Raw Power

The underlying principle is simple: Food in its raw state contains an abundance of beneficial nutrients and enzymes.

Some of the reported perks of eating raw include loss of excess weight, clearer skin, fewer wrinkles, improved digestion, increased energy, and fewer colds.

The Raw Difference

“Food is the best way to get nutrients,” says Jordan Rubin, founder and CEO of Garden of Life and author of The Raw Truth. However, heat above a temperature of 115 to 118 degrees-significantly lower-than-typical cooking temperatures-begins to kill off natural enzymes and other nutrients. A dehydrator or most sun drying leaves nutrients intact.

Rubin describes raw-food nutrients as having “nutrient intelligence.” For example, he says, “The calcium that I get from my raw-milk yogurt or kale goes to my bones and teeth but doesn’t go to my kidneys, my arteries, and my brain.” When it comes from non-food sources, the mineral may end up in the wrong places and cause problems.

Raw food nutrients don’t exist in isolation but are accompanied by co-factors, supporting vitamins, minerals, enzymes, probiotics, and peptides (special protein molecules that transport each nutrient to places where it will provide the greatest benefit). For example, research published in Nutrition Research found that, compared with isolated, synthetic forms, the raw form of selenium was five times as effective in lowering cholesterol. Cell receptors are designed for the exact shapes of raw nutrients. Because human-made versions aren’t an exact fit, they aren’t absorbed to the same degree.

Convenient Raw Options

In addition to raw vegetables and fresh fruits, consider raw nuts and nut butters, dried berries, unpasteurized juice, unpasteurized milk (if they are legal in your state), dried powdered foods such as greens,
and nutrition bars.

Raw vitamin and mineral supplements may contain one or more raw ingredients. In others, such as the Garden of Life Vitamin Code line, the entire supplement is raw.

Go Shopping!

country life real Food organics women’s daily nutrition is made from over 50 raw organic fruits and vegetables. A proprietary process called Cryo-Active State, which uses fermentation combined with freeze-drying with live probiotic cultures, ensures vital nutrients are retained.

garden of life vitamin code raw calcium uses a patented form of marine algae known as algas calcareas.sp, which is ecologically harvested off the pristine shores of South America. It is an excellent source of raw, organic calcium, and 73 naturally occurring minerals.

north american herb & spice chaga syrup is made with sun-ripened chaga, a medicinal mushroom from birch trees, along with wild, raw honey and raw grape extract. Chaga is a natural source of B vitamins, minerals, and enzyme superoxidedismutase (SOD). Try it drizzled over nut butters.