I just read in a CNN article today that by the year 2030 43% of Americans will be obese. This will add half a trillion dollars to our health care costs, not to mention the diminished quality of life. We are in total control of our weight. Obesity is brought about by making bad food choices. It is almost impossible to be obese on the raw vegan diet. Just click on this link and look at some of the Before and Afters of people who had major weight problems for years and went raw vegan for just 3 to 7 weeks.
And like any movement there is a lot of confusion over ideals and philosophies. This is to be expected since it is such a drastic departure from what we would call the normal American Diet.
One of the problems as I see it is the fact that even though there are now a whole slew of raw food websites it is still hard to get definitive answers as to what is the best system to use for a well balanced raw vegan diet.
One of the reasons for this being whenever anyone starts getting a huge amount of traffic the first thing that they do is try to figure out how they can monetize this traffic. And the answer is always pretty much the same. You have to find a product that has shelf-life, is lightweight and easy to ship and is reasonably expensive. So the foods that fall into this category are raw cacao, Maca, dehydrated superfoods, supplements and vitamins, nuts, seeds and dried concentrated herbal pills and powders. The foods that are not in this category are fresh fruits and vegetables. They don’t have a long enough shelf-life, they are too heavy and fragile and there is not a lot of profit in fresh foods pound for pound.
The end result is that the actual philosophy of the raw vegan movement is geared to the selling of these packaged products. The main problem with this commercialization of the raw vegan movement is that a lot these processed raw vegan products don’t work as well as raw organic fresh fruits and vegetables. So a lot of people who hear the promise of the raw food diet aren’t able to achieve the level of results that they are looking for.
When we first set up The Garden Diet Website 14 years ago we didn’t set it up to be a commercial site. We wanted to give people a clear way to achieve a fully balanced raw diet by eating fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
One of the things that has always excited me about the raw vegan diet is the simple truth that I hear in it. If we put our food in the fire and if in fact many of the nutrients are then destroyed then how can that food nourish us! I think that this is a huge concept. I have been doing the raw vegan diet for forty years and I have been a vegetarian for forty-two years. But I’m not a scientist, I have no medical training and I feel like a quack anytime I start to go into detail about how and why the raw vegan diet should be our front line of defense against disease and chronic conditions.
Up to now the scientific community has not fully endorsed the raw vegan diet. I believe that until this happens, until medical papers are published in medical journals that the raw vegan diet will not enter into the mainstream. Over the last twenty years I have put on hundreds of raw food retreats. I have had many people come with many different types of ailments and I have seen many of these ailments reverse themselves after only two weeks on raw food. For more information on people’s experiences doing the raw food programs that we have developed please click on this link:
http://thegardendiet.com/testimonials-gorawprograms.html
One of the main things that the raw vegan diet does is help with weight control. It is almost impossible to be obese on a well balanced raw vegan diet.
But just how does the food we eat affect us? What are the scientific facts? What happens when we consume dairy, meats and processed foods? What are some of the myths that surround how and what we eat? For instance, it is now thought to be impossible for us to obtain all of our nutrients from a raw vegan diet. So therefore we have to eat cooked meats and pasteurized dairy. But at the same time over 85% of Americans are nutrient-deficient and 65% of them are on supplements and vitamins.
Not long ago I had an exchange of emails with a fascinating doctor named Dr. Bretta Blanton. Dr. Blanton is currently in Africa teaching in the back country of Nigeria. Her non-profit organization brings together a group of scientists that is dedicated to working to bring science education to communities all over the world. You can check Dr. Blanton’s amazing work at:
http://www.brilliant-scientists.com
What we would like to do is help Dr. Blanton not only with the work she is currently doing but we would also like to do some meaningful research along the lines of the raw vegan diet, how it works, what are the myths and what are the facts. We would like to see the raw vegan diet take some major steps without all of the commercialization that is currently muddying the waters. You can read more about our association with the Brilliant Scientists of Tomorrow Organization here.
Here is how you can help. We are going to start a ten dollar donation store. We are looking for writers, musicians and artists to donate CDs, song downloads, prints, books and other products. A percentage of the sales will go to the artists and the rest will help fund these doctors and scientists in doing research and teaching. The store will have a link directly to Dr. Blanton’s website so people can donate directly to the work she is doing. The site will also list all of the doctors and scientists who will be working with the research program and their areas of expertise.
Dr. Blanton is expected to return from Africa shortly and at that time we will work up a schedule of events as far as the type of research we will be doing and the types of programs that will be offered to the community through the work she is doing. Please keep an eye open for the launch of our new store where this information will be made available.
If you are in the medical or scientific fields and would like to be involved, we’d love to hear from you!
Yours,
Storm
























