Laura: Are there younger people among your readership, anywhere from very young children through college students?

It's all over the board, actually. I'd say it's probably mostly between the ages of 21 and 55. That's what the general readership is.

Among young people … or people in general actually, has it gotten easier to promote raw food and natural living, or has it gotten harder, since things are so processed, and people's lives are so hectic?

No, it's easier now than ever. It's gotten bigger than ever before. When I started out with this whole thing about 10 years ago, there were two raw restaurants in America… now there are over sixty.

How important is raw food and nutrition to a developing young person?

Very important. It's one of the major issues of our time; people are literally suffering from malnutrition, from not eating anything fresh, or anything raw, or organic. Nobody even eats salads! It's ridiculous.

In The Sunfood Diet Success System, you mention Fit for Life- Harvey and Marilyn Diamond's diet plan. What do you think of their plan, since it might be potentially easier for people who want to eat healthier, or transition to raw food?

Yeah, it's probably a little too heavy on the fruit… that's the problem with that diet, because some people are so sugar sensitive. Having that much fruit in your diet can be unbalancing. I'm glad that book was out there though, because that book really changed my life, and I've since become good friends with Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. They call me now, it's funny.

Was their diet discredited at all?

There are some things about it… I mean the whole science of nutrition is well beyond that book, but it's still a pretty darn good book.

You also mention Dr. Norman Walker's book Colon Health, which was written quite a while ago. Is it still a useful reference?

All his books are out of date, but still very popular… I sell them on my website. They're some of the most exceptional books out there.

The advice is still useable?

Yeah, because he's talking about salts for digestion, the fact that magnesium chloride and sodium chloride are actually very important for the digestive tract, and obviously we need to be getting those more from plants than from artificial sources. A lot of our salt is processed or essentially synthetic, not natural salt… kiln dried salt. And that's what Dr. Walker talks about in that book, he talks about vegetables and juices… this is really where we get our natural minerals from.

Now, what about affordability? Young people, especially college students, are usually pressed for cash… especially college students who might already be paying for a meal plan. Any ideas on how to make this work on a budget, since investing in a raw organic diet can be potentially costly?

It depends on how much you want to spend. I literally live on almost nothing… I hardly spend any money on food. If you have a little bit of superfood in your diet- spirulina, or raw cacao beans, or maybe you have something like sprouts that you can grow at home… you can live on probably around… I live on about $70 a week spent on food. I used to spend on "other" food $150 a week or more sometimes, on just food or going out to a bar or something like that. So the amount that it actually costs you [on a raw diet] if you're clever is about $70 per week, which would be like $280 a month. It's reasonable. What are you going to spend your money on anyway? What's more important than your own diet? That's where you want to spend your money. So if you need to spend more on that… well, prioritize that before anything else.

So can investing in your diet save money in other places- like healthcare costs?

There's an old saying in the world of raw nutrition- either you pay now or you pay later. And if you pay later, it's a lot more. One day in a hospital is minimum $1,000. One day! For the price of a week in the hospital, you could've eaten organic food for a year, and lived lavishly on raw food and raw food restaurants. To put it all in perspective- an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, that's the saying.

What about cosmetics? I haven't read your book Eating for Beauty, but it's been reviewed on the website … what kind of cosmetics do you recommend, if any?

Well, a lot of the cosmetics that are out there are fairly poor quality, made from rendered animal parts. I'm not a big fan of cosmetics; there are lots of things that you can use naturally. Of course, many people don't have color in their skin or lips, or their hair's not very lustrous because they're really malnutritioned. They don't have enough minerals. This is something that happens kind of naturally when you get on the live food, and you start getting nutrition back. You get minerals back- you get more glow to your skin and lips and hair. The cosmetic thing [becomes] less of an issue.

Most teens are stuck dealing with acne and skin blemishes- does a raw food diet help with that?

Definitely. There's a saying in my book, Eating for Beauty: food, minerals, cosmetics. Food and minerals- what's inside- create the outer appearance of beauty.

And what about using food or anything topical as a cosmetic treatment- like facial masks or moisturizer?

I'm really into clay- clay is probably nature's foremost healer of skin afflictions. You mentioned acne- clay masks are really effective. A lot of times the acne goes away on live foods or low/no sugar diets. But the clay always seems to be helpful. People my age don't usually sleep much, especially when we hit college; that leads to a lot of fatigue and crankiness. But you claim in The Sunfood Diet Success System that you can get as little as four hours a night on a raw diet, but still be refreshed and productive. Really?

