Solving Nutritional Challenges for Ethical Omnivores, Vegetarians, Vegans, and Raw Foodists

by David Wolfe, JD

Over the last 20 years I have experienced various dietary lifestyles, including being a junk foodist, an ethical omnivore, then a vegetarian, then a vegan, a raw-foodist, and now a superfoodist. After years of dietary repair, I feel that I have completely recovered from my first 18 years of the "anything goes" Standard American Diet as well as completely healed myself of all past physical injuries.

My dietary transformation happened when I was 18 or 19 and was living at a University away from my family home. For the first time ever, I began purchasing my own food. I realized through the process of elimination that something I was buying was not agreeing with my digestion. That "something" turned out to be "milk, cheese, and eggs" - in essence - dairy products. Due to the discovery of this food allergy (which affects millions of people), I stopped consuming dairy products completely. After a few weeks, I thought it would be appropriate to begin to read about nutrition in order to be sure to have enough "calcium and protein" which I was no longer getting from dairy products. I began reading nutrition books: dozens of them. This led to the discovery of a deep, all-consuming passion I have for the subject of nutrition and eventually led to the creation of www.sunfood.com and my career.

After reading nearly every book I could find on nutrition, vegetarianism, veganism, raw foods, superfoods, and herbs, and after over 1500 public presentations on the subject of ideal diets and human health as well as interacting with tens of thousands of people specifically on this subject, I have concluded (as have most others in our field) that the moral ethics of vegetarianism, veganism, and raw-foodism are wonderful and an intrinsic part of creating peace and health on Earth for all beings as well as a clean and sustainable future for all.

However, I have concluded, as have many others, that serious health conditions can develop as a result of improper nutrition due to unbalanced omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, and raw-food diets.

Dozens of factors are involved in creating nutritional imbalances as well as nutritional deficiencies including: daily stress levels, pregnancy, candida, disease conditions, special needs due to age-related nutritional requirements, metabolic differences in human genetics, the uniqueness of the human soul as it expresses itself through the physical body, physical injury recovery, drug addictions, etc. All of these factors must be accounted for and sufficient nutrition must be provided to meet these factors. On top of this, I believe that these challenges can and should be solved with high moral and ethical considerations. That is the basis of this report. By reading this report and maintaining a "solution oriented" perspective you will be able to greatly benefit from years of research by simply adding into your diet some of the foods, herbs, and superfoods mentioned. In fact, I know that by taking action on the information found here and the foods recommended, you will have the best day ever.

The key nutrients that standard American food consumers, as well as conscious omnivores, vegetarians, vegans, and raw-foodists may be missing and how I (and my company www.sunfood.com) ethically solve these deficiencies are as follows:

Challenge: Long-chain omega 3 fatty acid (DHA, EPA) deficiencies.
Information: The omega 3 fatty acids found in most plants (hemp, flax) are not long chain. They are medium chain. The conversion of medium chain omega 3 fatty acids to long chain fatty acids is not easy. In some metabolisms, it does not happen at all. Many individuals are suffering from long-chain omega 3 fatty acid (DHA, EPA) deficiencies. These deficiencies inhibit proper brain and nervous system development as well as impair cognitive abilities. Traditionally, the DHA, EPA nutrition requirements had been solved using cod liver oil or other fish oils. Fish oils are not a long-term sustainable option due to the “fishing out” of cod in the Atlantic and the increasing presence of mercury, heavy metals, and pollutants in fish oils. Long-chain omega 3 fatty acids (DHA, EPA) are extremely important for growing infants and children.

Ethical Solutions: Klamath Lake Blue-Green Algae: Sunfood.com distributes blue-green algae in various forms due to its extraordinary nutrition profile. Blue-green algae contains DHA.

Algae Oil: Sunfood.com was one of the first internet sites to make algae oil, a clean source of DHA, available. However, algae oil does not contain the equally important long-chain omega 3 fatty acid known as EPA.

Oceans Alive Liquid Marine Phytoplankton: This is a plant-based solution to the DHA and EPA problem that can work for most people. This is a phenomenal, vegan solution to meeting DHA and EPA nutritional requirements. Our company Sunfood.com pioneered this living vegan product and has made it available to the public for the first time.

