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March
7
Raw Water Debunked
Filed under Raw Food Controversies, Raw Vegan Video Blog by Frederic Patenaude
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The first time I heard of “raw water”, I must honestly say that the first thing that went to my mind is “Are you kidding me? Do they really think people are that stupid?”
In the video below, you’ll see me debunk claims made about raw water, a new product being promoted in the raw food movement.
Keep in mind that I’m not saying that their water is bad, or that there wasn’t any genuine efforts put into this. I just think that it’s not worth the $6-10 a bottle they are asking for, and that the claims made to promote are downright wrong. What do you think? Let me know below and feel free to pass this video along to your friends.
59 Responses to “Raw Water Debunked”
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Becky says:
Thanks for this Fred. We could all use a little more common sense in our diet!
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I agree totally. Thank you for your courage to tell your honest opinion and to debunk some fallacies in the raw food movement.
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tom cushwa says:
Hey Fred,
I think raising consciousness about water is a good thing. This “controversy” about Raw Water is hopefully doing just that. You never mentioned Daniel Vitalis by name in your 10 minute video but he is the force behind “Raw Water”. He is a strong advocate for getting your own water from a local spring in glass bottles. I would never buy “Raw Water” in bottles but I would get my own spring water from a spring in glass bottles which I do all the time and it has been quite a revelation. Spring water strait from the source does have a quality to it that is totally missing from tap water even if you filter it many times. I would suggest that people check out Daniel Vitalis’ videos on YouTube to get the other side of the story.
I agree with you. Don’t buy “Raw Water” but Do get your own water directly from a spring in glass bottles. It is worth the effort. and it is FREE! -
James Thomas says:
Hi Frederic,
Definitely not worth the money – I calculated $480,000 for 60 years of use of “Raw Water” only! WOW! For that I would expect perfect health and wellness without doing anything else – and my guess it takes more than “Raw Water” only to keep great health to age 80. I think it has value but should be sold for no m,ore than $1 per liter.
My question to you: if you take R.O. carbon filtered water and put into a Vitalizer for 9 minutes which adds 7 trace minerals and structures it to similar to mountain spring water – wouldn’t this be as good or better than spring water?
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David Michael Colorez says:
Frederic, thanks for the video on Raw Water, you’re one of the few people in the raw food movement, with guts to tell it like is! Telling people to start thinking for themselves and become accountable is super!
Blessings and Peace,
The Food Warrior, -
Frederic, thank you for your video on Raw Water, you’re one of the few willing to tell it like it is. Suggesting to start thinking and be accountable for them selves is super!
Blessings and Peace,
“The Food Warrior”
David Michael Colorez -
Lou B Duran says:
as always “call a spade a spade” – Brilliant!. Great arguements and research as always but isn’t this TOTAL TOTAL common sense???? Are there REALLY people buying this stuff? I find that more absurd that the actual raw water product.
I look forwards to your response on the “raw, gravity fed, free from sunlight, air” that I am thinking of marketing for $20 a canister…….
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well i can see the need for a better water. it doesn’t seem like we can trust our government to provide us with healthy water, but is trusting some random company who needs profits in order to survive any better?
knowing that there is fluoride and estrogen in tap water makes me wonder what else can be found in it and can a filter really help? personally i think i’m getting to the point where i can trust a company more than the government, especially with Harper being in power.
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Lynda says:
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so glad you did this video. I am 60 years old. I have gone the route of cooked food, cooked vegetarian, cooked vegan and am now mostly raw vegan. What a journey. One of the first raw food gurus I encountered in person, and who help inspire my journey, was Daniel Vitalis. He came Victoria BC and inspired quite a few people. I was heart broken however, when I discovered that this was part of a marketing campaign to purchase questionable products such as deer antler velvet and raw water.
I suppose that any industry will attract those who have figured out how to dupe enough people to make themselves wealthy. How sad that the fundamentals of life can not be trusted. I have a very curious mind and research just about everything I do. I feel sorry for those who don’t and who spend a lot of money to purchase items like “raw water” and who believe it will make a difference.
Thank you again, Frederic for not getting on the water band wagon yourself and for sharing the truth as you know it. I appreciate your honesty.
