Know what bugs me about our society??

[dreamrawalwz]

Well, many things do lol, but that's besides the point. I hope this doen't offend anyone:

What annoys me is that we (our society as a whole) would rather take a pill and continue eating junk, fast food, ect. I was at the gym watching TV on my tredmill (awesome gym I say haha) and the fiber commercial came on. It was talking about taking dissolvable fiber tablets for just fiber itself and they have a "new" formula for weight management with an appetite suppressant. WHY NOT JUST EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGGIES PEOPLE!?!? Is that so hard to understand!? It just doesn't makse sense to me and I don't understand it. Instead of eating any raw my parents take multi-vitamins and suppliments. I mean, a small bowl of pills each. It's just wasting money to this money hungry society. Arg, can't get all my frustrations out, but I hope I'm not the only one to feel this way! Some take blood pressure medicine and then go eat a big piece of steak or McDondald's.

The diet industry really gets under my nerves, but let's not go there now lol :D

[Janet]

I have known many people throughout my life who genuinely didn't like the tastes or textures of fruits and veggies.

Honestly.

Taste is a matter of personal likes and dislikes...not everyone likes what we thrive on.

[Juicyfruit]

I have the same feelings. Everytime I see a commercial advertising some product, I think "if everyone ate raw, we wouldn't have any need for this stuff." Haven't you noticed that as well? Antiacids, fiber, laxatives, pain killers. The list goes on and on just because of cooked food. It's almost overwhelming. :(

[heabrook]

Most people who say they don't like the taste of vegetables are addicted to the SAD. Their taste buds are temporarily malfunctioning.

If you keep eating something, even though you don't necessarily have the "taste" for it you eventually will. I used to not like mangoes. But I kept eating them and now I loooooove them.

[dreamrawalwz]

Most people who say they don't like the taste of vegetables are addicted to the SAD. Their taste buds are temporarily malfunctioning.

If you keep eating something, even though you don't necessarily have the "taste" for it you eventually will. I used to not like mangoes. But I kept eating them and now I loooooove them.

I was going to say the same thing. My taste buds changed on raw and are continually chaniging. If these people were brought up on SAD and never had a veggie in their life (unless it was cooked,fried, ect.) then of course they say they wouldn't like it....they havn't been around it long enough to develope a taste!

[dreamrawalwz]

I have the same feelings. Everytime I see a commercial advertising some product, I think "if everyone ate raw, we wouldn't have any need for this stuff." Haven't you noticed that as well? Antiacids, fiber, laxatives, pain killers. The list goes on and on just because of cooked food. It's almost overwhelming. :(

YESS!!! I say the exact same thing when a commercial is on. I don't say it out loud unless my mom is in the room (it really annoys her though!). The antacid commercials really get to me too. Let's cover up the symptoms our bodys show as they are desperately trying to plead iwth you to not eat the wrong foods Let's take a chalky tablet and scarf down a few slices of greasy fatty pizza. Why not eat a bunch of meat, get constipated, and then take a pill? What about eating a bunch of fast food, getting joint and muscle aches, and then taking a pain killer. I'll admit that most people won't connect physical pains to their food consumption uless they have to (food allergies and other similar reasons). I hope one day the world as a whole will begin to better understand nutrition.

[Shan]

Let's cover up the symptoms our bodys show as they are desperately trying to plead iwth you to not eat the wrong foods Let's take a chalky tablet and scarf down a few slices of greasy fatty pizza. Why not eat a bunch of meat, get constipated, and then take a pill? What about eating a bunch of fast food, getting joint and muscle aches, and then taking a pain killer. I'll admit that most people won't connect physical pains to their food consumption uless they have to (food allergies and other similar reasons). I hope one day the world as a whole will begin to better understand nutrition.

So true! We've really become a strange society with the weirdest mindset. I wish so much that I could wave a magic wand and show others how they are torturing their bodies and how they can so easily remedy it WITHOUT a pill. It's actually pretty scary in my opinion.

[Brianna]

People are lazy and addicted to their unhealthy lifestyles and they'd rather pop a pill than change their diet. It doesn't require any sacrifice to swallow a pill...until later on when you end up sacrificing your quality of life or even your life itself!

