Who is Thierry Casanovas, this YouTuber who was taken into police custody?
Thierry Casanovas, “raw food” guru, was recently taken into police custody this Thursday, March 9, 2023, for “illegal practice of medicine.”
A patient rescued in extremis
The story of Thierry Casanovas begins very romantically. Born on April 15, 1974 in Perpignan, while planning a career in IT, he fell seriously ill. He suffers from both tuberculosis and hepatitis C, so doctors see no satisfactory cure to rid him of the disease until his friends point him to a raw and lively diet. In a short time he got out of the disease and claimed his salvation through the practice of raw food and fasting. This milestone event will then change his destiny and through his remission provide tremendous testimony to offer advice on diet and lifestyle. Thus began a career as a videographer and entrepreneur offering alternative foods and capitalizing on the rise of conspiracies of all kinds.
Market leader in “raw food”
For nearly a decade, the man has distinguished himself by touting the health benefits of raw food. Vegetables, fruits, they are the ones that can heal us and give us back the health that we should have if large consumption with chemical products had not hindered us. In 2012 he created the Regenerate website where he shares his advice. Casanovas has also written several books on natural health, including Fasting and Hiking and Living Foods. He regularly leads workshops and seminars to teach his students his natural healing methods.
In a short time, Thierry Casanovas achieved considerable success with his videos. Today he has more than 600,000 subscribers with more than 80 million views on Youtube. Only Thierry Casasnovas has not completed any special training in medicine or nutrition here, he describes himself as an autodidact. Among his remedies are “dry young people”, that is, without water, or even advice to the point that a vegetable juice can regrow an amputated limb. His baseless teaching therefore mixes advice that seems sane but cultivates a kind of mysticism, a conspiracy, with certain excesses in the regimes themselves. Also, some of his internships are paid, in a word, he has all the qualities of a true guru.
It claims to cure cancer
His influence quickly drew the attention of the judiciary, which saw a real sectarian current in it. Some people put their lives on the line because they “give up their medical treatments” in favor of these “miracle diets.” Last November, the interministerial mission for vigilance and the fight against sectarian aberrations (Miviludes) was alarmed and began investigating. In 2020, the Perpignan prosecutor’s office launched a criminal investigation against him for “illegal practice of medicine”, “abuse of weaknesses” and “deceptive business practices”.
According to this raw food guru, the disease doesn’t exist, “it’s a symptom, a warning signal from the body“. This is how the Youtubeur describes the chemotherapy as “death to the rats‘ and urges some people to forego conventional treatments. He explains that it is enough to “regenerate” the body thanks to its diet and its harmony with nature. It has also been noted that his network brings him closer to far-right polemicists like Dieudonné and conspiracy theorists like Silvano Trotta. Today it is the subject of more than 600 reports. A record.
