Sects are either smaller church organizations that elevate a secondary issue to the main position or they have a philosophically or politically “narrow” group of followers. Each sect acts in its own way.

Similar situations arise in the case of many ambiguous types of nutrition. Intentional or belief-based “otherness” is created — usually by skillfully written and convincing books that only look at one side. Such authors also confuse secondary issues with the main issues.

A person who eats a “normal” diet and has never read much on the topic of nutrition may consider raw foodists to be in this category.

Beware of books that include subtitles similar to this one: Die einzige Methode die an der Ursache für Fettsucht und Übergewicht ansetzt und diese für immer beseitigt (The only method that addresses the cause of obesity and adiposity and eliminates it for good.)

There are thousands of cookbooks and books on the subject of diet.

Older books can be found at bargain prices at flea markets, second-hand stores, thrift stores, and used bookstores or at higher prices in antiquarian bookstores. You will find the most incredible special diets.

Once you are done reading, you practically won’t be able to eat anything anymore.

© CC-0 1.0, FreePhotosART, Pixabay

For all diets:

We have known since 2005 that many more people suffer from gluten sensitivity than was previously thought. A food intolerance that is identified early on is not a problem, but then it is very important to cut these foods out of your diet.

Digestive troubles (malabsorption) often show up as temporary bloating (meteorism, flatulence, or indigestion).

Botanically speaking, pseudograins such as amaranth (also Amaranthus cruentus and Amaranthus caudatus), quinoa, white goosefoot (all Amaranthaceae), and buckwheat (polygonaceae) are not grass seeds. These are therefore good substitutes for those who have a gluten intolerance, such as celiac disease.

An increasing number of children and adults cannot consume gluten or casein (in dairy products) and therefore eat a gluten-free and casein-free diet (GFCF diet).

People with autism, ADHD, and certain other disorders should strictly avoid dairy and grain products.

Unfortunately this fact is not very well known. But the difference is huge! See also this book review on "Die Ernährungslüge" (The diet lie).

According to Wikipedia, between 3 and 15 % (depending on the test) of the general population have antigliadin antibodies (AGA), which are associated with an idiopathic gluten sensitivity (GS, nonceliac gluten sensitivity, NCGS, and gluten intolerance).

It must mean something if an article on Wikipedia (German version) contains the comment that a recent publication even asks the question of whether wheat is actually healthy for anyone at all. The publication appeared in 2006.

It wasn’t until 2006 that scientists were able to determine whether someone was suffering from gluten-sensitive enteropathy (GSE). This is a precursor of celiac disease (sprue), and celiac disease can now be avoided through early detection of GSE and appropriate diet changes.

Just this fact alone makes it obvious that trendy diet books will lead you astray. The issues are much more complex.

As long as the issue of the supply of vitamin B₁₂ for vegans is not entirely clarified, I understand that some vegans eat fish every now and then.

There are supposedly also people who are antipescetarians.

As a vegan raw foodist, I first ate a very strict diet for seven years, but then decided to eat raw fish occasionally in order to “be on the safe side” in regards to vitamin B₁₂.

It was not because of iodine, vitamin A or E, or the now much-touted omega-3 fatty acids because you get plenty of these if you are eating a balanced raw food diet.

It was because of the vitamin B complex, which you can also get by the way of regular dry yeast or nutritional yeast — although these do not contain enough vitamin B₁₂.

I will discuss the problems concerning vitamin D and B₁₂ later in more detail. Nutritional yeast is actually not a raw food; it is yeast that has been inactivated by heat.

A very incomplete list (from 2001): actress Lil Dagover, author Karl Heinz Deschner, theologian Eugen Drewermann, inventors Thomas A. Edison and Albert Einstein, actor and independent scholar O.W. Fischer, singer Nina Hagen, author Lotte Ingrisch, singer Michael Jackson, authors Franz Kafka and Manfred Kyber, singer Madonna, musicians Paul and Linda McCartney, singer-songwriter Reinhard Mey, poet Christian Morgenstern, pianist Elly Ney, politician Madeleine Petrovic, authors Volker E. Pilgrim, Romain Rolland, and Jean Jacqes Rousseau, actress and author Barbara Rütting, theologian, organist, philosopher, and physician Albert Schweitzer, and writer and Nobel laureate Isaac B. Singer.

