Many people claim to heal themselves from many chronic and even serious health conditions with a raw food diet. I do believe some raw foods are definitely healthy and are “alive”, so to speak. But I do not think a fully raw diet is healthy for most people. It may be useful for some medical conditions, and I do not deny results some people claim. But i also believe the digestive system cannot work well with cold, raw foods all the time: we need the energy of warm foods such as soups, lightly steamed or cooked vegetables, and we also need some protein foods such as meat or fish etc.
the other problem with too many vegetable juices, for example, is a high sugar intake not balanced by fiber.For example, some people take a lot of carrot juice. Carrot juice is good…but not to excess. Same with beet juice and even green juice. Because juicing removes fiber and pulp, we are left with pure juice which is higher in sugar content. And, as i said, even green juices are not necessarily that valuable.
There are people who claim great health results from wheat grass or barley grass juice…I am not against that in a balanced diet.
And i do believe we need adequate nutrition: enough intake of vitamins and minerals, which, unfotunately, is often lacking because of the lack of nutrition even in organic produce today. Many vegetables in supermarkets are not fresh, look wilted, were not grown on nutrient rich soils etc. Therefore, I do not think juicing is adequate enough in today’s food chain.
I think the idea again is one of balance. We need to balance some raw foods with cooked foods and of course with as much nutrition as we can. Soups full of vegetables and greens is a great way to add nutrition. Steamed vegetables are easier to digest than raw because the digestive process requires warmth. Cold foods tend to cool down the digestive process.
In today’s world we need to eat a variety of foods to try to get proper nutrition. Organic vegetables and fruits are preferable where possible. Grass fed beef and properly raised chicken is obviously better than the commercial way many animals are raised today. Fish can be healthy but in moderation because of mercury and pollution issues. Dairy is not any longer a very healthy food, depending where it comes from. Goat milk and cheese can be better than cows milk. But i would say everything in moderation is okay to some degree and will still offer some nutrition benefits.
So eat, drink and be healthy! Do not think only one way will heal you or that food is the whole picture. But do your best with what you have, eat with gratitude to God, and pray for health.