3 Cases of Pseudo-Thinking That Are Damaging Your Health
What’s pseudo-thinking?
Rather than define it, I’ll show you what I mean with a personal example…
Recently, Fit On Raw reader Mark left a critical comment on an article of mine about salt. In the article I wrote:
What we don’t need is sodium chloride (NaCl). Both minerals in this compound are completely useless to the body. They cannot be broken down, which means they go into the body as NaCl, pass through the body as NaCl, and exit the body as NaCl.
And Mark replied:
Absolutely wrong. I enjoy your site, and I promise I’m not trying to knock your info, but it’s just not true. Every single basic chemistry course goes over ionic interactions (like NaCl), and in an aqueous solution (like in our body) they dissociate (ie. Na+ and Cl- become separate, detached ions that are free to float around).
D’oh! 
Mark’s absolutely right and I’m absolutely wrong. Everyone knows (or should know) that NaCl is soluble, i.e. it is able to be dissolved. When salt is placed into water (or your body, which is mostly water), the two ions sodium and chloride separate from each other.
What can I say, chemistry was never my best subject. 
In all seriousness, I never should have wrote that sodium chloride “can’t be broken down” by the body. It was just something I had heard and held on to, without even thinking about it.
I knew the dangers of eating salt from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat To Live, from Natural Hygiene, and from my own experiences with and without it. The “salt can’t be processed by the body” statement was just another reason not to eat the stuff.
This is pseudo-thinking to the core. I wasn’t truly thinking at all, but merely reciting what I had heard/read in the past.
And unfortunately, I’m not the only person guilty of pseudo-thinking, especially when it comes to health. Most people know next to nothing about nutrition and regurgitate pseudo-thoughts all the time in an attempt to defend their tasty-but-unhealthy eating habits.
Since you’re perusing Fit On Raw, a site dedicated to raw food and fitness, I think it’s safe to assume that you know a bit more than the average Joe Schmoe about human nutrition. 
However, you may still be holding on to some pseudo-thoughts that discouraging you from adopting a healthy raw food diet and achieving optimal health.
So today, let’s take a look at the 3 most common cases of pseudo-thinking that may be keeping you from going raw and getting fit:
#1: A Raw Food Diet Doesn’t Provide Enough Protein
Ah, the protein issue.
This was definitely one I struggled with when I first went raw. Like most people, I thought we needed lots of protein to be healthy and the only way to get it was by eating meat, beans, or soy products.
Yet if you or anyone else had asked me a few simple questions like these…
- What is protein’s function(s) in the body?
- How much protein do you eat?
- How much protein do we need?
…I wouldn’t have been able to answer a single one. I only thought I needed lots of protein because “gotta get in your protein” was just something I had heard since birth.
The truth is, while protein is absolutely necessary for everyday growth and repair, we really don’t need much at all. 5% of total calories (that’s only 100 calories on a 2,000 calorie diet) is plenty of protein.
And as I show here, you can easily get that much on nothing but fresh fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds.
#2: A Raw Food Diet Doesn’t Provide Enough Nutrients
So you’re weary of raw foods because you think they can’t possibly provide enough vitamins and minerals necessary for growth and maintenance?
I felt the same way a few years ago.
I mean, where else are you going to get enough of vitamins B12 and D if you don’t eat meat or ingest fortified dairy and grain products?
The truth is, a raw vegan diet is KING when it comes to vitamins and minerals. As I show here, fresh fruit, greens, nuts and seeds are high in everything from vitamin C to calcium (unlike meat and grains, which are poor sources of vitamins A, C, and calcium).
As long as you eat enough calories and variety, you’ll get plenty of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals that you need.
So what about vitamins D and B12?
Vitamin D should come from the sun, not your food, and B12 deficiency affects everyone from vegans to meat-eaters. The following is from Could It Be B12? by Sally M. Pacholok, R.N. and Jeffrey J. Stuart, D.O.
While [B12] deficiency often occurs in vegans or vegetarians who fail to take supplements, the majority of B12-deficient people eat plentiful amounts of the vitamin – it’s just that their bodies can’t absorb or use it.
Why? Because to get from your mouth into your bloodstream, vitamin B12 must follow a complex pathway, and a roadblock in any part of that pathway can cause your B12 levels to plummet.