[juliebove]

I find most people really do like fruits and vegetables but perhaps they don't like to prepare them. My typical potluck dish is always a veggie platter but I like to be very artistic with my arrangement and also to include things people might not normally eat. Like jicama. But there are some people who just seem to prefer junk.

When I was living in NY, I had a neighbor who really seemed to be into fitness. She always carried a big bottle of Fidji water with her. She walked everywhere she could and was always out running. She worked at the YMCA. And yet, she ate nothing but junk!

We once had a discussion about vacations and moving (our husbands are in the military so we move a lot). I said I hated moving because it was so hard to find good healthy food on the road. She laughed and said she loved moves and vacations because they were excuses to eat junk. I shuddered at this knowing that her normal diet was stuff like canned soups, pizza, hot dogs and chemical laden desserts. She loved making things out of Cool Whip.

I just don't get it. I've always hated junk food. To me not only does it not taste good, but it doesn't make me feel good. Actually there are a few things that taste good to me. Like pecan pie. But eating it makes me feel so lousy that it isn't worth that brief good taste.

My daughter's school collects labels and boxtops. I know Campbell's soup is one of them. I think the other might be Betty Crocker. I'm not sure. Every year, somebody mentions this to me, thinking that perhaps I just didn't know and that's why I didn't bring any in. When I tell them that I don't keep such foods in the house, they always act like they don't believe me. Usually the next thing they say is something like, "Well, how do you make your cakes?" To which I usually answer, "I don't! We don't eat cake." And we don't have dessert on a regular basis. When a birthday rolls around, if a person wants a cake or some sort of dessert I either make it from scratch or buy one pre-made. However, given my daughter's food allergies, she can not eat any type of "regular" cake. This Sunday we're celebrating my nephew's graduation and Father's Day as well because the actual graduation ceremony is for some odd reason on Father's Day. I will buy my daughter a single gluten free cupcake or brownie of her choice, knowing that she will probably eat only a bite or two of it. I have no idea what the rest of the family will have for dessert. I just don't eat it.

[lissomllama]

People are like this because they've been trained to eat processed junk that unfortunately tastes really good to alot them so after not eating natural fruits and veggies for a long time, that natural, wholesome taste is just bland to them so they see it as a chore, but they know that they aren't healthy so they justify things by popping a pill for this or that ailment as a good way to make up for their dietary mistakes. Fruits and veggies don't taste good to them because they've chosen to forget about them. Some big changes definitely need to be made or all these people are just going to keep dying of cancers and heart disease and obesity etc. The sad thing is that these diseases are so common now that they have accepted them into their lives as an inevitability with the reassurance that they can just get medicaton and drastic procedures to fix it all in the end.

[dreamrawalwz]

I find most people really do like fruits and vegetables but perhaps they don't like to prepare them. My typical potluck dish is always a veggie platter but I like to be very artistic with my arrangement and also to include things people might not normally eat. Like jicama. But there are some people who just seem to prefer junk.

When I was living in NY, I had a neighbor who really seemed to be into fitness. She always carried a big bottle of Fidji water with her. She walked everywhere she could and was always out running. She worked at the YMCA. And yet, she ate nothing but junk!

We once had a discussion about vacations and moving (our husbands are in the military so we move a lot). I said I hated moving because it was so hard to find good healthy food on the road. She laughed and said she loved moves and vacations because they were excuses to eat junk. I shuddered at this knowing that her normal diet was stuff like canned soups, pizza, hot dogs and chemical laden desserts. She loved making things out of Cool Whip.

I just don't get it. I've always hated junk food. To me not only does it not taste good, but it doesn't make me feel good. Actually there are a few things that taste good to me. Like pecan pie. But eating it makes me feel so lousy that it isn't worth that brief good taste.

My daughter's school collects labels and boxtops. I know Campbell's soup is one of them. I think the other might be Betty Crocker. I'm not sure. Every year, somebody mentions this to me, thinking that perhaps I just didn't know and that's why I didn't bring any in. When I tell them that I don't keep such foods in the house, they always act like they don't believe me. Usually the next thing they say is something like, "Well, how do you make your cakes?" To which I usually answer, "I don't! We don't eat cake." And we don't have dessert on a regular basis. When a birthday rolls around, if a person wants a cake or some sort of dessert I either make it from scratch or buy one pre-made. However, given my daughter's food allergies, she can not eat any type of "regular" cake. This Sunday we're celebrating my nephew's graduation and Father's Day as well because the actual graduation ceremony is for some odd reason on Father's Day. I will buy my daughter a single gluten free cupcake or brownie of her choice, knowing that she will probably eat only a bite or two of it. I have no idea what the rest of the family will have for dessert. I just don't eat it.

