COOKED
VERSUS RAW FOODS
by Dr. Lawrence
Wilson
©
January 2019, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.
All
information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment,
prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
CONTENTS
II. PROBLEMS WITH MOST RAW FOODS
Demineralization
Too Yin
Lectins And Other Poisons
Less Nutrient Dense
Irritating
Other Problems
Why Do Some People Feel Worse Eating Cooked Food?
Fermented Foods
Vegetable And Fruit Juices For Better Nutrition
Soaking Food Instead Of Cooking
Medical Studies Of Raw Versus Cooked Foods
Cooking For The Best Nutrition
**************************
The author was once a fierce
advocate of raw food. Medical
studies indicate that raw food contains more anti-oxidants than cooked
food. Wild and domesticated
animals eat their food raw, and they do quite well. Why would one want to eat Ôdead foodÕ when one can eat
Ôliving foodÕ?
Then, 38 years ago, we began
testing peopleÕs mineral levels in a busy nutrition counseling office. This involves taking hair samples and
testing them for 20 minerals, including electrolytes, trace minerals, and toxic
metals.
Over the years, a different
picture of how to eat has emerged.
It is not as simple as I previously thought. Some foods are best eaten raw, such as fats and milk products. In fact, we find it is best never to
cook milk or cheese for any reason, such as making quiche.
However, our clients that live
mainly on raw vegetable salads and raw or just soaked grains do not heal nearly
as well as those who eat plenty of well-cooked vegetables. We even find that some animals such as Dogs do better on cooked food. This article discusses possible reasons for this, and what
to eat.
II.
PROBLEMS WITH MOST RAW FOOD
POOR MINERAL
ABORPTION
We have run mineral tests on
over 50,000 people. Here is what
we observe:
Congenital
mineral deficiencies and toxicity. Most all
babies today are born low in the vital alkaline reserve minerals and high in
toxic metals. This is due to
mineral deficiencies and heavy metal toxicity in their mothers. This problem occurs everywhere on
earth.
We are reminded of a page in
Weston PriceÕs book, Nutrition And Physical Degeneration. It shows an older native woman
in Africa holding a crab-like creature.
She had walked for miles to bring it for the young women in her village
so they would have well-nourished babies.
By comparison, American prenatal care is lacking when it comes to
teaching girls and young women how to eat to have the healthiest babies.
We find that what is needed is a
development program. Development, as the term is used on this website, means the opening
and growth of the seven subtle energy centers on the body, along with a number
of other deep changes in the body.
It is fulfilling a genetic potential we all have, but which requires
excellent nutrition, among other factors.
For details, read Introduction To
Development.
By comparison, just chelating
heavy metals to remove them does not help much. In fact, it removes good minerals along with the bad ones,
so we donÕt recommend it. A
development program removes toxins better and more safely.
The result is
mineral starvation. As one progresses through life, the
problem of mineral starvation worsens until disease and death overcome the
body. At one level, osteoporosis,
heart disease, diabetes and cancer are little more than fancy names for mineral
starvation. We know this because
if one remineralizes the body properly, these and
many other health conditions go away with no need for drugs or surgeries.
Toxic metals. When the body is deficient in vital minerals, the body picks
up toxic metals as substitutes.
Henry Schroeder, MD was one of the first to point out this problem in
his book, The Trace Elements And Man (1973).
Salad offers less
nutrition. We have observed the effects of many
diets on peopleÕs mineral levels.
Those living on salads are more mineral-starved than those who eat
well-cooked vegetables.
This is not difficult to
understand. Most of the minerals
and hundreds of other nutrients are locked inside the tough fibrous matrix of
vegetables. Human beings cannot
digest these tough vegetable fibers.
As a result, very few minerals
are absorbed from raw vegetables, and the food is largely wasted. Taking a cellulase
enzyme can help a little, but will not overcome this problem. Proper cooking, however, breaks down
the tough fibers, releasing the minerals and dozens of other nutrients.
Weak digestion
worsens the starvation problem. Most people
also have weak digestion due to stress, malnutrition and exposure to many
toxins in the environment. This
makes digesting plant fiber even more difficult.
N-P-K agriculture
worsens the problem. Most people also eat food
fertilized with superphosphate fertilizers. These fertilizers act as growth stimulants. They are used on all crops, including
organically grown food. Food grown
this way is plentiful, but much lower in mineral content. This is well-documented by comparing
the US Department of Agriculture nutrient content of vegetables and grains
today, versus those of 50 or 100 years ago.
The
animal analogy. Some health authorities advocate eating
raw food because animals eat their food raw. However, the comparison is not valid.
