Cooking foods can be viewed on two levels. On the one hand, cooking destroys many vitamins, enzymes, minerals, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll. After a cooked meal, white blood cells increase in the stomach, thereby decreasing the body’s immunity and leaving it more open to infection. In addition, cooked food is more likely to ferment or decompose in the intestines, resulting in toxicity. The stomach works at a temperature of 105°F, and food that is cooler or hotter can slow down the stomach’s ability to function.
On the other hand, cooking adds certain energies into food, which creates a feeling of nourishment and warmth. Cooking is vital for foods that would ordinarily be indigestible or even toxic if left raw (including meat and some grains and beans). It is also useful for people with decreased stomach energy, which results in a lower metabolic rate and a reduced ability to digest their food. Anyone with a compromised spleen should take care that raw foods do not further weaken their spleen and pancreas.
However, many people will thrive on raw food, which often food and nutrition 70 food and nutrition 71 makes the work of the pancreas easier. Eating only cooked food is unhealthy. Therefore it is suggested that a 70 to 80 percent raw-food diet is a good program to follow in the summer, or in hotter climates, while a 30 to 40 percent raw-food program is appropriate in the winter. Our bodies do not like feeling damp, cold, and chilled, and hot food can balance those sensations.
Cooked food kills white blood cell activity, particularly in the stomach. Yet excessive raw foods will weaken some people by depleting spleen and pancreas function. Steaming is less aggressive than baking, and using a slow cooker, in which the temperature does not rise above 130°F, will ensure hot and wholesome food that is still very much alive.
