Some
Observations
on Fundamentalism, Rigidity,
and Rule-bound Thinking in Raw
Foods
Diets,
and Particularly in Raw Vegetation and
Animal
Foods (RVAF) Diets
I
originally penned these thoughts, edited slightly for inclusion in this
page, in early December 2001, after Dan, a frequent correspondent on an
e-mail list group devoted to raw foods, wrote to the list a
letter
detailing his four years on the Primal Diet, and some recent
adjustments he had made to his diet which were rather contrary to some
of the basic fundamental principals of the Primal Diet.
Here is
what I wrote: I want
to thank Dan for writing his comprehensive and thorough
letter. I have met several people who have been on the Primal
Diet for years (2.5 or more), and each one has had to modify
it in some major way from that which was prescribed originally (and
concurrently)
by a Primal nutritionist. To me this makes total sense, and
is NOT
an indictment of either the Primal Diet, nor more broadly, of a
largely-raw,
vegetation and animal foods (RVAF) diet. Rather, to me, this
is simply
confirmation that we are all different, with somewhat different
nutritional
needs and biochemistry. While I think that a formalized or
"fundamentalist"
(again, this term used descriptively and not pejoratively) diet such
as
the Primal Diet, Instincto (or Anopsology) or Natural Hygiene may serve
as
a convenient starting point, I personally believe that ultimately, each
of
us must learn to listen to our bodies and our intuition in deciding
what
foods to eat. Ultimately, I believe, each of us must get well
beyond
using someone else as a guide, or using a prescriptive fundamentalist
diet
based upon rigid rules. While we may choose to occasionally use one
person or another (e.g., first a Primal Diet consultant, and now Dr.
Dulin, in Dan's case) temporarily as a consultant, we ultimately, I
believe, must learn to trust God (also called Being of Spirit), our
intuition and bodies. Further, I
feel
that the prescriptive fundamentalist mostly-raw diets, any of them,
whether we are speaking of Primal Diet, Instincto/Anopsology, Wai's
Acne/Cellulite Diet, Natural Hygiene, John Ray's Body Electronics Diet
(which, interestingly, John Ray himself never adhered to, but
prescribed
freely to all who came his way), or any of 3 dozen others, are
temporary
wayposts from which we learn about our bodies and the foods nature has
to
offer. This is one of many reasons why I never proselytize,
preach,
moralize or act as a missionary for raw foods diets or anything
else.
I try to keep my Raw Paleo Diet website and my own tone on the raw
foods
e-mail lists rather light, and offer information for folks to consider
only,
rather than trying to convince anyone of anything, or convert
anyone.
Further, to the irritation of some, I insist on throwing in some humor
to
lighten things up a bit and keep folks from taking me too
seriously.
Why am I so low-key and "non-missionary" in my stance? For
the reasons
iterated above, which are or were: -
we
are all different in biochemistry and needs
- we
each have different needs at different times
-
fundamentalist,
rule-bound diets are only good for short-term efforts
-
one
must learn to trust God, intuition and body
-
dietary
consultants are useful TEMPORARY, SHORT-TERM consultants
plus
the following
personal reasons, which are, admittedly, simply my deep beliefs:
- rigidity,
preaching and too-heavy rules only serve to alienate the soul and
spirit
- rigid
or fanatical diets can produce fanatical people who are not much fun
to be around
- rigid,
fundamentalist diets tend, if continued for long, to disempower people
- my
personal and related belief that too many rules disempower people
- my
personal belief that ultimately spirit and
the God-force in us can transcend any diet or condition
-
lastly,
my belief that: who am I to know what
is best for another? At best, I might only suggest that they consider,
and perhaps try something a bit different
I
am fifty years
old as of this writing. Unlike some other folks (including
Dan, the author of
the e-mail referenced above) I have
never experienced much of a calming effect from a RVAF diet, including
the
Primal Diet. And that is fine. . . I was not looking for that
effect! However, when I cautiously added dairy to my RVAF
diet after 8 months on
the diet (largely raw-dairy-free till then, but for small amounts of
aged
raw cheese), I did find that to be a consistent soporific or deep
sedative,
to the point of needing a long nap daily, and feeling tired much of the
rest of the day. I quickly decided, guided by my intuition,
that only some of the sedative effect was due to "healing" or
"cleansing" (despite what my
Primal consultant insisted), and that the majority of those effects as
well
as others were due to the varied hormones (natural) and related
substances in milk, some of which are called "opiods", and which
exhibit a sedative effect.
