How did raw fooders get mired in minutiae?
Raw fooders, on the other hand, should, theoretically be able to relax in the land of simple, healthful eating. But alas, simplicity doesn't sell. For the most part, those most publicly spreading the raw message have led us into a nutritional maze where ever-increasing doses of ever-smaller micronutrients are necessary to shore up our diets. Isn't it time to step back from the minutiae and take in the big picture once again?
Into the Raw Rabbit Hole
Most of us have gone through worlds of dietary transitions. From junk food and java to vegetarian (with maybe a sojourn into the macrobiotic world), vegan, and a wide variety of raw diets'we have tried them all. In its time, the current diet was "it"—the be-all, end-all "best" diet. Each time, we learned a little something. Each time, we grew a little wiser. Each time, we accommodated to the new program, calling it a transition, and each time, we found that there was more—a better way.
We learned that vegetarianism wasn't as animal friendly as we had originally thought, not really much more so than the Suicide American Diet. We learned that the common vegan diet was as nutritionally devitalized as practically any other cooked-food approach. We learned more and more about nutrition, focusing on ever-smaller aspects of the dietary picture. As we did so, the gap between food and nutrition grew wider. We started eating bananas for their potassium, vegetables for their chlorophyll, and spices for their minerals. We started consuming oils for their component parts. Food was no longer food, but a list of nutrients.
No longer was the caloronutrient (protein-fat-carb) ratio enough to evaluate our diet. No longer did the macronutrient index provide an accurate picture of our nutrition. Not even micronutrients were all that important anymore. We left this all behind for a more intriguing world, a world we do not even understand: the world of micromolecular nutrition. In this world, chemistry supposedly happens that we do not comprehend. Nutritional miracles occur that are beyond science's ability to explain. Biologic transmutation—the alchemy of biochemistry—is given credit for magical and mystical nutritional goings-on.
Logic has apparently lost all meaning in the raw food world. Basic minerals, we are told, are formed out of thin air. If the body doesn't have what it needs, it will create it, we are informed. This, by the very people who would sell us supplements of every description. Why take supplements if the body will simply create what it needs? Why, in fact, follow any dietary program at all?
Dr. Douglas N. Graham
Interested in nutrition? Sure, that's a huge part of why we made dietary changes. Concerned about nutrition? Yes, that's why we are committed to improving our regimen. Would the words, "worried about nutrition" (in a healthy way, of course) describe us? Definitely, we are worried about nutrition, or so I am told, and that is where we become vulnerable.
In reality, it is our neighbors, eating their devitalized, nutrient-free foods that need to be concerned, and yes, even worried, about their nutrition and health. Their unsustainable processed, refined cooked-food diet is greatly responsible, both directly and indirectly, for not only their damaged health but for the destruction of the entire ecosystem.Raw fooders, on the other hand, should, theoretically be able to relax in the land of simple, healthful eating. But alas, simplicity doesn't sell. For the most part, those most publicly spreading the raw message have led us into a nutritional maze where ever-increasing doses of ever-smaller micronutrients are necessary to shore up our diets. Isn't it time to step back from the minutiae and take in the big picture once again?
Into the Raw Rabbit Hole
Most of us have gone through worlds of dietary transitions. From junk food and java to vegetarian (with maybe a sojourn into the macrobiotic world), vegan, and a wide variety of raw diets'we have tried them all. In its time, the current diet was "it"—the be-all, end-all "best" diet. Each time, we learned a little something. Each time, we grew a little wiser. Each time, we accommodated to the new program, calling it a transition, and each time, we found that there was more—a better way.
We learned that vegetarianism wasn't as animal friendly as we had originally thought, not really much more so than the Suicide American Diet. We learned that the common vegan diet was as nutritionally devitalized as practically any other cooked-food approach. We learned more and more about nutrition, focusing on ever-smaller aspects of the dietary picture. As we did so, the gap between food and nutrition grew wider. We started eating bananas for their potassium, vegetables for their chlorophyll, and spices for their minerals. We started consuming oils for their component parts. Food was no longer food, but a list of nutrients.
No longer was the caloronutrient (protein-fat-carb) ratio enough to evaluate our diet. No longer did the macronutrient index provide an accurate picture of our nutrition. Not even micronutrients were all that important anymore. We left this all behind for a more intriguing world, a world we do not even understand: the world of micromolecular nutrition. In this world, chemistry supposedly happens that we do not comprehend. Nutritional miracles occur that are beyond science's ability to explain. Biologic transmutation—the alchemy of biochemistry—is given credit for magical and mystical nutritional goings-on.
Logic has apparently lost all meaning in the raw food world. Basic minerals, we are told, are formed out of thin air. If the body doesn't have what it needs, it will create it, we are informed. This, by the very people who would sell us supplements of every description. Why take supplements if the body will simply create what it needs? Why, in fact, follow any dietary program at all?
