But it’s important to remember, because digestion is hard work, and causes us to exert a great deal of energy. This is less of my own motive for eating raw than it is for some other raw foodists, especially those who eat raw exclusively. Our bodies make enzymes, of course, but the idea is that, if we keep a food’s enzymes intact, we actually give our body an extra boost of digestive power: the food aids in its own digestion, so to speak. Enzymes are building blocks in many important bodily processes, and they’re also key to digestion. One of the main reasons why many people seek out raw foods is to get more live enzymes: it’s a fact that enzymes in food begin to die at 115 or 117 degrees. Now, there are many other reasons why raw foods can be important. Pretty simple, huh? No hocus pocus, no scripture. But most of us could use more raw, and less cooked, and that’s why I’ve made it my mission to help people find simple, everyday ways to incorporate raw foods into their diets. Some nutrients–like the lycopene in tomatoes–are actually released by cooking, and so it’s wise to eat raw AND cooked. If we eat raw foods once in a while–or more than that–we give ourselves a chance to experience the full nutritional potential of a food. Why raw? Well, it’s a complicated question, but I have a pretty simple answer: cooking food, especially veggies, can strip them of a great deal of their nutrient value. So this leads me to an obvious question: What’s so great about raw food, anyway? And for the purposes of this blog, how can raw food help us perform athletically? Is it wise to eat raw some of the time? Yes, it is. Does it have to be all the time? Absolutely not. And the point of experimenting with raw food is to remind ourselves that raw foods have real health benefits, and that it’s important to enjoy food in both cooked AND raw form. Cooking is so commonplace that none of us stop to consider the novel prospect of NOT cooking–of enjoying food just as it springs up from the earth. The important thing is to eat raw foods some of the time–a lot of the time–which is more than many people do. With all of that said, though, it’s a mistake to assume that one has to be dogmatic about 100% raw foodism or health practices associated with raw foodism in order to experience good health. In many ways, raw foodists have it right: many of us do upset our stomachs by eating foods that don’t digest well together all at once we are constantly exposed to a barrage of toxicity simply by living in the contemporary world and fasting can be a useful practice for those with compromised health. Oftentimes, this kind of thinking is married with other sorts of food dogmas: strict adherence to food combining (the practice of eating foods that take similar amounts of time to digest together), fixation on toxicity in water, air, and the home, and obsession with fasting are a few examples. And for this reason, many of the men and women who appreciate raw foods also tend to be a little militant in their thinking: they begin worrying about “how raw” they’re eating, or become convinced that eating 100% raw is absolutely mandatory. Many strict raw foodists can be zealous or fanatical in their approach, and some are a little wacky! (Many others are smart, welcoming, and altogether awesome.) I blame many of the misconceptions about the raw lifestyle on a single fact: raw foodism tends to attract extremists. If you’re one of the many people who thinks this way, I’ll confess: I don’t entirely blame you. What does that word suggest to you? Let me guess: extremism. I’m also the voie behind Choosing Raw – a blog devoted to helping people of all lifestyles to enjoy the benefits of raw. I’m also a clinical nutritionist, and my emphasis as a counselor is on helping people learn to eat healthy plant-based diets. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a vegan with a passion for raw foods, who’s living and working in NYC. Thanks, Matt, for having me as a guest on No Meat Athlete today. Here she is with an insanely helpful intro to raw foods and how they can make us better runners and endurance athletes. Next up is Gena, a nutritionist and raw-food enthusiast with one of the most informative blogs out there, Choosing Raw. While I relax with Erin and new baby Holden, several distinguished bloggers have been kind enough to guest-post here.
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