Hi Kirt and Jean-Louis, MPA (masters of paleolithic art ;-))

Kirt wrote:
>Take this scenario back to the days before the mastery of fire. Then
>someone _did_ invent processed (cooked) food. And it took. Not because
>there weren't laws made to prohibit it. And probably not because
>cooking was an evil addiction, but because the cooking cultures
>outpopulated the non-cooking cultures. Something about it was very
>likely _useful_. Not perfect (as raw foods aren't perfect) but it may
>be that the trade offs
>(whatever they are) balanced out in favor of some cooking. Why didn't
>the original (probably dimmer-witted) rawists in our human ancestry
>"notice the bad effects very directly" and abandon their heated
>efforts? I know, I know, because cooking is a Faustian bargain which
>humans could never extracate themselves from if it weren't for the
>instincto purists' evenagelical vision which will save humankind from
>the evils of steamed greens and a pig roast...;)

Claiming that cooking cultures outpopulated non-cooking ones seems a
bit audacious to me. One of Burger's theories about the dying out of
the Neandertal man (sp?) is that he began cooking   t o o   e a r l y
and "gained" too much health problems so that Homo erectus outpopulated
him.

My idea is that there was an evolutionary bottleneck that forced people
in colder climates to begin with cooking. So it wasn't a Faustian bar-
gain but merely "cook or die". Further I think that those people knew
quite well what they were doing and noticed all of the bad effects of
their cooking. But it was better to survive in an unhealthy state and
recover in the next summer than to starve. :-(

Thousands of years were necessary to overcome the limitations of col-
der climates by food storage and means of transportation.
Thousands of years of mental and bodily degeneration and finally nobody
still knowing why cooking was done intially. Now that we can get flown
in tropical fruits and live the whole year as if we were inhabitants of
a friendly tropical climate we have forgotten that cooking was only the
last resort of our ancestors when they had nothing else to eat. A tem-
porary solution but "temporary" means some thousand years here!

We have forgotten to abandon cooking once it was no longer necessary.
We have made a temporary solution a permanent one because it was so
pleasant to our tastebuds. We are still living as if winter stands be-
fore our doors and there's nothing to eat other than some nasty vege-
tables which give us an immediate stop if we try them raw (including
seaveggies of course. ;-) :-))
How foolish!

Kirt:
>Indeed, why don't I personally notice the bad effects directly. In a
>sense I feel that my dietary adventure of the last 9 years has taken me
>along the path parralleling that our ancestors. Pure instincto being
>somewhat analogous to a homonid pre-fire way of eating (though surely
>there was some mixing going on--chimps do after all). Then deliberate
>mixing of raw foods to increase pleasure (salads) and extractions
>(juicing, olive oil, etc). Such "tricks" were probably done before the
>mastery of fire. And now testing paleo-foods (and raw dairy for good
>measure) simply cooked, as our ancestors would likely have done once
>fire became a tool.

Why not doing the next step and switch back to 85%+ cooked food and
SAD? Which forces are holding you back? ;-) Do you fear not being com-
fortable sitting in a cooking pot? ;-)
Man, just half a year ago I assumed you were so bored that you just
had to do something and as your mind seems to cycle around food always,
it was only logical that you came out with playing with your food.
But now - why not care about your daughter? That should be enough to do
and might decrease your need for cooking games. ;-)

Kirt:
>great. Especially since I am doing just fine on a cooked paleo regime
>at present. The track record of instincto is pretty weak (something
>that is conveniently forgotten when instincto lore is reiterated)...so
>before you tell me that it takes years for the trouble to show up
>(which may well be), I would remind you that it took years for many
>instinctos' troubles to show up as well.

The track record of instincto is impressing enough for me to go on with
it. And the record of SAD/GBK is so incredible bad that I can't see a
way back for me. Just the thougt of again supporting the big big food
industry which is worsening the "quality" (haha) of their products from
year to year by introducing new destroying methods (irradiation of dried
herbs will be allowed in Europe now) is frightening enough for me to
stay away (and anyway I have no need to eat cooked #+*/&% and I don't
feel attracted to it).
Remember: if you clogg up your arteries you probably won't notice it
until you have a stroke. Such cases are known.

>theoretical (if not simply wishful thinking) than actual. And the
>horrible results they would notice if not eating all-raw might have as
>much to do with a kind of placebo effect and any supposedly toxic
>effects of cooked paleo-food.

I find it very refreshing when my body gives me an immediate reply to
the nonsense I put in (e.g. miscombinations). I prefer to get an imme-
diate warning over feeling fine for years and suddenly noticing that
I'm becoming blind or diabetic or arthritic or ... (add to the list
any degenerative disease you want).
And even if I'd grow tumors when overdoing with meat - isn't it nice
to notice it within weeks instead of eating cooked meat for decades
and finally hearing the doctor say that there are tumors spreading
fast in ones intestines and one has only two years to live?

Jean-Louis:
>eventually develop. I don't recommend to cook what you would eat raw,
>since obviously nothing is gained in the process; but if cooking
>extends the range of your diet, then your body probably gets more
>nutrients.

That is a nice door you left open to such an instincto purist as I am,
Jean-Louis! ;-) Since there's nothing I wouldn't try raw there's ob-
viously nothing I would cook. Instead I will wait until over time I
become deficient in some cooked molecules (as happened with Kirt ob-
viously) and then I will try to reach out for them. But this process
may last years so please be patient. Finally even instincto purists
will come back to the cooking pot. ;-) =:O

Best uncooked puristic regards,

Stefan

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