Raw Foods

Question
Hello Amirah how are you?

 My name is silvia and I wanted to know,exactly what
is being on a raw food diet. Is it eating vegetables uncooked... like,not even steaming or boiling the vegies?

If so,do poeple even put seasonins on raw vegies?

If the vegetables are eaten raw (uncooked) how can poeple even stand to eat onions and garlic ext..?

Thank You So Much For Your Time.Silvia

Answer
Hello Silvia,

First, there are various types of vegan raw foodists, also called live foodists. Some are fruitarians, sproutarians, juicearians and raw vegans.  Assuming that you are inquiring about the latter, raw vegans omit all animal products, consume only food that is in its natural, unprocessed form and that has not been cooked above 115 degrees Fahrenheit.  That said, you are correct in stating that a raw food diet primarily consists of uncooked food.  The general theory is that the cooking process destroys the nutrients and vitamins in food.  Therefore, live foodists refrain from cooking food not only to preserve the nutrients but to better enable the body to absorb the nutrients.  

Though live foodists do no cook food they do employ other methods of food preparation such as blending, juicing, dehydrating, and chopping.  As for seasoning, live foods are generally quite flavorful, especially if they are organic, so there probably won't be a need to add seasoning.  Nonetheless, it really all boils down to preference.  Those who are 100% live foodists don't use dried seasonings because they are not in "raw" form.  Meanwhile, many 80% live foodists will use dried seasonings.  

If this is something that you're interested in exploring further just know that sooner than later the rich flavors of live foods will begin to awaken the taste buds and make eating that much more enjoyable.

Warm wishes!
Amirah Bellamy
Transitional Vegan Coach, Meal Planner and Author  

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