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I forgot to mention that I have a lot of respect for Daniel Vitalis and the knowledge he shares. I am just disappointed by the type of product he is promoting. Thanks again, Frederic.
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veronica says:
I agree, if you want to go out and get yourself some fresh FREE spring water go for it. Don’t feel you’re not a raw foodist if you’re not drinking Raw Water.
Maybe once in a while for travelling, but as a daily item? Come on… that’s for hollywood raw people who have money to burn and no common sense.
I’m glad people are questions these raw products and starting to see the insane trend of *THE NEXT BIG THING* that will supposedly change your life. Some may work, some may not.
Promoting sustainable drinking water from fresh springs and letting the public have access to it is far more beneficial than mass producing and distributing another bottled water all over the world.
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Frederic Patenaude says:
I have nothing against Daniel and I’m sure he does lots of good things and has great knowledge on many aspects of natural health.
My approach is a lot different because I take the 80-20 rule to health success.
Or you could call it the 95-5 rule and it would be more appropriate.
The rule says that 95% of your results will come from 5% of your actions.
The 5% that really matters are things like:
- Your diet!
- Your fitness program
- Your sleep!
- Emotional balance and poise
- Relationships, etc.The problem is that most health promoters instead promote the 95% of things that don’t matter that much and account for less than 5% of your total health picture. Often these are unproven practices such as:
- Drinking a specific kind of water
- Taking a specific supplement or superfood
- Sungazing, barefoot walking, etc.I’m not saying that any of these things have no benefits whatsoever, but overall in the total health picture they account for very little compared to the BIG things. They’re also often very easy to do without requiring real efforts, and that’s why they sell.
If you really get the 95-5 rule, you’ll start getting less and less excited about all of these consumable items that many people are promoting, mainly because the benefits are largely unproven. Stick with the 5% that makes all the difference! It’s not the easy road, but it works.
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Great breakdown, Frederic! This raw water is definitely the most ridiculous raw promotion I’ve seen to date, besides the obsession by some with colon cleansing like hydro-colonics. And I wasn’t even privy to the “cooked water makes us 70% cooked” argument. Crazy!
Bottom line: Buy a good water filtration system, eat lots of fruits and veggies, and you’re good to go!
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Erika says:
Thanks Frederic for the generous giving of your time to look into things for us.
Personally I feel a person has to be pretty dense to fall for something like this raw water. For me reverse osmosis does just fine. I don’t have a system but purchase it for 25 cents a gallon from water stores in my neighborhood.
I’ve always heard that water directly from a spring is the best, but what proof do we have there? Picking up on James Thomas’ comment about adding trace minerals to water, I have heard dozens of time that minerals in water are inorganic and cannot be absorbed by the body.
I agree with you, buy fresh fruit and make juices but stay away from RAW WATER. -
Dot D. says:
Commenting on the “Raw Water” video. It seems ludicrous to me to purchase something that contains nothing but hype. I’d never heard of this product before, but there seems to be no substance to it, other than the fact that because it says “RAW” it would prompt people to buy it without looking further into it….similar to all the “natural” products that are presently out there. Thanks for the heads-up on this.
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Well, here we go again.
Kevin Gianni bashing Cacao because of a rash, then loads of people furious at Avo for promoting Cacao.
Now, Daniel is “offering” an alternative to bottled waters, Frederic bashes Raw Water, then loads of people are furious at Daniel.How many Cacao haters are once again drinking Cacao smoothies regularly?
You don’t have to buy Raw Water.
If you are at a restauant, your finances are in tact, and you want The Best Water Ever, why not choose Raw Water?
Daniel has researched for years about the Best Water, and explains the Benefits of spring water all over the web, You Tube, his site.
If it feels good to Hate for a little while until you can process Brand New information, that’s one route.I choose to Love while I’m processing information.
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Brian says:
You make solid points and I like your work Fred, but why do you attack the negative so much?
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mish says:
I disagree with your perspective and critique Frederic.
