Quoted from
[www.alivewithgabriel.com]

In this article Gabriel writes "More like 20% of raw oils and fats seem safe". The main argument people have against the Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine diet is that it is high in fat. As you can see below, Rainbow Green is around 20% fat, I would not consider that to be high fat.


Fat in a Live-Food Diet

Gabriel Cousens M.D.,M.D.(H), Diplomate ABHM, Diplomat in Ayurveda

The question of fat, and how much fat in the diet, is a very interesting question. The fear of fat that was created by the Pritikin-type diet, has perhaps been a little bit damaging to people on live foods, because cutting out all the fats may create an omega-3 deficiency, which has been associated with depression, metabolic imbalances, anxiety, nervous system and skin disorders. Obviously, excess fat has been associated with such societal problems as obesity, the epidemic of type-II diabetes, and heart disease. This brings us to an interesting question of how much or how little fat should we eat.

Another aspect, which has not really been discussed at all in the live-food diet, is the issue of why is a live-food diet helpful in treating chronic obesity. In a recent study of people who had been on live foods for at least two years, released by one of our students in the Master’s Program at the Tree of Life (Lenka, 2006), we have been able to see that a very high percentage of people on a live food diet have done exceptionally well in terms of not only weight loss, but coming to their optimal weight, which is really what we want to see happen.

In the survey with 525 people that was done by the Master’s student, the data showed an increase in those reporting that they “never overeat” from 7% before live foods to 34% while on live foods. Those who reported overeating only once or twice per week increased from 35 to 54%. There are reasons for this, and even more important is the fact that it happened. Those who reported “no eating disorder” rose from 61% before live foods to 82% on a live food diet. In terms of weight loss and weight changes, the percentage of people who reported “never dieting” rose from 44% before live foods, to 72% since transitioning to live foods.


Those who reported “dieting very often” dropped from 25% before starting live foods, to 12% on live foods. 82.5% of the people interviewed lost weight after switching to live foods. 75% of those not already at their ideal weight reported reaching it after transitioning to a live food diet. 56% reported regaining some of that weight, although most of them, 57% of them, only regained 25% of the weight they initially lost. 4% of the people actually gained weight after transitioning to live foods. Overall, 82% of the people who were not at their ideal weight before live foods reported being closer to their optimum weight since transitioning to live foods. So, there is something about a live food diet to recognize that is very helpful for people on the issues of fat.


One of the things that we haven’t really discussed in general is the issue of chronic obesity, and why does a live-food diet help. Often chronic obesity results from resistance to leptin, an auto-regulatory, fat-derived hormone, also known as an adipokine. The major cause of leptin resistance appears to be a chronic, low-grade inflammation that seems to be association with obesity. This disease cycle: weight gain, inflammation, leptin resistance, increasing weight gain and obesity, can be broken by a live-food diet because a live-food diet is primarily an anti-inflammatory diet.


In a one-month study we had with people on live foods who were grossly overweight and obese, their anti-inflammatory enzymes dropped to within normal limits in that one month, which was quite a statement. So, we need to appreciate the power of a live-foods diet to decrease systemic inflammation. We will go a little further to understand the cycle, and then use this understanding as a foundation to develop an approach to live foods.

First, let us understand that fat cells produce hormones, adipokines. This tells us that fat is a biologically active tissue. Through the actions of the adipokines, excess fat by itself can cause, as we know, high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, and osteo-arthritis.


By producing the adipokines, the body is able to regulate its fat, because the adipokines can increase or decrease appetite and metabolic rate, making weight control easier or harder. Leptin are the very first adipokines that we’ve heard about, they are a feedback system to the brain about the body’s fat stores. When humans are eating too much fat and are obese, the increase in the body fat sets off increased leptin synthesis. The increased leptins suppress appetite and stimulate fat burning, and help to restore normal.


The more body fat, the higher the circling level of leptins. Obesity results from a failure of leptin signaling, which we now cause leptin resistance, and is associated with insulin resistance. Again, the major cause of leptin resistance appears to chronic inflammation. Inflammation is a biochemical state induced in the body through the actions of cytokines, prostenoids, kinins, and other inflammatory molecules. Obesity itself adds to the inflammation because the fat tissue, again which is a living tissue, produces inflammatory cytokinenes like TNA-α, and interleukin-6. These further worsen the inflammation.

