Raw Food Diet - How It Helps A Typical American Dieter Lose Weight In Conventional & Traditional Chinese Medicine Perspectives

I. Definition
A. What is weight loss?
Weight loss is defined as a condition of health and physical fitness by reducing the total body mass, including loss of fluid, body fat or body tissues. The phrase of weight loss is normally used to prescribe consciousness efforts of a person who tries to improve his/her health due to overweight or obesity.

B. What is raw food diet?
The raw food diet is defined as a type of diet of which at least 75% of the daily diet must be unprocessed and uncooked foods or foods can not be heating above 115 degree of Fahrenheit or 40 °C, including fresh fruit and vegetables and raw meats. It believes that the more raw food in your diet, the more healthy you are.

C. What is conventional medicine?
Conventional medicine is also known as Western medicine. It is a system of medical approach in which medical doctor and other health professionals such as nurses, medical technician, specialists and therapists, etc. use medication, radiation, medical equipments or surgery to treat symptoms of disease and diseases. Most of the times, there is one treatment for the same symptoms for all individuals.

D. What is traditional Chinese medicine?
Traditional Chinese medicine also known as TCM, derives from the philosophy of Taoist, in which it beliefs that life and activity of each human beings have an inter-relationship with the environment on all levels. Major theories include those of Yin-yang, the five elements, the human body meridian channels, Zang Fu organs theory, etc. It treats each individual as one unique entity and there is no one treatment for all, even with the same symptoms.

E. What is a typical American diet and its effects?
1. Overdose of red meat
Our animals are grown in a crowded environment and fed by growth hormones to perverse the maximum profits. No matter how restricted the government regulations are, these traces of growth hormone still remain in the animal body causing more harm than good. Although our body requires protein and fat to function daily, overdose of red meat causes cholesterol building up in the arteries, triglyceride in the bloodstream, and high blood pressure resulting in heart diseases and chronic illness.

2. Overdose sugar
Carbohydrates are essential to our liver and kidney function, overdose of sugar in American diet causes insulin resistance, damaging the pancreas, reducing the circulation of blood and causing hormone imbalance.

3. Excessive drinking
Our social life is a mess. We drink too much. Since alcohol is a stimulant, moderate drinking helps increase the circulation of blood and improve mental alertness. Excessive drinking reduces the brain's function, damaging our liver, decreasing the function of the immune system and causing inflammation.

4. Artificial Agents
Artificial agents may help to perverse food and make it look good, but they are toxic to our body. These types of agents stimulate appetite by directly influencing the hunger centre of the brain, causing you to eat more resulting in obesity. Recommended Reading: Cleanse

5. Smoking
Smoking not only causes lung cancer, it also causes the depletion of oxygen levels in the bloodstream, increasing the risk of hardening, thickening and calcium attached in arterial wall as well as increasing the risk of heavy metals accumulating in our brain.

6. Consuming not enough fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients that are vital for daily function of our body. Vitamins C, E, K and chemical substances in fruits and vegetables such as alpha carotene, beta carotene, selenium, chlorophyll, and amino acid are powerful antioxidants that not only helps to increase body metabolism, it also strengthens our immune system fighting against the forming of free radicals and protects our body by fighting against inflammation caused by bacteria and virus.

II. Types of foods
A. In the typical American diet
The total daily intake of energy of a typical American dieter
1. Sweets and desserts, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages: 25% of daily calories intake.
2. Salty snacks and fruit-flavored: 5%
3. Beef and pork: 10%
4. Bread, rolls, crackers: 10.7%
5. Mixed dishes: 8.2%
6. Dairy products: 7.3%
7. Vegetables: 7.3 %
8. Chicken, fish: 5.7%
9. Fruit: 3.9%
10 Fats & oils: 4.0%
If you look closer, you will see healthy foods such as vegetables and fruit (vitamins and minerals generators) only make up only 10 % of the caloric intake in the typical American diet. How can you not gain weight with type of diet.

B. In the raw food diet
75% of daily intake has to be raw.
1. Fresh fruits and vegetables
2. Nuts and seeds
3. Beans
4. Grains
5. Legumes
6. Dried fruit
7. Seaweed
8. Unprocessed organic or natural foods
9. Freshly juiced fruit and vegetables
10. Pure water
11. Etc.

