When we were first was contacted by Ruthann Russo, the author of
The Raw Food Diet Myth, asking if we would review her new book, we were a little confused. After all, the title made us think that this could be an anti-raw food book.
So, if this isn't an anti-raw food book, you may ask yourself the same question we did:
"What is the raw food diet myth?" Let us clear the air on this one. Not only is this not an anti-raw food book, this could be, in our opinion, the best raw food book written in years.
But, it's not a standard "raw food book" that you may be used to. There's no recipes to be found and she's not telling you exactly what you should be eating and how or why you should be eating it; a complete rarity in the raw food book world.
So then, what is this book about?The Raw Food Diet Myth is written from an almost outsider's perspective. This book's purpose is to give the reader an overview on what it means to be a raw foodist in the raw food world. What's most fascinating is that the book is not written from a long time raw food expert who has been eating this way for years. In fact, Ruthann only discovered raw food accidentally at a typical American bookstore not that long ago. While looking for answers to a pressing problem, Russo stumbled upon Natalia Rose's
Raw Food: Life Force Energy in March 2007.
A little over a year later, this book was born. Now that's fast!
What is the Raw Food Diet Myth, anyway?
Well, what is the myth?
The opening line of the book sets the entire tone for this ground-breaking raw food book:
"The myth is that raw food is not just a diet, but a lifestyle." Those of us already in the raw food world are more than familiar with what that statement means. If you've been raw for any amount of time, you know how just changing your diet to mostly raw foods profoundly alters so many other parts of your life...even if you don't want it or expect it to!
Again, I'll let the author's excellent explanation of what this book is about clear up any confusion for you:
"The purpose of this book is to introduce you to the revolutionary philosophy of raw and living foods by pulling together all of the components, including diet, into one place."
This book is especially useful for those just getting into raw foods. It provides a no B.S., to-the-point overview of what, exactly, the raw and living foods diet and lifestyle is. By pulling together all of the various resources out there together, from raw uncookbooks and raw diet philosophy books, to information she learned at the Tree of Life, Dr. Russo gives the reader a thorough overview of what to expect when entering into this lifestyle.
The problem that Russo was looking for an answer to when she found raw foodism, was that she was desperately looking for a way to help control her daughter Emmalea's seizures. She had been searching for any angle to find a way that help her daughter. As Ruthann puts it:
"Nutrition become a primary avenue for possible solutions"because"the numbers and types of anti-epileptic drugs seemed endless, not to mention potentially dangerous and ineffective."
After finding about raw foods through Natalia Rose's book, she tells the reader about her journey into the world of raw foods. She talks about which books she first picked up, what resources she found along the way, what she learned and her overall experience thus far, which for her have been extremely positive. She also gives a textbook summary of the raw stories of popular raw food authors and advocates, such as Victoria Boutenko, Gabriel Cousens, Carol Alt, Natalia Rose and many others. This gives the reader an excellent introduction to the variety of raw experts and authors that they may run across in their raw food journey and what their beliefs are.
The author's enthusiasm and keen grasp upon the variety of information about the raw and living foods lifestyle shows how well-read she has become in such a short time.
We have experienced similar bouts of obsessive reading, finding any book we could get our hands on about raw foods and related subjects. Russo has an intuitive understanding of how to synthesize a large body of information into a compact, easy-to-read guide.
Biochemical Individuality
One of our favorite aspects of the book is Ruthann's focus on creating a diet that works for you, as an individual. She takes this concept not only from experience, but from a well-researched theory by Roger J. Williams in a book he wrote called
Biochemical Individuality: The Key to Understanding What Shapes Your Health. Russo defines Biochemical Individuality, a termed coined by Williams, as a theory
"Based upon the fact that everyone has unique and specific, genetically determined nutrition requirements."
We believe this philosophy is like a sorely needed voice in the raw food community, and it's excellent to have another printed book that stresses this way of looking at health. We feel like Russo is on the same wavelength as us here at RFRN. We believe that raw foods is a miraculous breakthrough concept that can provide truly incredible results in one's life, but at the same time we recommend that no one get tied to any single dogma...even raw food itself.
Remember, we all got into raw foods for
optimalhealth, not to argue one specific point or another or to get caught up in some dietary dogma.