In this cycle of inflammation that causes leptin resistance, there are blocking molecules calls SOCS: Suppressors of Cytokine Signaling. The body tries to limit the damage produced by the inflammatory response by giving this counter response of producing SOCS-1 and SOCS-3. Unfortunately, these interfere with the cell’s ability to respond to leptin. The SOCS-3 blocks the response to insulin, and is one of the causes of insulin resistance. In order to turn off the production of SOCS’s, which causes leptin resistance and insulin resistance once one has to turn off the inflammation.

The research shows that inflammation is promoted by dietary factors that include trans-fatty acids, saturated fat, a high omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, as well as refined carbohydrates and a lack of dietary fiber. Clearly, a properly regulated live-food diet gives you just a perfect balance for decreasing inflammation. The best diet for combating inflammation is a live-food diet.


This is particularly so for a life food diet high in omega-three fats, fiber, poly-phenols, carotenoids, isothiacyanides (which you are going to get in your greens), and sulfides. A diet low in saturated and omega-6 fats, a low glycemic diet is important because in some way, sugar also stimulates inflammation.

Another thing to consider before we even try to answer these questions is the effect of our diet on fatty acids, hormones, and prostaglandin production. Prostaglandins are extremely important, and gives us an idea of the importance of omega-3’s. The good prostaglandins, which are PG-1 and PG-3, increase serotonin production, create a sense of wellbeing and help us get beyond depression, are anti-inflammatory, inhibit platelet clumping, support the immune system, and stimulate hormones for the adrenal, thyroid, and pituitary, including growth hormones, and inhibit insulin release.


The negative prostaglandins (PG-2) activate arachadonic acid, which is inflammatory. PG-2 causes pain, inflammation, constipation, dry skin, depression, platelet clumping, skin rashes, and allergies. There are also symptoms which are typical of an omega-3 deficiency. This is because you need a certain amount of omega-6 to create GLA. GLA sources include primrose oil, currant oil, borage oil, hemp oil (which is the third-highest in GLA), and spirulina. The GLA sources then can move in either of two directions: either they make PG 1 and PG-3, or the bad prostaglandins, PG-2.

We tend to make PG-2, if we are deficient in EPA (a long chain Omega-3 fatty acid), to block the cycle. The EPA and glucagons block the conversion of the GLA to the bad prostaglandins, because they produce δ-5-desaturase. δ-5-desaturase also is activated by a high vegetable protein diet or a high glycemic diet. A high protein or high-glycemic (high sugar) diet creates fat storage and weight gain and activates insulin production which creates a conversion to PG-2. The PG-1 and PG-3 are activated by a stable and low blood sugar, a low-glycemic diet, and a 20-30% protein diet. What protects us against these inflammatory prostaglandins, which are connected to leptin blockage, are the omega-3 fatty acids.


"Research for Israel has show in rats that when there was higher AA there is more depression, when given higher O3 the amount of AA diminished and the depression was ameliorated, the point being again the higher ratio of 3 to 6 creates less AA in the brain and therefore less depression"

With this understanding, we now can with some intelligence begin to answer the questions about the role of fats in the live food diet. The first thing we need to think about is that everybody is different, and biochemical individuality does play a role in this.


This is most seen with the fast oxidizers needing a higher amount of fat in their diet to produce energy. From an Ayurvedic point of view, the vata people, who get the most neurologically deranged, also need a higher amount of fat and oil in their diet. That does make a difference. Obviously, in cold weather, a little bit higher fatty diet does make a difference as a buffer system, but it doesn’t do anything to really deal with any some of our other issues that we were talking about. As far as we are concerned, it is a lot easier to just wear more heavy clothing to keep yourself warm, and put a little cayenne in your gloves and in your socks—which is not a bad idea for England anyway.

Depression has been linked to low cholesterol. A person with cholesterol around 130 or less has a significantly higher rate of depression.


** Depression has also been linked to a deficiency in DHA, which is a long-chain omega-3, particularly post-partum depression. Manic depression has also been linked to a low level of EPA (a long chain Omega-3). When we put those together, we get a real clarity that we need a very high ratio of omega-3’s to omega 6’s but eating foods high in omega-3’s.


