The Raw Food Solution
Posted on August 8, 2011 with No Comments
The Raw Food Solution
Your food shall be your remedies, and your remedies shall be your food.” — Hippocrates
“Always take a good look at what you’re about to eat. It’s not so important to know what it is, but it’s critical to know what it was.” –Texas Bix Bender, “Cowboy Wisdom”
It seems a particularly Western idea that in order to attain a high level of health, it must be something we eat, drink or otherwise ingest. The search for a “magic pill,” fueled by unrelenting pharmaceutical media campaigns, enforces this belief. “Here, take this for your headache, take these to lose that weight, and smear this stuff on your face for everlasting beauty,” yell the pitch men–and we obey, opening our wallets and in many cases ignoring common sense in doing so.
Other cultures focus on such things as yoga, breath, mantras and karma. More archaic societies focused on spirits, gods, ancestor worship, and shamanistic blessings. Of course, these time-intensive alternatives would never do for our breakneck lifestyles where instant gratification is aim of most daily or weekly endeavors.
A fine compromise between these two divergent health strategies is the raw food lifestyle. This month we spoke with raw food advocate, Paul Nison, who was in town on yet another tour of the country touting the true health benefits of eating raw food.
Paul was led inadvertently to the raw food lifestyle at age 19 via a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis–one of the most painful of intestinal disorders. “I got colitis flare-ups about six times per year,” says Paul. “Every time I went to the doctor, she told me to stay away from dairy foods until I felt better. Then she increased the dosage of steroids she was giving me. When I felt better after a few weeks, she said it was okay to eat dairy foods again. After that I began to eliminate whatever the doctors told me was okay to eat. Eggs, meat, and sugar to name just a few. I told my doctor I felt better without these foods. She told me food had nothing to do with my condition. After hearing that from her, I knew I was on the right track.”
As Paul continued to eliminate cooked foods from his diet, he also continued to research the lifestyle, being greatly influenced by Dave Klein (Publisher/Editor of Living Nutrition magazine), and David Wolfe, who had books and radio programs circulating. Joining raw food support groups, and networking with other raw fooders, Paul ended up with a 100% raw diet. “Since going 100% raw, I have completely overcome ulcerative colitis. I feel better than ever and have become increasingly inspired about life. I quit my stressful job and began working as a raw food chef in a vegetarian restaurant. I organize raw-food potlucks every month. I have started a raw food support group, and I give lectures on the raw food lifestyle to help others that have gotten their wake-up call.”
Making the transition to raw food also takes some self-reflection and an awareness of habitual patterns. “I find that people eat too much sugar, too much fat, too much protein and too little green food,” says Paul. “Then they switch to a vegetarian diet, but keep doing the same thing, and keep running into the same problems. Then they switch to a raw diet, but continue to eat too much sugar and too much fat and too little green food, and they run into the same health problems.”
Just going to Safeway and rummaging around in the produce section, isn’t going to fully accomplish shopping goals for raw fooding. Several factors come into play, as Paul points out: “The most important thing when eating raw food, is we want it to be the highest quality possible. That would be raw, fresh, ripe and organic. Now, it’s very easy in today’s world to get raw and organic. Ripe and fresh is another story. You’ve got to work really hard to find where we can get ripe and fresh foods. But raw and organic is everywhere. Organic is so important because it’s a high quality food, and when it’s not, it’s a low quality food. Some of the dirtiest water we can get comes from un-organic fruits and vegetables.” Paul recommends searching the internet for resources in local areas, as well as hooking up with raw food groups that are springing up everywhere.
