Acceptable Drinks on a Raw Food Diet - Dos and Don'ts
What Is the Raw Food Diet?
A raw food diet is a vegan diet involving raw or unprocessed foods. However, some non-vegans also eat raw eggs or fish. Raw foods are those that haven’t been through any processes such as above 118°F heating, refinement, pesticide treatment, or pasteurization.
People generally go on the raw food diet in order to keep natural enzymes and nutrient content in foods as much as possible. Like a vegan diet, a raw food diet contains plant-based foods like nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. They use many methods such as soaking, grinding, sprouting, juicing, blending and dehydrating to prepare.
Eating raw foods might be easy as you just cut them into small pieces after cleaning. But the problem is what you should drink on a raw food diet as not all liquids are raw.
What to Drink on a Raw Food Diet?
To “obey the rules,” there are several drink choices for raw foodists. The first one must be purified water. You can also drink young coconut water, wheatgrass, barley grass juices, fruit and vegetable juices, or smoothies. However, coconut water is not for those who have low blood pressure, high potassium in the blood, kidney problems, or cystic fibrosis. Furthermore, women during pregnancy or breast-feeding shouldn’t drink coconut water.
As mentioned above, the manufacturing methods of raw foods contain soaking and grinding. Therefore, all kinds of soaked (or ground) beans, nuts, and seeds milk are acceptable. It would be best to make them at home instead of buying because many commercial versions undergo pasteurization to extend shelf life.
Here are some drinks to try when you get bored with regular juices or smoothies.
- Cilantro Blueberry Detox Smoothie: Bananas, orange, blueberries, spirulina, fresh coriander, ice, and water.
- Raw Pina Colada Smoothie: Pineapple, coconut milk, banana, ice, raw bean powder, salt.
- Raw Raspberry Cordial: Carrots, apples, and beetroots.
What to Avoid Drinking on a Raw Food Diet?
First of all, anything with refined sugar is not acceptable. Once you go raw, drink raw. The next ones on the list are coffee and tea. Besides involving heating in preparation, they also contain a significant amount of caffeine, which is bad for health. It can cause many diseases related to the digestive system and blood. That is the opposite aim of going raw.
Raw herbal tea is also not acceptable. You can use it without heating, but it doesn’t mean that the manufacturing process doesn’t.
Can I Drink Alcohol on a Raw Food Diet?
When you go raw, the biggest trouble with alcohol products is that they’re toxins, highly acidic, and usually come with mixers. On the one hand, alcohol is somehow acceptable in retaining the natural enzymes and nutrient content in foods. On the other hand, the damage it might cause to your digestive system is against raw diets’ initial purpose. So we will put a NO here.
Summary
In conclusion, these are drinks that you should and shouldn’t drink on a raw food diet.
| SHOULD | SHOULDN’T |
| Wheatgrass or barley grass juice | Tea |
| Fresh fruit and vegetable juices | Coffee |
| Fresh fruit and vegetable smoothies | Alcohol (both distilled and undistilled drinks) |
| Homemade soaked/ground beans, nuts or seeds milk | Any drinks with refined sugar |
A raw food diet isn’t for everyone, but there are benefits to be had. Although there are strict rules and things to avoid, it’s also easy to prepare food and drinks every day. If you get bored of the same fruit and vegetable juices every day, try to mix things up. Nature is amazing, and so is your creativity!
Are you already on a raw food diet or thinking about starting one? What drink rules do you follow? Please share your opinions with us in the comments below. Don’t forget to sign up for VegHealth Institute for more upcoming interesting information about plant-based diets.