Your high omega-3 foods are your flax seed and hemp seed. Flax seed has a certain advantage, if you ground the flax that day and have it fresh it has the lignands in it (I don’t really recommend it from the oil because the oil can go rancid).


* => Along with this I like to use saturated fat like coconut oil because it increases the conversion of short chain omega-3 to long chain omega-3 from 1-3% conversion up to 10% conversion, depending on the research studies. <==


A fast oxidizer may need a combination of 3 tablespoon of ground flax seeds, twice a day with one tablespoon of coconut oil. This combination should give abundant Omega-3’s.


There is also an herb called purslane, which we grow and serve at the Tree of Life, which has both the long-chain omega-3, EPA, and DHA. The research also shows that the E3-Live has both DHA and EPA in it (which doesn’t mean that the other blue-green algaes don’t have it, but we know that E3 Live does). It has been shown that when people take E3 Live, it increases the amount of DHA and EPA in the system. That is the important consideration.


The Pritikin diet, the McDougal diet, the Ornish diet, etc, with the conclusion that 10% calories from fat is optimal, ignores two things:
What is this fat that they are talking about and is the fat is raw of cooked?


**==> I think that live fooders can go a little bit higher than that because what we see with the Pritikin diet is there is depression and there are some mental problems which may occur, because you need the long-chain omega-3’s to make the conversions. <== **


What we don’t need—and I believe a lot of their discussion was about this—is a lot of the omega-6’s, the cooked fats, and the trans-fatty acids. Those aren’t really good for us. But eating healthy fats doesn’t seem to be much of a problem.

Now, 50% of calories from fat are a little high. Nuts & seeds are high protein foods, but they’re actually higher in fats. They are on the average close to 70-80% fats, but they are still high protein foods which is actually really good for fast oxidizers.


Some people can eat a fair amount of nuts and seeds and do quite well. Gabriel here, as a slow oxidizer, has a minimal amount of nuts and seeds, which means a few nuts and seeds on a salad, and goes with three tablespoons flax ground and one tablespoon of coconut oil, at least once a day, usually at breakfast.


I only eat two meals per day, and just a few nuts and seeds. Too much fat really doesn’t do well for my constitutional type because it actually blocks the energy production of a slow oxidizer, but it actually stimulates the energy production of a fast energizer.

Between 20-70 grams of protein range is a safe range. Gabriel gets between 20 and 30g of protein a day, and that seems totally sufficient. For a fast oxidizer, they may need more. For a pregnant woman, a minimum of 70g of protein per day is suggested. That’s not the weight of nuts; that’s the grams of protein. For example, if you have 10 grams of nuts, you’re getting, let’s say, 2.5 grams of protein. Often, we go to spirulina to supplement protein needs.

Anytime you are overeating it is never going to be good. Overeating fats, proteins, or anything, is never going to be to your benefit. However, people who are fast oxidizers are going to do better on fats and proteins like nuts and seeds than a slow oxidizer.


If you overeat anything, ultimately it will not be good for your mental, emotional, spiritual health. If you undereat, however, and don’t get enough omega-3’s, we are looking at emotional, mental, and spiritual changes. Depression and anxiety is what we often see, and then a disordering of the nervous system.

You need a certain amount of the fatty acids also for the phosphorous for the brain. For that, bee pollen is very good. It is 15% lecithin, and it is not soy lecithin—it is bee pollen lecithin. That is very good for brain function and focus. Besides the flax, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, olives & avocado, my other source of fat is bee pollen.

The idea of eating fat to slow the uptake of fruit sugar is, I believe, a valid approach because the glycemic index has to do with how fast sugar gets into the system. Nevertheless, it doesn’t deal with the fact that a high-sugar diet is still not good for you. A high-sugar diet stimulates inflammation, which causes the leptin resistance and insulin resistance, potentially bringing us into Syndrome X, or “metabolic syndrome.”

40 million people in the U.S. have this syndrome, which is high blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and inability to lose weight. We have to be careful how far we go, and sugar definitely still is a danger, but whether it comes slow or fast makes a difference if you have hypoglycemia, and you won’t get quite so many wide swings in your blood sugar. You still get the sugar though, which stimulates candida and fungus growth, and is connected to cancer as well, because cancer cells need 10 to 50 times more sugar intake for them to function at their most pathogenic, treacherous level.

