Denis PEYRAT <[log in to unmask]>:
>Denis : That raw fooders poor mental health is  commonplace idea amongst
>cooked fooders, I have no doubt. That it is also  commonplace  idea amongst
>rawists comes down  to paying attention to  the foul when he says he is a
>fool..., since you seem to think that foolishness is more widespread
>amongst rawists.

Tom:
The basic questions you are raising here are not new, and have been raised
before.  There are two questions:

1) Is the proportion of mental illness higher among rawists than those on
a standard diet?
Answer: no formal studies to my knowledge. If anyone knows of any, please
post details here - many on this list will be interested.
This leaves us with only personal experience and observation to guide us.
My position on this point was expressed in earlier posts, and you
will find additional observations in the archives.

2) Assuming the raw diet is correlated with mental problems: does the raw
diet promote mental illness, or merely attract the mentally unbalanced? Did
the diet make them crazy, or does the diet just attract crazy people?
Does a fanatical diet attract fanatics?

There is no established, proven answer to question 2. It is my opinion and
observation, that both factors are involved. If one examines the effects
of fruitariansim, and compares them to the symptoms and condition of
people with anorexia nervosa (a known mental illness), the number of
similarities is striking. Is that coincidence or causation? I suspect
there is some causal linkage, at least in the case of fruitarianism.

One can also observe obsessive behavior among other rawists. Does clinging
to a narrow, restrictive, intrusive, dogmatic philosophy encourage
obsessive behavior such as the food obsessions one sees so often among
idealistic rawists? Is there a causal linkage? I think it is highly probable.

Maybe it's not the diet per se, but the philosophy associated with it, and
the degree with which a rawist identifies with the diet, that is the key
here? Perhaps both the diet and philosophy are factors? Interesting questions...

Regards,
Tom Billings
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