…At least that’s what happened to Angela Stokes. Once nearly 300 pounds, the girl stopped eating anything that was cooked and lost almost half of her body fat. CNN reports:

She stopped eating meat, animal products and processed foods and instead switched to a diet that consisted of uncooked and unprocessed vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.

“To me, the thing with raw food is that it just makes sense. It’s simple and natural, eating food straight from the earth. There’s no rocket science, no mystery,” said Stokes. “Once you understand the simple principal that no other animal in the wild eats cooked or processed foods. That’s it.”

She makes a very good point - especially considering all the hormones and crap that goes into everything we eat. We should all hop on this raw food bandwagon! We can all be healthy! We can all lose weight.

It can’t be that hard, right? I mean, we would never have to cook again!

Wait, what? Cheddar and Sour Cream chips aren’t raw? Ramen isn’t raw? BEER ISN’T RAW?!

Jesus H. Christ; that Allison chick is crazy. What the hell did she eat? HOW DID SHE SURVIVE?  I really don’t know anyone who can do this - most definitely not anyone in college.

Last December, The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that over the last twelve years, death rates among 2,600 adults 60 and older were slightly lower in overweight individuals than in normal weight adults.

Wait, what? Isn’t obesity a major health concern?

Actually, the New York Times reports that “despite concerns about an obesity epidemic, there is growing evidence that our obsession about weight as a primary measure of health may be misguided.”

It seems that medical research is taking a different path down the road of health, obesity, and weight loss studies. In fact, the Archives of Internal Medicine, as referenced in the Times suggests that half of overweight people and one third of obese people are actually “metabolically healthy.”

America’s obsession with beauty and looks has long stereotyped overweight people in a negative light. However, studies such as those mentioned above are proving that in many cases, thin or underweight people are in poorer health than those with a few excess pounds. The Journal of the American Medical Association conducted fitness tests and observed mortality rates of their subjects, and discovered that “fitness level, regardless of body mass index, was the strongest predictor of mortality risk.” Therefore, skinny people blessed with a fast metabolism will still find working out to be advantageous to their health, and “big boned” individuals should not be written off as being “lazy” or “sluggish,” as stereotypes suggest. Read More »