In this diet, I strongly want to emphasize the importance of EPA and DHA and the conversion factor, and one needs to make a concerted effort to take 3-6 tablespoons of ground flax and 1-2 tablespoons at the same time of the coconut oil to enhance the conversion, depending on the studies up to 10%, depending on the studies. I haven’t seen anybody who has had difficulties with this amount.


I am not sure they can’t make all the EPA and DHA they need from that, but if they can’t, then you can use your DHA from golden algae, a supplement that is extremely high. One capsule of that is more than anybody needs, although I recommend two per day for a pregnant woman. This DHA is totally vegan. The EPA is harder to get, but the blue-green algae, the E3-Live, and purslane have a fair amount of EPA.

Italians live a long time because of the olive oil, which seems to be really good for the heart and it has some really good anti-oxidant qualities. Sesame seed oil also has antioxidant qualities. Again, though, we have to be careful about the omega-3 versus omega-6’s. We want to emphasize the omega-3’s, the other ones being more additives for your salad dressing, and so forth. A certain limited amount of the omega-6 rich foods is very healthy. The Mediterranean diet, which has a big emphasis on that, bears that out in results in terms of protecting against heart disease and cancer.


I think the most important thing is to not get caught in the fear and polarities that if you don’t do 10% (fat), because 10% for a cooked person eating junk food is a very different thing from healthy raw oils. More like 20% of raw oils and fats seem safe.


People have been living on nuts and seeds for thousands of years and have done well. Just again, we don’t want to go into excess because it is only 20-30% protein and 70-80% fat. Once we understand all those pieces, then we can make appropriate choices. Most people will begin to figure out how they feel. Gabriel knows that he doesn’t feel really good eating a lot of nuts and seeds and therefore doesn’t do it. Other people feel better. The constitutions play important roles. A lot of people in the live-food movement that we have seen have gotten into pathological states because they have created omega-3 deficiencies by trying to do a low-fat diet. That seems to be a classic error on the live-food diet, particularly for pregnant women. This seems to be reversible by the suggestions that have been made.

At the Tree of Life, we try to give people choices by putting the nuts and seeds out, and though we prepare seed pates in tasty ways, the fast oxidizers know they can have a lot, and we tell the slow oxidizers to have half as much. It is not by calories, though; we do it by volume on the plate.

The main thing is the proper ratio of fats is extremely important for a successful live-food diet. When we apply the principles of biochemical individuality, which has been scientifically proven for the last 70 years, and for the last 3000 years in the Ayurvedic diet, and we apply live fats, which are vastly different from cooked fats, we get a considerably different result from the results of a cooked and trans fatty acid fat diet.

Therefore, we can go to a higher fat intake without causing any particular problems. The interesting evidence of this is that while the Eskimos were eating raw blubber they never had any heart disease. When they changed their diet to cooked blubber because of westerners coming in, they began to get vast amounts of heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. So, there is a very big difference in the kind of fats we eat, not just about omega-3, but if it is raw or cooked. Raw fats are immeasurably safer and better for us.

By Dr. Gabriel Cousens

hi dr. gabriel, this was a great peice to read. you've answered alot of my questions about the amount of fat to consume on this raw way of eating. i have been on this diet for about a week and it's rough but i'm learning alot from this site. what about eating raw fish(sashimi) for omega 3?

I see no evidence in the above article that Rainbow Green is 20% fat. However, all first-hand experiences as well as calculations based on meals served at Cousen's centre and recipes in his book, that I ever encounetered, said that this is much higher than that.


Gosia


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> > I see no evidence in the above article that Rainbow Green is 20% fat.

Gabriel writes in the article above "More like 20% of raw oils and fats seem safe".

He also writes "Now, 50% of calories from fat are a little high."

and he also writes that some people have "the conclusion that 10% calories from fat is optimal...
I think that live fooders can go a little bit higher than that."

The evidence is that Gabriel created the Rainbow Green diet, and he says in the book, and in the article above, that Rainbow Green is around 20% fat.

In the book he writes that some people will do better around 15% fat, others will do better with 25% fat.

The gourmet recipes in Rainbow Green are for special occasions only. I don't know anyone who eats raw gourmet every day, every meal.

Some of the recipes in Rainbow Green are 60% fat, and they for special occasions such as potlucks or fancy dinners. The high fat recipes are not for everyday use.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Love in All Ways,
All Ways in Love
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

> tristani writes
> what about eating raw fish(sashimi) for omega 3?

