Raw animal food diets
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Raw foodism, also known as rawism or a raw food diet, is the dietary practice of eating only or mostly food that is uncooked and unprocessed. Depending on the philosophy, or type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selection of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, meat, and dairy products. The diet may also include simply processed foods, such as various types of sprouted seeds, cheese, and
fermented Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...
foods such as
yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bac ...
s,
kefir Kefir ( ; also spelled as kephir or kefier; ; ; ) is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt or ayran that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic symbiotic culture. The drink originated in the North Caucasus, in p ...
,
kombucha Kombucha (also tea mushroom, tea fungus, or Manchurian mushroom when referring to the culture; Latin name ''Medusomyces gisevii'') is a fermented, lightly effervescent, sweetened black tea drink commonly consumed for its purported health b ...
, or
sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferm ...
, but generally not foods that have been
pasteurized Pasteurization American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mi ...
,
homogenized Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...
, or produced with the use of synthetic pesticides,
fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
s,
solvent A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...
s, and
food additives Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), salt (sal ...
. The
British Dietetic Association The British Dietetic Association (BDA) is a professional association and trade union for dietitians in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1936 and became a certified union in 1982: it is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and the Scott ...
has described raw foodism as a
fad diet A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. There is no single defi ...
."Fad diets"
British Dietetic Association The British Dietetic Association (BDA) is a professional association and trade union for dietitians in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1936 and became a certified union in 1982: it is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and the Scott ...
. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
Raw food diets, specifically raw veganism, may diminish intake of essential minerals and nutrients, such as vitamin B12. Claims made by raw food proponents are pseudoscientific.


Varieties

Raw food diets are diets composed entirely or mostly of food that is uncooked or that is cooked at low temperatures.


Raw animal food diets

Raw animal food diets include any animal that can be eaten raw, such as uncooked, unprocessed raw muscle-meats/organ-meats/eggs, raw dairy, and aged, raw animal foods such as century eggs,
fermented Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...
meat/fish/shellfish/
kefir Kefir ( ; also spelled as kephir or kefier; ; ; ) is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt or ayran that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic symbiotic culture. The drink originated in the North Caucasus, in p ...
, as well as vegetables, fruits, nuts, and sprouts, but in general ''not'' raw grains, raw beans, and raw soy. Raw foods included on such diets have not been heated above . "Raw Animal Foodists" believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost much of their nutritional value and are harmful to the body. Smoked meats are frowned upon by many Raw-Omnivores. Some make a distinction between hot-smoked and cold-smoked.


Diet examples

*The "People's Primal Potluck", anopsology (otherwise known as "instinctive eating"), and the "Raw Paleolithic Diet" (otherwise known as the "raw meat diet"). *The "primal diet" consists of fatty meats, organ meats, dairy, honey, minimal fruit and vegetable juices, and coconut products, all raw.Meat: A Love Story
*The "raw Paleolithic diet", is a raw version of the (cooked)
Palaeolithic diet The Paleolithic diet, Paleo diet, caveman diet, or stone-age diet is a modern fad diet consisting of foods thought by its proponents to mirror those eaten by humans during the Paleolithic era. The diet avoids processed food and typically in ...
, incorporating large amounts of raw animal foods such as meats/organ-meats, seafood, eggs, and some raw plant-foods, but usually avoiding non-Paleo foods such as raw dairy, grains, and legumes. The founder of the Primal Diet is
Aajonus Vonderplanitz Aajonus Vonderplanitz (April 17, 1947 – August 28, 2013) was an American alternative nutritionist and food-rights activist who focused on raw foods, especially meat and dairy.Greg Presto"20 most controversial figures in health and fitness" '' ...
, a resident of Malibu, California. It has been estimated by Aajonus Vonderplanitz that there are 20,000 followers of his raw-meat-heavy Primal Diet in North America, alone. * Aboriginal diets consisted of large quantities of raw meats, organ meats, and berries, including the traditional diet of the Nenets tribe of Siberia, and the
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
. *
Pemmican Pemmican (also pemican in older sources) is a mixture of tallow, dried meat, and sometimes dried berries. A calorie-rich food, it can be used as a key component in prepared meals or eaten raw. Historically, it was an important part of indigenou ...
is the traditional North American travel food, prepared from dried meat, fat, and berries. File:Kefir-insieme.jpg,
Kefir Kefir ( ; also spelled as kephir or kefier; ; ; ) is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt or ayran that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic symbiotic culture. The drink originated in the North Caucasus, in p ...
preparation Image:Sashimi.jpg, A
sashimi is a Japanese delicacy consisting of fresh raw fish or meat sliced into thin pieces and often eaten with soy sauce. Origin The word ''sashimi'' means "pierced body", i.e. " 刺身" = ''sashimi'', where 刺 し = ''sashi'' (pierced, stu ...
dinner set File:Raw Horse meat with labels Oct 23 2020 07-11PM.jpeg, Raw
horse meat Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early existen ...
set


