A Brief Analysis of 3 Diets
By John Marc
Paleolithic Diet
The Paleolithic diet stands on the shoulders of our ancient foremothers and forefathers who existed before the advent of animal husbandry and agriculture. This diet presents modern individuals with the challenge of removing all dairy, grain, and processed sugar from their food while eating a much larger quantity of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds with their meals which often contain some kind of animal protein. I see the Paleolithic diet as an active diet where adherents of this diet hunt down what it means to be healthy while living in the adversarial conditions of the modern world. Just as our ancestors would hunt prey in unfavorable conditions, Paleo dieters have a similar vigilance that is necessary for anyone who is in an honest pursuit of increased vitality. With the weapon of sound logic, the Paleo diet warns us not to ignore the millions of years of evolution upon which the human race owes tribute.
Raw Food Diet
The raw food diet falls very much in line with the Paleo diet in its logic of honoring our ancient ancestors. The name I find most fitting to the raw food diet is “the living foods diet.” Raw foods contain the highest amount of enzymes that are usually lost to cooking. The Raw Food Diet remains accordant with the Paleolithic diet as long as one consumes animal sources of protein. Through the vegan component of raw food diets, I see a transformation of the hunter-gather into a meditative individual looking for his or her spiritual path. What I find absolutely true, regardless of whether one eats animal protein or not, is that well-being has always been the foundation for a spiritually uplifting life and in order to achieve a higher level of health in the modern world, the determination and discipline of a hunter-gather is required.
Nutritional Balancing Diet
The nutritional balancing diet is interesting for its resounding emphasis on mineral intake. Where raw food represents the “living foods diet,” nutritional balancing represents the “re-mineralization” or “mineral balancing diet.” Minerals are required for every conceivable bodily function from enzyme production to detoxification. In fact, success from many diets probably has to do with cutting out certain, obvious detractors and mineral chelators such as processed sugar, refined wheat, and chemical-laced foods, while also introducing whole foods that are high in minerals and enzymes. Where enzymes predominate in raw food, minerals predominate in cooked food. Cooking vegetables, for instance, will unlock minerals contained in the tough fibers. One unique feature of the nutritional balancing diet is the utilization of a hair analysis to qualify the oxidation type of a given individual. This is called “metabolic typing” and may be used with benefit irrespective of one’s dietary regiment.
Naturally we don’t have to get too caught up in a “me vs. you” attitude when it comes to finding a dietary selection. If you learn to trust your body then you can find what diet works best for you (perhaps with the help of some measuring device such as a hair analysis.) If you fear getting ridiculed by others who have different beliefs about what constitutes the “optimal diet,” you can always rest assured that the number-one common denominator of almost every rejuvenating diet is increased vegetable intake! My advice is to eat cooked vegetables with multiple meals for re-mineralizing the body, drink some raw vegetable juice for an added enzyme boost, and then do this over and over again! Whether or not you choose to eat meat, grains, raw milk, eggs, fruit-sugar, or any other food, know that eating vegetables is probably the hardest part of any diet, is the least controversial, and has the greatest reward for health and well-being.
After two years of higher education, John Marc left university to begin a course of self-study. He currently aspires to help people reduce stress through nutritional well-being. John currently works at the ICPA as managing editor of Pathways magazine. He enjoys life more each day.