book review: Becoming Raw

The authors of Becoming Vegetarian and Becoming Vegan have come together again to write Becoming Raw, by authors Brenda Davis, RD, Vesanto Melina, MS RD, with Rynn Berry. Thank you, Book Publishing Company, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This book is chock-full of nutritional information and other essentials to successfully eat a raw vegan diet.

When first "becoming raw" myself, I was hard-pressed to find a raw book without a particular agenda or type of raw eating style that it pushed above the rest. And raw recipe books were helpful, but without enough nutritional information to be thorough enough for a curious newbie. I notice new-to-raw eaters often go online to ask information of people in forums who had been eating raw longer than them, but sadly get conflicting or poor advice. I wish all raw newbies had Becoming Raw for reference.

Becoming Raw covers the following, and more:

• the history of the raw food movement (great for history buffs)
• a few reasons to eat raw, without being pushy
• evidence of healing on the raw diet, mentioning specific health conditions
  
• which nutrients are met with raw foods and where the raw diet might fall short
  
• enzyme theory
• recipes to get you started
• meal plans for daily raw eating: both simple meals and recipe-oriented ones

Reading Becoming Raw was like a crash-course in nutrition. I learned all about carbohydrates, fats, protein, and vitamins, yet wasn't forced to read about foods that I am ethically opposed to, like meat or dairy. It had been awhile since learning about nutrition, so getting a refresher was helpful. The book contains several detailed charts of raw foods and their nutrient levels.

The authors already assume that you are on board with being vegan or raw, so they don't spend tons of time being preachy about it. The authors also seem to realize that not everyone is interested in being 100% raw, so they provide meal plans for adding in some healthy cooked vegan food. This would also be helpful for people who are transitioning to a raw diet but still including some cooked food.

Since I personally feel like most of my nutrient needs were being met on a raw/high-raw diet, this book simply reassured me I am on the correct path. I eat lots of veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds and supplement for vitamin D and B-12. I did learn a bit more about fatty acids and feel assured that since I eat plenty of hemp and chia that I am covered. I really appreciated that the book dose not vilify either fruit or fat. The authors do cite research that shows raw foodists on a low-fat diet have had deficiencies, but include meal plans for how to eat a lower-fat diet but include some fatty acids for optimum health.

The research in this book is solid. The authors cite studies from various sources, which is unlike any other raw book I have read. The authors admit the diet has shown a few negative results, and discuss why and how to remedy this. Having a science background, I appreciated this empirical approach. However, there admittedly needs to be more research on the subject.

A downside is the book is rather thick and there is a lot to absorb, and I found myself rereading to understand more complex bits. But a savvy reader will know how to skip around to find the pieces of info he or she needs. I also did not find the recipes very stimulating or interesting at first glance, given I have many other recipe books to enjoy, however I do have some bookmarked to try in the future. (If you are curious, Lisa reviewed several.)

Raw foodists have had too few resources to get solid nutritional advice. No longer! Becoming Raw should be on the shelf of all raw and high-raw foodists.