Thursday, July 1, 2010

Inforexia Or Liar! Liar!

Every time someone comes along to tell me about this new discovery of some key missing ingredient in the human diet, I usually respond the same way. Over time, I've heard about the perfect prop-biotic. Soil based nutrients. Co Q10! MSM! These are the things that are lacking in our lives and will make all your problems go away! To all these well meaning, often very knowledgeable people, I say, "oh really?" None of these items are the answer or even important. The truth is in the simplicity of life. Observe nature!

Raw! Raw! Raw!
Lets talk about the raw food diet. That's how we lived for many thousands of years. The oven is a relatively new invention. 10,000 years is not that long. In fact, if we are here for 100,000 years, which is the maximum amount of time suggested by anthropologists, its only 10 percent of the total. Do I believe whole, raw vegan foods are the best foods we can eat. Well yes, I do. Of course there's a long transition needed for this diet to truly take hold. This idea that everything must be raw is a bit over the top. Unless we can live in a tropical climate. Some people do better on all raw foods than others. I like to keep a tiny bit of cooked food in my diet. Simply because I love the taste of some cooked veggie dishes. This brings me to my next topic: Orthorexia! Here we go.

Idiocracy Today!
Orthorexia, or orthorexia nervosa is a term coined by Steven Bratman, a Colorado MD, to denote an eating disorder characterized by excessive focus on eating healthy foods. In rare cases, this focus may turn into a fixation so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or even death.[1][2] Orthorexia is not recognized as a mental disorder in any of the medical manuals, such as the ICD-10[3] or the DSM-IV,[4] neither is it part of the proposed revision of this manual, the DSM-5.[5]

This Appears Courtesy Of Wikipedia
Bratman coined the term in 1997 from the Greek orthos, "correct or right", and orexis for "appetite".[6] Literally "correct appetite", the word is modeled on anorexia, "without appetite", as used in definition of the condition anorexia nervosa. Bratman describes orthorexia as an unhealthy obsession (as in obsessive-compulsive disorder) with what the sufferer considers to be healthy eating. The subject may avoid certain foods, such as those containing fats, preservatives, animal products, or other ingredients considered by the subject to be unhealthy; if the dietary restrictions are too severe or improperly managed, malnutrition can result. Orthorexic sufferers have specific feelings about the foods they are avoiding. Products that are preserved can be considered dangerous and industrial products can be seen as artificial, whereas biological products can be seen as healthy.[7] Bratman asserts that "emaciation is common among followers of certain health food diets, such as rawfoodism, and this can at times reach the extremes seen in anorexia nervosa." In addition, he claims that "anorexic orthorexia" can be as dangerous as anorexia. However, he states, "the underlying motivation is quite different. While an anorexic wants to lose weight, an orthorexic does not desire to become thin[8] but wants to feel pure, healthy and natural. Eating disorder specialists may fail to understand this distinction, leading to a disconnect between orthorexic and physician."[1][9]

This seems like a sickness to me! I am repulsed by this so called "thinking." Or am I outraged? Perhaps I'm just disgusted with ignorant people having a platform. Just because they passed a few tests and can remember the names of over 500 drugs and the effects they have on the human body? That's essentially is one major step toward becoming a doctor! Help us, NOW!

Disclaimer:
I would like to begin this semi-rant with this disclaimer. In the almost 16 years I have been involved in the raw food, vegan "way of life," I have come across some very extreme and unhealthy people. I mean they are mentally unhealthy. Some people seem to take this on like a badge of honor, which will make-up for past failures and shortcomings. There are extremists in every group. The small fringe of lunatics do not make the whole. I would also like to point out that there are some very extreme people that choose to change all aspects of their life and live very well and are well balanced, happy people.

