If you've hardly stepped near your oven this summer and chosen salads and soups rather than slaving over a hot stove, there's no need to feel guilty.
Raw fruit, fish, vegetables, nuts and seeds are all brimming with vitamins and minerals which can help boost our immune system, give our gums a great workout, keep us slim and leave our skin looking young and silky.
Luckily, we are more likely to eat raw food in summer because we are attracted to lighter, cooler dishes such as salads, juices, chilled soups and smoothies.
Raw fruit and vegetables deliver far higher levels of nutrients to our body than cooked food.
In fact, nutritionist Jane Griffin believes raw food contains a third more vitamins and minerals than cooked food.
'This is because boiling water absorbs vitamins B and C during cooking,' she says. 'Raw food also contains more fibre than cooked food. This is because heat breaks down fibre which tends to get lost during cooking.'
Ian Marber, co-founder of London's Food Doctor Nutrition Clinic, says we should aim to eat at least one course of raw food at every meal.
However, he warns a diet made up of raw food and nothing else is unhealthy because we are not getting all the protein and carbohydrates found in other groups of food such as meat and grains.
But including some raw food in your diet is an ideal way to get your daily quota of five portions of fruit and vegetables. 'You're far more likely to eat a greater variety of raw fruit and veg,' says Griffin.
'That's because the traditional cooked meal is meat and two veg - but a typical salad can easily contain five or six different types of vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onions and peppers.'
Cucumber is rich in potassium and iron, while tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, carrots and other brightly coloured foods are high in the antioxidant betacarotene which reduces cancer-related free radicals.
The health benefits don't stop there. The good news is if you want to lose weight this summer, raw food is more likely to shed pounds than cooked food.
That's because raw fruit and vegetables tend to be more bulky than the cooked variety because they have a higher water content than cooked food which loses much of its moisture when cooked. This extra bulk helps full you up - so you are likely to eat less and not gain weight.
There are plenty of other health benefits too. Chewing raw food is an excellent workout for your gums and jaw because it is slightly harder to chew than cooked food.
A chewing motion stimulates blood supply to these parts of your mouth - helping to keep them healthy and exercised. Cooked, processed food by contrast can contain high levels of sugar which can lead to tooth decay.
Raw food can also benefit our skin. Carrots and tomatoes contain betacarotene which when eaten raw contains higher levels of this vitamin. After the body digests betacarotene, it is converted into vitamin A. This chemical stimulates skin cell growth and builds collagen - a structural protein present in the skin which is essential for skin elasticity.
