After being vegetarian for five years (eating cooked foods), I could not comprehend how to have a fulfilling diet by eating just raw fruits and vegetables. Well that was then, and this is now. Now, I would not have it any other way. I'm 70 percent to 80 percent raw, and the exhilaration that raw food gives my body can't compare to any other food experience. Your body will feel different after only a few days of eating raw. You will have more energy and mental clarity, your skin will be more vibrant and you will experience an overall sense of well-being. Role of Enzymes Now those are the reasons that I eat raw. But for those of you who need more evidence, here's the scientific skinny on raw food. When you heat food above 118 degrees for longer than three minutes, the food begins to lose vitamins and nutrients, in addition cooked food makes our body work harder to produce enzymes. These enzymes are needed to digest the food. Mark Twain wrote: "To eat is human, to digest divine." We need enzymes to digest food. Our body also needs enzymes for every other operation and chemical reaction to take place. Enzymes constitute the difference between life and death. Only living organisms can produce enzymes, but their capacity to make enzymes is limited and exhaustible. So what does things all mean? It means that the enzymes that we are using to digest cooked foods can be saved and used for more important …show more content…
Salt is one of the most important flavourings in food in the world. Salt was considered so special that roman legionnaires received part of their wages in the form of salt, leading to the phrase not worth his salt. It is a simple chemical, Sodium Chloride, and one of the most plentiful on earth. It is vital for life and the functioning of our bodies, we are genetically programmed to like food with a salty taste. Why would you need to reduce the salt in your diet? Salt is implicated in causing high blood pressure through fluid retention. Some people are more vulnerable to this than others, particularly those of African descent. It is thought to contribute to strokes, calcium deficiency and stomach problems. Too little is dangerous, leading to heart attacks, changes in heart rhythm and muscle spasm. It is almost impossible to get too little salt in our modern society. Salt is used in every processed food you can imagine, including sweet foods. To reduce the salt in your diet you have to reduce the amount of processed, or prepared, food you eat, and you have to stop using it in cooking or adding it at the table. When you read the nutrition panel on many foods you will be shocked at just how many foods have salt added to them, and just how much is added. Many people find their food tasteless and unappetising when they first remove salt from their diets.. To replace the flavour in your food there are different approaches. Commercial