112: Which Is Best, Raw or Cooked?

Anita: INTRO: 0:58

Hey there, su shine. Welcome to the Power On Plants Podcast, we're your host, Jarrod and Anita Roussel an we're absolutely head over he ls for whole plant foods, and elping you navigate this inc edible plant based journey. That's because our lives ha e been completely changed b plant based goodness, we sed to struggle every day with excess pounds and low energy, v scular disease, joint pain and ack of sleep, just to name a f w. And even though we're edical professionals, we still eren't getting practical answe s that actually worked. So we d g into the research, we started living what we learned. And now e both of our lives back. And that's what we want for you to the truth is you can do th s, and it's not hard, you just need a way that will bring r al and lasting change. And tha path, it has to be sim le and enjoyable. And it's go to be delicious to you. So re you ready to live your life to the fullest, then you're in the right place, because living without limits. That s what power plants is all ab ut. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte, and le's get started. Should you eat more raw or more cooked? You know, we get asked that question a lot. And the truth is, the answer is simple. We like to keep things simple, it can be really complicated. And what Jay or not find is in reading a lot of research studies are things that people put out there to try to help you adopt a healthy plant based lifestyle. It can be really complicated. We were reading something earlier today. Going This is crazy. Like I need to limit this type of food to this minicabs. But I need to eat at least this many cups of this kind of food. And the truth is if you know how to make a balanced plate and you listen to your body, you don't have to worry about all that stuff. That is craziness.

Jarrod: 2:42

It's food freedom.

Anita: 2:44

Yeah. How are you? gonna worry exactly? How are we ever going to make it work if we can't find the joy in it? Well, one of the ways of finding joy is knowing what to eat and how to best get it. Well when it comes to raw or cooked. Should I eat raw kick? The answer's yes. Really, you should eat both. And today we're going to talk about why. So here is what we found. Which which thing do you want to start with first?

Jarrod: 3:10

Well, I think with the cook, because many people have the preconceived notion that raw is always better that they're going to be more nutrients, it's more natural. And then of course it is you don't grow raw carrots in the dirt. I'm sorry, you don't grow cook carrots on the dirt, cook carrots or the dirt. So yes, we have the concept in our heads that it wrong must always be better.

Anita: 3:31

But isn't it funny? Because we may have the concept, the wrong is always better. But how much raw Do you usually eat? Well think about that for just a second. If you think raw is better, do you eat more raw or more cooked or to every raw apart from a random salad here and there? Most people don't eat a lot of raw, no, most people eat the cooked. But is raw really better? I'm throwing it back to you. Well,

Jarrod: 3:58

sometimes it can be yes, there can definitely absolutely be benefits to that. But many times, and I think this is going to be a bit of a shift for you is that the cook can actually be better and give you more nutrients than the raw. A great example would be in tomatoes. There's like a pain. It's an anti inflammatory, right, just a lot of health benefits. But you actually get more lycopene from tomatoes when you cook them, versus when you eat them raw. It's something about the cooking and the heating, it releases more. Makes perfect sense. And then in the case of things like beta carotene. There's more beta carotene that is released and it's more absorbable which that's also another very important point and we've heard Dr. Michael Greger say this, we've read it, we've seen it in videos. It's not the nutrients you eat, it's the nutrients you absorb. So if in cooking some of these foods, it puts those nutrients in a form that's more absorbable than that you get more than nutrients, right because you eat a bunch but if you don't absorb them, they just pass right through you and it's of no effect.

Anita: 5:06

So what you don't need to do is listen to this podcast today and then think okay, did he say carrots raw or cooked his best raw cooked I can't remember he said you got something when they're cooked but not raw. And then when he talked about the tomatoes or something better in them when cooked or was that raw? No. What you need to remember is get both get get both. And I also want you to focus on the fact that if you're not getting one or the other if you're out of balance in it if you know you hardly ever eat raw. start finding new and great and delicious ways to add raw. Sprinkle some raw onions on your chili, sprinkle some raw and put some raw garlic into your avocado toast. It's wonderful. Start an avocado. There's all kinds of ways to get more raw in your life not just salads. Absolutely. We should all probably be eating more sad. But not the typical sign salad that we think ever the typical way that we'd eat salad, there are a lot of stick to your ribs way to get to salads in a way that they're delicious and make you feel great. But I want you to think about raw and cooked. And if I'm out of balance, and I'm not getting much raw, start adding the raw in, it's a great way to boost your nutritional content, nutritional value and make yourself start feeling better. And that's our goal here, our goal is to make this simple for you, so that you enjoy it, so that you start feeling better. So you can do all the things you want to do that you feel limited in now. Because you just don't feel like it. So we're about unlimited possibilities, right? Building a life without limits here. And so we want you to think about getting both, we're gonna give you a couple more examples. This, these are things that are really helpful tonight, like with green beans, I want you to share what you're telling me we're with green beans, they

