Some people eat 100% raw all the time. Fantastic, if that works for you. But for most people it can be difficult to pull off for every single meal. Not to worry.
These foods are nutrient-rich and/or contain unique health-promoting properties. (Yes, you still lose some of the nutrients. The trade off: some other nutrients are made available through the cooking process.)
9 COOKED FOODS TO EAT ON A HIGH RAW DIET
1. Sweet Potatoes and Yams: Garnet, Jewel, and Beauregard “yams;” Japanese and Okinawan sweet potatoes; white, purple, and yellow yams . . .
2. Cruciferous Leafy Greens: kale, collards, mustards, and turnip greens . . .
3. Homemade Vegetable Soup: tons of veggies lightly cooked in a low-sodium veggie broth and/or fresh carrot/tomato juice
4. Other Cruciferous Veggies: cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, broccolini, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, bok choy . . .
5. Tomato Sauce: Make your own or buy a sauce with no salt or sugar added, preferably in a glass jar. Pour it on raw or cooked veggies.
6. Beans: kidney, black, azuki, kidney, cannellini, white northern . . .
7. Onions: yellow, white, red, shallots, leeks, green, vidalia . . . (For those who can’t tolerate raw onions, sauteed onions can be a good alternative.)
8. Mushrooms: portobello, chanterelle, oyster, shiitake, cremini . . . (White button are the least nutritious.)
9. Quinoa: a protein-rich seed/grain, high in antioxidants, with anti-inflammatory properties
Note: If you’re choosing an oil to cook with, nothing beats coconut oil. Your body will easily burn it as fuel. It also has a higher smoke point than most oils. Save the olive oil to drizzle on your salad, and try coconut oil for cooking.
Also, be aware that browning foods causes the formation of acrylamide, a cancer-causing chemical. It’s not clear how much acrylamide you’d have to consume before it became a problem, but it’s something to keep in mind when roasting or sauteing vegetables.
Live the difference!
Click here to leave a comment.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This, as usual, is great information. But would you mind posting (or re-posting) a few simple recipes or a “cooking raw for dummies” segment in order to give the culinary challenged, like myself, some assistance?
I used coconut oil for the first time this past week. I made a vegetable stir-fry with coconut oil and a little olive oil. It was delicious and my husband loved the light flavor of it!
Thanks for the post.
Candice Hughes recently posted..A Note on Cramping in Early Pregnancy