DISCLAIMER:
This is what I AM DOING.
I suggest nothing for you. This is my thing.
You must find your own truth.
Do the research and be safe.
Ive been thinking about writing this for a long time,
and just didnt know how to put things out there.
I can ruffle feathers for sure, but I think that is why
many people like to read this blog.
I'll give it to you honestly and with transparency.
Im ever-evolving...keeping my mind open to new discoveries
and not giving into prejudices as much as I used to...
The comment last week about juice feasting set me off,
and now I think I'm ready to put some of these ideas
to paper (um...I mean, the computer screen).
Blame Mr. Daniel Vitalis I suppose.
The guy broke open some doors for me about my thinking about veganism.
Such as my beliefs about consuming any animal products and whether or not we
should even be eating them, or if they are more of a tool to be used occasionally,
really came into question when I started to honestly look at the raw VEGAN scene.
Remember...we must never give into dogma, no matter what.
Truth must be our ultimate authority,
not the other way around.
And that goes for Raw Vegan authorities too...
don't believe its all that different.
I was a fervent worshiper at the temple
of Raw Veganism. I might as well have been
speaking in tongues and watching the 700 club. Seriously.
I was crazy...really disrespecting people
because they didnt eat the same way as me.
With raw veganism, it way more than a diet,
it way a complete identity for me. At least in the early stages.
I started to let the attachments go after a couple of years.
I wasnt thinking about food so much, just making smoothies and getting on with it.
Being in a relationship brought me off the edge too,
I was going out to eat more and socializing with work.
I sacrificed so much for my religion...I mean "my diet".
Far fewer friends and acquaintances, alienating and insulting too many relatives,
and always thinking about what I was going to make for my next meal.
If I didnt feel so amazing, I would have dropped it a long time ago.
I did become damn good at making food though.
Also, I was tired of being able to only hang out with raw-friendly people.
Not that there is anything wrong with them, but there are other humans
in the world that are fun to hang out with, despite their diets ;)
Not everyone wants to eat at Pure Food and Wine ALL THE TIME.
"Quintessence AGAIN?!" A friend would ask us this as we planned to meet up.
Dawn and I were visiting some relatives of mine in Minnesota last summer.
They were all eating homemade rhubarb pie.
We ate some almonds. LAME.
Do you see what Im getting at with this?
What are we giving up to maintain 100%? Is it REALLY worth it?
People email me asking how they can maintain 100% raw vegan all the time.
Why? Because someone told them it was better?
Because the idea of purity is so common in our scene?
Or maybe they felt so much better during a cleanse.
Someone told me so. And I believed it. And I lived it too...so it became MY truth.
I felt good, but then again, I was also exercising 2+ hours a day.
So...
Here is what I believe AT THIS MOMENT.
It may change, it may not. My mind is open,
and I am experimenting.
I feel that raw VEGETARIANISM is the answer (for me).
Raw VEGANISM is wonderful most of the time.
Anyways, Look at long-term strict raw VEGAN authorities.
Are they glowing? REALLY? Have you seen them in bathing suits?
If I looked like some of them, (and I will NEVER name names..)
I wouldn't feel comfortable at all telling people how to eat and live. No way.
My mom glows twice as much as some of them!
If you want to thrive, I think you have to add in some
animal products. Sorry everybody. But let's be logical here.
I'm not into eating flesh though.
The body just isnt made for it.
Its pretty obvious if you study anatomy,
but I'll leave that up to you.
If you want to do flesh (raw or cooked) or whatever, that is YOUR
path and I wish you well. Its very possible that you'll be
just fine if you play it safe and stick to decent portions and eat only grass-fed.
No flesh for me though...too much hurt.
Here is what I've added in lately, and surprise...
I feel GOOD.
Fermented goats milk...otherwise known as KEFIR.
I now LOVE this stuff. It is SO loaded with probiotics
that its a joke. When I drink it, something just feels so right.
I know there are lots of probiotics in Vitamineral Green,
but that is a green dust...where is the life in there?
When I drink the kefir, its teaming with bubbly life.
We've been making coconut kefir and ginger-pear kefir too,
and they are just amazing. Its beyond belief how good they taste,
and how good it feels to totally colonize my system with good bacteria.
