The Fresh Network Blog

Spot the week's craziest health story

By Sarah Best.

"Babies need solid food - not just breast milk" shouted the front page headline of yesterday's Times, in just one manifestation of a story that appeared across the mainstream media. "Experts warn of disease and allergy risk," continued the report. "Mothers should not feed their babies on exclusively breast milk for the first six months because of the risk of the infants developing allergies, child health experts warn today."

"The government announced that it would review research on breastfeeding from child health doctors who wrote in the British Medical Journal that the existing policy could leave babies more likely to suffer harmful deficiencies, food allergies and disease that causes food intolerance."

And today's Independent carries the unsurprising headline, "New breastfeeding advice leaves mothers angry and confused".

Wherever there is contradictory scientific evidence, and therefore advice - and show me a realm of nutrition where there isn't - there is no better remedy than a dose of common sense.

Before we had jarred, pureed baby foods (and blenders so we could whizz up our own) at what age would human infants have started eating solid foods? Presumably, only when they had enough teeth for the endeavour. And the number of teeth the average infant under six months has is precisely zero. 

Did nature make a mistake? We can probably assume not. 

How can the raw, fresh, whole, unprocessed food that nature provides for babies cause allergies or deficiencies in little ones who don't yet have the anatomy to be able to consume any other natural food? Only if the mother's diet is deficient, or contains foods which are allergenic.

This study may well have highlighted an issue that needs addressing but unfortunately the headlines and reports it generated will only serve to discourage women from following the World Health Organization's clear guideline to breastfeed exclusively for six months - advice that, according to statistics, less than 20% of UK and US mothers are following.

By the age of just three months well over half of our babies are existing on a diet of cooked, powdered, highly processed dairy or soya formula, full of alien and potentially allergenic substances they would never have been exposed to in nature, including synthetic vitamins and minerals, but devoid of the elaborate symphony of raw nutrients their bodies are (literally, a lot of the time) crying out for. 

There is certainly a big problem with deficiencies and allergies among our infants - one with potential lifelong repercussions on digestion, immunity and overall health - but most of the cases are not to be found among the privileged few who are fed the way nature intended. 

Dairy didn't work for me, says Debbie Took

2010 has been a year of fierce debate among raw food fans about whether or not our optimal diet is a vegan one. We first chimed in on this topic in January with our article Why the shift away from veganism in the raw world?, and again in February when Doug Graham and Thomas Billings debated the topic in the article Is 100% raw vegan our optimal diet? Later that month we revisited it in Are YOU getting enough vitamin D?

Popular raw food blogger Debbie Took contributed interesting material to the debate in March and April when she announced that she had tested below the normal range in vitamin B12 - B12 being one of the biggest deficiency risks among vegans. 

A raw vegan for around three and a half years at the time, she was forced to choose between taking supplements - something she didn't believe in - and compromising on the vegan part - something else she was dead set against doing. She tells the full story around this tough decision in her articles Debbie Does B12 Part 1 and Part 2.

She eventually decided that compromising on the vegan part was the lesser of two evils - largely because it was the more natural solution of the two - and she added a little soft cheese to her diet. However, she found raw cheese near impossible to source, and as for ethically produced - that unfortunately does not exist at this time. So she was forced to compromise not only on (1) her vegan diet but also on (2) her raw diet and (3) her strong desire not to cause suffering to other sentient beings. Nonetheless, for a while this decision still seemed to be the best option available to her.

However, Debbie privately emailed me an update recently, and I asked her permission to share this information with you, as it is written with such honesty and openness. At a time when there is still so much we don't know about optimum nutrition, all such accounts have something to teach us, and I know this one will resonate with many of you. Debbie kindly agreed to have her comments made public, and you can read them by clicking below. Thank you, Debbie, for sharing your experiences with me, and with our readers.

The beautifying effects of plant foods - two recent news articles

Science is only just beginning to understand the countless beneficial properties of phytonutrient-rich plant foods. In this article, find out about how such foods can protect your skin against sun damage.

This article details recent research which found that the golden glow of a complexion nourished by fruit and vegetables is more attractive than a tan.

Interview with Rozalind Graham

Professor Rozalind Graham spent 18 years as one of the most active writers and speakers on the raw food circuit. She is revered as much for redefining what constitutes compassionate living as for her straight-talking logic in matters of nutrition and health. Her husband is raw food promoter Dr Douglas Graham and for the last five years she has been a full-time mother to their daughter, Faychesca. She rarely writes these days and if you have made it to one of her few speaking engagements you should count yourself lucky. In this exclusive interview, she talks to Sarah Best about her own transition to raw foods, and shares her insights into the reasons behind disordered eating, and the importance of reconnecting with our true nature.

