The Village Voice
March 12 – 18, 2003
Mind | Body | Spirit
Paths From Mind to Body
New Books Connect Self, Health, and Soul
Americans have searched for the perfect diet for decades. Yet many of us still waddle around bingeing and purging and about 60 percent of us are clinically overweight, perhaps because we have been dieting in all the wrong ways and for the wrong reasons. Rhio’s Hooked on Raw (Beso Entertainment, 352 pp., $29.95) reveals the newest—or oldest—diet. Unlike other diets on the market, her “Raw Energy Food Lifestyle” does not tackle the problem of our expanding waistlines but reorients our relationship to food and in turn our relationship to the earth. It essentially takes the vegan lifestyle a step further, restricting not only the consumption of animal products but also the cooking or heating of food in any manner. Providing explanations, definitions, scientific studies, recipes, and directions for implementing lifestyle change, Rhio claims the diet has beneficial effects on mood, heath, and overall ability to perform. Although it’s hard to take advice from a woman who admits she was spurred into vegetarianism after being tricked into eating her pet turtle, the diet makes quite a bit of sense. If you need any further motivation, take a look at Demi Moore, who is raw all the way and looks great. —S.D.
NOTE FROM RHIO: Referring to “tricked into eating her pet turtle” above – I was all of 6 years old at the time.
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