Changing to a Raw Food Diet
From LoveToKnow Vegetarian
If you’re thinking about changing to a raw food diet, you may wish to consult with an expert such as Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo. Dr. Ritamarie is not only a Doctor of Chiropractic, nutritionist, health coach and women’s fatigue expert, but also a raw food educator, raw food chef, and passionate proponent of the raw food lifestyle. Dr. Ritamarie’s impressive credentials and her encouraging, upbeat style make her one of the most sought-after health coaches in the nation.
As a college student, Dr. Ritmarie confesses she was a self-styled “junk food junkie.” Her own health problems began with headaches, memory problems, and a persistent fatigue that no amount of tea, diet colas, or sleep could cure. She went from doctor to doctor and left with fistfuls of prescriptions but no relief from her health problems. She had a nagging feeling that her diet had something to do with her exhaustion. She began researching diet and nutrition at the local public library, devouring one book after another and experimenting by eliminating processed foods, artificial sweeteners, meat, and then dairy. After she found a book on raw, vegan foods, she knew she had the key that could unlock good health and boundless energy.
She earned a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree with Certification in Acupuncture, and is a Diplomat of the American Clinical Nutrition Board. She is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, with a Master of Science in Human Nutrition. She is also certified as a living foods (raw food) chef, instructor, coach and teacher.
Today, Dr. Ritamarie focuses her practice on helping women regain their energy and deal with chronic fatigue through lifestyle modification, diets such as a raw food diet, and numerous healing modalities.
Changing to a Raw Food Diet
First, Dr. Ritmarie provided her definition and insight into a raw food diet.
What Is a Raw Food Diet?
When people refer to a raw food diet, what they’re referring to is eating foods that have not been cooked. It means that foods have not been heated above a temperature at which enzymes, vitamins and minerals break down. Most evidence suggests raw foods should not be heated above 118 degrees. After this temperature, many of the heat sensitive components (water soluble vitamins), begin to break down. On a raw food diet, most if not all, foods consumed are in their fresh, whole, natural state.
What Are the Health Benefits of a Raw Food Diet?
The benefit of eating primarily a raw food diet is that it is very high in nutrients. Food has the highest nutrient content within minutes of being picked. Within the food itself, the full component of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are untouched. As you get away from that, everything you do to a food degrades its nutritional value. Taking a food and shipping it from California to Virginia, for example, takes several days. The food degrades slightly as it travels. If you take that food, ship it, then cook it, it degrades substantially. Water-soluble vitamins are most significant – light steaming degrades that by about thirty percent. Baking at a high temperature for an hour degrades water soluble vitamins by ninety percent! If we are eating for the purpose of nourishment, we are not getting what we think we are getting when we cook our food.
There is also oxygen in raw foods that gets destroyed by heat. If you take it to another level and look at the energy, the vibrations of the food you will see what I mean. If you were to put an ohmmeter in a raw potato or piece of broccoli, it has a high current. An ohmmeter is a device that measures energy. Now stick the meter into the cooked food and see how much energy is in it. Research shows that cancers grow in a state of low cellular energetics. When you raise the energetics by eating whole, living food, you raise the whole energetics of your system – immune system particularly – to deal with cancers.
Another benefit of eating raw foods is that you avoid oxidized fat. If you eat raw oils, the fats are intact. Once fats are heated, the fats oxidize. Oxidized fats form free radicals. Free radicals have been attributed to the causation of disease: heart disease, cancer, autoimmune. Oxidized fats create cellular damage in your system. Couple that fact with the fact that you aren’t consuming enough antioxidants to combat the damage and you are causing damage without taking in enough food to counter.
Don’t Some Vegetables Need to Be Cooked to Release Nutrition?