Raw milk, and especially raw FERMENTED and grass-fed milk,
is a completely different food than highly pasteurized and homogenized
milk raised on corn and soy fodder. That stuff should not even be called
milk anymore, its totally misleading and denatured.
If I lived in MN full time, I would buy a goat. Serious.
Now...Im not drinking milk. Don't confuse.
Fermented dairy is a completely different food in my opinion.
The microflora have eaten all the lactose (sugars)
so what is left for me is their excrement (I know...super gross right?)
and their residues. This stuff is gold.
80% of our immunity is in our gut, and most raw vegans
think that they can get by on just greens and superfoods and fruit.
Our species has been eating fermented foods for...um...EVER,
and since we use refridgerators now, our guts are usually barren.
This is leaving us open to heavy metals, AUTISM, bad bacteria, and candida.
I've also added in organic pasture-fed eggs.
Usually cooked (Dawn freaks out when I eat the yolk raw)
but the raw yolk (for me) is AMAZING.
I wash the eggs with hot soapy water before, dry them off,
then crack them open. The slimy whites..no thanks. The yolk...yes.
Here was a big flaw in my thinking:
People who are fat and sick eat animal products...
Therefore eating animal products will also make me fat and sick.
Well...first off, they are eating WAY too much and very often sitting on their butts all day.
Here is the routine of modern homo industrialist-televisionist.
"Wake up...eat...drive to work...sit on butt all day...drive home...eat...go to sleep.
No wonder there are weight issues occurring here.
And second, those poor folks are consuming LOADS of processed starches.
And because of that, they are suffering from diabetes, cancer, brain-fog, and
CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
Forget about cholesterol. It has NOTHING to do with clogged arteries.
Its all about processed starches. They will irritate your circulatory system with
calcium phosphates...creating never ending inflammation.
Look into the work of David Wolfe, Dr David Jubb, and Dr Natasha Campbell McBride.
Seriously, youre better off eating grass fed meat than highly processed starches.
Again...sorry.
Look at all the overweight vegetarians.
Those poor souls are making so many sacrifices and still look...well...WAY less than optimal.
I'm eating a higher fat diet now, and I see veins all over my body.
I have very little body fat. When I would eat breads...I would get thick. Duh.
And all the while I was trying to stay away from the high fat stuff.
There are just so many opinions out there now,
and people have based their careers on statements
they may have made decades earlier, so how could they go back?
Is financial gain limiting progress for some?
Who to trust? I suggest looking at RESULTS first.
Here was another flaw in my thinking:
The great apes (gorillas, chimps, bonobos, orangutans)
don't eat animal products, so neither should us humans.
We were eating just leaves and fruits, right?
Well...NO.
Truth is, if you lived 8 million to 10,000 years ago, you would eat
anything that you could put into your mouth and swallow.
It was no time to be picky.
You want to eat au naturel? The way NATURE intended?
Here is a dish of termite larvae.
Here is a bird's nest that you just found...there are three eggs in there...dig in!
Here is a patch of wild berries. Not very sweet and lots of seeds, but too bad.
Here are some bones left over from a wolf's kill.
Crack open the bones with a rock and scoop out the marrow.
Gross? You want to survive or not? Again, no time to be picky.
Raw veganism is a VERY new dietary experiment for us on this planet.
Never EVER in the history of Earth did we exclude
all animal products. You think goji berries will change that?
The 80-10-10 people make me roll my eyes.
They love their fruit so much, but if they really wanted
to eat natural, they wouldnt touch modern fruit at all.
Its hybridized, over-sugared, and demineralized.
Another interesting thought:
So many people say that drinking the milk of another animal is unnatural.
I totally agree that its very odd that humans do this.
But maybe that is what allowed us to thrive and advance so quickly?
Chew on this one:
How many people in ancient history ate
cacao, goji berries, maca, and spirulina not only in one single day,
but in ONE SINGLE SMOOTHIE?
How natural is this raw vegan diet anyways?
Not natural at all really. But that doesnt mean that its bad.
Maybe we've reached the point in our evolution where we can make
the combinations occur to speed up our mental and physical evolution.
Many raw superfood vegans would like that argument, but not the dairy argument.
Chimpanzees even hunt and eat monkeys for heaven's sake.
They make tools to fish out termites.
Why dont vegans talk about that?
Sure, its easier to walk up on lettuce than a rabbit,
but what about ants? I know...I know...
