Feeling brilliant, sipping tea and thinking...huh??

[mattm]

Hi guys, I'm currently on a 100% green smoothie diet and loving it with more energy and vibrance than I knew possible. But I was wandering the other day whilst sipping my regular cup of dandelion herbal tea that I'm having effectively cooked food, even though it doesn't seem to effect my health at all (that is my body doesn't have a single adverse reaction to it) and find, in combination with the smoothies, it helps my digestion absolutely amazingly. People have said about there experiences of having cooked food on a 100% raw diet especially fasts and the major reactions they have to it (e.g. sickness and headaches) but the tea doesn't seem to effect me...I know it is just fluid but it is nevertheless cooked and I would really expect some sort of reaction. Please could someone give me some insight to why my body is okay with this cooked food...I just find it very strange. Thanks for all your kind help.

[Juicyfruit]

Hi Matt,

The reason is that the bad reaction one gets from cooked food is due to the protein content. The tea is being soaked in hot/warm water and you are only getting the compounds from the herb and not the whole herb, so you are not consuming any denatured protein. The lower a food is in protein, the less reaction you will have to it if it has been cooked. The denatured proteins occouring from cooking food are what causes the problems in a cooked diet.

[andypdx]

Hi Matt,

The reason is that the bad reaction one gets from cooked food is due to the protein content. The tea is being soaked in hot/warm water and you are only getting the compounds from the herb and not the whole herb, so you are not consuming any denatured protein. The lower a food is in protein, the less reaction you will have to it if it has been cooked. The denatured proteins occouring from cooking food are what causes the problems in a cooked diet.

Cooked protein?

Are you implying that one would not experience negative effects if one consumed cooked foods containing only carbohydrate and fat?

[Juicyfruit]

Hey Andypdx,


Well, heating in general causes destruction in quality in all forms of foods, including fats and carbohydrates. If you consume those damaged carbs, fats, it would definately be harmful to your body causing inflamations and other problems. Damaged protein consumption causes more damage due to the circulation and accumulation of damaged proteins in the blood, thus affecting the lymph. Here is a link that explains it a little better than I can in a post.
http://www.freeacnebook.com/01-10.htm#02.

[shooting star]

I've been drinking Pau D'arco tea which definitely isn't raw as you boil it for 10 minutes before drinking it. However the health benefits are huge (it's a powerful anti-fungal).

I want to be healthy, not adhere to someone's rules about whether something is raw or not. So if it is working for you, and it clearly is, then I say go for it!

[mattm]

Hi again guys, thanks for all the info...the cooked protein stuff was very interesting to read. Like you Shooting Star I really don't care if the tea isn't raw as it's doing my body an aweful lot of good and my state of health with all the green smoothies is immense at the moment...plus especially in the cold weather when your not having cooked food it is very comforting to have a warm drink. I just started the thread because I was interested in knowing if anyone else had this ecperience and knew of any scientific reason why the body on such a high level of raw (I would be 100% if I didn't have the tea) doesn't get adversely effected by this cooked food and in fact it helps so much. I have a few raw food friends who have also made the comment to me in the past about them not experiencing problems with tea whilst other cooked things on a high level of raw do present issues and they certainly don't feel better after consuming them. It just shows you how things aren't always as black and white as they first seem...but I guess discovery is all part of the fun:). All the best.

[Shirleyh]

What kind of green smoothie diet on you on?
I think it doesnt take much to digest tea it may be why it also doesnt effect you.

[LightLover]

It gives much rest to put things in a (flexible) hierarchy.
I call this "from wheatgrass till pharmadrugs".

So cooked herbs and spices have , in general, a minor effect on the body than cooked proteines, fats, and carbohydrates.
In my opinion..:p


LL

[mattm]

Shirleyh I'm on a green smoothie diet of 3 large smoothies a day. Being young (I'm currently studying at uni) I make sure they are calorie dense and I include fat (usually one avocado or 2-3tbsp of oil to slow down absorption of the fruit sugar in smoothie), fruit (often 1 to 2 apples and a sweet fruit e.g. a mango or 1 or 2 bananas or sometimes dried fruit for calories and to balance out biterness of greens), often cucumber (just love these things) and a huge amount of green leafies (I find this extremely crucial for long term health). I also enjoy the superfoods maca, raw cocoa (every morning in breakfast smoothie...delicious) and pure synergy every day mixed in them. For example, a very typical breafast smoothie for me consists of 1tbsp cocoa, 2tbsp flaxseed oil, 1 heaped tsp pure synergy, 1 tbsp maca, water, a load of baby leaf spinach and romaine lettuce, cucumber, celery, 2 apples and 2tsp manuka honey poured into a bowl like a very runny soup...I can tell you now you can almost feel the healing with every spoonful of this! I thought living on smoothies would eventually get boring but I've been on them for a quite a few months now and don't want to get off them in the slightest. They're delicious, sooooo diverse, they're nutritional profile is easily tailored to individual needs, incredibly satisfying and for the first time I've got the calories I was requiring and consequently put on the weight I needed too. They are truely incredible and the health benefits are immense...I recommend them to absolutely everybody.

[Shirleyh]

Thanks for sharing your smoothies! Have a wonderful day!:D