I am just wondering how natural it is to eat dehydrated foods and what the effect would be compared to eating fresh foods ? I don't have a dehydrator but I'm wondering if I should get one as a health improvement gizmo ? What health benefits does the dehydrator impart to the raw food ?

dehydrated foods can be better than some cooked foods

but fresh is recommended over dehydrated.

there are certainly no health benefits imparted.

If we lived in a more primitive society we would be drying things all summer to eat all winter, so dried foods would be a natural thing do eat, unless you consider that we are tropical animals and probably should be living in the tropics where we wouldn't really need to dry foods.

I use my dehydrator for the food I can't freeze when they are not going to be eaten enough. I hope to grind them up and use them to bake a raw soup this winter. I just dehydrated some strawberries so I could make some strawberry jam later. I got a dehydrator at a yard sale and it has a thermistat so I can control the temp. I like some tomatoes that are dehydrated for the sauce as well. I just wanted to prepare for the winter.

Doing one's own dehydrating CAN be a great way to introduce a transitioning or experienced healthy eater into more responsibility. I've gotten back into it recently as a way to get more concentrated nutrition. In order to 'make' a non-heat dehydrator:

1) Just pull out or buy your $12.00 box fan at Walmart or HomeDepot. ($12.00)
2) Buy two 3-packs of 20x20x1 paper air filters at HomeDepot ($8.00 total).
3) Buy a cheap pack of bungee cords at the dollar store ($1.00)

*Optional: Buy 3 of those re-usable mesh dehydrator tray liners.

-Just cut the food thin, with little or no skin and plenty of surface area showing (no rounded bits). Pat dry with paper towels. Then lay food flat on your filters. Place another filter on top and repeat. Then cover the top with another filter. Bungee the whole thing to your box fan and air-dry on high for 48-72 hours.

-Many things, like tomatoes will be done quicker than you might think.....in less than 48 hours. The key is to slice thin (doesn't have to be paper thin....about twice the thickness of a DVD will do). I have two fans, and often have two batches going at once!

-Have fun!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I like sun-dried Greens (Sea Lettuce) and Fruit (Hunza Apricots,
and Figs) in my Green Smoothies. It makes life easier, as I can
keep a large supply on hand. I do use lots of Fresh in them too.....
other Greens, Sweet Pepper, Tomato, Carrot, and Celery.....WY

I have a dehydrator,and find its most useful for preserving foods.
I made zucchini chips weeks ago and they are still crispy.
A raw zucchini would have rotted away in that time.
So dehydrated foods are great from the viewpoint of preserving something.

Brian