Did you know that at least half of the food you consume should be uncooked (or in some circumstances what we may call raw)? We must all aim to consume 50 percent or more of our food uncooked.
Uncooked food is rich in health-promoting micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals and other substances such as enzymes and useful bacteria. When we expose food to heat and lots of water, many of these beneficial substances are lost.
Raw and uncooked foods pass through our digestive system quite quickly. This helps to keep our bowels moving and helps with lowering our glucose response, facilitating elimination of waste and also supports weight loss. Our digestive systems are designed to effectively handle uncooked food. Although cooking food is acceptable, we should aim to eat a good amount of our food uncooked. Please note that the recommendation of 50 percent is actually the minimum amount of food that should be uncooked or raw. Ideally, human beings should each much more of their food uncooked. In fact, other primates (like we are) don’t eat cooked food.
Human beings have always eaten a large proportion of their diet raw or uncooked. Some populations eat 60 to 80 percent of their food raw including the hunter-gatherer populations like the Hadza tribe of Tanzania. Even only 50 years ago in most parts of Africa, people ate a large part of their diet from uncooked foods. Simply ask someone who is above the age of 70 years and you will be amazed.
Eating 50 percent of food uncooked may seem unrealistic but it actually very possible. Here are some things that could make this more realistic.
Aim to have something uncooked or raw at every meal. For example, have plenty of fruit for breakfast, nuts and more fruit as snacks, and then raw vegetables, avocado and seeds with your lunch and dinner. And whenever you eat uncooked foods serve large the portions.
Have fruit and nuts (that are not roasted) as snacks and during breaks.
Try to have some meals without any cooked food. For example, you could have only fruit for breakfast and a raw vegetable salad for dinner.
Learn to make and drink vegetable juices and smoothies. This is particularly useful because this allows you to increase especially your intake of raw vegetables. There are some vegetables that may be hard to eat uncooked such as spinach and broccoli but that may be much easier to consume when made into juice form. Adding a little bit of fruit helps to make the juices more palatable. The ratio of vegetables to fruit should be 4:1 or 3:1
I advise that you obtain a high powered blender that can allow you to make healthy vegetable juices. The device I recommend is the Nutribullet. It helps to make very healthy drinks that are full of fibre, smooth and easy to drink.If you would like to acquire one of these devices click here.
This principle may of eating up to 50 percent of your food uncooked may seem hard at the beginning but it will get easier with time especially as you begin to reap the benefits.
If you make a conscious decision to try, you will find yourself making much more progress with this than you thought possible.