Raw Food Diets ?

[Vintergatan]

As much as I'd love to try the tapeworm diet,

LOL!

I panicked because people FOR REAL ask me about this diet and where to get the worm!

Wait WHAT?!

As for the raw food diet, I am absolutely amazed that they even consider raw meat :S I agree with shockponie that most raw food diets I've heard of are veg(etari)an and they sound pretty good to me though there just aren't enough fresh friuits and vegetables available here for a normal price so I probably won't try it. But raw meat /facepalm

[Rosencrantz]

I'd do raw food VEGAN, but I wouldn't do raw meat. I only like my meat raw if it's fish and wrapped in rice.

One of my mom's friends (a vegan) went raw food for a while and the recipes he'd make with his dehydrator and other stuff was really tasty.

[shockponie]

Here's a thought. I wonder if raw foodies consider meat "cooked" with lemon juice (like ceviche) cheating.

I see there are a bunch of steak tartare lovers in here.

[Mysticolt]

You should NOT eat raw meat.  It's super dangerous.  Always cook to specified internal temperature which is 165 degrees F for most things.  Raw eggs are also quite dangerous- please cook!

Isn't the raw food diet mostly about avoiding most meats/eggs because they need to be cooked rather than eating them raw?
 

[Spike]

Well, my old teacher went on a raw food diet and she felt so energetic and looked really great. Not sure about you guys but I'm contemplating whether to do it.

[Roccoriel]

Well, my old teacher went on a raw food diet and she felt so energetic and looked really great. Not sure about you guys but I'm contemplating whether to do it.

What was she eating before though?  If the raw food diet forced her to eat more fruit and veg, and she was eating more junk before, it would seem to have very beneficial effects, even if it was the change in the types of food eaten.  I would look into it very carefully and speak to someone who knows a lot about this sort of thing before jumping fully into it, just to make sure you're getting you vitamins and everything you need.  Especially if you're considering eating raw meat, because if you aren't careful, that can be dangerous.

Not that I don't enjoy sushi or rare meat or homemade mayo, 'cause I do, but I'm very careful about it.

[FantasticFirefly]

Ok, some diets can make you feel better initially, depending on what you ate before. Perhaps she had an unknown food sensitivity or allergy and that food was eliminated on a raw diet, then of course she'd feel amazing. Or, if you ate a lot of prepackaged junk or "health" foods before with ingredient lists as long as your arm.  Long term on a raw diet it's easy to end up with mineral deficiencies.... You don't want that! I'm with Aadra310's original comment. I'll eat raw vegetables on occasion, Who doesn't love fresh salads? But I NEVER eat raw meat and I also eat cooked vegetables as well for her reasons, some vegetables need to be cooked to make the nutrients inside them available for our bodies to use.

I did have many mineral deficiencies that were so severe that I don't want to think about where I would be now if I didn't take steps to correct them. Until I made some big changes and I started adding butter to my veggies (vegetarians, you can also use coconut oil- very yummy stuff) as some vitamins we need, also need to be eaten with dietary fat so your body can actually process and use those nutrients properly. I didn't know this and started fearing all fat and things like eggs when my dad was put on a low cholesterol diet when I was about 16. I had some severe mineral deficiencies and very low iron by the time I was 18. (I also put on a lot of fat, and my muscle-tone became horrid, went from normal, to skinny-fat then finally to chubby & exhausted all the time.)

If you are feeling unwell, sluggish, have problems with digestion really get a blood panel drawn up by a dr. It could be one of many reasons and some, while rarer are good to know about. Some people have low nutrients because they had NO idea they suffer from celiac disease *this is an autoimmune condition where gluten damages the small intestines so you can't absorb nutrients. Most people they'll check right away for this are very thin, frail and underweight with severe pain after eating. but even if you are normal weight or overweight or don't experience pain after meals you can have this condition. If you have another autoimmune condition you are at risk of developing others, so a good thing to keep your eye on. Thyroid not functioning properly can also leave you feeling exhausted all the time, and also has long term consequences left untreated. So all good reasons to go and get your blood checked out.

