Gabriel Cousens

Cousens grew up in Highland Park, Illinois.{{cite news | last = Condor | first = Bob | url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/10/06/before-chowing-down-think-about-what-youre-eating/ | title = Before Chowing Down, Think about What You're Eating | newspaper = The Chicago Tribune | date=1994-10-06 | access-date=2012-03-24}} As a freshman at Amherst College, he designed a heart lung machine and spent two summers doing leukemia research.{{Cite news | title = Football Honors the Brains Among Its Brawn; 11 Scholar-Athletes to Get $500 Each for High Grades | last = Litsky | first = Frank | work = The New York Times | date = 8 December 1964}} He graduated from Amherst College in 1965 with a B.A. in biology, where he was a football lineman/guard/middle linebacker and co-captain of the 1964 football team.{{cite news|last1=Meir|first1=Dennis|title=Jeffs Finish Perfect Season; Team Gives Credit To Coaches|work=The Amherst Student|date=23 November 1964}} That year he received a National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Award. He earned his medical degree from Columbia Medical School in 1969, and he completed his residency in psychiatry in 1973.[http://www.gabrielcousens.com/TREEOFLIFE/MEDICAL/tabid/2090/language/en-US/Default.aspx autobiography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406191439/http://www.gabrielcousens.com/TREEOFLIFE/MEDICAL/tabid/2090/language/en-US/Default.aspx |date=2012-04-06 }} Dr. Cousens' Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, Gabrielcousens.com. Retrieved 8 April 2012.{{self published inline|date=October 2015}}

Cousens says he switched to a vegetarian diet around age 30, after which he began teaching meditation. In 1974 he went to India to study with the swami Muktananda (1908-1982), staying for seven years.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Fasting-and-learning-with-the-mythbuster-426021|title=Fasting – and learning – with the mythbuster|website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com|access-date=2016-05-06}} He returned to the United States in 1981 and studied Kabbalah and the Essenes, becoming ordained in 1988.

File:Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center restaurant.jpg]]

Cousens founded the Essene Order of Light in 1992, and the following year he established the Tree of Life Foundation as a federal tax-exempt religious organization. The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, located in Patagonia, Arizona,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/16/travel/journeys-no-talking-no-fun-it-s-called-a-vacation.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |title=Journeys; No talking. No fun. It's called a vacation |work=The New York Times |date=January 16, 2004 |access-date=2012-03-28}} was founded in 1994 as a health retreat which offers raw food education,{{Cite news|last=Pohlman|first=Katie|url=http://www.columbiatribune.com/arts_life/food/the-raw-deal-jodi-stephens-switches-to-raw-organic-food/article_1294bcd4-bf0f-56b3-96bf-3156a5b105c1.html|title=The raw deal: Jodi Stephens switches to raw, organic food|work=Columbia Daily Tribune|access-date=2016-05-06}} fasting, and nutrition.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} Cousens is an ordained Rabbi{{cite news |url=http://azjewishpost.com/2010/modern-jewish-pioneers-flock-to-patagonia |title=Modern Jewish pioneers flock to Patagonia |publisher=Arizona Jewish Post |date=June 17, 2010 }} and offers workshops on spiritual Judaism.Encyclopedia of American Religions – Page 821 J. Gordon Melton His newest book, Torah as a Guide to Enlightenment, published through North Atlantic Books, is a commentary on the Torah from a Kabbalistic perspective. Cousens founded a not for profit organization called the Essene Order of Light which teaches "modern Essene living".{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TzMOAQAAMAAJ |title=The Encyclopedia of American Religions |author=J. Gordon Melton |year=2003 |edition=7th |page=821 |isbn=9780787663841 }}.{{cite news|author=Donley, Kelli M. |url=http://www.azcentral.com/travel/features/articles/2007/12/14/20071214retreats1214.html |title=3 Arizona retreats to refresh your spirit |newspaper=The Arizona Republic |date=December 14, 2007 |access-date=2012-03-28}} He outlined his philosophy in his book Creating Peace By Being Peace.{{cite book|last=Cousens|first=Gabriel|title=Creating peace by being peace : the Essene sevenfold path|year=2008|publisher=North Atlantic Books|location=Berkeley, Calif.|isbn=9781556437229}}