Raw veganism

Raw veganism has rarely been practised in history, but it became a fad in the 21st century. A raw vegan diet consists of unprocessed, raw plant foods that have not been heated above . Typical foods included in raw food diets are fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains and legumes. Among raw vegans are subgroups, such as "fruitarians", "juicearians", or "sproutarians". Fruitarians eat primarily or exclusively fruits, berries, seeds, and nuts. Juicearians process their raw plant foods into juice. The
British Dietetic Association The British Dietetic Association (BDA) is a professional association and trade union for dietitians in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1936 and became a certified union in 1982: it is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and the Scott ...
named the raw vegan diet one of the "top 5 worst celeb diets to avoid in 2018", raising a concern that it could compromise long-term health. "BDA Verdict: A carefully planned vegan diet with the necessary supplements like vitamin B12 and vitamin D can be healthy, but it is not a guarantee of losing weight. A vegan cake is still a cake, vegan syrups are adding sugar and vegan foods often contain the same calories as non-vegan foods." and "May not damage your health in the short-term but could in the long-term if not balanced."


History

Early documentation of raw food dieting has been associated with
hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...
s and
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s practising asceticism. For example, John of Egypt, a hermit from the Nitrian Desert, lived on a diet of dried fruit and vegetables for fifty years; he never ate anything cooked. Documented evidence of a commitment to raw food was by the Ethiopian
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
Qozmos, who in the late 1300s CE committed to the ascetic discipline of eating only uncooked food.Kaplan, Steven. "Qozmos." Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: O-X: Vol. 4, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, Harrassowitz, 2010, p. 303. This posed a problem for his Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...
because he refused to eat the bread of the
Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
, which is cooked. As a result, he fled the church and went to live with the Jewish community of the Beta Israel. Contemporary raw food diets were first developed in Switzerland by
Maximilian Bircher-Benner Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, M.D. (22 August 1867 – 24 January 1939) was a Swiss physician and a pioneer nutritionist credited for popularizing muesli and raw food vegetarianism. Biography Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner was born on 22 Au ...
(1867–1939), who was influenced as a young man by the German ''
Lebensreform ''Lebensreform'' ("life-reform") is the German generic term for various social reform movements, that started since the mid-19th century and originated especially in the German Empire and later in Switzerland. Common features were the criticis ...
'' movement, which saw civilization as corrupt and sought to go "back to nature"; it embraced holistic medicine, nudism, free love, exercise and other outdoors activity, and foods that it judged were more "natural". Bircher-Benner eventually adopted a vegetarian diet, but took that further and decided that raw food was what humans were really meant to eat; he was influenced by
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
's ideas that humans were just another kind of animal and Bircher-Benner noted that other animals do not cook their food. In 1904 he opened a sanatorium in the mountains outside of Zurich called "Lebendinge Kraft" or "Vital Force", a technical term in the Lebensreform movement that referred especially to sunlight; he and others believed that this
energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
was more "concentrated" in plants than in meat, and was diminished by cooking. Patients in the clinic were fed raw foods, including