Jarrod: 6:51

say it's better to not boil them or to put them in a pressure cooker. And the main reason being is that the nutrients will leach out of the actual bean into the water. And usually in those situations, you're just going to discard the water,

Anita: 7:04

right, you're not going to eat the water. So they're your nutrients are in the water they've been boiled in, and that happens a lot. Now, a great way to do green beans is then if you think about it's going out into the water, if you're going to put them in water, put them in something like a soup, right, we do that all the time. Yeah, because you're going to eat the soupy part of the soup. Some people that's your favorite part, but you're going to eat the CP part of the soup. So you're going to get the nutrients that bolt out of the beans and landed in the liquid. That is really key here. And then the other thing with green beans, the way we love to do them is we chop them up and Andrew loves to do that our

Jarrod: 7:41

12 year old son does this,

Anita: 7:43

he absolutely loves to start fry and saute some green beans for us, we don't use any oil, we highly recommend getting away from it because that is one of the ways that I greatly decreased my inflammation stopped having the crippling joint pain that I was having. And a lot of my auto immune system problems went away with that too. So you can do it without you can saute and stir fry without using oils, and you're not going to miss it. Because the truth is, there's some fats in these fades as you cook them. A lot of times with things like the onions at all, you're still gonna get some holiness, but you just start them off with little to no water. And then green beans because they don't have a lot of water in them, you're just gonna keep like a cup of water beside you and just pour maybe about a tablespoon at a time in so that all your nutrients aren't leaching out into the water. And when they're almost done, you let the water kick down till it evaporates out. And then then the nutrients have kind of stayed on the beans and in the beans, right? So so it's delicious. I mean, then you flavor those puppies up, you've got to put some good spices and herbs and that's going to bump up your nutritional content. He puts raw ginger on their raw garlic right at the end. Let's cook for a minute because it takes some of that heat out. And then baby does sometimes add raw ginger and just leave I mean raw garlic and at the very end. Yeah, so he'll leave the raw garlic. It's

Jarrod: 9:05

good though it makes a little spicy, it's got a little kick to ginger

Anita: 9:10

when you don't cook it, but here's the thing, you've cooked it without a lot of water for your stuff to leach out. You just you don't want this nutrients to leach out right into your water. So you're just going to add a little bit to cook them to steam them. You can even put a lid on for a minute or two with that water and let it steam the green beans.

Jarrod: 9:28

Now another example that I read that really surprised me cuz this is one where you would think Oh no, it's got to be best raw was spin edge. So when you steamed spinach, it actually makes the calcium that's in it more available for your body. But it also increases and makes available full late. That's an Ah, so you think Popeye? Well, I know. That's probably not a good example because Popeye actually he's he shot it out of a can. So yeah, follow up Pop Rocks. But we think of spinach with salads and things of that nature. But no at this great steamed is great. We'll put things like that in soups and other forms.

Anita: 10:04

Oh, I put tons of greens and soups and beans, you've got to learn how to do that. I mean, you can get greens in all kinds of ways. But I digress. As usual.

Jarrod: 10:15

There's just so much we want to share. So we're gonna stay on topic.

Anita: 10:19

So much, but it's exciting. And the big takeaway is it just doesn't have to be difficult. Again, we're sharing some basic things that you can actually do. We're actually not just sharing the what for those of you familiar with this, we're sharing the how you know you need to how to do these things as well. And we're all about showing you how to do that in a way that's simple. And that is eat the raw and the cooked. take away some of these how's, you know, oh, I really do need to think about green beans in the water and maybe I don't need to boil big pots of them anymore. I'm going to try. I'm just going to try something new. I'm going to try to solve time with a little water I'm going to add some garlic and some ginger and maybe a little tomari, we use organic, low sodium tomari on those, and that's what we put on them and they're wonderful. Or I'm going to throw them in my soups, in my instant pot. That's so easy. And I'm gonna get the wonderful nutrients from the liquid. Just pick one thing, you want to try something new, and start increasing those nutrients. And one thing and another thing and another thing and before long, your life looks really different than it used to.

Jarrod: 11:27

And one food that you will likely not eat raw, or beans, beans, peas, things like that. Unless they're sprouted, like, and then you can Yeah, you can eat those maybe in a salad, but you you just wouldn't want to eat them.

Anita: 11:39

Like gantos like black beans, you're gonna cheat first. I

Jarrod: 11:43

had thought about that. But Sure, yes, there would be some dental damage. But it's just, yeah, no, no,

Anita: 11:55

you're not gonna digest it? Well, it's not gonna, it's gonna

Jarrod: 11:57

cause problems, a lot of problems. And many times, a lot of the proteins are more readily absorbable almost at a tongue twister, they're more readily absorbable when you cook them.

