-----Original Message-----
        From:   Thomas E. Billings [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:   Wednesday, March 24, 1999 5:38 PM
        To:     [log in to unmask]
        Subject:        Re: Raw Food Diet guidelines

        Leah Calo <[log in to unmask]>:
        >Where
        >is the difference then between this kind of diet and all the
"normal"
        >diets we hear of people doing.

        Tom:
        A good question!  If one claims to be raw, but "cheats" or makes
lots
        of "exceptions", then the "raw" diet is little different from
the standard
        (Western or vegan) diet one had before switching to raw. Such a
situation
        is hypocrisy; as a  side note, it is obvious that those
fruitarian
        raw diet gurus who claim to thrive on a diet whose calorie
content
        is below starvation levels, are cheating and lying about it.

        What I meant was more on the phsycological side of dieting - how
people go on diet, loose a few pounds on this miracle diet or that
shake, then go back to the SAD diet and gain it all back.  I was also
talking about the guilt feelings I have been experiencing from
"cheating" on my raw-food diet with bread, rice, steamed vegetables etc.
(I'm not even talking about sinful stuff like chocolate, cake, ice cream
etc. that people usually crave when on diet).

        Can you refer me to more information about clories? I have never
taken calorie counts into consideration with my diets.

        Leah Calo <[log in to unmask]>:
        >I would love to hear your thoughts on what a good "maintenance
diet"
        >would be.  And how often you would recommend a "healing diet"
or I'd
        >rather call it a "cleansing diet" (a week every month, a month
every 4
        >months, a month every year?).

        Tom:
        The characteristics of a healing diet: inadequate calories,
simple,
        easy to digest, and avoids the things that cause problems for
many folks:
        stimulants (coffee, tea), processed foods (sugar, hydrogenated
fat),
        pasteurized/homogenized dairy, fatty feedlot meats. [Note: in
        cases of underweight, adequate calories must be provided.]

        A maintenance diet has: adequate calories and adequate
nutrients.
        It is desirable that it is simple, and avoids or limits the
things
        that cause problems (in above list).

        Please define "adequate" in the above - what would be adequate -
would that depend on a persons age, weight, height, build, job, fitness?

        P.S. any raw "guru" who claims to be "scientific" but does not
"believe
        in" calories, is intellectually dishonest. There are quite a few
such
        folks around.

        I think I've come across a few - which is why I must have never
thought of it as important - THANKS

        Tom Billings