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Originally Posted by KTCastman  The reason I am writing now is that I am a bit concerned about you. I see nothing wrong with trying a raw fruit and veggie diet for a month - the body especially when healthy overall is quiet flexible. The concern I have is the raw fruit/veggie diet is very, very restrictive and quite frankly too low in protein, fat, many minerals such as zinc (which is needed for healing and skin integrity...huhm the dry skin issue?) magnesium, calcium, sodium (yes you can be too low!).KT |
Hi KT,
To follow on a bit from replies to your post, it is great that you are looking at nutrition from a vegan aspect. I think it is a bit daunting to start with, when coming from the more accepted mainstream view of nutrition ... things like we need plenty of protein, or these minerals/vitamins and are only available from meat/dairy sources. A total re-evaluation is needed and being prepared to question all the nutrition experts, no matter how obvious the points they make seem to be.
We don't need protein!!! Actually, I've deliberately phrased that to be controversial
but it is true in many ways. What we need are the amino acids that build protein in our body. When we eat protein our body has to waste energy breaking down that protein into constituent aminos and then using to build our body protein. This fact is obviously of no use to the meat industry and rarely mentioned by nutritionists. The adult body needs very little in the way of protein, even when building 'usable' muscle. We can get all of our needs from eating a mixed raw vegan diet ... forever. All the amino acids are available by eating a variety of greens etc.
There are many potential problems in consuming dairy products, again the nutritional myth that we need milk for calcium, totally false and quite probably detrimental to absorption. We need calcium in an organic form from greens etc, the same with all vitamins and minerals, not secondhand in often unusable ways from animal sources. There is absolutely no chance of being deficient in zinc etc if you eat a balanced (organic where possible) diet, pumpkin seeds for example are a high source.
Off the top of my head, diabetes is a refined/cooked/processed problem, not something that is any risk from the type of diet that Steve has been eating ... my only reservation to check would be the high consumption of bananas - I don't enjoy eating so many myself.
Cooking kills ... our food and hence our bodies. There really is no dispute about that, there is the odd report where someone may find a benefit in heating a foodstuff (for example lightly steamed broccoli), but personally I do not hold any credibility to needing any cooked foods.
Cooked and processed foods are also very dehydrating to the body and as Steve has noticed the best source of hydration for the body is via water-rich raw foods, rather than water itself.
It all comes down to choice and most of us are reluctant to give up the pleasures/addictions of meat/fish/vegetarian/cooked foods, so can quite successfully kid ourselves that we need them for our health, or that life is too short to worry about it.
The thing that I find most fascinating is that those who eat truly simple raw food (not gourmet style) appear to eventually completely lose any attraction for cooked or complex foods. They have abundant energy and clarity of mind. Maybe this is where Steve is headed, breaking the addiction is the most difficult thing, maybe he is close to doing so.
A couple of super healthy/athletic people, both aged about 40, who are flourishing on raw foods and are truly inspiring:
http://www.runningraw.com and
http://www.rogerhaeske.com
Anyway, a longer post than intended, hope it is helpful
Patrick