Gabriel Cousens teaches a vegan diet. No meat, no fish, no dairy, no eggs.

He does use small amounts of Bee Pollen, which is just pollen from flowers

I am not interested in empty claims, but real experiences. And, the real experiences that I mentioned confirm that Rainbow Greens is high fat. Also, I think that Cousens made it very clear that his book is not for special occasions only, but a guide for everyday life.


Gosia


PS 20% by volume may be right.


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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2007 10:49PM by rawgosia.

Hi Gosia,

I don't understand your reply, could you please clarify? Thanks!

I don't understand what you do not understand lol! Could you please clarify?

Gosa


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hey rawk on, i realize that Gabriel talks about vegan but being a beginner at this way of eating, i still eat some raw fish on occasion and was wondering if that was ok or enough omega-3

It isn't ok for the fishies. There are algae-based DHA supplements. I'd say just eat cyanobacteria (blue green "algae" but it is generally only 1-4% fat and you'd have to eat a great deal of it, possibly at detriment to your B12 status due to the adverse impact of the analogues.

> Could you please clarify?

Well, Cousens created the diet Rainbow Green. He writes in the book that it is not healthy and not recommended to eat more that 20% or 25% fat, and many people do better eating 15% fat.

It is easy to do, I make green smoothies every day with salad fruits such as red / yellow / orange bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy greens, with a small amount of flax / hemp seeds added, sometimes I add a little sea veg.

For dinners I make low fat pate with vegetables and seasonings, or I make a saladacco vegetable noodle pasta with some low fat sauce.

One of my favorite dinners is finely chopped or saladacco sliced vegetables, with a sauce of tomato, sun-dried tomato, red bell pepper, garlic, celery, italian seasoning, sprouts, ginger, and a dash of cayenne.

I was eating close to 15% fat on phase 1. Also note that phase one is short term, for only one to three months or until symptoms disappear.

I now eat phase two in which most fruits are allowed.

For breakfast I eat green smoothie - fruit, greens, berries, flax / hemp seeds

For dinner I have some fruit followed by a dinner salad with some nuts or avocado, which comes to around 15% fat.

Does this help clarify?

I am not sure what you mean by empty claims. Rainbow Green phase two is for everyday life. The gourmet recipes are for special occasions. Rainbow Green is much more than a gourmet recipe book, that is one small part of it.

thanks arugula. that's helpful. i'll have to try it and cut out the fishies!lol

> i still eat some raw fish on occasion and was wondering if that was ok or enough omega-3

Hi Tristani,

Fish is no longer safe to eat because it is all contaminated with mercury. Mercury is one of the most toxic substances to our body.

Raw fish may be worse because the parasites are still living. I was at a friends potluck a couple years ago and he was about to BBQ freshly caught salmon and we could see the worms and parasites in it.

To get your omega 3's, nuts and seeds are the way to go. To increase your conversion to DHA / EPA, eat the flax and hemp seeds with coconut oil as Gabriel suggests above. There are vegan DHA supplements available, and Udo's oil is good

>It is easy to do, I make green smoothies every day with salad fruits such as red / yellow / orange bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy greens, with a small amount of flax / hemp seeds added, sometimes I add a little sea veg.

Could you provide a little more clarification? By my calcs, one pound each of bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy greens comes up to about 350 kcals and 11% fat. You would have to eat at least 5x as much as this get a decent daily intake for kcals. Were you eating more than 20 lbs of these per day?

I think your fat itake was probably much higher than 15%. More likely, at least 40%.

2 kg each of bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, zucchini, and celery with 1 tbsp of ground flax is a 14% fat diet. It is 26 lbs of food. It has only 1045 kcals: most people would lose weight on this.

rawk on- wow, i had no idea. i really need to change that for me and my daughter. she loves sashimi. she's gonna hate not eating it. thanks for the suggestions.

> To increase your conversion to DHA / EPA, eat the flax and hemp seeds with coconut oil as Gabriel suggests above.

I have read many papers on ALA-EPA conversion and I have never seen any suggesting that coconut oil has a beneficial effect. They all say the opposite: that saturated fats hinder conversion. I'd insist on getting the specific references he uses for that and reading them before accepting that tidbit.

