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20/20 piece on Raw Foodism

Anyone else see it tonight?  they talked to one guy was was one and about how it was taking over his life cus he spent so much time prepping food and was wasting away to 75lbs.  they also talked to one of the leaders of the movement who honestly wasnt looking too hot himself - definitely not young and refreshed looking.  anyway, they did talk to a nyc group who was all healthy although they did admit how it is so time consuming that it takes over your life. 

And while i was totally waiting for it they never did mention the word vegan, although john stossel said that meat was supposedly the worst thing to the raw foodist and the leader said its because we eat the animals fear.  also, stossel goes onto question how he can think meat is so bad when we have longer life expectancies than ever before.  the guy rebutted with the fact that its not quality life when we're hooked up to machines and kept alive.  also, i think that i heard on the news recently that for the first time our life expectancy is starting to decrease. 

the called the people who obsessed over healthy eating orthorexics.  they told the story of one woman who died from it and the guy from the beginning acknowledged that he was whithering away to nothing but he couldnt bring himself to eat anything he considered unhealthy.  i can see this whole piece validating most peoples unhealthy eating habits with the idea that healthy eating is too hard and time consuming so why bother even trying?  (even though we all know you don't have to take it to that extreme to be healthier)

any thoughts on it?

I'm not surprised by the angle.  John Stossel is a tool.

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I didn't see the piece--but I actually understand a lot of the raw-food movement given that I have just completed a 100% raw month. It totally took over my life--I've been back to eating "cooked" for about a week now and it is so stressful I'm developing a high-raw plan like 25% cooked/ 75% raw. Food prep doesn't have to be so difficult though--you can easily go the whole frutis and veggie route--in the end whether your are eating whole fruits/veggies or "preparing" them to look like or be more "mealish" it still tastes like raw fruits and veggies *lol*

I've recently become aquainted with the term "orothorexics" and have yet to formulate an opinion about it--but if these people are wasting down to 75lbs--that's totally anororexic in my opinion...but whatever, an ED is an ED no matter what you call it.

Is there a link to this piece by any chance? I would like to see it if possible!

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You can watch it at their site.

http://abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=raw%20food&type=

Thanks HH

It seems that the article is really slanted against raw eating and possibly eating healthy in general! There didn't bother to talk with people who thrive on a raw/healthy diet to counter balance the orthorexics...hmmm...curious. Baa humbug.

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Yeah, there was a 0.3 second comment that some people are healthy on raw food and then it was back to death and mayhem.  Again, it's John Stossel.  He should work for Fux.

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i feel like charlotte anderson looks like healthymomma

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OK--I went back and watched the video this time--last time I only saw the text article...

Duuuude--that John Stossel guy is such a Douch Bag (capital D, capital B!). Again, I'm frustrated they didn't talk with people who have healthy, good experiences with the raw diet--the people eating at a raw potluck in the beginning seemed happy and healthy! Why didn't they interview any of them?? *Grr*

You can take any form of diet to unnhealthy extreams, raw, cooked, vegan, omni, macrobiotic, SAD, any of them! Its frustrating that these types of news clips/articles almost support the SAD way of eating--I felt this one in particular discouraged against healthy eating.

Totally lame...

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exactly - it was almost like it was saying -"well, we know that the SAD is unhealthy.. BUT at least we're not crazy!  pass me more bacon.."

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Stossel is a sorry excuse for a true journalist.  I am extremely disgusted with that man and that show for sensationalizing and outright misleading the general public with that pile of garbage and tainted opinion they spewed, minus a couple of actual real facts glossed over.    The show was supposed to be about a little-understood psychological mind disorder that symptomizes as extreme obsession and fear-based eating.  It has nothing at all to do with raw foodism other than SOME people who suffer from it might find eating raw to be helpful in overcoming or dealing with, along with other therapies, this sad and horrible suffering.   

Johnny R. is such an incredibly open, generous, and amazingly beautiful person- on the inside and out BOTH.  He is NOT "wasting away" because he eats a raw food diet.  He has GAINED weight since going raw and found it is the only way he can eat and not feel the psychological urgings of his entire life of struggling with eating disorders and other traumas he has experienced from a young age.  He is so incredibly courageous to put himself out in the public eye receiving even more abuse by some who choose to see and judge him only on his different than cookie-cutter-normal outer looks, in order to try to bring awareness, openness, and brutal honesty to this almost unknown issue.  If more people were as good, compassionate, empathetic, brave, and then still willing to forgive others despite years and years of mistreatment, abuse, and hatred our world would be a much brighter place.  

You can go here to see for yourself who Johnny is and what he does to help others not live through his pain and overcome their own torments:
http://www.finddesirenotdemise.com/content/
and http://goneraw.com/forums/3/topics/7785
check out his amazingly kind spirited (ie. overlooking of those who criticize him) comments after the article, too

*Viktoras is also blind, just recently lost his wife, AND has had a much harder life than primped up John Stossel, so huge boo on Stossel for picking on the guy's looks, and I have no doubt Stossel and 20/20 edited and took sound bites from the hours of interview with him to distort what he said to make him sound as crazy and insensitive as possible.   
         

