Raw foods are a part of almost everybody’s diet.
Most people have a balance between some raw foods and some cooked foods. A very few people will eat nothing but cooked foods, but that is pretty unusual.
What is best for your gut – raw or cooked?
It’s a difficult question to answer because I don’t know you personally. What I can tell you is, the healthier your gut, the more likely it is that you can tolerate a wide range of foods.
Raw food diets are excellent, but so are cooked diets.
It depends on the health of your digestive system very much.
Let me explain a few different things to you.
When you eat one or two pieces of fruit a day, that’s raw food. If you’re eating salad, that’s raw foods. Nuts and seeds can also be eaten raw.
I also consider milk that is not pasteurized or homogenized to be raw.
I love raw beef. If I know that it’s an organic cow and it’s home killed, it’s grass-fed, it’s a high-quality beef, I like raw hamburger meat.
I think that’s a fantastic food, and raw fish is nice, too.
Raw foods contain all sorts of enzymes.
If someone has a compromised gut with a low output of digestive enzymes, raw foods can step up and help digest the food that they eat.
When you heat food above 112 degrees Fahrenheit or 44 degrees Celsius, the enzymes in foods are destroyed.
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When food doesn’t contain enzymes, your body relies more on endogenous enzymes to break down food. That’s why I say that the less you heat food, the better. I recommend stir-frying and partially cooked foods.
For example, when I cook green beans, I plunge them into boiling water for about three or four minutes – then directly into icy cold water. That leaves me with lovely beans that are not cooked through the middle. When foods aren’t overcooked, you’re also likely to preserve more of the flavonoids and polyphenols that are so good for you intact.
Also, the fresher your produce, the higher the enzymes count. If your food has been in cold storage for months, chances are the enzyme count isn’t very high.
For me, the best combination is incorporating some raw foods into a cooked diet. I think the best time to increase the amount of raw foods in your diet is when the weather is warm.
In general, I recommend incorporating a lot of greens in your diet as well as partially cooked foods and raw foods.
I think you should take the middle path and eat both raw and cooked foods to make your gut very healthy and sound.
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