"Gabriel here, as a slow oxidizer, has a minimal amount of nuts and seeds, which means a few nuts and seeds on a salad, and goes with three tablespoons flax ground and one tablespoon of coconut oil, at least once a day, usually at breakfast."

Using the data from fitday.com and a little calculation, 3 tablespoons of flax seeds and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, eaten twice a day, equates to 404 cals from fat. Then, (say) five almonds and 1 tablespoon of sunflower seeds in a salad, say twice a day, equates to 132 cals from fat. This totals to 536 cals from fat so far. On top of that, assuming that no overt fats are eaten in all remaining meals, and assuming that 2000 cals are required, another 5% of (2000-536)=1464, gives 73 cals from fat. Finally, 536+73=609, which is (609/2000)*100%=30% of daily calories from fat. Of course, the recipes in the book and the meals served at the Cousen's centre have been calculated to contain far more than the "minimal" amount of fat Cousens consumes.


Gosia


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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2007 01:05AM by rawgosia.

Gosia,

But you forget, Gabriel Cousens is into eating low calories, for life extension. So I doubt he is eating 2000 calories a day. Besides, since he doesn't eat sweet fruit, he would need to eat 1464 calories from veggies, which is impossible. I would guess he is eating somewhere between 800 and 1000 calories.

Bryan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I
> would guess he is eating somewhere between 800 and
> 1000 calories.

That is impossible in the long term. He would weigh
about 60-85 lbs in the long term. I get 1600-1700
and weigh only 103.

arugula,

Some people can develop other fuel sources for their bodies besides what we consider normal energy sources, ie carbs/fat/protein.

There are documented breatharians out there. Here is an recent example. He was only observed for 10 days, but in this time he didn't drink any water and showed negligible weight loss.

From my own experience of water fasting, I was losing 1/2 to 1/4 pound a day towards the end of my fast. My body was feeding on its fat reserves and protein reserves. For this breatharian, his body wasn't feeding on his fat or protein reserves. It was doing something else. Plus I was drinking 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of water. The breatharian wasn't drinking anything.

My bad. I should have pointed out that my calculations are an under-estimate. 12 cups of peas would give him about 1400 cals. Has anyone ever seen him eating that much?

OK, so suppose that this is moderate 1400 cals per day in the calories-restructed diet Cousens promotes. Then we have ([536 + 0.05*(1400-536)]/1400)*100% = 41%. If you eat about 8 cups of peas.

Gosia


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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2007 01:45AM by rawgosia.

Bryan, I do not believe you are insane. I believe that you are intelligent and for the most part sensible. But this is not proof. He did lose weight. I would expect maybe 4 lbs or so for a 120 lb person, a modest but expected quantity for 10 days with no food. They just don't say exactly how much.

Some yogis have amazing control over their bodies, he might have been able to put himself in a near hibernating state for a short time. But this is not sustainable. Long enough time with no food = starvation and death. No exceptions for human beings. Bacteria, yes, they can shut down their metabolic processses and sporulate and remain as spores for decades or longer until the environment gets better. But humans, no.

In the article, they stated that humans can only live 3-4 days without water. He went 10 days. This is not proof that he is a breatharian, but it demonstrates that is was able to do thing beyond anyone's experience. If you or I had done this, we would probably be dead, plus we probably would have lost 25% of our body weight. He weight loss was "slight", and when it was over, he was "in fine mental and physical fettle". You or I in that test, we would have had extreme symptoms of dehydration all over our bodies, chapped lips, dried skin, perhaps our hair falling out.

If I had been in that room, even without food or water, I can guarantee that I would have needed to pass urine or stool (from my own experience of water fasting). He never did.

He's a mutant. I don't think Cousens has a hole in his palate or that kind of self-control.

We, too, would not pass much urine or stool if we refrained from drinking and eating. Maybe the amount his body produced was so small during that time frame that there was no pressure on his bladder or from his rectum.

I could go without food for ten days if I slept a lot. But no water: I would surely die.

From the article

Quote

A statement from Ahmedabad's Association of Physicians says that despite no water entering his body, urine nonetheless appeared to form in his bladder - only to be re-absorbed by the bladder walls.

I don't think most humans have this capability, to absorb water out of their own bladders. His body has made this very unusual but beneficial adaptation.