What's the best diet for you? Only you can know. It's in your hands, and yes, it does require reading, research, and experimentation. There is no one size fits all diet for everyone.
Let us say that again: There is no one size fits all diet for everyone. You need to take responsibility for your own health. Problems can come when someone so holds on so firmly to one very specific dietary belief that they keep at despite the fact that it isn't working for them.
To learn more about designing a diet that works specifically for your biochemical individuality, we recommend reading the excellent book by Gabriel Cousens called
Conscious Eating.The Rest of the Book and the Non-Food Aspects of the Raw Lifestyle An excellent overview of common raw food theories are whittled down into their most base explanations in a very RFRN-like manner. Theories such as food combining, the benefits of juicing, and animal vs. non-animal foods are objectively discussed and outlined for the benefit of the reader who may be new to such information.
An incredibly useful section is included that provides a great summary and introduction to preparing your kitchen and yourself to make raw foods. Helpful for any raw newbie.
The remaining parts of the book are dedicated to the lifestyle (non-food aspects) of the raw food world. Other topics that are talked about in this book include how raw foodism fits into the healthcare industry, spirituality, physical fitness, ethics, the economics of raw, and what to feed your pets.
A particularly interesting section of the book is what Russo calls "Healthy Conflicts" in the raw food world. These are opposing views on specific raw food topics that are still under "debate" by various raw experts. She identifies these conflicts as healthy because she believes that out of these conflicts will grow a more complete understanding of the effect of diet and nutrition on our health. Among the common raw dietary conflicts she addresses in a journalistic manner are
cacao (raw chocolate), water, sweeteners, colonics, pH level, the use of salt, and more. Each specific topic is presented, discussed, and summarized without presenting one side over the other.
A Highly Recommended Modern Work on the Raw Food Movement We highly recommend everyone in the raw food movement read Dr. Russo's book at some point in their raw literary journey. It may help give you a healthy perspective about the raw food diet if you don't already have one and, in keeping with her main concept throughout the whole book, a healthy perspective on the whole raw food
lifestyle.
This book is like a crash course in raw foodism while also helping to make the reader aware of the many choices and conflicts they will in come across should they decide to go further into the world of raw foods. For those brand new to raw food, this book will be like getting all the information they need to know about a fascinating lifestyle that may be a complete mystery to them.
There are not many books in the raw food world quite like this yet written by an intelligent raw foodist from an "outside looking in" perspective. Both Heidi and I see a growing need for information and perspectives on raw foodism that is provided in
The Raw Food Diet Myth.
Part of Gabriel Cousens' testimonial for this book sums what this entire book is about:
"This is an excellent, thoughtful, and comprehensive book. It catches the essence of raw food, which is that it is a total lifestyle that helps you become Alive. The Raw Food Diet Myth is an outstanding book for anyone who wants to understand the live-food way of life."~ JSRelated: 
Not Your Typical Raw Food Book
So, if this isn't an anti-raw food book, you may ask yourself the same question we did:
"What is the raw food diet myth?"
Let us clear the air on this one. Not only is this not an anti-raw food book, this could be, in our opinion, the best raw food book written in years.
But, it's not a standard "raw food book" that you may be used to. There's no recipes to be found and she's not telling you exactly what you should be eating and how or why you should be eating it; a complete rarity in the raw food book world.
So then, what is this book about?
The Raw Food Diet Myth is written from an almost outsider's perspective. This book's purpose is to give the reader an overview on what it means to be a raw foodist in the raw food world. What's most fascinating is that the book is not written from a long time raw food expert who has been eating this way for years. In fact, Ruthann only discovered raw food accidentally at a typical American bookstore not that long ago. While looking for answers to a pressing problem, Russo stumbled upon Natalia Rose's Raw Food: Life Force Energy in March 2007.
A little over a year later, this book was born. Now that's fast!
Well, what is the myth?
Those of us already in the raw food world are more than familiar with what that statement means. If you've been raw for any amount of time, you know how just changing your diet to mostly raw foods profoundly alters so many other parts of your life...even if you don't want it or expect it to!
