Tera Warner

Paul Nison’s Thoughts on Raising Children Raw

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by Paul Nison

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Those of you who have been getting the Mothers day emails will know there is a wealth of amazing information relating to health, motherhood, birth and choices in our Raw Mom Summit. I selected this part of Paul Nison’s Raw Mom Summit interview, as it sympathizes with the new choices that can be prompted with the birth of a child.

RM: So, Paul tell us a little bit about your experience being a new dad. Will you raise your daughter raw?

PN: Well, before I had a child everyone told me that it was going to be so life changing and there is nothing that can compare to the feeling. The more people told me that, the more I tried to prepare myself, thinking okay I am ready and they are all right it is the most amazing experience and it completely enhances our outlook on everything and it just really puts things more in perspective.

As for what we are going to do in the future I mean obviously we are focusing on right now because it is really important not to neglect the present. Sometimes people do that especially in the health field. They worry so much about the future, they neglect the present. We are so much focusing on the present, but even before we had a child I spent a lot of time with Dr. Fred, who has been a raw foodist for almost 50 years. He is almost 80 years old and raised two young girls with his wife. He told me there is  a lot of people that call him and he never recommends 100% raw food for a child. You have to understand if you bring up a child 100% raw on a perfect diet, chances are when they become 18 and go out and do their own thing, the majority of them are at least going to try something else. I am not saying they are going to completely change, but if their whole life they are so clean and pristine, when they try to eat something else they could have a pretty bad affects and get pretty sick. It’s going to be very hard and confusing for them, they might even rebel at that point.

I am not saying go feed your kid junk food. When they eat healthy it is going to be better. What I am saying is it’s not a bad idea to introduce a little cooked food. Do not completely shelter them from the world. It is an important thing if you really feel strongly about raising your kid raw, make sure when they grow up do your best you are going to be in a decent environment. Most kids go out into the world, into big cities where the air is not clean. We are definitely going to feed our kid mostly raw food up until she can make her own decisions.

Right now we are not going to worry about that because we are breastfeeding! We do not have to worry about that for awhile, but we are not going to exclude cooked for from her diet if she wants it, but we are not going to push cooked food on if she does not want to eat it. It is absolutely not true you need to eat 100% raw to be healthy.

If our air and our water and our thoughts we are all pristine maybe 100% raw diet would be completely in alignment because we live in a world that is other than that how much percentage of raw food would be  safe amount to buffer the conditions of pollution and everything else we face.

PN: Some people think because we do not live in a pristine world, that’s even more of a reason to eat 100% raw. I used to think that way, but I no longer see that as the answer. There is no reason to eat 100% raw because certainly if you are eating a little cooked food it is not going to completely destroy your health or even come close. I know people who eat 100% raw food and are healthy and are not healthy. I know people that eat cooked food that are not healthy and are healthy. There is many more things that affect our health than just food alone. We have to look at the whole picture. I just recommend the majority of our food should be raw fresh ripe and organic. If we do decide to eat something that is not raw and not vegan those little things in between are not going to harm you if it is not processed.

RM: It is a good solid understanding and it makes a lot of sense. What foods would you recommend if someone was to eat some cooked foods and what foods do you think you would introduce to your child?

PN: At Hippocrates in West Palm Beach, Florida, they have been doing this for 50 years. If someone is sick with say, cancer, when that person is healing, that person would have 100% raw diet. Once a person is healed their maintenance diet is like 80% raw, but I do not agree with counting percentages. The things they serve cooked are steamed vegetables, grains like millet and quinoa, lentil soup, maybe a sweet potato. Those are things I think are okay in a cooked state. Especially if someone is in a cold environment and wanted something warm. They wait until it cools down, begin with having a cup of tea or a bowl of soup, or some grains.
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