Why Raw?

Hey y’all,

In the Monkey Diet, I outline that about 75% of your food should be raw fruits and veggies, but why raw? Won’t cooked foods give us the same nutrients?

No, but that’s not the only reason for raw foods.

Most people overcook their food. As a society, we even cook a lot of foods that are perfectly fine to eat in their raw state (like sweet corn or spinach). While some foods actually become more nutritious with cooking (typically the starchy, heavier foods), some foods have much of their nutrition wiped out with cooking (lighter foods like greens).

But that’s not the most important reason I have for recommending a mostly raw food diet. When done correctly, a whole-foods plant-based diet is great. However, it’s very easy to not do it correctly. I didn’t. I ate lots of bananas, potatoes, and rice, and not that many other fruits or vegetables. By focussing on raw food and intentionally eating about half veggies, that’s not a problem.

I’ve seen A LOT of whole-food plant-based recipes out there that really focus on a grain/starch as the center of a meal (or as the entire meal). This is backwards. Vegetables (maybe fruit) should be the main part of the meal with the grains or starch as side dishes.

What I’ve been doing recently is to make a huge bowl of mixed greens, and have a big salad with my food. For breakfast, I’ve been having a big smoothie with fruits, veggies, and nuts.

I also discovered how to make zucchini noodles without a spiralizer. Make zucchini strips with a veggie peeler, and mix a pinch of salt in. In about 20-25 minutes, the noodles will have a nice wiggle to them. This was a fun, easy way to make a healthy pasta. I’ll likely be doing that pretty often.