I disagree. Raw Food Diet For Diabetics

by -elizabeth
(Oregon)

I appreciate that you have covered the subject of raw food, but I strongly disagree with several points you have made. First, being a raw foodist is NOT difficult. It is, quite frankly, the easiest lifestyle imaginable. A tasty, well-rounded, raw meal takes five minutes or less to prepare. That is less time than it takes to hop in the car and go through a drive-through window, for sure. If you are dehydrating, the prep time is the same; you simply have to plan ahead for the dehydration. How hard is that?
Second, it is NOT extreme to eat raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. That is food in its natural state. It is far more extreme and, honestly, bizarre to knowingly ingest “food” with a shelf life of years and the flesh and byproducts of enslaved and murdered animals. Likewise, we are the only animal on the planet that cooks their food. That is, indeed, odd. It is, therefore, not surprising that we and the poor animals we domesticate and proceed to feed processed food to are the only ones that suffer in mass from so many degenerative diseases. Rawism is, in actuality, only seen as extreme by people are not knowledgeable about the facts, or fear giving up their addiction to processed products.
Lastly, I would like to argue that balancing nutrition on the Standard American Diet (SAD) is FAR more difficult than it is when one is consuming raw food. I find it interesting that people actually believe that they could be getting more and better nutrition from a diet of cooked and processed foods when the majority of nutrients are destroyed during the extreme-heating process. The few nutrients left after heating and processing are not likely absorbed in someone who consumes cooked food either, so it is a lose-lose situation.
As a final sub-point, I would like to state that, while the standard definition of a raw foodist is someone whose diet consists of 75% or more raw food, that is an inaccurate title. That is like saying you are a vegetarian, but you eat chicken and fish. You can eat all of the raw food you want, but if there is a remainder that is cooked or processed, you are not raw.
There are lots of books and movies out there that show how fun, easy, completely healthful and life changing rawism really is. I suggest the movies “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days” and “The Beautiful Truth” for starters. If those do not convince you, look for good, quality books on the subject from people who are actually living vibrant, raw lifestyles and do not simply take the word of an outsider.

Editor's Note: This comment is fantastic. I would argue that it is one of the most well thought out responses to any article we have ever received. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I would respond to a couple of points.

The article refers to the "difficulty" of following the diet. I think the difficulty is more to do with getting up to speed on the diet. One would have to learn what to eat. How to best prepare it. Any special recipes. How to make sure you are getting the right nutrition. What to do about eating out or parties. However, this is the same for any diet, so it is not meant to single out the raw food diet in particular.

Extreme nature of the diet. Most people have never heard of the diet and the article was drafted from that perspective. If you have never eaten exclusively fruits and vegetables, it is an extreme departure from your normal eating habits. This does not make it bad. The extreme comments in the article were not meant as a social commentary on the nature of eating animals or not.

Lastly, regarding the difficulty of balancing the "standard American Diet." We are in complete agreement on this issue. The "standard" or recommended american diet is awful. The funny thing is that most americans don't even follow the standard guidelines, thus, we have the most obese population in the world. You will get no arguments from me on your views regarding this.

Thank You once again. Erich