Remember, YMWOCV (your mileage will, of course, vary) ;) .....

For the last few months I have been experimenting with non-instincto foods.
I had planned to do this for some years now and after more than 8 years
all-raw it was about time. Such experimenting was probably more
"psychological" than anything else since--though I was quite
happy/satisfied with my "instincto w/salads and occasional fresh juices"
regime--I had become increasingly dismayed with what I considered the
emotional/intellectual imbalance of nearly every 100% rawist I have come
across. Further, I feel I have given all-raw a solid try and in order to
know for myself whether my positive results were due to all-raw, or whether
I could "get away" with some "exceptions", I saw there was little option
but to simply start eating some taboo foods and evaluate the results.

To start at the beginning:

Mixing veggies:
---------------
Some three or four years ago, I started to eat raw salads. We were living
in Bangkok at the time, and I found that veggies rarely appealed in
competition with the bountiful tropical fruits which were the staple of my
diet. However, mixing the veggies in a salad was a real treat after eating
them singly for years. Even a cherry tomato wrapped in some romaine was a
thrill. I guess you'd have to eat strictly instincto to appreciate the
delight of two flavors in the mouth at once ;) but, anyway, I have found
salads to be a useful way to increase my veggie intake, crowding out some
excess fruit in the process.

Presently, I will add some EV olive oil and dulse and even sometimes
peppers to a salad--all of which pretty much destoys any taste change
potential of the salad ingredients. This is good and bad: bad because I can
easily overeat, but good because I need "practice" eating a reasonable
portion regardless of taste after years of eating my fill (pigging out) as
instincto encourages. I now eat 2-5 salads per week.

Juicing:
-------
I have found fresh juices to be a fine addition to my diet. Again, they can
easily be over-consumed but I respect them as fractured foods and don't
drink my fill. Carrot juice often tastes like chocalate milk to me, and the
addition of celery, parsley, etc. is usually delightful. I prefer drinking
citrus juices to eating the whole fruit because I find it easier on the
teeth and gums. I ate far too many citrus in my early days where the rind
was grinding against my gum line which responded by slowly receeding.

Raw Dairy:
---------
I have posted previously in detail both Melisa's and my reaction to raw
milk, cream, butter, and kefer. Briefly, I am still occasionally attracted
to some butter, whereas Melisa still eats kefer, but in dwindling amounts.
The only thing to add to my previous posts regards raw goat cheese. I ate 4
or 5 oz recently (delicious, no stop to speak of) and was sure I'd wake up
with a stuffed nose, constipated, sporting some fresh pimples, and a
hangover--but no, it digested well, as well as any RAF I've ever had. It's
too bad that the Alta Dena brand has added salt because I wonder if it
would have some sort of stop without it. I need to experiment with it more
but I'll be thrilled if goat cheese turns out to be as convenient and
high-quality a RAF (a hard combo to find!) as it seems to be. Anyone ever
see goat butter? (And my attraction to avos disappeared for days after
eating the cheese, which I consider a plus ;))

Steamed Veggies:
----------------
No problem. No "addiction" occurred as rawsters so often state about the
consumption of any cooked food. If they cook to long they seem to go
through pretty much undigested, but otherwise I consider them a fine meal
useful for crowding out excessive fruit consumption. Surprisingly, the
degree of "stop" seems to be inversely proportional to the length of
cooking for me: if overcooked they taste pretty bad after a short time. But
I am not trying to eat them instincto anyway now that I trust them. A light
dressing of EV olive oil or raw butter inceases the satisfaction and
digestability. Dulse is a nice addition too. Presently, I eat steamed
broccoli and/or cauliflour once every 10 days or so. Melisa enjoys steamed
zuchini which tastes like slime to me ;) Coincidently: an excema-type rash
on my chins which I remember as a third-grader re-emerged on my second
_day_ of instincto so many years ago after more than a decade of absence.
It has waxed and waned ever since, but never completely gone away. During
the weeks I was eating steamed veggies 4 times a week or so, it all by
disappeared. Hmmm...

Cooked meat:
------------
I have tried frozen buffalo burgers, resturant Angus steak, and supermarket
hamburger--all cooked rare so that the inside is pink or raw or, in the
case of the frozen buffalo, still very cool. The stop is not there at all
for me when cooked. If I eat much more than a pound I feel sluggish and
unpleasant. The supermarket burger left a bad taste the next day and greasy
skin. The buffalo and (surprisingly, since it is highly grain-fed) Angus
digest well w/o any symtoms. I look forward to eating rare meat a couple
times a month. If I could find some clean liver I would like to try that
lightly cooked as well--maybe even unblock for it raw, which I have not
been able to enjoy the few times in all the years that I have had some
quality liver available.

Organic, no sulfites-added wine:
--------------------------------

Clear taste change, usually after a couple delightful oz, sometimes from
the first smell.

Musings: It is curious that the cooked foods both Melisa and I found most
attractive by smell were veggies and meat. Grilled meat smells drive us to
salivate like Pavlov's dogs (and often the smell "stops" and becomes
burnt). When I smelled grilled meat I would crave raw meat which we never
can find in the quality/quantity we wanted. We are _delighted_ to have a
resturant option besides the Soup Plantation and incredibly over-priced
Japanese resturants.

Prehistorically speaking, it may be that our genetic heritage includes not
only a tolerance, but even the need for some cooked food. While I doubt
I'll ever believe there is anything useful to me in grains, it doesn't seem
an outrageous possibility to me that the tens of thousands (perhaps
hundreds of thousands) of years our progentetors have been cooking their
wild hunted and gathered foods hasn't left its mark on our DNA. Perhaps we
not only tolerate cooked meat and veggies but find some amount useful. ???

As for the dairy, I am cautiously enthusiastic about the raw goat products
but don't have much experience yet. Raw cow dairy seems a second-best RAF
but better than none--perhaps life-saving to rawists who won't eat other
RAF. Who knows?

I wonder if I can get away with these foods because of my relatively long
time exclusively raw--or if the would have worked all along. My hunch is
that excluding them for years gives me a good perspective (emotionally,
intellectually, and metabolically) from which to judge their usefulness.
Overall, I would say that the inclusion of, what, 5% lightly cooked is a
positive addition to my diet. Melisa would say that loudly about 15% I'd
guess ;)

If any of the positive results--which, I guess, outside of the rash and a
feeling of continued well-being, are simply the absence of any bad
symtoms--were replaced by problems I would avoid the cooked stuff for a
time again. But, I gotta say, rare meat and steamed veggies look like
they'll work for us occasionally.

And most of all, I can now proudly say, I am not and no longer intend to be
100% raw. Hopefully this will keep me from falling off whatever edge so
many 100%ers seem to fall off ;) ;)

Cheers,
Kirt

BTW, he says casually ;), Melisa has a bun in the oven which will be done
in late January. A huge delight to us after two miscarries...