This viewpoint is obviously very reasonable: pure, unprocessed natural foods contain all the nutrients bestowed by Mother Nature. There is no loss of vitamins, no reduction in minerals, and certainly no premature depletion of antioxidants. Have you ever seen a rabbit boil a carrot or a lion fry a gazelle steak? Of course not. Nature doesn't do that. These creatures, created alongside us by God, never suffer from arteriosclerosis, diabetes, or high blood pressure. Can this nonsense really be called advice?
Perhaps these people have overlooked one point: most wild animals in their natural state die prematurely. In contrast, the creatures that delight in eating our grain and are called pests and vermin live a full and prosperous life, and they thrive. Our question is: Can the human digestive system be compared with that of wild animals? What would happen if people ate raw vegetables and fruits for a long time? This is best exemplified by the true advocates of "whole, unprocessed foods." At least 50% of their daily food intake consists of raw food, and many of them are vegetarians who eat a large amount of raw fruits and vegetables every day, besides grains.
Perhaps not everyone, but at least most people would experience digestive problems, such as bloating that exhausts a person and diarrhea with a foul odor. The reason is that some of the undigested food is fermented by microorganisms living in the intestines. More serious than the "bad gas" produced by this fermentation is that, in the long run, it can damage the intestinal mucosa and part of the immune system located there. One possible consequence is the development of rheumatism. Many people are not aware of this. These raw foodists cannot eat "filling foods" like cooked potatoes, rice, or noodles. In order to provide the body with enough food and energy, they have to eat more fruits and vegetables. Since they often feel "full" and stop eating prematurely, the result of this can be clearly seen in the in-depth study conducted by Professor Klaus Lettmann of Giessen on raw foodists: among the raw foodists participating in the experiment, 30% were slightly or seriously underweight, and their weight was directly related to the proportion of raw food in their diet: the more unprocessed raw food they ate, the lighter their weight. Among them, many women suffered from irregular menstruation, and one-third of them had no menstrual bleeding at all! This is also a measure the body takes to conserve energy when the external energy supply is insufficient. In addition, pregnancy, which consumes a lot of the body's energy, was also suppressed.
In another experiment conducted by researchers in Giessen, scientists found that people whose diet consisted of 95% raw food had significantly more tooth damage than those who ate a normal diet. The reason is that a large proportion of their food was fruit, especially citrus fruits. The fruit acid in these fruits erodes the enamel layer, forcing these raw foodists to visit the dentist frequently. Therefore, while we follow the advice to eat as much fresh raw fruits and vegetables as possible and enjoy their delicious taste, we must not forget the potential side effects. Of course, we don't have to give up foods like tomato salad or fresh avocado juice because of this. Eat whatever you want—as long as you are interested and can digest it. Only the extreme diets that ignore the principles of biology are truly worrisome.