"Raw" processed food - Raw Food Chat

Double Helix · 01-23-2008

Compare "raw" processed food, like a cheesecake loaded with coconut oil and cashews, or a cake made with lots of nuts to a very healthy vegan but cooked diet, such as a lot of steamed veggies, fruits and rice and other grains and little to no processed foods.

A diet of "raw" cheesecakes, cookies, flax crackers with pate or tons of guacamole, in my mind, is in absolutely NO WAY healthier than a low fat cooked vegan diet, in the long run (meaning that if a person is going to eat "raw" junk foods long term instead of a low fat vegan cooked diet).

The only possible good thing about eating those kinds of "raw" foods are that they may keep a person from eating real SAD cooked junk like fast and processed food.

If someone was coming from a high-fat animal-based cooked, processed, and fast food diet then all the "raw" junk foods eaten in the initial and transitional stages would probably be a better choice, as long as they aren't the mainstay of a diet.

From experience, I know that it's very easy to get caught up in those "raw" junk food diets, and how easy it is to "forget" about eating fresh food, while grazing on a "raw" macaroon, "raw" flax crackers and other "raw" concoctions full of fat and questionably optimum ingredients.

The whole time you tell yourself that you are "raw" but you don't feel good at all eating that way day in and day out!

The most important thing is to understand what is health-promoting and what isn't, and making an effort to center the diet around health-promoting FRESH foods, while saving the "raw" junk food for those times when strong cravings can't be satiated with fresh food.

peaceripples · 01-24-2008

Hear hear!

That sounds very much like the sentiments expressed in the book I just finished reading, Raw Secrets by Frederic Patenaude. He goes into quite a bit of detail on some of the "raw" foods which are not, as you say, health-promoting, and makes the same point you did about a cooked vegan meal being healthier than a lot of what some people are eating on the raw diet. Raw doesn't automatically mean healthy.

Double Helix · 01-24-2008

I read The Raw Secrets when it first came out and it was the best book on raw I had ever read, until 80/10/10 came out.

When I first got interested in raw, there weren't a lot of these recipes going around. The original purpose for these recipes was really to give people some kind of familiarity without making people feel like they were going back on cooked.

However, I think too many people are using these recipes to actually live on and then wonder why they aren't getting the results that "everyone else" is getting on a raw food diet.

Most of the ingredients in the recipes aren't considered raw and have been either high heat treated or pasteurized in some way, so that people aren't really "staying raw" eating this stuff. They are just eating something different than their regular old cooked meal.

Also, I think these recipes are damaging in the fact that they keep someone from really changing the way they think about food. They can still have their "cheesecake", "bread", "pizza", "cheese", etc. It keeps people from really changing who they are because it allows them to hang on to their old habits, because they are tricking themselves.

If anything, change the names! Don't call frozen pureed bananas "ice cream"...it's not. Call it banana whip or something!

jparamax · 01-26-2008

I am new to raw foods, but I am in complete agreement with the posting. In fact, I'd probably be one of those people who wants to adopt a raw food diet and ends up subsisting on Lara bars - but perhaps without the self-deception! I picked up Carol Alt's "Eating in the 'Raw'" and was disconcerted to see that there were 11 dessert receipes and only 7 for entrees.

Thanks for your post. I'm looking forward to educating myself. Even just dabbling in raw meals, I am amazed by how different I feel when I eat living food.

healthyme · 01-27-2008

I agree, raw food is about getting closer to the source of food not making it look like SAD food. The point is to be healthier and by eating raw fruits and veggies this will help us get there.

RawFoodGrl · 01-27-2008

I think it's all about moderation. I think it's wonderful that there are so many recipes out there that are familiar to people, so that it's more approachable.

I don't see anything wrong with putting fresh veggies together a certain way, wrapping it in collard greens so that it resembles a taco, and calling it a Living Taco.

I also don't see anything wrong with deyhdrating eggplant slices, topping it with a pureed tomato mixture, topping it with julienned veggies and flowers and calling it a pizza.

While I agree that people shouldn't make desserts all day and eat nothing but nuts and be thrilled they're going raw (which I still think is better than a SAD diet) and of course they are not getting the full benefits of a raw lifestyle, what's wrong with occasionally having a raw cookie? As in "on occasion", a sometime thing, not an "all the time thing".

I wholeheartedly agree that the bulk of one's raw diet should be fresh produce, as unprocessed as possible. But I also have no problem with making my own crackers that I can keep in my purse for emergencies, as well as having raw food bars for emergencies. Not to rely on as a meal, but for in a pinch.

I mean, I was stuck on a plane for hours and had nothing to eat - should I have gone hungry? Lost my mind from low blood sugar? Eaten the SAD food on the plane? I chose to have my raw food bar instead, and I firmly believe that to be perfectly acceptable.

Another time I was out with people and couldn't convince them to stop and eat. I was hungry, and not in a position to carry a full days worth of food with me. So I had a few nuts, a raw food bar, and a couple crackers. Was that my preference? No, but it beat the alternative - either going hungry or, much, much later, having a burger (or, only the raw option, a couple slices of iceberg lettuce and one slice of tomato).

Is that they way I normally eat? Absolutely not. I eat pounds of fresh produce daily, the majority of which is fresh out of my garden, always eaten less than an hour after it was picked.

I hear what you all are saying, but I just don't see anything wrong with that.

Double Helix · 01-28-2008

This is what the OP is about:

Quote:

A diet of "raw" cheesecakes, cookies, flax crackers with pate or tons of guacamole, in my mind, is in absolutely NO WAY healthier than a low fat cooked vegan diet, in the long run (meaning that if a person is going to eat "raw" junk foods long term instead of a low fat vegan cooked diet).