Recently, I proposed the idea of Raw Wednesday on my food blog along with my friend, Gena, a food blogger who actually is 100% raw. I’m not raw by any means, or even vegetarian for that matter, but I am into healthy food and like to keep my diet as minimally processed as possible. Plus, more raw fruits and veggies never hurt anyone, right? Raw Wednesdays were to go like this: every Wednesday in the month of May my readers were supposed to eat one complete raw meal plus one raw snack. The raw meal could be as simple as a fruit smoothie blended with raw nut butter and almond milk, or it could be more elaborate like homemade nut pate on dehydrated crackers. As the month wore on, I discovered that I looked forward to Raw Wednesdays because they proposed a new challenge to my typical daily eating patterns. I got to try new things (raw pizza dough for one!) and noshed on tons of green smoothies, raw veggies and raw almond butter all day long.
Of all the questions I get about the raw food diet, protein intake is the number one. I’ll admit I’m not an expert on the subject but my advice is this—do what your body tells you. I know, personally, I could never eat all raw. I just couldn’t. I LOVE a big bowl of hot cooked oats in the morning or pasta at night. The thought of veggies all day long rather makes me grimace and rightly so! I’m a foodie in the true sense of the word and always on the hunt for the latest and greatest. Raw foodists tell us that protein does not matter because if you consume food in its purest, unadulterated form, you are getting the benefit of the live and active enzymes which turn into amino acids in the body. They say that the body does not need protein, it needs amino acids. For instance, when you eat a steak you are eating protein which your body then has to work hard to break down into usable amino acids. If you eat a carrot you are just consuming those amino acids straight up and your body doesn’t have to exhaust itself to get it. Less energy used equals a better running system. Or at least in theory.
Eating raw does have its benefits. You may love it. Adore it. Never want to eat a cooked meal again. Or you may hate it and your body may revolt against you violently. We are all different with different chemical makeup; the moral of the story is to find what works for you and stick to it!
Raw seems like a good idea in concept, but never seems to work out in practice. All my friends who’ve tried it end up looking pretty sickly and unhappy. Which, yeah, understandable.
That said, picking up the habit once a week might not be so bad. As you said, it’ll give you a chance to branch out and experiment. My favorite activities!
Well said Jenna!
That was very interesting about the protein and amino acids! Thanks for shedding light on raw foodists, and raw Wednesday sounds like an excellent idea for people who aren’t quite committed enough to make the full change!
Interesting article Jenna! I actually never knew the purpose of eating a completely raw diet, but it does make sense to a certain extent.
Has anyone seen the episode of Oprah with Dr. Oz where they show an experiment of a group of people who must eat like zoo animals for 12 days? They must eat about 11 lbs of raw fruits, veggies, and nuts daily. The result was an average of 25% lower cholesterol, 10% lower blood pressure, and 10 lb weight loss. Crazy!
hey jenna–
interesting article. i’ve enjoyed reading about your experiences with raw foods and i must say your skin does look really beautiful!
i do want to comment on the protein issue, as i think it’s a really interesting topic for discussion that is important for anyone to navigate, especially if considering a raw diet. In your article, you stated “raw foodists tell us that protein does not matter because if you consume food in its purest, unadulterated form, you are getting the benefit of the live and active enzymes which turn into amino acids in the body”. While I am not an expert either, but this belief of foodists seems to contradict most of the scientific literature I have read on the topic of protein. While our body does contain some amino acids, there are essential amino acids that are most readily available from high protein sources such as fish, eggs and meat, as well as vegetarian sources. I am not sure the argument that a carrot is an adequate source of protein for raw foodists pays the credit due to scientists who recommend consuming protein rich foods (both vegetarian and non vegetarian) to meet the body’s protein/amino acid requirements. In fact, carrots do not contain any calories from protein. I recognize that scientific journals, dietitians, academicians, etc…may overlook some of the merits of alternative diets (ie; macrobiotics, raw food, and so forth), but it is important to fall back on evidenced based medicine and science when disseminating nutritional information. I think we need more literature on the evidenced-based health outcomes of raw food diets. It would be interesting to compare rates of anemia, bone density, etc….between raw foodists, vegetarians, and omnivores.
Keep up the good work and discussions! I love it.
raw pizza dough is the best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! eat on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!