I go to Ojai to collect real water from the ground. I will never drink water that does not come directly from the Earth again as a habit of any length if possible. It does taste WAY better and I want more than other choices of water. There are days I do not eat enough fruit and lettuce and such, and it is nice to have simple pain real structured spring water. I am lucky I can drive from LA to an active accessible spring, but many people can not. I like the information that Daniel Vitalis provides about the natural filtration of water recycling through the atmosphere into the ground and coming back up energized and forcibly thru the surface of the Earth; saying “Im ready!”.
Living in LA the choices are racking up multiple plastic bottles, drinking through a shite cheap tap filter or an expensive whole house system – these don’t filter out prescription drugs or flouride. I shutter to think of the hormones and antidepressants in that glass. Or in LA one can go to a machine and take your big jug and buy RO water – but that comes from city water too and has been denatured in multiple ways.
I feel way better about not worrying about plastic bottles, recycling glass, drugs or chemicals in my water. I think that it IS important.
And I think that if people want to spend the money to reduce stress over not getting clean water I think they should be provided an outlet. I will keep going to the spring. -
The problem is making claims that you are a cooked foodist if you do not consume raw water, but any other form of water. As if fruits and vegetables have no water in them.
What about coconut water? That is the best raw water out there. It’s even sold in stores in latin america and asian markets yet no one is promoting it as a miracle cure being released to the public for the first time ever…. blah blah
Trying to let people think for themselves and healthy criticism is beneficial in a world where we are marketed to constantly about superfood products that are here one day and gone tomorrow.
How is hating the hype a BAD thing?
Information is good, hype is misleading to say the least.
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Amy says:
Mish
I think you’re missing the point. I don’t think Frederic has any problem with spring water the problem is with the marketing, hype and price of something that is being bottled and shipped that is not really sustainable.
Sure go and get spring water yourself for free. That is great, it’s not the issue here.
It’s misinformation. And not everyone lives in LA where there’s mass amounts of drugs and anti depressants in the water.
More natural springs should be available, but not for this price of an individual bottle of water and scaring people into thinking they won’t be healthy without it.
Drink coconut water or cucumber juice if you think you NEED extra structured water. It’s far cheaper and has beneficial nutrients and electrolytes. Unlike any raw water.
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Coconut water comes from coconuts, water come from the Earth. They are not the same. Coconut water is juice. Water is simple water.
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Where do you think the palm tree gets the water from???? THE EARTH. All plants get water from the Earth, living natural water and then it is filtered through the plant and contains many minerals just the same as water. Plants can’t get any minerals without water anyways.
Have you ever tried fresh young coconut water? It is not juice, it is not refined and stripped of fiber like other juices. It’s naturally occurring water in a plant.
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Sean says:
Do you seriously think that water from your tap through your filter is as good as naturally mineralized water from a renowned spring in Maine that has been operating since 1875? Your blind critique is no different than what many cooked food people say about the claim that raw foods are somehow better than cooked foods. I am surprised that you would take aim at something without doing due diligence.
The water is sourced from a company with a flawless reputation and a huge following of those of us that taste and feel the difference of true, mineralized water. The history of the health promoting mineral springs are more than just a scam from the past…Are you seriously saying that those places have no value and that water is just water?
As far as the cost…who cares? Don’t buy it…The market will force the price to drop if it can’t be sustained. There are lots of ethical raw food companies selling products for some exorbitant prices. It’s supply and demand.
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my boyfriend sells young thai coconuts. i drink them a lot. the coconut does change the composition of the water which it gets from the earth. that is simple to understand. then the coconut water is sweet with sugar. it is not the same as the original water from the ground. peace
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Thanks Frederic. It’s always good to hear your take on things…you use common sense. So many people are looking for someone to tell them exactly what works and what doesn’t; whereas the “experts” have varying opinions. People benefit by listening to various “experts”, then can decide what makes sense to them at that point in their life.
Enjoy life in your tropical paradise.
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brandy says:
I live near Mount Shasta, and I’ll match anybodies spring water against ours. All it takes is a 45 minute drive and some very large jugs and bottles to get the best water in the world. If you’re willing to get your own water, great for you! If you would rather buy it and have it shipped to you, that is also great for you! However, when I want the best mineralized water there is, I choose raw fruits and vegetables. Fred, thanks buddy, you’re the best.