Vegetable-eating animals tend to
have longer digestive tracts than we do.
Some also have three or four stomachs to assist digestion. Most spend all day chewing their food.
Some animals, such as cows, also
Ôchew the cudÕ. They regurgitate
their food and chew it even more to help them extract the nutrients from it.
It is true that raw vegetables
contain more vitamin C and a few other vitamins. However, the problem of reduced mineral and other nutrient
absorption is far more serious and negates this benefit of raw food. Any vitamins that are destroyed by
cooking can easily be replaced with a vitamin supplement.
Women particularly
need cooked vegetables. The reasons are 1) they will give birth
and determine the health of the next generation, and 2) women are more prone to
osteoporosis later in life. This
horrible condition is preventable.
We find that eating lots of
cooked vegetables works much better than pills, smoothies, powders, juices or
anything else to restore mineral nutrition and prevent osteoporosis. For more details, read Osteoporosis and Remineralizing The Body.
TOO YIN
This problem with raw food is
somewhat esoteric, but very important.
Most raw food is unbalanced in a particular way. It is more yin. Balancing yin and
yang forces is an ancient concept that is well-known
in the healing sciences of acupuncture and macrobiotics. It is basic physics. Yin
means colder and having slower-moving particles of energy.
Cooking food adds heat energy
and balances most food. Balancing
the food in this way is critical, we find, for two reasons:
1. All bodies are too yin
today. This is due to the effects
of ionizing radiation from x-rays and nuclear power plants, electromagnetic
radiation from cell phones and other sources, and from exposure to toxic metals
and toxic chemicals.
2. The yin quality slows or
stops development and is a harmful effect, even though raw food is more
nutritious. For
more details, read Yin And Yang Healing
and Yin Disease.
LECTINS AND OTHER
POISONS
Cooking destroys many poisons
found inside and on food. For
example, lectins are potent poisons found in grains,
beans, and some other foods.
Cooking destroys most lectins. Proper food preparation also destroys phytates and other mineral robbers found in some foods.
Cooking also reduces the amount
of bacteria, viruses and parasites found on the inside and outside of many
fruits, vegetables, fish, meats, and other foods. This is particularly important today because much of our
food is grown in nations where cleanliness is not a high priority.
LESS
NUTRIENT DENSE
Raw vegetables are mostly fiber
and water, by volume. They are
much less nutrient dense than properly cooked ones. Cooking reduces the fiber and water content and allows one
to consume many more minerals and other nutrients.
A
bad way to lose weight. Some people try to lose weight by eating a lot of salads that
contain fewer calories. However,
this is just a clever way to starve yourself and a huge mistake.
One can easily lose weight by
eating lots of well-cooked vegetables and some animal protein, and no
salads. The weight comes off
because one is actually healing the glands and other organs that regulate
weight.
This is only safe way to lose
weight. The other methods just
starve the body even more, and donÕt work that well. For details, read Weight Loss And
Weight Gain.
IRRITATING
Well-cooked vegetables and
grains nourish and heal the digestive tract. Raw ones irritate it and often contribute to irritable bowel
syndrome, Ôleaky gutÕ syndrome, and SIBO (small intestinal bacterial
overgrowth).
The irritation is due to the
tough fibers of vegetables and grains, as well as higher bacteria and virus
counts found in some raw foods.
A
religious note.
The Talmud, written about 3000 years ago, states that undercooked food is
irritating to the digestive tract. (see Medicine
In The Bible And Talmud by Fred Rosner.)
An exception. Good quality raw dairy products are often less irritating
than pasteurized or cooked dairy for most people, unless one has an allergy to
them. Raw milk needs to be taken
alone, however, not in combination with other foods. Also, we only recommend up to 4 ounces of all dairy products
per day on the Development Diet.
OTHER PROBLEMS
WITH RAW FOOD
The following are less critical,
but are nevertheless problems with eating raw foods.
Raw food is often
lower in etheric energy. Food that requires cooking such as grains, vegetables, meats
and eggs actually become more charged with ether or etheric
energy when cooked. For details,
read Etheric Energy.
Raw food must be
warmed up in the stomach, using up energy. This reason
for avoiding raw food is most important for those whose digestion is weak.
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE
FEEL WORSE EATING COOKED FOODS?
Common reasons are:
1. Sugar
withdrawal. For some people, eating cooked vegetables
means no more smoothies, shakes, juices and other sugary foods. If one has a yeast problem, as do
millions of people, the yeasts inside begin to starve.
Yeasts often produce alcohol, so
when the yeasts die the alcohol supply often dries up. When this occurs, one feels very
anxious, angry or depressed because reality sets in. One is no longer slightly inebriated. For details, read Chronic
Yeast Infections.
