raw foods: I'd like to add more raw foods to my diet. Interested in any suggestions people have and any info on the science behind it. Thanks!|||I have tried a raw food diet just because I was curious about the claims behind it - many claim it can relieve numerous physical ailments, blast away cholesterol and blood pressure, rejuvenate the skin, make your hair and nails gorgeous. Unfortunately, three days in on a completely raw diet I was hungry and miserable. I was taking forever in the kitchen making all these elaborate recipes from the raw food cookbooks I took out of the library and it was costing me a fortune to have so many fresh fruit, vegetables and raw nuts and seeds. However, just because it didn't work out for me doesn't mean it's not for you :) There's been plenty of people that have done VERY well on a raw food diet. Just yesterday I watched a TV show on Discovery Health about Dr. Oz (the Oprah doctor), who took a group of very ill (high cholesterol, overweight, high blood pressure) people and put them on a completely raw vegan diet. By the end of 8 days, they lost an average of 25% of their cholesterol, they lost weight and ALL of them returned to normal blood pressure! Raw food diets take some dedication but I have found that I like a lot of the recipes, you don't need to go completely raw to enjoy the benefits of raw food, in my opinion. You can eat partially raw - after all, that's how our ancestors ate it before man applied fire to food, so it's got to be second nature, and possibly healthier too. My favorite raw food recipe is very basic zucchini pasta with raw sauce. I use a potato peeler to peel zucchini into flat, thin strips, like pasta. In a food processor, I mix tomato, avocado, garlic, onion, mushroom and fresh herbs like basil and oregano. I pour the sauce over the zucchini and I like to garnish with ground raw walnuts and nutritional yeast. There are a lot of great books out there, there's one book that I read that had before and after pictures of everyday people (some young women, some men and women in their fifties and beyond) who went on a raw food diet and looked absolutely amazing afterwards. This is the book: http://www.amazon.com/Live-Food-Factor-C鈥?/a> The book makes a lot of claims, but also offers a lot of research and insight, and surprisingly (most raw food books don't venture here!) has additional chapters about challenges and even offers counter-arguement for the raw food diet, which gives you a lot to think about. There's a lot that is said about vitamin B12, in particular for raw vegan diets. There's a lot of book out there about being a raw foodist. I thoght I'd also mention that the raw food diet isn't exclusively vegetarian, in fact, MANY of the books I've seen had people eating raw meat and sometimes raw dairy as well.|||I agree with allot of what Maggie's has to say. I did 100% Raw last summer it was a amazing experience too. 1 Danger I had seen in our raw group locally mixing allot of heavy fat based Raw foods(nuts, avocados etc,) with their normal fat based diets. Weight gains! I do not do the elaborate dishes often mostly for company or the Raw Potluck group I am a member of. My fave Raw Uncook book is Raw Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet. The recipes are small portions (1 or 2 servings), require very basic kitchen gadgets. I have a blender & juicers. I keep it simple. I do fresh Juice, lots of fresh veggies, salads, nuts, seeds, a small amount of fruit. My salads are quite eventful. Base usually being Romaine or other dark green lettuce with a huge variety of veggies, then the toppers raw seeds or nuts even sun-dried fruit. I never do raw meat or fish, but have done raw goat cheeses(rarely) Hallaujah Acres subscribes to the 85% Raw 15% Cooked Vegan Diet as most people fine it eaiser to do. This ratio is still considered RAW, though some Raw peeps do not feel anything less than doing 100%. http://www.hacres.com/home/home.asp Paul Nison has an amazing story on his health & an transformation by being 100% Raw. I heard him speak a few weeks ago.http://www.paulnison.com/beforeandafterp鈥?/a> "Let food be thy medicine" Hippocrates Slaint茅 (to your health)