the following is a repost, done for the new people on both lists.
If you were on raw-food and/or veg-raw on June 1, then you have already
received the material below.
If you attended the SF-LiFE Expo on June 1, then you received the material
below in the newsletter/program guide.
If you have already received the material, you may want to skip this article.
If the material is new to you, then I suggest you read it - you might find
some of it to be of interest. The material here was originally posted in
separate posts - I have combined them here into one long post for convenience.
Crossposting of any of this material to the "raw" list is prohibited.
All material here is copyright 1997 by Thomas E. Billings, all rights reserved.
P.S. this is a long posting - if you followup, please edit out all but the
essential parts related to your post. My e-mail queue thanks you!
This material was retrieved from the raw-food list archives. Lots of good
material in the archives - check it out.
Tom Billings
[log in to unmask]
========================================================================
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 20:08:22 -0700
From: "Thomas E. Billings" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: EXPO: Types of Raw Food Diets
the following is part of the 1997 SF-LiFE "Health & Rejuvenation Expo"
newsletter/program guide (the Expo was held on June 1, 1997).
Because I am a member of only two e-mail lists (raw-food and veg-raw), I must
specify that this particular article can NOT be crossposted to any other list,
without my express permission.
Please see the "Introduction to EXPO Posts" for further details.
Tom Billings
[log in to unmask]
=========begin newsletter article==============
TYPES OF RAW FOOD DIETS: A BRIEF SURVEY
There are many types of raw food diets. A list, with descriptions, follows.
* Sproutarian - one whose diet is predominantly sprouts. Those eating only
sprouts are extremely rare; most sproutarians have a varied raw food diet.
* Living Fooder - version of sproutarianism. The Ann Wigmore-style living
fooder has a vegan diet centered on sprouts, raw fermented foods, and raw
blended foods. Hippocrates Institute (Brian Clement) and Gabriel Cousens
teach similar, yet slightly different, versions of living foods diets.
* Natural Hygiene - natural hygienists disagree sharply among themselves
regarding the details of natural hygiene. A diet of raw fruits, vegetables,
nuts, seeds. The diet is usually vegan, but Tilden (co-founder of natural
hygiene in modern times) encouraged use of non-vegetarian foods. Following
high (%) fruit diets is discouraged by most hygienists. However, some who
consider themselves to be hygienists, do advocate high fruit diets. There
is very wide variation in diet and health practices among hygienists; e.g.
disagreements on the use of sprouts, seaweeds, dried fruit, etc. Some
otherwise "orthodox" hygienists make occasional use of raw milk/cheese/eggs
in their diet (this is discussed by Ward Nicholson in the January 1997
issue of the "Health & Beyond" newsletter). The American Natural Hygiene
Society reportedly promotes a predominantly raw diet, but advocates a place
for cooked grains and steamed vegetables in the diet. (Note: the preceding
remarks are intended to show the wide diversity of hygienic views; it is
not meant as criticism.)
* Instinctive Eating (Anopsology) - sequential mono-eating, guided by the
senses (smell, and taste change = signal to stop eating). In practice,
instincto diet often centers on raw fruit, seafood, meat, with some
vegetables, and excludes dairy and grains. Some instinctos eat very little
seafood/meat. A similar diet, the Paleolithic diet, has recently become
more popular in raw food circles.
* Essene - one whose diet is based on the Essene Gospels of Peace, which
claims that Jesus was a member of the Essene sect, and a raw food
vegetarian. Diet consists of raw sprouts, wheatgrass, vegetables, and
fruit. Use of raw dairy is explicitly authorized by the Essene gospels,
so the diet is often lacto-vegetarian rather than vegan. Many Essenes use
fermented dairy products, specifically yogurt.
* Fruitarian - one whose diet is predominantly fruit. As a standard,
suggest using 75+% fruit as the marker for using the term fruitarian. Here
'fruit' usually conforms to the common usage of the term - the reproductive
product of trees, vines, bushes, rather than the botanical definition.
