I wholeheartedly agree with the great majority of this book. I recommend buying it or borrowing it from your local library, as it is filled with valuable information, studies and anecdotes from real people that have achieved extraordinary results by eating a diet of mostly fruit. I consider it to be among the best health books on the market.
Here are just a few selected quotes:
Will eating raw make me healthy?
A proper raw diet will result in improved health, but I must emphasize that the body, not food, creates health. Food does not build; the body builds. Food does not cleanse; the body cleanses. Good health, after all, is the result of a healthy lifestyle.
The raw diet is but one component of healthful living. Adequate rest and sleep, regular, vigorous physical activity, plenty of fresh air, sunlight, a positive outlook on life, and many other factors are also essential to creating good health. (Page 239.)
“We propose that there is only one illness: toxemia, this is a condition of unclean blood and tissues, caused primarily by unchecked diet and lifestyle. Unchecked, toxemia and its attendant enervation (nervous exhaustion) get progressively worse over the years, leading to all manner of symptoms.” (Page 257.)
On Weight Loss
Dr. Graham tackles the popular issue of weight loss. When people switch to a diet that is exclusively raw, “the first dramatic change that people frequently notice is a rapid and dramatic loss of weight”. Since most Westerners are indeed overweight to begin with, most people are delighted with the change. Other folks see themselves getting too thin, and sometimes even mistakenly believe they are losing muscle.
“what actually happens…is that we lose so much of the padding (fat) around our muscles and also the fat marbled within our muscles. In addition, on a raw diet, we begin to lose the water that we once retained to dilute toxins. This water also added to the appearance of inflated muscles. Many people mistake this excess fat and water as part of their muscle.”
“No diet exists that results in muscle loss or muscle gain. If there were a diet that resulted in muscle gain, bodybuilders would be found in the kitchen instead of the gym. .. In spite of what we have all been told, consuming protein (or any other nutrient) will not assist the muscle-building process.” (page 148)
On page 156, Dr. Graham states that digestive, absorptive, or assimilative problems could contribute to unwanted weight loss in new raw fooders, yet he believes these to be the exception rather than the rule, and that these problems will quickly correct themselves when the person switches away from high-fat, cooked, processed and toxic foods unsuitable to our physiological design are moved from the diet. I can not argue with Graham’s extensive clinical experience, but I believe that digestive, absorptive, and assimilative problems are extremely common (although widely under-diagnosed) due to the cooking of food and the consumption of animal products.
If Dr. Graham mentions fasting in this book, then I missed it. It is understandable that Dr. Graham would not discuss fasting in a book on the opposite of fasting, eating. One of the main outcomes of a water fast is the elimination of intestinal plaque, which blocks the proper absorption of nutrients in the small intestine. Here is a video of Dr. Graham speaking on fasting to recover health:
(Dr. Graham discusses the benefits of fasting after 13 minutes.)