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Wonda says:
Fred, I so agree with you. When I heard about “raw water” I was like common give me a break.
Thanks for the vid and for keeping us in the know.
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Maureen says:
There are many good comments here. I think it’s really important to fully understand things from both sides before being able to have an opinion. I think if most people here actually heard Daniel Vitalis speak (extremely knowledgably) about raw water, you would feel differently. From what I know of Daniel, his focus has always been quality water and elixirs- that is his thing and I watched a riviting video of him talking about raw water. He has had a site about where to find the closest spring for some time.
The fact that we are 70-80% water to me says that what we hydrate ourselves with is pretty important. I currently have a household system. the local spring approach is newer to me- and am incorporating that. I would try the raw water. I have found that all changes moving to raw foods have been extremely positive for me and I’m consuming less and spending less- overall.
Just my feedback.
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Rawbecca says:
In my opinion, Daniel is a BE-ing of High Integrity, Authenticity & Awareness. His research & direct experience on the structure & In-for-mation of water is very informative & empowering…empowering others to do their own research, make their own connections, not only to the living element of water, but to all of the living elements that make up our experience & lead us to the awareness of the truth of who we are as a species & eternal spirit. Bravo to him for raising questions in the minds of others, opening new doors, expanding awareness beyond our own, sometimes limited conditioning.
No one’s saying you HAVE to buy raw water in a bottle or that you’re “cooked” & terrible for drinking other forms of water. Go to a spring & gather your own water for FREE, have your own DIRECT experience, make your own conclusions & do what’s right for You & your own body…period!…whether that’s drinking spring, RO or filtered water. Do more investigating & listen to Daniels research on spring water, before making any claims. All life is a process, we’re all on a path to somewhere or something, and we’re all at different stages at different times, neither is right & neither is wrong, it’s just where we ARE at any given moment. Step out of the box/matrix & Listen to your own Higher Self! -
Nancy says:
Fred, You have a way of getting people out of their box and making them think. Once again, I agree with you 100%. How do you feel about wheatgrass, sprouts, rejuvelac?
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Ben says:
No of course we don’t have to buy raw water. I don’t think Fred was saying don’t go out and get free spring water, he was saying think for yourself and it’s an outrageous price to pay for bottled water and that part is wasteful.
I watched Matt Monarch’s video with Daniel Vitalis and he said you’re 70% cooked if you drink cooked water.
He said it. That’s why I question his knowledgability when he makes ridiculous claims like that.
Sure water is important, good clean water is available in many sources. But it sounded like he was trying to drum up business with raw water.
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I subscribe to the 95-5 rule of success. I’ll be talking more about this soon! Don’t waste your time on little things that are largely unproven when you can still improve the big things that will really make a difference, like fitness or diet or emotional poise. That’s generally what I feel about wheatgrass, sprouts, rejuvelac, etc. They’re not the 5% that will really make a difference in your health. There can be some negatives as well to some of these things that I’ve discussed before.
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Avi Saha says:
I agree with the person who said you are too negative, I knew that people who were not informed of Raw water, and Daniel Vitalis’s efforts, would think it was just ludicrous. But after watching him speak about it on youtube.
it’s more clear that there are benefits to this water.
If I had never heard of Raw water before and someone told me about it, the first thing would not be negative, as it was for you. I think you need to gain more of a positive attitude, and meditate perhaps. It may just be because you are french, haha, but nevertheless, there is always an explanation to something seemingly ridiculous.
I think it was a crazy move to market the water as RAW, but what’s the reason? He sincerely believes that there is a difference… so naysayers are attacking the beliefs here.But i think people should watch the video and look at the pros and cons. All the RAWfoodworld videos are essentially sales pitches, jst like this raw water video, but hey people need to make a living. Daniel may have memorized that script, and it is definitely completely false that we are 70% cooked (raw food contains water, and even if it didn’t, we could gain the elements found in his raw water from elsewhere perhaps), but i definitely want to visit that spring and perhaps TRY the water in that famous spring.
And the state of Maine did approve the water for bottling, so there are no known contaminants
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Frederic is promoting skepticism and thinking for yourself. He even says come to your own conclusions and this is his opinion.
