Lately, there has been a lot of talk about raw foods, raw foodism, and raw food diets for weight loss; but little discussion on just why and how it works. The raw food lifestyle or diet got its beginnings from the raw vegetarianism or foodist movement. Though relatively new in popularity, the raw foodist lifestyle is not a new concept. It is, conversely, the most original of diets as it is what humans subsisted on before the development of fire and heat for cooking.

The basis of the raw foodist lifestyle is that at least 60% of your diet must be derived from foods not cooked above 115 degrees. This temperature-though seemingly high-is the equivalent of lightly steaming your foods. It is necessary to note that most raw foodists or raw vegetarians eat primarily veggies and fruits with no tolerance for meat or meat products. Due the fact that raw foodists survive on mostly vegetables and fruits, it is absolutely crucial that these vegetables and fruits be of optimum value to their bodies. The only way to ensure this is through keeping all produce unheated and raw.

The standard fad diet out there typically offers a variety of limiting rules. Sometimes, it is based upon less fat; other times, less calories; and still other times, less sugars. While all of these types of strategies are valuable in the elimination of stored and acquired fat reserves, it is more harsh and simultaneously less healthy for your body in the short and long term of your life.

How could this be? Less sugars, less calories, and less fat should be a more efficiently operating body, correct? Yes, and no. First, you must take into consideration that if you are still incorporating any sugar, you are still artificially stimulating your body, and you will be more susceptible to cravings and possible diet failure. Secondly, if you are limiting your calories-though helpful initially in losing weight-you run the risk of limiting your caloric intake too abruptly and throwing your body into starvation mode, which we all know, makes our bodies want to hold onto its fat reserves and extra weight, not lose it. Lastly, limiting fat, while important to less added baggage as well as heart and health conditions, can also be a treacherous slope to climb. This is because our body needs some fat to be able to process energy correctly and subsist. Diets that condemn all fats, condemn the useful and healthy fats that your body needs to stay in tip top healthy shape.

So, what is it about the raw food diet that is necessarily more healthy and more efficient in helping you to lose weight and keep it off? Simple. The raw foodist diet, through extended use-becomes a lifestyle; because you start to see all the positives and merits of the food discipline. It becomes less about losing weight, and more about how your body starts to function more positively, and how much better you begin to feel overall.

The principles are to keep most of your diet uncooked or raw, and this maximizes the potential of your foods’ nutrients. Vegetables and fruits come naturally fortified with healthy enzymes and nutrients and minerals that are necessary for your health. These enzymes help your body digest naturally, easily, and efficiently the foods taken in. This process also allows for the minerals and nutrients within these raw vegetables and fruits to better manifest and be used in your system as both energy and nutrient stores for when your body needs them most-thus building a stronger immune system to fight off illness and disease. This is how raw foods affect your overall health.

How does eating a raw food diet affect weight loss? If you are interested more in obtaining weight loss results, the raw food diet works not just for the overall improved health effects-physical and psychological- mentioned above; but also, to help speed up your metabolic rate and processes. Think about it: if you are able to digest foods more efficiently, then the waste is being eliminated more quickly, the nutrients are being absorbed more quickly, and your body has no time or desire to hold onto to any excess fats or weight, because everything is being used according to your body's overall plan.

Another important reason that most fad diets do not work is because of their inclusion of foods that have chemical additives, where, of course, raw foods are raw and unchanged. There are approximately 14,000 chemical additives added to our processed food supply today. The prevalence of these additives is significant because additives are not only not good for our systems, as they are not natural and cannot be digested properly, but also because the nature of most additives is to be as addictive as possible, so you crave more and more. Craving more and more additives in your diet not only greatly limits your nutritional intake but also-as a result-slows down your metabolic processes, thereby holding onto the very fat and weight that you seek to eliminate.

Here is a list of the most addictive and widely used additives in our foods you should avoid:

• Acesulfame K
• Artificial Flavorings
• Aspartame
• BHA/BHT
• MSG
• Nitrites and Nitrates
• Caffeine
• Olestra
• Sulfites
• Potassium Bromate

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By TTS Cofounder Botanical Chef Omid Jaffari