Raw food

[bigbadbarry]

I've just copied and pasted this from "ethical living" as I got no replies over there (might go and eat worms).

I am developing a bit of an interest in raw food (of the hippy type not just a bit of chopped carrot) and wondered if anyone here had a. any particularly recommended books and/or b. could answer a slightly odd question. A couple of times I have felt a bit peculiar after eating something - the first time was raw bread made with sprouted hemp seeds, the second was coleslaw containing purple cornflour and cacao nibs. Both left me feeling a bit, well, spaced out. Odd. Not quite here. Am I nuts or is this normal?

Hi Bigbadbarry, I don't have personal experience of a diet of solely raw food but maybe its just a natural reaction to eating so many new foods your body isn't used to digesting...Are you sure it wasn't space cake?? :o

maybe it was! Is that why health-food types always look happy?

Raw food can be relatively low in energy (calories), plus it requires a lot of effort from your digestion to break it down. Cooked food is far easier to digest as it is broken down a little by the cooking process. If you feel 'spaced out', chances are your blood-sugars are dipping as a result of both and/or you're suffering from indigestion. Make sure you're getting plenty of energy-dense foods... nuts, seeds, avocado, other oils... and that you're drinking plenty of fluids to help your digestion function properly. Eat slowly, chewing food thoroughly. Also, in light of the e-coli scare recently, and as a more general point on food hygiene make very sure that what you're eating is as clean and fresh as possible. Bacteria present on raw food can cause stomach problems.

Thanks for your reply - I am not going completely raw, more introducing some new healthy recipes. Point taken re washing it well! I wondered if the cacao in particular might be stimulating?

My money would be on some kind of combination of indigestion and imbalanced blood-sugars that caused you to feel lightheaded. Purple cauliflower (not cornflour?) and sprouts can be very indigestible... hence why they create a lot of wind in the gut. Maybe if the cacao nibs had some caffeine in them that might have contributed.

Purple cornflour, not cauliflower - like this

There you go. Didn't know such a thing exists. However, since raw flour is quite indigestible, my point still stands. Raw potato, ditto....

This is an entertaining read.

Thank you! Looks entertaining and useful :)

Kate Wood's book 'eat smart eat raw' is great, I often eat one or two of my meals a day raw. I particularly like the soups and dips.

Ah - I was hoping for a book recommendation. Thanks!

Hi there everyone, randomly I got notification that my site had been linked to here so I thought I'd chip in to the discussion.
I would also recommend Kate Magic Wood's books Eat Smart Eat Raw which is a great beginners book and she has raised 3 strong boys on a raw food diet (not 100%). Also there are great free resources such as goneraw.com/recipes.
Also Ani Phyo has AMAZING books and a woman called Shazzie has written a raw recipe book for kids.

I'd say that there's a lot to learn about the raw food lifestyle (I prefer lifestyle to diet) and really the best thing you could do is just add lots of fresh ingredients in to what you're already eating, salads and smoothies are a great way to start.

With regards to feeling a bit spaced, well, it could be a host of reasons but I'll say that cacao nibs and purple corn are quite nutrient and mineral dense superfoods that it can take a bit of getting used to, particularly if you overdose on cacao it can make you feel very buzzy - that seems to be why most people LOVE it (like me).

I'm happy to chat if you want more info. You can hook me up through my website or here :) x