On the website [vegetarier.at], we can find a list that includes many more celebrities from the entertainment and media industries who are vegetarian or at least close to it: Dirk Bach, Kim Basinger, Elizabeth Berkley, Linda Hair, Blümchen, Doris Dörrie, Amelia Fried, Richard Gere, Woody Harrison, Elke Heidenreich, Chrissie Hynde, Stephie Kindermann, Katja Lührs, Stella McCartney, Stephanie Philipp, Kate Pierson, Shania Twain, and David Wilms.

Specialized hospitals and treatment centers assist people with special diets. In most cases, you would be accompanied by diet assistants (dieticians, nutritionists, and nutrition experts) and surrounded by medically trained personnel.

At a specialized clinic, nutrition experts and cooks tend to make food that is more interesting and varied than you would do so at home as a beginner. And in most cases, you will also find reading material on the subject, like-minded people, and ideas for your undertaking. However, it is important to note that institutions are different as many focus on a certain type of raw food.

Some institutions may offer a very special type of raw food and look down on any other types of raw food diets.

Cancer prevention through diet is not very well known. Nevertheless, Wikipedia includes some interesting facts:

• Increased fiber intake reduces the risk of colorectal cancer. Even an increase in the daily amount of fiber from 15 to 35 g reduces this risk by 40 %.

• High consumption of meat (red meat) increases the risk of intestinal cancer while fish consumption significantly reduces this risk. For every 100 g of red meat consumed, the risk of intestinal cancer increases by 49 %. In the case of sausage, it increases up to 70 %. In contrast, for every 100 g of fish consumed, the risk for this disease is cut in half.

• Eating 80 g of fruits and vegetables every day reduces the risk of mouth, throat, larynx, and esophagus cancer by 9 %. This effect holds true up to a threshold of 300 g per day. Larger quantities apparently do not further reduce the risk of the disease.

• Eating an increased amount of butter, margarine, processed meat, and fish, together with a lower amount of bread and fruit juices, increases the risk of breast cancer.

In the German version, of course, there is a relativization in which only certain studies of the "European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition" (EPIC) 2010 are selected.

For example, the British animal rights group PETA opposes the consumption of milk in a very militant way [milksucks.com]. Using comical postcards, the organization says that milk makes you fat, creates allergies, and is loaded with hormones and pollutants [FACTS 20.9.01-117].

Their website is even more interesting. The pages point to numerous international studies showing the relationship between high milk and animal product consumption and various diseases. Prominent studies show the same clear connection.

The reasons for this are quite obvious. I will explain these in other articles as well. If you are familiar with this topic and look in Wikipedia under osteoporosis (link above), then you will realize how shamelessly the industry works in conjunction with “Big Medicine” to keep this matter under control. For example, in April 2014:

A calcium intake of about 1 g per day significantly contributes to prevention of osteoporosis. (base therapy DVO) [Dachverband Osteologie e.V., umbrella association for German-speaking osteology organizations]. One gram of calcium is contained in a liter of milk or 100 g of hard cheese. In addition to dairy products (especially milk and yogurt), green vegetables such as kale and broccoli are also very good sources of calcium. Anyone who does not drink milk or eat cheese should take 800 mg of calcium in tablet form daily.

This angers those who know how harmful dairy products are for osteoporosis. The patients continue to suffer. See also this book review on the harmful effects of milk.

On the English version of Wikipedia, everything concerning milk and dairy products was removed a long time ago. Vitamin D consumption is mentioned, but the associated health benefits are not addressed.

The “living foods” movement by Dr. Ann Wigmore is one of the types of raw food vegan diets. From 1960 to 1990, she built up this “living foods lifestyle” in Boston, Massachusetts. She died in 1994 at the age of 84 in an accident (suffocation by fire). Before her death, she had opened a number of institutions. One of them is located in Puerto Rico and is still in operation today.

