I'm new or I should say back to the group.  A little over 3 years ago, I was
on the email list and someone pointed me to the normal walker book about
juicing and I switched over to trying to eat a raw food vegan diet.  If
course, I put on another 40 pounds and my disordered eating got worse in
those 3 years.  So now I am trying to unravel it all.  I started reading the
beyond veg web-site and reread the Paleodiet Book by Cordain and here I am
again.  I once lost 120 pounds on a low carb diet but have now gained it all
back because of going back to eating junk.  I also had the typical binging
problems in between trying to eat raw fruits.

Anyway, someone on a rawfood board wrote this below and I wonder if anyone
has any thoughts about it.

1. The animals knows it is about to be killed.
2. The animal is terrified.
3. The animal undergoes a fight-or-flight response, releasing loads of
adrenalin etc. into its system.
4. We slaughter the animal.
5. We eat all those hormones ... "natural" in every respect.

None of this is questionable. The ONLY question is, "What does a load of
adrenaline do to us?"

1. Shifts blood flow from the forebrain to the hindbrain (limbic brain).
Supports quick, reactive decision-making and reactive behavior. Diminishes,
or virtually shuts off, reason/logical thinking, problem solving, intuitive
awareness, etc. In other words, we become less intelligent, more reactive,
and prone to both violence (fight) AND fear (flight).

2. Shifts blood flow from the central organs (digestion etc.) and toward the
arms, legs, etc. Supports super-intensive physical activity, as if life and
death were at stake (as is supposed to occur). In other words, ordinary
healthful activity, such as digestion, vital responses (what the medical
world calls "immune responses"), etc. come largely to a halt. These are
important but not urgent; the perceived emergency that triggered the
fight-or-flight response is BOTH important ... vital ... AND urgent.

All this explains why there is no such thing as a vegetarian army ... the
concept is an oxymoron. Throughout the history of warfare, generals have
known full well that they should feed the troops flesh as the approach a big
battle.

Kim