Jack Norris is a vegan Registered Dietician who is a cofounder of Vegan
Outreach ( http://www.veganoutreadch.org) he maintains a health site
dedicated to vegan healh:
http://www.veganhealth.org

From
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/cooking


History of Cooking and Thoughts on Raw Foodism

by Jack Norris, RD

Response To This Article From a Reader (Below)

Introduction

The vegan diet is often used as a health gimmick for preventing various
diseases. I would prefer not to see this because:

* There is often not enough evidence for it (such as for preventing
osteoporosis)
* It dilutes the message of compassion to animals
* It can create a complacency that keeps us from addressing real
health concerns

And as I read more and more raw foodist propaganda in vegetarian
circles, I have to wonder if even more dietary dogma helps the cause of
animal advocacy.

Raw foodism is, after all, an ism. It's a belief system based on the
idea that people should eat like our prehistoric ancestors (or other
animals), with assumptions made about how our prehistoric ancestors
actually ate, how healthy they were, how long they lived, and how
relevant other animals' diets are to our own.

I Was a Twenty-Something Raw Foodist

From 1993 to 1995 I ate about 90% of my foods raw. I also read any and
every book and article on raw foodism that I could get my hands on. The
diet simply made sense. After all, humans are the only animals who cook
their food. We'd have to be better off eating a more natural diet of raw
foods...Wouldn't we?

On the raw foods diet, I lost significant weight. As a regular
weightlifter, I noticed my strength decline considerably. I got frequent
colds (some say this is the body "detoxifying"). I thought about how
much I wanted to eat cooked food almost constantly.

One day, I finally had to admit that it wasn't working. So, I slowly
weaned myself back onto cooked foods to curb my cravings while still
eating "as much raw foods as I could." It became less all the time. By
early 1997, I was still struggling to prevent myself from eating too
much cooked food. One day I decided to eat as much cooked food as I
wanted. I came to believe that the hunger signals and cravings for
cooked food were more "true" than any theory of raw foodism or natural
eating.

This experience turned me to science. Raw foodism made so much sense,
how could it be wrong (for me)? It made me question how anything can
really be known about nutrition, and I came to the conlusion that the
scientific method was the only sure way.

Unfortunately, when it comes to nutrition, the scientific method is
neither quick nor easy. Truths emerge very slowly only after many years
of research. Still, some things are known. And as I read more and more
scientific research, it became clear that many of the claims made by raw
foodists are not in sync with the science of food, cooking, and the
human body.

History of Cooked Foods

In September 2003, an article was published in the journal, Comparative
Biochemistry and Physiology called Cooking as a Biological Trait. It was
written by Richard Wrangham and NancyLou Conklin-Brittain from the
Department of Anthropology at Harvard.

The main thing in this article that peaked my interest was their
compilation of information about how long humans have been cooking
foods. If you read many books promoting raw foodism, you would get the
idea that humans have only cooked foods for a relatively short period.
Wrangham and Conklin-Brittain cite much research to indicate that, in
their words, "Cooking is therefore widely accepted back to at least
250,000 years ago." Some evidence points to 1.6 million years. They also
argue that it takes only 5,000 years or less for the human body to adapt
to different methods of eating. The implication is that humans have been
cooking long enough to have adapted to a diet of cooked foods, and that
in a normal state of nature there may be no turning back. This could
explain why so many people who try raw foodism fail to thrive.

My point is not to say that people should not be raw foodists, but
rather that the idea that cooking is a relatively new method of food
preparation to which the human body has not had time to evolve is likely
untrue.

Of course, people no longer live in a state of nature and it may be, and
apparently is, possible for people to live a long time as raw foodists
in the modern world by concentrating on eating raw foods that are
relatively high in calories and/or by living a sedentary lifestyle
compared to our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

Another point along the same lines is that there are theories in
scientific circles that meat-eating was the key to the human brain
becoming larger. There are also competing theories that cooking food is
what allowed humans' brains to develop. By cooking food, we were able to
make it more digestible (by breaking down plant fiber and muscle tissue)
and therefore eat more calories with less digestive effort. This allowed
our bodies to have more energy for developing our brain. It also allowed
us to decrease the size of our digestive tract, diverting energy away
from digestion and to brain development.

This article is not meant to be an exhaustive look at raw diets, but
rather to report on this one study that I found interesting. For more
information, BeyondVeg.com (a site providing a critique of raw food
vegan diets - and to a lesser extent other vegetarian diets) has created
a list of peer-reviewed studies and abstracts relating to raw foods
diets here. Note on BeyondVeg.com.

Below is a modified article I wrote about raw foods for VegNews.

How Much Raw Food Should One Include In Their Diet To Be A Healthy Vegan?

Unfortunately, not much research has been conducted looking at the
question of what proportion of raw foods will prevent the most disease
or result in greater life expectancy. Additionally, there have been no
studies on the disease rates of raw foodists. So, we must make the best
guess about how much raw foods is best with the information we have
available at this time.

Cooking has both negative and positive affects. Cooking, for long
periods especially, can damage some vitamins. Boiling and steaming
causes vitamins and minerals to seep out of the food. Chemicals thought
to cause cancer are formed when food is burned or oils are heated above
the point at which they smoke. Deep-frying foods causes trans fats to
form, which increase cholesterol levels.

