The Psychology Behind Our Most Stubborn Beliefs
By Axay Shah – Raw Food Guru RawFoodiest.com
The Question That Changes Everything
“If cooking destroys enzymes, nutrients, and life force in food, why do billions of people insist cooked food is necessary?”
For sixteen years, I’ve lived a plant-based Raw Food lifestyle. I’ve run seven marathons. At 66, I take no medications. I’m healthier, stronger, and more energized than I was in my thirties. Yet when I share this with people, I often encounter not curiosity, but resistance.
Why?
The answer lies not in nutrition science, but in psychology. Specifically, in a powerful cognitive bias that affects every human being on Earth: confirmation bias.
What Daniel Kahneman Taught Me
Before his passing in 2024, the late Daniel Kahneman Nobel Prize winner and author of “Thinking, Fast and Slow” spent decades researching how our minds trick us. One of his most profound insights was about confirmation bias: our tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that confirms what we already believe, while ignoring or dismissing evidence that contradicts it.
This isn’t stupidity. It’s human nature.
And it explains everything about our relationship with cooked food.
The Cooked Food Confirmation Bias
Let me be direct: Most people eat cooked food not because they’ve carefully evaluated the evidence, but because they were raised eating cooked food, their parents ate cooked food, their grandparents ate cooked food, and their entire culture celebrates cooked food.
This creates a powerful psychological investment.
When someone suggests that cooking might be destroying the very nutrients we’re trying to consume, the mind doesn’t think: “Interesting, let me investigate.”
Instead, the mind thinks: “This threatens everything I believe. I must defend my position.”
And so the confirmation bias machinery activates:
Step 1: Selective Attention
- Notice: “My grandmother lived to 95 eating cooked food!” (confirms belief)
- Ignore: Grandmother also had arthritis, diabetes, needed medications (contradicts belief)
Step 2: Biased Interpretation
- See someone healthy on a cooked diet → “See? Cooked food works!”
- See someone healthy on raw diet → “They’re just lucky” or “It won’t last”
Step 3: Memory Distortion
- Remember: Times you felt energized after a hot meal
- Forget: The afternoon crash, digestive discomfort, or long-term decline
This isn’t lying. This is how the human mind protects existing beliefs.
The Culture of Cooked Food
But confirmation bias doesn’t operate in isolation. It’s reinforced by:
Social Proof: “If everyone’s doing it, it must be right”
- Billions eat cooked food → Must be necessary
- Few eat Raw Food → Must be extreme
Authority Bias: “Experts say so, it must be true”
- Nutritionists trained in cooked food paradigm
- Doctors prescribing medications for diet-related diseases
- Government food pyramids based on agricultural lobbies
Sunk Cost Fallacy: “I’ve invested too much to change”
- Decades eating cooked food
- Expensive cooking equipment
- Cultural identity tied to traditional cooked dishes
- Emotional memories around family meals
Loss Aversion: “What if I’m wrong and suffer?”
- Fear of nutrient deficiencies
- Fear of social isolation
- Fear of being seen as “extreme”
All these biases work together to create an almost impenetrable wall of resistance to Raw Food even when the evidence is clear.
A Personal Story of Bias
Let me share something vulnerable.
When I first encountered Raw Food ideas sixteen years ago, my immediate reaction was dismissal. “Ridiculous,” I thought. “Humans have cooked for thousands of years. This can’t be right.”
That was my confirmation bias talking.
I was born in Kolkata, raised in Mumbai cultures where cooking is art, tradition, and love. My identity was wrapped up in cooked food. To question cooking felt like questioning my heritage.
But I was also curious. And curiosity, when cultivated, can overcome bias.
So I did something uncomfortable: I looked for evidence that contradicted my belief.
I studied:
- How cooking affects nutrient content (significantly depleted)
- How enzymes are destroyed above 118°F (all of them)
- How our bodies respond to Raw vs. Cooked (dramatically different)
- How animals in nature thrive without cooking (perfectly healthy)
And then I experimented on myself.
Within weeks, changes were undeniable. Within months, transformation was profound. Sixteen years later, the evidence speaks for itself.
But I only discovered this truth because I was willing to challenge my confirmation bias.
Why Cooked Food Defenders Get Angry
Have you noticed? When you mention Raw Food, some people don’t just disagree they get ANGRY.
This isn’t about food. This is about identity threat.
When you say “I feel better eating Raw Food,” they hear: “Everything you’ve been doing is wrong. Your mother was wrong. Your culture is wrong. You’ve been hurting yourself your whole life.”
No wonder they defend cooked food aggressively!
Their confirmation bias isn’t protecting food preferences. It’s protecting:
- Self-image (“I’m an intelligent person who makes good choices”)
- Family loyalty (“My mother’s cooking was an act of love“)
- Cultural identity (“My heritage isn’t wrong”)
- Ego protection (“I’m not the type to be fooled”)
This is why presenting facts often backfires. Facts threaten identity, which activates stronger confirmation bias.
