As a raw foodist myself, I’ve spent hundreds of hours (if not more) researching the arena of raw foods, health, energy, peak performance and other related topics. I’ve seen the research for raw foods, and I’ve heard the counterarguments against going raw. After looking at all of this evidence with an open mind, I’m more convinced than ever that eating 100% raw foods is by far the most sensible path to radiant health.

I’ll be honest with you: it’s tough to accept ideas that completely shatter a current paradigm. This is a cooked food world everywhere you turn…but that doesn’t mean it’s natural or even healthy. Humans are the only creatures on Earth that cook their food. Think about it. All animals in nature eat their wild, natural diet of raw foods. These animals also live to their natural old age, free of the countless diseases on the rise more and more. Yet feed all these animals the same exact foods – cooked – and they develop the degenerative diseases seen everywhere today. There have been countless studies on all different types of animals, and the difference between the same food raw and cooked is the difference between vibrant health and chronic disease, genetic mutations, and complications galore.

It’s certainly not our fault for eating cooked foods! They’ve spread rapidly across the globe since fire was first used to cook thousands of years ago. The reason for this has nothing to do with health if you really dive into the research. When proteins, fats or carbohydrates are heated above a certain temperature, the structure of the food itself changes. My favorite line about this comes from Susan Schenck in The Live Food Factor: “When you were in chemistry lab at school, you no doubt learned that heating things changed their chemical structures. Why would heating food be immune to this chemical process?” The generally accepted cut-off point for heating most foods is 118 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s interesting to think about temperatures in nature, where most hot days reach up into the 80s or 90s. Certain regions can even hit 100-110, but that’s about the upper limit. This corresponds remarkably well to the point where foods change structurally.

An example? The act of heating protein creates cross-links that make around 50% of the protein unusable by the body. When you cook a big slab of meat, you likely go from about 100% protein to 50% protein digestibility on average, depending on the temperature and duration of heating. This literally means that raw foodists need only half the protein intake of people who cook every form of protein they encounter.

But to get back to why the cooked food culture has spread, the heating actually causes thousands of chemicals to be released, many of which our bodies are simply not designed to handle. Many of these chemicals also inhibit our natural functioning by destroying the delicate chemical balances throughout our body. Cooked foods are addicting, comforting, and warm. How many times have you reached for your favorite cooked food when you’ve had a stressful day? An emotional challenge? When you’re exhausted? They’re comforting and addicting, which is why it’s such a hard habit to break. Many raw foodists know firsthand that breaking the habit can be more challenging than any drug addiction – and that it can take years to accomplish.

This is a tough topic to write about because it really feels like an attack on your habits. If you found yourself becoming defensive over your foods, consider why that may be. Have your foods become tied up in your emotions rather than a shining path to radiant health? These are the hard questions, but if you’re willing to ask them then you’re actively breaking up the patterns and habits that may be holding you back. Let me know if this post inspired some heavy thinking and opened some doors for you, or just feel free to ask questions below and I’ll give you my honest opinion.

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett