I've been reading up on raw food diets the last few days after reading Steve Pavlina's blog about his 31 day raw food trial. Some of the case studies of people that have changed their lives by eating raw foods are quite inspiring with people reducing their weight by up to 50% in some cases. The weight loss thing doesn't really motivate me - I'm an average weight for my height - but the health benefits do. I don't really have any health problems per se but I'm always interested in exploring different ways in which I can improve my health and general well-being. That being said though, the main motivator is one of, yes you've guessed it, sustainability. There is no cooking involved, no packaging and a lot of the food can be sourced locally - even in your own back garden. What could be better for you than nature's natural way of living - after all, our nearest animal relatives, the chmips, get most of their nutrition from fruit.
Apparently when we cook food we destroy all of its enzymes. We have a store of enzymes in our bodies and we add to them by eating raw food. Every function of our body relies on enzymes so not regularly topping them up can cause us health problems. A good FAQ on eating raw can be found here.
I can see why some people may be put off with this type of diet though. You need to eat a lot of food every day to satisfy your hunger. Maybe by eating less our stomachs will shrink and we won't need as much...