Comments on: Review and Interview – Raw Food: A Complete Guide to Every Meal of the Day

By: Melissa @ Anxious for Nothing

Melissa @ Anxious for Nothing — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 03:53:11 +0000

I am pregnant with my 3rd child right now, and I asked my midwife what she thought of a 100% raw food diet. She said she’s seen so many women on a raw diet who had pregnancy complications that she would not recommend it.

Food for thought for women of childbearing age….

By: eileen

eileen — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:34:01 +0000

careful of that mandoline, it cost me way more than $25 to get stitches after I had an accident with mine, though it took a dive during the earthquake, and needs a new blade now, so it’s resting for the moment.

Orthorexia, and meditating on food prep, indeed. Also, I didn’t know lúcuma was a superfood as one reader mentioned. It’s just standard birthday cake and ice cream fare here (Chile). Tasty, sure. But a superfood? I’ll have to look into eating more cake and ice cream.

Kidding, raw foodists, kidding!

By: Esmeralda M Rupp-Spangle

Esmeralda M Rupp-Spangle — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:54:48 +0000

I’m not big on the pseudosciency-ness of it either- I’m a big science geek, and it seems to me that most of their (raw foodies) claims are overblown or erroneous….. BUT…. My 80 year old grandmother is a raw foodie, and has not been to the doctor in…. oh, 30 years? She’s 50,000,000,000x healthier than I could ever dream of being.
The lady doesn’t even own a stove. Just a hot-plate, and a dehydrator. Seriously, it’s awe inspiring.
I would put WAY less stock in it if I did not know someone who directly benefited from the raw-food lifestyle, but I do- so it would appear that there are *some* benefits to it.
Maybe it is just the 100% vegan aspect of it that makes it so healthy, but I’ve known some SICKLY vegans-

I could not do it personally. I LOVE raw fruits and veges, but I am allergic to uncooked fruits of the rose family (apples, pears, cherries, plums, etc- yes, it’s AWFUL and I just last weekend I caved and ate half an apple and scolded myself when my throat swelled nearly closed)
I NEED to eat apples- so I MUST cook.
Also, I love cheese just too damned much.
And french bread.
and… pasta, eggs, steamed rice, roasted potatoes… I can’t imagine going without every one of my favorite foods.

Life might be longer but would it be worth living?

Anyway, I do love raw foods, and eat a lot of them- but I’ve never thought self denial was a good way to function. It’s all about moderation.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:06:57 +0000

So nice to see you this weekend and hear you speak! You were wonderful! Hope you had as much fun as I did :)

By: Lesley

Lesley — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:38:43 +0000

@Natalie – Some proponents of raw food absolutely do eat things like carpaccio, sashimi, raw dairy products, and raw eggs.

@Emily – I agree.

If someone goes from a relatively poor diet to any kind of healthier diet, I think most often s/he will feel better. A diet doesn’t have to be 100% raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or what have you to improve a person’s quality of life and overall health.

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:01:02 +0000

Interesting – I wonder how much of the increased energy is because of the raw diet vs just eating healthy in general?

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:22:27 +0000

What a load of hoo-hah.

It’s orthorexia, as mentioned above.

And I loved that you asked that same knife skill question at least three times and she never gave you a straight answer. (Look on Youtube for knife skill demos, and get a $25 mandoline for slicing thin.)

By: DebraSY

DebraSY — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:57:38 +0000

Ya know, Jennette, I am relatively new around here and I haven’t seen any mention of a life partner yet, so forgive me if I am completely out of line. That said, as I was reading this piece, a thought occurred to me, just in case you don’t have a life partner. I had a friend once who found her life partner by working in a bookstore. She selected (and flirted with) dating material based on the books the potential datees bought. It was a lovely way to get paid for cruising. All of this is leads me to an idea: You don’t like the food prep, but repeated your posts reveal that you love when it’s been prepped. YOU perhaps need to be working at a Williams Sonoma. Just sayin’.

By: Vanessa R

Vanessa R — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:35:55 +0000

I think this would be hard for me. As dumb as it is, I have a hard time cooking just for myself (well, it would be preparing food in this case, since it’s raw). Some days I will make the effort – made kung pao shrimp with brown rice two nights ago. Other nights I just forage for a random mishmash of what’s on hand and ready.

I did go to a raw food class once at the local supermarket. It was interesting. I did like the carrot and cashew soup we had.

One thing I do a lot is smoothies – just 100%, no sugar added juice and frozen fruits. Healthy and filling.

I’m also going to be doing a lot of gardening this summer, so that should help. When I was working at a garden, I would sometimes have a breakfast of freshly picked peas and little yellow pear tomatoes. It was delicious.

I’ll see if the library has this book. The pics do look fab.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:30:08 +0000

Um, I didn’t see it mentioned in your blog or in anyone’s comments, but am I to assume that the raw food diet is fully vegetarian? Any steak tartar in there, or sushimi? Or is it just all fruits and vegetables and (raw) grainy things? If it is mainly vegetarian, then I would think that that is the main change to a ‘normal’ diet, rather than switching from cooked veges to raw ones. And the fact that you are clearly not allowed any junk food, of course, as chips, donuts, biscuits, lollies/sweets … all cooked. The rawness of what you are left with seems a minor consideration.