Crudavore. Have You Heard?

Somebody twittered me the term "Crudavore" today.  Interesting word.  A lengthy description can be found here, but the term generally describes somebody that doesn't eat processed foods.  It's essentially the same thing as a "raw foodist".

I definitely fall in this camp.  I grew up being told by my parents that processed foods were crap, but I wasn't aware that there is a sliding scale as far as what's processed.

You might think that only "junk food" like Fritos is processed.  True, but paleo diet fans believe that even bread is processed food.  You can't find bread growing on a bush and it only comes after the ingredients are processed by man with crushing, grinding, soaking, mixing, baking, and more, making it one of the first processed foods on Earth.  

The end result is bread, which does have lots of calories and helped man get to where he is today, but is also a chief source of wonky nutrition that is giving us excess calories and loads of health problems.  

Some people are having a lot of success with their nutrition by going back to more primal diets which are a better fit for our digestive systems.  Raw foods have the most nutritional potential before they are "processed" away, but the trick is switching over your taste buds to enjoy them.  You also have to change your shopping and cooking habits  (or lack thereof).  

I am enjoying the challenge.  On one hand, it is different, which is fun.  On the other, it's surprising how the mind clings to one pattern, then adopts it, then decides that the new is better than the old when the old was previously judged as the best way just a short while ago.

The most amusing part is that eating like a crudavore feels like a lost art.  It wasn't that long ago that we all ate that way most of the time, but ask a modern American to do it and they wouldn't be able to assemble an entire meal of raw foods before heading to Stop N Go for a mini-pizza.  Just like swimming and running is rarely done by us out of necessity nowdays, eating "old school" style might be a behavior that makes us feel more alive, healthy, and purposeful on this planet.

Comments

[Jaime Castello]

Hi Brett,

totally agree with you. My issue with this is dealing with high intensity workouts, when you just need the nutrient dense stuff, and you need it in an ready-to-be-absorbed way. I haven't found information on how our ancestors dealt with that (honey?), and I am experimenting myself with honey, agave syrup ... Any ideas?

Keep on the good work, your podcast is still awesome, and a ton of fun to listen to on long runs.

Best regards from Spain,

Jaime (aka JaimeTRI)