Webster’s Dictionary- Raw
| 1. |
uncooked, as articles of food: a raw carrot. |
| 2. |
not having undergone processes of preparing, dressing, finishing, refining, or manufacture: raw cotton. |
As you can see, this is quite a broad definition. Nothing about this word implies “Wellness”. Sure, anyone who understands the underlying principles of a raw food diet, and has encountered various aspects of this practice understands that we are eating nothing but unprocessed whole foods. We are consuming food in the natural state in which it has been presented to us.
So if “raw” food really means natural, whole foods, wouldn’t it be more fitting to use “natural” or “whole foods” to describe such a diet and lifestyle. In my opinion those two phrases make much more sense than calling at a “raw” diet.
So why don’t we call it natural?
The word natural has already been put through the commercial ringer. It has been twisted, scuffed, blurred, deranged, and slanted more times than anyone could ever believe. The irresponsible and deceptive way that word has been used to sell products has removed all true meaning and integrity from it. We have been saturated with so much of this deceitful marketing that those of us who really care put very little stock into that word. Of course there are others who are happy to be able to buy products that are “natural” so that they can praise themselves for something that they haven’t actually done.
So why not “Whole Food”?
Whole food has been subject to the same manipulation as the word natural. A whole food is a food that has not been altered or integrally compromised. That is a great definition, and certainly a great way to eat. The paradox arises when thousands of “experts” begin teaching you “Whole Food” COOKING, or selling you “Whole Food” supplements.
Can you cook a whole food? Sure, but it surely is not whole once it has been cooked. Can you make a supplement from a whole food? Sure, but once you heavily process and refine that whole food to isolate the supplementary nutrient, you are left with anything but whole food. There is even a major store bearing that name in which you will only find truly whole food in the produce section.
This is the way in which whole food was stripped of its true meaning.
So now we are left with “raw”. And now we are seeing the word “raw” being destroyed just as its predecessors. The raw food movement is becoming a multi-level marketing, e-commerce, feeding frenzy.
People are being sold anything that could conceivably be considered “raw” without any regard for health and wellness. “Raw” has been subjectified such a degree that nearly any product can somehow be considered raw in some way by some obscure rationale.
Why don’t we question this assault on integrity? Well for one, it is such an unexplored area that so many people are just completely unaware of these things that some might see as obvious. Secondly, the raw food movement is cloaked under a certain amount of innocence due to the underlying philosophies of harmonious existence that the movement was founded on. Now you have ill informed profiteers who are infiltrating that bubble and are slipping under our radar.
And finally, the most common reason that this kind of manipulation is allowed to take place, is that we WANT to believe it. We want to believe that it is possible to change without actually changing. We want to believe that there are products we can buy that will magically make everything better. We like to be able to think and say that we are making big changes and living much better when in fact we have only been willfully deceived into believing this is true by the charlatans who we are giving our money to.
Are they doing it maliciously?
No, of course not. They believe it too because it is what THEY were sold. Now they have to go out and sell it themselves in order to make enough money to pay for it themselves. At the end of this lunacy, no one is really healthy.
Raw food, natural food, whole food, whatever you want to call it, is about eating what we were meant to eat. It is about questioning our habitual, social, and cultural diet habits. It is about intuition and critical thinking. What are we designed to eat? What form is most compatible with our bodies?
It is about a lifestyle and a philosophy.
Labels may be useful for the sake of discussion and debate, however they can easily be twisted and manipulated. It is far more important to focus on the goal than to get so caught up in sticking to a predefined set of rules implied by a subjective label. The Goal is WELLNESS. Is what you are doing only promoting overall wellness?
Forget about the labels and don’t take anything for granted. Be aware of your choices and why you are making them. It is sure to make the journey much less confusing.