He’s not down on spring water. He was down on the hype and the price with no benefits to back it up.
And saying that he’s negative because he’s French? Wow that is pretty insulting and is completely uncalled for.
He didn’t insult anyone personally and said this has nothing to do with the people promoting it. He was looking at the product and what was advertised.
Sure we’d try the water, we’re not saying don’t try it or don’t buy it.
Don’t be complaining about someone being negative when you insult them to their face and say they need to “meditate” or something.
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AJ says:
I agree that the product is not worth the money. People are lazy and need to go do the work themselves if they want wonderful spring water.
So.. You say that water is not a living thing. Are you serious? Then you go onto to say that it is H2O. Which is not true.
Have you harvested your own spring water? You can’t tell me something so powerful and influential to every being is not living.
Then you talk about structured living water in plants.. hmm. I think you should watch your own video and count out your own inconsistencies. -
Water is certainly a substance with unique properties. The molecules can tend to associate and forming short-lived “clusters”. But chemists agree that these are not actual physical concepts but more conceptual ones. These clusters have no specific properties or health benefits and their very short-lived (in the order of one trillionth of a second).
Water IS H2O and it is NOT a living thing. Water is a molecule.
I do not believe in the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables because it would be “structured water”. It is simply a pure source of water. I used that example in the video simply saying that if one “believes” in living water, then get that “living” water from fruits and vegetables. Certainly water is not living, but can come from a plant that was once living.
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tracy says:
what do you think of carob? And what about balsamic vinegar? Organic dijon mustard?
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Carob is excellent! Vinegar + Mustard not ideal but I sometimes use them in small quantities in a recipe for flavor. In an ideal world you would not eat those things.
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To those who say raw water is living because it is structured:
“It must be emphasized that no stable clustered unit or arrangement has ever been isolated or identified in pure bulk liquid water. A 2006 report suggests that a simple tetrahedral arrangement is the only long-range structure that persists at time scales of a picosecond or beyond. But for an interesting (and somewhat controversial) alternative view, see this article by Rustum Roy. And a 2007 study suggests that infrared radiation can stabilize clathrate-like clusters for up to several hours. “
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This is a message to Lynda about your Deer Velvet comment.
“was heart broken however, when I discovered that this was part of a marketing campaign to purchase questionable products such as deer antler velvet and raw water.”
Deer Velvet has been used by the Chinese for more than 2000 years and is the second most purchased natural product to Ginseng.
Your google skills have let you down a little here.
J.
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In your video, Fred, you are concerned that Daniel uses Scare Tactics to drum up business for his Raw Water.
Please explain the distinction between Daniel’s methods and the Banner Ad at the bottom of this page, “The Top 10 Deadliest Mistakes Made By Raw Foodists “.
Your Banner Ad seems pretty Scary to me.With Love and Shaking Knees.
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Thank you for promoting rationality, Frederic.
The claims for this water are ridiculous. I have no doubt that the folks supporting it believe it’s a good product (and it probably does taste better than tap water or most bottled water). But for the cost of this stuff, most people would be better off saving their money and putting it towards a better use like buying higher-quality raw produce or going on vacation somewhere sunny for the vitamin D. This is NOT the kind of investment that will bring significant returns for your health, especially if you already have a reasonable filtration system in place.
I feel fortunate to have found raw foods a number of years ago instead of now, with business and marketing hype dominating the scene. If I were brand new to this diet, I’d probably take one look at all the expensive superfoods and gizmos I “needed” to buy and go running back to cooked.
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Perhaps because I’ve personally known people who have died after following the wrong nutritional advice, I chose the word “deadliest”. Besides, that report is free. I’m giving away the information I felt can help a lot of people avoid the mistakes I made.
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Exactly Denise! I’m glad you understood that point and wish more people would! What is going to improve your health the most? Spend $300 on water in a month, or hire a personal trainer at the gym to get you in serious shape? Or save to go to take that vacation that you really need? Unfortunately people like the easy fix and miracle cure.
