produced by frying (1)
  • Advanced glycation end products (2), harmful compounds formed when protein or fat combine with sugar, especially when red meats, cheese, butter, and foods are fried or grilled.
  • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons produced by grilling food (3).

All these processes denature or disrupt the natural molecular structure of the food, making it less available for our biological functions. Apart from the obvious molecular damage caused by overcooking, especially barbecuing and frying food, there are subtle benefits from consuming raw, live food. 

Nutrient Damage From Cooking Food

Other Detrimental Effects Of Over-cooking Food

Common Cooking Methods such as blanching, boiling, microwaving, and stir-frying can significantly alter the nutrient composition of food. These methods affect phytochemical contents, antioxidant activity, and phenolic profiles. (5)

Effects of Pasteurization and Heat Processing

  • Packaged Foods: Heat processing and pasteurization, commonly used during the manufacture of packaged foods like juices and milk, lead to a reduction in the levels of bioactive compounds, particularly antioxidants. (6)
  • Specific Nutrient Losses: A study shows a general decrease in the levels of most nutrients due to cooking, except minerals. Vitamin C suffers the greatest losses, primarily through degradation and leaching. Phenolic compounds and glucosinolates also experience significant losses, mainly due to leaching into the water during cooking processes. (7)
  • Concerns Over Processed and ‘Dead’ Foods: Consuming ‘dead food’, particularly over-processed meats, is highlighted as having no real nutritional value and being potentially toxic. Over time, harmful by-products from such foods can accumulate in the body, necessitating a detox or body cleanse to restore health.

Benefits of Raw Foods

Scientific studies highlight the importance of including raw and minimally processed foods in your diet to take advantage of their full nutritional and bioactive potential.

Consuming raw, live food, especially plant-based foods like fruits and vegetables that contain significant amounts of bioactive phytochemicals, may provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. These foods can reduce the risk of chronic diseases by preserving living bioactivity. (4)

  • More Bioactive Compounds in Raw Foods: Such as carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and antioxidants, which are known to improve health and prevent various diseases, including metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases.
  • Impact on Health and Disease Prevention: These bioactive compounds are linked to a decreased risk of chronic diseases, due to their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticarcinogenic properties.
  • Preservation of Nutrients: Raw or minimally processed foods retain higher levels of vital nutrients and bioactive compounds compared to those that are heavily processed or cooked at high temperatures.
  • Bioavailability and Absorption: The bioavailability of these compounds is often higher in less processed foods, which means they can be more effectively absorbed and utilized by the body for various metabolic functions.

Raw food diet and weight loss

In one study, 216 men and 297 women consuming raw food diets for 3.7 years, experienced significant weight loss of 9.9 kg for men and 12 kg for women. (12) This indicates that a raw food diet can be particularly effective for weight management.

My suggestion is to eat a 70-80% raw food diet in order to lose weight steadily and maintain a healthy metabolism and only go 100% strict raw for short periods of time, for example, when detoxing over 2 weeks or slimming over 1 month.

Raw Foods and Chronic Disease

Raw Food Diet And Chronic Disease.

Studies show that a raw food diet affects the following health conditions in a positive way:

  • Heart Disease and Cancer: One study involving 4,336 men and 6,435 women showed that daily consumption of fresh fruit was associated with significantly reduced mortality from ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and for malignant neoplasms, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer. (13)
  • Cholesterol Levels: Further studies indicate that consumption of a strict raw food diet clearly lowers plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. (8, 15)
  • Circulating Antioxidants: Another study from Germany found that a long-term strict raw food diet is associated with favorable plasma beta-carotene and plasma lycopene concentrations. (9)

Raw Food and Mental Health

Raw Food Diet And Mental Health.

One study investigated the effects of raw versus processed fruit and vegetable intake on mental health in young adults.

Participants: 422 young adults aged 18–25, with 66.1% being female, from New Zealand and the United States.

Methodology: Participants completed an online survey assessing their consumption of raw and processed (cooked or canned) fruits and vegetables, along with measures of both negative and positive mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, anxiety, negative mood, positive mood, life satisfaction, and flourishing).

Key Findings:

  • Impact of Raw Foods: Higher intakes of raw fruits and vegetables were significantly associated with reduced depressive symptoms and improvements in positive mood, life satisfaction, and overall flourishing.
  • Micronutrient Availability: The study highlighted that cooking or processing fruits and vegetables might reduce the availability of crucial micronutrients important for mental health.
  • Top Beneficial Raw Foods: The most beneficial raw foods for improving mental health identified in the study were carrots, bananas, apples, dark leafy greens (such as spinach), grapefruit, lettuce, citrus fruits, fresh berries, cucumber, and kiwifruit.
 
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Raw Food and Fertility Rate

Pottenger’s Cats Experiment

In the 1940s, Dr. Francis M. Pottenger, Jr. conducted a pivotal study over ten years involving approximately 900 cats.

He divided the cats into groups, feeding some a diet solely of raw milk and raw meat, and others a diet of cooked meat and pasteurized milk. The results were compelling.

Raw Food

Cats fed the raw diet were healthier, exhibited fewer signs of allergies, had better bone structure, and were more fertile across generations. (17)

Processed Catfood

Conversely, the cats on the cooked food diet developed numerous health issues, showed signs of malnutrition, had poor dental health, and by the third generation, many were infertile. (17)

This experiment has profound implications for human health, suggesting the degenerative effects of heavily processed and cooked diets.