Again, I'll let the author's excellent explanation of what this book is about clear up any confusion for you:
This book is especially useful for those just getting into raw foods. It provides a no B.S., to-the-point overview of what, exactly, the raw and living foods diet and lifestyle is. By pulling together all of the various resources out there together, from raw uncookbooks and raw diet philosophy books, to information she learned at the Tree of Life, Dr. Russo gives the reader a thorough overview of what to expect when entering into this lifestyle.
The problem that Russo was looking for an answer to when she found raw foodism, was that she was desperately looking for a way to help control her daughter Emmalea's seizures. She had been searching for any angle to find a way that help her daughter. As Ruthann puts it:
After finding about raw foods through Natalia Rose's book, she tells the reader about her journey into the world of raw foods. She talks about which books she first picked up, what resources she found along the way, what she learned and her overall experience thus far, which for her have been extremely positive. She also gives a textbook summary of the raw stories of popular raw food authors and advocates, such as Victoria Boutenko, Gabriel Cousens, Carol Alt, Natalia Rose and many others. This gives the reader an excellent introduction to the variety of raw experts and authors that they may run across in their raw food journey and what their beliefs are.
The author's enthusiasm and keen grasp upon the variety of information about the raw and living foods lifestyle shows how well-read she has become in such a short time.
We have experienced similar bouts of obsessive reading, finding any book we could get our hands on about raw foods and related subjects. Russo has an intuitive understanding of how to synthesize a large body of information into a compact, easy-to-read guide.
Remember, we all got into raw foods for optimalhealth, not to argue one specific point or another or to get caught up in some dietary dogma.
What's the best diet for you? Only you can know. It's in your hands, and yes, it does require reading, research, and experimentation. There is no one size fits all diet for everyone.
Let us say that again: There is no one size fits all diet for everyone. You need to take responsibility for your own health. Problems can come when someone so holds on so firmly to one very specific dietary belief that they keep at despite the fact that it isn't working for them.
To learn more about designing a diet that works specifically for your biochemical individuality, we recommend reading the excellent book by Gabriel Cousens called Conscious Eating.
The Rest of the Book and the Non-Food Aspects of the Raw Lifestyle
An excellent overview of common raw food theories are whittled down into their most base explanations in a very RFRN-like manner. Theories such as food combining, the benefits of juicing, and animal vs. non-animal foods are objectively discussed and outlined for the benefit of the reader who may be new to such information.
An incredibly useful section is included that provides a great summary and introduction to preparing your kitchen and yourself to make raw foods. Helpful for any raw newbie.
The remaining parts of the book are dedicated to the lifestyle (non-food aspects) of the raw food world. Other topics that are talked about in this book include how raw foodism fits into the healthcare industry, spirituality, physical fitness, ethics, the economics of raw, and what to feed your pets.
A particularly interesting section of the book is what Russo calls "Healthy Conflicts" in the raw food world. These are opposing views on specific raw food topics that are still under "debate" by various raw experts. She identifies these conflicts as healthy because she believes that out of these conflicts will grow a more complete understanding of the effect of diet and nutrition on our health. Among the common raw dietary conflicts she addresses in a journalistic manner are cacao (raw chocolate), water, sweeteners, colonics, pH level, the use of salt, and more. Each specific topic is presented, discussed, and summarized without presenting one side over the other.
A Highly Recommended Modern Work on the Raw Food Movement
We highly recommend everyone in the raw food movement read Dr. Russo's book at some point in their raw literary journey. It may help give you a healthy perspective about the raw food diet if you don't already have one and, in keeping with her main concept throughout the whole book, a healthy perspective on the whole raw food lifestyle.
This book is like a crash course in raw foodism while also helping to make the reader aware of the many choices and conflicts they will in come across should they decide to go further into the world of raw foods. For those brand new to raw food, this book will be like getting all the information they need to know about a fascinating lifestyle that may be a complete mystery to them.
There are not many books in the raw food world quite like this yet written by an intelligent raw foodist from an "outside looking in" perspective. Both Heidi and I see a growing need for information and perspectives on raw foodism that is provided in The Raw Food Diet Myth.
Part of Gabriel Cousens' testimonial for this book sums what this entire book is about: "This is an excellent, thoughtful, and comprehensive book. It catches the essence of raw food, which is that it is a total lifestyle that helps you become Alive. The Raw Food Diet Myth is an outstanding book for anyone who wants to understand the live-food way of life."
~ JS
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