III. The possible health conditions of a typical American dieter
The belows are only some very common diseases that may happen for a American dieter, depending to many factors, including age, how excessive the diet is, how long has he or she been in the diet, exercise, the emotional factors, etc.
A. In conventional medicine perspective
1. Alzheimer
Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer. Alzheimer's destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior severe enough to affect language communication, memory, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer's gets worse over time, and it is fatal. Our brain requires fat to equate amount of fat to function normally but over supplement of fat not only causes cholesterol build-up and high blood pressure, resulting in poor blood circulation, damaging of arterial wall and increasing the building up of cholesterol in the brain blood vessels, without enough oxygen brain cells die.

2. Heart diseases
If there are a breaking off of capillary caused by cholesterol building up in the blood stream due to intake of a typical American diet, it may cause blood clot blocking the blood circulation in somewhere in the blood vessel that disrupt the transportation of oxygen to the heart, some of heart cells die off, leading to heart diseases.

3. Stroke
Since a typical American diet causes the hardening of the blood vessel, if a small vein in the brain is broken off, it causes blood covering some parts of the brain that disrupt the oxygen transportation to that region, leading to stroke as those cells die off and can not be regenerated.

4. Diabetes
If cholesterol clots the cells in the insulin receptor sites or the pancreas is no longer function normally due to cholesterol building up in the blood stream and prolonged insulin fluctuation due to intake of beverage, artificial ingredients and refined production accordingly, it may cause high blood sugar in the blood stream, resulting in diabetes.

5. Obesity
Obesity is defined as a condition of accumulation of an excessive amount of fatty or adipose tissues that out of the normal and over weight range of BMI index as a result of your body consumes more calories than it burns, caused by over-eating and under-exercising. That is a result of the typical American diet.

6. Cancer
A typical American diet depresses the immune system in guarding our body against the invasion of bacteria and virus and regulating the cell growth, leading to cell oxidation that increases the risk of tumor and cancer.

7. Hypertension
Since there are blockage of blood in circulation due to cholesterol building up in the blood stream, our heart need to work harder by raising its pressure that causes hypertension, the main cause of heart diseases and stroke.

8. High level of bad cholesterol
A typical American diet contain high amount of saturated and trans fat, it decreases the whole body in fat and protein metabolism, leading to high level of bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower level of good cholesterol (HDL).

9. Osteoporosis
Some vitamins and minerals are important for building a strong bone and maintaining the bone density, the typical American diet depletes the vitamins and minerals in the body, causing vitamins and minerals in the bone are withdrawn to support the body function, leading to osteoporosis.

10. Erectile dysfunction
As the blood flow is weaken or blocked due to cholesterol building up in the blood stream, it reduces the blood flow to support the vessel in the penis, leading erectile dysfunction.

11. Etc.

B. In traditional Chinese medicine perspective
Since TCM views each person (including a typical American dieter) as an unique entity, any treatment depending to diagnosis such as what are the symptoms, what part of the Zang fu organs have been affected, etc. Mostly, the treatment is accompanied with moderated diet change, acupuncture and herbs. TCM believes, by restoring the function of body with above approaches, it will eliminate weight gain once and for all.

1. Alzheimer
Alzheimer is defined as a condition of the deteriorated brain cells as a result of qi and blood deficiency and abnormal function of kidney in regulating the growth of cells in the body, caused by the exhaustion of the kidney due to age or over intake of oily and greasily food causes of kidney essence's depletion and brain marrow due to excessive deficiency of kidney , leading to die off of some cells in the brain.

2. Hear diseases and stroke
As the spleen is not longer functioned normally in the food transformation and transportation due to excessive energy accumulation caused by a typical American diet, it obstructs the function of liver in blood formation and storing and qi movement, leading to blood stagnation. In some extreme cases, they causes rebellious wind, if it attacks the heart, it causes heart diseases, if the rebellious wing attacks the brain, it causes stroke.

4. Obesity
As the stomach heat up for foods digestion, it burns the foods at the extreme high rate, leading to increasing of appetite.

5. Cancer
As we mentioned above, a typical American diet causes prolonged accumulation of metabolic waste in the body, it will induce the abnormal cells growth in certain regions, causing tumor and cancer.

