David Wolfe and Anderson Cooper: The CNN Interview
In the late 1990s, David "Avocado" Wolfe hit the rawfood scene. By 2004, his message had gone nationwide.
You could say a lot has happened since 2004 — and that would be an understatement. CNN has lost market share, and trust in mainstream media has hit an all-time low.
But once upon a time, CNN and Anderson Cooper did good work.
While the network may not have aged well over the past 20+ years, the work of David Wolfe continues to echo with truth and accuracy. His willingness to step up and be heard helped to shape the natural health movement and made space for the medical freedom movement and MAHA.
Enjoy this snapshot from the past!
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Raw food, well so the question is, could celebrities really be on to something here? David Wolfe is considered a leading authority on this raw food nutrition. He wrote the book “Eating for Beauty.” So David, what’s the premise behind the raw food diet? I guess it’s more of a lifestyle for you.
DAVID WOLFE, AUTHOR, EATING FOR BEAUTY: Yes, the basic idea is that when we showed up on the planet, we didn’t have fire, we didn’t have shoes, how did we live? Well it’s easier to sneak up on lettuce than it is a rabbit, so we probably ate mostly raw plants. And that is the basic idea or the premise behind the raw food.
COOPER: But fire and shoes are largely considered as progress. Isn’t sort of cooking being able to cook things sort of progress?
WOLFE: Well, that’s an assumption, and I’ve been on a raw food diet ten years. I thought, this makes sense. Every creature in nature eats raw food. Let me try this. Well, I’ve been amazed, and actually, the assumption that cooking makes food better or improves things is just that. It’s an assumption, and actually the scientific research in the area is actually proving otherwise. And...
COOPER: What’s bad about cooking food in your opinion?
WOLFE: The major thing that’s lost is water. This is why we have the eight to ten glasses of water idea out there in the health world, because most people are dehydrated, and that is because they’re eating food that has no water in it. Other things that are involved are the loss of enzymes, and enzymes are catalytic factors that allow food to be digested easier, and other things like fiber.
Fiber is much easier to accommodate in its raw form. When we steam things or cook them, then we break down the fiber, and we don’t have that good peristaltic action moving through our intestines the way we should.
COOPER: Let me read you what the American Dietetic Association says about raw food diets. “The raw food diet may be high in fiber, low in cholesterol and calories. However because it restricts many important foods, it becomes a challenge to get all the nutrients the body needs.” In your opinion what are some of the dangers of the raw food diet or of those converting to a complete raw food diet.
WOLFE: Yes, well this is a very important thing. I don’t really recommend a complete raw food diet for most people. I think ADA is correct on that. I think what we need to do is get to raw organic food for 80 percent of our diet. Once we’re there, that last 20 percent can be whatever we love. All those great foods we love.
And then you know what I found for myself doing that kind of a diet for about a year and a half, two years, I didn’t even want that 20 percent anymore. I really enjoyed drinking vegetable juice and wheat grass juice more than having big dinners, and I enjoyed being lighter. Because I think what’s happening in our country is we eat way too much.
And when you eat raw organic food, then you have food that has minerals in it, your appetite is decreased substantially. This food is very cleansing. We call it sometimes — “liquid plumber.” Stuff moves through you very fast. And it may be unpleasant, because we’ve got to get through a workday, and we have to have something that’s fun, too, and we don’t want to be in what we call this detoxification process too much. And we just start out slow. We start building in fruits and vegetables.
COOPER: Why do you think it is we hear so much about celebrities doing diets like this? They seem to be, some would say, in the forefront of these kinds of diets.
WOLFE: Well, I work with a lot of celebrities behind the scenes and a screenwriter in Hollywood, and I think that’s what is happening is there’s a buzz in Hollywood about raw food. And why is that? Because your skin glows. You feel great, you feel light. You don’t have all the intestinal discomfort.
That’s really important when you’re in Hollywood because you’ve got to have that edge. I met with Angela Bassett the other day. What a beautiful woman. She’s been on a raw food diet now I think about two years. And I thought she looked 30 years younger than she is. I couldn’t believe it; I was like that is you. It was incredible.
COOPER: And you say losing weight is quite easy on this.
WOLFE: I’ve had seminars that I have done — I’ve done about 700 seminars over the last ten years in America — and I’ve had seminars, like I was in Richmond, Virginia, and there were five women in the front row, each had lost over 100 pounds, two of whom had lost over 150 pounds eating raw food for 90 to 95 percent of their diet as much as they want.
Avocados, fruits and vegetables, having nuts and seeds, having herbs, wheat grass, different things we don’t hear about often in the mainstream media but are very important. Things like spirulina and bee pollen, which are more oriented toward the health food world but need to come out in mainstream society more.
COOPER: It is a fascinating subject. I didn’t know anything about it. David Wolfe, thanks.
WOLFE: Thank you so much.
* Punctuation edited for readability. Italics ours.
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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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