Respectful Insolence Reviews Raw For 30 Days

Among the non-diabetes related blogs I read, one I truly enjoy for its wit and scathing reviews of “Medical Woo” is Respectful Insolence, written by a physician who calls himself Orac. Given we had a discussion recently about the wisdom of putting a child with type 1 diabetes on a raw, vegan diet (the “Raw for 30 Days” diet) and whether said diet could possibly reduce the child’s need for insulin, I was pleasently surprised to read Orac’s review of the Raw for 30 Days movie.

As I said in the earlier discussion, Orac fights “woo”, the unscientific beliefs some express that clearly demonstrate magical thinking, uncritical acceptance of things for which no good evidence exists. In this review, Orac makes it quite clear he believes raw food veganism as expressed by Gabriel Cousens is a form of woo, particularly when Cousens claims to “cure” type 1 diabetes.

Please take a moment to read Orac’s thoughtful review and some of the discussion which follows. I found it quite informative, thought-provoking, and entertaining!

Click here to go to the blog: I prefer my food dead, thank you very much

Thank you for the link. I found it most interesting especially as my niece is on the Gerson Vegan diet to cure mesothelioma. Actually it isn’t totally raw and isn’t totally vegan because she eats eggs and my sister makes her bread and muffins.
When I saw my oncologist for a check up I asked him about the Gerson diet for cancer and he laughed and said did I know the original Gerson died of cancer.
And please tell me I don’t need to drown my poor living almonds to make them sprout!

Interesting review. I did note that it mentions that it “might” be possible in rare cases to get a T1 off insulin. Personally, if a T1 can get off insulin (other than honeymooning) then I think they have another type of diabetes and not T1. Is there any evidence out there at all of T1s getting off insulin without something like an islet cell or pancreas transplant?

The only cases I know of are people with Type 1b, a non-autoimmune diabetes where the person presents in ketoacidosis, but then, with good BG control, can go off insulin and essentially revert to normal. Eventually, the diabetes returns, but then it acts like Type 2, however, with the tendency to easily develop ketones and go into DKA. Michael Barker calls this Ketosis-Prone Type 2, and it has also been documented as “Flatbush Diabetes”. This is the kind of diabetes that Halle Berry has – too many people dismiss her as not being diabetic, because she has an unusual form of diabetes, but she’s right when she says that she got off insulin – that’s typical of this type of diabetes.

Type 1b is most common in blacks and Asians – I have never heard of it occurring in a white person, but never say never (although that white person may have hidden black or Asian blood).

I read Orac too – he’s relentless!! I just wish there were more people reading scientists like him – and more people understanding the reason for using science-based evidence in medicine. Although woo can be useful for its placebo effect, it is definitely dangerous when a person has a real malady that needs to be treated effectively.

That is so I am lily white ( so much I cannot even think of staying on a beach) but I have AB blood from my Mongol ancestors.

Is there a definition of medical woo ?

I was under the impression that Gerson was poisoned with arsenic twice. He made it through the first one and then tested himself before he died only to find he had been poisoned again. I think officially the therapy is more than just diet, too. I just started researching this, so I’m not 100% positive with my information.

I hope your niece is doing well!