Several Questions before I start! Help me out!

[Prefontaine]

I am someone who doesn't take things blindly but have to know the ins and outs before I commit or else I may not last long. So I appreciate any help given (I have researched this as much as I know how)!

Some background: I am 27, and nutrition is one of the last areas I have to mature in life. My diet in life has been primarily fast food, frozen pizzas, ice cream, meat meat meat, Dr. Pepper and anything greasy, sugary, salty and buttery (Eat very few veggies and fruits.. This probably sounds bad, but I was a successful college distance runner on this diet and still am only 155 lbs at 6 feet tall, so nutrition hasn't seemed pertinent.

But it's time to mature! I am most interested in this because I hope to see a boost in energy and prevention of things like cancer and chronic diseases! I'm ready to make the change with the companionship of my wife who has already started. Some things I need help understanding . . .

1. Why 100% raw? Isn't there diminishing returns? If I eat Raw for breakfast and lunch and take a vitamin, what harm is there in cooking my veggies for dinner and having some pasta? In my mind, the body is like a battery that needs charged up in the area of nutrients/vitamins, so if I ensure I get these things during the day, why continue charging (Is or isn't this a correct view)?

2. Superfoods. I was pumped about these, thinking I'd throw in some Bee Pollen and Spurlina into something I'm whipping up. But it seems these appear to be supplements rather than something to make a meal around, correct? How do I best use these? WHY use these if I'm cramming fruits, veggies and nuts all day (Again the question about diminishing returns)?

3. What do you make of foods that aren't processed or high in sugar/salt/fat but are non-raw? Neutral? Bad? Ok? I ask this, because the impression I get from a lot of 100% Raw people I've met is that Raw food=good, all other food=Bad.

Ok, perhaps you get a common theme. I understand I do need a lot more raw/living foods and to avoid processed crap that I'm used to eating. Where I struggle is why I need to go beyond, lets say, 50% Raw if I'm taking a vitamin AND avoiding non-organic/processed foods.

Thanks for answers, I'm seeking to learn and go 50%-100% Raw depending on how well people answer ;-)

[Revvell]

I don't have time to go into all your questions explicitly so, here ya go ~

Vitamins are isolated nutrients. When you eat raw fruits and veggies, you get all your nutrients synergistically made by nature, not man. Nature didn't make a mistake when she made food for us and man cannot improve on it.

Anything that's processed such as powders, etc. is a supplement. That's what the word means ~ they supplement an (what should be) already superb diet.

On the subject of running and your soon-to-be previous diet, if you've not already done so, read the story of Jim Fix.

As far as eating mostly raw and adding cooked, up to you. My suggestion, figure out a 30 day raw plan and see how you feel. Then test yourself with adding other, non-raw and see how you feel. Battery ~ incorrect view. How will you know when you've had enough nutrients? When eating raw, your body will assimilate what it needs and eliminate the rest. With junk, your body has to "try" to find the nutrients. Remember one thing, pasta is Italian for paste. Is that what you want to be eating?

[speltrong]

1. For me, I find that I feel a tad more energetic when I eat 100% raw (though I hate the term 100% raw, because a lot of stuff that people think is raw really isn't). but I just feel quite a bit better. That said, when I ate raw for five months last year I ended up having gall bladder issues from eating too high a percentage of fat. Since then I've been eating high raw.. mostly just salads all day and then a few steamed veggies at night. That's worked really well for me, but I'm not losing weight as quickly, so I've just gone back to a simpler version of all raw.

2. Superfoods, in my opinion, are a ripoff. I think they cost a lot of money and are unnecessary if eating a good diet. I don't buy into that idea at all.

3. As for foods that aren't processed or high in sugar/salt/fat, but are non-raw... I guess that's something you will have to experiment with. One of my main goals is to lose weight, and I find that cooked food slows my weight loss. I definitely don't have the opinion that raw=good and non-raw=bad. I think it is something each person has to figure out. Also, raw is so poorly defined that a lot of raw foodies end up eating non-raw foods without realizing it.. nuts, agave nectar, tons of stuff can be labeled raw, when in fact it's not raw at all. There are no laws or food packaging rules that require a specific definition of raw on food labels.

So yeah, I say try it out and see where it goes. I do think it could be beneficial to try 100% for a month so you can truly see any benefits you might get from it, and then see how that compares to eating high raw. At the end of the day, do what makes your body feel healthy!

