I first heard about eating raw when I read 'Never Be Sick Again' by Raymond Francis. This was a guy who was on his death bed and decided to do something about it. So he learned about healthy eating and living by researching every piece of information he could find. I highly recommend that book by the way. It has undeniable reasons for why you shouldn't eat certain foods and why you should eat others. Now he is a healthy guy who advocates a healthy kind of life...for a good reason.

Everyone knows that raw vegetables are good for us. They haven't been cooked which means they've retained what minerals, vitamins and enzymes they have. It's the same with raw fruit. The thing is we have a tendency to cook everything we eat even the vegetables and fruit.

Cooking all food damages nutrients and makes them difficult to digest. It even damages protein which is the hardiest of nutrients. Heating food deactivates its enzymes, which even though we make ourselves in our own bodies, we still receive enzymes directly from our food. Cooking common vegetables, such as carrots, can cause losses of 75 percent of the vitamin C, 70 percent of the vitamin B1, 50 percent of vitamin B2 and 60 percent of vitamin B3. The higher the heat and the longer the cooking time, the more nutrients your food is going to lose.

Research at Stockholm University with Sweden's National Food Administration showed that baking or frying carbohydrate-rich foods such as potatoes or cereals formed acrylamide, a much studied substance classified as a probable human carcinogen. I've seen a lot about burnt food having this same affect, including burnt toast and burnt meat.

Living completely raw would mean that you don't eat anything that's been heated over 115 degrees Fahrenheit. You may think that leaves a lot of food out but you would actually be quite surprised at what you can eat. You can pretty much make a copycat recipe of anything not raw. And the deserts are too die for. Plus have you ever tasted anything sprouted? Sprouted beans are so good no matter what kind you have and they are neat to look at too.

I'm one of those people that like my food warm when I feel it should be warm. 115 degrees Fahrenheit is pretty warm and there are some good dehydrators out there which heat up your food but it just takes a little longer than the microwave or the oven.

Most people who claim they are raw are about 80 percent or more raw. It is very hard to go completely raw considering the way our lifestyles are now but eating as much raw as you can is better than eating now raw food.

Some benefits of raw besides the nutrients retained are you no longer have to worry about burning the roof of your mouth! Well it's true.

You can eat a lot more food since raw food tends to be more vegetables and fruit. This means that you get to keep eating and not worry about putting those extra pounds on.

When you begin to replace meals with raw meals you begin to lose weight. It's only natural because you are taking in less calories and feeling fuller which means you are less likely to be grabbing the nearest bag of potato chips which means you never have to say "Why did I eat so much!".

The more you learn about eating raw the more you will understand its benefits and most likely start to eat more raw food.