Below is an amazing testimonial of a woman who recovered from cancer on a mostly raw, fully vegan lifestile.
Many studies have proven the power of a whole foods, plant based diet. I feel a lot of people don't find success on a whole-foods, plant based diet because of extra restrictions they add on. For example, "low carb," "low fat," "no oils," "fully raw," etc. All of these rules are not necessary, since a whole foods plant based diet is already quite difficult in a world full of processed foods.
The following pyramid was created by "Doctors Beyond Medicine," and highlights a good diet plan for a healthy diet.
Dr. Elsworth Warham lived to be 104 and was a vegan for the vast majority of his life. He was an active heart surgeon and mowed his own grass until he was 100 years old. He promoted taking a B12 supplement.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell is a world famous scientist and author of "the China Study." He was born in 1934 and has been a vegan since 1990. In the following video he discusses the importance of a plant based diet in regards to overall human longevity.
In the following video, Dr. Dean Ornish discusses the positive effect a whole foods, plant based diet had on people fighting cancer.
Victoria Moran overcame many health problems and obesity by switching to a whole foods, plant based diet. In this video she provides some great insight as to beginning a plant based diet.
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Jay Kordich, "the Father of Juicing," says he beat a tumor in his bladder through juicing.
The next video is an amazing story of how Sarah Ramos claims to have reversed multiple sclerosis symptoms on a plant-based diet, with the help of plant based Doctor Brooke Goldner. Incidentally, Dr. Goldner has an amazing story as well, as she says she recovered from lupus on a plant based diet. This is especially incredible since she was given only six months to live by her doctor.
While many people thrive as whole food vegans, some don't because of deficiencies or other problems, and eventually add animal products back into their diets. If experiencing deficiencies even after supplementing with B12, Omega 3 DHA and vitamin D, free range eggs and grass fed yogurt are a good place to start.
However, I'm personally convinced that a whole foods vegan diet is possibly the healthiest diet for most people, as long as it is supplemented with B12, Omega 3 DHA and Vitamin D. I believe that a plant-based diet has undeniable benefits. Whether you choose to go vegan or mostly vegan, you will definitely appreciate the results!
In the "Blue Zones" study by National Geographic, Deborah Kotz from US News and World Report says that the Adventist church has one of the healthiest diets, and therefore one of the longest life expectencies. "It's pretty accepted now in the medical community - with all of the scientific research that's been looking at Adventists - that they live longer than their peers." On their website, the Adventist church recommends "A generous use of whole grains, vegetables and fruits; and a moderate use of low fat dairy products (or nutritional equivalent alternatives), legumes, and nuts; a very limited use of foods high in saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar, and salt; abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and coffee, tea, and other caffeinated beverages."
One study found that people who ate a plant-based diet most of the time "decreased their risk of developing heart failure by 42 percent over a four-year period compared to people who ate a plant-stingy diet" (Link).
In one study from 1999 Meta-Analysis concluded that "Lacto-ovo vegetarians (23,265 people) had a 38% reduced rate of dying from lung cancer, a 34% reduced rate of dying from heart disease, and a 15% reduced rate of mortality (Link).
Many studies have confirmed that eating fresh (raw), unprocessed whole foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables can dramatically improve your health. And so a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet is rich in fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, raw nuts, raw seeds and legumes. Because a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet also includes grass fed dairy and free range eggs, it is also rich in vitamin B12, Omega 3 (DHA),vitamin D, vitamin K2, vitamin A, iron and protein.When done correctly, a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet does not harm or kill any animals.
In addition to his salads, Hof's meal might include vegetable soup and pasta. "During the day, he drinks green tea, coffee, water, and snacks on fruit and nuts. He might sometimes enjoy a beer in the evening. His diet is low in calories and he engages in intermittent fasting" (Link).
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Dr. Ben Carson is the former American director of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as well as a world famous neurosurgeon. He is a 7th Day Adventist Christian and follows the vegetarian recommendations of the diet (Link).
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Long Term Raw Vegan Drops to 96 lbs.
Heals with Eggs and Dairy
After almost dying as a long-term raw food vegan, Matt Monarch added eggs and dairy back into his diet. As a raw vegan, he dropped to 96 pounds and almost died from a problem with colitis. Check out his story below!
Gandhi tried a vegan diet, but ultimately started drinking goats milk again because severe deficiencies threatened his life (Link).
Raw Goat Milk Heals 20 Year Vegan of Back Pain
John from http://www.okraw.com/ interviews Jeremy Saffron on how he healed a ruptured disc in his back by drinking raw goat milk and consuming other raw dairy products. In this episode, John visits 20 year long-term raw foodist at his 30 acre farm to share with you why a 20 year strict raw foodist would turn to eating raw dairy products for their benefits.