I further noticed that raw dairy seemed to vastly accelerate bacterial
(no,
not viral) "infections" in my body, sometimes to my amusement,
sometimes
to my pain and sometimes to my benefit as well. I ultimately
came to
the point where I have chosen to eat raw dairy only occasionally, and
only
in the form of butter (with lemon, about once every two weeks) or a bit
of
aged raw cheese (yes, I cheat and eat a bit of raw ice cream once in a
while!) I
started
a RVAF diet on my own in April 2000, after having studied about a
dozen RVAF systems and six raw vegan systems over the previous 10
years. I started RVAF on my own, and never saw a RVAF
consultant until I decided after 7 months, to visit a Primal Diet
consultant. For me, a strict Primal Diet has never worked
well, but I have great respect for what it has done for some other
folks, especially according to the Primal nutritionist whom I
consulted. However, my
diet is largely RVAF (but not Primal), ranging anywhere from 99.9% RVAF
down
to 88.9131618% RVAF, depending upon the week.
For the
past two months (as of December 2001), I have found it important to eat
cooked meat or fish at least two or
three times per week -- this helps drastically to eliminate some heavy
dizziness,
light-headedness, mental confusion and fatigue which I experienced
recurrently
after about 10 months on the diet. As most folks who have
perused this
site know, I also do take some supplements, primarily minerals
(selenium,
calcium/magnesium, boron, chromium, vanadium, vitamin C, vitamin, E,
folic
acid, some antioxidants such as ALA (alpha lipoic acid), and
then moderate
quantities of the primeval hydrogen-antioxidants in two forms: MegaH
and Reduced Water (or RW; either Electrolyzed Reduced
Water
(ERW) from a water ionizer, or RW from non-electrical "magic jugs"
which
I developed in my laboratory.) I also drink at least 1/2
gallon of
water daily, often more. I now (past 7 months) eat far lower
quantities of raw meat than the Primal Diet nutritionist whom I
consulted had recommended, and I am enjoying my "diet" and my life far
more. I am
not
sharing this dietary information (above) to offer folks prescriptions
for eating. Nor am I writing this to persuade folks to leave
the Primal Diet, if the reader happens to be someone for whom the diet
works as prescribed. Rather, I am sharing this information to
illustrate how I have evolved my own diet over the almost 2 years I
have been eating largely RVAF.
Indeed, while I personally view
the Primal Diet and the other "really serious" RVAF diets as an
excellent way for someone to start a RVAF diet, and I feel that such a
diet is especially apropos for anyone who is facing a serious illness.
Indeed, the primary purpose of this essay is to help people
to feel empowered to eventually learn to listen to their intuition and
signals from their body as to what to eat. So, I might
suggest that someone start with the Primal Diet or another of the basic
prescriptive RVAF diets, but that they then start evolving the diet on
their own about five to six months later, based upon intuition and
their body's guidance. Am
I unilaterally biased against the
more fundamentalist
and rigid RVAF diets? No, not at all. As I noted
above, they
work for some folks, and if I were facing a life-threatening chronic
disease,
I would likely start with a somewhat regulated diet such as the Primal
Diet,
since it is more "intense". However, for most folks, I would
recommend
that you perhaps start with one of the more tightly-regulated RVAF
diets,
if you so wish, and then gradually shift to listening more and more to
your
own body and intuition. Or, you may choose to start your
foray into
RVAF eating the way I did: via a totally self-designed diet which
evolved
over the first 4 or 5 months of the diet, and which continues to evolve
over
two years later. As I recall, I took about 2 or 3 months to
gradually
shift to an all-raw RVAF diet, which was steered not by any book or
single
source, but rather by my own sense of what my body needed and wanted.