On the plus side, cooking can break down food components that would
otherwise bind minerals and prevent their absorption. It can soften
fiber which allows more food to be eaten. Cooking liberates some
nutrients, such as beta-carotene and other antioxidants, for easier
absorption. It denatures proteins, essentially flattening them out,
which can aid in digestion. Cooking destabilizes toxic components of
some foods, such as goiter-promoting properties of broccoli. It makes
many foods, such as beans and many grains, edible.

While fiber is a good thing, and most Americans should eat more of it,
some vegan diets can be too high in fiber. Fiber provides very little
energy while filling you up. Vegans with high energy needs might benefit
from having more cooked food in their diets, which will generally
increase the calories they are able to consume. On the other hand,
people who want to lose weight could help themselves by increasing the
amount of high-fiber, raw foods in their diet.

Enzymes

Enzymes is a buzzword in raw foods circles. They are proteins that
assist in chemical reactions and without them, you would die. Digestive
enzymes aid in the breaking of molecular bonds. Although the body is
designed to make and secrete enzymes constantly, some people say that
eating raw foods will extend lifespan because raw foods contain
digestive enzymes which prevent the body from using up its own.

Plants do contain "digestive" enzymes for breaking down unwanted matter
in its cells. When the plant is crushed or chewed, these enzymes are
released from the protective packages that normally contain them and
they break down some of the plant material with which they come in
contact. Cooking destroys these enzymes. But so does swallowing � the
enzymes are destroyed by the acid medium of the stomach. The net effect
is that they do not digest much of the raw food you eat.

For more information on enzymes and raw foods, see Do "Food Enzymes"
Significantly Enhance Digestive Efficiency and Longevity? of the article
Is Cooked Food Poison? by Jean-Louis Tu.

Conclusion

In summary, fresh fruits and vegetables should be eaten regularly. I
would suggest a few servings of raw foods a day. Above that, I would
listen to your own body: If you feel like eating a higher proportion of
your foods as raw, or all your foods raw, go for it! (But make sure you
get a regular supply of vitamin B12, and I would also be particularly
concerned about calcium. In fact, the nutritional issues to which vegans
should pay attention are just as important on a raw foods vegan diet.
See Staying A Healthy Vegan.)

If you only feel satisfied if you eat mostly cooked foods at each meal,
then I suggest you do so -- without guilt.
Response To This Article From a Reader

I'm sure many people know by now that what works for one does not work
for all. Otherwise we wouldn't have the plethora of dietitc literature
and regimens that we have. However, I think the type of diet that a lot
of vegetarian and vegan societies promote is essentially a variation of
a macrobiotic diet, with a very heavy emphasis on protein, especially soy.

I just wonder why you would dismiss raw foods as "using a vegan diet as
a health gimmick for preventing various diseases." The type of diet you
promote is very gimmicky as well, though perhaps more similar to the
standard meat eating diet in most people's eyes.

It wasn't till I got into raw foods diets that I was able to become a
successful vegan, both healthy and dynamic. When I followed the diets
heavy in tofu and soy products, I was invariably unhealthy and sluggish,
with heavy reliance on caffeine. Actually not much different than when I
ate meat. Thanks to caffeine, the sluggishnes was totally masked and
most people would have thought I was fairly dynamite.

I don't follow a 100% raw foods diet now, more like 50% in the winter,
mainly due to economics, and a lot more raw food in the summer, when it
is fresh, ripe, local and economical.

The type of diet you promote, though well intentioned and providing a
good experience for you, does not work for everyone. Neither does any
diet. But I think for veganism to be properly presented, it has to be
devoid of dietary dogma, a sort of separation of church and state. For a
good presentation, I would simply define "veganism," and then write a
comprehensive article on each type of diet that can qualify as vegan;
either unbiased or perhaps let people following each diet write their
chapters as gung ho and biased as they like. This would show people that
there is no one vegan diet.

Lots of people, upon learning that I am vegan, say something like, "Oh,
I couldn't possibly handle all those soy products and beans." When I
tell them that while some vegans eat that way, I dont eat any of those
things and haven't since the start of my third attempt at being vegan,
in 1986, they change their tune. And many people have been positively
influenced in this way.

Pretending that one type of vegan diet represents veganism is not in the
best interest of veganism. And if people take veganism as being one type
of diet, we get less converts to veganism. It makes me sad to think that
I could have been vegan many years earlier, had I not first gotten my
hands on all this literature that promoted heavy protein, soy, and
bean-based diets, and thought that that's all there was. I tried really
hard two other times, and it didn't work. A raw foods diet was what made
it possible for me to lead a vital, healthy and crulety-free life.
Note on BeyondVeg.com

I have received a number of emails over the years saying that I should
not link to BeyondVeg.com because it is an anti-vegetarian site. I
continue to do so because the site contains some of the best articles on
raw foods diets and related issues.

Furthermore, I do not want to shelter people from the information or
perspectives presented on BeyondVeg.com. Rather, vegetarians should be
as educated as possible, and they should also read any nutrition article
with a healthy dose of skepticism.

For the reader's information, Tom Billings, one of the site owners of
BeyondVeg.com, is a longtime vegetarian and personal friend. He has
provided considerable research assistance to me while aware that my goal
is to promote a vegan diet. We may disagree on some points, but we both
share a concern for going beyond dietary dogma and presenting factual
information.


--

Steve

Be A Healthy Vegan Or Vegetarian
http://www.geocities.com/beforewisdo...ealthyVeg.html

Steve's Home Page
http://www.geocities.com/beforewisdom/

"The great American thought trap: It is not real
unless it can be seen on television or bought in a
shopping mall"