Is There Light in Living Food

Brett's Photosynthesis Theory

You might know that I love pushing the boundaries of current science with new theories. 

This is one of my favourites. I believe that humans are actually light beings inside, and that our energy system is primarily one of electromagnetism, and our metabolic energy source is light from the sun, either directly or through food.

Light is captured by photosynthesis and this captured light energy is released again during the cellular metabolism of sugar and fat. (See Sunlight – Can we tap into this source of energy?)

Let’s investigate this further.

Energy Flow from Sun to Human Metabolism

  1. Photosynthesis and Energy Storage:

    • Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert sunlight into chemical energy stored in the bonds of glucose and other organic molecules. This is a primary example of light energy being converted into chemical energy.

  2. Human Consumption and Metabolism:

    • When humans consume plant-based foods, they ingest these energy-rich compounds. During digestion, these compounds are broken down into simpler molecules like glucose, which cells can use.
    • Cellular Respiration then converts these molecules into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is used to fuel various cellular activities. The process of converting glucose into ATP releases energy.

Transformation of Chemical Energy into Heat and Electromagnetic Energy

  1. Metabolic Heat Production:

    • A significant portion of the energy from food is released as heat during metabolic reactions. This heat helps maintain body temperature and facilitates physiological processes.
    • Thermogenesis is the process of heat production in organisms. It’s an example of how the energy stored in chemical bonds (originally from sunlight) is transformed back into heat energy.

  2. Potential Release of Light Energy (Biophotons):

    • There is some research, though still on the fringe and speculative within the mainstream scientific community, suggesting that human cells might emit light in the form of biophotons. These are weak emissions thought to be a byproduct of cellular metabolic reactions.
    • If biophotons are indeed a meaningful output of human metabolism, they could represent a form of light energy being emitted by the body, though their function and impact are not well understood.

Theoretical and Philosophical Implications

  • From a theoretical standpoint, this idea aligns with the concept that energy merely transforms from one form to another, cycling through ecosystems and organisms in various forms—from light to chemical to thermal and possibly back to light.
  • From a philosophical perspective, this theory suggests a deep interconnectedness between the sun’s energy and life on Earth, emphasizing that solar energy is fundamental not just to growth but also to ongoing metabolic processes in all organisms that consume plants.

Conclusion

While the transformation of energy from chemical form (food) into heat is well-supported and understood, the transformation back into light energy (outside of heat radiation) in humans requires further scientific validation, particularly concerning the role and impact of biophotons.

This theory is a fascinating exploration of bioenergetics, touching on both the concrete pathways we understand and more speculative areas that invite further scientific inquiry. It underscores a profound connection between the sun’s energy and life on Earth, emphasizing a cycle that is both poetic and, potentially, scientifically relevant. Further research into how energy is transformed and utilized within biological systems could provide deeper insights into this complex and beautiful interconnection.

Healing Triangle

Light In Food

As one of the three pillars of the Healing Triangle, food is equally as important as medicinal herbs and the power of your mind.

What does this mean when it comes to your diet?

In a nutshell “eat bright food”. If food has a lot of color then it has a lot of light and will give you a lot of energy. Colors are indicators of vitamins and minerals, so the more color, the more beneficial nutrients.

The more colorful the food, the more light it contains, for example, a flower. Brightly colored flowers are light-capturing devices and are full of light and fruits emerge from the flower heads on most plants.

Let’s now consider fruit. The fruit absorbs light to ripen and stores light in carbohydrates and other nutrients. The ripe fruit is a powerful light source and can give you almost instant energy. The living fruit picked directly off the tree will give you the most life force possible. There is nothing on earth that could compare with fresh fruit as a fast energy source.

Then you have fresh raw vegetables. These contain light, life force, enzymes, and healing properties galore.

It’s easy to see just how extremely good ‘live food’ is for our health.

Live & Raw - Healing food avoidance

So why don’t we feel like eating raw vegetables when we are under stress? The main reason is that by triggering high energy within our body by eating live food we trigger the detox process. By triggering detox we bring out toxins and these include emotional and mental toxins. Maybe we are not ready for these so we delay the detox process by burying ourselves and our energy in dead food.

Highly processed, artificially flavored junk, dead meats, sticky glutinous starches, and overcooked foods constitute dead food.

Processed Food toxins

Conclusion

Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds (all rich in fiber and phytochemicals) are major characteristics of vegetarian and vegan diets that produce lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and better serum glucose control. These factors contribute to the reduction of chronic disease. (10) 

This is why our Brett Elliott Ultimate Herbal DETOX diet includes lots of raw, fresh fruits and vegetables. This allows your body to cleanse toxins and to feel energized and healed at the same time. People who eat raw food or vegetarian diets report vastly higher energy levels and general happiness.

One study mentioned the benefits of a Raw Vegan diet for lowering obesity and hypertension. Another study has also shown reduced fibromyalgia symptoms for those on a Raw Vegan Diet as well as reduced symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, according to another study.

You will find after the Brett Elliott Ultimate Herbal DETOX program that the increase in energy is so profound that normally your diet naturally leans towards more raw food thereafter.

A 70-80% raw food diet is recommended. Having some of the raw food at the beginning of the meal is best, as it triggers positive enzymatic digestion and immune responses which help you absorb your nutrients better.

As part of our Ultimate Herbal Detox and Slim programs, raw food is high on the menu, so this may partially explain why people achieve such outstanding results.

Download the Ultimate Herbal Detox User Guide Here
Download the Ultimate Herbal Slim User Guide Here 

I hope this has been helpful

Brett Elliott ©

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