Building a Movement by Alex Ortner

February 26, 2009 by admin
Filed under Updates on the Movement

Alex Ortner

The other day I was driving through the center of my home town of Bethel, CT, with a population of less than 19,000 and in a strip of less than a mile I passed 6 pizza places. When I got home I went on google and looked up “pizza – Bethel, CT” and found that there were in fact 10 pizza places in the town. I couldn’t help but think to myself, what if those were all raw food restaurants?

How much easier would eating raw foods be for you if you replaced every pizza place in your local area with a raw food restaurant? Personally, I’d be ecstatic if it was even 50%-50% in my town. With the lack of resources available it’s no wonder that many people say that going raw is hard. It’s not easy driving past 6 pizza places after a long day of work to come home and prepare food raw food.

Now for you the pizza place might not be the challenge. Maybe it’s the fast food place, or the Chinese restaurant, or the Italian restaurant. Whatever it is you get the point. Lots of options for eating junk food…few options if any for eating healthy food. In my town of Bethel, CT we had one natural food store for a couple of years but then it went out of business. Now I have to drive about 20 minutes to go to a small store that has a very limited selection.

And it’s not just about restaurants either. In my grocery store 90% of the store is processed junk and the other 10% has living foods but most of it is not organic. There’s just a little 10 feet long area for organics. It’s no wonder that people buy junk food in grocery stores. There’s just more to choose from!

It’s easy to understand why many people have a hard time going raw. But here’s the thing…it’s not about the food. If you think that you can’t go raw because you just like cooked foods too much it’s not about that. That’s just what you’re used to. It’s what you’ve seen your whole life, it’s what’s advertised on TV, it’s what your friends are likely eating, it’s just what you think is “normal.”

Imagine what it would be like if when you drove home you saw 6 raw food restaurants and 2 large organic food grocery stores? Would you be as worried about eating raw foods or would you be thinking “Should I go to the raw pizza place, the raw burger place, the juice place or should I just pick up some healthy food at the organic grocery store?” If you’re like me it’s probably the later one.

I know what you’re thinking…”come off of cloud 9 and come back to the real world because it’s not happening.” Well I say…”Why not?” Ok, so maybe it won’t be all raw food but what if it was half and half. I wouldn’t mind having 5 pizza places in my town and 5 raw food restaurants. I’d at least have some choice.

So how do we get there? How do we get from being a fast food nation to a health food nation? I’ve asked myself this question numerous times over the last few months and I always come to the say conclusion. We have to grow a movement for change.

A movement for change…I know what you’re thinking…”Who are you…Barrack Obama?” I don’t mean to jump on the bandwagon but building a movement is what we need right now. It’s exactly because of this political environment that we have to act now. People want change and healthcare reform is one of the areas that needs it the most. The real healthcare reform that this country needs is to get off all of the unneeded drugs and unhealthy food and go back to eating real food.

This requires all of us coming together for a cohesive movement. We have to stop the bickering between “fruit is better” and “veggies are better” and “superfoods are the way” and remember that any of these options are better than what most people are eating. We have to unite to bring new people into the movement and open up people’s consciousness to the fact that what they’re eating on a daily basis is making them sick and unhappy.

That’s why in January of this year I started the Movement to Reverse Diabetes Naturally (RDNmovement.com). I figured that to have a successful movement you also need a cause. People have a tough time joining something unless there’s some emotion behind. I didn’t want to just make it about raw food, we need something more tangible that people can grab on to (especially the media) to make them realize that we are what we eat. Trying to eliminate diabetes when there are 246 million diabetics is a strong cause. And out of all of the major health issues to deal with I think it’s the one that is easiest to prove medically.

So why should you get involved if you’re not diabetic? First off, because it just feels good to be able to help another person. It’s an amazingly fulfilling feeling when you hear about somebody who came off of their drugs, has lost weight and feels hopeful about their future again because you helped them. Try it, it’s a powerful feeling.

Secondly, because the more demand you can create for raw foods the more resources will become available for YOU in your area. And diabetics clearly aren’t going to be the only ones that hear about the movement. It’s much easier to approach your local community, or your town representatives or your local businesses if you say that it’s about a cause then just about raw food. It’s much harder for them to say no when it’s about healing sick people. When you can show them that raw food can reverse one health issue then they’ll be open to learning about how it can help others.

So how do you get involved? How can you help grow the movement?

Step 1 – Step up as a Leader in Your Community

Being a leader doesn’t mean you have to become a raw food speaker or chef and put all your efforts into it. It just means taking some simple steps and becoming active in your community.

Participate in a local raw meetup group, invite others to participate and share in your knowledge to help build more demand in your area. Share what you know (but don’t push it on others). Online communities such as the RDN Movement community are great places to connect with others as well.

Step 2 – Share Real Life Educational Resources You Have With Others

I believe that we can’t just tell people how to eat differently, we need to show them through real life examples. That’s why we made the film “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days.” We realized that just having resources that told people why raw food was important wasn’t enough. People can ignore that. But it’s hard to argue that raw food doesn’t make a difference after you watch 6 diabetics make huge changes because of it, losing weight, coming off of insulin and other drugs and just generally feeling better.

What we wanted to create was that “aha” moment where people would say “maybe I should learn more about raw foods.” We knew that that was the biggest hurdle to overcome. Once they open up to the possibility then they can go to the abundance of information on raw food.

Economics – The Bottom Line

The bottom line when it comes to creating more raw resources like raw restaurants is that it’s all about economics. We need to create more demand. And the way to create more demand is to open up others to raw foods.

So here’s my question to you: Will you step up and become a leader? I need your help, the world needs your help and most importantly you need your help.

A raw food restaurant on every corner. Yum. I can’t wait…

Tags: Alex Ortner, raw food, Reverse Diabetes Naturally, Reversin Diabetes Action Day