Comments on: Time to get raw

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 04 May 2007 13:29:16 +0000

Why does everyone assume that ‘raw’ means no meat? Animal flesh can (and in some places still is) eaten raw. Quite often, it is even aged (it turns a bit brown, and it is broken down for easier ingestion).

My mother’s one steady rule for cooking was to always cook on the lowest heat possible… the food tastes better, and is much more tender. (just an FYI).

Good luck on the ram thing.

By: n2y2

n2y2 — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:12:03 +0000

Did Jenna just spam us?

By: Sid

Sid — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:35:36 +0000

A couple thoughts:
1. I really enjoyed hearing how some rawsters prefer maple syrup over sugar, because the sugar is cooked in processing. Have you ever seen how maple syrup is made? It doesn’t come out of the tree like that! It gets COOKED down! Roughly 40 gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup.

2. All this stuff about “toxins” is a lot of pseudo-science. If there are toxins, they ought to be expelled in measurable quantities and chemically *identifiable* following a switch to the raw diet. Let’s see a link to a study where this was done in a double-blind manner. I’m betting that no such “toxins” exist.

By: Greg A.

Greg A. — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:16:10 +0000

I used to work with a guy who was vegetarian and used to rant about artificial ingredients and raw food diets. He’d go on and on about toxins and how anything not natural would basically kill you.
It’s interesting that it is impossible to find a description of the composition and source of all these “toxins” that supposedly accumulate into such vast amounts. And that this extra material doesn’t completely impair body functions. Except for the by-products of regular digestion, etc. that get expelled regularly, where is all this material stored?
And if all they’re eating is fruits and grains, what happened to the rest of a balanced diet. Oh, I guess the balanced diet concept is a conspiracy by the medical community to promote capitalism and oppress vegetarian lifestyle…

By: Jenna

Jenna — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:10:00 +0000

While the raw vegan lifestyle is recommended for optimum health, there are also people who do the omnivorous raw diet. That includes raw meat, fish, dairy and eggs. Carol Alt is an example of such a person and she has a book out about it called “Eating in the Raw.” One must obviously trust one’s sources of those raw items to avoid parasites and other harmful things, but even people who eat those foods in their raw form report significant improvements in their looks and health because the enzymes, vitamins and minerals are all still intact, not to mention protein. 50% of protein is degraded by heat, so you need twice as much if you heat it above 110 degrees.

I’m 40 years old and have been raw for 10 months. It’s not always easy, but I’ve never looked or felt better in my life. I have the waistline and vitality I remember from my teens.

Keepin’ it Raw!
Jenna

Jenna Norwood
Producer, Director & “Guinea Pig”
“Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw”

View Sneak Preview at SuperchargeMe.com

By: Michele

Michele — Wed, 02 May 2007 08:44:48 +0000

I saw a show about extreme diets and one story was about a raw food lifestyle. This one dude they interviewed lived in NYC and he was very strict, he only ate raw fruits and veggies and raw grain. The interesting about him was that he said he didn’t need to bathe or use deodorant. His body was so clean and free of toxins that he didn’t ever have B.O. They interviewed him at a party (with other raw food eaters) and he had people smell him (just his arm or neck) and they all said he smelled very good and natural. They couldn’t believe that he hadn’t bathed in who knows how long.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 02 May 2007 06:13:58 +0000

The raw diet does have a higher concentration of nutrients, but the process of cooking allows one to retain more of what is available in the product. It doesn’t matter how concentrated the food is if most of it goes unabsorbed.

By: Thursday

Thursday — Wed, 02 May 2007 02:31:58 +0000

I work in an organic/vegetarian restaurant and bakery, so we get a regular supply of fad diet fanatics. There is no one who’s a regular customer that has been able to stay on a raw food diet without cheating on it, including the one employee who expounds on its benifits at tedious length…

None of the other 40 employees are even vegetarian. Omnivores, the lot of us. But it’s a corner of the market that been doing great for us, plus it’s far easier to be kosher.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:45:30 +0000

While not directed specifically at the
“raw” diet, the simplest argument against humans (or any member of the primate family for that matter) being “intended” to be vegetarian is that we possess:

1. Stereoscopic vision – you don’t need to gauge distance to that leaf of lettuce, it isn’t going anywhere (moving meals on the other hand, you need 3d). And before someone argues it is for evasion from predators – rabbits, mice, cows and the rest of the prey species have their eyes on the sides of their heads so they can see danger coming from all angles, not just right in front of them. Again, you dont need to know how far the wolf is, just that he is coming; your dinner on the other hand, you want to know how far to leap to kill.

2. Canine teeth – serve one purpose, to tear flesh, period.

3. The appropriate enzymes to digest complex protiens, you know, like those found in meat.

The list goes on and on. We’re omnivores, so we can eat what we want. Someone wants to cut out the meat, let them, but they do not get to tell the rest of us that it is because humans are not meant to eat meat. Then again, folks believe the earth is 6,000 years old – so facts probably don’t mean much.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:35:54 +0000

Every now and then I dip a toe into the raw food lifestyle (for so it is, a different way of living) and I have to say, I immensely enjoy it. Of course, there are different degrees of ‘going raw’, such as with vegetarianism. Some refuse to use sugar, claiming it was cooked at some point. Some say using maple syrup as a substitute is perfectly acceptable, as nothing is really harmful in it.

Many people believe that you can’t eat meat on a raw diet, but if it is cooked a certain way, some recipie books approve of it. Thin slices of beef on a dehydrator on low heat for a while makes decent beef jerky.

A lot of the raw ‘cook’books contain recipes for cooked things, it’s just that the process is done in such a way that it takes longer, on a lower temperature, so as not to remove quite so many nutrients.

A very informational (and delicious-looking!) read is “Raw Food Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow” by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis. It explains a lot of the technicalities, and introduces the reader to their reasons for going raw.