No matter what you eat, it’s a good idea to get tested regularly for vitamin D and B12 deficiency. Otherwise, raw foods have got you covered.
#3: A Raw Food Diet Doesn’t Provide Enough Variety
I know, I know. A raw food diet consists of only uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds so it must be lacking in variety, right?
Wrong-o.
The truth is, it’s the typical Western diet that lacks variety. This is a diet made up of meat, grains, dairy, and very few fresh fruits or vegetables.
Sure, there are different kinds of meat, but most Americans primarily eat cooked chicken, turkey, beef, or pork. There are lots of different grains, but most Americans focus on refined wheat, corn, and rice. And for 99% of people in the US, the only milk they ever drink is pasteurized cow’s milk.
On the other hand, as a raw foodist I eat tons of different fruits every year…
- bananas
- oranges
- apples
- dates
- mangoes
- grapes
- peaches
- cantaloupe
- watermelons
- avocado
- blueberries
- strawberries
- tomatoes
- cucumber
- etc.
…lots of different greens and other vegetables…
- romaine
- spinach
- bib
- red leaf
- parsley
- basil
- cabbage
- carrots
- peas
- etc.
…and quite a few nuts and seeds
- pistachios
- hazelnuts
- Brazil nuts
- peanuts
- sunflower seeds
- etc.
If you really want variety AND health, a raw food diet is where it’s at.
Your Thoughts?
Have you been holding onto any of the above pseudo-thoughts and let them negatively impact your health?
Maybe you’re guilty of some others, like “Oils are a health food” or “Gourmet raw recipes are good for you” or “Medicinal herbs are magically healing“.
Don’t be afraid to air it all out in the comments below! 
Go raw, use your brain, and be fit,
Swayze
P.S. Still think that a raw food diet isn’t optimal? I didn’t either, especially after giving the unhealthy mainstream raw food diet a go.
That is, until I read this book…
The Raw Secrets
The Raw Food Diet in the Real World
And the rest, as they say, is history.
So if you’d like to dramatically improve your health with raw foods like I have, check out the book that convinced me to go raw at the link below:
31 comments
Thank you for outing your pseudo-thinking. I occasionally am guilty of the same thing. Already respecting you, I now respect your more.
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Hey Swayze, true leaders, like yourself, are humble when corrected and take the necessary steps to make it right. Your “Insight” gives all of us a teaching moment. Your website is great!
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I totally agree with your 3 ‘thoughts’ that we (people) have when they think about raw food lifestyle. I for one have come from a background of fitness competitions, where ‘protein’ was everything and it was wrong to eat fruit, ‘too much sugar’! Its been a very challenging transition into the raw foods way of eating. But the longer I am consistant with it and keep exercising I am finding my body transforming in away I have never felt, when competing!! My skin is incredibly soft, my energy lasts throughout the day, I never crave ‘chocolate’ or anything! And that was big for me!!! My strength is increasing and I am just starting to lean out a bit, slow, but its coming!! This is just proof that you do NOT need animal protien or LOTS of protein for that matter!
I just thought I would share a little about where I am coming from, because I used to think alot like the majority of the population does and its just too bad more people will just do this long enough to feel the benefits!
Thanks for the great articles!
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I have almost completely cut out salt from my diet. However, every now and again, especially when I am drinking lots of water, I suffer from cramps in my foot. My solution is usually to eat something salty and the cramps go away. Maybe my body is different from other people’s but I need a little salt now and then.
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stacey Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 7:44 AM
Hi Sandra,
I know that eating bananas and drinking ALOT of water, helps sooo much! I used to cramp all the time and I thought I was taking in enough water but I wasnt, I had to drink more then I thought. Maybe that will help:)
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Swayze Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 1:50 PM
I had the same experience as Stacey. I used to get terrible charley horse-like cramps in the bottom of my feet that would make my toes curl. And I knew they were coming because it would feel like fire down my foot when I walked a few hours before the cramp! I also got them in my calves occasionally, usually in the middle of the night when I was sleeping.
Since adopting a low fat, high fruit raw vegan diet, giving up the salt and staying hydrated, I haven’t had any cramps at all.
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Great article, Swayze! I enjoy your writing and philosophy tremendously. The only question I have is about peanuts. They are listed under nuts. I understand that peanuts are not nuts at all, but legumes that are boiled to make them edible??
