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We all eat a certain amount of raw food - the occasional piece of lettuce on our turkey sandwich, perhaps an apple or some grapes with our lunch or a banana on our breakfast cereal. But did you know that there is an entire subculture dedicated to gourmet raw foods "cooking" and there is a growing movement towards eating a diet that is made up exclusively of raw foods?

David Wolfe, the charismatic leader of the Raw Foods movement, says in his book Nature's First Law: The Raw Food Diet that "cooked food is addictive, cooked food is self-destructive, and cooked food is poison."

Wow! That is some serious accusation!! And as a thinking person who is constantly researching diets and the effect they have on the human body, I wondered why David Wolfe could take such a stand. So I did some research.

I found that it is all about the enzymes. "When you cook food above 102 degrees Fahrenheit, the enzyme metabolism begins to disrupt and break down. Nothing works without enzymes. Enzymes are are the alchemical symbol of transformation. Enzymes are the life catalyst behind every function the human body performs. That is why a fever is so dangerous. At 102 degrees Fahrenheit you literally start to cook. On a cooked, enzymeless diet, the body is forced to overwork its indigenous (or internal) enzymes to break down those unnatural materials. The body requires exogenous (or external) enzymes in the form of raw plant food." (Taken from Nature's First Law, by David Wolfe.)

Raw and living foods are whole and unprocessed, fresh and unrefined. They contain the complete spectrum of their naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, complete with the enzymes needed to turn the food into pure, clean energy the body can use.

When I am eating a high percentage of raw foods, I look and feel more alive. That is because raw fruits, nuts and vegetables are a source of pure energy full of life force. If we are what we eat, and raw foods contain abundant enzymes which are pure energy (the sparks of life) then our personal energy will certainly be affected.

Enzymes make things happen. They catalyze essential activity in the body. So when the food we take in contains abundant enzymes, our body needs to work less. It doesn't need to produce the enzymes needed to break down the food. The enzymes are already there. So the body has more time to play and more energy to replenish, repair, and maintain tissues, blood and organs. Sounds good, doesn't it?

The health benefits of eating raw foods are numerous. And if you eat with the seasons, it is common sense to take advantage of what the earth has to offer and eat from that fresh, raw bounty. Try some fruit salad for breakfast, wrap some greens, veggies, herbs, nuts and olive oil in a collard or lettuce leaf, or better yet, search out a raw food "cooking" class to get some new ideas.