By MaYa Thornton
We have recently witnessed an explosion of interest in eating nutrient-dense foods as a means to protect and restore good health. Generally, the public has become more aware that highly nutritious foods facilitate healing from common significant diseases. Generally, the public has become more aware that highly nourishing foods promote complete healing from critical illnesses that negatively impact our family and neighbors’ health and wellness. Arguably, everyone knows several people with a disease that results from diet and lifestyle.
The good news is we can choose healthy diets and lifestyle practices that improve our overall wellness. More people want to explore the options available to improve how to get the best from our diets. Marketing experts within the retail food sector are developing ever more creative ways of attracting and persuading consumers of distinctions in their products, leading to health-enhancing benefits.
However, how many people know that reputable scientific research demonstrates that a plant-based diet is best for optimal health? And as an extension of this data, more people are now asking if it matters whether one eats raw or cooked foods. While we respect the sincerity of the questioner who intends to eat a diet containing maximal nutrition, let’s see the humor in this question: animals are not asking this question! Let us consider the nutrient density of raw foods compared to cooked foods.
Of course, the underlying concern relates to maintaining and restoring healthy body functions. When obtaining a maximum nutritional value is the goal, it would appear from research that raw foods win. We get more than antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins from uncooked food. When we eat raw food, we are also ingesting more oxygen than cooked foods.
In 2019, William G. Kaelin Jr., Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, and Gregg L. Semenza won the Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology for exploring cell oxygen availability. Their research looked at cell oxygen availability, and its impact on all body functions from prenatal to old age. One way to get better oxygen delivery to the cell is by eating more raw food than cooked food. We compare some of the main properties of raw and cooked foods below.
| Raw Foods | Cooked Foods |
| More Fiber | Less Fiber |
| High ElectrolytesElectricity/ions | Few – 0 Electrolytes Electricity/0 ions |
| High Oxygen | Little – 0 Oxygen |
| Alkaline | Acid |
| More Nutrient Value | Less Nutrient Value |
| Live Enzymes | No Enzymes |
| Seeds Reproduce | Seeds Cannot Reproduce |
Michael Greger, MD, serves as the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States and is a founding member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He says, “It’s not what you eat; it’s what you absorb.” It is easier to absorb some phytonutrients from cooked foods and some vegetables, such as beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene, and calcium. Simultaneously, better absorbability from cooked food does not out-perform the innumerable nutrients delivered in uncooked foods. Dr. Gabriel Cousins documented one example of the extensive benefits when guiding people through his “Simply Raw – 30 Days to Reversing Diabetes” protocols. His patients showed a nearly 100% reduction in medication use and other health challenges.
There is also anecdotal data showing that raw foods contain more natural phytochemical elements to restore diseased and compromised cells. My personal experience with raw food lines up with this belief. Years ago, I always seemed to be hungry. I began eating over 50% uncooked foods and drinking homemade vegetable juices. My vision, dental health, and other functions improved within days. I concluded that my cells were hungry for pure, live nutrients.
According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, “We should be eating a lot of raw foods each day, but to think that a diet that is 100% raw is better than one that has some steamed vegetables or soup in it is just a distortion of the science; it’s not accurate.” I would suggest that the best approach is to be an informed consumer.
Many experts believe that we need raw and cooked veggies to get the most vitamins and minerals into our bodies from the available research.While the truth is that some foods yield more nutrients when we cook them, others are best when eaten raw. One conclusion from all the information available is that more fruits and vegetables in our diet each day are highly beneficial to our overall health and wellness. A healthy balance is best for optimal health.