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M.J. says:
I find it disturbing that products like this can actually make it to the shelves, through companies knowing there are many ignorant and hysterical people out there. I agree Fred, “learn to think” is very appropriate. For the $3000 a year on this silly product, you could buy a good quality filtering system that would be far more beneficial in the long run for all. No bottles to be recylced, no transportation and energy costs involved with that, oh…and no greedy company leeching money from people who don’t know any better. The upside? Perhaps the ridiculous claims of products like these might make people think twice in future about any products they buy. In an ideal world…
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Heather says:
Well said Frederic! Thanks for bringing that to our attention. By the way your hair looks great! Just curious… did you always have really nice curly hair or did it change and improve a lot with your change of a raw/high fruit diet?
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Ah ah ah… thanks
I actually have had curly hair as far as I can remember. I can’t say that diet has had anything to do with it… -
How good is the water once it is away from the source? I’m not judging Raw water or marketing. I’m glad it’s there and it’s bringing awareness to water in general but I’m not buying it myself. I’m happy with my filtering system and I energize my water myself with zero point.
What I’m curious about is if the area the Raw brand water comes from is highly magnetic. Water’s property will change depending on where it is. Water that is vortexed will lose it’s structure with time (a few hours) and therefore the oxygenation benefits. Water that comes from a magnetic field will also lose it’s power (Lourdes, Sedona, etc). Is lugging heavy bottles of spring water really beneficial? Is there some evidence? I’d rather buy a $10 bottle of water than a $20 cocktail in a restaurant. Ideally I don’t eat out at all if I can avoid it. The water choices are usually horrible.
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Mark says:
Allot of energy spent on something as simple as water. My take, do what you feel good doing. If you like to spend the extra to get the best water when your out and about go for it, but personally I like the 95/5% approach Keep it simple folks follow Frederic’s advice. Live by the 95-5 rule and save time and money for things that really count. Just make sure your water is clean. If you want to search out a good spring source great, but you might want to get it tested first water has a way of collecting some pretty nasty stuff in route. I have a well that produces great water from a pristine environment and just to be safe we filter before drinking. Thanks Frederic, Spot on as usual. Peace and health, mark
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Kaja says:
fred,
i was fortunate enough to hear daniel vitalis speak in person just a few weeks ago. i’d like to thank both you, and daniel, for speaking what you each believe to be true. it models for each of us to research what WE believe to be true for us.
keep up the good work & thanks for having the courage to put your views out there.
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Lisa says:
I want to comment on the statement that “raw onion and raw hot pepper” not being good for your body.
I’ve been living on organic whole foods for over 25 years–and over the last 10 years mostly raw. I have experimented with what feels “right” in my body and what does not. I think the most important thing you can do is learn to listen your own body.
For example, I go through periods where I crave raw onions and eat them with anything that i can eat them with and they make me feel great! At other times, I have zero desire for onion and know it’s not the best choice for my body. It’s the same thing with hot peppers.
There are foods that are highly touted as healthy, yet my body says–no way. Dark chocolate (I’m talking about the real thing) does not work for me in anyway–in fact, it’s constipating. Avocado–even a little of it–without fail will effects my liver and gallbladder.
What I’m saying is–get in tune with what food feels like in your system–and that includes food combinations.
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Woops. I did post my comment on an entirely different subject…didn’t I.
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Hi Fred
I wish you would gather some fresh spring water before disagreeing with Daniel…
Raw water are for those who need the convenience of it…but is better than every other water out there…
Spring water is living water and like all the elements ..easy to gather…
Try it first…Please
You are wrong… -
Vic says:
Long before this product came out Daniel Vitalis first promoted his website http://www.findaspring.com. He constantly encourages people get out and find thier own spring water. If you can’t find a spring this website will help you locate one in your area or around the world. You can find a spring on his website for “FREE” and drink fresh springwater for “FREE”.
This guy is smart…he didn’t just throw this product out there…he tested the market!! What did he find??? Hmmmm…he found a demand for this product.
Check him out…you’ll be in for a treat -
NH says:
When I first heard this all I could do was laugh, I honestly and seriously thought it was a joke. Well, I guess you could argue that it really is joke because it’s just that ridiculous.