You’ve been following the raw vegan diet for over 23 years and in that time you’ve also been one of the world’s leading promoters of it. But I think it’s accurate to say you first started out on the alternative lifestyle path for compassionate reasons rather than health ones?

Yes. As I grew up I started to become more and more aware of what I now call congruency, although I didn’t have a word for it at the time. I had a deep, deep love of animals so I knew it wasn’t appropriate to be causing suffering to these precious beings by eating them. I honestly don’t remember what age I was when I went vegetarian, but I do know I was just a child.

What led you from vegetarianism (and later veganism) to discovering and adopting the raw diet and lifestyle?

As a young adult I was teaching exercise classes and one of my students was an Anglo-Indian lady. When she started coming she was quite heavy and didn’t look very well. She was absent for some time and one day I was in the supermarket and I bumped trolleys with a stunning woman – sparkling eyes, amazing skin, shiny hair. I knew I knew her but couldn’t work out from where. When she told me who she was I was astounded and I had to ask her, “What’s your secret – it obviously wasn’t my classes!” She put a copy of the book Fit For Life in my trolley, told me to “Read that,” kissed me on the cheek and left!

Fruit and vegetables have "little effect on cancer risk"

By Sarah Best.

Newspapers this week were full of headlines like the above - headlines which will no doubt serve to discourage the very people who urgently need to be eating more fruit and veg from doing so. Sadly, if we believe the latest news reports we believe that, "the cancer protective effect of fruits and vegetables may be modest at best" and that there is a "weak association between high fruit and vegetable intake and reduced cancer risk".

But when you actually look at what the study in question (published earlier this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute) found, it is not in the least bit surprising and in no way an indication that these natural superfoods are not important health protectors.

The study found that eating an extra 200g of fruit and veg a day reduced cancer incidence by "only" 3%. But hold on - how much is 200g? It may sound like a lot, but it is actually two small apples, two medium carrots or two and a half medium tomatoes! And for the purposes of this study, it seems a "high" fruit and vegetable intake is defined as "five a day"!

20 ways the raw diet makes you different by Tonya Zavasta

After 12 years following the raw food lifestyle, I have found myself delightfully doing the backstroke downstream in the river of health, while most around me are swimming upstream and telling me I’m going the wrong direction!

I want to prepare you for some things you can expect over the long term when you truly become clean and healthy, inside and out. Your body will not function quite as it used to, nor will it function like the body of the “average” person. You will react differently to foods, medications and lifestyle choices. It will not be possible to compare you in any arena to the average Joe because you’ll no longer be average.

1. Doctors and you
Doctors won’t know quite what to do with you. For instance, one of my readers wrote:

"I had my white blood cells tested about three weeks ago, and my result was 2.9. The normal range is 4.1 to 5.6. My doctor ordered a repeat of test. Knowing my raw food diet was responsible for the test results, I ate some bread and cooked vegetables the afternoon before my next test. Next morning the result was 4.2! I was happy I’ve proven to myself one more time how sensitive our bodies are to the quality of food we eat. Can you imagine my delight, when several days later in your book Quantum Eating I read that you experienced the same thing?"

Here’s the explanation… Cooked food sets off an immune response that raw foods do not. That the blood of most cooked food eaters is infiltrated with white blood cells means that the body is fighting back, sending immune-cell soldiers into battle against infection. But with most folks on a raw food diet, there’s little or no infection – hence few soldiers.

In the hospital or in the doctor’s office, the parameters you will be measured by aren’t normal – they are more aptly termed average. They are derived by experimenting on people who eat cooked foods. The healthier you become, the more you will find yourself – quite literally – off the charts!

Fat: the myths, the facts, by Dao Earl

As we are looking into the mysteries of the body, it is most helpful to suspend our attachment to the human being as a cultured creature, worried about fashion, finances and fiancés, and acknowledge that we are in fact an animal that has reached this point only after a long period of evolution.

Before taking to the plains (for as yet indeterminate reasons) and needing to adapt our diets to this new and wholly brutal environment, we lived in the relatively benign tropical forests for several million years. One notable characteristic of a rainforest is the super-abundance of nutrients at all times throughout the year. It is exactly this “lack of lack” that allows such a proliferation and extreme diversity of life to flourish there.