Ann Wigmore pointed out that there were instructions on how to sprout seeds to eat as early as 3000 BCE in China and that Hippocrates’ teachings about 400 BCE were similarly inclined. Other Americans founded further types of raw food movements.

In Germany, for example, there is a group of vegan raw foodists called the Sonnenköstler (raw foodists who eat fruit) and also a group called the Urköstler (raw foodists who eat fruits and vegetablest that are wild or at least fresh and in the most original form possible) founded by Franz Konz.

Most vegan raw foodists do not follow specific rules or have additional restrictions. There are however also people who want to live only on a few types of fruits or vegetables or reject certain types of vegan food.

I cannot be the judge of whether this type of diet is sufficiently varied and balanced. But for the above groups I can provide an assessment — that is as long as the diet is varied, balanced, sufficient in terms of quantity, and doesn’t diminish your state of health.

Enzyme weaknesses or problems with your digestive tract because of major operations may cause you to have limitations, and a different approach may be required.

In the 1980s, I helped a 35-year-old Austrian entrepreneur with his Breuss treatment as I was selling organic produce from my farm in Tenerife. In Austria, there were no longer any options with conventional medicine, and he knew what this meant for malignant melanoma.

Quite against my advice, he then resumed his rather indulgent lifestyle. As I expected, the disease returned after several months, and he died about a year later.

He stubbornly believed that this treatment had healed him for good and he was a man of faith, but in my opinion he wasn’t realistic enough. This became obvious from an incident where he once received orange juice instead of water with a little lemon juice and then drank the juice. However, afterwards he came to me full of remorse and asked what he should do now. I advised him to simply add another day to the treatment regimen because I knew he would otherwise doubt that he could be cured.

Furthermore, even when he had a relapse, he didn’t follow my recommendation of going back to a strictly vegan raw food diet. He even laughed at me because he so strongly believed in this treatment.

For no special reason, I decided to try this treatment regimen out myself in 2006, but stopped three days short of completing it because of my full workload. I gave it up early because I could not even provide my own very simple phone number during a phone call.

An example of that would be the Waerland diet (and Kruska, type of porridge) created by Are Waerland. He recommends trying to eat primarily grains. Kollath, Oshawa, Bruker, and others recommend grains as well.

However, I do recommend cutting out certain types of grains. Many people suffer from celiac disease (sprue) or a gluten intolerance, and not without reason.

At the beginning, I didn’t include any wheat in my Erb Muesli. I did so even before Gustav Gattiger, the head of the Waerland movement in Switzerland who ate the Waerland diet died of cancer. He was however over 80 years old. The question is was it “despite or because of the grain-based foods” [234-20].

The measuring units for diabetics are called bread units (BU) for a good reason.

Even in raw form, grain is still too new to be used in such quantities. At the beginning, in particular, I recommend simply eating a “basic and abundant raw food diet.”

These kinds of raw food diets are mainly based on writers from the 1960s and 1970s. Here is a list of only those authors whose names begin with the letter “A”:

Aehnelt, Alexandrov, Alfen, Allinger, Altschüler, Asimov, and Aurich to show you just how many authors concerned themselves with “esoteric views” or “living macromolecules” (LM) during that time.

In the German-speaking countires, Dr. rer. nat. F. A. Popp was the main proponent of the LM concept. He popularized his postulated biophoton theory [90] (photon) in various publications and books from 1974 to 1979.

Popp dealt primarily with the question of how cancer formation is initiated (carcinogenesis). He probably takes up H. P. Rusch’s views from publications that appeared in 1947. Ostertag’s bibliography [33] lists about 400 publications — many of which are on these issues.

This is what the Buddhists meant with their writings about aura (energy body), which anthroposophists focus on. Professor F.A. Popp wrote a book on the topic.

This aura is supposed to be particularly strong in wild plants. Fresh organic products come in second. Plants that are contaminated with pesticides and artificial fertilizer residues emit a significantly lower number of photons. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this type of raw diet, to the contrary. However, my goal is to help you make a change in a relatively simple way. You can always try more difficult forms later.

Unlike the majority of herbivores, we do not have the enzymes (cellulase) in order to get enough energy out of grass, stems, leaves, and bark [234-8].

