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Teshna Beaulieu typically starts her day with watermelon or sliced avocados and cucumbers topped with lemon juice, sea salt and tomatoes. Her beverage of choice is fresh coconut milk. The East Chatham, N.Y., chiropractor's routine doesn't change much as the day goes along. She eats a variety of salads for lunch and dinner, often adding fresh vegetables or seaweed. She snacks on nuts. Beaulieu almost never uses her oven or stove. The blender is the kitchen appliance she turns to most. Welcome to the raw food diet. Beaulieu prefers to call it the raw food way of life, because diet implies a weight-loss program. For Beaulieu, who started eating raw foods 15 years ago, and others, it's a lifestyle choice. "As the years go by I do it more and more. I feel better with it," she says. "When I eat raw food I don't feel tired after a meal. When I eat cooked food, I feel heavier and more tired." Raw food means exactly that -- almost. Proponents of a raw food diet primarily eat uncooked fruits and vegetables. They also consume nuts and grains, oftentimes made edible with soaking that in some cases causes sprouting. However, raw food enthusiasts use a dehydrator to "cook" certain foods. Dismissed by some as a fringe fad or extreme vegetarianism, raw food entered the mainstream during the past decade. Raw food received a ringing endorsement in 2003 when Chicago chef and restaurateur Charlie Trotter co-authored a cookbook called "Raw" (Ten Speed Press). In addition to blenders and juicers, most raw food advocates employ a dehydrator to "bake" bread and other foods. Nothing is heated above 118 degrees, however. The theory is that essential enzymes are destroyed at temperatures above 118, and these enzymes need to be properly digested. Katherine Tallmadge, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, has called the diet "dangerous." She believes certain segments of the population -- pregnant women, children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems -- would be well advised to limit their intake of raw foods. "The idea that cooked food is toxic is absurd. There's absolutely no science to back that up," Tallmadge says. "The (raw food) diet is protein-deficient and nutrient-poor." Source:
http://www.pe.com/lifestyles/food/stories/PE_Fea_Daily_raw0302.efef.html |