Brendan Brazier is not raw, the second person in PaleoPhil's post, Gabriel Cousens, actually eats higher fat, hence the "high carb = bad!" text.
Ah, I thought DR was being ironic, like he often is. Now I do remember seeing Cousens praised at GITMR, not 30BAD, my bad.
Thanks for the info. How does Gabriel Cousens' diet differ from Lou Corona's, if at all?
The lighting for durianrider's 2012 picture is also pretty bad, exaggarating his appearance.
I knew excuses were going to be made. No matter what images I post or information I provide of a low fat plant-based dieter, I find that someone will always find a way to make an excuse. That's one reason why I also posted a link to the retreat, so folks can go check out other images of the lfrv crowd themselves. I got the newest image of DR from his own Youtube site and used it because it was handy and one of his recent ones that showed his face square on without other things in the way or distortions, etc. Here's his Youtube link, if you want to look at other images or videos of his:
http://www.youtube.com/user/durianriders The recent ones are pretty similar, except something's partly blocking his head or he's looking sideways or not smiling and looking morose (which I figured would be interpreted as trying to show an unfairly sad image of him) and so forth. Here's the most recent one, as of this posting, which looks somewhat distorted:
There are actually other images that make him look worse than what I've posted, including more feminine. I even mistook a couple of his images in the recent past for females. Shaving his head has actually helped make him a bit more masculine again. I actually feel a bit bad for the guy, for what he's putting himself through without being aware of it. I think he really does feel he's doing the right thing for himself and others. But then he invariably treats some really nice person like Jimmy Moore badly and my sympathy for him falls back again.
The odd thing is, despite his frequent misdeeds and insults of myself when he insults all meat eaters, I still sort of like the guy a bit. I think I subconsciously cut him some slack because of his craziness and humor. My favorite video of his was when he was dressed up in a silly caricature of Aajonus, making fun of him in a not too harsh way, and I liked the way he was relatively nice and sympathetic in person to his raw meat eating friend. I suspect DR would be nicer to people in person than he is on the Web, as is the case with many. I guess this is why I bother to write about him and occasionally still check out a bit of a video of his, though lately they've been so obnoxious, that I tend to quickly shut them off.
In fairness, one could also make the argument that everyone ages, and I don't look all that great myself, but then I don't tell other people what to eat (and if anyone ever got that impression, it was entirely unintended--the last thing I want to become is a guru like DR) or make grandiose claims like DR does. I and others have just noticed that DR and Doug Graham seem to be aging and/or deteriorating faster than most. Lowenherz and I are hardly the only ones. Heck, even some of the raw vegans of various stripes have acknowledged this, but tend to get shushed by DR and others. I've seen posts at GITMR and 30BAD by alarmed newbies saying something like "Why do so many raw vegans look aged/emaciated/have teeth that are crumbling/etc.", only to see them get deleted (DR and Freelee are particulary quick with the deletions).
Denise Minger is a plant-oriented dieter (she added some animal and low-heated foods to a raw vegan diet) who behaves much nicer than DR and thus is someone it's much easier to be sympathetic toward.
But of course a handful of examples don't prove anything, and I think it's extraordinary that some raw vegans have lasted as long as they have, and I think Corona's example in particular does seem to raise questions about the claims of the ZIOH folks (doubtless they'd claim that he's lying about what he's eating or will soon die of cancer or some such excuse). The better vegan examples have helped tilt me more toward the omnivory/adaptivory side and away from the facultative carnivore hypothesis (though I remain open minded and am open to evidence-based suasion in either direction, and there's not a lot of difference between the two models; more a difference of emphasis than of completely different types).
As the examples of emaciated and aged-looking male raw vegans add up, it does start to make one wonder: if raw veganism is supposed to be so healthy and rejuvenating, why doesn't it seem to be rejuvenating these people beyond some early improvements? It would seem to require a measure of cognitive dissonance and perhaps eating disorders for these raw vegans of various stripes to not notice that quite a number of them, including some rather prominent examples, don't appear to be faring all that well.
Another of the more impressive plant-based dieters I've seen is this guy, Bernando LaPallo, who has been discussed in this forum before:
Amazing 108 Years Old and Healthy! Part 2 of 3Bernando does include some fish in his diet, which he apparently thinks is part of the key of his success, despite the small amounts, as vs. fully vegan diets. He also seems like a real nice gentleman.