Wes,

> >My question for you - do you find it hard to stay on your program,
> >or feel tempted to veer off of it, to try to 'fit in' socially (at least
> >somewhat) with what family and friends are doing? I have found that a
> >problem myself.
>
> Honestly, no I don't. I enjoy what I'm doing, and have fun with
> it. I admit
> that if I were not enjoying it, it would be difficult to
> maintain. But I do
> enjoy it, and I reap many rewards from doing it. I don't feel that I'm
> missing out on anything. Quite the contrary. I was "missing out" on
> something wonderful before I got into doing what I'm doing now. As for
> social activity, I find that social time and eating time are two different
> things. I have plenty of time for social activity outside of eating.


I usually do my best, but I have a hard time making it work out that way. It
seems like eating is some part of almost every activity! But I realize I am
better off in all respects following my own program - I am much better
company when I feel good!


> >I still have problems with a lot of sweet fruit, no matter what I eat or
> >don't eat it with - physical and mental fatigue, swelling and
> stiffening in
> >the body.
>

> I personally used to be biased against eating a lot of fruit in the diet.
> And I was afraid to eat a lot of fruit in my diet. But my intuition and
> experience lead the way, and I found out that I was wrong about what I had
> intellectually believed.

I don't doubt your experiences at all. And I don't doubt that some other
people do well with a lot of fruit for some time. But for me, I don't sense
these problems at all being related to detoxification. In fact besides the
other problems sweet fruits, especially grapes, make me constipated! Who
knows, maybe that could all change if I got really 'cleaned out' inside; I
don't know...But I think based on problems other people have had with modern
fruits, I will likely always limit them.

>
> >If I eat 70 - 80% raw vegetables and sprouts (I digest leafy greens very
> >well), and 20 - 30% raw or lightly cooked animal foods (not grain-fed),
> >only small amounts of sweet fruit, and exercise and get 8 hours of sleep
> >each night, I feel pretty well.
>
> We ideally each do the best we can, with what we have and what we
> know. So,
> if that's what works the best for you at this time, then continue
> with that.
> Perhaps you will make further adjustments with your diet, over time.
>

I am sure I will. I hope that as I detoxify more and digest better I can
simply eat less to maintain my weight, which will free up energy.

> >I usually do feel tired at the end of my work days partly
> >because I work in an enclosed steel building with terrible air quality,
> >staring at a PC monitor most of the day. At least in my case job
> stress is
> >low as far as programmer jobs go!
>
> That may be a big part of the reason for your not doing as well
> when eating
> more fruit. Just a possibility. I know that sitting in front of a computer
> all day is not very healthy, for many reasons. But if you need to do that
> for the money, then that's the way it goes, unless you were to
> change jobs.

My job is healthier than my previous one - I was a chemical lab tech!
Although I was lucky that we did very little organic chemistry. If I worked
at home and used an LCD monitor, there would be very little unhealthy about
my work. I'd love to get an LCD at work...but the biggest work issue
re:health is definitely the air quality.

> >On a somewhat-related note, I am doing one of those 7 day
> colenema cleanse
> >programs in 2 weeks. I found diet and exercise alone, while
> stopping almost
> >all my 'symptoms' and making me healthier than most of the people my age
> >that I know (which is not saying much!!), never brought me
> vibrant health.
> >Part of it is my occupation and lifestyle of course.
>
> Yes, health is governed by a lot more than just diet and exercise - as big
> of factors as those are. It comes down to how one lives in all
> regards, day
> in and day out. So basically, everything's a factor.
>
> Have you tried fasting and/or juice diets?

I did a 4 day juice diet right after Christmas (pretty much green juices
only). It was okay but there was no big benefit to it other than a little
more energy when I was doing it - it was almost like eating actually. But I
am still doing green juices and am growing wheatgrass as well along with
solid food.

> >I am 37, and have eaten
> >mostly raw since mid 1998 (with a fair share of cheating from
> time to time,
> >especially 2 weeks I spent in Argentina last spring). I am still not as
> >strong and energetic as I was when I was 20. I feel I have never really
> >detoxed the heavy drugs the doctors gave me during my 20's,
> including some
> >really evil psych drugs like Thorazine and Navane.
>
>I also underwent heavy pharmaceutical drug use for a few years, until about
>5 years ago. That included several kinds of psychiatric drugs. Needless to
>say, I was miserable (and I was eating a horrible diet on top of that). My
>main problem was severe "clinical" depression, but the psychiatrist
>basically used me as a "guinea pig" to test out various kinds and
>combinations of medications. He even went so far as to say I was
>schizophrenic, which I started to believe for a while (and was horrified
and
>felt even more hopeless due to that idea), but ultimately broke free from
>that psychiatrist, got a "second opinion" from a different psychiatrist,
.stayed on some drugs (as per the new psychiatrist's recommendations) for a
>while, then later, I ditched all the drugs and psychiatrists "cold turkey",
>on my own (without their "permission" ;^) ), with a firm resolve, and
>started to really study natural health.

That is quite a story! But all too familiar, except for the happy ending for
you. I am so glad I escaped that hell myself. Believe it or not, in the
summer of 1989 they gave me 13 electro-shock treatments and they actually
worked! But I remember after that, and all the anesthesias, drugs and
hospital food, having a grossly distended abdomen from all the stress on the
liver. I still don't know how I survived with a functioning brain or body,
since I only discovered 'natural health' several years later (though even
when I more or less recovered I had lost a lot of my vitality from
everything my body went through).

>
> >Many people (especially
> >the paleo-dieters) don't believe the years-old filth they are carrying
> >around in their colons,
>
> And/or small intestines?

Yes...and the liver as well, naturally.

>
> >and even myself, although I have seen some of this
> >horrifying stinky crap leaving my body during a cleanse back in 1998, I
> >haven't been willing to deal with it again (removing more of it from my
> >body) until now.
>
> I've never done one of those cleanses, and indications are that I
> don't need
> to. I find it fascinating about the possibility that "mucoid
> plaque" exists
> in people's digestive tracts. Some insist it does exist, some
> insist it does
> not. I don't really know for sure, but it does make sense how the
> digestive
> tract could get "dirtied up" due to years of eating an unnatural diet. If
> the rest of the body can get toxified, then why not the digestive tract,
> which the food passes through, get clogged up as well?

Its common sense if you think about it. If undigestible SAD food residues
are not eliminated, then where do they go? They have to go someplace. The
proof of this is what comes out with, it appears, EVERY person who actually
does one of these programs! I can say this because I joined an online
cleanse community and I am reading all the first-hand reports of the
results. Whether a 7 day colenema cleanse would be worth the trouble or
beneficial for someone doing well and eating like you, who knows? The people
who get the most dramatic benefits from these programs are the 60 year old
overweight arthritics who have eaten the industrial diet their whole lives
and are carrying huge amounts of this crap around.

> One thing I did experience though, in this regard, was following the first
> time I did a fast, a few years ago. After breaking the fast with some raw
> food and stimulating a bowel movement, I released a bunch of blackish,
> smelly, gross "stuff" into the toilet. I don't know if that would
> qualify as
> mucoid plaque, impacted fecal matter, or whatever, but whatever it was, I
> was glad to get rid of it.

Better out than in, as they say!

Paul