Have you noticed "eating raw" is all the rage now? Why is this--what's the big deal with eating raw, anyway? I found a little free magazine, Garden of Life, at my whole foods store that answered the question simply. Here's how it explained the big-dealness of this issue:

To begin with, raw veggies are packed with enzymes, while cooked veggies are nearly drained of them. This fact leads me to ask, so what do enzymes have to do with anything? Without enzymes, vitamins and minerals are ineffective--all vitamins and minerals need an enzyme to do their job.

So you want to protect the enzymes. They can't survive past 115° F, and most cooked vegetables are cooked at much higher temperatures than that. And again, without the enzymes, we just can't absorb whatever vitamins and minerals are left in that cooked food. And by the way, vitamin C and all B vitamins are among the first to go when the heat rises.

Raw veggies still have their enzymes in tact, so the body can absorb the vitamins and minerals. But there's more. You also receive activated vitamins and minerals plus chlorophyll, lutein and indoles (champion antioxidants that fight off unhealthy cells). And add to that carotenoids and polyphenols from most raw vegetables. All this stuff is killed when vegetables are cooked about 115° F.

Take raw broccoli for instance. It retains the enzyme myrosinase, which breaks down glucosinates into a compound called sulforaphane. Sulforaphane supports healthy cells by keeping unhealthy, rogue cells at bay while also fighting off unhealthy bacteria. And then raw broccoli also contains loads of indoles.

Also, raw broccoli and other raw green veggies are packed with chlorophyll, which has an alkalizing nature and cleansing effect on elimination systems. Chlorophyll does a superb job of cleansing the blood, lymph, and intracellular fluid. It also delivers oxygen to tissues and supports the growth of friendly bacteria. Chlorophyll works overtime to protect the body from cancers and other diseases.

Finally, we also lose vitamins K, and folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, manganese, and selenium when we cook vegetables.

It's convincing data all right, and makes me want to include more raw food in my diet. But how do you do this so it tastes good? I've discovered three helpful tricks:

1. I am eating more salads, taking pains to include more broccoli and cauliflower. But I chop them very fine, which allows these vegetables to blend nicely with everything else in the salad. For my taste, big chunks of broccoli and cauliflower (that you often find in veggie trays) carry too strong a taste that tends to overpower whatever they're combined with. But when they're reduced to tiny pieces this isn't a problem.
2. I'm adding lots of fresh herbs to my raw veggies--dill, thyme, and rosemary, especially.
3. And when I just want a nice warm dish of veggies (which happens mostly during the colder months), I chop my veggies, place them in a bowl, and pour a little hot water over them. They're warmed up but the enzymes and all the other good stuff is preserved.

If you've been toying with the idea of including more raw food in your diet, this is a good time of year to practice it, what with all the available local fresh produce coming on. And some extra bonuses not mentioned above? Notice the increase in energy, the easier digestion, and the weight loss when you turn down the heat! Raw--it really is a big deal.