Aaron,

>It has been my experience as a living being that I can sense other life,
>energetically or experientially.  And that eating food in various states of
>aliveness produces different experiences.  And that eating cooked food might
>feel somewhat nourishing but at the same time feels like it is too
>energetically expensive to my being.  It costs me too much, it is like
>sacrifice.

I would like to add that I certainly also feel how my energy level
varies, but I don't think I can feel the SOEF thing or whatever you
want to call it. For example, if I close my eyes and am not allowed to
smell the plate that someone puts in front of me, then I can't
determine if that plate contains raw or cooked food. Or, I can't
distinguish between a "normal" strawberry and an irradiated one (which
has been at least partially killed).

As for the energy level, foods, activities, etc. can have two
undesirable effects which are opposite:
 -lack of energy, i.e. inability or lack of motivation to acomplish
physical or mental efforts,
 -nervousness, which is in some sense excess of energy, or, more
precisely, dispersion of energy.

In the first case, your body would be qualified as "too yin", and in
the second, "too yang". The ideal state is to feel calm and energetic
at the same time. In order to achieve that, a number of factors have
to be taken into account: not only diet, but also exercise, sleep,
etc. If you don't exercise enough, your body weakens and your health
declines. If you over-exert, you can become exhausted, injured, or
become too nervous.

Eating raw, by itself, is not sufficient/necessary. I remember once
eating 5 avocadoes, after several months without any: I felt
tremendous energy, I could run miles without being exhausted. But
about 1 year ago, I had 5 avocadoes in a period when I was eating them
on a daily basis... and I felt they actually robbed me of my energy
(digestion was heavy).

If you choose to eat cooked food, the composition of the menu is
important, like: heavy carbohydrate meals make you feel drowsy in the
afternoon, heavily salted, spiced, fried foods can make you nervous,
bad combinations require too much digestive energy, etc.

So, in my opinion, it's much more than simply eating raw and cooked:
it's about balance. I know cooked food eaters with tremendous energy,
and raw food eaters with no energy; and conversely. I have eaten
cooked meals which were difficult to digest and/or overstimulating,
but also cooked meals after which I actually felt energetic. I also
feel tired on some days, "despite" being in a period of eating 100%
raw (but there might be some reasons not related to food).

Finding the correct "balance" also includes finding the balance
between raw and cooked. Depending on your genetic makeup and
lifestyle, the correct percentage of raw may vary. For me, I find
myself comfortable eating a cooked meal provided 1) I don't do it
every day 2) The meal includes a raw salad 3) Food preparation remains
simple (no exotic mixings, not too much salt or spices...). I guess
anywhere between 85% and 97% would be fine for me.


--Jean-Louis Tu <[log in to unmask]>