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…
What is the Best Diet to Reverse Diabetes?, by Alex Ortner
January 15, 2009 by admin
Filed under Diabetes, Featured Raw Food Information
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
According to Gabriel Cousens, M.D., a specialist in the area of diabetes, the diet that works the best is a raw, vegan live food diet that is organic, plant-source only, low-glycemic, low-insulin index, high-mineral, low fat (especially animal fat), high-water content, that is individualized to your constitution. This means no meat, no dairy, no bread, no cooked grains, no sugar, no caffeine, no alchol and nothing cooked over 118 degrees.
I know what some of you may be thinking…why can’t I eat some of those things?!
Let’s start off with meat.
According to Diabetes Care 7, “A quarter pound of beef raises insulin levels in diabetics as much as a quarter pound of straight sugar.” Eating meat is simply not as natural for the human body as most people think it is.
It wasn’t until about 10,000 years ago that humans started eating more meat because of a shift to a herding and farming culture. Before that, for perhaps 3.2 million years according to Dr. Cousens, humans had been eating mostly a live plant based diet, a diet that is much more natural for the human body to digest, the basic chimpanzee diet. In fact, between 1840 and 1974, the quantity of meat eaten per person in the US increased by FIVE FOLD!
So why not dairy then?
According to Dr. Cousens, “The problem is that the antibodies to the milk antigens cross-react with the beta cells of the pancreas, creating inflammation and scarring. This consequently blocks or destroys beta cell production of insulin. According to two major studies in Finland and Chile, the rate of juvenile diabetes is 11 to 13 times greater in children who had cow’s milk before 3 months of age.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recocnized this as well and made a decision in 1994 to strongly encourage families with a diabetic history not to give their children cow’s milk or cow’s milk products for at least 2 years because it significantly increasing the likelihood of developing diabetes.
Japanese children, who have the lowest consumption levels of milk, have 1/36th the rate of Type I diabetes as does Finland, the country with the highest level of milk consumption.
How about fruit?
Dr. Gabriel Cousens recommends “against fruit for three to six months until the fasting blood sugar (FBS) stabalizes at between 70 and 85, and then only have low-glycemic fruit such as berries, cherries, citrus, goji berries, cranberries, and an occasional apple.
So What Can You Eat?
Your diet should consist of raw, vegan live plant based foods. Some people need more protein (plant based of course) and others need a diet higher in complex carbohydrates. Everyone’s bodies are different so it depends on your body. Regardless of your body type you should have a diet that is high in vegatables and phytonutrients. You should make sure that there is a variety of colors in the foods that you are eating as these colors are actually the pigments of the phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are critical because they turn off the diabetes causing genes and turn on the anti-diabetic genes.
DISCLAIMER: The above information is for education only and is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, or treat illness. It is valuable to seek the advice of an alternative health care professional before making any changes.
Last Minute Christmas Ideas
January 10, 2009 by admin
Filed under Featured Resources
Alex Ortner
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(Originally written on December 20th, 2008) Hi Everyone, I wanted to give you some great last minute ideas for the holiday season and tell you a GREAT story about a 10 year old boy who watched “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days” written by Ian Blair Hamilton in Australia. First off, here are the great holiday gift ideas intermixed with some great YouTube videos to watch! |
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| Speaking of Green Smoothies. Check out this great video from Karen Knowler “The Raw Food Coach” about how to make a Green Smoothie. Click on the image to the right: |
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| Check out this great raw footage of Bob Proctor from the filming of “Try It On Everything.” He’s talking about energy. Guess what else effects our energy…what we eat! Raw foods have more energy than cooked foods. Click on the image to the right to see it now: |
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But in case you haven’t you can
| Check out this great clip from “The Ultimate Encylopedia of the Raw Food Lifestyle.” The clip features Morgan Spurlock from the film “Super Size Me” and the actor Wood Harrelson. Click on the image to the right to see it now: |
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Thanks for your support of the film and it’s healing message, Alex Ortner
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