* *

Challenge: Protein deficiencies.
Information: Contrary to some vegetarian and vegan propaganda, some individuals do need plenty of protein to retain mental and emotional stability as well as muscular size.

The Max Planck Institute discovered that cooking destroys 50% of the protein in food. It is likely, that due to the bad habit of cooking food, the amount of protein actually required by the human body per day is closer to 25 grams (or even less) than the average prescribed 50 grams a day. Additionally, due to the danger of consuming animal products created by poor quality control, antibiotics, growth hormones, animal diseases (Mad Cow, Hoof and Mouth, Blue Tongue, chicken cancers, etc.) as well as greed, animal products are becoming less and less reliable sources of protein or any nutrition at all.

However, an ancient-old, brand-new re-emerging class of foods is able to meet our requirement of a clean, highly-usable form of complete protein (as well as many, many other nutrients) and that ancient-old, brand-new class of foods is superfoods.

Ethical Solutions:Superfoods appear to completely solve the protein problem. The most important complete protein superfoods are as follows:

1. Hempseed and Hempseed protein.

2. Goji berries and goji berry powders: Beware of "Wildcrafted" goji berries. They are not wildcrafted. They are domestically grown and often fertilized and sprayed with chemicals. Nearly all "wildcrafted" goji berries we have tested are heavily sprayed with sulfur dioxide. Some "organic" brands of goji berries failed the sulfur dioxide text (they were sprayed with sulfur dioxide). Sunfood.com's organic goji berries and Tibet Authentic goji berries are tested to be free of all chemicals, artificial fertilizers, and sulfur dioxide.

3. Bee pollen (organic): Very few foods even compare to bee pollen in overall nutrition. Bee pollen is arguably the most complete food found in nature. Take bee pollen samples and sample them in your mouth for 20 minutes without swallowing in order to detect if you are allergic to the pollen. Itchiness, swelling, internal mouth reactions, etc. are all signs of an allergic response. If you are allergic to a batch of bee pollen do not eat it. You may still be able to eat other batches of bee pollen from different sources.

4. Sunfood Nutrition Marine Phytoplankton (liquid): This living phytoplankton product is unparalleled in the world. Not only a complete source of living protein, but also arguably the most nutritious food on Earth. One drop of this product is enough to feel some effects.

5. Spirulina: Spirulina contains the highest concentration of protein of any food on Earth. This food fed Mexico City and met all protein requirements for millions of people for 5,000 years.

6. Blue-Green Algae and Chlorella: These are both complete protein sources. Blue-green algae and chlorella are found in superfood formulas such as Sun Is Shining and Pure Synergy. These formulas can be added to foods, beverages, or even water and consumed daily to meet protein needs.

7. Maca: Although maca is not a complete protein it is such a great source of hormone precursors and amino acids, that it provides many of the same effects created by a high-protein diet.

* *

Challenge: Mineral deficiencies, Bone loss, Teeth problems.
Information: Mineral deficiencies affect nearly everybody across the entire planet. Minerals deficiencies have been found to contribute to nearly all conditions of illness. Increasing and improving mineralization has been found to help in practically all cases of illness. Mineralization has been scientifically associated with longevity. Dr. Maynard Murray discovered that proper mineralization was able to help plants, animals, and humans with genetic disorders.

Bone density improves when rich, mineralized foods are eaten, especially food and supplements rich in magnesium, silicon, calcium, ormus minerals, and trace minerals. Bone density improves when hormone levels are sufficient and/or abundant. Improvement is also seen when proper weight-bearing or vibrational exercise is practiced regularly. Additionally some exposure of the skin to direct sunlight improves mineralization.

Excessive sugar and cooked starch (potato, bread, grain) intake (even natural fruit and honey sugars) may contribute to mineral deficiencies in some people. Excessive acid-forming diets filled with meat and chemical sodas also contribute to bone and mineral loss.

Mineral and organic salt deficiencies are common when one has been dealing with digestive disturbances, especially if they have continued for some time.