Modern humans across the economic spectrum are drenched in toxicity, starting from their own bowel, which is unable to adapt to the change in diet from fruit and leaves, to cooked grains and meat, and now to industrialized “food” products. As the body is unable to deal with the constant clean-up operation, fermenting by-products enter the blood and uninvited microbes then run riot throughout.

Add to this swamp all the pharmacological, industrial, household and “personal hygiene” products, and we have a system under extreme stress. Incidentally, it is a credit to the versatility and vitality of this divine creation that there are any resources left to deal with toxin management. Such is the wonder of the body.

What's in our Winter issue?

Our Winter issue is now in the mail, winging its way to all subscribers. If you're not one of them, for goodness' sake get on over to our website to order your copy of this unmissable issue! 

On the cover is Kris Carr of Crazy Sexy Cancer fame. Seven years ago Kris was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer for which there is no treatment and no known cure.

Today – thanks to discovering the raw diet and lifestyle and becoming, in her own words, “a full-time healing junkie” – she is healthier and happier than ever and busy helping others achieve the same.

In our exclusive interview she tells her story and shares her top tips for optimum wellness. Also in this issue:

• Dao Earl explores the real reasons the body stores fat.
• If you’re hooked on high-energy living but your partner isn’t, does that mean your relationship is destined to fail? Natalia Rose has insights and advice.
• Who goes raw? Dr Doug Graham explores the characteristics that differentiate raw eaters from standard eaters.
• Supplements exposed: Dr Brian Clement reveals the shocking truth about a multi-billion-dollar market.
• You are not what you eat! Stop worrying about your diet and follow these nine guidelines for healthy living, says Tera Warner.
• Watch out for adrenal exhaustion. This little-known syndrome is the single biggest cause of ill health in the modern world, says naturopath Philip Weeks. Here he explores the symptoms and causes, and offers solutions.
• Tropical treats – the top 10 rare fruits you may not have heard of but should definitely check out, by Geoffrey Mazuy.
• Thinning hair is not only an extremely common problem; it can also be a side effect of detoxification. But you can restore lush locks by feeding your hair from the inside and out, says Tonya Zavasta.
• Raising your ecstatic being. Shazzie looks at education, living arrangements and nutrition – among other things – and shares her top tips for raising a happy, healthy child.
• Sproutman Steve Meyerowitz talks us through his daily routine.
• Inflammation overload – Thomas Lodi, M.D. explores the role of inflammation in the body’s repair mechanisms, what happens when inflammation becomes chronic and why a raw vegan diet is the best prevention.
• Plant power – how to build muscle on a vegan diet by Brendan Brazier.
• Raw food coach Karen Knowler has tips for establishing a winning raw food routine.
• Winter comfort foods – with “can’t-believe-this-is-raw” bites for cold nights, Russell James proves that comfort food doesn’t have to involve an oven.
• Stay younger longer. In the first part of a new series, Cherie Soria shares tips for looking, feeling and being our best and quick and simple recipes for rejuvenation and longevity.
• Plus the latest news, reviews, tips, useful contacts and much, much more!

Go here to order your copy.

Go here to find out about subscription options.

Go here to browse back issues.

Dr Brian Clement of Hippocrates Health Institute tells it like it is

Conscious eating is on the up

By Sarah Best.

Last week's Sunday Times contained a very positive piece about eating vegan. The article touches on the health and eco benefits of animal-free cuisine, as well as its growing popularity: it reports that the conscious eating market is predicted to grow by 19% in the next five years. Eating raw is also mentioned in a positive light in this quote from a trend forecaster with the US agency Culture of Future:

“Eating vegan and raw is the quickest way to health, and it has really hit mass stride in Hollywood with stars who are more concerned with glowing health than going green. It gives the body what it wants: a rest from heavy and slow digestion and a chance to release and rebuild."

However, the main slant of the article is that veganism doesn't have to be a full-time thing. While we don't agree with everything in this article we think it makes some great points. Obviously, if you are a passionate ethical vegan, going part time isn't an option for you. But isn't it great news for humanity, the planet and all the creatures that inhabit it that so many people are starting to embrace vegan meals and plans like "vegan until dinner"?

Considering the UK press is often neanderthally scathing about all things vegan (did anyone else see the Telegraph review of Saf restaurant last year that amusingly yet also ridiculously described vegans as people who live in "hemp-knitted hovels"?), it is great to see The Times demonstrating once again that it has its finger on the pulse when it comes to conscious living.