Raw, organic diets bestow good health

Watching the documentary “Food Matters” can open one’s eyes to the terrible reality of the often-used cliché “you are what you eat.”

The documentary goes over the benefits of eating a mostly organic, raw food diet.

Benefits of a mostly organic raw vegetable diet are many. Enzymes within vegetables and fruit provide huge benefits to humans.

By eating vegetables raw, in the form of salad or other dishes, can truly make a difference on one’s health and well being.

Cooking fruit and vegetables, however, removes certain enzymes and bacteria that are beneficial to the body.

Within our society we have grown to cook or process most foods.

Cooking is believed to destroy the enzymes naturally presented in food. According to raw food enthusiasts, enzymes are the life force of a food, helping eaters digest food and absorb nutrients.

The cancer-fighting compounds in broccoli, sulforaphanes, are greatly reduced when broccoli is cooked. Certain vitamins, such as vitamin C and folate, are destroyed by heat.

Other foods become more healthful after cooking because the fibrous portion is broken down. For example, cooked tomatoes contain three to four times more lycopene than raw tomatoes.

If we overly consume cooked food, our bodies are forced to work harder by producing more enzymes. Over time, a lack of enzymes from food is thought to lead to digestive problems, nutrient deficiency, accelerated aging and weight gain.

Raw vegetables take fewer enzymes to break down compared to cooked meats, which take much longer to break down the complex food. Vegetables break down in digestion with ease and in turn the nutrients take less effort to be received by the body. Meats and breads take much longer to break down into the nutrients we need compared to raw vegetables and fruits.

Nutrition, especially with what people decide to feed themselves, is paramount to prevent illnesses and promote healthfulness.

Today’s outlook on health care seems negligent, treating conditions only when they become evident. Having a proper diet can promote a strong immune system that can protect individuals against diseases. By changing to what is a mostly raw food diet, a person can do wonders to improve his or her health.

To improve nutrition, individuals should look to other cultures where illness is small to none.

Like the traditional Japanese culture, seafood and sea vegetables should be a huge part of one’s diet. This would include organic seaweed and fish that are usually caught in the wild rather than raised in a fish farm.

People who follow a raw food diet believe it has numerous health benefits, including increased energy, clearer skin, weight loss and reduced risk of disease.

“You are what you eat,” so strive to eat healthy.