Benefits of a Raw, Plant-Based Diet

[Guest guest]

What a great piece!! I offer only one slight modification ... that we shift

away from a medical perspective in only one sense: instead of saying that a

particular diet " prevents " various diseases, we might more accurately say

that when we eat and live in a particular way, our bodies simply never have

any need to create those diseases ... meaning that the " diseases " themselves

are a predictable part of the body's direct response to the conditions we

create, not some sort of " side-effect " .

 

Also, we might recognize that the people observed by the researchers you

cite also live in other ways more healthful than do most Westerners. For

example, they are more active (walk, few cars), get more fresh air,

sunshine, probably rest more healthfully and live more in alignment with

circadian rhythms, etc. I always like at least to mention other factors not

taken into direct account by those who conduct studies ... simply to remind

ourselves to hold an holistic perspective of cause-and-effect.

 

Best to all,

Elchanan

 

PS: I hope you don't mind ... I introduced a few paragraph breaks and made a

few minor spelling corrections in your text, below. E

_____

 

rawfood [rawfood ] On Behalf Of

mstrong56

Saturday, September 29, 2007 3:41 AM

rawfood

[Raw Food] Re: Enzyme Nonsense

 

 

OK, here is the real lowdown on organics, when to buy organic vs. when it

doesn't matter. EVERYONE should have a copy of this.

 

http://www.foodnews.org/

 

Dr. F's office kitchen is loaded with organics. I have personally seen it

and seen him make his lunch from them.

 

As far as mucoid plaque, whatever lines your tubes is thoroughly scrubbed

away by the constant action of large quantities of raw plant fiber passing

by. Kind of like swallowing Scotch Brite scrubbing pads.

 

Reason I think this is that after eating a lot of raw fiber for a while, the

diameter of the waste product becomes unquestionably larger, eat no fiber

processed foods and diameter gets smaller.

 

Here is an interesting observation by one of my fellow raw group organizers:

 

 

It was Dr Dennis Burkitt, a personal friend of mine and a Public Health

Service Physician affiliate with the Groote Schuur Ziekenhuis (Large Barn

Hospital) in South Africa who was the most outspoken Medical Doctor against

cooked food on that continent. He was known world-wide for his alternative

views and lectured in medical schools all over the world - including several

time here in NJ and PA. He was the one who introduced me to some of the

indigenous tribes who ate their highly unrefined diets and had stools so

large, three times daily, as to be astounding to white people. He

considered this not only to be normal - but the standard.

 

These people had no intestinal diseases. Appendicitis was unknown to them -

as were tonsillitis, IBS, ulcers and dozens of other common disorders from

which the white man, with his refined white foods, suffers. When he

evaluated their diets he found that they consumed high levels of crude fiber

(no fiber in eggs, meat or dairy products!) on the order of 30-50 grams PER

DAY - almost 10 times that of what the " white " man consumed. He did fecal

and stool analysis and found that their fecal mass was enormous - and was

200-300 grams versus the 50-100 grams weight of the standard Western stool.

He then came up with the hypothesis that there must be a direct relationship

between this dietary intake, the large fecal mass, bowel transit time and

the decreased incidence of intestinal disease.

 

For many years he followed this proposal by setting up detailed

epidemiological and clinical studies and even though he personally suffered

much for his " fly in the face " alternative dogma - his views were finally

accepted by the " big boys " from the AMA. Crude fiber from raw foods are an

important aspect of proper, normal intestinal function reducing the risk of

constipation and other digestive disorder. Of course now, knowing the

relationships between intestinal disorders and malignancy, we can add many

different cancers to that combination.

 

The diet which includes unrefined complex carbohydrates is called the Lente

Diet. It was shown by Dr Cleave, a colleague and friend of myself and Dr

Burkitt, that this lifestyle reduces, prevents and eliminates the saccharine

diseases - those associated with highly refined flour and sugared products.

These include diabetes, obesity, cavities, blood fats & digestive disorders

as well as mental problems due to the vitamin B deficiencies. ADD and ADHD

are on the top of the list and is related to the fast release of refined CHO

sources that lack fibre and other factors that tend to make for erratic

blood sugar response after eating. Eventually this affects the nervous

system and causes problems that seem irreversible to the medical profession.

Polyphenols such as lignin have been found to bind with simple and complex

CHO and slow their release into the bloodstream - putting far less strain on

the pancreas to secrete insulin.