Monday, August 4, 2008

Is Raw Foodism an Eating Disorder?!?!

I've been thinking a lot about what the ULTIMATE raw diet is made up of. Going by the FDA daily recommended amounts of fat and protein it appears that you could eat almost A CUP of nuts or seeds (assuming that's your only source of fat and protein) but many raw foodists agree that you need a significantly smaller amount of protein and fat in your diet. Furthermore, that am mount of nuts and seeds would be pretty hard to digest. Some people swear by the 80/10/10 method or fruititarianism but I am apprehensive about having a diet that is comprised of SO much sugar. Anywyas, I've been doing a little research and ran accross this article which discusses the pros and cons of fruitarianism. What I did not expect to find was some interesting observations regarding the links between obsessive food behaviors found in people with eating disorders and obsessive food behavoris displayed by raw foodists.
"Fruitarians often display food-obsessive behavior. Take two pieces of bread, give one to an anoretic [an individual suffering from anorexia nervosa; see note (2) at end], and another to a fruitarian. The anoretic thinks, "I can't eat this bread, it will make me fat!". The fruitarian may think in a similar matter: "I can't eat this bread!" - with the reason(s) cited being one or more of the following delusions:*The bread is cooked, hence toxic.*The bread will produce mucus, which is the cause of all disease, and hence will make me "impure."*The bread contains protein (and/or starch), and all protein/starch is toxic and a horror.Here the point is the obsessive attitude toward food and the pathological fear, that are common to both the anoretic and the fruitarian.#On fruitarian diets, it is very easy to overeat and to fall into the nasty trap of sugar addiction. Sugar is well known for its ability to promote food cravings, which often leads to binge eating and/or overeating."

As someone who has both suffered from eating disorders in the past AND is now a raw foodist I wondered where this left me. I mulled over the idea for a while thinking that maybe become a raw foodist ISN'T the healthiest way to heal food obsession as it does require you to think about food quite a bit. Then I thought about one of my favorite quotes "Don't let food be your comfort or you enemy". Just then it hit me, I don't look at cooked food and think of it as an enemy. I don't think that eating it will make me inpure, sick or diseased. I simply see that the nutritional benefits are sorely lacking and that my body would be better served by eating something delicious and raw instead. I think that's a very healthy way of thinking about things. In mondern life we have very twisted ideas about food and nutrition. Who can even really understand how to define an eating disorder anymore?? I want to be very intentional with the fuel I put into my body. I don't want to become obsessive, just mindful.

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