A cult being, " a group that has beliefs and/or practices that are counter to those of the dominant culture". - James T. Richardson (Sociologist).
According to Frank J.Machovec Author of Cults and personalities, "Isolation" is an effective "technique that is used to assure conformity to cult norms".
Eating is something so routine in EVERYONE's lives that if you change so much that it is so different to what everyone else is eating, you will indeed isolate yourself from everyone else. This is actually an effective way to make someone a social outcast. Change their diet so they actually can no longer eat with friends and family anymore. There are very few raw food restaurants in existence. This means you will have no choice but to eat by yourself or with fellow Raw Foodists.
Author of Cults, Faith, Healing and Coercion, Marc Galanter say's, "The belief's held in common by members of cults are a vital force in the group's operation. They bind members together, shape their attitudes, and motivate them to act in self-sacrifice"- in this case, the sacrifice of cooked foods.
Most Raw Foodists tend to be earthy, organic /natural obsessed people who often isolate themselves into communities such as:
www.welikeitraw.com
www.living-foods.com/community/,
www.wellsphere.com/raw-food-community/212000,
www.rawfoodnetwork.com/
rawfood.meetup.com/222/
www.rawfoodsupport.com/
Most of these Raw Foodists practice yoga (originated from South Asia) and they are usually interested in doing meditative excercises in order to "open" up their "Chakras" (also of Asian origin).
According to Galanter, " Spiritually orientated alternative medicine movements became popular in the 1980s and '90s. They were directed at a host of different illnesses and they espoused a variety of remedies. There were many earlier healing groups and quack cures, but this new wave of movements included meditative approaches of Asian origin, domestically grown holistic medicine, and self realization groups."
The female Raw Foodist should be a natural beauty, whether she really is or not. She usually will not wear makeup and if she does it will at a bare minimum, made out of something "natural", organic and/or of something sustainable and animal friendly.
The Raw Foodist is environmentally friendly and will often make of point of wearing non fashionable clothes (not realizing that this is indeed a fashion in itself), and not buying into commercialized America. They will support the momma and poppa stores and not the corporations. They support sustainable farming practices. Your local farmers market would be a good place to find a Raw Foodist.
I can agree with the environmentally conscious side of "going raw". Often their morals and hearts are in the right place. They do not support the inhumane practices used in factory farming. They are also right in the fact that processed foods are in fact bad for us, depleted of nutrients and chemical laden. A scary thought comes to mind- I, myself actually think like these people.
"We may even see that they have some things in common with movements and groups regarded as socially beneficial, and that the people who join them are not so different from ourselves" - Galanter.
The rules you follow (such as being forbidden to eat any cooked foods) are not merely rules. They are things you abide by because you want to do so. If a fellow raw foodist caught you eating say, a chicken sandwich, they probably would lose all respect for you. It would NOT be dismissed as "oh he broke a rule, he was having a bad day". They would more likely say, "why would you even want to eat that crap?". When you become a real Raw Foodist you are enlightened to such a degree that you are actually disgusted by the idea of eating cooked foods and would never dream doing of it. As well as thinking that cooked foods are toxic to the body, they also believe it destroys enzymes and will cause disease and shortened life.
"One might ask where alternative medicine ends and cultic healing movements, potentially harmful, begin"- Galanter.
The raw food community is one that requires constantly striving to attain higher levels of spiritual purity, generally by creating an illusion of knowledge based on largely unsubstantiated claims- such as the cure for cancer by alkalizing the body. Still with no real scientific basis, these people believe that the PH level within the body is affected by the acidity or alkalinity of the foods we eat. A cancer patient will have a very acidic body and a young child will be more alkaline. Apparently raw foods are more alkalizing to the body and will in time alkalize the body thus being a less favorable environment for disease to grow in the body. If this is true then potentially, we can all "alkalize" our bodies and become naturally disease resistant.
There is another website questioning this cult-lie behavior: www.rawfoodcult.com where I found the following statement:
"Myth: The raw food community loves me and cares for me.
Fact: The raw food community is largely comprised of people who want to feel normal but have self esteem issues or eating disorders. They want validation that they are in fact not “weird” and that they are making the right choice. The best way to do that is to group together with other people who also eat the same diet. The moment you stop eating raw, the vast majority of raw foodists will want nothing to do with you. Although it is humorous, the truth is that many raw foodists believe that “non raw” human’s simply smell bad and are unenlightened. "
According to Machovec, Cults believe they hold the "monopoly of truth". They believe to be "the the sole source of absolute truth and that all else is error and evil".