I'm glad someone finally acknowledged this. people of extreme health have also gained weight in some cases on their fasts. calories = fuel may be science, but it isn't necessarily reality. constantly overeating on fruit till your stomach is full will in no way bring you closer to this type of vitality. not to mention it stirs up all kinds of toxins from you and your mother and your mothers mother which can inevitably lead to ill health if they arn't dealt with properly. also not to mention its totally not sustainable for the planet. how could every person in NY or LA be receiving a box of bananas every 3 days? Most criticisms of Cousens here are probably correct, at least he has goals that are spiritually oriented and is not all pumped up about people running fast and winning medals.

anaken,

I don't need to eat fruit until my stomach is full. When I mono eat bananas, I get satiated way before my full point. I know I can put 7 pounds of watermelon in my belly. But I get satiated on 4 pounds of bananas, way lower then my stomach's capacity. And when I am done eating these bananas, I don't feel sluggish or tired, in fact, I can go back to work and be very physical without any hindrance.

I agree with you that healing one's spiritual issues is a wonderful gift to give oneself. My current life's exploration is exactly this. And when I am full of love and bliss from doing my spiritual practice, I don't need much food at all.

Nowadays, at least this winter, my calorie consumption lies between 1000 and 1500 calories a day. Some days its at the lower end of that spectrum, even with a full day of physical labor (digging/chopping wood). And my desire for overt fats this winter is something like once every 5 days or more. Last year, I ate overt fats every other day.

I don't know if this is a seasonal thing, because it is winter, or my body has made a permanent shift. But I've been 100% raw for over 5 years, and my calorie consumption recently has dropped since last summer.

What I don't like about the Cousens' approach is that one doesn't feel good on just food alone. They need to get the digestive enzymes, superfoods, anstrom minerals, zeolite, etc, etc to feel good. This can cost between $200 and $1000 a month! OUCH!!!

Bryan, I think people can tell that just from how you speak and not just from the time you spend helping others here.

I’m not sure what my stance is on ayerveda. To me it basically starts with an existing diseased body as its source. But it is probably true that certain people do have different constitutions. … To me it’s a bit too simplistic that the answer is always bananas. For many people this might not be the way to heal.

Like for me I know I’ve been writing a bunch of ranty messages. I probably should have increased the sweet calories far less rapidly.

I was working construction for awhile and also execersing. And doing pretty decent on low cal and med fat. (I'd like to think this is because i've cleansed my body quite a bit) I’ve since decided to thrive for something else (lower fat) and its been a little shakey. Its good to hear that your calorie count is lowering. To me the dependence on a large quantity of anything can be quite daunting and anxiety creating. I guess it helps to have a positive spin on the world…

Yeah, if you feel a need to daily injure your body/shorten your life by running thirty miles, and absolutely must never undertake a three month alteration to your diet, then I guess phase one isn't for you. Gabriel Cousens isn't the director of the tree of life cafe, the head chef, nor some sort of waiter that sits around doling out large amounts of nut pate and making sure everyone clears their plate. Attempting to prove Gabriel Cousens wrong doesn't mean you've proven Doug Graham right. Absense of Cousen'ness is not evidence of Graham'ness.

Force the change you want to see in the world through direct, socialist democracy!

[www.dreamingearth.net]

For those of you reading this thread:

When I share about my lower caloric intake, please, do not try this at home! (Unless you really want to). Remember, I've been doing 100% raw for over 5 years, and I've been doing the 80/10/10 diet for over 4.5 of those years. It took me 2 years to get my fat intake from an easy to start place of 20% fat down to 10% fat. The first time I tried to lower my fat intake down to 10% via control, my body rebelled and I was forced to surrender my position on eating 10% fat. But 20% was easy for me. And after 2 years, my fat intake fell below 10% effortlessly.

Also, this low calorie thing is not something I am trying to do or control. It is showing up effortlessly for me right now, and I don't know that it is permanent. If this shows up for you effortlessly, then enjoy. But don't feel that there is a goal you need to achieve. There is no "holy grail", as Tom Billing thought there was, of raw foods. We are here to enjoy our exploration and our journey of our health and our healing, not to get anywhere.

This attachment to a goal or some sort of dietary purity that Tom Billing was looking for led him to near death, and I recommend people read the Tom Billings thread to see the mistake he made in his actions and his thinking.