Vegan Diet Plans | Cooked vs Raw Vegan Meals

Advantages of Eating Raw Vegan Meals

An important advantage of raw veganism is that it is much closer to the way our ancestors used to feed themselves. By avoiding cooking, foods retain all their vitamins and minerals, so the body gets the maximum of benefits from eating them. When vegetables are boiled in water, most of their vitamins get lost, as they are water soluble. Once you discard the water, you also throw away an important part of these vitamins.

By eating raw vegan meals , you may even experience benefits that reach beyond health. For example, the advantages of preparing raw vegan meals can include all of these and more:

• Weight loss
• High energy levels
• Better hydration
• Lower blood pressure
• Regular bowel movements
• Radiant skin
• Faster healing
• Stronger immune system
• Prevention or reversal of diseases
• Increased Environmental awareness
• Reduced doctor and dentist visits
• Premium health insurance ratings
• Less time in the kitchen
• No cooking fuel or electricity costs

Which benefits are most important to you is the question that needs to be of more concern to you than what vegan proponents are saying.

In addition, what has your experimentation with vegan diet plans revealed to you about your body is the next very important question?

There is no definitive line of research that can tell you what percentage of raw food or cooked food needs to be in your diet. Studies do show the benefits of including a little bit of both.

Studies Show Cooked With Raw Vegan Meal Plans Best

The raw versus cooked vegan diets have divided the scientific community in two separate schools of thought. Researchers on both sides conduct various studies, hoping to prove the benefits of their choice. Many of these studies are published in prestigious medical journals, so they can be trusted to a certain extent. Sometimes, these studies aim to prove the other side is wrong. This is how it comes that we can find studies that show raw vegan dieters may experience a decrease of lycopene in their bodies. As lycopene is a key factor in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, it’s easy to figure out that we have to make sure we get enough of this nutrient from our diet. Lycopene is found in tomatoes. Apparently, by cooking the tomatoes, we help increasing the bio-availability of this compound. The same kind of research has evidenced the fact that boiling the asparagus, carrots, mushrooms, spinach or cabbage increases the amount of antioxidants supplied to the body than eating them raw.

On the other hand, Dr. Mercola is positive that the optimal diet for human subjects consists of raw foods in percentage of 85% out of everything we eat. In addition, there are studies that show raw foods can provide the body more enzymes than the same foods cooked, as many of these enzymes are destroyed when subject to high temperature. With this is true, so many people may get confused as they are going to find it hard to choose the right way.

The best approach to raw versus cooked vegan diets is to maintain a good balance between the two. You can start by learning everything you can about food chemistry, about the various nutrients and the foods that contain them, and about the best cooking methods that help preserve these nutrients in each specific situation.

Once you understand what happens to various foods when exposed to high temperature, you are going to know what to eat raw and what to steam or boil, in order to get the most out of your diet. You don’t need to be a doctor in nutrition to be able to understand the principles of healthy diets. You may need to consult your notes each time you want to prepare a new meal, but you are eventually going to be able to recall this information from your memory when needed, so you won’t have to carry your notebook with you at all times.

Going Vegan Requires You to Listen to Your Own Body

Many proponents of plant food diets especially raw vegans hold to their diet with zeal and conviction. This attitude can be largely attributed to their personal health transformation they experience more so than what vegan diet proponents claim.

Whatever your choice, you need to be very careful with your food intake, as vegan diets are known to be poor in protein, if they aren’t properly balanced. You have to learn which vegetables, fruits, nuts or seeds are rich in protein, and make sure you eat enough of them, in order to supply your body the required protein amount for your muscles to be healthy and strong. However, too much of them will have a negative effect on the body.

By carefully balancing the foods you eat, you can find the diet that would enable you to feel alive and full of energy from dusk till dawn. However, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to discuss your intention of embracing a specific diet with your doctor, especially if you suffer from chronic diseases. It is possible for some foods to interfere with your current medication, thus creating severe health issues. For instance, one of the most common cancer drugs is incompatible with the grapefruit consumption. There are many such situations, so you should definitely consider making your doctor your friend and your ally in developing your healthy eating plan that would enable you to live a long and healthy life.

Giving up meat isn’t a problem, as long as you provide your body all the nutrients it needs for a smooth functioning. If the raw vegan diets works for you, there’s no reason for not sticking to it for good. On the contrary, if it makes you feel bloated, you should perhaps try to cook some of those foods, and see if you feel better.

You should always listen to your own body and follow its hints .

Was this info helpful? Rate above and Comment Below

 

Image Sources:

http://www.rawandradiant.com/blog/bestveganchilli

http://275ew72opx3c2qc90832fd4b-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/how-to-make-vegan-spicy-soba-noodles-recipe.png

Comments

comments