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Article Series: Raw Food Diet
What
Are The Benefits Of The Raw Food Diet?
A
History Of Raw Foodism
It could be said that raw foodism began many
ages ago, since our prehistoric ancestors would have eaten
an entirely raw diet before the discovery of the use of fire
for cooking. In fact, many adherents of raw would argue that
our bodies are designed for raw food and have never adapted
to cooked. There was no cooking stove in the garden of Eden,
and the raw diet can be seen as one way of getting us back
closer to the natural state that existed in those ancient times.
A raw vegan diet may have been followed by religious ascetics
in many traditions in different periods in history. A notable
example is the Belgian Saint Aibert, a Benedictine monk who
lived to the age of 80 in the 11th and 12th centuries. However,
raw foodism was hardly ever practiced for health reasons until
the 20th century.
In the 20th
century the scientist Arturi Virtanen discovered
that when raw vegetables are chewed, enzymes are released in
the mouth. These enzymes are killed by cooking above 115 degrees
Fahrenheit. Medical and biological science shows that enzymes
are destroyed during digestion, but raw foodists argue that
many benefits can be gained from these enzymes while they are
in the mouth and upper stomach, before they reach the digestive
juices.
Therefore a raw food movement began which proposed eating
mainly or only foods that had not been heated above 115 degrees,
which is warm enough to dry them but not hot enough to kill
most living organisms. For this reason raw foods are often
called living foods.
Early 20th century pioneers of the raw food movement included
Ann Wigmore and Herbert Shelton. Ann Wigmore founded the Hippocrates
Health Institute and promoted the beneficial effects of drinking
wheatgrass juice. She died in 1994 at the age of 84 in a fire.
Herbert Shelton took the ideas of the Natural Hygiene movement
of the 19th century and developed them into a raw food practice.
He died in 1985 at the age of 90 from Parkinson's Disease.
Raw foodism in the Natural Hygiene style is focused around
getting most of your calories from fruit and avoiding the high
fat content of some other raw diets.
In 1984 the raw food movement gained enormously in popularity
following the publication of the book 'Raw Energy: Eat Your
Way To Radiant Health' by the British writer Leslie Kenton
in 1984. While Kenton advocated 75% raw food in the diet, many
later writers propose going 100% raw. Since then there has
been a huge growth in interest and in publications, with many
people now living and writing in the raw foodism movement both
online and offline.
Click
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by SolveYourProblem.com
: 2010
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