Fwd: Comment on raw food article

[Guest guest]

Here is a well done letter to the Times from Sue Aberle, that she

asked me to pass on. I haven't drafted my letter to the editor yet,

but encourage you to do so. It's obvious to me that the author had an

agenda and unfairly represented the facts. If adequate research was

done, it was not shared with the readers.

 

Jeff

 

 

Sue Aberle [sue]

Wednesday, September 03, 2003 7:22 AM

jsommerfeld

Comment on raw food article

 

I have been practicing the raw food diet for 2 1/2 years. I also am a

Registered Dietitian. To equate the practicing of a raw food diet with a

serious eating disorder is not at all an accurate depiction of the majority

of the raw food practitioners that I have met. While it is true that some

may suffer from this eating disorder, it is also true that within any

dietary lifestyle there are people who are obsessed with the food that they

eat, and whose every waking moment is devoted to thinking about what they

are going to eat next. The key word is " obsession " as opposed to " choice " .

I choose to follow this dietary lifestyle because I find that I feel

immensely better, my energy level is very high, and food tastes much better.

When I have tried to eat cooked food after I changed to the raw diet, I have

found that it doesn't taste good anymore, and that it upsets my stomach.

Our bodies lose their abilities to tolerate the cooked food when we no

longer eat it. I simply have no desire to return to the cooked food diet.

" Virtue " has nothing to do with it. Indeed, I have observed more " virtuous "

attitudes among the cooked vegan crowd than among the raw vegan crowd!! One

of our mentors, Victoria Boutenko of Ashland, Oregon, who was recently

featured in a Times article, teaches acceptance of those who do not choose

to adopt our eating style. Further, if you look at the website that Dr.

Steven Bratman has, he has a follow-up article to his original " orthorexia

nervosa " writing. In that he indicates that it is normal to have frequent

thoughts of food when one is transitioning to a new diet, but if that person

then incorporates the new eating style into his/her lifestyle and just

treats it as a normal part of his/her being, then that person likely does

not have an eating disorder. Most of the people who I know have done just

that, taken the new dietary style and it becomes part of who he/she is. We

do not obsess about what we are eating. (Although we do demand top

quality - we are no longer content with apples that taste like styrofoam.

Think of all the food products in the marketplace that taste like cardboard

unless they're topped with mounds of cheese.)

 

The example of the baby in Florida who died (whose parents were following

the raw diet) is unfair to hold up as an example of the raw diet. A baby on

a raw vegan diet should be breast fed exclusively for the first 6 months of

life, with the introduction of appropriate solids at that age, and breast

milk continuing until at least 2 years of age, preferably closer to 3 or 4

years, since it is the best calorie-and-protein-dense food for the age, and

is what nature intended for that age. A baby who, at 5 months of age,

weighed less than at birth, clearly was not being breastfed, because human

breast milk provides ample calories and protein to sustain growth, and

indeed is the original live and raw food. I understand that the baby was

being fed coconut water and wheatgrass juice. In an older child, or an

adult, coconut water and wheatgrass juice are fine, in addition to other

foods, but they do not provide adequate exclusive nutrition for a growing

newborn infant.

 

The further negative examples that Dr. Bratman cited are likely people who

simply were not eating adequate food. A reasonable intake of fruits,

vegetables, nuts and seeds would provide adequate protein and calories to

sustain any adult and maintain their vital physical functions. The people

involved possibly did suffer from an eating disorder, but those examples are

not enough to generalize to the entire raw community.

 

This choice has caused a few complications in life, but has also simplified

my food practices, both at home and when traveling. Imagine, as a

vegetarian/vegan, finding a restaurant that can prepare a vegetarian dish,

only to find that they used chicken broth in their seasoning, or milk in the

soup, or that the vegetarian curry dish was chewy because it had chicken in

it, because it was prepared on the same cutting block with the chicken! It

is so much easier to just find a market, buy some fresh fruits/vegetables,

and eating a picnic in the park! At home, my food preparation has become so

much easier since I " fired my range " . Ladies, imagine not having to cook

anymore!! Fewer dishes to wash!! (Maybe this " orthorexia nervosa "

thing is actually a cover-up for the industry that sells electrical

appliances and cookware...) When visiting friends and family, I just know

to bring my own food, and they are accepting of the fact that I " eat weird " .

I actually find things easier as a raw vegan than as a " cooked " vegan.

 

The limited research that has been done in the raw food realm has generally

been supportive of the raw diet. It has been found to be effective in

treating rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and ulcerative colitis.

Anecdotal reports indicate possible benefits in treating various cancers,

diabetes, and heart disease. Older research (1930's vintage) in cats showed

that cats fed raw food developed normally and were healthy, while cats fed

cooked meat and milk developed the diseases that we see in humans, and

showed thinning bones and behavior abnormalities. Rats fed the same amount

of raw food showed much more energy than did the rats fed the same amount of

cooked food. Research (also from the 1930's) showed that indigenous

populations introduced to " modern " diets of white rice, white flour, white

sugar, and canned goods developed dental, facial, and skeletal

abnormalities, and a 97% incidence of these abnormalities were found in the

mental and juvenile institutions of the day. In a tuberculosis ward of the

day, a 100% incidence of abnormalities were found. To my knowledge, the

only potential drawbacks to the raw diet that have been found have been

vitamin B-12 deficiency (which is a concern with the cooked vegan crowd as

well) and dental erosions (due to the acidity of some of the foods in the

raw diet).

 

When we look at the overall scheme of things, when we were created (or

evolved, whatever one's leaning is), we were not given a stove to cook

things on. In evolutionary terms, the cooking of food only began quite

recently. We're the only creature on the face of this planet that is

cooking our food. We're also the only creature facing major illnesses, such

as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, fibromyalgia, cancer, osteoporosis,

etc. I have to ask, who are we to question what our creator/mother nature

gave us? Every time we humans try to improve on nature, we inevitably find

that Mother Nature did, indeed, know what she was doing!

 

Sincerely,

 

Sue Aberle, MS, RD

Kenmore, WA

425-487-1087

[Guest guest]

Great letter Sue!!!! Thanks for sharing.

Cindy

[Guest guest]

Excellent letter.

 

Joel