Are you getting the benefits you think you’re getting from the food you eat? Well, that entirely depends on whether your food is dead or alive. What we mean by “dead” food is that it is cooked, ultimately making it absent of its inherent nutrients. This means that “live” food is raw. Many people reap the health benefits of raw foods because they are not killing their food by broiling, baking, frying, or cooking it over high heat. If your cooked food to raw food ratio is 70:30, you need to reverse that ratio pronto to relish in the benefits that a raw food diet brings. The Problems with Cooking Food While it is true that cooking certain vegetables such as onions or garlic can enhance particular vitamins, the heat breaks down the inherent nutrients. By cooking food, you essentially inhibit yourself from getting the antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and enzymes (all of which provide a healthy foundation) that are present in the food’s raw form. Why is this? Well, life-giving chemical reactions occur when energy runs between atoms. The cooking process interrupts those chemical reactions and depletes or can totally erase the energy flow. Think of your body as an alkaline battery. Just like a battery, your body needs energy to function. To keep your body charged you need to eat the foods that are not acid-forming. If too much acid corrodes a battery, what do you think it does to your body? Too much acid (alcohol, starchy foods, cooked food, salt, sugar, or meat) can decay your body, which is why you need the nutrients of raw foods to keep a neutral pH balance. 
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