Carol Alt’s The Raw 50 is actually a recipe-based sequel to her first book, Eating in the Raw, which I have never read. I just happened to stumble across this book at work and thought it looked interesting, even though I’ve never really been into raw eating. However, after glancing through these recipes and reading Carol’s suggestions and the testimonials of raw food eaters, I’m more than intrigued. First off, I guess a definition of raw eating is in order. Essentially, these are foods that have been uncooked and unpasteurized, and when warmed, are done so at very low temperatures. For a more complete explanation, click here. I guess the next question is, what’s so great about it? Well, this is how Carol explains the importance of raw food:

I explained things to Christine the best way I knew how. I told her the body needs nutrients to make enzymes to digest food. The body does this because its most essential function on earth is to digest and utilize food and water…The problem with cooked food is that it no longer has any enzymes of its own. So in order to digest cooked food, the body pulls nutrients from the most readily available source, itself. The body then produces enzymes to digest the cooked, nutrient-depleted food, which no longer has the nutrients to replace the nutrients in the body that were used to make the digestive enzymes. It’s a big vicious cycle! As a result, the body begins to break down and age.

But Carol’s not the only one advocating the raw food lifestyle. The book’s forward was written by Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, also a proponent of the plan, and the book is sprinkled with testimonials from people who say the eating plan changed their lives and cured a variety of ailments: cancers, leukemia, irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, depression, and thyroid disorder, not to mention aided in weight loss, increased energy and fewer mood swings. The very last testimonial is by Amanda Sager, who (with the exception of being vegan–I still eat dairy) could easily be describing me:

In college, Amanda exercised regularly and ate what is commonly considered a “balanced diet.” She had been a vegetarian since age sixteen and became completely vegan at twenty, but Amanda knew she was still not right with food. “I always had this feeling that my diet was not working. I was overweight, puffy, and pale. My emotions were all over the place, and I was often depressed without good reason or explanation. My energy level was low, and I felt somewhat trapped by my eating habits. It’s frustrating to think you are following the healthiest diet and then realize you are not,” she says.

I have a family history of thyroid disorder, and I’ve been tested over and over (in fact, I had blood work for it today) and the results are always the same: I’m perfectly fine. But if my thyroid is functioning, then why am I chronically exhausted, cranky, and cold? Why did my hair start falling out? Why is my metabolism practically nonexistent? And most of all, why can’t any of the myriad of doctors I’ve seen answer any of these questions? I eat a “healthy” diet: whole grains, fruits and veggies, no meat or high fructose corn syrup, no juice or soda, very little caffeine and trans fats. So I always assume that I have the food part taken care of. But maybe not. Maybe there really is something to be said for eating raw and keeping enzymes in balance. Another thing that I noticed in these testimonials is that not all of these people eat raw 100% of the time. Many of them are 90% raw, but are always prepared when they eat cooked foods and try to make up for the enzyme imbalance.

This doesn’t, by any means, seem like an easy way to eat. It’s expensive, and, according to Alt, requires some specialized tools: a good blender, a juicer, a dehydrator, a coffee grinder (to process small foods), an instant-read thermometer, a spiral slicer, a mandoline, a vacuum storage system, canning jars, and cheesecloth. Still, I’m open to the idea of gradually replacing some of the cooked foods I eat with raw meals and see where it leads me. I definitely intend to read the first book and see what it says, but in the meantime Alt also has a raw foods website: rawnutrion, which looks as though it aas quite a bit of information.