As you could tell in last month's article I was very impressed by my interview with Caroline Hook. After reading the book based on her recommendation, I decided to review it.
This book is a great reference tool. I honestly thought I was going to enjoy reading it more than I did. I was not totally disappointed, and I was challenged in some ways. I do sense, however, a radical edge to the thinking that I cannot overcome, and I would not ask my clients to try and overcome it either.
This book is also somewhat repetitive if you read it straight through. It contains many testimonies of people who have been helped by the Hallelujah Diet. The testimonies are grouped topically in the chapters. The information that is repeated many times is the nutritional philosophy of Dr. George Malkmus, who believes in a 100% vegetarian, 75-85% raw (fresh) diet. Absolutely no animal products are used.
The basis of the raw food recommendation is that cooking food destroys
many of the nutrients. I do not know how humans could have survived
this long if this was completely true. However, many diseases have been reversed
by people who have used this diet so there must be a big difference in
the healing properties of raw foods vs. cooked.
I was made aware of several problems that can occur while on this diet long term. One is that the high level of carbohydrates can possibly cause weight gain and insulin resistance problems. Another is that amino acid deficiencies can occur if foods are not chosen in balance. A third issue is that necessary antioxidant levels can never be reached without supplementation. We no longer live in the Garden of Eden. Many of us live in or near cities with high pollution levels. In a single city walk or car trip, we are exposed to more free radical pollutants than our ancestors 100 years ago were exposed to in an entire lifetime. (information from lectures by Sherrie Attila and Cindy Latham, Wellness Educators)
There is absolutely no way to address all of the debates surrounding this nutritional philosophy. It would really take a thorough reading of Dr. Malkmus's books and researching the information using other sources. I cannot rewrite the chapters for you here. A great overview of the philosophy is found in an article called "How We Can Best Nourish Our Physical Body," in the Acres'Woman to Woman publication. Please read this article to get a more complete understanding.
I will share some additional valuable nuggets of truth from this book. Again this is not an exhaustive list. I am going to be personally working through much of this information for some time to come.
The big idea is that it is most beneficial to consume a high percentage of your food in as natural a state as possible. There are myriad reasons stated throughout the chapters. The Standard American Diet, often referred to as S.A.D., causes many diseases. The protein in meat is difficult to assimilate, so according to Dr. Malkmus, we should get it all from plant sources. He lists many plant based sources and gives a listing of the amino acid or protein content of each (p.129).
There is a wonderful chapter on fresh vegetable juicing using a juice extractor. This delivers nutrients to the blood stream very quickly because most of the plant fiber is removed and the digestive process is shortened. It is a method of keeping the colon healthy (p.163).
Dr. Malkmus also recommends the use of distilled water to limit the amount of inorganic minerals and toxins being consumed from the commercial water supply. This also cleanses unwanted mineral deposits from the body, but does not leach away the good organic minerals which have "already been absorbed into the cell wall for nutrition" (p. 175).
Many people are very successful with the Hallelujah Diet. It is a huge lifestyle change and a sacrifice of time and resources. I can definitely see short term benefits for healing of disease.
However, nutritional supplementation will be a more convenient and more effective route for most of our population. High levels of nutrients can be taken in without the associated sugars and calories. This can aid the insulin resistance issue, the protein intake can be increased with a convenient, raw, plant based mix, and the antioxidant intake can be raised sufficiently to counteract all free radical damage in the body. For more informational articles and audio CDs on these factors, please contact me.
What I've shared before in this column, I will continue to share, is that balance is key to building your family's nutritional philosophy. You can begin or continue a journey toward nutritional healing with many small choices throughout your day, and building on the good habits you've already created.
I hope you have enjoyed my column as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I'm still learning and I thank you for coming and learning alongside me. This will be my last Nutrition: Ctrl+Alt+Delete, but you may still locate me for any questions at Facebook or at Christian Women Take Root.
(c)2009 Take Root and Write, Chris DeBaggis, Nutrition: Ctrl+Alt+Delete!
As you could tell in last month's article I was very impressed by my interview with Caroline Hook. After reading the book based on her recommendation, I decided to review it.
This book is a great reference tool. I honestly thought I was going to enjoy reading it more than I did. I was not totally disappointed, and I was challenged in some ways. I do sense, however, a radical edge to the thinking that I cannot overcome, and I would not ask my clients to try and overcome it either.
This book is also somewhat repetitive if you read it straight through. It contains many testimonies of people who have been helped by the Hallelujah Diet. The testimonies are grouped topically in the chapters. The information that is repeated many times is the nutritional philosophy of Dr. George Malkmus, who believes in a 100% vegetarian, 75-85% raw (fresh) diet. Absolutely no animal products are used.
The basis of the raw food recommendation is that cooking food destroys many of the nutrients. I do not know how humans could have survived this long if this was completely true. However, many diseases have been reversed by people who have used this diet so there must be a big difference in the healing properties of raw foods vs. cooked.
There is absolutely no way to address all of the debates surrounding this nutritional philosophy. It would really take a thorough reading of Dr. Malkmus's books and researching the information using other sources. I cannot rewrite the chapters for you here. A great overview of the philosophy is found in an article called "How We Can Best Nourish Our Physical Body," in the Acres'Woman to Woman publication. Please read this article to get a more complete understanding.
I will share some additional valuable nuggets of truth from this book. Again this is not an exhaustive list. I am going to be personally working through much of this information for some time to come.
The big idea is that it is most beneficial to consume a high percentage of your food in as natural a state as possible. There are myriad reasons stated throughout the chapters. The Standard American Diet, often referred to as S.A.D., causes many diseases. The protein in meat is difficult to assimilate, so according to Dr. Malkmus, we should get it all from plant sources. He lists many plant based sources and gives a listing of the amino acid or protein content of each (p.129).
There is a wonderful chapter on fresh vegetable juicing using a juice extractor. This delivers nutrients to the blood stream very quickly because most of the plant fiber is removed and the digestive process is shortened. It is a method of keeping the colon healthy (p.163).
Many people are very successful with the Hallelujah Diet. It is a huge lifestyle change and a sacrifice of time and resources. I can definitely see short term benefits for healing of disease.
However, nutritional supplementation will be a more convenient and more effective route for most of our population. High levels of nutrients can be taken in without the associated sugars and calories. This can aid the insulin resistance issue, the protein intake can be increased with a convenient, raw, plant based mix, and the antioxidant intake can be raised sufficiently to counteract all free radical damage in the body. For more informational articles and audio CDs on these factors, please contact me.
What I've shared before in this column, I will continue to share, is that balance is key to building your family's nutritional philosophy. You can begin or continue a journey toward nutritional healing with many small choices throughout your day, and building on the good habits you've already created.
I hope you have enjoyed my column as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I'm still learning and I thank you for coming and learning alongside me. This will be my last Nutrition: Ctrl+Alt+Delete, but you may still locate me for any questions at Facebook or at Christian Women Take Root.
(c)2009 Take Root and Write, Chris DeBaggis, Nutrition: Ctrl+Alt+Delete!