raw hope

This is an excellent posting by Dr. Mark Dedomenico about the whole “superjuice” thing. You know…acai, goji, noni, mangosteen, all those superfruits that will supposedly give you insane amounts of energy and cure all of your ills.

Honestly, doesn’t it just seem way more logical to eat something that’s fresh and locally grown? How could a fruit possibly maintain its antioxidant levels after the juice has been extracted, exposed to air, pasteurized, shipped across the world and then allowed to sit indefinitely in a warehouse or on a store shelf?

The ‘Superjuice’ Hype

Antioxidants can be found easily, and more cheaply, in your grocery store’s produce section.

Posted by Dr. Mark Dedomenico on Monday, April 13, 2009 4:20 PM

As a physician involved in the field of weight management, I attend many scientific conferences that are in some way related to exercise and nutrition. Most conferences have a special exposition section, where various companies set up booths to display and market their products.

At just about every expo I’ve walked through, there has been someone pushing a “superfruit” juice of some kind or another. Mangosteen, açai berry juice, you name it. I’ve probably been pitched the “greatest” juice 100 times.

When I walk past these super juice booths, the conversation goes something like this:

Pusher: “Hi.”

Me (trying to continue walking to avoid the product spiel): “Hi.”

Pusher: “Have you tried our Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius Juice? It’s made from a mixture of mangosteen, açai berry, and goji juice. It has one billion times the antioxidant capacity of an orange. A teaspoon will give you the same amount of antioxidants as 10,000 servings of fruits and vegetables.”

Pusher pushes a small Dixie-cup sample in my face, stopping me in my tracks. To appease the pusher, I take the sample and drink it. Inevitably, it tastes like a really dry red wine, without the alcohol. I try to restrain my face muscles from contorting.

Me: “Umm, thanks.”

Pusher: “Do you feel it? Do you feel any different?”

Sure. I’m starting to feel annoyed. And there’s an awful aftertaste in my mouth.

Pusher: “Ever since I started taking this, I can’t believe how much different I’ve felt. I have more energy, I have more stamina, I’ve lost weight, my cholesterol is lower, my blood pressure is down … I feel great! And my mom started taking this and her cancer went away.”

Me (thinking to myself): Will this juice help me lower my taxes too? Solve world hunger? Bring peace to the Middle East? Stop the proliferation of reality TV shows?

Pusher: “And it’s only $100 for a one-liter bottle. Imagine how much you would have to pay for 10,000 servings of fruits and vegetables.”

Imagine how much I would pay to leave this conversation.

Pusher: “Here’s a brochure showing all the benefits of our juice and how you can order it.”

Me: “Thanks.” (But I’m thinking, “No thanks.”)

While walking away, I look at the brochure. On the front page is a smiling face of a beautiful woman who is holding a glass of this juice. Yes, I’m sure the juice is what makes her look this way. And the brochures are filled with testimonials by people like “Greg” and “Judy” and “Sally” and “Richard”—all identified only by their first name. And there are references to scientific studies that, upon closer inspection, have little to do with the product.

Obviously my story has been exaggerated for effect, but you get the point. These “superjuices” are super hyped. The question is whether there’s anything to the hype. Choice Online, an Australian consumer watchdog group, looked into some of these juices and published their results. They tested the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of many of these juices, and compared them to the TAC of fruit that you can get at your local grocery store. A single serving of these juices only had 9 to 34 percent of the TAC of a Red Delicious apple! In fact, according to their tests, three servings of one brand of mangosteen juice would fall short of the TAC of a cup of berries!

So much for these juices being “super.” And the prices of these juices are ridiculous…$24 to $85 per liter or more. You’re better off eating the standard fruits and vegetables that you can get from your local supermarket.

The costs of these juices in terms of empty liquid-sugar calories that don’t fill you up far outweigh any benefit. Their benefits actually don’t match up to a plain old piece of whole fruit. With whole fruits, you’re getting the fiber and water that help fill you up, and about half the sugar as these so-called super juices. These juices just don’t have the same composition as the whole fruit or fruit components or extracts.

The bottom line is, rather than spending money on these expensive juices, you’re better off eating a variety of whole fruits and vegetables. Not only will you get more antioxidants, but you’ll also get the other benefits that juice can’t provide—fiber, for example. And at the same time you’ll be saving money while saving your health.