Anita: 12:09

Now you if you think about fresh raw beans, those won't break your teeth, like you can

Jarrod: 12:14

like the green beans, right? I mean, you can eat those raw,

Anita: 12:16

but there are times that you can buy fresh field paints and things like that. So they're not dried yet. They're fresh, they're soft enough to chew, they're not going to break your teeth, but eating a lot of those that can upset your stomach

Jarrod: 12:28

and make you kind of gassy. So. So those are things that you would definitely want to eat cooked. But like you said, there are a lot of foods, though, that you would also want to eat raw. Now, with the raw diet, there was something that has been going around for a while of why you would want to eat a raw diet and maybe even try it exclusively, which is the enzymes that are in them. Yes, there are enzymes that are in them. And some of those have health benefits, right? And we're going to discuss actually, we're gonna I'm gonna give you a little teaser here, our next podcast, we're going to go into the cruciferous vegetables. Yeah, we got Yeah, well, they're delicious. But there are some things that you'll you will definitely want to tune in to that particular episode. But there are enzymes that can have health promoting benefits. But with the raw food diet, they're talking about eating it because of digestive enzymes that can be within the plant.

Anita: 13:22

And people think about them being destroyed and feared when you can't get it right,

Jarrod: 13:25

well correct. And so that it must be better eating raw. The thing is, though, is that our bodies are capable of making the digestive enzymes that we need. And a large, large portion, I think I even read it was 90% of the enzymes that are in the food actually get broken down, get destroyed in our stomach, because of the high acidity. There make sense. So when you look at our anatomy, the you have the stomach, and then once food comes out of the stomach, all that acid is neutralized. And that's where the pancreas will then release more digestive enzymes. So what so why does it do that? Well, our bodies were designed to put those digestive enzymes where they won't get destroyed after the acid is neutralized. So it makes sense, it makes sense. Now we have seen where raw diets can be beneficial.

Anita: 14:14

Absolutely. I was just talking to some I met yesterday. And he was telling me that he loved he was so excited when he found out we taught plant based he said, You know, my wife had leukemia, and she's completely reversed it eating whole plant foods. And I just wish somebody had offered this to us. And but we finally figured this out on our own just looking and digging and searching. And she has reverse it. And he said she was on a raw food diet for a long, long time. And she did that specifically because she wanted to reverse leukemia, and she was finding really some really good results with that. And now she's at a point in her remission to where she's looking at adding some cooked back still whole plant foods, because they've seen the benefits. They've seen the research, they've seen and lived out the testimonial, right? It's their life story now. So this is the thing. I mean, it can be in some circumstances, a really good thing to try and do. I have another friend who was running a marathon, she was training for a marathon. And she said, You know, I just feel better when I eat all raw, you know, she was one through our program. And she said, and I said try it, if you feel better just do all raw for a while.

Jarrod: 15:25

And it may be that it had the what she needed at that time,

Anita: 15:29

right. But for long term, there are some things you're going to be missing out of out on if you don't get a mixture and a variety of both. So it's good to get both we believe that it is good to get both, but listen to your body's keys. This is another whole episode within itself. I mean, we could teach several different lessons on this but I want you to cue into your body and what it's telling you because it was created to be able to send you signals and when you eat Something like a guy was talking to Dave before yesterday, he said, Oh, I love that you're doing whole plant this, this is so awesome. He said, because I need to learn how to do this. But he said, I've, you know, I want to lose weight, I want to get healthy. And I was eating, my wife and I were eating these little portion meals. And we were getting out was like a local chef, and he made them fresh. We always feel sick after we eat them. And it's like, they say it's natural foods and stuff. And I told him, if you don't feel good, after you eat them, your body is sending you a message. Same here, if you're eating more raw, and you're feeling better, keep adding those raw things into your life. And you may not ever

Jarrod: 16:37

know what it was that was causing that right sometimes with foods that could be like, the commercially bought ones at the store chemical additives and things like that. But awful.

Anita: 16:48

But in this case, you're gonna get me started.

Jarrod: 16:50

No, we're not gonna get started. But I'm just saying, I've experienced that in the past before we went to Whole Foods, right plant based that there were things that I would eat, and I would feel terrible afterwards. And then, you know, okay, well, it was just the chemicals that were in there. But my point with this being is that you may not ever fully understand it. But again, listen to your body. If there's something that is just not right, then avoid that.

