Jan 11
14
Raw foods for a healthier life after 50
When observing the longest living cultures a key factor stands out. The majority of the foods that these people eat are “raw”. So why are raw foods healthier for you? One of the reasons is that the enzymes have not been destroyed. These enzymes are “alive” in raw foods and are destroyed when food is cooked. It is easier to digest and assimilate raw or lower temperature foods.
In the western diet we eat primarily cooked foods especially our proteins. When we cook food we not only destroy much of the nutrient value (vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients) but when cooking proteins we cause something called “advanced glycation endproducts”. Glycation (AGE’s for short) forms when a sugar molecule reacts with a protein. That can happen in the blood, elsewhere in the body or in food as it cooks. This process changes the way protein works.
AGE’s that form when a sugar binds to collagen and elastin, two proteins in the skin-for example, can cause wrinkling. And AGE’s that form when glucose (sugar) binds to the proteins in the lens of the eye can lead to cataracts. AGE’s can also bind to receptors on the cell walls and stimulate inflammation and create free radicals (rogue molecules that damage DNA, proteins and cells). Researchers believe that damage from free radicals makes cells and tissues age more quickly. Mice fed with half the usual amount AGE’s (food was raw or low temperature cooked) were less likely to get insulin resistance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or chronic kidney disease than mice fed regular chow. They also lived 10% longer!
Try moving your diet slowly to rawer or lightly cooked food. Don’t do this all at once or you may be in for gastric pain!
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Chris McKee, CNC
