Jason Mraz Plugs A Raw Vegan Lifestyle On New Video Series
Filed under: food & drink, healthy living, video — Michael Parrish DuDell @ 12:07 pm
September 9th 2009
Being vegan is a cinch, but raw vegan? Dude, I’ve tried and it’s sooooo hard for me. Hence the super amount of respect I have for Jason Mraz and his rockstar raw diet.
Jason went raw last April when his “trusty sidekick, Toca Rivera…discovered he was Diabetic.” A year later, Jason likes the diet so much that he’s still rocking it.
To help promote his Cafe Gratitude tour, Jason has been releasing a series of comical videos that we think are pretty neat.
In one of the latest ones, Jason leaves his assistant to prepare some delicious raw vegan food when…
Well, we won’t ruin the surprise. Just watch below!
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Tagged: jason mraz
Nobody should feel like raw foodism is a logical extension of veganism or a logical extension of healthy diets.
The word “vegan” was coined by Donald Watson and his wife shortly after WWII to refer to people who believe it is wrong to use animals for our purposes.
Any health benefits from a raw diet can also be gotten by simply eating more produce:
- weight loss via increased bulk/fewer calories
- more vitamins and minerals from an increased vegetable intake
- a greater water intake via the increased produce intake
- decreased junk from not eating junk due to a conscious decision or simply not having room with the high fiber produce.
Some vegetables offer anti-cancer benefits eaten raw. Other vegetables offer similar and other benefits being cooked.
The idea that many raw food authors have that raw produce has some sort of living essence or magical enzymes the body would use if not destroyed via cooking contradicts basic biochemistry and is not supported by science.
The restrictions of raw diets also make it more expensive and more inconvenient to get adequate nutrition.
Nobody should feel like they are slacking on ethical eating or healthy eating if they can’t/don’t want to be raw.
Dr. Mercola’s take on raw foods (he eats nearly 90% of his food raw and says the enzymes are destroyed when cooked
Then again he eats some raw meat too..
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/05/22/cooked-food-part-one.aspx
E
Dr Mercola has also had at least 2 FDA warnings for using misleading claims when advertising his products. He’s not a credible source of information. Money accumulation seems his main goal. Claiming any product “virtually eliminates cancer” (as well as his other claims) is really preying on the vulnerable in my view just to sell product.
I not claiming that raw food isn’t excellent, just you chose a poor source to quote from, there are many who support raw food out there who don’t have quite such a tarnished reputation.
beforewisdom +1. i would like to add that regularly raw vegan nutritionist mention and perform animal tests to prove that raw foods are superior then cooked foods. besides being very unscientific, these experiments also show that there is no common raw food philosophy about not harming animals.
http://www.rense.com/general76/raw.htm
btw, raw food is delicious and healthy its a shame though it should be accompanied by a wacky theory, but i guess a health theory even incorrect is necesary to sell it well to the health obsessed.
damn , i am too honest.
Every dictionary in the world defines the word “vegetarian” properly. Yet, even educated people still think “vegetarians” eat fish and chicken. There are even free and online dictionaries a few keystrokes away.
In the same way, basic biochemistry books have taught people for centuries that the human body breaks down food into its basic components and then uses those components to make its own enzymes.
The human stomach is basically a pouch with acid in it.
Yet, raw foodists still believe that heating their food will destroy some magic essence (”enzymes”) that a human body can use.
Thankfully some raw foodists are coming off their island and trying to harmonize themselves with science and dropping their made up beliefs:
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/enzymes.html
If raw food diets make people feel better it is likely due to a decision to eat less junk and eat more produce.
The benefits from both of these decisions can be had without the expensive equipment, books and inconvenience of raw foodism
@herwin;
Thanks for the link. As I wrote, the word “vegan” refers to ethics. A person can eat a “vegan diet” but not be a “vegan”….someone who holds a particular ethical belief.
Raw foodism has nothing to do with veganism beyond some raw diets using exclusively vegan foods.
If there are raw foodists, as you say, doing animal experiments, those people are definately not vegans.
+1
The watchdog site quackwatch.com has a whole page on Dr. Mercola:
http://quackwatch.com/search/webglimpse.cgi?ID=1&query=mercola
I would also like to point out that the nutrients in some foods are more bioavailable when cooked. Cooked carrots are more easily digested than raw carrots, for one. Cooked tomatoes–even in sauces–enable one to better absorb lycopene.
That said, I do enjoy the occasional raw meal.
Most of us eat “raw” at some point during the day. Just as most of us eat “vegan” at some point during the day.
I got into the raw food movement for 6 months on Douglas Graham’s 80/10/10 diet, which basically consists of 80% fruit! Couldn’t deal with the sugar highs and lows. However, I felt amazing!!!! There is something to it. You think clearer, sleep better, more energy than you know what to do with and great nails, hair, skin etc.
Anyone that claims to be “super-raw” I tend to stay away from, because they are usually a little off … meaning high energy, high strung, high attitude. Not everyone, just a few crusaders. Do what you can, don’t eat animals, don’t harm animals or humans, and live your friggin life. Because if you die tomorrow, who gives a damn what your last meal was … What has your life consisted of up until that point? Love or the absence of love …