What Is Really Raw?


One question that I get all the time is, what food is actually raw?

Most people think nearly everything in the supermarket is raw, including most canned goods, produce, frozen fruits and vegetables, and dairy in the refrigerated section. Some of it is actually raw, but most of it is not.

So, which ones are raw and which ones are not?

According to Merriam Webster, this is what raw means:
RAW:
  • Function: adjective
  • Inflected Form(s): raw·er \ˈrȯ(-ə)r\; raw·est \ˈrȯ-əst\
  • Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hrēaw; akin to Old High German hrō raw, Latin crudus raw, cruor blood, Greek kreas flesh
  • Date: before 12th century
1 : not cooked
2 a (1) : being in or nearly in the natural state : not processed or purified <raw fibers> <raw sewage> (2) : not diluted or blended <raw spirits> b : unprepared or imperfectly prepared for use.
As you can see, the definition is kind of vague, other than raw meaning not cooked in some way.

So what does raw really mean? To be raw, a food must not be heated above 105 °F. But optimally, not heated above 95°.

The question is, why? Because another definition of raw is enzymatically active. That means the food is still alive. Enzymes, depending on the type, tend to break down after about 105°. There are some that survive up to 120°, but most drop off the planet above 105°. But all enzymes stay perfectly alive up to 95°, so that's the benchmark.

To sum up, if you want your food to be raw, it must be kept under 95°.

Another question is, what about some of these other foods like canned goods, frozen foods, and prepackaged foods that definitely are sold at or below 95°. Sorry to say, but most of these are not raw.

Let's go through them individually.

Canned foods
Never raw because: 
  1. Most canned foods are cooked before they get canned 
  2. By law, after canning, they have to raise the sealed contents to 180° to kill bacteria.
Frozen foods
Never raw:
Because by law, frozen foods must be blanched before being flash-frozen and packaged. (Blanching is a cooking term that describes a process of food preparation where in the food is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocked) to halt the cooking process.)
Pre-packaged
Never raw unless:
Specifically stated on the packaging: raw, unheated. To call something raw in the United States, it can be heated up to 140°, so check on the packaging for low temperature and not heated above 95° F.
Dairy
Never raw unless stated on the packaging: raw, unpasteurized.
They are only 9 states in the U.S. that legally sell raw milk over the counter: Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, South Carolina, California, Maine, Washington, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.  
Here's the loophole, customers can purchase directly and privately from a farm, or purchase dairy labeled as "for animal use only." Also, customers can get raw cheese anywhere, but it must specifically state on the cheese that it is raw, or unpasteurized. Anything else is cooked, especially if it says pasteurized.
Eggs
Kind of raw: 
If your eggs have ever been refrigerated they are not in their raw state anymore. Eggs should NOT be stored in refrigerators or stored below 55°F. Once refrigerated, the natural enzymes in eggs will shut down and they never start back up again. So, don't buy eggs that have been refrigerated and DO NOT refrigerate your eggs after that if you want to keep them raw. But once they are refrigerated you must keep doing so. Why? Because eggs die in the refrigerator. They start to decompose and vital enzymes, proteins and nutrients are lost. You'd die if we refrigerated you too. Get your eggs directly from the farm or farmer's market and make sure the eggs have never been refrigerated.
So there you go. If you have any questions, post a comment so I can answer for everyone.



Other Unreasonable Happiness Posts You Would Be Interested In
Get Better Now!... Living Mastery
Show Archives:

Did you find this information useful?
Then pay it forward. Help my Scholarship Students with their tuition and allow me to create more of my Free Programs and Shows for everyone. How? Just click below to Donate, any amount is greatly appreciated and it all goes to a good cause.






Thank You,
Sifu Marcus Lovemore

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Posted by Sifu Marcus Lovemore at 3:00 AM

4 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 21, 2009 at 6:07 AM

    Frozen - does that mean the precut fruit in bags you buy in the frozen food section is not as good? (like at Cosco or the supermarket)
    I don't use it since I don't think it tastes as good, but my mother does and likes that it is cheap and easy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sifu Marcus LovemoreAugust 21, 2009 at 4:36 PM

    You got it. Any frozen food you buy is boiled first. NOT RAW.

    Thanks for your comment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 21, 2009 at 5:17 PM

    So, is raw really so important if you can still get the nutrition from frozen or canned? Here is a CBS article talking about frozen fruit and saying it is cooked, but just as nutritious: http://www.cbs8.com/global/story.asp?s=9995321

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sifu Marcus LovemoreAugust 22, 2009 at 5:23 AM

    It"s really about bioavailability. But here"s the catch, in order to test raw food they have to heat it up to separate the component vitamins and minerals so they can measure them. This process changes the the nutrients and makes it hard for your body to recognize them. And I won't even get into what is does to the proteins, enzymes and how it creates the process of glycosis. This how one can come to the conclusion that cooked is just as nutritious as raw. So the conclusions are a red herring.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Translate

My Most Popular Posts