Some fruitarians do eat small amounts of sprouts, and many fruitarians
(but not all) do eat leafy greens.
* Liquidarian - one who consumes only liquids/juices. Usually a short-term
cleansing diet, extremely rare as a long term diet.
* Breatharian. Not really a diet; one who does not eat but gets energy from
the air. A rare practice of an obscure Tantric sect. If you want to be a
breatharian, you should go to India and try to find a genuine teacher.
(This is a difficult/dangerous path - not to be pursued for frivolous
reasons!)
* (Generic) Raw Fooder - one whose diet is raw foods but who doesn't fit so
neatly into a category, or prefers to not be categorized. Generally a vegan
diet, but can be lacto-vegetarian (those who consume raw dairy), or non-
vegetarian. Suggest that the diet should be 75+% raw before using the term
'raw fooder'.
Other raw diets. Johnny Lovewisdom (of Ecuador) promotes Vitarianism, a
diet that includes raw yogurt, vegetables, and a high % of raw fruit. Also,
I have heard that one can follow a raw version of the currently popular
"Zone diet".
Tom Billings
>>> Posting number 2941, dated 1 Jun 1997 20:11:53
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 20:11:53 -0700
From: "Thomas E. Billings" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: EXPO: motivation, expectation, honesty in raw/living food diets
the following is part of the 1997 SF-LiFE "Health & Rejuvenation Expo"
newsletter/program guide (the Expo was held on June 1, 1997).
Because I am a member of only two e-mail lists (raw-food and veg-raw), I
must specify that this particular article can NOT be crossposted to any
other list, without my express permission.
Please see the "Introduction to EXPO Posts" for further details.
Tom Billings
[log in to unmask]
=========begin newsletter article=================================
MOTIVATION, EXPECTATIONS, AND HONESTY IN RAW AND LIVING FOOD DIETS
Opinion by: Tom Billings
The following material may be controversial. Please regard this entire
article as opinion.
Over the years in raw foods, I have slowly come to the conclusion that
certain factors are important in determining your total experience with
the diet. Three important factors are motivation, expectations, and honesty. This
article briefly addresses these topics.
I. Motivation
You should have a positive (or neutral) motivation for your diet. Examples
of positive motivations for a raw/living foods diet would be:
* if you are healthy, to enhance and maintain your health
* if you are ill, as part of a healing program
* you feel it should be part of your spiritual path
* you think it is the right/best thing to do for the earth.
Examples of neutral motivations would include:
* your parents taught you to eat that way (rare for raw fooders)
* it is your cultural eating pattern (of limited relevance to raw fooders).
You should avoid having a negative motivation for your diet. A partial
list of common negative motivations include:
* fear of mucus (ridiculous, but common in raw circles)
* fear/hatred of cooked foods, and those who consume cooked foods.
* fear/hatred of aging, weight gain, etc.
Note that the 3 common negative motivations above are expressions of
fear and/or hatred. These are clearly not healthy emotions. If they
form the philosophical basis for your diet, then when you engage in
physical eating, you are also mentally "eating" fear and/or hatred. In
the long run, a mental "diet" of fear and/or hatred will surely poison
your mind and spirit. Meanwhile, a diet of mucus-forming/cooked food,
if taken in a positive spirit, will only harm your body. It is much
easier to detoxify the body, than the mind/spirit!
Other problems with fear and hatred: if fear is strong enough, the raw
foods diet can turn into an eating disorder (similar to anorexia); if
hatred is strong enough, one can become a hostile, intolerant bigot/zealot.
The negative motivation of fear/hatred of cooked foods, and those who
consume them, has gained some popularity recently, and deserves special
comment. The idea that the world's problems are due to consumption of
cooked foods is not only ridiculous, but intellectually dishonest as well.
Countries do not go to war over cooked foods, people do not kill or rape
each other because of cooked foods. In contrast, this writer has personally
been the target of real hostility from supposedly "compassionate" raw
vegan/fruitarian zealots. Clearly, cooked food consumers do not have a
monopoly on hatred and personal attacks!