[RawLibrarian]

On the subject of running and your soon-to-be previous diet, if you've not already done so, read the story of Jim Fix.



What Rev sez.

My husband is a distance runner, very lean, very strong. He thought his very high level of fitness made him bulletproof so ate anything he wanted, which was basically lots of fatty foods and lots of meat. Three years ago he had to have 2 stents put in because of clogged arteries to his heart. He thought that the recurrent tightness in his chest was due to his asthma. I nagged and nagged, and my husband went to his asthma doctor who did an exam and said nope, not asthma, but it could be your heart, and immediately called a cardiologist and made an appointment for my husband. I went along to that appointment, and a good thing I did, because the doc listened to my husband's symptoms, did an EKG and said, 'you need to be admitted NOW' and within an hour, my husband was in a hospital bed and had the surgery the next morning.

You could not tell from looking at my husband that he was unhealthy--he was whippet-thin and cut (and still is). He changed his diet right away after that experience, believe me. I wish he had done it sooner, but he had to find out for himself that an exercise program alone will not keep you healthy.

So--changing your diet would be a really good thing for you.

Superfoods--they're supplements and IMO quite unnecessary. A lot of people swear by them and if someone really likes them, that's great, but they certainly aren't a necessity.

Rev's suggestion of trying a 30 day raw plan is an excellent idea.

[RawDad]

1) Why 100% Raw
Food enzymes don't exist in any diet besides a raw one. You can, and should, take enzyme supplements eating cooked food, but no need if you are eating raw. I'm reading and recommend anyone read Enzyme Nutrition by Dr Edward Howell. (http://www.amazon.com/Enzyme-Nutrition-Dr-Edward-Howell/dp/0895292211/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325180581&sr=8-1) It gives a tremendous explanation of enzymes function in our bodies, they are essentially our and our food's life force. Eating foods containing living enzymes gives a multitude of our bodies functions a benefit. (Digestion, healing, breathing,thinking, it goes on and on.) Many functions of sickness arising from lack of enzymes won't be immediately recognized and can't be felt readily. Enlarged pancreas and decreased brain size are two things I think of off the top. Its what you can't see and feel that opens the door for what kills you.

2) Why Superfoods
Well, besides being some of the most delicious foods I've ever eaten, superfoods provide a broad range of nutriment (vitamins, minerals, and enzymes) that you can't get anywhere else in such a concentrated, perfect from the lord, form. Using bee pollen as an example, there have been multiple countries Olympic athletes that have seen marked performance improvements using bee pollen.

"A Russian Olympic coach, Remi Korchemny, performed a study with bee pollen; athletes were asked to run laps at full intensity, and those who had consumed bee pollen had shortened recovery times, and improved recovery times for their heart rates and blood pressure, than athletes who were given a placebo." (http://www.bee-pollen-health.com/Bee-Pollen-and-Stamina.php)

Cacao is my favorite superfood. To describe its constituents would take pages, but healthy chocolate shakes are one of my favorite foods.

3) What about healthy non-raw food?
If you can't make the commitment to complete healing, I at the very least would recommend going vegetarian, more vegan. Forks Over Knives (http://www.amazon.com/Forks-Over-Knives-Colin-Campbell/dp/B0053ZHZI2/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1325181937&sr=1-1) gives a remarkable presentation of why the switch to a plant based diet is very beneficial. But enzymes are not present in any food processed over 115 degrees, and any heat processing chemically changes the food being processed.

I am assembling as many resources on plant based and particularly raw food diets as possible and digesting them rapidly, please don't hesitate to ask me for recommendations. I also believe very strongly that god, earth mother, or just incredibly remarkable evolution has lead to the creation of foods that work naturally without processing better then otherwise.

[Ucat]

1. Why 100% raw? Isn't there diminishing returns? If I eat Raw for breakfast and lunch and take a vitamin, what harm is there in cooking my veggies for dinner and having some pasta? In my mind, the body is like a battery that needs charged up in the area of nutrients/vitamins, so if I ensure I get these things during the day, why continue charging (Is or isn't this a correct view)?

According to my current belief there is very little (if any) difference between being 90% and 100% raw if the 10% non-raw is very healthful and doesn't require much energy from the body to digest. I don't KNOW so yet but have good reasons to think so... too large a topic to explain here.