While
I
had CFS and fibromyalgia, and moderate underweight prior to starting
the RVAF diet, I did not have severe health problems. I also
had a few specific localized problems: among them that I was born a DES
baby (please do not ask me what that is... . . . rather, look it up
yourself on a search engine or in the Live-foods list archives!), and
therefore had some urogenital problems as well. Underweight
aside, none of these problems have totally resolved due to the RVAF
diet, but all have improved, often markedly. The underweight
condition improved markedly, allowing me to gain, at peak, 33 pounds
above my old weight of
142 pounds (this on a 6' 3/4" frame!) I also learned that my
chronic
swollen sinus and left eye (sinus pressure) were effectively eliminated
so
long as I avoided grains (yes, I can safely cheat and eat a bit of good
bread
or pasta once in awhile!) and certain nuts (yes, even if raw; possibly
it
was a cleansing). Again:
thank you, Dan, for sharing. This is a perfect example of a
primary purpose of the Live-foods list: to allow a forum for
intelligent, compassionate exploration of how we are evolving our raw
diets. Thank you for taking the time to do so.
Lastly,
I
wish to agree with Dan's conclusion, which apparently came from deep in
his heart, that ultimately socializing is far more important than
alienating everyone all the time. Does this mean that I will
eat foods that my body strongly (or even moderately) does not want,
just to get along in a group? NO, not at all! And in social
situations, I often do persist in eating RVAF foods (including raw
meats
and raw fish), but I will also heartily eat any cooked foods offered
which
my body tells me will be fine for it. For me, this usually
includes: - cooked
fish and shellfish
- cooked
meats
- certain
Mediterranean dishes such as babaghanoush or hummus (but it's
gotta be made with olive oil, and not canola!)
-
occasionally,
small to moderate amounts of good bread or pasta (for some folks, this
is a big NO-NO! Ask your own body and respect it!
Mine tolerates it fine!)
- cooked
veggies
- lastly,
I never worry about small amounts of preservatives or chemicals (BHA,
BHT, nitrates, sulfur dioxide, etc.) in a cooked food
(e.g., Italian sausage), because I strongly feel that a small amount is
likely
not harmful and may even help my body learn to recognize the foreign
substance (this is called "hormesis".) Besides, I eat such
things so rarely that any intake is minimal and not worth worrying
about.
- nuclear
waste (only thorium and plutonium; uranium and the various
radionuclides irritate me) Ooops! this last bullet
may be a product of my scrambled mind!
Even
when eating cooked foods, here are the foods I notice that I
totally avoid, guided by body and intuition: -
sweets
(I might take a bite of a pastry twice a year, but no more than a bite)
- fruit juices
- sweet
drinks
- sodas
- highly
processed foods
- anything
made with junk oils or hydrogenated oils (this one is important for my
body; it is very vocal about it!)
- anything
with cooked/heated dairy (this one is important for my body; it is very
vocal about it!)
- anything
with more than 2 ppm of uranium or 20 ppm of lead
-
any
alcohol in amounts more than equivalent of one ounce of liquor per 5
days
What is the bottom
line? Well, I suspect that
many folks, especially Americans, are looking for quick and easy
answers
in the area of diet, and they would prefer to be told exactly what to
do
by someone else. I, on the other hand, recommend that we
modern-day
humans learn once again to trust our own bodies, and signals from our
instinct
and God (Being, Spirit) as to what to eat. Ultimately, I
believe, this
will result in a broader, deeper and more flexible approach to diet,
life
and spirituality, and will yield greater health and vitality.
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