Also, promoting fear/hatred of people because they are cooked food
consumers is no different, in principle, from promoting fear/hatred of
other people because of their race or sexual preference. Most raw fooders
I know would never support a blatantly racist or homophobic campaign to
promote raw foods, yet some raw fooders do support the promotional use of
fear/hatred of cooked foods and those who consume them. Some of the excuses
I hear in support of such zealotry are:
1) the hate is fake/it's a marketing approach - hatred is not a legitimate
marketing tool! All hatred is real, when it hurts people.
2) it works/it brings people into raw foods - the ends do not justify the
means. This will hurt the raw movement in the long run. Clearly,
fear and hate are very powerful motivators: look at Nazi Germany
to see the effect and ultimate results of a cult of fear and hate.
To close this section: have a positive (or neutral) motivation and
attitude, regarding your choice of diet - whether raw/cooked, veg or non-veg.
II. Expectations
What do you expect from your diet? Do you think it will bring you "perfect"
health, or will make your body "perfect"? If so, can you objectively define
and measure what makes health (or the body) "perfect"? The reality is that
we cannot even define or measure "perfect" health (or body); these are
effectively "unknown ideals".
Assuming you have or adopt a "clean" diet, say one that is predominantly
raw, what can you expect? Here's what you should NOT expect: to be free
of disease, to be physically immortal, that it will cure any/all disorders
you now have, or that it will make you "perfect" in any way.
Raw food diets are well known for their healing effects. However, healing
is wherever you find it, so you might find the raw diet helps, or maybe it
won't help. Of course, no diet can make you immortal, and no diet is
guaranteed to give you longevity. A raw food diet does not make you immune
to disease, as disease is a major cause of death in wild animals eating a
natural, raw diet.
Perfectionism in the diet may promote low self-esteem, or the opposite: ego.
So, my take on realistic expectations for a raw diet is that it may enhance
your health, and/or be helpful in finding healing, provided you take care
of the other factors in your life that impact health: stress, exercise,
breathing, reducing environmental (home) toxins, take care of the mind and
spirit, and so on. Of course, there are no guarantees in life. Raw diets
are on a try-and-see if it works for you basis.
The major effect of expectations on success in raw diets is that if you
start such a diet with unrealistic expectations, then the diet will not
meet your expectations. When that happens, you may get discouraged and stop
the diet before you realize any noticeable benefits.
III. Honesty
Whatever our diet is, we should be honest about it, and about the
assumptions that are at its basis. Honesty here has many levels. First,
if you are 100% raw, be honest about it. If you eat some cooked food,
be honest about it. However, don't say your diet is 100% raw fruit when
you are secretly binge eating candy because you are addicted to sugar!
The first level of honesty is being honest with others regarding your
diet. (Note: some famous raw food authors do not meet this standard).
The second level of honesty is being honest with yourself regarding your
diet and lifestyle. Do your diet and lifestyle really work for you? Are
you caught up in eating disorder behavior patterns? Do you have severe
cravings? If the diet works for you, great. If not, try to find solutions.
One approach, if raw veganism does not work for you, is to try some of the
following: diversify your diet; eat cooked food; use supplements (like
dried barley grass); use raw dairy; or consider instinctive eating if you
have no philosophical objections to it.
The third level of honesty is being honest - and open - about the
assumptions that underlie your diet. This is a very sore point for many
raw vegans (you might be attacked by hostile zealots for merely raising
questions in this area). For example, it is dubious at best to claim
that fruitarianism (or veganism) is our "natural" diet when many large
apes are omnivores (or folivores), and the fossil record says otherwise.
[See the Ward Nicholson interview, in the "Health & Beyond" newsletter,
10,12/96 and 1/97, for discussion of this.] It is dubious to claim that
cooking makes all minerals inorganic (nonsense!), or that wheatgrass
juice is toxic. (Many additional examples could be cited here.)
