All the Gurus of Raw Food etc. came together recently to give their pros and cons of eating raw,eating cooked,eating a little, eating a lot......All their views on why we should or should not eat a certain way.Needless to say it was an interesting 7 days and Kevin Gianni who put it together has given us a summary ...........
"So here are my 7 common things for this special Great Health Debate edition…
Eat plants first.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon for any of us to understand this, but it’s amazing how many people don’t eat enough plant food in their diet.
All experts agree, we need to eat plants.
It is, and should be, the base of our diet.
Think like a vegetarian (doesn’t mean you have to be one) and you’ll be rewarded with good health.
If you don’t eat pounds of plant food every day, tread at your own risk.
2. Eat less meat.
I know, the Maasai and the Eskimos ate a lot of meat…
My question is are you an Eskimo or Maasai?
Probably not.
And if that’s the case, chances are your ancestral heritage ate a lot of plants.
What I’ve come to realize during this event, is that there are a lot of arguments that people use to justify their diet – on both sides!
Many of them don’t make as much sense when you hear them a few times.
This is one of them – “The Eskimo and Maasai eat meat, so that means we can or should as well.” (Or any variation of this statement.)
The reality is if you’re Asian, Japanese, from Central or South America, come from the Mediterranean area, Indian, or African your genetics are engineered to eat a lot of plants.
This doesn’t mean to not eat meat, that’s your personal choice, it means that even if you are omnivorous, your focus should be a plant-based diet first, animal food second.
Every long lived health expert I’ve interviewed eats more plants and less meat. Every single one.
Based on evidence from “The Blue Zones” we can see that the cultures that live the longest in today’s modern world have this in common as well.
More plants, less meat.
It’s a good mantra.
3. When you want to cleanse, you fast.
I think every expert will agree that if you want to cleanse you should fast in some way.
Whether the type of fasting is a raw food diet, juice fast, or water fast, it can be agreed that fasting is a valuable detoxification tool.
4. Avoid excess salt.
Some experts believe salt is something you should never take. Others feel it’s OK in moderation. Others take it all the time.
I’m going to bring my own research and knowledge into this discussion and say that the overwhelming evidence of salt intake on health is negative.
Many of the experts like Dr. Fuhrman, Dr. Goldhamer, Dr. Williams, Charlotte Gerson and others share this opinion.
Maybe the most practical advice about salt is to not use it at home.
When you’re around other people or at dinner with friends, you can relax your rules.
This is what we’ve adapted into our lives and salt rarely is an issue – unless we eat something that is over salted.
Then our hands swell up, our blood pressure rises and we don’t want to eat salt again for a while, which is a good thing.
5. Eliminate processed foods – even the “healthy” ones.
I know you’re saying that you don’t eat processed foods, but what about those raw treats, or that vegan or whole cream ice cream?
Processed sugar (agave included), salt and other boxed foods are one thing that all native cultures do not have in their diet. So you shouldn’t have it either – organic, raw or whatever.
6. Know your food sources.
Whatever you eat, make it a point to get most of it at the farmer’s market or somewhere close to your home.
Knowing who grows your food allows you to trust your own personal food supply.
Buying food locally, also supports the move to bring food growers back into the community. This movement is our only hope to change the food system as we know it now and end monoculture and factory farming.
Leave the health box stores alone, you’re going to pay way too much for non-local produce and food.
7. You must exercise or you can forget about true health.
I’ve always felt that your exercise program is slightly more important that what you eat.
We can argue back and forth about this, but you can’t tell me that it’s not nearly as important – or slightly more as I assert.
If you’re not moving, you’re dying.
Exercise is one of your most potent detoxification systems.
Some people ask me from time to time about cleanses and pills to take to detoxify and I always ask if they exercise regularly.
If they don’t, I tell them that I know a way to detoxify that’s free – exercise.
It’s not a popular answer, but you can’t knock something that works"
He also named one of the people who he thought looked especially good for his age and he felt it was because this man excercised 5-6 times per day.......
What i got from 'the great debate ' is everything in moderation,eat lots of vegetables each day ,make sure raw vegetables is in your diet and no processed foods as they carry too much sugar and chemicals......... But then havent i always told u that?
