Life in the raw
There was a time when only hippies and health fanatics would consider living on raw food. No more. A raw-food revolution is under way and celebs are leading the way. Uma Thurman, Natalie Portman and Alicia Silverstone have all been eating uncooked food in the name of optimum health. But then, the beautiful people were beautiful and shiny haired before they gave up ovens. I decided to give my oven a rest for a week, to see if I can catch any symptoms of becoming glamourous and gorgeous.
Tuesday. Bloating is not the nicest word. So thank you to Samara Reid at London’s Hale Clinic for the warning. The angel of traditional Chinese medicinal doom also warned me about weight gain. “Cold food can stay in the intestines for a long time,” she says. Except that “according to the Chinese way of thinking, food is warmed in order to promote digestion. Cold food is not a good idea, because the body has to warm it to digest, which depletes stomach and spleen energy.” She threatens me with weight gain on my upper legs, a muzzy head and unclear thoughts.
Apparently, chewing every mouthful of food 50 times will help. How do you chew a lettuce leaf so many times without it disappearing like candyfloss? But I get sympathy from Deborah McManners, a naturopath at the Hale Clinic and GP. She suggests that I eat vast quantities of pumpkin seeds, raw nuts, avocado and fresh juices. “Juicing bursts open cells so the antioxidants in plants, which are proven to prevent cancer, can be absorbed,” she says. “Uma Thurman would probably drink fresh juice and eat fruit for breakfast, and salads with grain, avocados and sprouts for lunch.”
A bit of Uma would not be so bad. My blood pressure is a pleasingly low 96/60 and my weight is, um, just fine. She tells me I will lose several pounds. I am happy. I complete day one, hungry.
Wednesday. What to eat? Bread is the most difficult thing to give up when eating a raw-food diet, says Karen Knowler, author of Raw Food for Beginners. “Bread is addictive, people find it difficult to go a day without wheat products. Cravings do vanish after a few weeks or months,” Knowler says. A few months? By that time I will be emaciated, probably hospitalised. The science of the religion of raw is like Darwinism to an evolutionist.
“Cooked food has less water and no oxygen. Phytochemicals, which make you feel good, get destroyed by cooking and enzymes in food are destroyed at 48 degrees Celsius,” Knowler says.
But, she tells me, my body will be cleaning out the caffeine residue from many years of relying on coffee to trigger some semblance of alertness in the mornings. I will have peaks and troughs, but there will be periods where I feel elation. I hope so. She recommends almond milk, which is filling, and smoothies with bananas. Commercial fruit juices are pasteurised so I should make my own, and add nuts, olives, avocados and seeds to salads for extra energy.
Thursday. Feeling exhausted, which may be the lack of caffeine, but is likely to be too much time thinking about what food I am not eating, and a lot of energy spent chopping raw vegetables.
Friday. The Little Earth Cafe in Primrose Hill is London’s only raw-food eatery. While America has plenty of raw restaurants, Britain is lagging behind. The cafe smells faintly of banana and sweet incense. Guests take their shoes off on entering, yoga poses are optional, everyone exudes health. Katia Narain, 29, and Christophe Reissfelder, 25, are the chefs. The food is vegan; the cafe does not promote eating meat. Apparently my drastic plan is not the best approach to raw; cold-turkey on cooking can easily result in a relapse. Katia advises people to use almond milk as opposed to dairy, honey instead of refined sugar, and cut out caffeine. “A raw diet is not for everybody, but if you get in tune with your body you will know how much raw food you need. Processed food is one extreme, raw food is at the other end of the spectrum.” Christophe says: “Just adding vegetable juice to a daily diet has a real effect, and when people notice the difference they may really change their methods of eating. Morning is the best time to drink juice.”
They both advise me to drink juices and smoothies throughout the day and avoid raw meat and fish because only few people on a raw-food diet eat either.
Saturday. Out to dinner for my friend Pip’s birthday. I feel my will for raw slipping as I look at a mouth-watering menu - lobster, fish bisque, steak. Will one small deviation count? My friends are choosing what to eat with the light-hearted joy of normal diners. Going out for dinner is about so much more than food, but the restrictions are not making me feel sociable. I stay strong and stick to salad.
Sunday. Juicers are the kitchen implement of the gods. My day is spent feeding oranges and ginger, strawberries and banana into the lawnmower-sounding appliance. The results are sublime. A trip down to the local organic store to stock up on alfalfa sprouts, unroasted nuts and almond milk. Just buying the products makes me feel healthy, and I enjoy peering into my fridge because it too is looking healthy.
Monday. Heston Blumenthal, owner of the Fat Duck at Bray in Berkshire, voted the world’s best restaurant by Restaurant magazine, is not impressed with my raw diet. “As early on as man made fire, we have cooked,” he scorns. “Cooking gives food flavours. It is pointless eating to live, you may as well take in nutrients in tablet form. There has to be a pleasurable element to food. If you eat raw the pleasure starts to disappear.” My blood pressure is up to 110/70 but this is probably just because I have been rushing around in the heat. But I have lost weight. Two kilos, which is five pounds, which is almost half a stone. In just one week. No sign of celebrity gorgeousness yet, but maybe that will come. Perhaps raw is the way forward.
—The Independent, London