I'm not sure how to quote just a few sections of a comment so I'm going to bold the section I'm replying to. Just wait until she stops exercising. Think of what may happen to her when she grows older. True, it doesn't catch up with everyone until they die, but the majority are affected in tiny ailments. It's as if she's exercising so much to combat the affects cooked does to her.

I've always hated junk food too. I was raised with steamed veggies, rice, fish, and lean meats. I grew up on skim milk, but that was unitl I refused it at 9. I wish the younger society or those my age, when we have children that we'll begin to learn and know more. It's either that or everything is going to get worse, but you can hope for the best can't you?

[rawpriestess]

I grew up in the 50's where wonder bread builds bodies 12 ways, and the polio vaccine was a good thing, and you could trust your priest


so things change.

when I was growing up we drank milk because my mom was told by the doctor that it was a good for your body and that I was a child and needed it, she believed him, and I'm sure he believed it too.

because I was lactose intollerant, anything with citric acid in it, made me very ill to my stomache, oranges, lettuce, tomatoes, apples, grapes, most fruits and veggies, I could eat a hamburger, but if it had lettuce and tomato on it, I'd vomit before I finished it, so my mom did her best to feed me food that I would keep down.

I'm sure that the people who are taking medication, have total and complete faith in their doctors, and their pharmasist and their dentist and their medcal practitioners of all kinds. Just like they trust their clergy and police and any one else they believe is in a position of authority.

So, please know that everyone does what they can with the knowledge they have at the moment, and what they can believe.

so, it isn't anger that will change anything, it is education.

So, if you really wish to help people, then help to educate them on the raw lifestyle, don't preach, don't argue, but show them with your bright smile, and kind attitude and loving ways that you are a raw inspiration, and that they can learn to be more like you, and be more healthy, and in turn teach others.

[dreamrawalwz]

Don't worry RP this isn't anger, just frustration that I keep to myself :) I'm sure you're right that people just listen to the doctors and...media. They believe the money hungry industry of doctors and medication, but I can't blem them if that's all they know.

[ljcoolj]

Yes, it is all very frustrating. I have a mother-in-law that pops about 15 pills a day...they are all supplements. I know this because I counted them in her pill box one day, she gets them all ready for the whole week in one of those weekly pill boxes. Anyway, I think its NUTS! On the other hand, its not stupid, its just ignorance. People simply don't know the truth because all of our lives we've been bombarded by big corporations and big advertising. It can't possibly surpise any of us here that so many 'out there' don't know the real truth. Not that I'm some kind of crusader or anything, but I talk to people every chance I get...not about eating a raw food diet (that freaks most people out), I talk to them about being what I call 'chemically aware'. Aware of everything, to what they eat, what they put on their bodies, how they clean their home and what they spray on their yard. People are more open to talking about getting away from chemicals than they are changing their diet, but it sure is a good way to sneak the raw food in the back door on them...so to speak. All of my neighbors with pools are now switching away from chlorine (because of me..hee hee), they're all treating their grub worm problem organically (because of me...hee hee). I believe that one person can make a difference. I'm not out to change the masses, but anyone that knows me will be 'chemically aware'..or else they'll have to avoid me. Supplements, to me, are chemicals...so my mother-in-law has heard all about it. I just hope I'm not toooooo annoying. :)

[codajess]

I don't take any prescriptions, but I do take a lot of vitamin supplements. I guess I'm still in the mindset that I'm not going to get everything I need with my diet. I dont understand how people who are just eating pieces of fruit throughout the day, or just having salads and a little fruit, are getting all that they need. I can understand the gourmet-eaters getting what they need with all the different ingredients (i.e. flaxseed.) But how are the simpler eaters, which is what I'm trying to be, getting them?

[dreamrawalwz]

I don't take any prescriptions, but I do take a lot of vitamin supplements. I guess I'm still in the mindset that I'm not going to get everything I need with my diet. I dont understand how people who are just eating pieces of fruit throughout the day, or just having salads and a little fruit, are getting all that they need. I can understand the gourmet-eaters getting what they need with all the different ingredients (i.e. flaxseed.) But how are the simpler eaters, which is what I'm trying to be, getting them?

