Lance,
On Fri, 28 Feb 2003 11:53:06 -0500, Lance H <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Almost every plant food that is high in Omega-3, aside from flaxseed,
>contains more than twice as much Omega-6 as Omega-3. So a vegan raw food
>eater (which you are not) would have to eat a huge amount of flaxseed to
>balance out the Omega-6,
I don't agree with that assessment. The recommendations that I've read in
several sources are for about 5:1 to 3:1 omega-6 to omega-3. That's easy to
accomplish, eating only raw plant foods. Take a look at Udo Erasmus' book
"Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill" for the numbers. Since I eat fairly little
fat-rich food in the first place, I personally don't have any problem
balancing the ratio. For me, it's typically about 1oz of nuts (hazelnuts or
walnuts) per day, and the 2oz of flax seeds, in terms of the plant oil-rich
foods in my diet. Check out the w6:w3 numbers from a reliable source and
you'll see the ratio is ideal. And keep in mind that those foods also
contain omega-9, not just omega-6 and omega-3. Flax seeds contain mostly
omega-3.
>Also, if he uses a grinding toy, then he's relying heavily on processed >food.
So, you're saying that if I eat 2oz of ground flax seeds per day (which is
the only "processed" food that I eat, BTW), then that's considered to be
"realying heavily on processed food."? That doesn't add up. And beyond that,
there are different types of processed foods. There is such thing as
beneficial processing, and there is such thing as destructive processing.
Grinding flax seeds is not destructive to their nutritional value, it
doesn't create toxins in the seeds, and it doesn't create a fractionated
food. Cooking them would be problematic, on the other hand. Grinding can be
likened to a form of "pre-chewing". That's all it amounts to. I can save
myself a lot of chewing time (given how small the seeds are) by grinding
them, and I also ensure that the nutrients are fully exposed for assimilation.
>Does anyone eat a "sizeable quantity" of raw greens? How much raw cabbage
>or spinach can anyone eat before it gets "hot", and how many lettuces before
>suffering diarrhea?
I can and do eat sizable quantities of greens, especially lettuce and
celery, with no problems, and I find them to be enjoyable and valuable. I
agree that things such as cabbage, broccoli, and kale, are hard to eat in
large quantities. Diarrhea? None of that with me. Maybe the diarrhea
sufferers need to replenish their intestinal flora and/or "clean out".
>Herbivores have guts adapted to sizeable quantities of grass or leaves,
This depends on your definition of "sizable quantities", BTW. The herbivores
eat pounds upon pounds of vegetation per day. Let's not get out of hand with
the comparisons...A gorilla (folivore) may eat as much as 80 pounds of
vegetation per day, and I certainly wouldn't recommend that a human attempt
that. Also, don't compare the vegetation they eat to lettuce and celery, or
even cabbage (which are relatively soft, containing less fiber, and are easy
to digest in comparison to what herbivores eat). If one optimally chews the
greens, one should digest them just fine, assuming that one has healthy
intestinal flora.
>so doesn't it make sense to let them do the processing?
I consider fresh greens to be important mainly for the mineral content, plus
some other nutrients of value. They are an important food in an optimum
diet. Some people prefer to juice them; I do not (I've experimented).
>Isn't it easier to eat flaxseed via the yolks of chickens which love to
>peck it up?
Only assuming the hens were fed flax seeds. Most are not. Also, the omega-3
content of egg yolks is far lower than that of flax seeds. Also, check out
the omega-6:omega-3 ratio for egg yolks (varies per nutrition of the
bird/egg, but still is not the same as flax, which predominates omega-3).
>and perhaps our relatively small guts and relatively large
>brains betray evolutionary adaptations to a somewhat higher level of
>meat-intake than chimps.
Perhaps the smaller guts for a human, compared to a chimp, is because humans
generally don't need to eat as much calories per day as a chimp. I read that
a chimp will typically eat 6,000+ calories of food per day. The typical
human, on the other hand, will eat 2,000 - 3,000 per day.
>> I included some raw fish as part of my diet for a while, but haven't had
>> any since December. I've been thriving better in all regards without it.
>
>That sounds like a mighty short trial. Don't you find that your tastes
>seesaw unpredictably? Chimps go happily for weeks without a meat dish, but
>they always return to it eventually.
Maybe, but my point was that the meat can't be highly important if I do
great without it for substantial periods of time. If the meat is so
important for humans, then it should be needed on a daily basis by everyone,
or at least a weekly basis, would it not? But there's plenty of evidence to
the contrary. And I don't particularly enjoy the taste of raw meat "as is",
anyway. Are my instincts telling me something? And no, my tastes don't
seesaw unpredictably, as you put it.
>I agree with you that theory may point in a certain direction, but it's
>results that count. That, and the pleasure of eating really delicious raw
>meals. I don't much like flaxseed, and it ALWAYS gives me a headache the
>next morning. But chacun a son gout!
I have eaten flax seeds that taste horrible, and flax seeds that taste
wonderful. What I've experienced is that it varies, based on the quality
and/or type of flax seeds. I've been getting delicious golden flax seeds
from Sunorganic Farm. So, it's not necessarily flax seeds per se that you
may not like, but perhaps the ones you've tried. I notice that every type of
food varies in flavor depending on its quality, etc. (so this doesn't apply
only to flax). As for the headaches, I'm not sure what's up with that -- any
number of possibilities.
You might be interested in reading about Johanna Budwig's research on flax
seeds/flax oil. She helped many people to heal cancer and other diseases,
aided by the use of flax as a key dietary component.
Best,
Wes
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