Ethical Solutions:Seaweeds: Including sea lettuce, dulse, nori, and especially kelp powder are outstanding sources of minerals.

Cacao: (an unrivaled source of magnesium, iron, and chromium) Magnesium is critical for the proper formation and repair of bones and teeth.

Powdered green superfoods: Sun Is Shining and Pure Synergy lead the field in helping to remineralize our bones and body. These green superfoods contain nearly ever trace mineral and are a great place to start with a remineralization program.

Sunfood.com's Oceans Alive Marine Phytoplankton (liquid): This product contains perhaps the most nutritious living food in the world - marine phytoplankton. A complete source of immediately usable living minerals. Actually, this product contains over 90 different minerals! One drop of this product is enough to feel some effects.

Olives: Olives provide the best fat-soluble calcium in the entire plant kingdom.

Maca: A powdered superfood root that helps the human body produce more hormone precursors. Sufficient hormone precursor levels help improve bone and tissue mineralization. Maca is also known to contain up to 20 trace minerals.

Wild rice (raw and sprouted or cooked): An excellent source of minerals, especially for growing children.

Celtic Sea Salt: A great source of natural, living, ocean minerals and salts. This may be very helpful for improving trace mineral availability.

Ocean-grown agriculture (ocean-grown wheatgrass, sprouts, and vegetables): What is ocean-grown agriculture? The ocean contains all known minerals. If you dilute ocean water at a ratio of at least 20 parts pure water or rain water to one part ocean water and then water your plants, fruit trees, garden, sprouts, and/or wheatgrass with it, all minerals become available to them. With this one trick, you can grow extraordinarily mineral-rich food right on your window sill.

Vegetables (raw, organic): Although we cannot rely on simple vegetables for all our mineral needs, we can say with certainty that organic vegetables are rich in alkalinity and are superior to conventional vegetables in mineral content. Organic raw vegetables provide energy with no calories. Chewing green vegetables is great for mechanically cleaning the teeth and supplying the minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and silicon that nourish our bones and teeth with minerals.

Orgono Living Liquid Silica: An ideal source of one of our most important, yet neglected minerals - silicon. Orgono represents a technological breakthrough in arthritic pain relief and bone remineralization.

Flora's Horsetail Extract: This product is a great bone remineralizer and is the premier product of Professor Kervran's life's work including five books and 5,000 pages of scientific notes focusing on the science of mineralization.

Ormus gold (in Miron glass): This is a member of the class of minerals known as Ormus. This product also contains bone-building silicon. David Radius Hudson, the discoverer of Ormus minerals, estimated that as much as 5% of the dry matter weight of our nervous system could be Ormus minerals (formerly mistaken as carbon, iron, and other minerals).

Angstrom liquid minerals (especially: calcium, zinc, chromium, vanadium, selenium, magnesium, and manganese): These liquid minerals lead the field. They are highly absorbable, orally active, and easy to travel with. Sunfood.com pioneered the distribution of the angstrom minerals by placing their availability on the internet in 2002.

* *

Challenge: Sugar sensitivity, hypoglycemia, candida.
Information: In conjunction with mineral deficiencies, many individuals in the western world are afflicted with hypoglycemia. Estimates range as high as 40% of the population is suffering with hypoglycemia, but do not know it. The explosion of adult-onset diabetes also points to chronic mineral deficiencies as well as the overconsumption of hydrogenated oils and refined sugar. Nearly everyone with digestive disturbances is suffering from some level of candida.

Ethical Solutions:
Coconut butter: Sunfood.com pioneered raw, organic coconut butter on the Internet in 1999. Coconut butter is a candida fighting, skin friendly, super oil. Coconut butter is a great clean source of vital energy. Coconut butter helps the body produce the pre-cursors to hormones.

Hempseeds and hempseed protein: The extraordinary content of protein in hempseeds can help stabilize blood sugar in those individuals with high-protein requirements.