Oh that's understandable. I was mainly referring to those that eat SAD and are supplimenting the fruits and veggies with pills. You're including both so ... it's different :)

[exurb]

LOL, what bugs me is that we feel we have to get our exercise running like rats or hamsters on electric treadmills while watching TV instead of getting our exercise from soul-fortifying ways, like digging up a garden, like designing our cities so we can enjoy a walk to work and stores instead of driving everywhere, building or making things, going on nature hikes, playing some fun and social sports with others, or just generally doing things that could save some electricity and hence improve the environment and the air we breathe. ;)

A citizen in the 1990s gets an average of FOUR HUNDRED less calories a DAY than their 1940 counterparts, who rode bicycles, walked, and enjoyed all sorts of ongoing physical conditioning and health building activities just in their daily activities. I was shocked by that statistic, but when you think how sedentary we have become, and how badly designed our suburbs are that you drive everywhere, how we don't even have to get up to change the channel on the TV or open the garage door, etc.

[lissomllama]

I dont understand how people who are just eating pieces of fruit throughout the day, or just having salads and a little fruit, are getting all that they need. I can understand the gourmet-eaters getting what they need with all the different ingredients (i.e. flaxseed.) But how are the simpler eaters, which is what I'm trying to be, getting them?

You are right, a diet composed of only fruits or only vegetables or only nuts will cause deficiencies but if a diet is balanced with all those things it is actually, the simplest eaters that get just as much if not more nutrients from their diet because it isn't altered in any way, even by dehydrating or chopping it all up in a food processor (which can actually destroy small amounts of vitamin C and can cause oxidation alot faster) you can lose things like water and small amounts of nutrients. Don't get me wrong, I make a couple raw gourmet meals here and there to help mix up the tastes and textures for now but if you believe that raw, natural food is what humans were meant to eat, then it doesn't make much sense to believe that they will get more nutrients from altering this food in any way. They may get the same or close to, but not more. If a raw foodist is eating greens and grasses, fruits and nuts in a good balance, they are getting all that they need and more. I have found in a year's time that some vitamins (especially supplements that aren't raw) can actually sap the body of what it needs or create imbalances when one is truly getting what they need from foods to begin with. We were never meant to take herbs and vitamins in the form of capsules. We were meant to eat our food in its whole, unchanged form in a balance. It is harder these days with much of our produce picked days before and being sprayed with chemicals but there is organic and even if you still have to eat some pesticides, your body will filter those out as best it can. Vitamins don't always help things. You should do whatever makes you feel good and what is right for you but I was just answering the question you posed with my personal experience and opinion. Sorry if it was meant to be rhetorical. In time you'll find what works for you and if that is supplements, you'll still be healthier than most people are. :)

[scott]

Lissommllama,
Good post. Agreed.

Scott

[bootzey]

I agree. My mom is unwell with several chronic illnesses. She believes all she needs is a different doctor to perscribe her a new pill and all will be better. She thinks that there is something wrong with the way I eat and constantly trys to feed meover cooked, processed, animal seasoned food! She thinks the way I eat must have been influenced by some kind of cult. All I can say, is when she was my age she already had hypertension, undiagnosed diabetes, a hysterectomy and missing teeth. I only take the occaisional vitamin.

[codajess]

You are right, a diet composed of only fruits or only vegetables or only nuts will cause deficiencies but if a diet is balanced with all those things it is actually, the simplest eaters that get just as much if not more nutrients from their diet because it isn't altered in any way, even by dehydrating or chopping it all up in a food processor (which can actually destroy small amounts of vitamin C and can cause oxidation alot faster) you can lose things like water and small amounts of nutrients. Don't get me wrong, I make a couple raw gourmet meals here and there to help mix up the tastes and textures for now but if you believe that raw, natural food is what humans were meant to eat, then it doesn't make much sense to believe that they will get more nutrients from altering this food in any way. They may get the same or close to, but not more. If a raw foodist is eating greens and grasses, fruits and nuts in a good balance, they are getting all that they need and more. I have found in a year's time that some vitamins (especially supplements that aren't raw) can actually sap the body of what it needs or create imbalances when one is truly getting what they need from foods to begin with. We were never meant to take herbs and vitamins in the form of capsules. We were meant to eat our food in its whole, unchanged form in a balance. It is harder these days with much of our produce picked days before and being sprayed with chemicals but there is organic and even if you still have to eat some pesticides, your body will filter those out as best it can. Vitamins don't always help things. You should do whatever makes you feel good and what is right for you but I was just answering the question you posed with my personal experience and opinion. Sorry if it was meant to be rhetorical. In time you'll find what works for you and if that is supplements, you'll still be healthier than most people are. :)