So, I strongly encourage you to actively question the assumptions that
form the basis for raw foods diets and veganism. You might be surprised
to find that many of the "facts" of rawism are incorrect! When you find
that an assumption is incorrect, the appropriate action is to drop it
from your belief set (basis). Good luck with your diet and lifestyle!
>>> Posting number 2942, dated 1 Jun 1997 20:10:24
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 20:10:24 -0700
From: "Thomas E. Billings" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: EXPO: positive effects of raw/living foods diet
the following is part of the 1997 SF-LiFE "Health & Rejuvenation Expo"
newsletter/program guide (the Expo was held on June 1, 1997).
Because I am a member of only two e-mail lists (raw-food and veg-raw), I
must specify that this particular article can NOT be crossposted to any
other list, without my express permission.
Please see the "Introduction to EXPO Posts" for further details.
Tom Billings
[log in to unmask]
=========begin newsletter article=================================
Note: the article below was written largely as a space-filler. One could
write considerably more on the topic...
COMMON POSITIVE EFFECTS OF A RAW/LIVING FOODS DIET, WITH REALITY CHECKS
The following is a partial listing of some common positive effects one
might experience on a raw/living foods diet, with additional "reality
check" comments provided as a counter-balance.
Positive Effects: Reality Check:
may enhance your physical health, and does not guarantee excellent health;
may help you to stay physically healthy long-time raw fooders can/do get sick
may be very helpful in healing from not a cure-all; results cannot be
illness guaranteed
may increase energy, reduce amount of fatigue can be problem in detox; can
sleep you need also be caused by B-12 deficiency and/
or too much sugar (fruit) in the diet
may be an important part of your you can't eat your way "into heaven",
spiritual growth/path or to enlightenment. Pride and self-
righteousness are a common trap here.
may provide pleasant mental feelings eating disorder behaviors and hostile
of "lightness"; also feelings of zealotry are far too common in rawism.
well-being Such behavior reflects an extremely
unhealthy mental condition.
Tom Billings
>>> Posting number 2943, dated 1 Jun 1997 20:13:43
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 20:13:43 -0700
From: "Thomas E. Billings" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: EXPO: wild vs cultivated fruit table
the following is part of the 1997 SF-LiFE "Health & Rejuvenation Expo"
newsletter/program guide (the Expo was held on June 1, 1997).
Because I am a member of only two e-mail lists (raw-food and veg-raw), I
must specify that this particular article can NOT be crossposted to any
other list, without my express permission.
Please see the "Introduction to EXPO Posts" for further details.
Tom Billings
[log in to unmask]
=========begin newsletter article================================
Wild/Natural Fruit vs. Modern, Cultivated Fruit: A Summary Comparison
Copyright April 1997 by Thomas E. Billings (Issue 6)
This table provides a partial answer to the question, "how natural is
modern, cultivated fruit?", by comparing it to wild/natural fruit.
WILD/NATURAL FRUIT MODERN, CULTIVATED FRUIT
A. Plant Breeding and Propagation
Evolutionary varietal selection Human-directed varietal selection for
driven by species survival taste (high sugar content: market
acceptance) and production factors such
as ability to withstand shipping
Usually non-hybrid; on Artificial hybrids common; genetic eng.
occasion - natural hybrid is latest fashion
Propagation usually by seeds Vegetative propagation, usually
(not nec. true to seed), or artificial: grafting, budding, air-layer,
natural vegetative prop - root cloning
divisions/slips [banana, pineapple]
Grows on its own roots Usually grafted to an alternate rootstock
B. Plant Culture
Grown in natural "permaculture" Mass-produced in orchards, a type of
"mono-culture"
Generally watered by rainfall only, Often grown on irrigated land (desert
according to natural seasonal cycle areas like California), or drained
swamp land (e.g., Florida)
Grows within specific climactic May be grown in greenhouse, or artificial
zone, per natural adaptation/habitat plant breeding techniques may be used to
extend plant climate tolerance range
(i.e., increase cold/heat resistance)
Plants grow to full size, subject to Plants may be artificially dwarfed for
local conditions ease in picking & other conveniences
Plants are pollinated by natural Pollination services which use the
means - native insects, wind, honeybee (not native to North America)
birds, bats. are often used. Some fruits are hand-
pollinated (cherimoya), while Smyrna
type figs are pollinated by Caprifig
wasps, deliberately raised for that use.
