The raw foods movement is an ideology – just as the vegetarian and vegan foods movements are. Fact is that we are omnivores. The length of our intestines, the shapes of our teeth, the hydrochloric acid produced in our stomachs, digestive enzymes produced in our pancreatic glands and our appetites – they all are witness to that fact.
We are omnivores because during evolutionary times, we did not have much choice in what we ate: we had to eat what was at hand, from roots to rabbits, from grubs to greens.
We need a diet that is mixed from raw foods and cooked foods. Recent research shows that mankind has had fire much longer than we thought; we used to think that fire came only about 100,000 years ago. Now the estimate goes to a million years, perhaps two million years. That time is long enough that our bodies have adjusted to cooked food.
The main advantage of cooked food is that we can get more nutrients out. Yes, a few vitamins get destroyed in the cooking process, but overall we gained.
Do we need a fixed ratio between cooked and raw foods? No. Naturally, we tend to prefer longer cooked foods in fall and winter, and raw foods in the summer. We eat more raw food in warmer climates. We are adaptable.
We also have different needs. A person who is warm, can take more uncooked food. A person who is always cold, can't digest raw foods well.
A raw or vegetarian or vegan diet is perfect to detoxify your body when you have lived too many years on too much meat and fast foods. People like to stay on a diet that made such a dramatic difference in their lives, and are often not aware that they might run into deficiencies after a while. I have seen too many patients on a vegetarian diet that consisted of pizza, donuts and ice cream.
After a month or so on a raw/vegetarian/vegan nutritional regimen, the body needs to go a bit more toward omnivore again – a little bit meat and fish, once to twice a week, if one wants to avoid too much meat for reasons of protecting animals and/or the Earth. To get protein and vitamin B12 from fish and/or eggs, it is sufficient to eat animal fare about once a week; more than twice a week might have negative outcomes. There is enough protein (not as perfect though) in nuts, grains and legumes to feed people most of the time.
The discussion raw vs commercial milk (or: a potentially infectious vs pasteurized, homogenized, fortified – adulterated foodstuff) should not be discussed with other raw food issues. But so much here: Dairy in any disguise is not healthy and not necessary - except in rare cases of non-thriving children. The two food groups you don’t need are dairy and white starch. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Allopathy, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Natural Medicine – and Avandia
July 14, 2010
You hear me mumble a lot about Natural Medicine. How does it differ from other kinds of medicine – allopathy, naturopathy, homeopathy? (Allopathy is another name for conventional medicine – the kind that is commonly practiced in the West)?
It is simple to explain: All those systems - except for Natural Medicine - believe in pills: Allopathy in pharmaceutical drugs; naturopathy in vitamins, minerals, hormones – small molecules that are supposedly lacking in your body; homeopathy believes in little sugar pills that don’t do anything at all, but at least keep the patient away from stronger, more detrimental drugs.
Don’t get me wrong: There is nothing inherently wrong with pills. In certain situations, we need them. Only that they are vastly overrated and over-prescribed and can, at times, do more harm than good. Mainly, however: They never address the root cause of the problem.
Let’s look at a patient who walks in with a blood pressure of 200 over 120. Would I want to deny him a pill? Of course, I would start him immediately on some pressure-lowering medications. I might even observe him in the hospital for a day or two if he looks brittle. But then I would work with the patient on his lifestyle – nutrition, water intake, movement, enough sleep, work stress, martial problems, financial debts: anything that might add to his high blood pressure. Not to make him an eternal patient, but to give him a chance at health. I would also make sure that he is not one of the five percent who have a physical reason for high blood pressure, like kidney disease or pheochromocytoma.
But my main goal would be to make the pills unnecessary.
The problem is: It is so much easier for the doctor to take out her prescription pad – and so much easier for the patient to take some pills for the rest of his life than facing the hard task to turn his life around and make it healthier. We are a culture of pill poppers; we want problems to go away – and fast. We have more important things to do than work on a lifestyle of health and happiness.
And because of that, we are sick.
Granted, there are hereditary diseases, and accidents, and sheer bad luck. But truly: Many health problems are in our own hands. Take diabetes – and the Avandia scandal: Do we really think a little pill can make up for thirty years of bad food choices and no exercise?
I, for one, don’t. Therefore, I opt for Natural Medicine. Read More
Truth in Wine
July 13, 2010
Resveratrol - a phyto-nutrient in red wine - is the wonder “drug” that is credited with the so-called French Paradox, namely that the French smoke more and eat more fat, and still have less heart disease, is explained by this. Even doctors now recommend a daily glass of wine.
I dunno. Perhaps their better health might have to do with that the French mostly eat fresh food, take two or three hours for their biggest meal of the day to share with family and friends, and have it more often at midday than in the evening. And they sleep more.
Not to take away from the wonderful goods resveratrol delivers in the body. Resveratrol is an anti-oxidant produced by the vine that gives us wine to fight off attacks by fungi and bacteria. In mice and rats, resveratrol has been shown to be anti-inflammatory, and prevent heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Allegedly, it also prolongs life (no real proof yet!).
It sounds like this is the stuff we should eat.
But should we eat it as a supplement? Probably not.
Every time we find a super drug,” a few years later it turns out that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Besides, resveratrol supplements are not made from the real thing – they are synthesized in a factory.
So, have a little red wine now and then – definitely not daily. Drink water for thirst. And eat dolmades - those Greek/Turkish vine leaves filled with rice and/or meat. What the wine advertisers don’t tell you: There is quite a bit more of resveratrol in vine leaves than in wine – and without the intoxicating effects. Unfortunately, there is even less in grapes and grape juice.
Interestingly, even if one takes high doses of resveratrol, only very little of cab be detected in the blood – your liver hurries to turn this “super drug” ineffective very quickly by changing its chemistry. To me this says: Don’t overdose on this drug! The body does not like it in high doses. As many phyto-nutrients, they should be taken often but in small doses, and that is best accomplished by eating a varied diet - like our ancestors the cave men did.
P.S. Occasionally, I get asked if "once in a while" it is okay to take a supplement. Because we don't always get around to eat healthili.
To which I answer: We should. - But apart from that: If one takes a supplement, it should probably be a low-dosed vitamin or anti-oxidant. Because taking high-dosed supplements adds to the toxic burden. Read More