The other day, a friend who knows I am a raw foodist asked if I would be interested in preparing ‘a little extra’ of whatever I make for myself for lunch or dinner a few times a week, and selling the meals to her.  I think she was assuming that I prepare elaborate gourmet raw dishes for myself, but I explained to her that my diet is very simple, and includes mostly minimally prepared foods.  I did refer her to someone whom I thought could work with her and cater to her specific dietary needs.  

Lately raw food has become much more visible in mainstream society, and the people gaining the most visibility are usually the raw gourmet chefs and restaurants, as well as the ‘gurus’ who promote gourmet foods.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  Someone who has just discovered the raw food diet needs to see that there are enticing and delicious foods that can be created using raw ingredients.  It’s also really great to have some dining options so the raw fooder can maintain some semblance of a social life.  Greater exposure might also bring the raw vegan lifestyle to people who might not have considered it when it seemed more radical and ‘on the fringe’.  

But except for rare occasions, I tend to avoid fancy gourmet foods in my own daily diet.  

Raw restaurants are expensive, and when it comes to my own food preparation, I admit to being quite lazy.  I get occasional spurts of enthusiasm for trying a new recipe, but overall, I am not interested in becoming a raw gourmet chef.  I wouldn’t change my mind even if it didn’t involve buying lots of expensive equipment like food processors, dehydrators and grinders, or pricey exotic ingredients like lucuma, maca, mesquite powder, raw cacao, etc.   

I hate to clean up after preparing something, and I don’t have the patience to wait for my foods to dehydrate.  But even more importantly, most gourmet raw foods have very high concentrations of fat, sugar (yes, agave nectar and raw honey are concentrated sugars), sodium, or all three.  More often than not, nuts, avocado, coconut or a combination of the three are the primary ingredients.  And many contain soy products like nama shoyu or tamari, both of which are cooked products that contain MSG (nama shoyu is unpasteurized, but the soy is originally cooked before it is fermented) and are not at all healthy.  

In nature, it would be pretty difficult to eat such high concentrations of fat in one’s diet.  We likely wouldn’t have the time or the resources to extract our own oils from nuts and seeds, and it would be pretty difficult to even produce nut butters.  We’d have to shell each nut individually, which would slow down and lessen our consumption considerably, and they wouldn’t be readily available all year round.  Nuts don’t keep well, and have a propensity to go rancid shortly after they are shelled.  It also makes less sense to eat nuts and seeds when you think of it from a natural perspective.  Usually when we eat fruits, we are helping Mother Nature to disperse her seeds, so even more plants can grow.  It’s a symbiotic relationship in which plants and humans both benefit.  But when we eat the nuts and seeds, we take, but give nothing back in return, and nothing can grow from the relationship.  

As delicious as gourmet raw foods are, to my way of thinking, they are not really “raw”.  They are overly processed foods that are very far from their original state in nature.  You can’t pick a raw cheesecake off a tree.  You can’t harvest flax crackers from the nearest flax bush.  And why would anyone want to remove the water and the freshness from a food by dehydrating it?  I can understand sun-drying fruits to preserve them or to help you tote along some energy-sustaining calories on a long journey, but as a regular part of an everyday diet, gourmet raw foods don’t seem any more natural than their cooked food counterparts.   

I don’t want to come off like a food-Nazi.  But I do think that the longer one stays on a raw vegan path, the less attractive gourmet meals will seem.  This is not an overnight process, and can take months or even years.  It’s kind of like a natural progression that starts to happen as your body gets healthier and starts getting rid of all the old junk and toxins that you had stored away for so many years.  It’s like an internal light bulb goes on, and your body says “Hey, I want more of this healthy stuff!”  You will just start to intuitively know which foods are healthier for you.  But there’s no need to rush the process and torture yourself. 

Again, gourmet foods do have their place, and I think that they are particularly helpful for someone transitioning to a raw food diet.  When in a transition phase, it’s very important to be kind and forgiving to yourself, and not to stress yourself out or become obsessed with your diet.  I personally still consume much more fat than what is ideal, usually in the form of avocados and olives, but I am gradually tapering myself down to a lower percentage of my daily calories comprised by fat.  I’m taking things slow, and listening to my body.  Even when I consume raw foods that are less than optimal, I remind myself that I’m still way healthier than I was when I would scarf down pizza and pasta and caffeinated products on a regular basis. 

I try my best to be patient and positive in my outlook, and I know that eventually I will achieve and surpass my health and fitness goals.  

After all, optimal health is really what we are all after when we choose to go raw.  Isn’t it?

Nummy strawberry applesauce.  It’s fresh and organic.  Can’t beat that.