Raw foodism

Raw foodism, also known asrawismor araw food diet, is thedietary practiceof eating only or mostly food that isuncookedandunprocessed. Depending on the philosophy, or type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selection of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, meat, and dairy products. The diet may also include simply processed foods, such as various types ofsprouted seeds, cheese, andfermentedfoods such asyogurts,kefir,kombucha, orsauerkraut, but generally not foods that have beenpasteurized,homogenized, or produced with the use of syntheticpesticides,fertilizers,solvents, andfood additives.
TheBritish Dietetic Associationhas described raw foodism as afad diet.Raw food diets, specifically raw veganism, may diminish intake of essential minerals and nutrients, such asvitamin B12.Claims made by raw food proponents arepseudoscientific.
Raw food diets are diets composed entirely or mostly of food that is uncooked or that is cooked at low temperatures.
Raw animal food diets include any animal that can be eaten raw, such as uncooked, unprocessed raw muscle meats, organ meats, eggs, raw dairy, and aged, raw animal foods such ascentury eggs,fermentedmeat/fish/shellfish/kefir, as well as vegetables, fruits, nuts, and sprouts, but in generalnotraw grains, raw beans, and raw soy. Raw foods included in such diets have not been heated above 40 °C (104 °F)."Raw Animal Foodists" believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost much of their nutritional value and are harmful to the body.Smokedmeats are frowned upon by many Raw-Omnivores.Some distinguish between hot-smoked and cold-smoked.
The founder of the Primal Diet isAajonus Vonderplanitz, a resident of Malibu, California. It has been estimated by Aajonus Vonderplanitz that there are 20,000 followers of his raw-meat-heavy Primal Diet in North America, alone.
Raw veganism has rarely been practised in history,but it became a fad in the 21st century.A raw vegan diet consists of unprocessed, raw plant foods that have not been heated above 40–49°C(104–120°F). Typical foods included in raw food diets are fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains and legumes.
Among raw vegans are subgroups, such as"fruitarians", "juicearians", or "sproutarians". Fruitarians eat primarily or exclusively fruits, berries, seeds, and nuts. Juicearians process their raw plant foods into juice.
TheBritish Dietetic Associationnamed the raw vegan diet one of the "top 5 worst celeb diets to avoid in 2018", raising a concern that it could compromise long-term health.
Early documentation of raw food dieting has been associated withhermitsandmonkspractisingasceticism. For example,John of Egypt, a hermit from theNitrian Desertin the 4th Century, reportedly lived on a diet of dried fruit and vegetables for fifty years; he never ate anything cooked.Documented evidence of a commitment to raw food was by the EthiopianmonkQozmos, who in the late 1300s CE committed to the ascetic discipline of eating only uncooked food.This posed a problem for hisEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churchmonasterybecause he refused to eat the bread of theEucharist, which is cooked. As a result, he fled the church and went to live with the Jewish community of theBeta Israel.
Contemporary raw food diets were first developed in Switzerland byMaximilian Bircher-Benner(1867–1939), who was influenced as a young man by the GermanLebensreformmovement, which saw civilization as corrupt and sought to go "back to nature"; it embracedholistic medicine,nudism,free love, regular exercise and other outdoors activity, and foods that it judged were more "natural".Bircher-Benner eventually adopted avegetariandiet, but took that further and decided that raw food was what humans were really meant to eat; he was influenced byCharles Darwin's ideas that humans were just another kind of animal and Bircher-Benner noted that other animals do not cook their food.In 1904 he opened a sanatorium in the mountains outside of Zurich called "Lebendinge Kraft" or "Vital Force", a technical term in the Lebensreform movement that referred especially to sunlight; he and others believed that thisenergywas more "concentrated" in plants than in meat, and was diminished by cooking.Patients in the clinic were fed raw foods, includingmuesli, which was created there.These ideas were influential toAnn Wigmore, a notable raw food advocate, but were dismissed by scientists and the medical profession as quackery.
One of the earliest books to advocate raw foodism wasEugene Christian'sUncooked Foods and How to Use Them, 1904.Other proponents from the early part of the twentieth century include Californian fruit growerOtto Carque(author ofThe Foundation of All Reform, 1904),George Julius Drews(author ofUnfired Food and Trophotherapy, 1912),Bernarr MacfaddenandHerbert Shelton. Drews influencedJohn and Vera Richterto open America's first raw food restaurant "The Eutropheon" in 1917.
Shelton was arrested, jailed, and fined numerous times for practising medicine without a license during his career as an advocate of rawism and other alternative health and diet philosophies. Shelton's legacy, as popularized by books likeFit for Lifeby Harvey andMarilyn Diamond, has been deemed "pseudonutrition" by the National Council Against Health Fraud.
In the 1970s,Norman W. Walker(inventor of the Norwalk Juicing Press) popularized raw food dieting.Leslie Kenton's bookRaw Energy – Eat Your Way to Radiant Health, published in 1984, added popularity to foods such as sprouts, seeds, and fresh vegetable juices.The book advocates a diet of 75% raw food, which it claims will preventdegenerative diseases, slow the effects of aging, provide enhanced energy, and boost emotional balance; it cites examples such as the sprouted-seed-enriched diets of the long-livedHunza peopleandGerson therapy, an unhealthy, dangerous and potentially very harmfulraw juice-based diet and detoxification regime claimed to treat cancer.
In the 21st century, raw food diets (particularly those focused onraw milk, raw eggs, and raw meat) have been popularized and politicized as part of a broader "right-wingbodybuilder" movement centered aroundhypermasculinity, physical fitness, fascination with ancient civilizations and opposition tofeminismand mainstream modern culture.
Claims held by raw food proponents include:
A raw food diet may impair the development of children and infants.Careful planning is essential for a raw vegan diet, particularly for children,as there may not be enough vitamin B12,vitamin D, and calories for a growing child on a totally raw vegan diet.
Food poisoningis a health risk for anyone consuming raw foods, and the increased demand for raw foods is associated with greater incidence offoodborne illness,especially for raw meat, fish, and shellfish.Outbreaks ofgastroenteritisamong consumers of raw and undercooked animal products (including smoked, pickled or dried animal products) are well-documented, and include raw meat,raw organ meat,raw fish (whether ocean-going or freshwater),shellfish,raw milk and products made from raw milk,and raw eggs.
One review stated that "Many raw foods are toxic and only become safe after they have been cooked. Some raw foods containsubstances that affect the absorption of nutrients, interfere with digestive enzymes, or damage the walls of the intestine. Additionally, raw meat can be contaminated withbacteriawhich would be destroyed by cooking; raw fish can contain substances that interfere with vitamin B1 (anti-thiaminases)".
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