Is Following a Raw Food Diet Right for You?

Have you been looking for a diet plan that can help you feel and look great?  If you are ready to make a radical change from your current diet, you might want to consider following a raw food diet.

As the name implies, a raw food diet includes eating foods in their natural state.  It does not refer to eating meats in their raw form.  Rather, it is a vegetarian diet that involves eating only plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, seaweed, beans and sprouts that are not cooked.  Although hardcore raw food diet practitioners do not heat their foods at all, the diet plan does allow for heating foods slightly, but never above 116 degrees Fahrenheit.  This is because followers of the raw food diet believe that heating foods over 116 degrees Fahrenheit destroys the enzymes in the food that are responsible for helping the body absorb nutrients and digest food.

Those who follow the raw food diet claim it offers a number of benefits.  Some of these include:

· Improves the skin’s appearance
· Increases energy levels
· Aids in digestion
· Facilitates weight loss
· Reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes

Although you may not be ready to cut meat out of your diet or to follow such a seemingly radical plan, the essence of the raw food diet is one that we should all pay attention to.  After all, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence showing that eating plant-based foods can help keep the body healthy and can even help keep it protected from certain types of diseases and illnesses. So, even if you aren’t ready to dive completely into the raw food diet plan, you may want to seriously consider cutting back on the amount of meat you are consuming and increasing the amount of fruits, vegetables and other plant-based foods you include in your diet.  By combining a healthy diet with a healthy lifestyle that involves getting more physical activity, you will certainly look and feel better about yourself and your body.