muesli Muesli ( ) is a cold breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats, which is set to soak overnight and eaten the next morning. Most often, additional ingredients such as grains, nuts, seeds, and fresh or dried fruits, are added ...
, which was created there. These ideas were influential to Ann Wigmore, a notable raw food advocate, but were dismissed by scientists and the medical profession as quackery. One of the earliest books to advocate raw foodism was Eugene Christian's ''Uncooked Foods and How to Use Them'', 1904.Berry, Rynn. (2007). "Raw Foodism". In Andrew F. Smith. ''The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink''.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. pp. 493–494.
Other proponents from the early part of the twentieth century include Californian fruit grower Otto Carque (author of ''The Foundation of All Reform'', 1904), George Julius Drews (author of ''Unfired Food and Trophotherapy'', 1912),
Bernarr Macfadden Bernarr Macfadden (born Bernard Adolphus McFadden, August 16, 1868 – October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running magazine pu ...
and Herbert Shelton. Drews influenced
John and Vera Richter John Theophilus Richter (June 10, 1863 – January 24, 1949) and Vera May Richter ( Weitzel, December 11, 1884 – January 13, 1960) were an American married couple who ran an early raw food restaurant in Los Angeles, the Eutropheon, which ...
to open America's first raw food restaurant "The Eutropheon" in 1917. Shelton was arrested, jailed, and fined numerous times for practising medicine without a license during his career as an advocate of rawism and other alternative health and diet philosophies. Shelton's legacy, as popularized by books like ''
Fit for Life ''Fit for Life'' is a diet and lifestyle book series stemming from the principles of orthopathy. It is promoted mainly by the American writers Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. The ''Fit for Life'' book series describes a fad diet which specifies ea ...
'' by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, has been deemed "pseudonutrition" by the National Council Against Health Fraud. In the 1970s, Norman W. Walker (inventor of the Norwalk Juicing Press) popularized raw food dieting. Leslie Kenton's book ''Raw Energy – Eat Your Way to Radiant Health'', published in 1984, added popularity to foods such as sprouts, seeds, and fresh vegetable juices. The book advocates a diet of 75% raw food, which it claims will prevent
degenerative disease Degenerative disease is the result of a continuous process based on degenerative cell changes, affecting tissues or organs, which will increasingly deteriorate over time. In neurodegenerative diseases, cells of the central nervous system stop wo ...
s, slow the effects of aging, provide enhanced energy, and boost emotional balance; it cites examples such as the sprouted-seed-enriched diets of the long-lived
Hunza people The Burusho, or Brusho, also known as the Botraj, are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Yasin, Hunza, Nagar, and other valleys of Gilgit–Baltistan in northern Pakistan, as well as in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Their language, Buru ...
and
Gerson therapy Max Gerson (October 18, 1881 – March 8, 1959) was a German-born American physician who developed the Gerson Therapy, a dietary-based alternative cancer treatment that he claimed could cure cancer and most chronic, degenerative diseases. ...
, an unhealthy, dangerous and potentially very harmful raw juice-based diet and detoxification regime claimed to treat cancer. In the 21st century, raw food diets (particularly those focused on
raw milk Raw milk or unpasteurized milk is milk that has not been pasteurized, a process of heating liquid foods to kill pathogens for safe consumption and extending the shelf life. Proponents of raw milk have asserted numerous supposed benefits to consu ...
, raw eggs and raw meat) have been popularized and politicized as part of a broader "right-wing bodybuilder" movement centered around hypermasculinity, physical fitness, fascination with ancient civilizations and opposition to feminism and mainstream modern culture.