Spirulina: The extraordinary content of protein in spirulina can help stabilize blood sugar in those individuals with high-protein requirements. Mixing hempseeds and spirulina together in a hempseed bag with pinches of Celtic Sea Salt is a valuable snack recipe for those with high protein requirements who need some low sugar, high-protein snack that is simple, easy, and that travels well.

Cacao nibs (beans): The magnesium and chromium content of cacao and cacao products has been demonstrated by Dr. Gabriel Cousens to clinically help type 2 diabetics lower their insulin requirements. That's right...natural raw chocolate (cacao) actually improves the health of diabetics.

Yacon Root Syrup and yacon products: Our yacon root syrup has been specifically standardized to have at least a 30% FOS (fructo-oligosaccharide) count. This means that yacon is food for our friendly bacteria like acidophilus and bifidus. It also means that even though yacon syrup has a sweet taste, it does not significantly increase blood sugar levels. It can actually lower blood sugar levels. Yacon root syrup is a technological breakthrough in non-glycemic sweeteners. And yacon tastes better than stevia, xylitol, and other "no sugar" sweeteners.

Pau D'Arco (herb) tea: Pau D'Arco is a Central American and Amazonian tree bark that makes a delicious tea. Pau D'Arco is one of the best destroyers of candida known to humankind. Three to eight cups of Pau D'Arco tea each day are recommended for individuals suffering from candida or chronic digestive disturbances.

Probiotic bacteria: Friendly bacteria, especially acidophilus, are the natural enemies of candida. Sun Is Shining superfood formula contains friendly bacteria.

Aloe vera: Aloe vera is highly anti-fungal. Not only does aloe vera kill candida, but it stops digestive inflammation. The aloe must be raw, fresh, and the skin removed to have its entire medicinal effects. Fresh, raw aloe can be blended into teas or other beverages or consumed straight. Also, the long-chain sugars in aloe (called polysaccharides) provide long-term, even energy and therefore normalize blood sugar. Our company www.sunfood.com pioneered shipping raw, fresh aloe vera on the Internet in 2003. This is still one of our most loved products.

Kelp powder: An unrivaled source of minerals. As blood-sugar disorders are usually mineral deficiency syndromes, kelp helps to heal the problem at its root cause.

Low sugar fruits (cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, okra, etc.): Ingesting more low-sugar, raw, organic fruits in one's diet can help blood sugar disorders as well as substantially influence a more balanced and positive demeanor with less moodiness. Eating a low-sugar diet (even low in natural sugars such as fruit, honey, etc.) creates a feeling of calmness and "lightness."

Cinnamon: A great natural source of blood-sugar balancing chromium.

Seaweeds (especially kelp powder): The mineral value of kelp continues to surprise everyone in the nutrition field.

Powdered green superfoods: Sun Is Shining and Pure Synergy lead the field in helping to remineralize our bones and body. As previously mentioned, Sun Is Shining also contains friendly bacteria.

Olives: Olives provide some of the best fat-soluble alkaline minerals in the entire plant kingdom.

Wild rice (raw and sprouted or cooked): An excellent source of minerals and protein. Wild rice is great for those needing more protein and slow-burning fuel.

Ocean-grown agriculture (ocean-grown wheatgrass, sprouts, and vegetables): By improving the mineralization of our soil and food with dilute ocean water (twenty parts pure water to one part ocean water), we improve our own mineralization as we eat that food. When plants and animals are deficient in minerals they become ill. When the required minerals are available, plants and animals become healthy. Mineralized food provides more balanced long-term energy.

Angstrom liquid minerals (especially: zinc, chromium, vanadium, selenium, manganese, and calcium): These liquid minerals lead the field. They are highly absorbable, orally active, and easy to travel with. www.sunfood.com pioneered the distribution of these minerals by placing their availability on the internet in 2002.

* *

Challenge: Pollution, toxins, industrial byproducts, solvents, glues, antibiotics, pesticides, petrochemicals, depleted uranium, etc. are, more and more, being found in the food supply and in the human body.
Information: Pure, clean, mineral-rich, organic food is perhaps the future's most important commodity. However, clean food alone is not enough to reverse the toxic load acquired during a lifetime of toxic exposure. Certain superfoods, herbs, and minerals have a specific ability to help us alleviate our toxic load.