The Raw Food Confirmation Bias (Yes, We Have It Too)
Now, I must be honest.
Raw Food advocates also suffer from confirmation bias.
We notice:
- Every success story
- Every health improvement
- Every study supporting raw nutrition
We might ignore:
- Individual variation (raw doesn’t work equally for everyone)
- Social challenges (isolation, difficulty traveling)
- Nutritional considerations (B12, proper variety)
If we’re not careful, we become dogmatic. We see what we want to see. We dismiss legitimate concerns as “detox” or “healing crisis.”
This is intellectually dishonest.
The path to truth requires challenging our own biases, not just others’. This is why I constantly question my own beliefs, read research that challenges Raw Food, and acknowledge limitations openly.
Intellectual humility is more important than being right.
How to Overcome Confirmation Bias
Whether you eat cooked or Raw Food, here’s how to think more clearly:
1. Actively Seek Contradictory Evidence
Don’t just read what confirms your view. Deliberately find the strongest arguments against your position and engage with them honestly.
2. Run Personal Experiments
Don’t trust others’ experiences alone. Try Raw Food for 30 days with clear metrics (energy, digestion, sleep, mood). Let your body be the laboratory.
3. Separate Identity from Beliefs
You are not your diet. Changing what you eat doesn’t invalidate your past, your culture, or your intelligence. It shows growth.
4. Practice “Steel Man” Thinking
Instead of attacking weak arguments for cooked food, address the strongest ones. This builds intellectual integrity.
5. Embrace Uncertainty
Maybe Raw Food isn’t for everyone. Maybe some cooking is beneficial. Maybe we don’t have all the answers. That’s okay. Certainty is often the enemy of truth.
The Invitation
I’m not asking you to agree with me about Raw Food.
I’m asking you to examine your relationship with cooked food honestly:
- Are you eating cooked food because you’ve carefully evaluated the evidence?
- Or because it’s what you’ve always done?
- When you hear about Raw Food, do you genuinely consider it?
- Or do you immediately think of reasons why it can’t work?
- Have you ever tried eating only Raw Foods for 30 days?
- If not, how can you be certain about your position?
These aren’t rhetorical questions. They’re invitations to intellectual honesty.
My Challenge to Cooked Food Defenders
If you’re reading this and thinking, “This is nonsense, cooking is necessary,” I respect that.
But I challenge you to consider:
What evidence would it take to change your mind?
If the answer is “nothing could change my mind,” that’s confirmation bias talking, not reason.
If you can articulate what evidence would shift your perspective, you’re thinking scientifically.
For example:
- “If I tried Raw Food for 30 days and felt significantly better…”
- “If blood work showed dramatic improvement…”
- “If I saw long-term Raw Foodists thriving without health issues…”
These are reasonable criteria. And all of them are testable.
The Truth About Nature
Nature doesn’t cook.
Every animal on Earth except humans eats food in its natural state. They don’t have:
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Cancer at rates humans do
- Digestive disorders
- Autoimmune conditions
This is not a coincidence.
Yes, humans have cooked for thousands of years. We’ve also had war, slavery, and disease for thousands of years. Duration doesn’t equal wisdom.
The question isn’t “Have we always cooked?” The question is: “What happens when we don’t?”
I am living proof. Thousands of others are living proof. The evidence exists if you’re willing to see it.
Final Thoughts: From Psychology to Practice
Daniel Kahneman taught us that recognizing our biases is the first step to overcoming them.
I honor his memory by applying this wisdom not just to thinking, but to living.
Confirmation bias makes us defend cooked food even when evidence suggests otherwise.
But awareness of this bias creates possibility the possibility to:
- Question inherited beliefs
- Experiment courageously
- Think independently
- Choose consciously
This isn’t about being “right” about diet. This is about being honest with yourself.
And honesty, my friends, is the first ingredient in any transformation.
In Nature We Trust™
The path to truth begins with admitting: “I might be wrong.”
If you’re curious about Raw Food but held back by beliefs, I invite you to question those beliefs. Not to abandon them necessarily, but to examine them.
Run the experiment. Track the results. Let experience, not bias, guide you.
Your body will tell you the truth if you’re willing to listen.
With respect and curiosity,
–Axay Shah – Raw Food Guru
P.S. If this article made you defensive or angry, congratulations! you just experienced confirmation bias in action. That discomfort is where growth begins. 😊
Additional Resources:
- Read Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking, Fast and Slow” to understand cognitive biases
- Visit RawFoodiest.com for evidence-based Raw Food information
- Join our monthly community meetings to discuss openly
- Try our 30-Day Raw Food Challenge (coming soon)
Disclaimer: This article reflects personal experience and psychological research. Consult healthcare providers before major dietary changes. The goal isn’t to convert, but to encourage critical thinking about inherited beliefs.
What biases might you be holding? Share your thoughts in the comments below.