Here is a snippet from H. Leon Abrams, Jr.
who is the Associate Professor Emeritus of Anthropology E.G.C.,
at the University System of Georgia.
Look at MOST male vegans.
Unless they are seriously adding in lots of superfoods,
and working out quite a lot like myself,
chances are that they are skinny and rather anemic. Its no wonder
the mainstream hasnt adopted the diet with these representatives.
I think its about balance. I eat a little cooked food now. Not large amounts,
but some...and somehow Im still ok! And guess what, Im not overburdened
with guilt or thinking about goddamned food all the time.
LIBERATION.
I can go to a birthday party and not worry
about what Im going to eat. I can go out with more friends now
and I don't have to answer questions about my diet or make
them feel disgusting for eating meat or whatever else.
My life is richer right now because of this.
Life is just far too short to be sooooo focused on food.
Im going to keep putting out recipes of course,
but I beg all of you to get on with life and leave the foodie mentality behind.
Is this the last refuge of the damned? Thinking about food all the time?
Have we nothing better to think about?
Loads of leafy greens, high quality fats like coconut, avocado, and hemp,
high quality proteins like bee pollen, hemp, leafy greens, and chia seeds,
and occasionally - fermented grass fed dairy or pasture raised eggs.
Unless you want to eat ants or some larvae? Ha!
Don't disconnect yourself from nature.
We are a part of the cycle, and all apes need a smidgen of some animal protein,
one way or another. Raw veganism works MOST of the time,
so don't get trapped in the ALL or NOTHING mentality.
We are better than that!
Our minds must remain limber...flexing with new information
and revelations. We must never stop evolving or questioning.
To thrive, it can be the only way.
-Anthony
This is what I AM DOING.
I suggest nothing for you. This is my thing.
You must find your own truth.
Do the research and be safe.
Ive been thinking about writing this for a long time,
and just didnt know how to put things out there.
I can ruffle feathers for sure, but I think that is why
many people like to read this blog.
I'll give it to you honestly and with transparency.
Im ever-evolving...keeping my mind open to new discoveries
and not giving into prejudices as much as I used to...
The comment last week about juice feasting set me off,
and now I think I'm ready to put some of these ideas
to paper (um...I mean, the computer screen).
Blame Mr. Daniel Vitalis I suppose.
The guy broke open some doors for me about my thinking about veganism.
Such as my beliefs about consuming any animal products and whether or not we
should even be eating them, or if they are more of a tool to be used occasionally,
really came into question when I started to honestly look at the raw VEGAN scene.
Remember...we must never give into dogma, no matter what.
Truth must be our ultimate authority,
not the other way around.
And that goes for Raw Vegan authorities too...
don't believe its all that different.
I was a fervent worshiper at the temple
of Raw Veganism. I might as well have been
speaking in tongues and watching the 700 club. Seriously.
I was crazy...really disrespecting people
because they didnt eat the same way as me.
With raw veganism, it way more than a diet,
it way a complete identity for me. At least in the early stages.
I started to let the attachments go after a couple of years.
I wasnt thinking about food so much, just making smoothies and getting on with it.
Being in a relationship brought me off the edge too,
I was going out to eat more and socializing with work.
I sacrificed so much for my religion...I mean "my diet".
Far fewer friends and acquaintances, alienating and insulting too many relatives,
and always thinking about what I was going to make for my next meal.
If I didnt feel so amazing, I would have dropped it a long time ago.
I did become damn good at making food though.
Also, I was tired of being able to only hang out with raw-friendly people.
Not that there is anything wrong with them, but there are other humans
in the world that are fun to hang out with, despite their diets ;)
Not everyone wants to eat at Pure Food and Wine ALL THE TIME.
"Quintessence AGAIN?!" A friend would ask us this as we planned to meet up.
Dawn and I were visiting some relatives of mine in Minnesota last summer.
They were all eating homemade rhubarb pie.
We ate some almonds. LAME.
Do you see what Im getting at with this?
What are we giving up to maintain 100%? Is it REALLY worth it?
People email me asking how they can maintain 100% raw vegan all the time.
Why? Because someone told them it was better?
Because the idea of purity is so common in our scene?
Or maybe they felt so much better during a cleanse.
Someone told me so. And I believed it. And I lived it too...so it became MY truth.
