Raw foods are 100% natural foods, which mean they are eaten the way they come from the earth. They are not processed in any way, which means they are not cooked. Cooking alters their physical form in many ways. After being cooked, food doesn't look the same, feel the same, and the nutritional content changes. Cooking can remove 50% or more of the nutrients in raw foods hence you do not receive all of the nutrition nature intended. Many people have the misconception that a cooked vegetable has the same nutritional content it had when it came out of the ground but unfortunately, it is not the case.
Raw Foods for the Environment
The fact that raw foods do not need to be processed, means that there is a lot of stuff that is not being emitted into the environment. These foods are not going through factories and they are not being packaged in cardboard boxes or plastic bags. They are sold in many farmer's markets, which means people do not have to travel far to acquire them.
Below are 10 ways that eating raw foods help keep the world clean, green, and fresh:
- When factories freeze fresh vegetables or process them to put them in cardboard boxes and plastic bags, many of them use precious naural resources. In addition, they are also emitting pollution into the air and disposing of a lot of waste. Eating raw foods prevents this because raw foods are shipped as they are.
- By eating raw foods, you do not have to throw away lots of packaging. Many times the packaging that foods come in end up in landfills. Some of these materials are not biodegradable and are harmful to the environment.
- When eating raw foods, you do not have to waste energy to cook them. You don't have to use your gas or electric range, which does have an impact on the environment.
- Eating more raw foods prevents the slaughter of many animals. The prevention of slaughter means that less land needs to be used to raise these animals. This also means less waste in groundwater that is emitted from slaughterhouses.
- If you purchase your raw foods from a farmer's market, then you’re eliminating the need for supermarkets and food stores to have their raw foods shipped. The trucks used to ship these raw foods emit a lot of pollution and consume a lot of fuel. If the farmer's market is closer to you than the supermarket, you are also conserving fuel.
- You can start your own garden. If you do, then you do not have to make excessive trips to the supermarket, food store, or to the farmer's market. Again, this is a way in which you save fuel.
- By buying or raising raw foods that are organic, you are keeping pesticides out of the environment. This means these chemicals will not hurt animals and will not find their way into water supplies.
- If more people were to eat raw foods, more gardens would be planted. More gardens mean a world that is much greener and fresh.
- Eating raw foods means no waste when it comes to the preparation of these foods. If any parts need to be disposed of, those parts can simply be turned into compost.
- Deforestation is prevented because places such as slaughterhouses do not need the land to keep the animals that are to be slaughtered, thus contributuing to a much greener world.
These are just 10 of the ways in which eating raw foods can make the world a cleaner place. There is nothing about raw foods that contaminate the earth because they come from the earth and are consumed as they are. Just imagine if everyone followed a diet that was 75% raw food how incredible it would be and how cleaner the world would be. Raw foods can make that much of a difference, not only on a personal level but also on a global level.
By TTS Cofounder Botanical Chef Omid Jaffari
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