Avoiding the Cult Diet
Friday, September 12th, 2008Cult Diet? What…?
A ‘cult diet’ is basically a search for better health gone wrong: rather than the scientific approach such a journey must have, it follows a quasi-religious path. If something goes wrong, your diet is never to blame; you are. You MUST follow this diet; all others are somehow inferior.
This is a list of symptoms to watch out for. Thanks to Beyond Vegetarian and Orange Papers for information and inspiration.
The source material declares itself to be the only path to optimum health.
This has been shown to be false thousands of times. Any diet that claims otherwise is being dishonest.
The source material makes claims that contradict history and science.
For the record, humans have always been omnivores, and grains and pulses of any substantial degree came into the picture quite late. The notion that a “natural” human diet consists of nothing but raw plant matter is absurd.
The source material makes extravagant claims that do not have scientific backing.
Proponents of some extreme diets claim that their diets will allow you to live “over 100.” So far, this has never happened in practice. Many raw fooders have found themselves unable to stay on long enough to find out. Similarly, diets will also claim to promote “perfect health.” No diet has been proven to promote perfect health in everyone.
The diet is claimed to be “spiritually” superior.
Starvation and malnutrition can trigger hallucinations and delusions. Be careful of claims like these.
If the diet doesn’t work, it’s always the fault of the dieter.
Some will claim that if you fail on their diet, it’s because you did it wrong. Although this may be the case, it may not. If those involved claim that those who have failed are at fault even though there is ample evidence to the contrary, you know there are problems.