Due to the large impact social media has on our daily lives, it is easy for us to catch on to the newest trends very quickly. One major trend that has been roaming through our feeds lately is the eating ‘raw’ food fad. This raw food diet has caught on and has been highly endorsed by celebrities, such as star tennis player Venus Williams, who inspires many with her healthy eating and active lifestyle. The diet is basically the practice of eating only uncooked or unprocessed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts, etc. There are many appeals to this diet, one being that it involves no cooking. Cooking the food supposedly makes it less digestible and causes it to lose important nutrients, such as Vitamin C and Vitamin B. Uncooked foods are supposedly the most healthful for the body. Cooking the food could also destroy natural enzymes, which boost digestion and help to prevent certain diseases. The raw diet is believed to help lose weight because raw foods tend to be low in calories, sodium, and fat, while being high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Despite the many benefits of leaving food raw, there are plenty of advantages to cooking the food too. Cooking certain foods helps to break apart cellular walls releasing more nutrients than what they would have recieved eating it raw. For example, nutrients such as iron and calcium are released when cooking spinach.
In reality, both raw foods and cooked foods can be good for you, as long as you are eating each in moderation. The trend shouldn’t be eating completely raw, but eating half and half to get the best of both worlds, and taking the good from each one and making it a lifestyle.