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Swayze Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 10:10 AM
Hi Judy,
Check out this article: http://www.fitonraw.com/?p=6294
Swayze
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First, table salt – too much can cause water retention and be a negative effect for those who have COPD. Just a thought about B and E vitamins. They each work like pieces of a puzzle, together, in other words. Too much of one can cause an imbalance of others. Too little of one can also cause imbalance. That is why a variety of foods is important. If supplements are used, we must start with a B-Complex and only add singles, if testing shows the need. This applies to Vitamin E as well. It should be an E-Complex. And, of course, I only recommend organic, non-gmo supplements.
MyraSaidIt http://firstchoicevitamins.gnld.net/
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stillewaters Reply:
June 18th, 2011 at 4:50 AM
After reading the book :
Title : Supplements exposed
Subtitle : Vitamines , minerals and their effect on your health
Author : Brian Clement
I never will take any ( synthetic ) vitamine-pills :
1 : the efficiency of these synthetic vitamines is much less than the vitamines and minerals found in natural unprocessed food
2 : he questions all the correctness of all the official ” daily recommended needs ”
3 : three entire pages in the book are devoted to sum up and explain all kinds of additions of chemical structures ( unfamiliar to the human body ) , pill-producing companies put in their pills
The author sums up 15 ( fifteen !! ) chemical things the producers put in their pills (which scientific names are sounding extremely uncomfortaby )
For the second reason alone , i hope i never will have to take medical pills because of a medical condition !
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stillewaters Reply:
June 18th, 2011 at 4:52 AM
oeps , small correction : read ” for the third reason alone ,..”
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Myra Reply:
June 18th, 2011 at 7:55 AM
As a certified nutritional counselor, I certainly agree with stillewaters’ comment. I also want to mention that even supplement companies who make so-called natural vitamins may be using sources that are contaminated with pesticides, herbicides, and genetically engineered materials. I have read many labels and investigated numerous claims. What I have seen is scary! Did the book use the nurse’s name for synthetic vitamins, “bedpan bullets”? The body cannot absorb them, so…… After about 45 years, I am sticking with GNLD vitamins!
http://firstchoicevitamins.gnld.net
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Hi! I must admit I do that now sometimes. I have been on a raw vegan diet for this year, and I have started to feel really bad. First it went nicely when I ate more nuts, but now that I have been eating raw “the right way” a few months, I haven’t been able to do my handstands and cartwheels at all because my hands feel oddly weak! I even hurt myself really badly when one day I once more tried to stand on my hands but then like there was no strength in my arms (even though I have mastered these moves long ago) I fell on my head and hurt my legs at the same time. I eat about 3000-3500 calories a day, so it’s not the energy. And I take B12 supplement too, sleep well and try to eat simply. So naturally I have been starting to doupt raw diet…What if human really needs just a little bit of meat? Like once a week just a small amount?
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stillewaters Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 11:24 AM
I have been a vegetarian since many years , have used always very little grains , but used diary and food in which eggs were used
Since mid-2009 , i threw out every diary product : milk , yougurt , ( i did not use cheese since more than 4 years ) , …… just after reading the very shocking scientific facts about diary in a book by Jane Plant about cancer and osteoporosis
( although in her books she proposes not the most ideal diet : still with meat, fish and soyaproducts !!)
