I purchased a raw food book because of all the rave reviews I read on here. For the life of me, I cannot think of the title! It always escapes me...It says 'live diet' or something and the author is a woman with the last name starting with 'S.' It's a huge book, too, but the point is that she mentions how oat groats are usually steamed (to dehull them?) and she called a dried fruit company about some prunes and they had been heated at 160 degrees yet labeled 'raw.' And on this site someone mentioned that even almonds sold from overseas claiming to be raw probably aren't because of having to be shipped...

Aargh! Okay, here's my question: it's seeming more and more like we cannot be sure many times if "raw" really means raw. If cashews are boiled to 160 degrees to remove the shell, is it really SO bad? I mean, yeah, the enzymes are gone, but the other nutrients...do they remain underanged? I just don't want to become OCD here. It's good to be healthy but obsessing on being 100% purely raw might take up way too much time and energy, if there are so many glaring examples of things not being as they appear. Can't we just try and eat as much fresh produce as we can and let the rest take care of itself?

One more question: if I have not really raw "raw" cashews, should I still soak them? Does that 160 degrees deactivate the inhibitors or what?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2010 11:53PM by banana who.

Why not let how something feels dictate whether or not you are going to eat it. So if eating the cashews feels good, then eat them until they don't feel good. Or if they just don't feel good, then don't eat them.

Your best bet for raw is fresh fruits and vegetables found in the produce section. But there is some fresh produce that has medicinal qualities, which kind of makes it suspect as a good thing to eat if you are not sick.

Prana Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why not let how something feels dictate whether or
> not you are going to eat it. So if eating the
> cashews feels good, then eat them until they don't
> feel good. Or if they just don't feel good, then
> don't eat them.
>
> Your best bet for raw is fresh fruits and
> vegetables found in the produce section. But there
> is some fresh produce that has medicinal
> qualities, which kind of makes it suspect as a
> good thing to eat if you are not sick.


I probably didn't state this as clearly as I should have. My main question is: should I ever aspire to be 100% raw if some of the items we've always thought were raw, really are not? Are cashews heated at 160 degrees better than roasted ones so it's not really crucial to make sure they are REALLY raw?

100% raw is a difficult thing to define, and if you aspire to being 100% you'll have to decide what that means to you. Many of the pasteurized almonds will still sprout, so it's left to the individual to decide whether this fits our personal understanding of "raw" or "living".

For myself, I feel that my diet is more raw when I'm getting most of it from my local produce department or farmers market. Processed, dried and packaged foods have their place for me, but they always represent some level of compromise. How picky you want to be about your sources will be determined by your budget and the amount of energy you can bring to bear in rigorous research. You can buy hand-shelled cashews that should be more raw than the others, but would have to have them shipped and you'd pay a premium for that amount of hand labor.

Soaking nuts for 2 to 8 hours can't really hurt, and in most cases will help. I've found that to be the case even when the shelling temperature is a little higher than I'd like.

Regarding nutrients destroyed by the heat, many vitamins break down from cooking. The loss is greater for harsher cooking methods (e.g. more loss from deep frying than steaming), so a temperature increase where it's debatable whether cooking has occurred, the vitamin loss should be even less. Even after a great deal of cooking, vitamins do remain.

As I understand it, minerals are all still present after cooking, because they represent atomic elements and aren't easily transmuted. That doesn't mean that the minerals' bioavailability is unchanged after cooking. Because bioavailability has been hard to demonstrate scientifically, bioavailability numbers are generally a little questionable. I'm pretty sure that any change will be, as with vitamins, a progressive one. If the nuts are only briefly raised to 160ΒΊ the damage will be far less than if you had found them in a Planters bag of roasted, salted mixed nuts.

The dose is the poison. The higher the temperature, the greater the length of time, the more denatured is the product. So, 160 degrees won't be as bad as roasted but obviously not as good as true raw cashews.

$14 a lb. [www.rawguru.com]

$15 a lb [www.therawfoodworld.com].

$12 a lb [www.amazon.com]

$14 a lb [www.eatraw.com]

Other "raw" cashews without either stating they are processed at less than 115 degrees or can still be sprouted will sell for between $6 and $9 a lb. Is it worth it? dunno. For me, since I don't completely buy the enzyme theory anyway, the less expensive cashews are fine for me. I don't eat many of them anyway. Same problem for almonds though. Sticking with walnuts, pistachios and filberts.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2010 09:50PM by pborst.

Reading this thread I was remembering my nut-eating days. Made me gag a little bit.....

Nothing wrong with nuts as long as the portion is limited.

[www.diseaseproof.com]

I want to thank all of you for responding. It has been very helpful for me. I have to fight a tendency towards perfectionism. It's fine to try and do the best one can, but being all-or-nothing can lead to nothing, which is worse than something. In regards to nuts sprouting even when heated higher than 120 degrees, it is hard to understand how it can be so. The author I mentioned in my original post said she bought some wild rice, thinking it was raw. She soaked it, it "sprouted," she ate it uncooked and got constipated. Later she found out that it was heated but when soaked had split, which made it seem like it had sprouted.