I'm all for cutting heavily refined foods and junk foods. When I got sick I was living off a lot of salad with fat free vinaigrette dressings and melba toast crushed on top, skinless lean meats/fish in limited portions baked or steamed without fat and steamed or raw veggies plain with a side of rice so even things thought of as healthy, not balanced can make you sick. I wasn't exactly eating donuts, beer and pizzas to get as ill as I was.

Personally, I am grain free and make sure everything I eat is gluten free (my hands swell and arthritis returns and my now clear skin breaks out badly even if I touch a tiny amount of gluten. ). I eat eggs, meats, fish, shellfish, lots of different vegetables, fruits & nuts on occasion and full fat dairy. Blood-work improved to the point I'm a model patient and now almost a rarity for even people much younger then me, dental visits are amazing, no longer cart around extra body-fat and I have plenty of energy again to stay active. I've been eating real food (with fats) for years to get these results, GF for two years- as soon as I figured out why I'd still get aching hands and my face would keep breaking out. After cutting gluten though continue to feel amazing. I also get stomach pain if I'm exposed to it.

[Whippycorn]

The reason we invented cooking (at least 400 000 years ago) was to make it easier to digest food and get the nutrients out.

Our health problems now aren't caused by cooking food, if you want to be healthier, cut out all the processed stuff like ready meals, cakes and 'meat products' that look nothing like the original meat! and eat more steamed veges, fruit and nuts and only a little fresh cooked meat. I agree that it's also worth getting checked for intolerances/ nutrient deficiencies.

So I guess my answer is no I haven't tried it, and I never will. 

[Aadra310]

Isn't the raw food diet mostly about avoiding most meats/eggs because they need to be cooked rather than eating them raw?
 

Yes, usually people are talking about a vegetarian/vegan type of diet when they say "raw food."  But, there are people who also do the raw meat and raw eggs so it was worth warning against!

The comments about feeling better on a raw food diet are pretty spot on.  If you cut out the junk and put in fruits and veggies, you will feel better.  However, people tend to go to extremes following fad diets and start eliminating lots of healthy options which is what FantasticFirefly was hitting on.  You absolutely NEED fat in your diet.  About 20-35% of your daily calories should be fat (you just want more of the healthy fats versus the bad liked saturated and trans fat). 
Therefore, I am strongly against "going on a diet."  That phrase implies that you will go OFF the diet, eventually.  You want to have a healthy and sustainable lifestyle incorporating a balanced diet- not a temporary fix. 

The best thing to do is to start with small, manageable changes.  Don't eat much fruit?  Make it a goal to add one serving of fruit everyday.  Maybe it could replace the cookie or handful of chips you have in the afternoon!  Begin with things like that and you will be more likely to succeed.  If you decide tomorrow you are going vegan and you currently eat a lot of dairy, eggs, and meat, you are just setting yourself up failure.  Same with trying to eat only organic or going gluten free (assuming you do not have an immediate medical need to do so).

My last gem for the day.  Shop the perimeter of the grocery store.  Have you noticed all the fresh "real" foods are usually along the walls of most typical stores?  All the prepackaged "fake" boxed food is in the center.

[FantasticFirefly]

My last gem for the day.  Shop the perimeter of the grocery store.  Have you noticed all the fresh "real" foods are usually along the walls of most typical stores?  All the prepackaged "fake" boxed food is in the center.

This costs less too. When I was a cashier at a grocery store it was amazing how much $$ some convenience foods cost, and how high a weeks worth of groceries would ring up for some of my customers!
I watch the sales cycles, there is always a meat/veg/fish/dairy combo that can be used together each week for a good price.

[Echo_Shell]

Grew up in a church that promotes a vegetarian diet so I can say with certainty that no variety of that will ever work for me, though I could literally live on sushi, provided they don't drizzle that nasty orange mayo sauce all over the stuff.  Now the gluten-free deal is definitely tempting, but impractical for my present circumstances.

[Kaeldre]

I only eat raw food when I'm too lazy to cook. xD

[Mysticolt]

I've started snacking on sushi, salad, rice cakes, oat cakes, light cheese spread, canned tuna and raw Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots during the day but still mostly having a normal cooked meal in the evenings. I'm also avoiding wheat and gluten.

I hope that's healthy?