According to Wikipedia, " Adherents of raw foodism believe that consumption of uncooked foods encourages weight loss while also preventing and/or healing many forms of sickness and chronic diseases. Some medical studies have indicated that different forms of raw food diets may lead to various health problems, while other studies have shown positive health outcomes with such diets"
Raw Foodists have based their lives on a claim that has no substantial scientific evidence. They listen to the Raw Food guru's and are willing to live a relatively unconventional lifestyle to the rest of the world. With the promise of the cure for diseases and a longer lasting, enlightened life it is not surprising that this new phenomenon is growing by the day.
In some cases they give money to natural health guru's who claim to hold the answer to further enlightenment. Often these guru's tell you to buy very expensive kitchen items such as the
Vitamix blender which costs $649.00,
Excalibur dehydrator costs around $200,
Omega juicer costs around $300.
Water filter can cost from $100- $2000
(and those are just the essentials).
Recently an additional eating disorder has been submitted to DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for Mental Health Professionals called Orthorexia which according to Wikipedia," is a term coined by Steven Bratman, a Colorado MD, to denote an eating disorder characterized by excessive focus on eating healthy foods. In rare cases, this focus may turn into a fixation so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or even death."
Perhaps a large percentage of these Raw Foodists are suffering from Orthorexia. This condition was recently covered recently on ABC News since it takes over some people's lives. I would not be surprised if there a large proportion of Raw Foodists have Orthorexia. People with this condition are likely candidates of this growing cult.
The word "cult" carries many negative connotations, however, every mainstream religions that exist today could easily be construed as a cult and in my opinion are cults. In fact Christianity started out as a cult. True, it is hard to comprehend that one person can convince many to commit mass suicide (Jonestown), but Christianity claims that a person walked on the water and came back to life again after death, and that a virgin gave birth.
I believe that Globalization and the influence of the western culture and beliefs has a lot to do with Christianity has being the biggest and most influential religion in the world. In fact 2.1 billion of the 6.8 billion of us actually believe in the above myth. After watching the documentary "Jesus Camp" it is easy to see how the next generations have little chance to escape this forceful, and ongoing brainwashing. Our only "savior" is that most Christians are harmless do-gooder's and not psychotic maniacs, although the latter is not as uncommon as I would like to believe.
My point is that Raw Foodism is indeed a cult just as Christianity was once seen as one, only Christianity expanded and became so immersed in the daily lives of even non-believers that it has somehow managed to unmask itself as a cult.
Perhaps a large percentage of these Raw Foodists are suffering from Orthorexia. This condition was recently covered recently on ABC News since it takes over some people's lives. I would not be surprised if there a large proportion of Raw Foodists have Orthorexia. People with this condition are likely candidates of this growing cult.
The word "cult" carries many negative connotations, however, every mainstream religions that exist today could easily be construed as a cult and in my opinion are cults. In fact Christianity started out as a cult. True, it is hard to comprehend that one person can convince many to commit mass suicide (Jonestown), but Christianity claims that a person walked on the water and came back to life again after death, and that a virgin gave birth.
I believe that Globalization and the influence of the western culture and beliefs has a lot to do with Christianity has being the biggest and most influential religion in the world. In fact 2.1 billion of the 6.8 billion of us actually believe in the above myth. After watching the documentary "Jesus Camp" it is easy to see how the next generations have little chance to escape this forceful, and ongoing brainwashing. Our only "savior" is that most Christians are harmless do-gooder's and not psychotic maniacs, although the latter is not as uncommon as I would like to believe.
My point is that Raw Foodism is indeed a cult just as Christianity was once seen as one, only Christianity expanded and became so immersed in the daily lives of even non-believers that it has somehow managed to unmask itself as a cult.
This cult is spreading the globe, just as the "go green" movement is at it's most trendiest and most needed. Even, Pepsi is getting in the game, with "Pepsi Raw". They are launching an "all natural" and raw version of their cola which is already out in the UK. This is proof of the growing consumer demand for more natural products- even major corporations are beginning to capitalize in it. The Raw Food cult really does have a place in the world and they definitely choose the right era.