2. Becoming more
yang. Eating cooked food, one becomes more yang in
macrobiotic terms. This is often
an unpleasant feeling because it brings up unresolved psychological
issues. It can also bring up
unhealed physical health conditions and causes Retracing.
3. Too relaxed. Cooked food is more relaxing for the body. It is less stimulating and exciting,
which some people do not like.
FERMENTED FOODS
Fermented foods are often raw,
and tend to be even more yin than unfermented foods because they contain higher
levels of fermenting bacteria.
Many also contain aldehydes, which are toxic
chemicals.
For these reasons, we only
recommend a little yogurt, kefir, raw cheeses, miso,
and sauerkraut. Please avoid the
rest, especially kombucha tea, which is toxic. For more on this topic, read Fermented Foods.
VEGETABLE AND
FRUIT JUICES FOR BETTER NUTRITION
Juicing vegetables breaks down
vegetable fibers and makes nutrients much more available. We suggest that every adult drink 10-12
ounces of carrot juice daily as a source of calcium and other nutrients.
The problem with drinking more
than this is that juices are even more yin than raw food. Any time one breaks up a food it
becomes more yin.
For rapid development, fruit
juices are terrible foods, no matter how nutritious they may be. The reason is that fruit is the one of
the most yin food groups. Fruit
juices cause other problems, as well.
For details, read Fruit-Eating.
SOAKING FOOD
INSTEAD OF COOKING
Some health authorities suggest
soaking grains, seeds and nuts overnight to soften the fiber and make the food
more digestible. However, soaking
any food makes the food more yin because one mixes the
food with water. For this reason,
we do not recommend soaking foods overnight.
MEDICAL STUDIES
ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF RAW FOOD
Nutrient studies. A number of medical studies show that raw food contains more
anti-oxidants and other nutrients.
The problem with these studies is they do not explore whether one can
absorb these nutrients as well from raw food. Here is one such study:
Ismail, A and Lee, WY, Influence of cooking practice on antioxidant
properties and phenolic content of selected vegetables. Asia Pac J Clin
Nutr.,
2004; 13(Suppl):S162.
Studies of disease risk. Other medical studies compare the risk
of disease if one consumes raw versus cooked food. Here is one such study:
Link, LB and Potter, JD. Raw versus cooked vegetables and cancer risk.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2004; 13(9):1422-35.
The problem with these studies is they are
done on people who are not developing.
We find that with a proper health program, development occurs. This, we find, outweighs the benefits
of raw food for healing and disease prevention.
COOKING FOR THE BEST
NUTRITION
Here are some tips for cooking
food to maximize nutrition:
Pressure
cooking is generally best. The combination of heat and pressure makes the food more yang. It is
also cooks very fast, so it does much less damage to food than high-temperature
cooking. It also does not require
using fat or oil, which is helpful.
Other decent cooking methods are
steaming, and crock pots or slow cookers.
Stir-frying, roasting, barbeque and baking use higher
temperatures. A little is
okay, but not a lot. However,
stir-frying often does not cook food enough. If it is well-cooked, it is more
damaged by the high heat.
If you cook with
water, drink the water rather than throw it away. This is not necessary with steaming, however.
Add sea salt and
spices after cooking, not before or
during cooking. Some foods do not react well to the
addition of salt, for example.
Cook vegetables
until they are soft, and no longer crunchy. Crunchy or al dente food still has too much fiber
to permit proper mineral absorption.
Do not overcook
food so that it is just mush. Food should be cooked until it is soft,
but not falling apart. With proper pressure-cooking, the color of vegetables remains.
Soft-boil, poach
or lightly fry eggs so that the yolks are runny. The yolk is a fat and fats are best eaten raw or very lightly
cooked. More cooking damages the
protein, as well.
Cook
meats just enough to kill bacteria on and inside the meat. Most meat is overcooked. Organic ground beef requires little cooking – mostly
braising – to preserve certain zinc compounds. If you use a crock pot, add the
meat near the end, or take out the meat within an hour of beginning
cooking.
Avoid all raw
grains. These are found in museli, trail mix, granola, and some food bars. Cook grain until it is soft for best
nutrient absorption. We also
suggest avoiding all wheat products.
Wheat today is much higher in glutamic acid
and other irritants, even organic whole wheat.
We do not
recommend eating most sprouts. They contain
toxins designed to protect the young plants. Cooked mung bean sprouts are okay,
however.
When eating in
restaurants, avoid salads and all raw food. Cleanliness is
often a problem.
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