Bioavailability in raw foods

Jeff,

I have had this question for a while so I thought I would ask for your thoughts.  Are the nutrients in eggs, meat etc. more readily available to, and more easily absorbed, by the body is the food is cooked?  There have been times when I would throw some eggs into the blender with a little bit of milk and maybe some Greek yogurt and drink that.  Then I came across information that said that eating these foods raw will decrease the availability of protein to the body.  If this is true does the same hold true for sushi?  I know you have mentioned the difference between consuming raw and cooked vegetables.  I am very interested to know what your thoughts are on the topic.  Thanks!!

Yes and no. The same I said about vegetables applies to just about all foods, vegetables just to a greater degree. When you cook it some nutrients become more available and some become less. Its really easy to make this look very dramatic is a research paper that gets sensationalized by a know it all fat nutrition expert. For example; There is 3 times more B vitamins available when eaten raw now if we examine that further we see that we went from 1 gram to 3. 1 gram is non existent and 3 grams is hardly better but people are choking down 'raw' foods because its 3 times more health. I say its a focus on the wrong things. 

Okay, Im starting to divert. 

Sushi is a great 'raw' food but so is cook fish. I could get into the weeds here and say DHA is heat sensitive so raw salmon is better than cooked but if we actually due diligence and follow "sushi grade" from a live fish to table it becomes less impressive unless you are going to get "Grade A" fish. This is like USDA Prime. You will be unlikely to get this grade of fish anywhere but a Nobu, Roku Akor or another very high end Japanese restart. It will break the bank.

Diverting again.

If we remove the dogma blinders and look at things as the multi faceted, multi factorial things they really are and unbiasedly take into consideration all facts it becomes obvious that both cooked and raw are great and there is no real need to focus on one over the other in the areas of meat. 

Thanks Jeff.  I guess to get the real point of my question.  All other concerns aside is eating raw eggs OK in terms of getting the protein and fat I need from them? 

Sam, from everything I've read online, raw eggs have about half the bio availability of protein, but fat is in full force either way. 

I like to pasteurize my eggs at home (method described here). It keeps the egg liquid, but eliminates concerns about salmonella, heats the egg enough for the protein to be more available, and inactivates avidin so biotin deficiency isn't a concern. 

The benefit to eating pasteurized but uncooked eggs is that the yolk isn't cooked/the cholesterol isn't oxidized.

Julia,  thank you for the information.  I had read something similar about only half the protein is available when consumed raw.  I will have to look at your method for pasteurizing the egg. It sounds interesting.  Thanks!

Sam, I think the raw egg thing is a lot of hype. Plus look at the 'taste quality of your food'. There is no way you can make a raw egg dish/drink that can compare to cooked eggs.

On this note there is a very popular body builder who is posting videos of him cooking and saying "you don't have to eat boring food". The food he makes look disgusting to me. 

Taste fatigue is the #2 reason people fail diets. Thats why I am all about culinary dishes from around the world. Its almost impossible to have a chef make a legit dish and tell you exactly to the gram of salt they used. 

All said and done - if a few days a month you make this egg drink no big deal. 

Thanks Jeff!  I haven't had the drink since I started Thrive.  Going without is no big deal. Thanks again for the awesome program.

Thank you Sam