I felt good, but then again, I was also exercising 2+ hours a day.
So...
Here is what I believe AT THIS MOMENT.
It may change, it may not. My mind is open,
and I am experimenting.
I feel that raw VEGETARIANISM is the answer (for me).
Raw VEGANISM is wonderful most of the time.
Anyways, Look at long-term strict raw VEGAN authorities.
Are they glowing? REALLY? Have you seen them in bathing suits?
If I looked like some of them, (and I will NEVER name names..)
I wouldn't feel comfortable at all telling people how to eat and live. No way.
My mom glows twice as much as some of them!
If you want to thrive, I think you have to add in some
animal products. Sorry everybody. But let's be logical here.
I'm not into eating flesh though.
The body just isnt made for it.
Its pretty obvious if you study anatomy,
but I'll leave that up to you.
If you want to do flesh (raw or cooked) or whatever, that is YOUR
path and I wish you well. Its very possible that you'll be
just fine if you play it safe and stick to decent portions and eat only grass-fed.
No flesh for me though...too much hurt.
Here is what I've added in lately, and surprise...
I feel GOOD.
Fermented goats milk...otherwise known as KEFIR.
I now LOVE this stuff. It is SO loaded with probiotics
that its a joke. When I drink it, something just feels so right.
I know there are lots of probiotics in Vitamineral Green,
but that is a green dust...where is the life in there?
When I drink the kefir, its teaming with bubbly life.
We've been making coconut kefir and ginger-pear kefir too,
and they are just amazing. Its beyond belief how good they taste,
and how good it feels to totally colonize my system with good bacteria.
Raw milk, and especially raw FERMENTED and grass-fed milk,
is a completely different food than highly pasteurized and homogenized
milk raised on corn and soy fodder. That stuff should not even be called
milk anymore, its totally misleading and denatured.
If I lived in MN full time, I would buy a goat. Serious.
Now...Im not drinking milk. Don't confuse.
Fermented dairy is a completely different food in my opinion.
The microflora have eaten all the lactose (sugars)
so what is left for me is their excrement (I know...super gross right?)
and their residues. This stuff is gold.
80% of our immunity is in our gut, and most raw vegans
think that they can get by on just greens and superfoods and fruit.
Our species has been eating fermented foods for...um...EVER,
and since we use refridgerators now, our guts are usually barren.
This is leaving us open to heavy metals, AUTISM, bad bacteria, and candida.
I've also added in organic pasture-fed eggs.
Usually cooked (Dawn freaks out when I eat the yolk raw)
but the raw yolk (for me) is AMAZING.
I wash the eggs with hot soapy water before, dry them off,
then crack them open. The slimy whites..no thanks. The yolk...yes.
Here was a big flaw in my thinking:
People who are fat and sick eat animal products...
Therefore eating animal products will also make me fat and sick.
Well...first off, they are eating WAY too much and very often sitting on their butts all day.
Here is the routine of modern homo industrialist-televisionist.
"Wake up...eat...drive to work...sit on butt all day...drive home...eat...go to sleep.
No wonder there are weight issues occurring here.
And second, those poor folks are consuming LOADS of processed starches.
And because of that, they are suffering from diabetes, cancer, brain-fog, and
CORONARY HEART DISEASE.
Forget about cholesterol. It has NOTHING to do with clogged arteries.
Its all about processed starches. They will irritate your circulatory system with
calcium phosphates...creating never ending inflammation.
Look into the work of David Wolfe, Dr David Jubb, and Dr Natasha Campbell McBride.
Seriously, youre better off eating grass fed meat than highly processed starches.
Again...sorry.
Look at all the overweight vegetarians.
Those poor souls are making so many sacrifices and still look...well...WAY less than optimal.
I'm eating a higher fat diet now, and I see veins all over my body.
I have very little body fat. When I would eat breads...I would get thick. Duh.
And all the while I was trying to stay away from the high fat stuff.
There are just so many opinions out there now,
and people have based their careers on statements
they may have made decades earlier, so how could they go back?
Is financial gain limiting progress for some?
Who to trust? I suggest looking at RESULTS first.
Here was another flaw in my thinking:
The great apes (gorillas, chimps, bonobos, orangutans)
don't eat animal products, so neither should us humans.
We were eating just leaves and fruits, right?
Well...NO.
