Raw foodists are the people, who prefer eating uncooked plant food. Raw food diet definitely has some sense in it. Fruit, raw vegetables, nuts, salad, and sprouted seeds preserve all useful properties (enzymes, vitamins and biologically active substances). Still, one should not eat only raw food.
Raw Food Diet: Nutritionists’ Point of View
Raw foodists’ diet is poor in protein, which can lead to lowered immunity. It may lead to deteriorated condition of the skin, anemia, muscular dystrophy, and other probable violations. Those who suffer from the diseases of the digestive tract should treat this diet cautiously. This is due to the fact that the abundance of fiber irritates the intestines and the stomach.
Raw Food Diet Health Risks: Helminthosis
The greatest health risk is concealed in raw meat, dairy and fish products: the risk of catching infectious diseases or helminthosis with the penetration of helminths is rather high. Such raw food should be excluded from the raw foodist’s menu.
Diet Solution
The patients suffering from disorders of metabolism and healthy people should also use fasting days with plant raw food. Nutritionists advise that everyone should eat raw vegetables and fruit at least one or two days a week. The result of such a fasting therapy is usually pretty good.
Turn Vegetarian for a Few Days
Vegetarianism is desirable as a diet. A person might have a desire to detoxify the body after winter, when much animal food is eaten, and trivial cases of overeating are frequent. The best option may be to give up eating meat for the period from one to three, and sometimes up to five or seven days.
Don’t Try Too Hard
When rejection of animal products lasts longer than a few months, the person can start complaining of unexplained mood swings, fatigue, dry and pale skin, or brittle hair. The analysis of blood will certainly reveal the deficiency of hemoglobin, and the scales will show an increase in weight. The latter can be explained by the increased love for sweet dishes and baking – as it usually happens if the diet is unbalanced.
Raw Food Diet Contraindications
The experts believe that raw food diet is strictly contraindicated to breast-feeding mothers, pregnant women, teenagers, and children. The women, who keep to such a diet, have some gynecological problems, as a rule. In 1999, a study was conducted in Germany, which demonstrated that one in three supporters of the raw food diet lost menstruation. Many raw foodists often have the work of their gastric tract disrupted. Because of this diet, teenagers usually lag behind in height from their peers.