No, not rhetorical at all. I appreciate your answer (thanks to dreamraw, too.) I was really wondering. I'd love to stop buying supplements once I finish what I have. I just have that nagging "You didn't get what you needed as a vegetarian, you aren't going to get it raw" voice in my head. :)

[lissomllama]

Yeah, totally understandable. Becoming a raw foodist takes so much 'un-learning' about the misconceptions and simple ignorance that society has programmed us to believe from early childhood. Now that you know you can get all you need from a properly balanced raw diet things will be a lot easier on you.

[dreamrawalwz]

You are right, a diet composed of only fruits or only vegetables or only nuts will cause deficiencies but if a diet is balanced with all those things it is actually, the simplest eaters that get just as much if not more nutrients from their diet because it isn't altered in any way, even by dehydrating or chopping it all up in a food processor (which can actually destroy small amounts of vitamin C and can cause oxidation alot faster) you can lose things like water and small amounts of nutrients. Don't get me wrong, I make a couple raw gourmet meals here and there to help mix up the tastes and textures for now but if you believe that raw, natural food is what humans were meant to eat, then it doesn't make much sense to believe that they will get more nutrients from altering this food in any way. They may get the same or close to, but not more. If a raw foodist is eating greens and grasses, fruits and nuts in a good balance, they are getting all that they need and more. I have found in a year's time that some vitamins (especially supplements that aren't raw) can actually sap the body of what it needs or create imbalances when one is truly getting what they need from foods to begin with. We were never meant to take herbs and vitamins in the form of capsules. We were meant to eat our food in its whole, unchanged form in a balance. It is harder these days with much of our produce picked days before and being sprayed with chemicals but there is organic and even if you still have to eat some pesticides, your body will filter those out as best it can. Vitamins don't always help things. You should do whatever makes you feel good and what is right for you but I was just answering the question you posed with my personal experience and opinion. Sorry if it was meant to be rhetorical. In time you'll find what works for you and if that is supplements, you'll still be healthier than most people are. :)

very well said lissomllama

codajess - questions are great. We're here to grow and learn from our experiences as well as others. Keep the quetsions coming :)

[eatyourbroccoli]

I grew up in the 50's where wonder bread builds bodies 12 ways, and the polio vaccine was a good thing, and you could trust your priest


so things change.
lol

this is probably inappropriate to laugh at but..sometimes i just adore your posts RP


I dont understand how people who are just eating pieces of fruit throughout the day, or just having salads and a little fruit, are getting all that they need. I can understand the gourmet-eaters getting what they need with all the different ingredients (i.e. flaxseed.) But how are the simpler eaters, which is what I'm trying to be, getting them?
i take a whole food supplement every morning, and it has really helped me out quite a bit. i personally dont beleive supplements are awful IF theyre not processed/synthetic. i recommend looking for whole food supplements with probiotics..theyre definitely pricey but most definitely worth it.


annnd to respond to the initial subject of this thread...i couldnt agree more! im majoring in dietetics and hoping to become a registered dietician and raw chef and join in on thie rawvolution. i took my SAD boyfriend to Wild Organic Way (raw vegan restaurant outside of Toronto in Guelph if anyones familiar with it) yesterday..he got the quesadilla and raspberry cheesecake and he ate almost all of it! (stopped only bc he got full). he usually HATES fruits and veggies bc he "doesnt like the texture"..but he admitted that this raw food was "not half bad," "better than the stuff im forced to eat sometimes at fancy restaurants," and even went so far to say "the only reason i dont love it is because im so conditioned by pizza and nachos that im not used to how real food tastes"...I WAS IN AWE! lol

so yes..to whoever said that it's just SAD eaters addiction to cooked food..right on man. very very true :)

:D