6. Hypertension
Hypertension is caused by blood deficiency due to abnormal function of liver in blood formation caused by the inability of Spleen in food qi transportation, leading to heart qi deficiency, as a result that our heart have to work harder to move the blood in the vessels.

7. High level of bad cholesterol
High levels of cholesterol is a result of metabolic products have entered the blood stream, as resulting of abnormal distribution of Spleen or abnormal formation of blood due to liver deficiency.

8. Arthritis
If the fluids and food waste moving downward, it will accumulate in the joint area. Under perfect circumstances or excessive of fluid and food waste accumulation, it generates wind, resulting in the joint pain or arthritis.

9. Infertility
a) In men
As the result of kidney no longer function normally to provide support for the reproductive organs, accumulation of fluid and food waste heat up the abdomen, leading to lower sperm quality and quality as well as sexual dysfunction.
b) In women
As the kidney and liver no longer function normally to stimulate each phrase of menstrual cycle and provide warm blood to support the uterus in egg implantation, it causes all kind of women health diseases, including infertility, absence of period, irregular period, period with cramps and pain and premenstrual syndrome, etc.

10. Etc

III. How the typical American diet causes weight gain
A. In convention medicine perspective
1. Consume much more calories daily then needs
As we read the foods consuming on the list above by typical American dieters, the extra calories are accumulated and store as fat in the body, leading to weight gain.

2. Little exercise
Unfortunately, while the typical American dieters not only bring into much more energy than the body activities' need, they also refuse to exercise, even moderately.

3. Nutrients Deficiency
Nutrients deficiency is caused by eating a lot of oily, greasily foods and junk food. Some vitamins and minerals are necessary for the digestive system to break down those waste and extrude them through urinary or stool secretion, such as essential fatty acids. It can not maintain the body's metabolic rate. A deficiency may cause cravings, particularly for fatty foods, leading to excessive weight gain.

4. Insulin sensitive
High energetic foods such fried food contains enormous amount of trans fat, which not only causes accumulation of bad cholesterol in the bloodstream and increases the risk of liver abnormal function in bile secretion, it also causes blood clot to the insulin receptor site, leading to high levels of glucose in the blood stream, causing diabetes, leading to to weight gain.

5. Food Craving
Altered or refined foods contain high amount sugar, such as wheat and artificial ingredients which enter the blood stream like a flush, causing fluctuation of levels of insulin in the blood stream that increases the risk of food craving. Prolonged period of insulin fluctuation may damage the pancreas in insulin secretion, leading to diabetes.

6. Food Sensitivity (weakened immune system)
Prolonged in take of insulin sensitive energetic foods not only decreases the immune system in fighting against the forming of free radicals and bacteria and virus invasion, but also elevates immune food sensitive. Abnormal reaction of immune system to foods are not always immediate. it can occur many hours later, leading to weight gain caused by fluid retention as a result of inflammation and abnormal hormone secretion.

7. Internal chronic Disease
Chronic diseases of kidney, liver and heart interfere with distribution of fluid in the body, leading to fluid retention all over the body, especially the eyes and ankles.

8. Etc.

B. In traditional Chinese perspective
1. Stomach heat
When food enters the stomach, it is divided to food qi which is absorbed by the Spleen and material. Material is digested and sent down to the intestine where the essence is again absorbed by the Spleen and the waste is eliminated through either kidney or large intestine. A typical American diet is hot and yang in nature, it increases the stomach heat quickly that causes abnormal function of stomach to digest the food quickly, leading to food craving, resulting in weight gain.

2. Spleen deficiency
Abnormal and constant eating with high energetic foods depress the Spleen function in food distribution and transformation, leading to (metabolic products) waste fluid and food secretion filling up the internal organ, bones and body tissues.

3. Kidney deficiency
Since kidney is important in regulating and distributing the body fluid, a typical American diet increases the excessive fluid in the body that suppresses the kidney normal function and block the kidney meridian, resulting in kidney diseases.

4. Blood and qi deficiency
Long terms alcohol drinking damages the liver function in blood formation and the Spleen function in energy distribution, leading to not enough blood for the circulatory system to supply nutrients and oxygen to the reproductive organs. Abnormal function of Spleen in qi distribution interferes with the lung function in moving qi through the meridian.