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Thanks Frederic – My Church was established in the mid 1800′a and have been presenting fruits, grains, and vegetables as the best lifestyle ever since. Most of our members are at different stages of Vegetarians. I just started with the raw food(once a day) and will build. It takes some getting use too, but I believe I will like it. Thanks again – Larry -
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lola says:
I can’t believe someone is selling something called raw water…that is funny. I think if you are lucky enough to have your own clean source of water that is great. We use to have a well when I was a kid & the water did taste a lot better than what came out of the tap. I don’t think raw water is any different than buying other bottled spring waters.
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From the owner of Summit Springs and product Raw Water:
You are surprised that Daniel responded in a rather agitated way? Really? If I had posted those comments about something Fred spoke of-would you have been put off? Honestly…please.
I don’t have the funds necessary to do indepth studies on the benefits of natural spring water. I already spend $10,000 per year on annual testing-that’s bad enough.
The word “living” is in quotes everywhere. I wanted to call it Organic but I am forbidden by law along with salt from being classified as organic. I chose “living” to best describe the attributes of a natural spring water fed product. All treatment processes are essentially killing processes or at a minimum bacterial inactivation. I figured “living water” would be the polar opposite of treated water. The State of Maine only allowed me to use the word “living” if it was in quotes and my phone number was placed on the bottle so I could explain myself. The inspectors of the Drinking Water program understand the difference in what we are doing and have allowed it for the first time in Maine’s history. They can also explain the difference to you. We did a “living” water briefly 4 years ago in hand-corked bottles (but it was still filtered). Recently as we were brainstorming about doing this product again at Daniel’s prompting, because he convinced me that people in the Raw Food movement would appreciate this type of natural product,
we came up with the term “Raw Water”. To try and distinguish its natural, untreated form-not to delude anyone. If you were to read the actual bag that the water comes in you would see there are no claims whatsoever about the product. It speaks only about what the water is.The warning about sand and gravel particles is completely appropriate because this water is bubbling out of natural sand and gravel and flows directly into the bottle by gravity. This has not been done before…period. I warned everyone about the cost of doing it in glass, but as I am all too familiar with, everyone nowadays hates plastic-especially people in the raw food community. These glass bottles are hand-labeled, hand-capped, hand-bagged, and hand-packaged by humans, one at a time. It is extremely time consuming and expensive. We offer plastic at a much lower price point for those that choose not to buy the glass. I have seen no mention or any attempt by you or Fred to point that out. Would you like the product if price wasn’t an issue? If I gave it away and shipped it for free would people want it then?
Fred lashed out at everything about the product-basically calling it a fraud. The inspectors of the Maine Drinking water program are not my employees and are not “bought off”. They have explained many times to magazine and print reporters about what this product is. They understand about the sanctity of Summit Spring and how important is was to Maine’s ancient history in addition to its rareness.
“Raw Air” or oxygenated air has been sold in places like Japan where air quality is poor for decades. No joke.
Daniel’s style is to shake people up, stimulate thought and shift paradigms…and he does it well. I have been studying water for a very long time as well and the reason I searched out Daniel was because of his work on YouTube about water. He was right on the money as far as I was concerned and we share a common vision. Fred’s video was without a doubt an “attack” video, it may have been about the product-but there were only certain specific people associated with that product that got taken out in the “frag pattern”. Don’t be surprised at a stern response to it. To suggest that the water tastes better because of “Placebo effect”–come on now.Look, these are some of the facts:
Summit Spring is one of the oldest natural spring sources in North America. It has received special certifications about its purity from the regulatory agencies. We were the only bottled water company ever allowed membership in MOFGA. Our in-depth water analysis is available on our website and you can compare its 3rd party results against any other water you choose. We gather only the natural excess flow of the spring and then gravity feed that water to a bottling plant located 50′ away and then bottle it without any treatment or filtration whatsoever. This is not done anywhere else on Earth that I am aware of. We are the first bottled water company ever allowed to do such a thing in Maine’s history.If you still think this is some kind of scam…then I am out of words. I have apologized many times for the price of the glass. I cannot change that at this time. I don’t think you will ever convince many people that mechanized, sterilized, irradiated, ozonated, distilled, reverse osmosis, treated tap water is somehow better for you than natural spring water.
