Dave Shaw: Why raw food claims are overcooked

Despite all the good, it's very hard to swallow the fact that we should be eating a strictly raw diet and here's why. Photo / 123RF

Raw foodies may be missing out, as the claims of eating an exclusively uncooked diet are, ironically, overcooked. Now, pseudo-health gurus like Freelee the Banana Girl and diet crazes like 'Raw til 4' have regretfully misinformed us that there is yet another nutritional panacea.

We are omnivores, we're meant to eat a variety of foods in a variety of combinations. A strictly raw food diet just doesn't make sense. There are too many rules to obey.

(Crazy) advice, like eating 15 bananas for breakfast (seriously), belongs on the set of The Planet of the Apes, not among a population already battling to figure out the connection between diet and health.

My biggest gripe stems from the warped sense of wellbeing advocates preach, and followers believe, resulting from such ridiculous, extreme diets. I know, just as well as you, that cooking is important. It allows us to eat foods we wouldn't otherwise be able to - meat, beans and lentils come to mind.

There needs to be a balance between the grill and the salad bowl. Many foods are actually more nutritious when eaten raw. The heat from cooking can destroy many vitamins, antioxidants and unsaturated fats.

Eating more raw can help manage weight by dropping calorie intake and upping the volume a meal. Essentially, you can eat unlimited amounts of a green leafy salad and not put on a pound. There's no doubt some benefits to eating raw food.

I write this post as I sit in my favourite raw food café, checking out the menu of glorified health foods. I've come to understand how the raw food trend is gaining steam.

Despite all the good, it's very hard to swallow the fact that we should be eating a strictly raw diet and here's why.

Disordered eating
An obsession with diets and body image sets the wheels in motion for more harmful practices. Raw foodists who shout their claims with religious zeal are wrongfully advertising that to look healthy, you need to restrict and remove wholesome foods simply because they're uncooked. Alarm bells should ring when you hear this, especially for high risk groups like young females.

Cooking is natural
Some raw foodies don't believe this. Yes, cooking is a form of processing but it was vital to evolution. It allowed us to thrive off what nature offered and boost nutrition, whilst expanding our tastes. Although, sadly, something went wrong over the last 100 years, and we now rely on machines rather than ourselves to cook the food we eat.

Cooking takes time but also gives us time
You will never find a raw food fan without a blender or juicer to do the work of digestion, otherwise they'd be chewing all day to cram in calories and nutrients. For those of you who swear by throwing everything through a juicer, don't kid yourself, getting your 5+ a-day by eating whole fruits and vegetables is a much better idea.

Culture
The longest living populations in the world cook their food based on traditional techniques and rules passed down generations. Ignorance, not enlightenment, would lead one to dismiss this wisdom. Those who regularly cook themselves are generally healthier than those who don't.

Food safety
We cook to protect ourselves from food borne pathogens and toxic chemicals. A medium-rare chicken is a ticking time bomb for an unpleasant bout of illness, or potentially something more severe.

Bioavailability
Raw foodists may forget some foods can provide us with more nutrition when cooked. For example, tomatoes contain a potent antioxidant called lycopene that is thought to reduce your risk of prostate cancer. Lycopene is fat soluble and can contribute more to health when eaten after being cooked, condensed down and combined with olive oil.