"Simply Raw" is about 6 people (2 type 1 and 4 type 2 diabetics) who go to the Tree of Life (in Arizona I think) to see if they can cure their diabetes by eating a raw diet. While neither Dan nor I have high blood sugar I found the results of this 30 day experiment to be nothing short of amazing. If you know anyone with diabetes I would recommend they see this video. One type 1 diabetic was cured which I found absolutely miraculous. Curing the type 2 diabetics wasn’t that much of a big deal, in my opinion. If food is what gets you into trouble it only seems logical that it can be resolved by changing what you eat. But that is just my opinion.
"Raw for Life" was more about the general health benefits of being raw. Some of the “experts” that are on the DVD are” Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Gabriel Cousens, Dr. Julian Whitaker, Tony Robbins, David Wolfe, Brendan Brazier, and Brian Clement PhD (Hippocrates Institute) to name a few. A few of the topics covered are:
• starting out on a raw diet
• weight reduction
• detox and cleansing
• nutrition
• optimal athletic performance
This DVD also contains about a dozen raw recipes which are demonstrated by chefs. I think that section alone is worth buying the DVD if you are new to raw food. There is a crazy cracker recipe that is very different from mine that I will be trying this weekend (with my own spin of course). I will let you all know how that turns out.
Overall I am glad we bought both DVDs but unless you have diabetes or know someone who does I would stick with "Raw For Life" alone. It also has a section on diabetes which I thought contained all the information I needed on the subject.
Unrelated note:
Last night Dan came home from work early so I unplugged (no computer no smart phone) and we watched a couple of movies on Netflix streaming. Now my Wii is more than just an exercise device, LOL.
We watched both “The Gerson Miracle” and “The Beautiful Truth”, both movies about Max Gerson. They moved a little slowly but were full of interesting stories and information. Dan and I both came away thinking we need to make and drink more fresh juice. The movies did have the effect of making us both think we are doing the right thing with our diet. The basics of the Gerson therapy are: vegan diet, fresh pressed juice, organic produce, no salt, and coffee enemas. Let’s just say that last item had us both go “what ……?” I don’t see that happening at our house anytime soon. Even we have our limits, LOL. But overall it was quite interesting and the coffee portion was downplayed, thankfully. I would recommend both movies to anyone that is open to something new and facing cancer.
Dinner last night was nothing special, bulgur dressed with lemon juice and cumin and lots of fresh finely minced veggies plus fresh vegetable and fruit juice. Nothing exciting enough for dinner last night to write about, you didn’t miss anything. ;-)
The weather today is cool, mid 70s and a little overcast. It is a good day to get some yard work done, which is on our agenda. I will check back in with you all later tonight or tomorrow. I hope you are all having a great start to the weekend.
A coffee enema....I guess that would be on way to get coffee if it is off limits! LOL
ReplyDeleteYes, I read the whole blog and that is all I got out of it...
No really, it was interesting and I am intrigued by the raw video you watched.
TTYL, B
Brandi,
ReplyDeleteLOL, Dan and I had to pause the movie at that point and chat. We both decided that is a little out of our comfort zone, if you knwo what I mean. But I will never say never so who knows. ;-)
You would really like the raw for life video. I wonder if your library has them. I hope so.
talk to you later,
Ali
Hope you're having a good one. I seriously need to get on top of the yard work tomorrow. It's warm here, but the humidity is down at least. I like the idea of trying raw recipes, but I am not sure I could ever go raw to be quite honest.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I literally just published a post 5 minutes ago regarding this documentary before I saw you had made a post as well! Great vegan minds think alike :)
ReplyDeleteHeather,
ReplyDeleteI am with you, I like the idea of raw, but 100% is very unlikely to happen here either. Plus it is hard to eat all raw without pushing up the fat percentage and still getting adequate calories.
Good luck with that yard work,
Ali
AO and RG,
ReplyDeleteNow I am curious to see what you thought of the DVDs. ;-)
Alicia
We totally agree with you that the idea of incorporating raw food into your diet is a good one, but the chances that we would actually go 100% raw are very slim. We tried a raw food diet once in the summer and only lasted 3 days - and we're used to eliminating things from our diet pretty easily. Plus a dehydrator and juicer are must-haves, which are fairly pricey. In the documentary the raw food diet had really great benefits to those with diabetes so I definitely think it would be worth a try if you were diabetic.
ReplyDeleteAO and RG,
ReplyDeleteI also doubt we can ever go 100% raw even with a dehydrator and juicer, though that does help. I wonder about the foods that contain things that are more bioaviable when cooked, like lycopene in tomatoes. In general we tend to eat heavily raw, but not all raw. Though if either of us were diabetic and healthy cooked vegan didn't resolve it I would give raw a go.
thanks for sharing your thoughts,
Alicia
One thing I liked about the recipes was to actually see someone making the stuff! I'd say most were right on, but a couple I found too confusing. Ex. the chef mentions adding the wet ingredients to the pizza dough, but never says what they are! That and the crackers (and the almond milk) were just too complex IMO for me to make unless it were a really special occasion.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree - overall very good disc!
Neca,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that some of the recipes could have used better directions but most were fine. The pizza dough is very different from mine so I will be trying it soon. I will measure my ingredients and post the recipe when I do. Same for the crackers. The milk had me laughing it was so involved. Though I do have all the ingredients I don't think I will make it either. Not to mention I could stop looking at his hair. It was a little distracting, LOL.
talk to you later,
Ali