Whilst humans have been cooking much of their food for thousands of years, it wasn't always that way. It is believed that around 700,000 years ago, our ancestors started to use fire to cook food. However cooking changes the molecular structure of our food, destroying some of its natural properties and enzyme content. Raw food nutrition however, is about consuming food sources for the health benefits they provide in their raw state. Literally eating as our ancestors would have done (and as all other species still do) before we discovered fire. 

In order to digest cooked foods, your body makes enzymes which are used to break them down. Many raw foodists advocate that eating raw foods, which still contain their own enzymes, allows the body to take a rest from using its own enzymes to break down the food. They argue the foods own enzymes help the digestion process. 

Gourmet raw food!

This of course leaves the bodys own enzymes to be saved and used in tissue repair and other healing processes. This is one reason why a raw food diet promotes healing.

However many mainstream nutritionists reject this idea. They claim it is not possible for the body to make use of plant enzymes during digestion; they argue the body must still make it's own for this purpose.

Enzymes are just one part of the picture, however. Cooking denatures proteins and fats. The toxicity of fats increases when cooked becoming harmful to the body when consumed over many years.

The raw food movement has evolved over the years, and many individuals and comunities have tried raw food diets over many years. The knowledge gained by these people is invaluable to those wishing to start own their own raw food yourney. Whilst eating only raw food will often lead to significant early health benefits, many people have run into problems after a number of years. It is important to learn from those who managed to correct these issues so your own journey will be successful.

Here is an interview with Victoria Boutenko where she describes her initial success, the problems which she and her family experienced, and the approach she took to overcome them.

One of the things that Victoria suggests is making smoothies that combine greens with fruit. Blending them into a smoothie makes the greens more easily digestible and the addition of fruit makes them more palatable. If you want to try this, then here's a link to some great green smoothie recipies!

For more infomation about raw food nutrition - check out this article.