4. Blood stagnation
Whenever there is qi deficiency, it likely also interferes with blood circulation, leading to blood stagnation.

5. Deficiency of kidney essence
Normally, only excessive sexual activity causes depletion of kidney essence, but in this case, as prolonged accumulation of fluid and foods waste, it causes heat being generated to the abdomen region, leading to kidney suppression, resulting in disturbing the kidney function in sperm production and depletion of kidney essence.

7. Bladder dysfunction
If the metabolic product accumulated in the lower abdomen, it may suppress the bladder's function in urinary secretion, leading to urinary with sensation, dark and yellow urine and difficulty urinary with scanty.
Traditional Chinese medicine views weight gain and obesity as the excessive yin deficiency, leading to stomach heat that in turn digests the food more quickly and causes accumulation of fluid and food waste in the body, disrupting the Spleen in food and qi transportation and transformation. If the fluid and food is allowed to accumulate for a prolonged period of time and as certain levels, the fluid and food waste transform to phlegm, causing qi and blood stagnation and fluid and food waste fill up the body organs, bones and muscles, leading to weight gain or obesity.

IV. How raw food diet make a typical American dieter lose weight
A. In conventional perspective
1. Since most raw foods are considered low calories and can ostensibly increase our body’s metabolism, they help to burn calories easier.

2. Raw food besides increases the immune system in fighting against the forming of free radicals and invasion of bacteria and virus, it also reduces the immune respond due to allergic
disorder causes of weight gain.

3. Reducing the risk of food craving
Since raw foods slowly release glucose in the body, it do not cause fluctuation of blood sugar in the blood stream, thereby reducing the risk of weight gain caused by food craving.

4. Insulin sensitive
Since it improves the level of blood sugar by releasing the glucose slowly into the blood stream, it reduces the risk of over working pancreas caused by insulin sensitive and clotted of the insulin receptor sites, thus reducing the risk of diabetic causes of weight gain.

4. Hormone imbalance
Raw foods increase the body nutrients, thereby decreasing the risk of hormone imbalance caused by nutrient deficiency and responding better if you are under emotional and physical stress, thus preventing the junk food eating habit when under stress.

5. Fiber
Raw foods contain high amount of fiber that not only helps to improve your cholesterol level, but also slows down your digestive system as it is hard to digest, so you don't need to eat much.

6. Etc.

B. In traditional Chine medicine perspective
Raw foods are considered cool and yin in nature, they have a countered effect in a typical American diet with hot and excessive yang in nature
1. Stomach
As the stomach is heated up due to prolonged intake of foods of the typical American diet, raw foods help to cool down the food qi, that is necessary for the Spleen and stomach replenished its function that helps to reduce the unwanted appetite and process the food efficiently. Since raw food is yin in nature, it adjusts the excessive yang slowly, thus decreasing the extra fluid and food waste already accumulated in the digestive system.

2. Kidney
As the excessive yang is cool down due to intake of raw food, it helps the kidney to reabsorbed the food qi and essence slowly, thereby reducing the kidney qi insufficiency due to affect of the typical American diet.

3. Qi and blood
Since spleen is vital in transporting and transforming the qi to the body, intake of raw foods help to rejuvenate the Spleen function slowly due to phlegm in the organ, thereby restoring the qi in the lung and liver in qi movement and blood formation.

4. Over all
When the excessive yang is slowly controlled by the intake of yin, the body, organs will function better day by day. The extra fluid and food waste are slowly removed from the body through waste secretion, you lose weight and feel better slowly and one day and one day your weight will be back into the range of BMI index without fear of no re occurrence.

V. Summary
It is heart breaking to listen to a media report sometimes ago that the life expectancy of this generation for the first time in the American history is lower than the previous generation and over 60% of U.S. population are over weight. We, as health educators can not fight and win the battle against the big fat corporation because of their influence in our government in food decision making. Thanks to the promotion of raw food diet from some celebrities, at least some people have saved their own life, by switching to raw food diet that has countered the effects of the typical American diet. It is tough to explain to our kids that the danger of fried food and junk food will cause to their health, since they are tasted so good. Well, we have done our best and can only hope that one day they will discover the truth.

Recommended reading
Raw Food Diet For Weight Loss
Raw Food Secrets to Losing Weight, Having More Energy
Looking Younger & Reclaiming Your Health

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