I always feel so fortunate when I get to corner a biochemist and ask them what they think of the rawfoodist idea. I got another chance and here in my lay-persons language is what I learned from a biochemist who is currently focusing on nutrients that will best grow human cells in the lab. Incidentally he also expressed reservations about eating grilled food anymore after learning what he knows about cooked food. He verified that vitamins do get destroyed by the heat. He said that when the food gets brown or black from cooking toxins have been produced.
Apparently toxins were originally these nice little molecules that got hot (for example from cooking), broke up, mixed with others and created a new molecule that has the nasty ability to get itself stuck inside one of your DNA chains. This new DNA may decide to do…well we don’t know what all. He said there are theories that the body has yet to be understood immune systems. The body can go in and say hey that cell is funky and try to repair the situation, they may succeed at this, they may not. There are billions of cells in your body and it only takes one cell to grow up like this to cause trouble. There are many conditions to create a cancer problem.
Ok I really have to go now, life is so busy and I know this is too short. Still it is interesting don’t you think, biochemists giving up their favorite grilled foods? He is not the first to tell me this. He also said it makes sense that the body would be more built to eat raw foods since that is what we ate for millions of years before discovering how to build our first cumbersome fire which was relatively recently. I think the rawfood community and the biochemistry community find they have some things in common.
Well, Elizabeth, you’ve been saying this for years. Thanks for this further proof, which adds to your extensive research on this subject. The big problem with it, however, is that most folks just won’t listen. It will take YEARS to get into the brains of the general public. Thanks for your efforts.
Hi Carol,
Thanks for the comments. I don’t feel like I have really done research yet, once I dive into journals, etc. then maybe I can feel that way. It is hard for farmers to market apples beside a bright colored box of sweet apple candy. People who get deep into rawfood seem to me to often be there kind as a desperate act to recover from some health problem and willing to experiment with their diet.
I remember learning as a kid that we are the only animal on the planet that cooks its food. I always found that strange, and it stayed with me. Nonetheless, it took me another 30+ years to convert to a raw lifestyle.
Hi Earthmother,
It is funny that it is a strange phenomenon in the animal world to cook food and I feel like I was raised in a culture in which it seemed stranger to eat food that wasn’t cooked.
This is great info! Thanks for posting this! Mind if I spread the word?
Hi LB,
Thanks, of course spread the word. I am hopeful about December’s post, the draft I wrote yesterday is catching my attention (ugg, it is 3:20 am right now, I’m working on a paper). Hopefully I will be less busy soon and get to work on this more (especially some more recipe projects).
fascinating!!!
Hey Elizabeth,
I have a question about consuming grilled food. Does it only affect you if you consume large amounts of it? I’ve heard that barbeque can cause cancer as well but only if it’s consumed in large amounts.
Thanks,
Christine
Hi Christine,
By chance, on two different occasions I had the opportunity to speak with PhDs in bio-chemical related fields, neither of whom were into diet, however they “confessed” they would never eat burnt food of any kind. One had done the studies himself and seen the outcome where incrementally the more burnt the food was that was eaten the more the rats got cancer. There you go…I should dig up some research on this, it is a great topic, thanks for asking. By the way that very much includes the crust on the bread which is more burnt than the rest of the bread. Best of luck, and remember do what you think works best for you and don’t beat yourself up about that! Eating smartly for you is complex and the bio-chemical reactions you are creating are not the only factors involved.