Tom:
>A minor point first: the only soaked rice I have seen is wild rice,
>which is baked (therefore dead) before it is soaked. I wonder why
>folks bother with it - easier to simply boil it, and it's just as
>"alive" (actually, dead) as baked, soaked rice. (Many other kinds of
>rice will sprout, but they are often very bitter. The easiest way to
>eat rice is if it is cooked.)

This is new to me. Have all brands of wild rice been heated and if so
how come?

>Cooking does reduce the life force energy of a food, but that is
>irrelevant when you cannot digest the raw food, or the raw food has
>harmful side-effects (like severe flatulence).

Right on. If whatever you are eating is causing a chemical warfare to
rage inside your body by giving you problems with gas & flatulence, I
do not think it makes much difference if it is the purest and rawest
food on the planet - odds are that it will be not be healthful to you.

Tom:
>Dr. Weil seems to be concerned with the toxins in foods. They are
>naturally present, though we may have messed the levels up via
>hybridization, genetic engineering, and other plant breeding
>techniques. Rather than getting too worried about the chemistry, I
>suggest that people try foods and observe how you feel after eating
>them.

I agree. I do not share Dr. Weils concern about naturally occuring
toxins. I believe that the wild, original vegetation that was part of
the diet of our ancestors had much higher amounts of these substances
than can be found in present-day vegetables where many of them have
been bred out.

Great, informative post!

Best, Peter
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