I recently discovered that one of my family members is a raw foodist. They only eat uncooked foods, mostly fruits. I don’t think sushi or steak tartare are included in their diet. It’s a kind of extreme vegetarianism.
Check out http://www.rawfood.com if you don’t believe me.
Does anyone here adhere to this diet? Is it really a good idea?
Well, most fruits and vegetables are more nutritious raw (heat breaks down many nutrients, and many methods of cooking leach even more out), but there’s no reason why cooked foods would actually be bad for you… They’re just not as good as they could be.
I think most monkeys and apes live on fresh fruit, so it should work with people.
I did it for a while, it is a real hassle because of the sheer bulk of food you need to eat. Very hard to balance protein too - raw bean sprouts are somewhat lacking in charm IME. Cooking veges does break down the fibre somewhat and make it more digestible. I wouldn’t do it again for any length of time and I think it would take very real skill and knowledge to be healthy long term on such a diet. But then I think a lot of vegans struggle with that anyway.
Farting is another huge issue on a raw food diet 
There are a couple of hysterically funny books Life in the 21st Century and another one by Kulsvinkas (?). he takes raw foodism to its ‘logical’ extreme. One only eats what fruit has fallen from the tree. Coconuts anyone?
This is a big reason why the development of fire (and cooking) helped man become so prolific. With cooking, many new foods were introduced that were previously inedible, so it was much easier (and took less time) to get something to eat for survival.
With modern supermarkets it’s relatively easy to go back to a raw food diet, but why would you?
Arjuna34
I happen to have just watched an episode of Extreme Cuisine on the Food Network that included a segment on a raw foods retaurant in San Fransisco. The chef has been eating a raw foods diet for 15 years or so. He’s kind of scary looking (2% body fat) but also apparently very healthy and full of energy. One of the customers claimed that the food made her extremely energetic.
I could almost see doing it. I prefer almost all my veggies raw to cooked. But I can’t see chewing on my coffee beans every morning, so maybe not.