Encyclopedia of Diets - A Guide to Health and Nutrition

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Raw foods diet

Definition

The raw food diet is a lifestyle diet where at least
75% of all food consumed eaten raw and never com-
mercially processed or cooked.

Origins

Raw food has its origins in prehistory. As humans
gradually developed tools and learned to control fire,
a raw food diet gave way to a diet of cooked food.
Modern interest in a raw food diet began in the 1930s.
Ann Wigmore (1909–1994) was an early pioneer in
using raw or ‘‘living’’ foods to detoxify the body.
Herbert Shelton (1895–1985) was another early advo-
cate of the health benefits of raw foods.

Shelton founded a school and clinic in Texas that
promoted the practice of Natural Hygiene. Natural
Hygiene is an offshoot of naturopathic or alternative
medicine. Shelton believed that conventional medi-
cines were poison, fasting would cleanse the body,
and that only one type of food should be eaten at
each meal. Shelton’s philosophy has influenced both
the raw food movement and Harry Diamond, founder
of theFit for Life diet.

Since the 1980s, several raw food diets have been
promoted as cures forcancer. However, although the
American Cancer Society and the National Cancer
Institute support a diet high in vegetables, including
raw vegetables, they do not support a raw foods diet
as prevention or a cure for cancer. Raw food began to
develop a more high-profile following in the 1990s,
as celebrities such as Demi Moore and Woody Har-
relson embraced a raw food diet, and in the 2000s
raw food restaurants and cafes began showing up
in some trendy urban areas, especially in Northern
California.

Description

The raw food diet is more of a philosophy and

lifestyle choice than a conventional weight-loss diet. A

raw food diet is one in which 75% or more of the food

a person eats is uncooked. Generally, raw foodists

believe that the closer a person can come to eating a

diet that is 100% raw, the better that person’s health

will be.

Raw food, as defined by many raw foodists, is

unprocessed food whose temperature has never reached

above 116F(47C). Some raw foodists make a dis-

tinction between ‘‘raw’’ and ‘‘living’’ foods. Raw foods,

they define as uncooked foods, while living foods

are uncooked foods that contain more enzymes

because they have been ‘‘activated.’’ As an example,

an unsprouted almond would be considered raw, but

an almond soaked inwaterthat has begun to sprout

would be considered living. For discussion here, raw

andlivingareusedinterchangeablytomeanfoodthathas

not been processed or heated above 116F(47C).

Raw foodists can be vegans and eat no animal

products, vegetarians, who eat dairy products and

eggs but no meat, or omnivores who eat both vegeta-

bles and meat, so long as their food is raw. The major-

ity tend to be vegetarians or vegans who prefer to eat

uncooked, unheated, unprocessedorganic food. Some

go so far as to advocate that the raw foodist grow his

or her food instead of purchasing it from commercial

growers.

Some foods that are mainstays of the raw food

diet include:

fresh fruits and vegetables

seeds

nuts

legumes (dried beans and peas)

whole grains

dried fruits and vegetables

unpasteurized fruit and vegetable juices