The following statement comes two pages later: For decades now, experts and laboratory scientists have not tired of warning people about protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin B₁₂ deficiencies that a raw food diet causes, although many animals around us almost exclusively eat only grass or leaves. Is this then a “positive book” as the author proclaims in bold print one section above?

The author seems to forget that animals are exclusively grazers and browsers have developed a digestive system that functions in a completely different manner. They use certain substances from grass. However, humans and other animals do not have this ability.

And, if necessary, these animals eat soil or even feces as they contain a lot of vitamin B₁₂. The issue of vitamin deficiencies, including vitamin D, mainly affects the elderly.

Nevertheless, I don’t want to ruin interesting reading for you as this diet also has its place.

Wandmaker also includes reasons why it would be very advantageous for us to refrain from eating certain grain products. However, I find too many remarks in his writing that are questionable or do not set a good example, such as: A man from Florida ate only oranges for six years [234-32].

This is neither verifiable, nor do we know what happened to this person later in life.

Wandmaker writes, The exclusive fruit diet was rediscovered at an early point in time, for example, by Dr. Victor Pauchet, in 1909 in Paris and Professor Jaffa, in California, who undertook a seven-year trial with Chinese and attained amazing results.

Many advocates of this diet came before him, including Essie Honiball and Dr. Carrington.

Wandmaker also suggests eating kelp or seaweed products as was recommended by Dr. Norman W. Walker [234-216] since these contain the entire spectrum of nutrients of the sea.

He stressed that Walker lived to be 116 years old. Wikipedia stays that he lived from 1886 to 1985, which is still 99 years.

Here I must mention that I was at several organic grocery stores in California in 1972 and they already seemed like a health store and pharmacy in one. A large portion of what they offered consisted of dietary supplements. At the time, I wasn’t interested in raw food, but in a “healthy diet that included a lot of raw organic fruits and vegetables” and I bought several things.

However, I did wonder, “Why are they consuming so many artificial products if they want to eat as naturally as possible?” Unfortunately, this absurd trend also became established in Europe. An entire industry is expanding into an area where it doesn’t belong.

Several authors promote this trend or accept it without question. But certainly nature still provides us with what we need after we change our eating habits so long as we primarily eat natural products that have been produced using only natural fertilizers. We should however make sure we get enough iodine as glaciers have left many areas with soil that contains too little iodine.

See selenium deficiency. Vegans usually do not have to worry about selenium (which is essential) if they occasionally eat a Brazil nut.

A Brazil nut weighs 3 g on average and contains about 60 µg of selenium since 100 g of Brazil nuts contain between 0.8 mg/100 g and 8.3 mg/100 g of selenium — 1.9 mg/100 g on average.

The glutathione peroxidase activity in the blood serum (GPX 3) reaches its maximum value when the daily intake is about 1 µg per kilogram of body weight. However, for the optimal concentration of the transport protein selenoprotein P in the blood serum, a much higher intake (see also selenocysteine, L-selenocysteine) is needed. In general, a supply of 30 to 70 µg of selenium per day is sufficient. Deficiency symptoms have been found at 10 µg and below.

Volcanic soils are deficient in selenium. Regions with a low content of selenium in the soil include parts of Scandinavia, China, and New Zealand. Malabsorption and medications may also be the cause of a selenium deficiency.

See Wikipedia (German version): Diseases caused by a lack of selenium are seen only in areas with an extremely insufficient supply of selenium such as North Korea and Northeast China as well as a few other specific countries. In our part of the world, generally only preterm infants, patients receiving parenteral nutrition, and alcoholics can develop a selenium deficiency. ...

A critical evaluation published in "Pharmainformation" (medical journal in Austria) in June 2005 stated that the studies currently available could provide no evidence that taking additional selenium would be of any benefit in any context. ... This study did however show an increased incidence of prostate cancer in patients taking vitamin E and increased development of diabetes when additional selenium was taken. ... A high concentration of selenium in the blood is correlated with a higher risk of developing diabetes.

Selenium is highly toxic in higher concentrations. And the range between concentrations that cause deficiencies and toxic concentrations is very small.

