Raw Food Facts

Today, I started looking into some information on the raw food diet. A few factoids of note:

• Only raw foods have enzymes, since enzymes are destroyed when heated. Many of these enzymes are immediately absorbed in the mouth.
• These enzymes that are contained in the food actually help the body to digest the food, so the body doesn't have to make its own enzymes do the work.
  
• Milk, cheese, and frozen foods are acceptable on the diet.
• You can also eat rice, pickles, yogurt, and kim chee, but they take longer to prepare than when on a non raw food diet.
• When you eat cooked food, your body increases its white blood cell count. This is a stress response that doesn't happen when you eat raw food.
• Some people say that the raw food diet is healthier because that is how our ancestors lived, and our bodies are designed to eat uncooked food because of evolution. I think that those people are on crack.
• And my favorite new factoid is: The raw food diet is especially good for cats, since they need a chemical called taurine (most animals make this chemical themselves, but cats don't). Taurine is rendered inactive with heat, and a lack of it in a cat's diet can cause health problems. (uh-oh, Joosker!)