Customer Reviews

Nature's First Law: The Raw-Food Diet

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I have been gradually transitioning to a raw-foods diet (I have been vegetarian for a little over two years), so I have been reading a ton of books on the subject. It's a good thing that this was not the first one I read. It's a shame that the authors, while being highly motivated and passionate about a raw-food diet, have chosen to advocate the subject in such an in-your-face, absolutist manner. It's really a turn-off. They have taken stances that are easily supported by documented facts, but instead of supporting them with facts, they choose to make raw-foodism sound like a religion. It's not a religion, it's just a way of eating. I'm sure their approach is a turn-on for some people, so perhaps it's good that a book like this exists for those people who need to hear the message this way.

That said, I'd avoid this book until you've read some more sane and well documented books like Dr. Norman Walker's "Enzyme Nutrition," which is the most scientific and documented of all the literature on the subject. Other good books are Ann Wigmore's wheatgrass book and some of her other books; any of the books by Steve Myerowitz; and the "How I Conquered Cancer Naturally" book. I have also heard that two books called "The Raw Life" and "Blatant Raw-Foodist Propaganda" are good. The Natural Hygiene literature is generally very good as well. Take advantage of all the raw food related web sites out there.

Sorry to diverge from the review, but after getting off coffee, soda, aspartame, refined sugar, and other obvious evils, I have been increasing the raw food in my diet gradually to the point where my diet is 80-95% raw most days. The results have been incredible. I feel amazing (everyone always says that, but it's true) and the pounds are just falling off. I don't feel deprived at all, and eating takes on a new meaning when you can feel the food nourishing your body in a way that cooked food never did. You owe it to yourself to try this, especially if you are infirm or overweight in any way. Take it one step at a time. No need to switch 100% your first day.

When you write a non-fiction book, you are supposed to include references. This book has very, very few. Some of the so-called "references" shouldn't even be included. Here's an example of a reference from Appendix C of the book: "The reason scientists do experiments on animals is because cooked-food addiction has severely clouded everyone's mind. They cannot think for themselves. They cannot see reality, so they need their proof demonstrated to them by torturing defenseless creatures(p.206)." The entire book consists of this type of emotionally charged but scientifically unsound propaganda.

It's a shame, because I really believe that eating a raw food diet is one of the most healing things you can do for your body. But this book doesn't focus on the positive aspects of eating raw fruits and vegetables nearly as much as it does with statements like "dead, cooked corpses are the sources of unnatural diseases (p.19)."

The Raw Food Diet. It's a very controversial diet. Why? David Wolfe, Stephen Arlin, and the other Nature's First Law guys.

God's diet shouldn't be controversial. I agree with what the authors are saying, but they say it in a way that makes you dislike them. Drilling the message into your head like a drill sergeant that "Cooked Food is Poison" might do it for some, but not for me. To me, these guys approach raw foodism as if it's a cult following. Kind of like, "Hey, jump on OUR bandwagon and live right. Everyone else is living wrong." They poke fun at every single diet on the planet, even vegans, who don't even eat animal products.

The abrasive way they deliver their message is unique, but it didn't do it for me. Give me scientific data, not catch phrases and slogans. Give me SOME science at all, not what is 'believed' to be the truth. Do raw foods energize? No doubt they do. Is everyone who eats processed, devitalized foods poisoning themselves? Yes, they are. But are the ones who eat wholesome nutritious foods, mostly vegan, poisoning themselves? No. Poison is a harsh word. Raw foodists can "poison" themselves even worse by overeating on sweet fruit, nuts, seeds, and aggravating a vata condition with the dieuretic action of the sweet fruits. This isn't mentioned in this rah-rah book.

All in all, not a very good intro to raw foodism. This diet is not a cult. It's a healthy way of life, but you must know how to do it properly. For this, I recommend "Conscious Eating" by Gabriel Cousens.

Nature's First Law is a mockery. The original work. Raw Eating by A.T. Hovanessian, was stolen, reworded, and repackaged as Nature's First Law with no acknowledgment to the original author who was imprisoned and probably killled for speaking his mind in Iran. To think in this day and age that we would allow these men to build a successful business on a lie of this magnitude and to allow several follow-up additions to be made without prosecution is beyond me. Here a man rots in prison for writing a great book while three nobody's steal his work, use their names and build a business. Not only is this plagiarism but downright disrepect for a tortured soul. Do not buy this book. Instead, get the original and make sure you send NFL a message afterward and let them know you know about the lie and will not buy Mr. Hovanessian's book with their name on it!