2. Superfoods.
I use these but sporadically, because I can't afford them as much as I like. I like to think they are very good - like chaga mushroom tea for antioxidants and spirulina to protect against radiation and to detoxify heavy metals from the body - but in the end I don't know what they can and cannot do because I haven't experimented with them systematically.


Where I struggle is why I need to go beyond, lets say, 50% Raw if I'm taking a vitamin AND avoiding non-organic/processed foods.
Keep in mind that many vitamins are toxic and alien to the body. You need a vitamin made of pure wholefoods and some people even believe these are enough to bring the body out of balance. Personally, I think wholefoods-based vitamins are ok, though.

______________________________________
www.cheap-health-revolution.com

[RawDad]

I forgot two very important reasons for my choosing to go 100% raw and for making that choice for my son.

1) The body reacts to cooked food as an invader. It produces defenses against cooked food. White blood cell count goes up with a 51% cooked food diet and we develop a mucus lining along the intestinal tract that thickens with constant consumption of cooked foods. This makes it harder for us to receive the nutriment we need from the foods we eat, inhibiting absorption. To dissolve the mucus lining entirely effectively and keep it from coming back a 100% raw diet is essential.

2) Cooked food is addicting. The concentrations of calories in the forms of oily, fatty, sugary, meaty foods tricks our sensory complex into thinking they are the best thing ever and we don't want to stop eating them. When you go to eating raw foods after those foods lacking the density of calories the sensory complex doesn't interpret their density correctly. The best explanation of the addictive qualities of cooked foods comes from The Pleasure Trap by Douglas J Lisle (http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Douglas-J-Lisle/dp/1570671974/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325208967&sr=8-1). There is a video presentation in addition to his book available, and he does a great job explaining the chemical reactions that lead to addiction to cooked foods, easy sex, and drugs.

[speltrong]

Rawdad, what study shows that cooked food acts as an invader? I'm fairly certain that's not true, but I would be curious to read more about that claim if you recall where you heard it. I do agree with your second point about it being addictive though!

[RawDad]

Certainly my dear, I need to get used to citing my sources. Clicking the paper name will allow you to read it in PDF form.

The paper I'm referring to was written by a Swiss medical doctor Paul Kouchakoff titled The Influence of Food Cooking on the Blood Formula of Man (www.seleneriverpress.com/cancer-and-sugar/396-the-influence-of-food-cooking-on-the-blood-formula-of-man/download). "He was the first to show in the 1930s that if you ate a diet that is more then 51% cooked food that your body would react to the food as if it was being invaded by a foreign organism." - David Wolfe (http://www.davidwolfe.com/) (raw food champion holding a masters degree in nutrition) speaking about the paper in the documentary Foodmatters. (http://www.amazon.com/Foodmatters-Andrew-W-Saul/dp/B001B3XZAW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325219835&sr=8-1)

I first heard about the bodies rejection of cooked food in reading and watching a presentation of 12 Steps to Raw Food: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food (http://www.amazon.com/12-Steps-Raw-Foods-Dependency/dp/1556436513/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325219367&sr=8-1) by Victoria Boutenko (http://www.rawfamily.com/).

[speltrong]

Thanks rawdad, I will check that out!

[speltrong]

Also, I don't mean to deter from the poster's original questions, but rawdad, you might be interested in a book I just finished reading. It's called Catching Fire by Wrangham. The book is not at all geared toward convincing people to eat raw food, but is a history of how humans managed to tame fire and argues quite convincingly that our bodies have evolved to rely on cooked food. The first handful of chapters are almost entirely about the effects of raw food on the body. Again, the book is not in any way written to convince people to eat raw food, but it is the first refreshingly scientific information I've read about why raw food causes weight loss, etc. I've read a ton of other info from different sources, and I've always had problems with the feasibility of the information offered, but I've always known that raw food makes me feel better. So it was a huge relief to read Catching Fire.. I feel like Wrangham has it figured out! And I can assure you that after reading it, I'm more determined than ever to continue eating raw food, but I feel a lot more secure as to why. :-) It's also just a super interesting book in general.

[Ucat]

This post of mine was completely changed by admin. I lost the original text and now I can't delete this. Admin: please could you delete this! Thanks.