Cousens has advocated a raw food diet for babies and children.{{cite book |author=Cousens, Gabriel |year=2005 |contribution=Preface |title=Baby greens: a live-food approach for children of all ages |editor1=Lynn, Michaela |editor2=Chrisemer, Michael |location=Berkeley, California |publisher=Frog |pages=ix-x }} He instituted a study of the medical history of infants and children and advocates for raw food education.{{cite news |agency=Columbia News Service |date=March 19, 2006 |url=http://www.azcentral.com/health/kids/articles/0318rawfoods.html |title=Raw food diet: half-baked idea for kids? |publisher=azcentral.com |access-date=March 5, 2012}} A 2009 documentary, Simply Raw, followed six people with diabetes who go through a thirty-day raw vegan program in an attempt to cure their disease with a raw food diet and without drugs.{{cite news|author=Welte, Jim |date=August 23, 2009 |url=http://www.marinij.com/sanrafael/ci_13191323 |title=San Rafael man touts raw food in new documentary |publisher=Marin Independent Journal |access-date=March 5, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616135823/http://www.marinij.com/sanrafael/ci_13191323 |archive-date=June 16, 2013 }} Surgeon and alternative medicine critic David Gorski said that Cousens and the film both grossly misrepresented the modern medical approach to diabetes. Gorski described Cousens works as promoting vitalism and other discredited principles.{{Cite web | last=Gorski|first=David|author-link=David Gorski| url = https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/simply-raw-making-overcooked-claims-about-raw-food-diets/ | title = Simply Raw: Making overcooked claims about raw food diets | website = sciencebasedmedicine.org |date=17 January 2011 | access-date = 2016-02-29 }}

In 1994, California revoked his license to practice for "excessive prescribing", but based on a form of plea bargain this revocation was stayed for three years probation.{{cite web |url=http://www.mbc.ca.gov/publications/newsletters/action_report_1994_07.pdf |title=Action Report |author=Medical Board of California |date=July 1994 |page=15 |access-date=1 March 2016 }} In consequence of the California decision, New York also required him to return his license.{{cite web | title=Final Actions | website=Log In | date=7 November 2014 | url=https://apps.health.ny.gov/pubdoh/professionals/doctors/conduct/factions/AllRecordsAction.action?d-49653-o=1&d-49653-p=1&d-49653-s=6 | access-date=2 August 2018}} Cousens' license in California was later reinstated, but not in New York. Because of this, he is not eligible for a medical license in Arizona.

In 1998, 57-year-old Charles Levy of New Jersey died after being treated at the center over a five-day period. The cause of death was determined by the Santa Cruz County Medical Examiner, who along with the Arizona Medical Board attributed the death to a gas gangrene infection caused by "bovine adrenal fluid" injections given by Cousens as part of a treatment for fatigue.{{cite web |author=Dickerson, John |date=April 10, 2008 |url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-04-10/news/arizona-s-homeopathic-board-is-the-second-chance-for-doctors-who-ve-lost-their-conventional-medical-licenses-in-other-states/3/ |title=Arizona's homeopathic board is the second chance for doctors who may not deserve one |website=Phoenix New Times |access-date=March 4, 2012}}{{cite news |author=Sandal, Inger |date=June 24, 1999 |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0EACE66215238763 |title=Homeopathic doctor sued over death linked to bovine-fluid shots |newspaper=Arizona Daily Star |access-date=March 28, 2012}}{{cite news |author=Sherwood, Robbie |date=October 9, 2005 |url=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1009homeopathic09sidebar.html |title=Homeopath patient's death debated despite Ariz. board clearing doctor |newspaper=The Arizona Republic |access-date=March 4, 2012 }} The autopsy also found that Levy had hepatitis, encephalomyelitis, and coronary atherosclerosis. Levy's son said that his father was healthy, able to run three miles, not overweight, and had no high blood pressure at the time of his visit to the spa, and the family sued for malpractice. Cousens settled the suit for an undisclosed amount paid to the family. The case came up before the Arizona Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners in 2001. Despite the medical examiner's report and testimony, then Board Chairman Bruce Shelton said he "found no medical fault with Dr. Cousens' care of" Levy and the board found "no violation of homeopathic law" in Cousens' treatment. Cousens argued that the medical examiner had misdiagnosed the cause of death, which he said was toxic shock unrelated to the injections, a claim that the Levy family attorney called "outrageous".

• Conscious Eating. Vision Books International, 1994{{cite web|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1996/09/12/downshifting-at-dinner/ |title=Downshifting At Dinner |work=Orlando Sentinel |date=September 12, 1996 |access-date=2012-03-28}}

::2nd edition North Atlantic Books, 2000 {{oclc|40311543}}

• Tachyon Energy: A New Paradigm in Holistic Healing, with David Wagner. North Atlantic Books, 1999 {{oclc|45162219}}
• Depression-Free For Life: An All-Natural, Five-Step Plan to Reclaim Your Zest for Living, with Mark Mayell. William Morrow & Co., 2000 {{oclc|46801470}}
• Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine, North Atlantic Books, 2003 {{oclc|52377528}}
• Spiritual Nutrition: Six Foundations for Spiritual Life and the Awakening of Kundalini. North Atlantic Books, 2005.
• Creating Peace by Being Peace: the Essene Sevenfold Path, North Atlantic Books, 2008 {{oclc|192109603}}
• Torah as a Guide to Enlightenment, North Atlantic Books, 2011 {{oclc|687655506}}
• There is a Cure for Diabetes, Revised Edition: The 21-Day+ Holistic Recovery Program, North Atlantic Books, 2013 OCLC 799024775
• Conscious Parenting: The Holistic Guide to Raising and Nourishing Healthy, Happy Children, with Leah Lynn. North Atlantic Books, 2015

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