[Laughs] I slept about four and a half hours last night … I like to get about five to five and a half, if I get six hours I feel like I overslept. I used to be an eight hour a night sleeper. I did the math- if you sleep two hours less each night, at the end of the year that's an extra month of time. That means I have an extra month of waking time every single year, because I sleep two hours less being on live foods. I even sleep less than that- more like five and a half hours a night.

That sounds useful for college students.

If I'd known this information in college, I'd be a completely different person.

What about pets and raw food? You mention in your book that dogs and cats can be raised on a raw diet, and it's highly preferable to most store-bought cat and dog foods [Note: While dogs can be raised on a vegetarian diet, cats cannot; they lack certain protein-building substances. Always confer with a vet before starting a healthier eating plan with your pets in order to prevent malnutrition!].

I think it's a real problem these days with cat and dog food. I'm very concerned about it - here's why. What's getting into cat and dog food is rendered animal parts from euthanized animals, and what's in those parts are prions- prions are what cause Mad Cow Disease. Animals that take in that food not only get introduced to the prions, but it comes out in their feces and prions get into the soil. This is not something to be ignored; I raised two dogs on raw food, mostly avocados and superfoods. I am concerned about it because people who live on raw food diets still give their pets dog or cat food, and that stuff is really quite toxic to the animals and the environment.

I used to work in a vet's office, and it seems like dogs and cats are getting fatter and unhealthier- you think this is due in some big part to the food?

Definitely, without question. That's something we really have to pay attention to. Why are humans more unhealthy than we used to be? Why are dogs and cats unhealthier than they used to be? It's all the food. We eat the worst food ever. But we also have the opportunity to eat the best food ever, and that's what so great about America. I mean, we have the best of everything- like the Internet, and it's also true with food. We have to take advantage of what's out there.

You think stuff- healthy food- is more available than before, like in the huge supermarkets that we have now?

It's coming. And if it's not available in the supermarket, you can get it in the healthfood store; if it's not available there, you can get it over the Internet.

Anything else you can recommend for younger people?

You've got to get your priorities straight. When I was young I didn't realize how important food was, I thought, "Anything I eat my body will burn up." I'd avoid getting caught in that trap at all costs, because the food today is more toxic than ever before. We've got to get on organic food, we've got to start adding more raw food into our diets - 80% if possible. You can do that without changing your lifestyle too much. Have a salad every day; a salad a day keeps the doctor away. Make sure you have good quality fruit in your diet, because that's where you get your hydration from, particularly lemons and cucumbers. And stay educated about the subject- keep reading, visit raw food restaurants, talk to people, and stay informed. The government's not going to inform us, television's not going to inform us, but the Internet can, if you know what to look for. Books can, if you know what to look for. You can get a whole free education on live food on the Internet these days if you have no money. If you have a limited budget, be aware you can grow sprouts for literally pennies a day, for nothing. There's fresh living food there for you, you can use that in salads or juices.

So, did you vote in the last election?

I don't vote; well I do vote, I vote with my money. We are voting every day - we don't really live in a democracy, we live in what Plato called a plutocracy. The rule of money. How you spend your money is really how you vote in this world. When you vote for organic food and living food, and put your money towards preventing diseases through natural means then we're going to create paradise on Earth. Organic farming is a tough job. Creating living food cuisine is not easy. There's a lot of love involved and those people need the money. What's great about this is that you can support that and create a demand for those services, and all of a sudden the whole economy will shift eventually towards organic food and towards people who love what they're doing and put love into their food.

Laura's Note: This is a fairly interesting piece of information that I picked up during the interview, but not while the recorder was on. Mr. Wolfe was wearing a very nice looking outfit made of what appeared to be hemp. He said that indeed it was, and explained that- as most of our readers know- hemp is the most ecological choice for several kinds of fabrics, fibers, paper, etc. But you can also make PLASTIC out of it. His band, the Healing Waters Band, actually makes its CD's out of HEMP PLASTIC. Amazing. Maybe it's just me, but I had no idea that you could make hemp plastic…

Remember, David's website is www.davidwolfe.com where you can find information about his published work, his raw-food retreats, his calendar, and even a reality show he took part in.

Special thanks to Angela Hartman for blocking this interview into Mr. Wolfe's schedule!

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