Raw food: which dishes are safe to eat?

Raw food eating involves eating food in its organic form and with limited processing. A healthy diet consists of eating vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts, but can also include fish, meat, unpasteurized dairy products, and raw eggs – which dishes are the safest and most recommended?

Raw food: is it healthy to eat?

Choosing a raw food diet means avoiding any kind of food processing that may reduce its natural nutrients in the first place, as foods eaten raw generally retain their nutrients better. In addition, as research published in The Journal Of Nutrition (JN) shows, food processing such as heating, fermentation or blanching leads to the loss of minerals and vitamins from many foods. Likewise, vitamins such as folic acid, vitamin B1 and ascorbic acid are very sensitive to heat and are therefore lost when food is processed.

While it is true that many foods do tolerate some types of processing, they can be eaten on a raw food diet. For this purpose, a raw food diet can be juiced, blended and even heated but not above 118°F. because the purpose of eating raw foods is to eat them in their most organic and natural state.

And as for some of its benefits, we can highlight some of those demonstrated in studies such as the one cited in the Journal of Nutrition, which explains how it is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, that there is also a lower risk of obesity, a lower propensity to bad cholesterol and an increase in energy. A diet whose ultimate goal is to achieve better health in general and have an impact on the prevention of diseases such as CVD and cancer, although they have also been linked to low bone mass.

Raw foods: which are safe and which are not?

Raw food eating originated in the United States in the so-called Natural Hygiene movement, and although there is no specific, single definition of these diets, in all its variants the food is eaten unprocessed and uncooked. Raw food consists mainly of nuts, fruits, seeds, beans and grains, as well as some raw meats that are good and safe to eat.

In other countries such as Germany, for example, dairy products and grains are omitted altogether and usually only one food is eaten within a single meal, i.e. no mixing of foods. Raw food diets can be practised in several versions: the so-called ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet, the vegan or omnivorous diet, and all mixed raw food diets, which include raw meat and fish.

Foods that are not recommended for raw consumption (although they can be eaten with care) are fish, eggs, chicken meat, aubergines, almonds or mushrooms. In the end, following a restrictive raw food diet, especially one based on raw vegetables and fresh fruit, without any processing, contains the risk, as reported in another study published in the scientific journal Nutrients, of an insufficient supply of certain micro- and macro-nutrients and a shortage of vitamin B12 to name but a few consequences and risks.

Healthy raw food dishes

Some tasty and healthy dishes that can be eaten raw and are delicious and fresh for this summer season are, as main starters, the following salads:

• Cucumber, tomato and onion salad; is a refreshing and very easy dish to prepare as a starter or side dish that can also be eaten for lunch and can be sprinkled with almonds, sesame seeds or other seeds.

• Courgette salad is very suitable and perfect also for summer, both for sharing and for lunch or dinner.

• Guacamole soup. This is a rich soup that can be mixed with various ingredients such as spices or other creams such as tomato or cashew cream to give it a little more flavour and decorate the dish.

Other popular and healthy raw food dishes include:

• Carpaccio. Super popular and available in many supermarkets, ready-to-eat, carpaccio is a preparation of raw meat cut into very thin slices and usually eaten as a starter or appetizer.

• Tartar. Another popular raw meat-based dish that can be seasoned to taste with spices and raw egg, and can be served with vegetables or fish.

In short, the digestive system has its enzymes, i.e. proteins capable of speeding up chemical reactions in the body. These enzymes are broken down in food as amino acids, fatty acids, sugars or vitamins and their role is to help the body break down fats, carbohydrates and proteins, which is vital for absorbing all nutrients and for good health.

Thus, we can eat a healthy raw food diet based mostly on vegetables and greens, also by replacing animal collagen with a vegetable source, thanks to the protein intake of Living Silica Plant-Based Vegan Collagen Booster, 100% of vegetable origin, is composed of the same amino acids as collagen, but from vegetable sources, pea protein, acacia gum, with bioavailable silica of the latest generation and bamboo.