Raw Dish!

Creating Healthy Children, a new book by Karen Ranzi

There’s a new raw food book out and it’s a winner!  It’s called Creating Healthy Children ThroughKaren Ranzi Attachment Parenting and Raw Foods, and the author is Karen Ranzi.  I first met Karen when we were new to raw foodism and were attending meetings of Matthew Grace’s raw food support group, COHR (Coalition for Health Re-Education) in Manhattan.  If it had not been for support from fellow members like Karen and Matthew’s wisdom and confidence, I’m not so sure that I would be on the raw food path today.  Karen discovered raw foodism through her fierce determination to find a solution to her young son’s seriously compromised health.  Once she found raw foodism, it felt instinctually right.  Now, 15-16 years later, Karen and her husband Harvey have two very beautiful and very healthy practically grown children who know from experience what real health is and how to maintain it.

Karen has become a recognized expert in healthy parenting and raw foods and her book is the culmination of a 7 year long labor of love.  I attended a party at Karen and Harvey’s home to celebrate the Karen and Harvey Ranziarrival of Creating Healthy Children… and every since I arrive home last night I haven’t been able to put the book down for very long without picking it back up again. It is practically an encyclopedia of facts, expert wisdom and accounts of healthy raw families and their experience.  Karen delivers detailed information on a multitude of subjects on healthy parenting and healthy children.  There are chapters on The Health of Mother and Father Prior to Conception, Homebirth, Raw Food Nutrition for Pregnancy and Childbirth, Breastfeeding, Attachment Parenting, Skin-to-Skin Contact, The Family Bed, Kid-Tested Recipes, Teaching Your Child How to Eat, Circumcision, Vaccinations, Dental Health and the list continues.

Karen is a friend of mine so I might be biased, but I think any raw foodist would appreciate this book. Aside from Karen sharing her own experience, she has contributions from global raw health experts including forwards by Serafina Corsello, M.D. and Ruza V. Bogdonovich, N.D., Ph.D.  There is additional material from Dr. Rick Dina, Professor Rozalind Graham, Dr. Joseph Mercola, and Dr. Gabriel Cousens and many others.  I particularly like the chapter on Raw Families – Their Journey to a Healthful Lifestyle in which parents describe their raw food family experience and acquired wisdom.  It‘s very affirming to read these accounts and to be reminded how many of us there are who are on this raw food path. 

As a man, I was personally moved by the chapter on circumcision.  For many years I’ve held the belief that if I ever have a son I could not consent to him being circumcised and Karen’s fourth chapter, Discovering the Truth about Circumcision: One Woman’s Journey of Personal Transformation, was deeply moving and informative.  The main content of this chapter is contributed by Laurie Evans, a Jewish Woman, who with her husband and after much research and soul-searching, decided against having their son circumcised.  After reading this chapter it is clear to me that circumcision is male genital mutilation and should be no more acceptable than female genital mutilation that activists are loudly speaking out against.  This is a religious issue for many and it was an eye opener to learn that there are many Jewish families who have refused to have their infant sons’ genitals mutilated while still being very proud to be Jews.   Additionally, this chapter provides detailed information on the very real purpose and function of the foreskin and I suspect that most circumcised men are totally unaware of this information and obliviously pass the practice of genitally mutilating their sons from one generation to the next.

Creating Healthy Children Editor Joel Brody with Karen and Harvey RanziIn Creating Healthy Children Karen makes it very clear that healthy raw parenting goes far beyond what one feeds their child.  In her introduction Karen writes: “This is a book about consciousness, about raising our awareness of our surroundings.  With intent and mindfulness, we can nurture our children through feeding them fresh plant foods drawn from the earth and treat them with the ultimate respect they deserve as human beings – our only hope for the future, so they can grow up to be strong, secure, and aware individuals.”  In just knowing Karen for many years, my consciousness has been raised, but her book takes it to a whole new level.  I highly recommend it to anyone who sincerely and consciously wants to raise healthy children as well as to anyone who wants to raise their own consciousness.