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Hey FF! Thanks for the links (I've been stalking arond goneraw for awhile now!) :)

That's one thing I've heard a lot about the Raw lifestyle--that it is a good option for those recovering from ED's, I don't have scientific evidence to back that up--but it is something I have heard/read here and there--and from my own experiences, I can tell you while I was raw my ED took a back seat--I was still dealing with it day to day, but I didn't realize how much less stressful it was until I went back to cooked foods a week and a half ago--as I mentioned already, I am planning on keeping a high raw lifestyle--any less stress I have to deal with the better *woot*

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Hi Capture!  I have been fortunate not to suffer from any ED's, but I am very empathetic towards anyone who suffers and it's easy for me to put myself into other people's places so I do empathize with anyone suffering from EDs.  (Actually, the ED thread here on VW really helped me see just how horribly tormented people were who sufferred from them.)   But I wanted to say how thrilled I am for you that you have found some relief from the torment of the disease.  Whoohoo!  you rawk girl!!   ;)b   I thought going vegan was the ultimate eating lifestyle for optimum health (and spirituality), until I tried eating raw (vegan) and I was, and am still, amazed how much better I feel, even though I was always very healthy-- I've STILL seen a huge boost in my energy level, need less sleep, mood is much more happy and don't get stressed out over things near as much, a different kind of spiritual awareness, and other benefits I won't bore people with.  I only eat about 75%  raw so far.  Don't know if I'll ever eat 100%- maybe, maybe not.  I don't stress about it.  Some days I still go back to cooked (out of laziness mainly) and boy do I notice a difference, too.   :P     

But awesome on your new awareness and discovery!!  I wish you the very best!   :)>>>

Oh, and have you seen:
www.giveittomeraw.com
www.gliving.tv (GOURMET raw recipes under their food section)
www.purelyraw.com
www.welikeitraw.com

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oh my god. i watched that video..that guy (john stossel blah ) is a jerk!!! huge jerk! like he was RUDE to the one guy, saying he looked old. "youre only eight years older than i, and you look much older" i bet he dyes his hair and mustache.

grrr. that made me mad.  >:( i dont like things where they make people look crazy.

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Hi Capture!  I have been fortunate not to suffer from any ED's, but I am very empathetic towards anyone who suffers and it's easy for me to put myself into other people's places so I do empathize with anyone suffering from EDs.  (Actually, the ED thread here on VW really helped me see just how horribly tormented people were who sufferred from them.)   But I wanted to say how thrilled I am for you that you have found some relief from the torment of the disease.  Whoohoo!  you rawk girl!!   ;)b   I thought going vegan was the ultimate eating lifestyle for optimum health (and spirituality), until I tried eating raw (vegan) and I was, and am still, amazed how much better I feel, even though I was always very healthy-- I've STILL seen a huge boost in my energy level, need less sleep, mood is much more happy and don't get stressed out over things near as much, a different kind of spiritual awareness, and other benefits I won't bore people with.  I only eat about 75%  raw so far.  Don't know if I'll ever eat 100%- maybe, maybe not.  I don't stress about it.  Some days I still go back to cooked (out of laziness mainly) and boy do I notice a difference, too.   :P     

But awesome on your new awareness and discovery!!  I wish you the very best!   :)>>>

Oh, and have you seen:
www.giveittomeraw.com
www.gliving.tv (GOURMET raw recipes under their food section)
www.purelyraw.com
www.welikeitraw.com

Hey FF!! *woot* Thanks for the links I'll be checking them out!!!

Yeah--I was 100% raw for a whole month--but I seriously got so sick of it, I'm doing high raw now and I like it alot better! I'm such a lazy cooker myself and sometimes taking 2 hours to make a meal (or 25 hours if you're dehydrating!) can get a little tedious--sometimes you just need to pop some rice in the microwave hahaha! But yeah--eating raw or high raw really takes a lot of the stress of my ED away, even if I binge I'm eating healthy--I mean seriously, how upset can I get if I eat a pound of grapes? Hell of a lot better than a pound of chips or cakes *lol*

There is a raw-chit-chat thread up on the bored! Join our little group! And I also blogged everyday of my "Rawgust" I posted pictues and recipes--not great ones, but there are a lot of food ideas on there :)

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  also, i think that i heard on the news recently that for the first time our life expectancy is starting to decrease. 

This may also be the result of the relatively high infant mortality rate in the US. Having babies die at days/weeks/months old drags down the life expectancy in the US as a whole since they often just average the ages of all people who die.

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  also, i think that i heard on the news recently that for the first time our life expectancy is starting to decrease. 

This may also be the result of the relatively high infant mortality rate in the US. Having babies die at days/weeks/months old drags down the life expectancy in the US as a whole since they often just average the ages of all people who die.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if there is a decreasing life expectancy and if it's diet-related.  There have been young children (like 5 or 6 years old) diagnosed with type II diabetes and high cholesterol, and we've all heard the statistics on obesity.  I don't have any hard facts, but it seems likely that all the overly processed crap people are eating is starting to cancel out all the medical advances that gave us a longer life expectancy in the first place.  Just sayin'.

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