Destruction of enzymes

When food is cooked, the enzymes are destroyed in full. Research has shown that when any food is heated above 118°F for approximately 20 minutes, there is complete and total devastation of all enzymes within that specific food.

Loss of protein

The process of cooking not only destroys enzymes, but protein too. Most protein is destroyed or converted to forms that are not easily digested. Many of us think of meat as our main source of protein, but the fact is we are probably getting very little from our meat due to the high heat used in cooking.

Lost vitamins

As if the loss of enzymes and protein power isn’t enough, vitamins are also damaged by the cooking process.

Although not all vitamins are destroyed from high heat, studies have shown that vitamin activity is enormously curtailed. In fact, according to one of the world’s leading researchers on the topic, Dr Viktoras Kulvinskas, in his Survival Report into the 21st Century, warns of an average overall ‘nutrient destruction of approximately 85 per cent from cooking’. In other words, when food is cooked we are often getting less than 15 per cent of the nutritive value of the food, a lesser percentage of protein, and zero per cent of the enzymes.

OTHER HOT ISSUES

Eating very hot food isn’t good news for your bodily functions either. It can cause other enzymatic problems. For example, research has shown that stomach upsets are likely if you drink beverages that are simply too hot. Too hot food (in temperature) also poses risk of gum problems, mouth ulcers and tongue and throat cancers.

One of the most alarming studies by medical researchers found that a diet full of cooked foods may cause the reduction of brain tissue and the swelling of the key organs. Cooked food also overworks the endocrine glands. The endocrine system, along with the nervous system, regulates appetite. If your endocrine glands know you’ve had enough calories, but nutrients and enzymes are missing from the foods, then your body will keep demanding more food just to keep its strength up. The result may be weight problems, exhaustion and poor health.

The overeating of cooked food also compromises the overall immune system. Cooked foods have been shown to actually adversely alter blood structure. In my own live cell analysis of patients’ blood-work, I have found that the people who only eat cooked foods have blood cells that appear to be in a constant state of alert (as if they were fighting a constant infection). In effect, the white blood cells become over-worked, a condition known as ‘leukocytosis’. This is incredibly weakening to the immune system.

Immunity may no longer be able to perform when a real infection sets in. It’s like constantly revving your car engine; eventually it gets flooded and won’t start at all. In this sense, cooked foods flood your blood system, the immune system and the organs.

BALANCING ACT

The good news here, however, is that the presenting researcher at the International Congress of Microbiology, Dr Paul Kouchakoff (MD), emphatically pointed out that eating raw foods, or even just foods heated below 190°F, could prevent any rise in white blood cells. Perhaps most significantly, though, was that Dr Kouchakoff found that eating an approximate 50–50 ratio (50 per cent raw foods to 50 per cent cooked foods) could also prevent leukocytosis. You don’t need to go cold-turkey on cooking or eating hot food entirely. You can still eat cooked foods, but you just need to balance it with some raw.

Although I want you to know the benefits of increasing your intake of raw fruits, vegetables and sprouts, I am not advocating that you eat all raw all the time. Instead I am saying that you should (a) eat more raw; and (b) whenever you eat a cooked food, balance it with some raw foods. The combination of cooked with raw foods is the best.

GETTING IN THE RAW

So when you fancy something cooked, whenever possible it is better to warm the foods rather than vigorously cook them. For instance, you obviously need to do some cooking if you want to have soup. But you can still manage to get in the raw. Once the soup is hot and ready to serve, you can add various fresh raw vegetables to the soup just moments before it hits the table. In this way, you can enjoy warm soup in the winter knowing you’re still getting a substantial ration of raw (completely uncooked) vegetables contained within the soup.

WARMING FOODS

A useful tip to help you cut down on cooking is to include more warming foods which warm the body, whether served raw, cold or warm. For example: cinnamon, garlic, quinoa sprouts or ginger are ‘warming herbs’. These foods also serve an important function in our bodies, helping to circulate the blood and comfort the organs.