Truth is, if you lived 8 million to 10,000 years ago, you would eat
anything that you could put into your mouth and swallow.
It was no time to be picky.
You want to eat au naturel? The way NATURE intended?
Here is a dish of termite larvae.
Here is a bird's nest that you just found...there are three eggs in there...dig in!
Here is a patch of wild berries. Not very sweet and lots of seeds, but too bad.
Here are some bones left over from a wolf's kill.
Crack open the bones with a rock and scoop out the marrow.
Gross? You want to survive or not? Again, no time to be picky.
Raw veganism is a VERY new dietary experiment for us on this planet.
Never EVER in the history of Earth did we exclude
all animal products. You think goji berries will change that?
The 80-10-10 people make me roll my eyes.
They love their fruit so much, but if they really wanted
to eat natural, they wouldnt touch modern fruit at all.
Its hybridized, over-sugared, and demineralized.
Another interesting thought:
So many people say that drinking the milk of another animal is unnatural.
I totally agree that its very odd that humans do this.
But maybe that is what allowed us to thrive and advance so quickly?
Chew on this one:
How many people in ancient history ate
cacao, goji berries, maca, and spirulina not only in one single day,
but in ONE SINGLE SMOOTHIE?
How natural is this raw vegan diet anyways?
Not natural at all really. But that doesnt mean that its bad.
Maybe we've reached the point in our evolution where we can make
the combinations occur to speed up our mental and physical evolution.
Many raw superfood vegans would like that argument, but not the dairy argument.
Chimpanzees even hunt and eat monkeys for heaven's sake.
They make tools to fish out termites.
Why dont vegans talk about that?
Sure, its easier to walk up on lettuce than a rabbit,
but what about ants? I know...I know...
Here is a snippet from H. Leon Abrams, Jr.
who is the Associate Professor Emeritus of Anthropology E.G.C.,
at the University System of Georgia.
"One misconception about the gorilla diet is that it contains no animal products. On the contrary, all of the great ape groups take in some animal protein, whether overtly or inadvertently, by consuming insects, insect eggs and the larvae that nest on the plants and fruits they eat. In her pioneering work on chimpanzees, Jane Goodall discovered to her amazement, and to the amazement of the rest of the world, that chimpanzees kill and eat monkeys and make a tool to extract termites from their hills (homes), and that they went to considerable effort to obtain these foods. It is also significant that meat is the only food they share with other chimpanzees.
All monkeys, lemurs and apes are classified as vegetarians and/or fruitivors, but they consume a small amount of animal protein by unconsciously eating the small insects, their eggs and larvae on the plant foods they select to eat. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. tried to breed the near extinct fruitivorian South American golden marmoset in captivity with no result, but when a little animal protein was added to their diet, they began to breed, which proves that they require a small amount of animal protein to be healthy and reproduce."
Hmmmm......Look at MOST male vegans.
Unless they are seriously adding in lots of superfoods,
and working out quite a lot like myself,
chances are that they are skinny and rather anemic. Its no wonder
the mainstream hasnt adopted the diet with these representatives.
I think its about balance. I eat a little cooked food now. Not large amounts,
but some...and somehow Im still ok! And guess what, Im not overburdened
with guilt or thinking about goddamned food all the time.
LIBERATION.
I can go to a birthday party and not worry
about what Im going to eat. I can go out with more friends now
and I don't have to answer questions about my diet or make
them feel disgusting for eating meat or whatever else.
My life is richer right now because of this.
Life is just far too short to be sooooo focused on food.
Im going to keep putting out recipes of course,
but I beg all of you to get on with life and leave the foodie mentality behind.
Is this the last refuge of the damned? Thinking about food all the time?
Have we nothing better to think about?
Loads of leafy greens, high quality fats like coconut, avocado, and hemp,
high quality proteins like bee pollen, hemp, leafy greens, and chia seeds,
and occasionally - fermented grass fed dairy or pasture raised eggs.
Unless you want to eat ants or some larvae? Ha!
Don't disconnect yourself from nature.
We are a part of the cycle, and all apes need a smidgen of some animal protein,
one way or another. Raw veganism works MOST of the time,
so don't get trapped in the ALL or NOTHING mentality.
We are better than that!
Our minds must remain limber...flexing with new information
and revelations. We must never stop evolving or questioning.
To thrive, it can be the only way.
-Anthony
