There’s been a lot of talk about raw foods lately. Vegetarians. Vegans. And now raw foodists. They insist that everything you eat should be eaten, you guessed it, raw or “living.”
But what does that mean? The “living” part refers to the enzymes naturally present in fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Enzymes don’t do well in the heat — they start dying as soon as the cooking temperature reaches 102 degrees. By the time the food you are cooking reaches 126 degrees, they are all gone. And since enzymes aid your digestion, destroying them is something you want to avoid, according to the raw food movement.
But that’s not all. Raw foodists believe in eating an uncooked, unheated, unprocessed and organic plant-based diet. Local private chef Sal Montezinos has recently joined the movement and is eager to share his knowledge with the people in Naples.
“I’ve worked with raw food for about a year now, but only in the last two weeks I’ve started eating everything raw,” he says. After cooking — and eating — meat, seafood and the likes for most of his life, Montezinos has decided to make a change and embraced the raw food movement. After only three weeks, the results, he says, are incredible.
“I can already feel the difference. It’s something difficult to explain to someone who has never done it. You feel clean and full of energy like never before,” he says.
Eating organic, unprocessed and uncooked food has strong detoxifying powers and, according to Montezinos, after only a few days it also limits your cravings. When your body receives all the nutrients, vitamins and enzymes it needs, you no longer long for that glass of wine or piece of chocolate. When you eat what is right for you, you feel full and satisfied longer, which leads to more energy and natural weight loss.
