You may have enjoyed eating fresh fruits and vegetables, every now and then. This could be because, the whole world is obsessing about healthy food, now more than ever. It’s no surprise that with today’s sedentary lifestyles, a lot of people are sticking to the Raw Food Diet. Now, you might ask what this Raw Food Diet is all about? Raw Food Diet aka ‘Raw Foodism’ is a concept that advocates eating completely raw and unprocessed vegetables and fruits, as most types of cooking removes all the necessary nutrients and enzymes. The supporters of this community strongly believe that cooking or any form of processing destroys the “Life-Force” or “Prana” which is the energy of living food. However, alternative preparation methods such as juicing, sprouting, blending and soaking are widely used. Raw Foodism is quite similar to Veganism, in the sense that both of these are essentially plant-based diets. However, Raw Foodism is a healthier approach to veganism in comparison. For example, eating a processed potato chip can be perfect for a vegan, but a Raw foodie will not eat it because it is processed and devitalized. So essentially when the veganism is based on uncooked plant-based diets, it becomes Raw foodism. Raw food diet does not need a caloric count and does not bother about portion counting either. Raw food is delicate and when heated to over 48-degree Celsius, the food enzymes that help digestion start to break down and separate. Therefore, cooked food consumes twice the energy to digest, in comparison to raw food. Our body uses valuable reserves of metabolic enzymes to digest the cooked food and the whole purpose of natural food enzyme is lost in the process. Ironically, human beings are the only species in nature who cook their food. Go into nature and you will never find a fat horse or an obese deer. Even a carnivore or a wildcat, whose digestive system is built to eat meat will eat it raw. When the same cat or dog is kept as a pet under the human influence and fed cooked meat, they perish and suffer all lifestyle diseases which human suffer i.e. Blood pressure, Diabetes and Cholesterol. The other key to healthy eating is to recognise what needs to go out of your diet, rather than what needs to come in. Most importantly it is about getting to the core of why something is bad for you. The body is merely a temple that houses your spirit, and what you eat is what you become. For the most part, what you take out of your diet is the game changer. For instance, you will only be able to improve your health and overall vivacity by getting on top of our extensive cooked grain consumption. Cooked rice and cooked wheat being the staple diet of the entire nation, this becomes a huge addiction to fight. This change is not going to happen overnight and we must attempt to switch to a whole grain diet, and gradually increase fresh vegetable and fruit consumption. Consuming grains can diminish your body of natural nutrients and minerals, simply because grains aren’t what they used to be and are heavily sprayed and processed. For those of you who need solid proof of why consuming grains can be bad for you – we’d recommend reading this book by Dr.David Perlmutter. The other items which need to go out of your diet are dairy, meat and processed foods. Most of these foods are full of hormones, antibiotics and adulteration. Naturally, as you begin to cut the unhealthy stuff, you will notice how your body positively responds to the raw food you eat. To a certain extent, we all know that one friend (yourself included) who loves to eat meat even if they know that’s bad for them. In such cases, it’s necessary to understand the guidelines on how to pair different types of foods. For instance, by applying certain rules like not mixing meat with other carbs rich foods such as bread or rice can help digest the meat better. The other recommendation is to cut down the overall consumption. If you currently eat dairy or meat or processed food 3 to 4 times in a week, then cut it down to 1 or 2 times a week and replace that with a surplus in fruits & vegetable consumption. In time, practising such eating habits can transform your overall approach to raw food and these lessons will be there to stay. Keep it real, Keep it raw!