Ya, wild rice is heated during processing. Always as far as I know. Cashews are all heated unless you want to spend 25$/lb on them. I don't. Almonds, dried fruit, seeds, herbs and teas etc, who knows? Those aren't really healthy to eat in huge amounts anyhow though so it doesn't really matter to me. If I eat them, it's only here and there and not much at a time. I am not a perfectionist in this way (in fact, I hardly qualify as raw all winter long, too hard to get, do, afford). I think every good thing you do for your body adds up and great health is enough for me. I'm not trying to live perfectly, just well, and I do
Besides, worry and stress are acidifying. Worse than a cheese sandwich with ketchup if you ask me. Ewe, gross.

The longer you're raw, the less you need or want nuts in high quantities. It's possible to find all those items truly raw. It just depends on how much that matter to you. For me, it does.

$10 lb if bought in bulk:
[dimondhealth.com]

These are the truly raw, low temperature ones. They use to be cheaper, but they've gotten costlier in the past year. Hopefully it'll go down a bit again. Even higher quantities are of course cheaper. Best to store long-term in the freezer.

Simple Raw Recipes & Health Tips

GilmoreGirl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The longer you're raw, the less you need or want
> nuts in high quantities. It's possible to find all
> those items truly raw. It just depends on how much
> that matter to you. For me, it does.
>
> $10 lb if bought in bulk:
> [dimondhealth.com]
>
> These are the truly raw, low temperature ones.
> They use to be cheaper, but they've gotten
> costlier in the past year. Hopefully it'll go down
> a bit again. Even higher quantities are of course
> cheaper. Best to store long-term in the freezer.


Thanks for that link! If I had known about it, I would have saved $41 on my Omega 8006 juicer...Actually, ten bucks a pound for really raw cashews is a great price compared to other sites. Did they say they were organic? I can't remember. But I didn't see any containers on there, unless I looked at the wrong place. I prefer glass because of how it seems to feel better to drink from, but I would consider non-toxic plastic because of breakage issues.

Yes, they're organic.

Simple Raw Recipes & Health Tips

its really not that hard of a battle to eat truly raw living food. Also that theory wbout the hot shipping crates going across the ocean cooks the nuts, is so bogus. i know this because I have sprouted italian almonds. the almonds i get out here in cali are definitely not raw, as they do not sprout.
For the record, yes, it is good to soak nuts that are still not truly raw, as they can still contain the enzyme inhibitors. These things prevent us from digesting the nuts properly. Best bet is to eat from the living, produce section, like Prana said ! That's what great about forums like this, we don't have to worry for long about info like this!

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

I'm pretty sure that the enzyme inhibitors on nuts and seeds don't in fact affect digestion, just as the enzymes in food do not. The reason for soaking nuts as I understand it is to soften them and start the sprouting process which makes them more digestable and increases their nutritional qualities (if they are raw).

It's good to hear that nuts from overseas will still sprout but that doesn't mean that everything shipped by boat has maintained a temperature that hasn't "cooked" it. Almonds are large-ish and very dense, they might be able withstand higher temperatures than something else.

<I'm pretty sure that the enzyme inhibitors on nuts and seeds don't in fact affect digestion, just as the enzymes in food do not. The reason for soaking nuts as I understand it is to soften them and start the sprouting process which makes them more digestable and increases their nutritional qualities (if they are raw).>

@Coco: Hmm...not too sure about that. I was always wondering why we weren't supposed to use the soaking water and one of the raw food gurus said that when you make your nut mylk, you dump that soaking water because of the inhibitors, which you were trying to remove! So that is unlike rejuvelac, which is the wheat berries' soaking water fermenting, right? Soaking water itself is not something to get rid of. I have also seen this mentioned with sea veggies and dried fruit. They mention keeping the soaking water in these cases.

What I would like to know regarding soaking cashews, is if they are not REALLY raw, then they cannot sprout, so what would be the point in soaking them? Do enzyme inhibitors get destroyed with heat? That's another question rattling around in my brainpan.

soaking them softens them which makes them easier to digest. When you soak almonds you discard the water because it is full of tannins which are not fabulous for you. using the soak water would be like drinking the water you wash your fruits and veggies in, right? it's ok for dried fruit but i would dump sea veg water (too salty) and that for nuts, seeds and grains.

wheat berries are a grain. nuts are nuts. nuts contain enzyme inhibitors, grains do not. even if a nut is lightly heated to above 120, it can still contain some enzyme inhibitors.So soaking nuts is still a good idea. Brown nuts are the nuts that contain the major enzyme inhibitors. IE-almonds,brazil nuts,cashews, hazelnuts. The reason you soak grains is firstly to soften them, and also to increase the nutrient and health levels which you do by bringing it to life.
if you roast a nut, yes, it is enzyme inhibitor free. but not living in anyway. the hotter a food gets cooked, the more denatured it becomes.

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

@Raw Lion: Do you consider 160 degrees to be "lightly cooked?" I am getting close to getting my question answered! I am wondering if a nut can still sprout over 120 degrees. If it has merely been boiled out of its shell versus roasting it, how "deranged" (denatured) would it actually become? But you and Coco make a good point about tannins. That alone should convince me to soak the darker nuts, regardless of their raw-i-tude-ness.

Does anyone out there know the deal about hazelnuts (filberts) and pistachios--namely, are they really raw? I think every time I buy pistachios they are roasted in the shell and I don't recall seeing raw pistachios the way I see other nuts.

160 is definitely cooked. pastuerization is generally around 160-180. meat is safe to eat at 160. nuts that go past 120 will not generally sprout. enzymes are destroyed by 118. all life is dependant on enzymes, death occurs with no enzymes.humans, plants, animals.