Hi,

  I'm Trish, I've been subscribed to the list for about two months.
I've read through about 20% or so of the archives.  Reading more as time
permits.  I appreciate the spirit of this list - of the lists I
have belonged to over the years, this one has been the most civil,
informative and generally intelligent (she said affectionately -
nothing against those OTHER lists.)

Brief history about me:  Inspired by Dick Gregory's book "Cookin' with
Mother Nature", I started experimenting with raw and health back
in 1978 while in college.  For me, the health battle has been
depression and compulsive eating.  I still encounter both
but to a much lesser degree - I pass for normal, as it were.
I've learned that what I eat affects my propensity for severe
depressions and that (for me) it, along with other healthy pursuits like
exercise, meditation/prayer, human contact, is more effective than
lithium, prozac or other drugs.  I've settled on about 60-80% raw with
occasional forays of 100% raw.  I've been a vegetarian in spirit since
birth, in practice since age 17.  I have to be somewhat moderate...when I
get too extreme, I pay the price later - food binges and other kinds of
food insanity.  It's not worth it.

My most recent questions for myself have been regarding eating meat
(sometimes I want to and occasionally have done it) , the whole
protein/carb/fat discussion in general, whether I buy into ayurveda
and the "Eat Right For Your Type" theories.

I find Ward's, Stephan's and Tom's comments very interesting and they
prompted me to finally jump in.  I'm interested in hearing people's very
honest accounts of their experiences.  For example, Tom - you say
you were a fruitarian for many years.  What happened?  In general, how did
your journey get you to where you are now (which seems to be pretty
balanced)?   What health problems did you clear up and what new
ones did you create?  I'm sorry Ward is no longer on the list as
I'd like to hear his comments as well.  What about other long
term "experimenters"?  Or short term for that matter.

For myself, I find that all fruit is just not
possible for me.  I end up floating a few hundred feet above my body.  I
like doing it for brief periods but not much longer than a week.  I
don't need a lot of grains like I once thought I did, but do need
some protein and tend to eat nuts and some amount of tofu.  Still
struggling with the protein question as I'm not sure my body and
my spirit are in alignment (ie animals or not.)  Vegetables and
I get along very well...best on the least starchy types.  I give
in to Manna bread in spurts and sometimes rice crust "pizza's".  A
few times a year I will just go eat some pizza or something - its
a great reminder why I don't eat that way most of the time and it
is fun for at least a few bites.

I was on a few "low-carb" lists but found that while the low carb
approach seems to work for many people, they (the people on the lists) are
not that concerned with other aspects of health.  I just cannot believe
that eating lots of cream cheese and limiting your fruits and vegetables
is good for you.  However, the people who follow these diets tend to feel
100% better than they did previously.  They make some of the same claims
that raw fooders do - LOTS more energy being the #1.  I think the thing
that the two groups have in common is neither group eats refined sugars
and flours and thus little to no traditional junk food.  I suspect that
if you do nothing else, eliminating these cause a vast improvement in
the way most SAD'ers feel.  After that, whether you are cooked, raw,
vegan or not is just playing with the "focus" a little to sharpen things
up.  For me, giving up the caffeine, sugar, wheat and most dairy was
when I saw the most dramatic improvement.   Cutting down on lots of
cooked grains was the next thing.

I have come around to decide that the whole thing is
just completely personal.  It's up to you to figure out what works
and makes you feel best.   I believe that some people do better on
some kind of animal flesh.  My guess is that the human body is much,
much more flexible, clever and adaptable than anybody believes.  I find
myself wondering whether we can ever really understand it through
science.  I guess I don't believe it is that black and white.  There
is something perhaps unknowable going on.  As Tom has pointed out as well,
nutrition is only ONE part of the picture.  There are people who have
lived incredibly long productive lives on all sorts of diets - I wonder
what else these people might have in common.

Which leads me to my last point - I've been experimenting on myself
for years with this - does a healthy diet lead to a healthy spiritual
life/"inner peace"?  This is what I had hoped for many years.  In the
end, of course, I think a healthy diet gives you a better chance for a
healthy spiritual life but it is not sufficient.  You can be eating
100% incredibly healthy and still be a basket case (been there, done
that.)  I'm trying to focus these days on the spiritual aspect first, and
do the best I can with the food.  I still feel a passionate desire
to help other people who struggle with depression or other problems to
learn that what they eat may be causing a lot of it.  I am a strong
believer in what Ellie says about toxic emotions and think that a
cleaner diet helps you better distinguish "what's what."

All that said, this list has been inspiring and educational for me.
I look forward to participating more frequently and hope some of
you will respond with your story of your journey.

Thanks for listening,

Trish Pottersmith
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