Placebo?

[Doktormartini]

Hey folks! I was talking to a friend online and he suggested that raw food doesn't actually do all that miracle stuff, that it is more like a placebo. What are your thoughts on this? Is there any evidence out there that suggests that raw food actually does the stuff it's claimed to do like cure colitis and all that? I mean, how can a placebo cure certain cancers and diabetes?

Hey basically I was looking for some scientific studies regarding the raw diet and I found a bunch of good ones, but if anyone has more that would be great!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/1/7
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus
http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.o...print/37/3/274
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus

[Double Helix]

Your friend is correct in that the food isn't doing the healing, but your body is. Give your body the appropriate environment and it will heal itself. A cut heals, a bone mends, so why can't blood pressure, high cholesterol and weight heal, especially if you weren't born with those problems?

The fact is that from the absence of cooked food your body has so much energy, it is freed up for internal healing.

Placebos can work sometimes, but raw food is a totally different thing here. You can get excited about something and it will wear off, so how do you explain the superior health of those on raw for several years?

You shouldn't have to prove anything to anyone but yourself. Once you get going and have some cool before and after pictures, you'll have people knocking you over for advice on how to get healthy.

Try not to let other's ignorance and uneducated opinions sway you from really giving this lifestyle a chance. Sometimes you have to block out the murmuring of "concerned" voices, and do what you feel is right for you.

Rawk on.

[Doktormartini]

So you are saying it's not the food that's doing the actual healing, it's all the extra energy you get from being on the diet?

[gypsiemama]

Hi. Excuse me for jumping in..especially because I am really new to this. But it's my understanding that one benefit to raw (aside from the extra energy) is that it preserves the enzymes. And enzymes act as a catalyst for just about every process in the body. Cooking food kills these essential enzymes so if you fuel your body with cooked and overprocessed food you not only invade your body with toxins but the food is void of the very enzymes the body needs to break it down. If you feed your body with good energized nutrient rich food with living enzymes...then your body doesn't have to work as hard and it can concentrate on healing itself instead of warding off toxic invaders. O.K., I am a newbie here and so I certainly don't claim to be an expert but this is what I've learned from my research prior to going raw. If I am wrong then please someone correct me as I am still learning!

[Double Helix]

Yes, that is correct Dok - raw food by itself doesn't cause healing but is so easily digested that it allows a body to heal itself. Yes, it provides nutrients, calories, fiber etc. which gives nourishment and the body *uses* that nourishment to function, but the body itself is doing the healing, not the food.

Cooked food takes up an enormous amount of energy for the body to digest and assimilate, since it has been denatured by heat. The structure is all off and the body must take a lot of time and energy to use it. That is why people become so very tired after a big cooked meal (like Thanksgivng for instance).

With raw, eating food in its fresh and natural and whole form, the body does little work to digest it. Fruit are the easiest to digest, then veggies and greens, then fats. The more watery the food, the easier digestion becomes. That is why you might feel so light after eating a fruit meal (as opposed to eating a cheeseburger).

In regards to enzymes, there is a lot of information out there that you might want to check into. Some believe that enzymes are destroyed anyway before the food reaches the stomach, while others believe that enzymes assist in digestion.

IMO - If enzymes were the only important thing, one could just take a papaya enzyme tablet with their pizza and not have to worry about eating anything special. To me raw is more about eating foods that have not been denatured by heat. Also when fruit is ripe (and not underripe) it is the most digestible.

[greenbunny]

Hey! Yes Mama, couldn't have said it better... and each food in it's raw form has much more than enzymes going for it but even just the enzymes cannot be unerestimated and can't simply be supplemented with a papaya enzyme because each individual raw food has exactly the specific enzymes needed to digest it (much more complicated than popping a pill).

That all said so well above, may a say something about placebos? The placebo is the only medication that has indisputable scientific proof that it works over many decades of constant trials. One of my teachers, the founder of NLP, actually applied to sell the placebo but was denied. Listen, if the way I feel when I eat raw (lasting long periods over the last 20 years) compared to eating cooked food is just a placebo affect and it is with all the other people that have experience tremendous health benefits from raw food, well, then I say Yippeeee for this fabulous placebo!!!

Who really cares if it's a placebo affect or not, or if it's perhaps partly placebo affect. The mind is incredibly powerful. If I believe I am going to get healthy eating this way (which to tell you the truth, I am one of the most skeptical people I know and really didn't believe it until I experienced it), but if my belief is what is making me feel this strong and healthy and happy, so be it. I'll take it.

There is little scientific proof that raw foods do anything because proper scientific studies cost money and someone has tob put up that money and usually will not do so unless they have something to gain. No one has anything to gain financially (in any significant way) from proving that raw foods do what I know that they do from my own experience. That is why I suggest that each of us here treat our own bodies as our own private experiments.

If I have been doing nothing but taking a placebo that transforms me each time I take it over the last 20 years I would be utterly shocked....... and then I would keep on taking it.

Greenbunny

[Doktormartini]

Thank you all for the nice replies. I feel dumb asking these questions but I'm just getting into this. I've been vegan for a year and have in the past like two months been getting really heavily into raw things. I felt that I was always telling people to eat what is natural and then I realize that cooking food isn't really natural...if that makes since (I'm kinda a hypocrite)!

Thanks again everyone!

[greenbunny]

What did Gump say in the movie - Momma always told me, dumb is what dumb does. I'd say you are downright brilliant doktormartini for figuring out that cooking food is unnatural and pretty darn smart asking questions. Your point was actually a very valid and thought provoking one. There is a good chance that at least some of our wonderful experiences are due to placebo. The placebo effect is absolutely fascinating and truly indicates how powerful we are as human beings to affect our own selves with thought.

Please keep on asking your questions and pointing us to such interesting information as the links you posted.

Welcome to the raw world. Keep us posted on how you feel during your transformation and asking whatever question pops into your head!!!

Greenbunny

[Doktormartini]

Yeah I thought those links were good cause they are scientific studies and seem to be from credible sources/sites. A lot of people won't believe you if you get your info from sites like www.rawvegan.com/healthbenefits (because they will think it's just propaganda).

As for the natural part...I was arguing with someone and he brought up a good point. I said cooking food was unnatural and he said, "Well taking nuts and vegetables and making them look like hamburgers and chips is also unnatural."

That is a good point, however, the it may be unnatural to do that, but you are still getting the food in it's natural state (ie: raw form). Also I brought up the reasons why people do this (so people don't miss what they used to eat, because eating regular broccoli and other vegetables gets boring after awhile...etc) I thought those were some pretty good reasons.