I was surprised that it was so easy for me to give up from one day to another all diary ( food combinations become much more easy and simple ) , luckily i did not fall into the mistake to start using soya-products
I use now also use much more raw fruit and vegetables, and no soya-products or grain-products, eliminated every processed and refined unnatural supermarket-foods, use the good fats
( in my personal opinion : coconut-oil, red palm-oil, and little hempseed-oil , little flaxseed-oil …many people will disagree because the coconut and palm oil are satured fats , although they forget that their structure is different from the saturated fats from an animal source )
As to nuts , i eat them now at the end of a cooked meal with potatoes or sweet potatoes ( this is not so in many books which are proposing a complete dissociation between starches and proteins, but some recent books do recommend to combine starches and proteins to provide optimum nutrition of your cells and avoid starvation of your cells by strictly separating starches and proteins )
The only animal source i use now is the raw yellow egg-yolk ( and completely avoid the white part ) ,
because of their high content of Vitamine B 12 , Vitamine D , Choline ( for your brain and nervous system) , Lecithine , relative high sodium content …also to get rid of the ever lasting controversy “enough or not enough” Vitamine
B 12
But meat , fish or any other dead animal product i will never will eat , and made never any exceptions even when travelling in difficult conditions
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stillewaters Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 8:37 AM
Another good improvement in my diet has been the moderate use of seaweed ( rich in iodine ) ,
for a healthy functioning thyroid-gland
It is easy to find numbers in nutrition books about the daily minimum need for iodine , but it is very difficult to find correct numbers when translated into ” portions of seaweed ” ; in fact the numbers are very different from eachother and it is very unclear if they mean ” dehydrated ” dry seaweed or “soaked ” seaweed
It is unhealthy to use too much iodine in ones diet , so i use seaweed always very moderate and i avoid to use the “kelp” seaweed which is very rich in iodine
( in fact the book of the UK-vegan society gives numbers for kelp in weight / year – yes : /year !! , not /day or /week )
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stillewaters Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 8:53 AM
By coincidence , i have been reading in books from Robert Masson ( about myths and lies ) and Eric Darche ( about proper digestion and assimilation ) , two french professional nutritionists and authors of several books , which contain very useful advice for people on a vegetarian/vegan/rawfood diet and which are confronted with underweight and general weakness
I do not agree with all the changes in diet they propose to prevent health problems like these to happen , but some things i will use in my own
( already healthy ) diet
1 : i will decrease and limit the participation of acid fruits ( like oranges , grapefruit , lemons, tomatoes ….)
2 : i will increase the participation of non-acid fruits and vegetables
3 : i will combine carbohydrates and proteins , instead of strictly separating them
4 : i will eat daily enough of the “right kinds” of carbohydrates ( carbs which are not refined or processed for human consumption )
stillewaters Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:05 AM
1 : decrease the participation of acid fruits
from what i understood :
——————————-
The acid fruits if eaten in too high participation , may create an excess of ” untransformed ” free forms of natural fruit acids circulating in your blood
These ” left-over ” acids cause your blood PH-levels to become more acid than alcaline , and your body – in order to restore again healthy minimum and maximum PH-levels – will eliminate these excess acids by taking minerals out of your body reserves
In the long run , this proces will lead to underweight , demineralisation and general weakness
Swayze Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 10:34 AM
While citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit are acidic, they’re actually alkaline forming in the body. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to limit citrus fruits somewhat for the sake of your teeth.
stillewaters Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:09 AM
2 : increase the participation of non-acid fruits and vegetables
from what i understood :
——————————
These will make the PH-levels of your blood more alcaline than acid
If not eaten at the meal with acids fruits , it is allright to eat them during the same day at other meals
stillewaters Reply:
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Thanks , for correcting any mistakes that could have slipped into my comments
My quoted text under point 1 , is a condensation and a translation from french into english , from quite many several pages of argumentation by both writers
I have taken this from their books as stated , they say that acid fruits make your blood more acid
I know the subject “acid-alcaline” and “PH-levels” is very confusing , because one has to look actually at what a food does in reality , and not look at their name ( which can be misleading )
stillewaters Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:21 AM
3 : eating carbs together with proteins
from what i understood :
——————————-
Through the presence of carbs your body will produce more of the hormone insuline than of the hormone glucagon
Due to this insulin / glucagon ratio , the amino acids coming from the digestion of the proteins are assimilated well by all the cells of your body
Eating only proteins , without the presence of carbs ,
would create more of the hormone glucagon and little of the hormone insulin , leading to bad nourishment of all your cells and to general weakness
Remark : the strict separation of carbs and proteins at one meal , according to the proposals of
Dr Shelton or Dr Hay , works well for people who are overfed and are overweight , they will easily loose excess (unhealthy) weight
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stillewaters Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:31 AM
4 : eating enough of the right kind of carbs
from what i understood :
——————————-
If you don’t eat enough carbs during the day , your body will have to make its much needed glucose from amino-acids coming from the digestion of fats or proteins , in order to keep glucose-levels of your blood between its safe healthy minimum and maximum levels
This causes your proteins and fats to be used for glucose-production instead of being used for their normal purpose
When eating enough carbs daily , your body will be able to make glucose directly from the carbs , without causing problems of weakness
Swayze Reply:
June 22nd, 2011 at 10:37 AM
Yes, eating a high carb, low fat diet is the best for health and nutrition. And eating ENOUGH carbs is an important part of that equation.