If possible, you should not take selenium supplements because this significantly increases your risk of diabetes. A selenium intake of more than 3'000 µg/d can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, hair loss, and heart failure.

If a person consumes 400 µg/d regularly, this can cause poisoning symptoms.

Consuming a sufficient number of calories is the main challenge of a strict vegan diet. Manual laborers may very well find it difficult to get the calories they need. However, see information about Ironman Triathlon pro Brendan Brazier, who is vegan.

And at last, even the field of nutritional science has discovered that we can live on plant-based foods alone. And many people have since proven that this is possible, in particular, those who have eaten a vegan diet for religious reasons.

For 2'500 years now, certain Jain followers have spent their entire life eating a vegan diet. The question that remains is whether this is advantageous or disadvantageous. I would like to learn more about the results.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, this fact was not widely known. And people are still stuck in the “carrot-plus-fat thinking” (beta-carotene) and in the “egg-plus-potato thinking” (biological value of protein) even though these findings were disproven some time ago.

This value of protein only holds true as a total and over time, that is if a person doesn’t eat whole foods for a longer period of time, but instead eats an unbalanced diet.

Under the same circumstances, a discussion can end with entirely different conclusions. This is because the goal of the discussion often determines the outcome.

Certain foods are not intended for us to consume in raw form because they contain toxins. But these poisons change to innocuous substances when they are heated (e.g., in beans). Other substances, such as starch, are more digestible when they are heated. Starch is found mainly in rice (89 %), potatoes (82 %), cassava (77 %), barley (75 %), and wheat (74 %).

Unfortunately, doctors today speak of carbohydrates when they mean starch. Every plant provides carbohydrates, but in a form that is easier for humans to consume. This is an example of how even well-educated people can be completely misled by fads.

In 20 years, when the current findings are the mistakes of the past, some things may again be completely different. ...

Sashimi, the most well-known raw fish here, is raw fish cut into pieces and served with lettuce, radish, and/or raw vegetables. The type of fish used is usually tuna, a large predatory fish, or yellowtail amberjack, (also called seriola lalandi, dorado, and seriole chinchard), salmon, swordfish, or mackerel.

There are more seafood dishes popular with those on cooked food diets, (in raw or cooked form) such as oysters, soft-shell clams, abalone, shrimp, scallops, Pandalus borealis, conger eel, and squid. They are rarely served as sashimi.

The Atlantic herring is probably the most widely eaten fish in the Western world. Salt herring and matie are mostly eaten raw.

The second time I was on a raw food diet I did eat a raw steak tartare once from an organic farm. It was tasty, but a little hard to digest. I then attempted to eat organic meat a second time but no longer enjoyed it. I found the meaty taste to be repulsive or maybe it wasn’t actually organic meat.

Since then, meat has been a taboo for me. This is also because I have a certain reverence for animals. There are probably only very few people on a raw food diet who advocate eating meat. An exception here is Guy Claude Burger, a Swiss national living in France. His views seem to be a mixture of very good and unfortunately very questionable approaches.

He does however thoroughly cover good reasons for eating a raw food diet, which is why I recommend a critical review of his book and wrote a summary (German only) of his main ideas. After reading my book review, you will know which of Burger’s instinctotherapy approaches I don’t accept and which I do.

Mett is also made into sausage, as a raw meat sausage.

Other manufacturing processes produce either Brühwurst (scalded sausages) or Kochwurst (precooked sausage) (see Category: Sausages).

The basis for these classifications of sausage is the manufacturing process and not the way they are consumed. The raw sausage is either eaten fresh or undergoes a maturation process of drying, marinating, and lactic-acid fermentation or smoking. Cold-smoking takes longer as it takes place at temperatures between 15 to 25°C.

Raw sausage is also served as a meat paste, for example, Teewurst. Wikipedia: Sliceable raw sausages are typically the longer-aged, summer sausages such as Ahle Wurst, Landjäger sausage, salami, chorizo and saveloy. This sliceable raw sausage is usually eaten raw by the consumer.

The Swiss brühwurst Cervelat is traditionally not made with raw meat.