I don’t have the “scientific proof” you seek right now. Scientists will readily admit that water is one of the most confounding substances on Earth and there is much they don’t know or can explain. I also doubt there is much “scientific proof” that an organic raw tomato/orange/apple etc, is better for you than one someone grows in a greenhouse or wherever.
Personally I believe that eating something as untouched by man and as close to nature as possible is the absolutely best way to go. I can’t prove it to you…but I believe it. The oldest living people on Earth don’t distill their water or buy processed, irradiated foods. They take from nature…as she gives. I believe intensely in the Raw Food movement, I want to eat more raw fruits and vegetables, no argument. I don’t want to go completely Raw at this time, but I’ll fight for your right to do so (and I have); your right to choose your own lifestyle. Don’t assassinate a great product before you even try it. If you don’t like the way people market it, or praise it, or sell it, or talk about it–so what? Everyone selling a product has to try and punch thru the bullshit we are inundated with every day. Make up your own mind, but try and have an open one.
Bryan -
I wrote this in a reply as the original reply to this post on 30bananasaday.com that Bryan frequented to answer some questions being brought up by 80/10/10ers on Raw Water.
Hi Bryan
While I did not speak in the video, all I can do is explain our thought process when making it. It was to simply read off the features written on Raw Food World’s website who had MADE the video promoting raw water and drinking it wherein Daniel Vitalis claimed people were not raw if they drank cooked water.
We were not attacking you personally or Daniel and didn’t mention names because it wasn’t about being nasty to people. It was asking questions about Raw Water as everything with the label RAW on it has a price tag of epic proportions because of people promoting and selling it as supplements that are must have to be healthy.
The raw movement is told they are deficient daily and need to have supplementation.
Also this was done as a video blog marketed to Fred’s list only. We put it on youtube to host it and it was not trying to reach the far corners of the world and convert the world. Just giving information directed to raw foodists who have interest in fruits and vegetables.
What we will do is take it off of youtube and host it on our own server, that way it’s only searchable from Fred’s personal website and not just searchable on youtube. We’re not trying to start any war or anything and will bring more information next time talking about water.
Daniel said he would ship the water to us to try and when I told him we lived in Costa Rica he could care less about his offer and ignored me. He made a lot of direct accusations when Fred wasn’t calling anyone out.
Bryan I want you to know that I sincerely do appreciate the time you take to talk to us on here and honestly did not know this was not a product being made for and sold only by Matt Monarch at raw food world. They did not mention in the video that it was summit springs or that anyone could buy it from you or where to get more information.
That said none of the raw food movement had really ANY amount of sufficient information on your product to find out for themselves unless they were a follower of Daniel Vitalis and knew beforehand.
So as a courtesy to our readers of over 25,000 health seekers we made a video promoting skepticism and telling people to come to their own conclusions based on the claims made by the raw water video and the price tag.
The price is a huge factor. I know you’re not intentionally trying to charge more than necessary and it is sad that they insisted on glass bottles no matter the price instead of trying to get the water available to the public at a cheaper price.
In any case, future videos and information will be more clear and are not going to be slamming anyone in particular.
If Mr. Vitalis honestly felt he was superior in his knowledge he could have used it and given some sort of proof for his arguments that every single question Fred had was wrong. He didn’t. So we’re going to take the high road and investigate things that have claims that be substaniated by evidence.
I’m glad you’re providing a pure source of water for people, good for you.
But people arguing they are right simply because spring water is living or we need to eat the algae that occurs in the water cannot be proven.
The “miracle” cure and placebo comment was more directed at the fact that this exact water WAS sold as a miracle tonic 100 years ago. So there was a lot of mysticism around it and there still is some.
I think Fred saying the taste was placebo was said wrong because maybe it does taste better so that wasn’t quite the right argument.
But placebo effect is very powerful and is not overlooked in ANY health study regarding medicines and curealls.
In any case like many people said Raw Water has a ton of free publicity now because of the controversy and you can bet more people are going to be looking into it.
And I hope you don’t take it personally when this was a raw food community argument that is no different than people arguing a raw vegan or raw paleo diet is more healthy. There are always people on both sides and only some will be swayed by either argument.
