Khatron ke Khiladi participant Yana Gupta swears by raw fruits, veggies and fruit juices for a fit, sexy body

If you claim to be a health freak and have sufficient will power, you may want to try the Raw Food Diet (RFD). The new mantra doing the rounds is to use RFD to detox  your tired palate, since this type of food is consumed easily without exerting pressure on our organs. Read on to find out more about the diet with a moral flavour.

What entails a Raw Lifestyle Foods Lifestyle diet?
Inspired by the Hippocrates Diet, composed by the legendary Greek physician, Raw and Living Foods Lifestyle is being accepted the world over as a natural form of healing. It's based on the theory that fire is a destroying element, which alters the taste of food. Any food cooked above 100ºC centigrade loses its nutritive value.

Raw power
Raw Food Diet is not only good for your body but also for the mind, since it cleanses toxins that have been accumulated from a cooked food diet. But the impact is not immediate, warn experts. If you are switching to RFD, it will take 21 days to experience the full effect of the diet, though you notice visible changes by the end of 10 days.

Why avoid cooked food?
Unlike other carnivores, human beings possess molar teeth which are suitable for chewing only fruits and vegetables. This means that nature intended us to be herbivores who eat food raw. Also, food loses a portion of its essential nutrients in the process of cooking and forms a debri-like layer inside our colon.

Why non-veg is a strict no
SN Goenka's Vipassana meditators believe turning vegetarian is a first step to inner salvation. When an animal is slaughtered, toxic juices are released from its body due to the fear it experiences. These toxins enter our body when we consume a dead animal's cooked meat. Besides, human saliva is alkaline in nature, making it unsuitable for digesting non-vegetarian food.

Raw Food Detox Diet comprises:
Besides the highly nutritive wheatgrass and sprouts, this diet recommends fresh fruits and vegetables salads, raw spinach soup, cabbage and juices. Organic food produced with natural fertilisers such as cow dung are recommended, while any animal product including milk is a strict no-no.
For Indians, no meal is complete without  our revered curries. With this diet, you don't have to deprive yourself of curries either. Blend spices, onion-garlic paste, jeera, black rock salt and other spices with coconut milk and your curry is ready.

Benefits of the Raw Food Detox Diet?
The concept of "complete body detox", is perhaps only possible with the help of the Raw Food Diet, since it flushes out toxins and excess waste products from the body. A study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that consumption of a Raw Food Diet leads to decrease in plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations.

What you can eat 
Unprocessed, preferably organic, whole foods such as
Fresh fruits and vegetables
Dry fruits
Beans
Seeds
Grains
Legumes
Avocados
Unprocessed organic or natural foods
Freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juice
Whole grain bread products and pasta, and raw whole grain cookies
Sweet potatoes