In Concepts September/October 1997 issue (Volume 1 Issue 21) I
discussed the dietary approach to living disease-free with nutritional
scientist/author Aajonus Vonderplanitz who has received phenomenal results
in reversing disease and improving health revealed in his book WE WANT
TO LIVE. I have listened to and observed some of his most severe cases,
including cancers and CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome). Before initiating
his raw dietary program which includes raw meats of all kinds, all of
these patients sounded desperate and panicked. After several weeks on his
raw food program all were calmer, even in the cases where medical tests
seemed to show that their disease continued to progress. Fascination
about Mr. Vonderplanitz' diet sparked my interest further. I could have
said, as most doctors have, see the diet hasn't reversed the disease, it
simply doesn't work. I stayed with it, continuing to observe his patients.
Over a period of one year 95% had stopped the progression of disease and
over 87% were in the process of reversing it, according to clinical tests.

I also observed that every patient who followed the diet for at least 3
months improved mental clarity and circulation (their coloring improved),
and evolved a more stable disposition. Since the diet worked so well I
wondered why everyone who had tried the diet didn't stay with it.

Q: Why don't all of the patients who have come to you stay with your diet?

A: For various reasons; social pressures including familial, especially
about parasitic and bacteria phobia surrounding raw meats, also sugar
addiction, and improperly following my suggestions, and ignoring their
instincts.

Q: Each of those reasons is at least an article in itself.

A: True. Which would you like to explore?

Q: All of them. First, cover the one that has caused the highest
attrition rate.

A: That would be sugar addiction.

Q: You mean that some patients can't give up processed sugar?

A: They won't give up eating processed sugar or excessive amounts
of fruit.

Q: I fail to understand the case against fruit as long as it's not
genetically altered by heat or other processing.

A: Side effects of too high sugars even if raw are: temporary or sustained
hyperactivity, poor ability to follow trains of thought and ADD, and when
the sugar high has dropped sleepiness or lethargy results. If a person
can't nap he or she tends to eat more fruit or other carbohydrates for
an energy lift that is relatively unsustainable. And if that doesn't
work he or she will often ingest caffeine in the form of coffee, soda
or chocolate.

Q: Do you think the concentration of sugar in carrot juice is a problem?

A: The problem that I have observed with people eating high carbohydrates
whether raw or processed is that they tend to eat too much of it and
not enough meat. I think that most humans have accustomed their bodies
to survive on carbs. The side effects are that people tend to overeat
because of a protein deficiency. Consequently, they tend to crave too
much cooked starch and cooked meat, losing appetite for raw meat and
gaining unutilizable fatty and protein toxins that cause their vanities
to suffer and cause them to go off the raw diet. Raw meat and raw fat
is the great equalizer.

Q: I noticed that some of your patients initially had difficulty eating
raw meat. Why?

A: Well, we mentioned the parasitic and bacterial phobias in your last
article. Another is that they were patients who ate very little cooked
meat and lived off cooked starches. The transition required to thrive on
meat and fat rather than sugar is sometimes a difficult one, biochemical
and emotionally.

First, we must consider that Advanced Glycation Endproducts [AGEs]
(glycotoxins) formed from processed sugars accrue at a rate of 70%
in relatively healthy individuals. If a person has sugar metabolism
problem, such as diabetes with kidney impairment, AGEs can accumulate
up to 95%. The side effect is like in ketosis where the body eats itself
and toxic proteins (ketones) accumulate in the blood and loss of appetite
for meat results.

Some patients have allergies to AGEs so their bodies begin to detoxify the
AGEs when they eat raw food. This causes a loss of appetite for meat. They
crave more sugars and they are in a Catch 22. I suggest that they eat
lots of raw fats in combination with raw vegetable juices during this
period. Some gain weight and cellulite for 6 months to 3 years during
this major glycotoxin detoxification process. Their vanity suffers and
they blame the diet rather than the toxins that are stored in their
bodies. All of the side effects from the raw diet removing toxicity is
from the toxicity not the raw foods. That is a hard concept for some
people to fathom. Those who get it stick with the diet. Those who don't
lose the most viable therapy I have ever witnessed.

Q: So you agree with people like Dr. Robert Atkins who believe that most
health problems are the result of excessive carbohydrate consumption?

A: I believe excessive carbohydrate consumption is 1/3 of health
problems. You also have many varieties of lipid oxide toxins formed from
cooked fats, and protein toxins from cooked meats.

Q: On October 27, 1997, I heard Dr. Atkins interview you on his famous
talk show in New York "Your Healthy Choices." He advocated your diet as
being the greatest dietary approach to reversing disease and creating
health of all times, and that he was going to go home that night and
have steak tar tar.

A: Yes, I was as astounded as you that a medical doctor could discard the
bacterial and parasitic phobias that are sweeping terror among the masses.

Q: I have heard you call it medical, scientific and media terrorism.

A: It is terrorism, especially because the theory is not based on
fact. There is absolutely no medical or scientific evidence that proves
the theory that bacteria and parasites are killers. My observations of
approximately 3000 people since 1976 eating raw meat on a regular basis
proved that there was no more discomfort from eating raw meat than an
occasional day or so of diarrhea from liver or glandular detoxification.

Q: I wonder if there is any difference biochemical in glucose formed
during digestion of refined sugars compared to glucose in fresh fruit?

A: I don't know if there are changes that we can view and observe with our
present technology. However, the way refined sugars effect the individual
(body and mind) are observable. Refined sugars turn intestinal fluids
acrid, often dissolving villi and forming scar tissue. The psychological
side effects often are hyperactivity, irritability and/or discontentment.

Q: Would you suggest that everyone reduce their intake of carbohydrates
and eat more raw meat and raw fat?

A: The human body developed over millions of years eating a hunters
diet of meat and fat.  Cultivation is a relatively recent event that
has progressed humans toward disease. According to Dr. Stuart Struever,
past Native American civilizations increased in disease proportionate
to their increase in consumption of cultivated foods. The Eskimos lived
disease-free on 90% animal matter, of which most was raw, until cooked
and processed foods were introduced. I will venture to say that the
attempt to evolve humans to live healthfully on a carbohydrate diet is
not probable.  If it is possible it could take hundreds of thousands of
years if not millions. Yes, I would suggest that if people want to gain
better health they give up carbohydrates and cooked foods, and begin
eating raw meats and raw fats.