Good news, raw foodists: the group Your Radical Health Albuquerque meets once or twice a month at ever-changing locations.
You can keep up with their meeting places at Meetup.com/abqraw to share raw food recipes and eat raw food dishes together.
Raw foods are classified as uncooked and unprocessed foods. Nothing can be heated above 120 degrees.
Organizer and UNM student Kaylee Tejeda said eating raw food takes more time and planning than school sometimes. Anyone is welcome to attend and is encouraged to bring a raw food dish, or a $5 donation.
Tejeda said reducing his carbon footprint was his motivation to try eating raw. Tejeda said eating raw food cut costs on many levels such as energy used to cook, prepare and keep food fresh.
"It's interesting to think that our No. 1 use of energy consumption, even more than transportation, is cooking our food," he said. "The No. 1 thing we put in our landfills is food packaging. So if you're eating raw food, such as bananas on a bunch, you've eliminated both of those."
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Local activist Don Schrader attends the meetings and said the lifestyle takes dedication but doesn't have to eat up all your time and money. Schrader said he became a raw foodist after he read the book Nature's First Law.
"Up to 85 percent of the nutrients in food are destroyed by cooking," Schrader said. "To me that says it all."
Member Leslie Feuerborn has been a raw foodist off and on throughout his life. He was attracted to raw food because of the health and environmental benefits.
Feuerborn said raw foods are in a condition where the bacteria don't have easy access to nutrients and minerals in foods.
"Minerals are really critical for your teeth and not only that but for the environment in your mouth," he said. "If you eat a lot of cooked food all the time, the bacteria goes after that, and it really likes that cooked food because it's already broken down to a point where it can support the bacteria that do a lot of that."
Richard Lujan restricted his diet after he was diagnosed as having Leaky Gut Syndrome.
Trouble digesting food and absorbing nutrients are symptoms of Leaky Gut Syndrome. Lujan referred to it as losing intestinal flora - the micro-organisms that help the body digest nutrients. Toxins, antibiotics and poor diet can cause it, Lujan said.
"That emphasized my need to go raw more than ever," he said. "If you don't have good intestinal flora, it doesn't matter what you're eating. I found that to be true for me."
Eating too much cooked food stresses out the pancreas, and that is why incidences of pancreatic cancer have risen, Lujan said.
"The pancreas is in charge of releasing enzymes to extract or at least to partially digest that food substance to enter the tract, but as the digestive tract begins to lose its good intestinal flora, it can't extract those nutrients," Lujan said.
The lifestyle includes finding uncooked, raw foods and a creative way to prepare it. Tracking down and inventing raw food recipes is not the only challenge a raw foodist faces.
Susan Tucker adopted the lifestyle to get healthier and lose weight. Eating raw food can take a toll on social activities such as going out to dinner or drinks, Tucker said.
Between finding raw foods and recipes, and preparing the food without killing off the enzymes, Tejeda said raw food takes up a lot of his time.
"It kind of clashes with the student lifestyle," Tejeda said. "I feel like I have been put at a crossroads where if I want to be really serious about academics and go on and be active in that area, that I would probably have to put raw foods on a back burner and not focus on it as much as I do."
Cost can also be an issue for raw foodists, which is why many have vegetable gardens of their own, he said.
"I order a lot of food in bulk, such as really high-grade grains and stuff," he said. "And other than that I'll go to the co-ops and farmers markets and hit up sales."