Could this book be anymore poorly written?! It is basically a collection of the author's passionate opinions. There are no facts or even decent arguements for their views. Throughout the entire book they tell you what they believe and that they are right, no doubt about it. It is so sad that they wasted so much time and energy writing this horrible book. The saddest part is that it has potentially good information in it, but the authors' writing styles ruin it.
While reading the book I kept asking myself. "Hmm, are these guys really horrible authors or is this what happens to your brain when you start eating a raw diet?"
Please, don't waste your money!!!

I was already on a 100% raw food diet, and this book was almost offensive enough to convince me to go back to cooked food. Maybe some people find "cooked food is poison" repeated approximately 50 times to be a satisfactory argument, but I consider it to be wasted space in which they could have cited the actual science behind raw foodism. Instead, the authors' apparent science phobia leads them to such nonsensical reasoning as "no scientists have proven that viruses are alive, therefore they probably don't exist." (In case readers don't understand why this is nonsense, I'll cite an example: I have a computer in front of me. It has not been proven to be alive. Does it exist?) I sincerely hope that these authors consider taking an elementary science course (perhaps biology or chemistry) before writing their next book. They have a wonderful message, but books like this are the reason many people consider raw foodists to be maniacal zealots.

This book was my first foray into exploring raw foodism. By the end of the first chapter I felt somewhat shoved around. By the end of a couple of more chapters, I felt truly assaulted. When I finally gave up, I felt totally beaten up. I have no problem with the MESSAGE, but I have a BIG problem with the presentation. The tone is very militant. I felt like a chemical preservative in a pot of organic ingredients - not just worthless, but actually evil. The authors make unending references to the ignorant, flabby, waddling, public. They contend that ALL the ills of the world are caused by cooked food and that ALL of the ills of the world would be cured by a raw food diet. None of this is supported with any kind of evidence, either scientific or anecdotal. Neither is there any practical advice as to how to undertake this way of life. It's a 230-page diatribe against cooked food and the imbeciles who eat it. If you want a very readable introductory and non-abusive book about raw foodism, please read BLATANT RAW FOODIST PROPAGANDA by Joe Alexander. I ordered them both at the same time, and started reading Nature's First Law first. After feeling pummeled after the first few chapters, I switched to BLATANT RAW FOODIST PROPAGANDA and ended up reading it in its entirety. It is a wonderfully gentle and non-judgmental book that describes what raw food eating is all about. As a neophyte to this entire subject, I wish to thank Joe Alexander for his warm, welcoming, and educational introduction to the subject.

The three authors make it a point in getting across their beliefs on raw-foodism. Yet, their way of doing it is very harsh. They tell it like it is. It's all or nothing for these guys. I wouldn't recommend this as your first raw-food book. My first impression of the book was a bit cult-ish. They end every chapter with the sentence, "Cooked food is poison" They want to hammer it into your brain. Start out with "The Raw Life" and "The Sunfood Diet Success System", then you should be able to handle this book.

I found out that raw foods are a godsend for health and well-being. No thanks to NFL.

I found the book to be offensive, fanatical in tone, filled with errors (raw fruit juice as good as mother's milk? Puhleeze.), and, frankly, offensive. Some of the statements made were so erroneous that I found myself yelling at the book while reading! The constant "cooked food is poison" diatribe throughout book was irritating.

There are many other wonderful books out there on raw food and changing your diet. Because this one was essentially useless and filled with incredible errors (too many to list here!), this is one I can't recommend. Try "Blatant Raw Food Propoganda." Or many of the "cook" books. You'll be much better served and your senses won't be offended by out-and-out falsehoods. If this was the only book available on raw food eating, I'd be living at Burger King.

This is a book of rabid propaganda to scare people into eating raw, and buying over priced items at the authors' web based business.

If, you are interested in raw foodism, and want a workable set of books that can give you an introduction, and road map into the world of raw foodism, please read Norman Walker's series of books on the subject. They are, while not backed up by "hard science", very good at helping the reader along this path.

This book is opinion based, scientifically lacking. In fact, I believe someday, science will prove the validity of the raw food diet. But it won't happen by the evidence presented in this book.