Yes and no. It’s not necessarily cooking them that releases the nutrition. You’re probably thinking about all the publicity regarding tomatoes and lypocene. Plants have very rigid cell walls, and these need to be broken down in some way to release the nutrients. Many plants, such as cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, have hard exteriors, and cell walls are rigid. Many people don’t have the necessary digestive enzymes to break down such raw foods. Cell walls need to burst to release nutrients. There are techniques to use to prepare raw foods that break down the cell walls that release the nutrients. Using salt, lemon juice, and blending vegetables accomplishes the same thing as cooking in most cases.
Is Cooking Food Really Bad?
Not necessarily, although here I differ from many raw food coaches. I don’t necessarily believe that you have to eat one hundred percent raw all the time. I think it depends more on the quality of the diet itself, rather than whether a food is raw or cooked. You could have two plates of food in front of you, a raw food, vegan cheesecake – which tastes great – and a plate of steamed broccoli. Some people following a raw food diet will insist that the cheesecake is better for you, but in reality, the plate of steamed broccoli will actually have more nutrition in it.
In any diet you are moving towards, you need to find the right balance for you! I believe and teach people that they should take benefits from the raw food and incorporate as many benefits as you can into your life. Don’t drive yourself nuts and say you won’t cook anything ever again. That creates anxiety. What I see is that people get really excited about the diet and they go to websites, read a book or take a course, they eliminate all cooked foods, but then realize that from a cultural, sociological and psychological standpoint it’s really hard to do. Then they go back to fast foods and binging on packages of cookies, feel bad, and go back to raw foods, and then they do a yo-yo thing back and forth. It’s better to transition slowly and do an 80 percent raw food diet, and eat some cooked foods that are health promoting, like a baked sweet potato, steamed broccoli or kale, etc. If you follow that type of food plan, it leaves room for social events like parties, eating out with friends, or traveling and finding something on the menu in a restaurant that you can eat.
Misconceptions About Raw Foods
Next, Dr. Ritamarie shared her insight into misconceptions about a raw food diet and whether or not changing to a raw food diet is hard.
What Can be Eaten on a Raw Food Diet?
There’s a huge variety of foods you can eat on a raw food diet! People often think raw foods means you’re condemned to celery and carrot sticks. Nothing wrong with either, but most people need some variety. You can make delicious raw foods that mimic cooked foods. Many of the dishes have similar textures and uses. In my breakfast book, for example, I have recipes for raw granola, gluten free ‘rye’ bagel made in a dehydrator at a temperature of 110 degrees, an apple-ginger medley, and lots of other things. For lunch, there are plenty of salad, sandwich and wrap choices. I teach raw food classes and lunch can be the easiest meal for people to eat an entirely raw, vegan meal.
What Do People Find Most Difficult When Changing to a Raw Food Diet?
When I coach people, I usually find they face two hurdles.The first hurdle is before they get started. Many people are afraid of deprivation. They think they’re going to eat nothing but lettuce and celery all day. Once they understand all the variety and choices they’ll have, as well as the positive benefits like improved health and energy, they leap into a vegan, raw food lifestyle.
Yet once they’re eating raw for a few weeks or months, they face the second hurdle. Many people haven’t faced up to their food addictions and emotional attachments to foods. They start to feel deprived. Then there’s the whole social aspect of eating differently from others. What about Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house? She makes her special apple pie just for you. How do you tell her that you don’t want it? I’ve been eating a raw, vegan diet for 23 years, so I’ve developed strategies, but it can be really hard at first.
Tips for Going Raw
First, try one new thing and see how you feel. Try to eat only a raw food lunch, such as a big salad. Begin gradually transitioning away from cooked foods, or omit things like diet soft drinks, coffee, colas, and processed foods. How do you feel? Keep changing one thing at a time. Take it slowly. While some people do like to jump into a new diet, others find that a gradual transition works best. If it works, keep doing it. If it doesn’t work for you, stop and try something new. Look for support too. Find a raw food group near you or online. Most of all though, have fun. If it’s not fun, you won’t stick with it!
Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo is available for coaching, consultations and speaking engagements. For more information about her practice and programs, please visit her website, Fresh n’Fun Living, or call 512-349-9677.
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