stillewaters Reply:
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:24 AM
It is maybe also confusing for many people ,
when there are so many nutrition-writers promoting all kinds of diets : low carb – high fat diets ,
high carb – low fat diets , prehistoric hunter-gatherers diets ( paleo , neanderthaler , .. you name it ! )
I think they do not make clear enough the distinction between “good” carbs and “bad” carbs , “good” fats and “bad” fats , fats coming from a vegetable source , fats coming from an animal source
My own diet is high in the “good” carbs ( coming from real food ) and low in the “bad” carbs ( in fact without none of the carbs processed or refined for human consumption )
And also low in some fats ( nuts ) , very low in some fats ( polyunsaturated oils like flaxseed-oil and hemp-oil , mono-unsaturated oils like olive-oil ) and rather high in saturated fats coming from a vegetable source ( coconut-oil and red palm oil )
The only fats that taste really good are : fats inside nuts , hempseed-oil ( light nut-taste ) , olive-oil
( only the unfiltered unclear oil has superb taste ) and coconut-oil ( I guess coconut-oil is as addictive as chocolate )
I strictly never – never – mix these oils or nuts by means of electric blades from mixers or blenders , too closely with other food ( the digestion of the fats would even be longer than is already the case with oils )
Swayze Reply:
June 23rd, 2011 at 11:52 AM
As long as small amounts are used (e.g. 1 ounce of brazil nuts) and you don’t already have compromised digestion, it’s perfectly safe to mix nuts with other foods. Everything combines well with greens, but even fatty foods with citrus and sub-acid fruits makes a tasty and digestible combo for most people (e.g. orange and pistachio, strawberries and sunflower seeds, raspberry and avocado).
Again, the key is to use small amounts of fat and steer clear of truly sweet fruits like bananas and dried fruits.
Love this post and that you had the “balls” to admit you were wrong!
You know what gets me? People who say that it’s extreme to exclude whole food groups from our diet. Really? What exactly are food groups? They are marketing tools, not nutritional tools. Our bodies needs carbs, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, phyto-nutrients, etc. – easily and healthily obtained from fruit and vegetables. Food groups don’t enter into it at all.
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Swayze Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 1:51 PM
Haha, thanks Hanlie!
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Peanuts are legumes. Also, they carry a natural fungus which makes them not the best food for a person who has problems with yeast infections, candida, etc. They are also a known food involved with allergies.
MyraSaidIt
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The most extreme form of “pseudo-science gibberish” is in the articles on websites from the sellers of machines for producing your own destilled and/or ionised water
You simply do understand nothing at all of their argumentation
)
( but maybe i am not clever enough
Looking at the selling prices of their waterproducing machines will drop you off your chair !!!
Although the answer is very simple :
1 : All the people living in mountainous areas drink water with plenty of minerals in it , and they live to a very old age (even going beyond 100 years of age … )
for example , google : the longevity of the BAMA people in China
2 : Statistically the people living in areas with hard tapwater ( many calcium in it ) have a less rate of mortality to die from a cardiovascular disease , than the people living in areas with “soft” tapwater ( poor in calcium )
Very strange that sometimes very good ( older ) books on health and vegetarian rawfood diet , sometimes recommend the use of destilled water as a gateway to longevity !!
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stillewaters Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 8:20 AM
The most no-nonsense talk about yes or not to use destilled water , i found in this 5-page pdf-article from M.D. Zoltan Rona :
http://www.mydoctor.ca/documents/users/2509/5253.pdf
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I have discovered in some book why acid fruits have sometimes acid effects on PH-levels of blood , instead of having alcaline effects on blood ( as listed in tables )
When eaten in too great quantity , they start to ferment in the intestines , producing an alcohol-like intoxication
Sometimes nutrition-writers tell you acid fruits have acid effects,
but they ” forget ” ( ?? ) to tell you that it is only when acid fruits are eaten in too big quantities and not properly digested
When eaten in moderate quantity and when properly digested ,
acid fruits have alcaline effects on blood
It is not the first time , that i encounter that writers in order to work their way towards their own final ( colored and opinion-based ) conclusion , don’t tell you the whole story , and “forget” to tell you some facts , and even leave out all the scientific contra-arguments that may endanger their final own recommmendations
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Leave a comment, beautiful.