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Fear of Raw Food
By Victoria & Valya
Boutenko
Victoria: Ever since I can remember myself, I always
loved to eat. I had a good appetite and mealtimes were always
pleasant for me. Both my parents and my nanny cheerfully complemented
me if I finished everything on my plate, so I decided that
eating was a great merit and this was my first dietary lesson:
the more one eats, the better.
When I was about five years old and my parents took me to
a day care, I remember how shocked I was to meet some children
that didn’t like to eat, who were sitting and sobbing for
a long time at the table, refusing to finish their plates.
As a punishment, teachers didn’t let those children play and
insisted that they stayed at the table until their plates
were empty. I felt so much sympathy for my friend Nina who
couldn’t finish her plate of porridge that I often I would
trade her full plate with my empty one when the teachers were
not watching. I gladly ate her porridge as well as my own.
One day, when I missed the ball in a game and had to step
out, I made a curious observation: the children who didn’t
like to eat had a light body constitution, and the ones who
ate well, were a lot heavier. I realized that there was a
conflict between the events in reality and the preachings
of my parents and teachers. As I watched the children on the
playground I saw that it was noticeably more challenging for
the heavier children to run around than it was for the ones
who were lighter. At the time, grown-ups represented an impeccable
authority to me, so I decided they could not be mistaken and
continued to eat as they instructed me to. Adults told me
that if I wanted to grow, I had to eat “well” and I didn’t
question them in this matter.
As a result of the dietary habits I acquired as a child,
I went through a lot of pain and despair in my life. It took
me almost 50 years to discover a healthy way of eating. Even
though I now feel vibrantly healthy, I still realize that
too much of my life force has been wasted on fighting un-necessary
illnesses caused by wrong eating habits set up in my childhood.
I often wonder how I would look and feel if I had led the
lifestyle I lead today from the beginning of my childhood.
Valya: I realize how fortunate I have been to be introduced
to a healthy lifestyle at an early age. I often wonder where
I would be today if I hadn’t changed my way of living. I was
born with asthma. Almost every other night I was unable to
sleep due to an inability to breathe. I was told that I would
have asthma for the rest of my life and I watched with dread
as it continued to steadily worsen every year. Besides my
complicated breathing condition, all of my early days I constantly
suffered with multiple allergies, colds and earaches.
When I was eight, my family and I began eating 100% raw food.
Since the day I changed my diet, I have never experienced
another asthmatic attack again. I am so happy to no longer
be hindered by my former illnesses. Every day I enjoy brilliant
health! I’m deeply grateful to my parents for helping me change
my eating habits and encouraging me to understand the value
of being healthy. Great health is truly the greatest gift
a parent can give to a child.
Victoria: I remember how I cried all through the
night in my kitchen when the doctor pronounced that my son
had juvenile diabetes. I cried loudly and hopelessly, not
willing to accept my son’s sad destiny to live with this sickness.
My grandmother had had this same illness and she passed away
unexpectedly from an overdose of insulin. It seemed like a
miracle had blessed my family when my husband and I found
a lifestyle that helped our son reverse his symptoms. Now
that he is a healthy and quite happy 20 years old, it is now
safe for me to share one other side of our family’s life that
we have never spoken about before. At certain times on our
journey, neighbors, co-workers, other children’s parents and
some friends, have frowned upon us for our radical change
of lifestyle. Both Igor and I spent countless sleepless nights
in doubts, carefully rethinking whether we were doing the
right thing feeding our children this “cookless” diet. There
were so many things that we didn’t know at that time and there
was nobody in all the world to ask for advice. Often we had
to learn by trial and error. We were continuing mainly because
we had great results. Three months after becoming all raw,
my family ran a 10K race Bolder Boulder, that was an unbelievable
achievement for every one of us and served as a confirmation
that we were on the right track. Today I appreciate that,
in spite of all resistance towards our lifestyle, my family
has continued staying on a raw food diet. Together with Valya
we are working on a new book called “Inspiring Children to
Eat Healthy” where we are sharing many tips that my family
has collected over time. We believe that all people should
have the opportunity to heal themselves and live free of disease.
Valya: There have been several occasions when our
neighbors have called social services on my parents, claiming
that they were not feeding or clothing my brother and me.
On one such occasion, my brother and I were home alone when
a stern looking lady with a clipboard stopped by our house.
When she knocked, we answered the door together. She introduced
herself and asked us how old we were. We told her that Sergei
was eleven, and I was ten. She could tell for herself that
we were well clothed and were definitely not starving to death.
“What did you have for lunch dear?” she asked my brother.
Sergei sensed that this was an odd question for such a lady
to ask, because she did not seem like the type to be at all
interested in health food. So instead of explaining that we
had been eating only fresh, organic live foods for two years
and that each of us had gotten rid of our awful illnesses
and that we were working on perfecting a raw lasagna recipe,
he decided to tell her this: “We just came back from McDonalds
where we each had a Big Mack with Fries.” This answer seemed
to satisfy the lady, because she said, “Oh, okay then honey.
You two have an nice evening now.” And then she left, never
to be heard from again.
I did not think much of this incident until my parents came
home that evening. When we told them about the strange questions
we were asked they looked at each other and I could tell they
were scared. They were relieved that my brother had said what
he did. They warned us to do the same thing in other similar
situations so that we would not be taken from them for any
ridiculous reasons.
Victoria: When I heard about the story of the Andressohn
family, who had their four children taken away from them for
feeding them live foods, I felt obligated to give them as
much support as possible. I donated a box of my books to the
auction on their behalf, and Sergei and Valya have written
letters to the judge. If you haven’t heard about this case,
go to the following website for the most accurate information:
http://www.rawfriends..com/andressohns.html I encourage everyone
to support them in any way.
Valya: Now that I am 19 years old, I am wondering
about my future children: will I have to feed them at McDonalds
to make sure they stay with me? Will I have to hide my children
in order to keep them as healthy as I am? Even official resources
criticize the standard American diet for causing obesity and
sickness.
Victoria: When I hear that feeding a child good, healthy
organic food is called abuse, I realize that the organizations
that protect children’s rights urgently need nutritional education.
Yet, I wouldn’t justify separating a child from his or her
parents, even if they fed this child nothing but TV dinners
and candy, which have been scientifically proven to be the
main cause of most degenerative disease. Being a mother myself
I know that nobody in the world cares for children more than
their own mother and father. That is why I believe that if
parents would clearly see that feeding their children processed
food results in poor health, many of parents would encourage
their children to eat better. I am glad to see a lot of scientific
research done recently in the world. Even our new food pyramid
has been changed towards eating more fruits and vegetables.
The raw food diet is becoming very popular in every state
and country. I would like to inspire my readers to support
the Andressohn family so that they win their case. This case
is being widely covered by the media and will definitely shift
the mainstream attitude towards alternative eating. It is
an opportunity to help all children become healthier without
fear.
RawFamily
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