Arjen wrote:
Twelve years ago I became vegetarian and started buying organic; six
years ago I became vegan and for the last 3 years I have been 100%
raw food vegan. Since my change was rather gradual (for the last 12
years only organic whole foods) I have never experienced severe
detoxification like you describe it. Actually, I don't feel any
different at all: I still have plenty of energy and I never have had
any health problems.

Hi Arjen - glad to hear you were spared from severe detoxification
symptoms. Did you experience any at all during your transition? Did
you lose weight? How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?

Arjen:
I think most people who are unsatisfied on raw vegan have abused
their body for a long time in the past and haven't given it enough
time. Another possibility is that they have always had food issues
and that that causes binge eating and other unhealthy symptoms during
their raw vegan stage (I never have problems with binge eating). We
never should underestimate the power of the mind!

Jo:
My experience was that I gave raw veganism too much time because it
adversely affected my long-term health. Sometimes binge eating is not
a mental issue but merely a symptom of undernutrition.

Arjen:
Lets start with comparing the possible adaptation to cooked foods to
a trend in modern diet. Over the last decades a huge part of the
population (especially in America) has started eating a significant
amount of junk food. As we all know this has considerable negative
consequences for our health, so you would expect strong selection
pressures. However, it most likely doesn't lead to genetic adaptation
to junk foods, since virtually all negative health consequences occur
after the reproductive age! This makes it possible that the change in
diet from raw to cooked in our distant past might not have led to
genetic adaptation to cooked foods (unless you believe in Lamarckian
ideas).

Jo:
The negative consequences on health from junk food may not show up as
chronic symptoms until puberty (e.g. low sperm count), but I can't
see how a diet based on high levels of processed sugar, for example,
wouldn't be harmful for the short term either.

Arjen:
However, there is a way that eating junk food can become established
in humans when we keep in mind that natural selection doesn't lead to
optimum health but to maximum reproduction. In that case the negative
health consequences of junk foods don't matter, since somehow it
enhances the reproductive success of the junk food eater. This seems
to be the exact situation: we all can observe that junk food eaters
breed more than health conscious people, whatever the reason might be.

Jo:
Until you define more specifically what "health conscious" means,
then I have to say we're observing a trend based on socio-economic
factors.

Have a nice day,
Jo
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