Is raw diet for you?
Are you afraid of switching to a vegetarian diet because you are afraid that you may become weak or not get all the nutrients? Or does the idea of eating uncooked (raw) food scares you? This is a myth that stops many people to take advantage of vegetarian diets. People who adhere strictly to raw food vegetarian diets are thin but have surprisingly robust bones, researchers have found recently. There are many other benefits of a vegetarian diet and only now doctors are realizing what some Hindus and Buddhists have known for centuries.
Although nutritionists and the food industry have warned that a diet without dairy foods can lead to the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, the team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found the vegans they studied had many of the signs of strong bones.
"We think it's possible these people don't have increased risk of fracture but that their low bone mass is related to the fact that they are lighter because they take in fewer calories," Dr. Luigi Fontana, who led the study, said. "Raw food vegetarians believe in eating only plant-derived foods that have not been cooked, processed, or otherwise altered from their natural state," Fontana's team wrote in this week's issue of the Archives of Internal medicine.
"Because of their low calorie and low protein intake, raw food vegetarians have a low body mass index (BMI) and a low total body fat content. It is well documented that a low BMI and weight loss are strongly associated with low bone mass and increased fracture risk, while obesity protects against osteoporosis."
Fontana expected the vegans to have low vitamin D levels because they avoid all animal products including dairy. But in fact their vitamin D levels were "markedly higher" than average. Vitamin D is made by the skin when the body is exposed to sunlight and is key to keeping strong bones. It is added to milk and other foods because it is so important.
And the vegans also had low levels of C-reactive protein, an inflammatory molecule that is becoming linked with the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other chronic disease. Furthermore, they had lower levels of IGF-1, a growth factor linked to risk of prostate cancer. Fontana does not advocate a raw food diet. But he said that to lower the risk of cancer and heart disease people should eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
I myself am more of a flexitarian. I rarely eat any kind of meat but do try to eat a lot of vegetarian dishes. And I try to eat as many raw dishes as I can as Fontana suggests - fruits, vegetables, fresh juices, etc. And the dishes that I do cook are sort of semi-cooked. I try to leave them on the fire for as short as possible to retain all the nutrients.
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posted by eCreativa Media | 5:01 PM
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