a fresh raw fruit and vegetables is best for you
OK – so that conclusion is music to my raw food ears and I’m going to say those four highly irritating words – ‘I told you so’. I told you a raw food diet was good for you and not just because you’re thinner, have better skin, look younger, have clear bright eyes and lots of energy. And this BBC story sort of proves I was right.
I say ‘sort of’ because this report is a very frank analysis of the research and a raw food diet overall. It takes into account some of the potential negatives including damage to bone mass and the obvious necessity for a balanced diet. It recommends including raw fruit and vegetables into your diet, not following it 100%. This could mean anything from munching a blueberry muffin to leading a 99% raw fruit and vegetable lifestyle and everything inbetween. I suggest, from my personal experience, a diet of 70-80% raw. I think this is not only possible for us punters but also very healthy. While the study is based on extreme 100% raw foodies and helpfully concludes that they are thin and healthy, the article also provides the biggest clue, to us less fanatical, as to why. It’s all in the chorophyll, which can be most efficiently found in fresh leafy greens. Hello green smoothies!
On another note, there are a few reasons why I can imagine this story wouldn’t be taken seriously. Firstly this is a BBC report from 2005 that I’ve only just tracked down. Secondly, the study was ‘found in the Archives of Internal Medicine’ whatever they are. And then, thirdly, you quickly discover that only 18 people were tested… Mmmmm. Well. Can such a small sample count? Probably not. But who cares. It’s great news and you should read and digest every word!
Extracts from BBC News 29 March, 2005
People who follow a raw food vegetarian diet are light in weight but healthy, according to US researchers.
It has been suggested that eating only plant-derived foods that have not been cooked or processed might make bones thinner and prone to fractures. But a study in Archives of Internal Medicine found although bones were lighter on this diet, turnover rates were normal with no osteoporosis. The lower bone mass is down to raw food eaters being slim, believe the authors.
Dr Stephen Walsh, nutrition spokesperson for the Vegan Society, said it was to be expected that people who ate only raw foods would be slimmer and that this would in turn have an effect on bone mass.
Elaine Bruce, experienced naturopath, homeopath and director of the UK Centre for Living Foods, said calcium was important for building bones, but that inorganic calcium in the form of supplements would not do the job.
“You have to have organic calcium as it occurs in fresh green leafy vegetables. “What we do in our programme is maximise that intake by having it in juice form.”
She said that the chlorophyll found in green plants and vegetables also contained the right amount of magnesium that is essential for the uptake of calcium for healthy bones.
“The chemical composition of chlorophyll and blood is very similar which further facilitates this uptake,” she added.
The Raw Food Hypocrite 
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