Etc Magazine, Fall 2000: Return to Eden

[Guest guest]

Return to Eden

Octavia Kuransky

Etc. Magazine City College of San Francisco

Fall 2000

 

Beginning in 1975, David Klein suffered from a chronic, progressive,

possibly life-threatening condition. His life in fact had become " a

dying hell. " Despite the doctors, medication and hospitalizations

David continued to deteriorate. Then in 1984 in an attempt to heal

himself, he started on raw food based eating. Today, David is alive

an well, and he is the Director of the Living Nutrition Health

Education Center in Sebastopol, which offers healing through natural

raw food diet. He is the publisher/editor of Living Nutrition

Magazine. David's complete story can be found on his Web site at

www.livingnutrition.com

 

> A totally raw food diet may seem extreme to people. What is the

most common objection to a completely raw food diet?

 

It depends on whom you mean. People who want to work with

me...already understand that it makes sense. I teach them how to

make the transition.

 

> Well, do you mean people who are sometimes quite ill? Can anyone

benefit from this diet?

 

Absolutely. Our bodies were designed to eat raw food. Our beliefs

may be counter to this. First, people have to work on their own

beliefs. I give them the information; I show them how I healed

myself. They make a gradual transition.

 

> What about people with diagnosed medical conditions such as

diabetes?

 

I have testimonials of people overcoming diabetes. We've proved that

diabetes is the result of eating cooked starch and garbage.

 

> Realistically, can we raise enough fruits and vegetables for

everyone to adopt this diet?

 

Yes, we could because the yield per acre for fruits and vegetables

is higher than it is for cattle. I have an article coming in Living

Nutrition summer issue volume 9 about this. You can grow this stuff

in all kinds of conditions under which you can't do with cattle.

Think of how many people you can feed with one apple tree. And it's

going to heal the ecosystem.

 

> How large is the raw food community right now?

 

It's only a small fraction of the vegetarian community. When I

started, there may have been only 100 raw food people in the

country. Now, there are about 100 more per day. We've found out that

eating dead animals is destroying American's health. Even the

Surgeon General says to eat raw fruits and vegetables.

 

> Are there any cultures in the world already traditionally eating

this way?

 

Yes. We know of two. Neither of them are 100% raw, but they're

close. (One of the groups is in Ecuador, Peru.) [ibid.]

 

> Suppose raw food was adopted as a diet on a big scale, what about

the hit to the economy without the cattle industry, the dairy

industry, or the food packagers?

 

I don't see them being phased out in the next 20 - 30 years. That

land can be converted to growing fruits and vegetables.

 

> So, Dave, In some of the reading about eating a raw food diet, I

see an almost spiritual aspect suggested. Is this really a lifestyle

with a spiritual component?

 

We are eating a very dulling, numbing, desensitizing, toxic, illness

inducing diet which just numbs our senses. We have all heard we are

using 10% of our brain power. Once we start this diet, we have more

of our brain power. It's like night and day. Your mind becomes a lot

clearer. You just wake up and you start realizing that we were

living in this lower state of consciousness. You have to experience

it. Our natural state is euphoric joy and health. I have gone from

chronic fatigue and misery to bountiful health. That's what happened

to me. We have incredible powers. People read about it and they

don't understand it. We come alive. We wake up to our natural

essence. We are incredibly powerful being. We become more connected

with our spiritual selves.

 

> Dave, I know you run every day. You're 42 years old. What is a

realistic state of health for a 42-year-old?

 

If we were living in a clean environment and eating raw food, you'd

live to 200. Forty-two would be like a teenager. It's not all about

food. It's a big factor; it's exercise and our thoughts. I only need

seven hours of sleep per night, and I wake up clear-headed. When I

take care of myself, I have unlimited energy. The body has

incredible regenerative powers. You can rebuild an entire new body.

 

> What about heredity and food cravings? My mother had an incredibly

sweet tooth and I in fact crave sugar a lot.

 

We have natural instinctual cravings for sugar. We naturally have a

sweet tooth. Our natural instinct is if we are in a place with fruit

growing on trees, we are going to eat the fruit. We already have our

natural instincts. They can become pretty perverted.

 

> Eating raw all the time, I guess the use of pesticides becomes a

concern.

 

I eat 99% organic. I have a garden and live on an orchard, and shop

at an organic health food store.

 

> Any closing thoughts for people contemplating making a change?

 

The proof is in people's experience and they shouldn't get all

tangled up in scientific studies. Then look at the history. Leonardo

da Vinci and Thoreau were vegetarians. And some celebrities today

are doing raw food diet. Why do you have to prove a healthy tree is

healthy? This is not a quacky fad. This is getting back to nature.