Anita: 17:15

Yeah, if you feel bad with it, don't eat it. If you eat something and you think, you know, they're saying this is healthy for me, and you just don't feel good, right? Now, there may be a reason why maybe your gut bacteria are out of balance. And right now your body just can't process that food really well. And maybe it's even a healthier food, but you just don't do well with it right now. That doesn't mean you're not going to do well with it down the road, you know, a couple of months from now try it again. And see how your body does if it's a healthy food if you know, it's one of the five foundational foods and you think I just don't feel well when I eat that food right now then your body's saying don't eat it right now. Try summit, there's so many good one

Jarrod: 17:52

thing is, is you could try it from a different manufacturer or a different provider. So like if it was beans from one particular company, maybe try it from a different one. Because maybe something's being sprayed on that exam or there's blow over from a field next to you. Like I said, you may never know that's a great point. But listen, nobody because food should be energizing. You should never walk away feeling heavy and lethargic and just nasty. No, you should feel satisfied, but energized.

Anita: 18:18

Right? And we don't get those feelings anymore. Those feelings of food hangover. And after we eat. We had those for so long.

Jarrod: 18:26

We just thought that was normal is Yeah, I haven't had a good meal if I don't feel pass out in the chair afterwards to digest it.

Anita: 18:33

Yeah. Or get indigestion or just feel heavier, gets sleepy afterwards. We don't have that anymore. And it's a wonderful thing.

Jarrod: 18:40

What do you think of like a lion out on the plains of Africa? You know, they kill some wildebeest and they eat it and then they go sleep for 20 hours under a tree. Like, Oh, that must be normal. It must just be what we do. No, no, not if you're doing it right. Not if you're doing it, right. But there are like we said some foods that are are going to be beneficial raw, there are a few of them that you should get in a regular rotation like broccoli, bell pepper, onion, and garlic. These are some of our favorites. Yes. But they have different health benefits that are higher than when they're cooked. So again, it's great just to get a balance of all these things. Yeah,

Anita: 19:19

I don't want you to think oh, what were those four games or those four again? Maybe just think about one if you think okay, I don't eat enough raw. I know I don't I eat almost all cooked foods. So I'm going to remember to get more onion. Now how can I get more onion raw and start finding new ways to do that I already gave you a couple adding it chopping it up fondly and adding it to your chili. You can do that to your tacos. You can add them sprinkle it on your tofu scramble raw, you can add it to the garlic to your avocado toast. There's a lot of different ways you can do that. Search out and find more ways to get that of course, an easy way salads. Again, not just your traditional salad, you want to eat some stick to your ribs salads, learn how to make those food formulas that are going to work for you and make you feel full. Alright, that's it. I think just raw cooked Which one? Now you know the answer, you're going to enjoy both and you're going to enjoy a variety within each category of raw, uncooked, and that's the way you don't have to worry about the numbers, the macros all those nutrients anymore. Because you're if you're getting a wide variety of whole plant foods of the five foundational foods, you're going to be getting what you need, you're going to start feeling better, your body will start to heal and you won't believe how much better you feel weeks, months and years down the road. I mean, we're living living examples. I can't even imagine being where I was years ago you would

Jarrod: 20:45

have made it this far.

Anita: 20:46

I will honestly I was so sick. I was so sick to we're so thankful about what whole plant foods have done for us. We know we know that if it can do it for us. It can work for you too. We'll see With our clients, we hear it from total strangers we meet and strike up conversations with who've learned how to just get some more of these things into their life in a way that works for them. Thanks for hanging out with us again, today. We have loved spending this time with you. And you know what the power plants community is going to be opening soon, it's not going to be much longer now. We're getting super excited to welcome in our first official members, we did have some beta testers that have gone through our founding members launch. And now we have answered questions and we've gone through things with them. And we've laid it out so that it's super simple. And you can avoid the overwhelm that you often get when you try to start something new. You know, I think that's one of the hardest things about trying to start this or any new way of life. You've got places you can go to get tons of information, but it's not laid out in a way that simple. It's not step by step.

Jarrod: 21:52

Who do you trust, when you have just so much just kind of looming around you it can be like you said, overwhelming,

Anita: 22:00

it's overwhelming. But if you've got if you know where you're starting, and you know what your endgame is, and you know, each and every step of the path, and it's a proven system, and it's a proven system, then you know, you've got something that's going to work and it's not going to overwhelm you. Because otherwise you have to try to piece it together bit by bit. And that's just too much. It's absolutely too magic and take a long time. And we are here to help you if you decide that you want to join with us, or at least find out more when the doors open because it only opens for a short time. And it's only opening once a year right now. So we want you to know, if you're interested at all get your name on the waitlist that set waitlist dot power plant society.com We look forward to getting to know you more to being a part of your journey. We've loved having you hang out with us again today. We hope you have a great day and we look forward to seeing you in the next episode where we're going to talk about cruciferous Have a great day.