Seedless watermelons are a hybrid and
require cross-pollination by other
varieties of watermelon.
Plants bloom and fruit according to Blooming and fruiting may be induced
natural conditions and seasons. Some or controlled by chemical or physical
fruits are biennial - heavy crop one means, including partial girdling of
year, light crop the next large branches. Some growers go to great
lengths (harming the plants) to force
a biennial fruit to bear heavily each
year.
No chemical fertilizers May receive chemical fertilizers
No pesticides, fungicides or other May receive applications of pesticides,
poisons applied fungicides, etc. - even if so-called
organic
Wild/Natural Fruit vs. Modern, Cultivated Fruit: A Summary Comparison
Copyright April 1997 by Thomas E. Billings (Issue 6)
WILD/NATURAL FRUIT MODERN, CULTIVATED FRUIT
C. Fruit Characteristics/Quality
Small, high in fiber, often sour, Large, low in fiber, usually very sweet
bitter, or even astringent; rarely with a very high sugar level
sweet; usually low sugar level
Typically, large seeds with small Typically, small or no seeds, large
amount of fruit flesh. amount of fruit flesh. Seedless fruits,
in a species that normally reproduces by
seeds, are a short-lived anomaly - they
are biologically sterile!
D. Harvest, Postharvest Processing, and Shipping
Falls to ground or picked when Usually picked unripe or before mature
ripe or mature green. green stage. Ripe/mature green fruit will
not withstand the rigors of shipping.
Chemicals may be used to promote fruit
drop, esp. if mechanically harvested.
Never fumigated May be fumigated to induce ripening, to
kill fruit fly larvae, or to prevent
postharvest fungus growth
Not treated with hot water, no cold May be treated with hot water to kill
treatment fruit fly larvae or fungus, cold
treatments possible - same reasons.
Not refrigerated, not shipped May be refrigerated for weeks or even
months (cold storage apples, controlled
atmosphere storage), usually shipped long
distances - shipping and refrigeration
cost fossil fuel and create pollution.
Never waxed, colored, or treated May be waxed, colored, treated with
with preservative films preservative films
E. Plant Survival and Reproduction
By definition, survives and Most cultivated fruit strains can survive
reproduces in real nature - only under human protection. Cultivated
the wild (survival of the fruit generally cannot survive/reproduce
fittest). in real nature - the wild. This suggests
that cultivated fruit is biologically
"weaker" than wild, natural fruit.
F. Availability to Consumer
First you find the plant, then you Easily and readily available at
harvest it. Picking wild fruit may supermarkets, produce markets, and
necessitate dealing with any of the even at convenience stores. Little effort
following: sharp thorns, caustic is required to obtain.
plant sap, poisonous plants, stinging
and/or biting insects, snakes, skunks
and other animals. Considerable
effort usually required to obtain.
Wild fruit is sometimes sold at
markets in tropical countries.
Wild/Natural Fruit vs. Modern, Cultivated Fruit: A Summary Comparison
Copyright April 1997 by Thomas E. Billings (Issue 6)
Comments:
1. The preceding is a generalization/summary, and is subject to the constraints
thereof: many points would benefit from additional explanation.
2. Vegetables and grains are also subjected to some of the un-natural practices
listed above. However, fruits are generally subjected to far more of the above
practices than are grains or vegetables.
3. Referring to wild fruit as natural is an indirect reference to the most
intellectually honest definition of the word natural: what exists or happens
in nature, without the assistance of, or intervention by, humans.
4. Although modern fruit is clearly the "least natural" of common plant foods,
one should not fear or hate it. Simply understand that it is over-rated as a
food, and eat less/eat in moderation.
Continued in part 2...
|
