Wes

True, there are vegetarian sources of omega-3s and mono-unsaturated fats.
But two things that make it harder to thrive on a raw unprocessed vegan diet
are B12 and the Omega 6:3 ratio.

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, especially if like most raw food eaters he gets 20%
or more of his calories as fat.  Also, if he uses a grinding toy, then he's
relying heavily on processed food.

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?

Herbivores have guts adapted to sizeable quantities of grass or leaves, so
doesn't it make sense to let them do the processing?  Isn't it easier to eat
flaxseed via the yolks of chickens which love to peck it up?

> what man did/does, is not necessarily what's optimum for man to do

Yes, but surely the question is, has man evolved to depend on it? One reason
that I choose to eat raw food is that there is no evidence of cooking in
Africa before 60 Ky ago, and hence little evidence that man is adapted to
it.  But the evidence for meat-eating goes back much further, to our genesis
as a species, and perhaps our relatively small guts and relatively large
brains betray evolutionary adaptations to a somewhat higher level of
meat-intake than chimps.

> 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.

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!

Cheers
Lance