One of the most contentious parts about fitness practices involves the matter of food and nutrition, often about which works best for what type of result. Because of this, numerous diet regimes have come about over the decades which caused quite a number of problems since many of them did not work and a few were actually quite dangerous. Then again, it is reasonable to assume that people have to start from somewhere and that somewhere might as well be supported by science like eating raw food for maximum health and fitness.
Food and Fitness
As any health expert worth his salt will tell you, food and nutrition are the biggest deciding factors to how healthy and fit a person can be. You can exercise all you want, but if your diet consists of gallons of ice cream, you are not likely to get far into your health goals. As such, being choosy with the things you put in your mouth is therefore highly encouraged, more so than the kind of activities that you put your body through.
Then again, the number of food types out in the market and the number of ways they can be prepared are not exactly small figures, so it is easy to see how people can get confused as to what foods they should ascribe to. If you want a food group that you can be reasonable sure of though, going with raw food would definitely get you some results.
Identifying Raw Food
From the name itself, it is probably clear that the raw food groups of foods involve a lot of raw stuff. To a point, this is correct. This group does focus on meal items that have no need to be cooked or heated. However, certain products like meat don’t count as those really do need to be prepared using high heat in order to purge them of bacteria. Other than those though, you do not even need to turn on the stove.
Examples of food items that belong in this particular category include the popular garden salads that vegetarians and weight-watchers make their mission to eat for the rest of their lives. Other examples are fruits, nuts, fish and so on. Basically, if it can be eaten as it is, it is a raw food.
Raw Food advantage
The clearest advantage that raw food have over cooked and especially processed foods is that the nutrients which the body needs in order to develop and be healthy remain intact. Any food that is cooked above a certain temperature range will have a majority of their vitamin and minerals wiped out and you are left with only a fraction of the original amount. When we put it in this perspective, you will not get the same benefits from cooked vegetables as you would with raw vegetables even though they are still vegetables.
Another advantage that raw food has over cooked foods is its lack of need for fatty additions like cooking oil, salt or sugar. Since you can essentially eat it by itself, you really have no need to put in anything else. You would have this option if you wanted of course, but it really is not necessary. So why mess up a perfectly good meal?
