Hi everyone

Many thanks to 'Medjool Fan' from the 30Bananas forum for drawing my attention to this one.

Quote from article in 'The Economist' Feb 2009, discussing Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham's address to the American Association for Advancement of Science. Amongst various 'interesting' claims, such as those living on raw food alone are 'faddists', that raw foodists find it difficult to maintain their weight, and that denaturing of protein makes it easier to digest (!), we have this little nugget:

'without cooking, the human brain (which consumes 20-25% of the body's energy) can't keep running.'

[www.economist.com]

I bet that guy never tried eting 100% raw for any period of time, maybe out of fear that his brain would shrinked (ha, ha, ha).

funny reading, altough it is quite sad (from a scientific point of view).

in my humble opinion:

it is mainly a matter of each individual finding out what works optimumly for them.

there are certain proven ideas which i personally accept as "given axiomatics" and are very useful to the individual who embarks on the quest to find out where they are at with what to eat and do to be healthiest. "following the leaders" is not always the best way to go about it. considering what they recommend is just fine for me.

many so-called leaders and can be very self centered and subjective. and sometimes having hidden agendas in their recommendations...however almost all of them will have something to contribute which is helpful and worth considering. learn to think for yourself and make your own decisions based on experience.

here are a few of the ideas which have been helpful to me:

eat the good things and avoid the bad ones.(1=1=2 and 1-1=O)..take your pick.

take advantage of juicing, it is by far the finest means of food supplementation we have.

do not forget about breathing and exercise.

periodic fasting is an imprtant part of good health since it allows us to keep the inside of our bodies nice and clean. i consider the internal cleanliness to be essential and i use juice fasting and enemas to accomplish it.

proper food combining also extremely and again and again ...extremely important.

never eat to excess evan if it is healthy foods.( dont get hung up on eating for it is well known fact that "less is more" in terms of obtaining a longer life span)

develope consciuosness and a cultivate a well grounded spiritual relationship with GOD if you want to be wholistically healthy. really important!!

do not follow every bit of advice you happen to find. test it out and make your own decision. ( this includes any advice which i may offer as well)

its ok to have some cooked food if your body would like some...i personally find that lightly steamed vegetables agree with me just fine. i do like mixing types and use one vegatable at a time for sort of a mono diet effect and when doing so...i eat a small portion raw just to make sure i "save" some of the enzymes which are partially destroyed by cooking. enzymes by the way are not expended after doing the job...they survive and go about their work from one food molecule to the next with out losing their stuff. lightly steamed is an arbitrary term so use your own discretion...cooking till mushy is not lightly steamed! enjoy the broth or water they are steamed in as well. i also use butter or small amounts of olive oil. too much oil can coat your stomach and slow down the digestive process...only a small amount is needed. i also use sea salt and shoyu depending on my gut feelings.

avoid processed foods and junk foods ...evan the so called healthy junk foods.
fresh fruits, dried fruits and nuts are great snacking foods. and again be mindful of food combining.

keep your food combinations simple and go for more than just tasting good. i like simple salads with a few goodies like parsnips, onion, garlic, dill, jerusalem artichoke, radish etc. though only a few at a time.

chia is a great addition to smoothies...again keep them simple and they will serve you well.

every once in awhile i have a simple bowl of cooked brown rice with shoyu all by itself and i love it and never feel crummy after enjoying it.

watermelon rinds and beet top with apple and lemon is one of my favorite energy juices. also celery cuke and parsely is very good for organic sodium which we really need.

find out what works for you and forget about following so-called "gurus" who end up laying their trips on you and taking your money as well for advices which may not evan appy to your particular situation.

lighten up your load and be healthy instead,

juicin' john

I find it very hard to take an article about human health seriously when the author starts quoting animal testing, especially the completely pointless, ridiculous experiments that don't involve nature on any level- lab rats and food pellets.

jj,

Great feedback(I'm getting used to that). But I think the point of Debbie's post is that this was a prominent and respected anthropologist speaking in unwitting ignorance about our lifestyle. Some of his ideas are mere hypotheses, and some are downright wack--in cooking school, we were taught that denaturization of proteins makes them less bioavailable. It's true Dr. Wrangham isn't a trained food scientist, but then I have the sense to not go around talking about pelvic bone differentiation in A. afarensis. What the hell would I know about it?! I realize The Economist's column is only an excerpt, but the general pull of his thoughts smacks of Funding-By-You-Know-Who. This could be dangerous. When people like this, who have access to say, the fossil record tangentially, start making pronouncements of this kind to colleagues in disciplines related to their own, there is a very real possibility that their ideas will trickle down to us in Workaday World. Now, I'm not suggesting that there will be witch hunts of raw foodists in the future but, darn it, I'm having a hard enough time explaining to otherwise intelligent people how my regimen isn't "unnatural." I don't need scientists working against me too!

(yes, perhaps not everyone detected the ironic nature of my post, and the 'wink' in the title? The pitfalls of e-mail communication...:-))


Further to the topic of the thread, statements such as these are indeed sad really (although amusing). Even my 'cooked' husband found it amusing. He asked if I could just 'hang on in there' until he got home, as he has a bit of typing he'd like me to do before brain death occurs.

I'm not 'anti-scientists' at all, but some of them do say the most interesting things.

How about this statement from a spokesman from the UK FDA?

'It's not possible to avoid acrylamides and have a balanced diet.'

Um...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2009 07:16PM by debbietook.

thanks for "reeling me in"....tamukha

the article blatantly smacks of biased research and is utterly riduculas from a truth standpoint.

i just don't see raw food people being a target for any sort of a "witch hunt" sincde we actually quite low on the food chain for the meg corps financial interest threats.

any form of extreme behavior takes its position on that part of the bell curve which is lowest it always balances out to the mean or middle.

i feel that it is unfortunate that many raw food people get into the "holier than thou role" with the 100% raw ego thing and it isn't fair to those who are sincerly trying to be heathier and are not 100%.

moderation and using a plethora of techniques can actually work quite well for those who are still in the 75-25% categories.

those who purport the extreme will always be a target for someone at the other end of the curve. its just the way it balances. i saw this as an opportunity to encourage those who are on the path and moving sincerly in the right direction.

the article is definitely biasd without doubt.


good health to us all!

jj

forget protein denaturing, here are some of the REAL dangers of raw foods:

Making a smoothie and forgetting to put the lid on properly...

Juicing beetroot in a white top...

Leaving banana skins on the floor...

Eating spinach without any floss to hand...

lisa m,

Ohhhh, the humanity!

There's a very real danger of becomeing a lot heathier, which would lead to major societal upheaval, horrors!!!

Lisa-- HAHA!

My GRE score went up 100 points after 20 years of vegetarianism including the last 8 being mostly raw.

I suppose it would have gone up 200 if I'd stuck with meat.

Yes, raw food is very dangerous in middle age, there is a great danger that you will be mistaken for a person 20 years younger.

Hah hah.

Let the skeptics scoff. We'll have the last laugh.

There are 2 million (identified) species on this earth, and Man and domesticated animals are the only ones who cook their food - oh wait, wait THAT'S what killed off the dinosaurs, they couldn't cook their food anymore and get those danatured proteins and now they are . . . EXTINCT

gasp - got to get busy cooking and denaturing my proteins ;-)

lisa m Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> forget protein denaturing, here are some of the
> REAL dangers of raw foods:
>
> Making a smoothie and forgetting to put the lid on
> properly...
>
> Juicing beetroot in a white top...
>
> Leaving banana skins on the floor...
>
> Eating spinach without any floss to hand...

hilarious, Lisa I loved your post

I will post it in my kitchen!!!!