It's All About Perspective
I understand that I appear to the average person to be way out there and way off center. However, as I've said to my Dad, who believes what I do is great, but extreme. "What's more extreme, our species, which beyond the shadow of a doubt resembles the herbivorous creatures of this planet, which ate all raw foods, readily available to them. When early humans ate meat, (not more than once a month) they ate it raw! I eat whole, naturally occurring foods, of a vegan source and this is considered extreme. Isn't the way we raise our animals for food more extreme? For animals to live in absence of sunlight, walking the natural earth and to be fed unnatural foods designed to fatten them up. To be killed, (on a line witnessing the murder of the animals ahead) butchered then arrive at your local supermarket, already in a state of decomposition. They freeze this meat in synthetic material, you buy it and defrost it. As it defrost, decomposition is re-engaged, you then take the meat and cook it, augmenting all that is beneficial in the meat, then eat it. And what I do is more extreme?" Haven't we changed our views? We see the consumption of natural whole foods as odd? Extreme? Obsessive?

A Little Bit Of Knowledge Can be A Dangerous Thing
This doctor Bratman sounds to me like someone that knows very little about health and knows that technology achieves certain results. It is obvious that this man is making this assumption based on nothing. He sees a few people that are mislead or misinformed or simply don't practice this lifestyle with balance. When we enter into this way of life, we must take fresh vegetable juice, daily, on an empty stomach. We also must eat greens, as in salad. We also must partake in colon cleansing, some deep sweating and some movement, as in jumping on a trampoline or swimming, walking, biking and Yoga! This is how we change our lives as opposed to our diets. This is not just about diet.

Doctor Doctor, Give Me The News!
(Robert Palmer, songwriter)
My dear friend Martin of 88 years, a retired priest and all around brilliant man, says this, "people are usually down on things they're not up on." In this case, Dr. Bratman sounds like a man afraid of losing his position/status in society. If that's the case Doc, why don't you expand your thinking and look into the majority of people that live, thrive and heal themselves living as we do! Instead of focusing on the minority. I already know the answer to that. Because he'll lose his job or have much lower income.

Nutritious Slime!
I feel the good Doctor is missing the point entirely. There is very little "nutrition" in all foods that are cooked. The nutritional value of all foods are determined when the food is in its natural state. There is no point in talking about how great oats are because of the nutrition it has because we cook it and add milk and sugar, usually. Or fruit! We are eating a food which has been devitalized and now mixed with other unnatural choices, which turns the food into a foamy, stinky, rotten batch of fermentation. It is obvious this man knows nothing about health or diet, based on his comments.

See For Yourself
Please do a search for this man and read what he's written. This is indicative of what happens in this country. As long as you have a title, your opinion is taken as gospel. The regular folks, without degrees or titles or fancy little letters, which mean little more than feeding one's ego and creating a better marketing position for oneself, always bow to the "so called" experts. I know this is what we're left with and look to experts to tell us the truth. The problem is agenda. As always there is agenda determining a persons opinion.

A Real Offer
I have shared lots of information here. I will gladly send anyone real information and guide people, for free, to prove this point. I am actually thinking of taking a random person, living on a standard American diet and transition them to a vegan diet, not fully raw, and video tape the process and present the evidence on youtube. I'm sick of people who know nothing about health and actually are overweight, speak negatively about things with which they are completely ignorant. This is sad. As usual we are lead by people that know nothing about what they are opposing. Can drugs make a person healthy, vibrant or beam with health? Can the same old, lame nonsense we are taught by doctors somehow be true all of a sudden?

Dear Mom
My mom is worried about her blood pressure. She's under 70 years of age and her numbers are great. Well, the bottom number is actually a bit low and that is great! Her top number fluctuates, because her job (she's retired) is worrying. Therefore, she is constantly in a state of trauma, but that's a whole other story. The doctor tells her they are now paying close attention to that top number! What a load of crap! They are selling drugs. Business as usual.

A Real Plea
Do yourself a favor and don't listen to people that want to keep you from becoming INDEPENDENTLY HEALTHY! Don't allow yourself to be lead by the blind. Turn a blind eye to those that say the opposite of what we know to be truth. To be healthy is simple and requires very little knowledge, just look at all other life on the planet. To be sick takes years of work under the care of and expert!
Be well,
Tom DeVito

1 comment:

  1. I agree. It takes all kinds. I just disagree with the simple fact that if we take care of ourselves and don't fall into the category of orthorexia, we should be seen as such. People with knowledge on how to survive in a healthy way, in the modern world. Thanks for reading.
    Tom

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to comment or ask questions or challenge. All is welcome. All comments will be responded to politely! Be well. Tom DeVito