Medical Doctor and long-term raw foodist Stanley Bass switched from a vegan diet to a vegetarian diet after experiencing deficiencies.
"The solid proof of the great potential of this basic raw food vegetarian diet which has been proven successful with the mice, clearly indicates that humans now, for the first time, have a 100% raw food program which they may go on safely, free from all deficiencies.I know of no other raw food program in existence which is totally free from deficiencies at present...With the addition of raw egg yolk, and possibly raw milk cheese or Ricotta (or instead of cheese, a small amount of raw or steamed fish once or twice a week of about 3 1/2 to 4 oz. a serving), we should have an ultimate raw diet, or near one" (Link).
"Dr. Stanley S. Bass speaks on a Raw Vegetarian Diet."
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Dr. Robert Cassar doesn't eat meat, and he practices intermittent fasting daily. He recommends avoiding all alcohol and processed foods. Most of his diet is raw foods, with some cooked beans, avocados, olive oil, free range eggs and many other organic vegetarian foods. Dr. Cassar tends to recommend higher fat foods over higher sugar foods.
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"Nazariah"
"I’m 46 now and I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 17. At that age, I not only became a vegetarian but also a raw foodist. I included raw dairy into my diet because I had met an elderly Essene teacher who recommended that. Historically, that used to be the Essene diet. The Essenes, for the most part, were not vegans. They were vegetarians and many of them were raw foodists, but they ate fermented dairy products such as yogurt and kefir. So that was my diet was for 7 years. During that time, I did great — no problems at all.
Then, when I had moved to another location, I became very attracted to the vegan philosophy, because it is a beautiful philosophy. I then became a raw vegan.
After 5 years on a raw vegan diet, I lost the ability to walk. All of my extremities — my hands, my fingers and my feet — were in such pain that I couldn’t move. I had central nervous system problems and I was B12 anemic. All of that happened after 5 years on a raw vegan diet.
So I switched back to eating the raw fermented dairy products. At that point, being as nerve-damaged as I was, I also included eggs. I healed myself by reintroducing those products." (Link)
In his words, Nazariah now says that the world's healthiest diet is... "A vegetarian diet that’s not a junk food vegetarian diet — but one based good, whole, organic foods.
The healthiest diet would have one meal a day that is a raw vegetable salad — a major vegetable salad, not a little iceberg lettuce, but with romaine lettuce, broccoli, etc. — a real heavy-duty salad.
Another meal would be cooked and feature things like steamed veggies, or a stir-fry, so it would have a lot of cooked vegetation in it.
A third meal simply would be fruit, like a fruit breakfast or a smoothie.
In there, somewhere, you’ve got to get your protein. So either with your salad, or with your cooked meal, you want to have yogurt or kefir, or hard-boiled eggs on your salad, or something.
Could that be beans?
It can some days, but if it were going to always be that, then that would be vegan, and the whole point of everything I’ve just told you is that it seems that the vegan diet isn’t beneficial in the long-term. If a person were going to be a vegan, they could be having some tofu, tempeh, or some sort of a bean-type protein with their steamed veggies. That diet would be a healthy vegan diet, as far as vegan diets go. But what I’m saying is that the latest research is that the vegan diet itself is deficient in the long-term" (Link).
After serious B12 deficiency and desire to avoid long-term B12 shots, long-term raw vegan adds animal products back into diet:
In the below video, Natasha St. Michael details how a vegan diet left her severely B12 deficient. So she is now eating animal products such as fish and eggs on a daily basis, though she is still eating many raw fruits and vegetables. She stated in other videos that she only eats meat because she has no access to dairy.
Some People Thrive as Vegans. Others Don't
Many studies, such as the China Study, have suggested that the world's healthiest diet is a whole foods vegan diet. Today, we also have healthy examples of long-term vegans such as Karen Calabrese, Jay Kordich, Lou Corona, Dr. John McDougall and Dr. Gabriel Cousens (link). However, on a vegan diet, some supplements are essential - especially B-12. Yet some people don't absorb B-12 supplements well and ultimately add milk and eggs back into their diet simply to survive. A lacto-ovo vegetarian diet is a predominately plant-based diet, yet includes grass fed dairy and/or free range eggs for B12, omega 3, protein, vitamin D, etc.
Note: I promote eggs and dairy only as a backup plan to a vegan diet. I believe that eggs and dairy are healthy only when they are free from factory farming and raised in a natural, humane way. Vegetarianism has a rich history throughout the world, especially in India, and can even be ethical in my opinion, especially when compared with the meat industry (Link). That being said, I think it's easier to find humane eggs than humane dairy, simply because unfertilized eggs will never hatch. If these eggs aren't eaten, they will simply absorb into the soil and provide fertilization for plants.
