Nature's First Law
Review by Peter Brandt

Last Updated: 03 Dec 96


Date Written 26 Aug 1996


A plug for a new book "Nature's First Law: The Raw-Food Diet" by Arlin, Dini & Wolfe, who all reside in San Diego, caused a little stir on this list not so long ago. Well, I have read the book, and I would not recommend it, though it does have a few good points and a couple of interesting references to some studies on raw foods I have not come across before (and a photograph on the front cover of the 3 authors foraging naked in a large avocado tree :-)). I find the tone of the book somewhat preachy and condescending - each of the 40 chapters ends with the sentence "cooked food is poison" - and without much advice on how to transition to or maintain a raw foods diet. The book recommends eating a vegan, whole food mono diet according to the seasons and that fruit be between 50 and 95% of the diet depending on the climate. For northern races they recommend small amounts of raw meat as a transitional food. The authors seem oblivious to the fact that only very few people seem to be able to sustain themselves on such a diet for very long and that they themselves have only been on it for a relatively short time. The confrontational, hard-sell style of the book is a throw-back to the old fundamentalistic/naturalistic type books on fruitarianism and natural hygeine and seems very outdated. No place is left for doubting that a 100% raw vegan, fruit-based diet is for everyone. I guess if anybody fails with this program, it is either because they had not freed themselves enough from old habits & programming and still have some doubt left, or because they did not want it bad enough, and not because the diet needed some adjusting. If these guys want to be taking seriously, they will have to wake up to reality and learn a little humility. Books like this help give raw foods a bad name. Anyhow, judge for yourself. They have a website, which I for some reason have not yet been able to access: http://www.io-online.com/~nature. I hope Brian Clement fares better with his new book. Is it out yet, and if so has anybody read it?

Best regards, Peter


 

 

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