You can buy raw chocolate from supermarkets, you can get raw pizzas from cafes, and you can even get raw cheesecakes. For the lowdown on this new wave of healthy eating, we hit up Australia’s raw food guru, Amanda Brocket, a qualified raw food teacher, chef and coach, who’s getting serious about teaching Australia how to cook and eat raw.
Through her website and workshops, she aims to change how we look at raw food, one foodie at a time.
Let’s get to the bottom of what raw food really entails.
Raw food is foods cooked or dehydrated to less than 44 degrees Celsius. Or of course eaten completely raw. Dehydration gives us room to create different things from ingredients, for example, a pizza base.
What can you eat?
Organic vegetables, fruits, dried fruits, nuts, seeds, good fats, super-foods, fermented foods and drinks, sea vegetables, and sprouted grains and seeds. With a little knowledge, you can make a serious range of foods using raw and dehydrated ingredients. From dehydrated kale chips, superfood smoothies, salads, cultured vegetables, nut cheeses, “pasta” dishes, and even “pizza” made from sprouted buckwheat or activated nuts and vegetables. Chocolaty desserts are certainly on the menu as well. Almost easier than the savoury category.
Why should we be eating raw foods?
The raw food movement believes that the benefits, in a nutshell, are having more energy and vitality, feeling nourished, and having an overall sense of health and wellbeing.
One of the main benefits is that it’s very alkaline, just like our body’s natural state. Our blood needs to be in a constant alkaline state to keep blood cells healthy. Which in turn protects against diseases and illness. An alkaline state is one that has limited acids, or just the right about for our body – A PH level of 7.3. Less is more so to speak.
Our cooked foods, and our lifestyle create acids. Symptoms of an acid-filled body include getting sick easily, weight gain, food intolerances, emotional instability, depression, and insomnia. An alkaline state however sees our bodies oxygenated, and functioning at 100%. This reduces all those nasty effects like illness, depression, and weight gain.
Nutrients are also another huge factor. When we cook our foods, a lot of those nutrients are lost. Our bodies also have to work a lot harder to digest cooked foods as we only have so many enzymes to work with. Hence why juice cleanses are so popular.
For Amanda, raw food isn’t about giving things up. Amanda eats pizza, ice cream, and cheesecakes. For her the benefits of a raw food diet include weight loss, greater energy, clear skin, better sleep, and even an improved libido. She wants to help you achieve all of these things. From dinners, to workshops, to retreats, Amanda is running a handful of raw food events over the winter months in the hope to demystify raw foods and show people they can do it. If you’re outside Sydney, you can do her online 28-day raw food transformation.
Here’s to pizza, ice cream, and a seriously healthy body.
Check out Amanda’s website www.therawfoodkitchen.com.au for dates: stating on June 7 and running through until the end of July 2014
