raw foods: Basically fruit,Veg and nuts and seeds etc. Is it a good Idea?|||In most veg you will lose a certain amount of the vitamins and minerals that they food contains by cooking it, although things like potatoes aren't a good idea to eat raw due to the way the starch changes during cooking. The other complication is that they'll lose some of that stuff anyway unless they're frozen, so unless you're eating either food picked that day or defrosting and eating frozen veg then it won't really make any difference. The final thing to consider is that your body has to do an awful lot more work on raw food to process it, especially high fibre and high starch based foods. This can cause a few problems in itself especially if it's not used to eating raw food. Fruit btw is slightly different and in most cases should be eaten raw for the max benefit. But that's because it's higher in sugar which is much simpler to break down that starch. On the seeds front - be very careful as some really do need cooking! Lentles for one are poisonous if you eat them raw so always read the packet.|||The only benefit that i can think of , is that it would save me a fortune on electric, as i wouldnt have to cook!|||Well, I reckon only by giving your food a good chew, you take longer to eat it and it fills you up in that your brain knows when to stop. And it takes more energy to chew properly. I read once if you chew gum all the time, you could lose 11 lbs. in a year. Mushy hot food goes down to quickly and you are inclined to eat more. And raw food has more vitamins. Go easy on the nuts, they are full of fat, but good fat, but lots of calories. Get some ideas off the internet.|||Its supposed to be that you don't cook out the nutrients. Fruits & veggies can lose nutrients if overcooked. RN|||All of he above are better Not ****** because when you cook food you loose some if not all of the nutrients. Mined you it has to be down to personal taste in the end. I'd rather have a Jacket potato than sit and munch on a raw tattie.|||the full benifits of what is contained within them is not deminished through the cooking process. veg, nuts and seeds will take a lot of chewing for them to get digested properly, if you dont the oils contained inside them will stay there and just come out the other end the same way they went down. must chew them good!|||There are benefits from not over cooking foods, just blanching them to retain the nutrients in them, this is good. But where will you get protein from? Uncooked food can be harder to digest and if you have any bowel problems such as diverticulitis or ileitis you will be in a world of hurt in short order. I never cook fruits or many veggies but Blanche them, if you eat all raw(uncooked food) expect a lot more gas from them, farting|||it sure is zee so keep eating it|||The enzymes. Raw plant foods have all the enzymes necessary for digestion. When we cook food we destroy the enzymes in them so our bodies have to use our own enzymes to digest them. Our bodies need these enzymes for other purposes besides digestion so it puts a strain on our body if we only eat cooked foods. Heating can also alter some food components, particularly fats, to a less healthy form. Cooking can also destroy some of the more fragile, health-promoting phytochemicals such as the indoles found in cruciferous veges. However certain nutrients such as vitamin B-12 are not present in plant foods so we need to get it for animal sources such as meat and dairy. Food from animal sources should be cooked to destroy bacteria and parasites so a 100% raw food diet may not be adviseable. Also some plant antioxidants, such as some of the caretonoids, may be better absorbed by our bodies after being heated. So maybe an 80-85% raw food diet may be optimal. If you eat raw tree nuts and seeds make sure you soak them in water for several hours, rinse them and dry them before eating them.