Ethical Solutions:
Liquid Activated Zeolites: This product is perhaps the greatest detoxifier ever discovered. Liquid Activated Zeolites are scientifically known to safely draw out heavy metals (e.g. mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, uranium 238, etc.) and volatile organic compounds (formaldehyde, o-Dichlorobenzene, toluene, methylene chloride, benzene, tetrachlorodibenzodioxin, p-Dichlorobenzene, tetrachlorodibenzofuran, xylene, hexachlorobiphenyl). Liquid Activated Zeolites are also scientifically known to normalize pH and help stop viral replication.

MSM products: Methyl-sulfonyl-methane (MSM) and the products containing it have a known ability to remove mercury from the system. MSM also helps the liver detoxify a wide range of toxins. MSM detoxifies because sulfur (the primary mineral in MSM) is a primary liver detoxification mineral along with iron and zinc.

Angstrom Zinc: Heavy metal poisoning can displace zinc from the cells. Angstrom liquid zinc helps to restore difficult zinc deficiency syndromes. Zinc aids in assisting the liver to cleanse. Zinc assists the immune system in removing unwanted toxins — especially viral toxins. Zinc is also required from the adrenals to function properly. Long-term zinc deficiencies are associated with adrenal exhaustion.

Natural Vitamin C products (Camu Camu berry powder, Pure Radiance C, etc.): The Vitamin C complex has a tremendous research history suggesting its effectiveness in healing connective tissue, improving the immune system as well as detoxifying the liver, brain, and kidneys.

Chanca Piedra (herb) tea: This extraordinary herb helps the body rid itself of microscopic "bad calcium," "stone" formations that have been implicated in nearly all conditions of chronic illness from gall stones to arterial plaque to arthritis. "Bad calcium" or microscopic "stones" are toxic to the body and are a primary cause of aging.

Medicinal Mushrooms (Reishi, Cordyceps, Maitake, Lion's Mane, Immune Builder, Host Defense): The medicinal mushrooms contain dozens of compounds that help increase the weapons and cleansing agents available to the immune system. The medicinal mushrooms also detoxify the body of certain synthetic chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) found in plastics.

Kelp powder: The iodine in kelp helps restore thyroid function allowing one to lose weight swiftly. The iodine and other minerals in kelp help to increase the mineral content of all the organs allowing them to function more effectively. The better our organs function the more readily they are able to throw off toxins and rejuvenate. Also, kelp helps displace toxic minerals with healthy minerals (e.g. radioactive iodine with healthy iodine). This is called "chelation by replacement."

EJUVA Organic Cleansing products: EJUVA is a brand of gentle organic herb cleansing systems. EJUVA products help one to lose weight, eliminate cellular waste toxins, inhibit and reverse candida, improve digestive health, eliminate poisons in the blood, and more. The EJUVA systems come with instructions and are done in a step-by-step way.

Chlorophyll (green, organic vegetable juice): Chlorophyll is a detoxifier of heavy metals and blood toxins.

Cilantro and Chlorella: This combination has been known to detoxify the brain and nervous system of mercury.

Coconut oil: This oil assists in helping to displace toxic hydrogenated trans fatty acids (e.g. partially hydrogenated soybean oil). Coconut oil restores natural saturated fat levels to the skin, subcutaneous fat layers, as well as to the individual cell membranes. Coconut oil speeds up metabolism allowing the body to drop excess weight and toxins accumulated by an underactive thyroid. Coconut oil is also valuable for the immune system as it contains healthy anti-viral saturated fatty acids such as lauric acid.

* *

Challenge: Being a dogmatic, serious, dry, mean, moody, mental, judgmental person that nobody wants to be around.
Information: Cacao (raw chocolate nuts) takes dogmatic, serious, dry, mean, moody, judgmental individuals and helps illuminate for them a pathway towards becoming an ecstatic being, filled with laughter, heart energy, compassion, and appreciation. This part of the article, although funny, is important. I have met thousands of dogmatic, judgmental omnivores, vegetarians, vegans, and raw foodists over the years. I have been left with the impression that these types of individuals are subconsciously acting from a belief that "everybody must be miserable like me." The energy of dogmatism and judgment repels prosperity and charisma.

