Promoters of the raw food diet reckon it has bounteous health benefits, together with increased energy, superior skin appearance, healthier digestion, weight loss, abridged risk of heart disease etc. People who eschew raw food diet say while it is spot on that a number of enzymes are inactivated when food is heated, it doesn’t matter because the body uses its own enzymes for digestion. They also say that cooking makes certain phytochemicals easier to soak up, such as beta-carotene in carrots.

Raw foodism or rawism is a way of life promoting the use of un-cooked, un-processed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet. Raw food diet followers characteristically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits.

It has been observed that some people go through a detoxification reaction when they start the raw food diet, in particular if their previous diet was rich in meat, sugar, and caffeine. Precise cooking techniques like steaming make foods more digestible and add variety to the diet. Other techniques are sprouting seeds, grains, and beans, juicing fruit and vegetables, soaking nuts and dried fruit, blending, dehydrating food etc.

According to other alternative diet theories, such as macrobiotics, Ayurveda, and traditional Chinese medicine, a raw-only diet may not be suitable for people living in colder climates or for people with certain constitutional types. They also say that cooking makes certain phytochemicals easier to absorb, such as beta-carotene in carrots. Another point they put forward is that the human body has changed in response to eating cooked foods.

A raw-only diet may not be suitable for people living in colder climates or for people with certain constitutional types.