Claims

Claims held by raw food proponents include: * That heating food above degrades enzymes in raw food that aid digestion, when in fact enzymes in food play no significant role in the digestive process, prior to being digested themselves. * That raw foods have higher nutrient values than foods that have been cooked, when in fact cooking affects nutrient contents variably – depending on the plant food and cooking method – and may actually increase availability of fat-based nutrients, such as
vitamin E Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that include four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Vitamin E deficiency, which is rare and usually due to an underlying problem with digesting dietary fat rather than from a diet low in vi ...
and beta-carotene. * That foods cooked at high temperatures, especially meat, may contain harmful toxins, including trans fatty acids produced by heating oil,
acrylamide Acrylamide (or acrylic amide) is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH2=CHC(O)NH2. It is a white odorless solid, soluble in water and several organic solvents. From the chemistry perspective, acrylamide is a vinyl-substituted primary ...
produced by frying,
advanced glycation end product Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are proteins or lipids that become glycated as a result of exposure to sugars. They are a bio-marker implicated in aging and the development, or worsening, of many degenerative diseases, such as diabetes, ath ...
s (AGEs), and
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. ...
s. While a healthy diet minimizes fried food and red meat, not all cooked food contains harmful chemicals (a serving of french fries has 200 times the AGEs of a bowl of cooked oatmeal), and a diet containing a mix of cooked and raw food is normal. According to the American Cancer Society, it is not clear whether acrylamide consumption affects the risk of cancer. Public health authorities recommend reducing consumption of overly cooked starchy foods or meats.


Health effects

A raw food diet is likely to impair the development of children and infants. Care is required in planning a raw vegan diet, especially for children, as there may not be enough vitamin B12,
vitamin D Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, and many other biological effects. In humans, the most important compounds in this group are vitamin D3 (c ...
, and calories for a growing child on a totally raw vegan diet. Food poisoning is a health risk for all people eating raw foods, and increased demand for raw foods is associated with greater incidence of
foodborne illness Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease ...
, especially for raw meat, fish, and shellfish. Outbreaks of gastroenteritis among consumers of raw and undercooked animal products (including smoked, pickled or dried animal products) are well-documented, and include raw meat, raw organ meat, raw fish (whether ocean-going or freshwater), shellfish, raw milk and products made from raw milk, and raw eggs. One review stated that "Many raw foods are toxic and only become safe after they have been cooked. Some raw foods contain substances that destroy vitamins, interfere with digestive enzymes or damage the walls of the intestine. Raw meat can be contaminated with bacteria which would be destroyed by cooking; raw fish can contain substances that interfere with vitamin B1 (anti-thiaminases)"Bender, Arnold E. (1986). ''Health or Hoax?: The Truth About Health Foods and Diets''. Sphere Books. p. 40.


See also

* Amílcar de Sousa, 20th century raw foodist * Béla Bicsérdy * Bernando LaPallo *Cooking * Fruitarianism * Green smoothie *
List of diets An individual's diet is the sum of food and drink that one habitually consumes. Dieting is the practice of attempting to achieve or maintain a certain weight through diet. People's dietary choices are often affected by a variety of factors, incl ...
*
Orthopathy Orthopathy (from the Greek ὀρθός ''orthos'' 'right' and πάθος ''pathos'' 'suffering') or natural hygiene (NH) is a set of alternative medical beliefs and practices originating from the ''Nature Cure'' movement. Proponents claim that f ...
* Raw food diet for pets * Raw foodists * Rejuvelac * Sattvic diet *
Taboo food and drink Some people do not eat various specific foods and beverages in conformity with various religious, cultural, legal or other societal prohibitions. Many of these prohibitions constitute taboos. Many food taboos and other prohibitions forbid the mea ...
*
Xerophagy Xerophagy ("dry eating", from Greek "dry" and "eat") is a form of fasting observed in Eastern Christianity during Great Lent and certain other fasts. "Dry" primarily refers to food cooked without oil. In the Greek tradition, "oil" generally refe ...
, a form of fasting *
Liver King Liver King is the online alias of fitness social media personality Brian Johnson. He is known for promoting what he calls an "ancestral lifestyle", which includes eating large amounts of raw organs and meat, and he recommends eating liver daily. ...
, an internet influencer known for eating raw meat and organs


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raw Foodism Diets California culture Fad diets