Ethical Solutions:
Cacao and Cacao products are happy foods. Cacao (the food all chocolate is made from) is the best natural source of magnesium (alkalinity), iron (circulatory system support), and chromium (blood sugar normalizer). Blood sugar irregularity has been linked to every psychological disturbance from moodiness to schizophrenia. Mean, aggressive behavior has been identified by alternative medicine practitioners and herbalists for decades as indicative of being biologically too acidic. Alkaline minerals like magnesium help alkalize our tissues, thus creating more calm and relaxed behavior. Cacao contains the minerals that assist with normalized blood sugar as well as alkalinity. Cacao is a rich source of anandamide (the bliss chemical). Anandamide makes us feel euphoric and happy. Cacao also contains PEA compounds that are similar to those chemicals we release when we fall in love. Cacao is also the highest natural source of antioxidants. In addition, cacao has the highest content of vitamin C of any known nut or seed (cacao is a tropical nut).

Superfoods beyond cacao such as goji berries, maca, bee pollen, marine phytoplankton, spirulina, blue-green algae, hemp seeds, etc. and aloe vera as well as superfood formulas such as Sun Is Shining and Pure Synergy, go a long way to towards making judgmental vegans and raw foodists more well balanced in behavior and demeanor. I believe this is due to mineralization and the superior well-rounded nutrition that superfoods provide.

Kelp powder: One of the things you may notice is that if kelp powder is finely ground into a powder, it will (like cacao powder and cacao butter) magnetize when exposed to a magnetic field. This is because kelp (like cacao) is extraordinarily rich in minerals including alkaline minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Sufficient mineralization (from proper nutrition) has been known to normalize and calm behavior. A lack of proper mineral nutrition has been implicated in practically every symptom of poor health and emotionally extreme behavior.

Minerals: Several liquid angstrom minerals in particular are important in influencing behavior: chromium, vanadium, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. Chromium and vanadium for supporting more balanced blood-sugar, and calcium, magnesium, and zinc for their alkalinity.

* *

As much I support the ethics of vegetarianism, veganism, and raw foodism, I am bound by an equally great or even greater moral obligation to give people the complete truth as best as I understand it as a health professional with all my years of direct, personal experience.

Please keep in mind that I have been a raw-foodist since 1994. My company Sunfood.com (www.rawfood.com) pioneered enormous advances in vegetarian and vegan nutrition over the last 13 years. I currently run four companies and directly employ over 30 people. In addition to that my team and I still conduct over 80 educational events each year. I have written four books (The Sunfood Diet Success System, Eating For Beauty, Naked Chocolate, and Amazing Grace). I run two new sophisticated farming projects in remote regions of the world. I have traveled the world constantly for over 13 years and have not been in one place for more than four weeks in all that time.

From all this you have probably concluded that I am under a tremendous amount of responsibility and stress. In spite of all this, I am in perfect physical health. I never get tired, worn out, sick, etc. Sometimes I stay up for 2 or 3 days in a row without sleeping more than an hour a night. My immune system has never been stronger, My reflexes are as fast or faster than when I was 16 years old. I am more flexible than ever before. I am never in pain.

My commitment to ethical solutions to the world's food challenges is not a joke. Review my track record and decide for yourself. I believe we can find moral and ethical solutions to every challenge we face including those surrounding food and diet. I believe that we must eat more plants in the food chain and let our bird, reptile, amphibian, and mammal friends pursue life, liberty, and happiness without our wholesale slaughter of their beauty. I believe we must discover and implement real solutions as quickly as possible so that we may all enjoy a healthy and prosperous future. Most importantly, I believe that these issues must be discussed openly and clearly so all confusion is removed.

Sunfood Nutrition

For more on dogmatic diets, please read: Diet or Dogma? By Brandon Gilbert and Addendum: Diet or Dogma? by Erin Brennan