Raw food diet
Posted by healthymomma on Jun 19, 2006 · Member since May 2006 · 627 posts
I have a curiousity about raw food diets... Do people eating a raw food diet drink tea? For some reason this question keeps coming up in my mind. It seems like the herbs would be steamed during steeping, is it strictly raw food? I suppose it depends on the person and perhaps I've answered my own question.. oh well... I'd like an answer on this please!! the curiousity is killin me! ::)
my thinking is that raw foodists dont cook food because the nutrients are killed. that doesn't necessarily make it ok for them to cook and eat crap that doesn't have nutrients in it, but i think tea is pretty neutral. i think extremists would say they want to avoid anything heated to that temperature, but i don't see the harm in it, as long as its organic and herbal. but then, im not an expert. ;)
I've heard that some raw foodists drink sun-tea or moon-tea, which involves a jar of water and herbs left to steep in the sunlight/moonlight for a few hours.
I haven't tried this, personally, but here are some links with information:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001287sun_tea.php
http://coffeetea.about.com/cs/teabrewing/ht/ht_suntea.htm
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/951/RussianSunTea68106.shtml
I'm certainly not an expert on raw food diets. I think there is some temperature
limit on warming food (like 150 degrees f., but I'm guessing at that). While it is
true that cooking some foods removes nutrients, cooking also makes some foods
easier to digest, so the nutrients (even if there are less) are more accessible to
you.
Regarding tea, as Katica says, you can always make tea without heat, it just takes
longer. I you are thinking of doing the raw food diet thing, I'm not sure what you
do about grains (like rice) which are really good for you and really need to be
cooked. Does anybody know about this??
I've read that raw foodists sprout grains to make them more digestible.
Raw foodists not only sprout grains, but nuts and seeds as well. There is an enzyme in nuts and seeds that makes it more difficult for us to digest them. When you soak and sprout nuts and seeds properly, the enzyme is released and digestion is easier. Even soaking them for at least 15 minutes releases 50% of the enzyme. I've read that squirrels will actually plant a nut and let it sprout for a few days before eating it. Amazing what the animal kingdom does..... ;D
Thanks everyone!
As far as tea goes, I have friends who don't want to wait for tea to get cold enough to ice...they just put the pitcher with boocoos of teabags in the water, straight into the fridge and leave it overnight (or all day if you're going to be out.) It takes several hours but they say the tea is just as good as the boiled kind. I dunno, I'm kind of oldfashioned, I haven't tried it this way yet. Has anyone else? I know they use more bags to get more flavour, since the water isn't even heated. (and my Welsh grandfather would turn over in his grave. I can still hear him: "The water must be boiled, and freshly boiled." :-\)
I'm not very far into raw foods, but logically boiled water for tea would be ok, as tea doesn't contain anything nutritious apart from, I guess, teeny tiny bits of minerals.
My raw food-dilemma is how you manage to keep it up in the winter when, say, you come home from school/work freezing, tired and hungry. Does cucumber and sprouts keep you going when it's snowing?
Springtime,
That's just it. When you go on a raw food diet, you won't come home feeling tired, hungry and cold. The raw food diet gives you and abundance of energy, and it actually helps you become more accustomed to the cold. I should know. I was on a raw food diet for a little bit there and I had more energy than I thought possible. I did go off of it though because it is a very hard diet to keep up, especially when you don't have the right tools. It's not all about eating just cucumbers and sprouts. It's also nuts and seeds, and fruits. You can make the same things out of raw food that you can almost everything else. I've even seen taco recipes using nothing but raw food. However, like I said, you really need the right equipment to upkeep the diet. Like, you need a dehydrator, a blender, a juicer, etc. It's not a cheap diet to maintain.
Thanks, Chicyuna, for the reply
It's always great to learn new stuff, and raw foods relly interest me at the moment (perhaps because its like 1000 degrees outside and I don't want to come anywhere near hot food..)
I knew about the nuts and the raw cooking alredy. Guess I was just beig a bit prejudictive (is that a word?).
But, as you say, I've figured it's got to be quite expensive and time consuming.
I still have my doubts about sprouts (hey, It's a rhyme!) when it comes to matching them with a scandinavian winter, which means a lot of snow and -15 celsius. But I'm sure it'll work if you have your mind on it!
LOL. Try being in -40 degrees celsius! :-\ LOL. I live in a city that's on the prairies in Canada where there is no blockage from anything to stop the cold during winter. Sometimes we get snowed in, depending on how harsh the blizzard is. It gets hot and dry during the summer and freezing cold during the winter! Sorry, I just had to add that in! LOL If you do try raw, good luck! ;D
Thanks everyone!
On another note: Haha! :P I'm from Saskatchewan where it gets 50 degrees celsius with the windchill... being the prairies and smalltown.... it has been getting warmer, though. Now I'm in BC which is more veggie friendly and warmer all around! I am curious about the raw foods, vegan is enough for me now, as I am converting...
wow! I had no idea it was even possible to live where it was that cold. I would love to go somewhere that cold and icy, I love cold weather. also, I had no idea there were prairies in Canada. If you managed staying raw in that weather, I'd suggest calling the Guinness book of world records, cos that's gotta qualify for something!
LOL. Springtime, it's get colder when you go further north. I'm from Regina, and it's pretty close to the US border. But yeah, it could get that cold during the winter. Right now we're in a heatwave, and it's about 35*C some days. It gets pretty extreme. I have some pics of the prairies on my portfolio so you can have a look if you like. If you wanna learn more, my addy is chicyuna at hot. Original, I know.. lol. Anywho, I realize that's kinda off topic of raw food.. sorry peeps.. lol.