> People who eat a raw food diet always report 'crashing' if cooked food is
> eaten after an extended period of raw. This represents the true
> reaction of
> the body to that foodstuff as regular consumption can mask it's
> true effect.
>
> Mike.
>

Here is my experience so far. Two years ago, after a 6 week raw-foods
experiment, I was surprised to find I felt much better and 'cleaner'
overall, and that reintroducing steamed vegetables (in particular
greens)
caused pretty severe reactions (headaches, body pain) while the raw
versions
of the same did not. These days if I 'cheat' by eating cooked
vegetables
the reactions are minimal but still noticeable. My reactions to other
irritants (assuming the cooked veggie reactions were irritation and
not a
'healing reaction') like cigarette smoke are now minimal as well (they
used
to be severe).

I never found the same effect of cooked meat vs raw however (but did
realize
any form of mass-produced hormone and antibiotic-laden meat or chicken
will
usually bother me, as does farm-raised fish). Other things that were
very
'irritating' at times, like Aloe Vera juice, I'm convinced were due to
cleansing reactions.

What all this means I don't really know. I know for sure is that
people are
different, and the body and body ecology are always changing. As
healing as
raw foods can be, I'm not prepared to lump general cooking of good
foods
into the category of proven hazards like refined sugar, preservatives
and
general food processing and may even agree that some or even a lot of
cooking, depending on the methods used, can be beneficial at times
depending
on the person and situation.

In my situation, being able to participate in social occasions that
are
focused around cooked meals is important; if I have minor reactions to
the
food I can 'clear' them usually within hours.

Okay, you want people to make a stand....so that is my stand (you may
call
it a cop-out)...talk to me next year, it could change ;).

Paul

Health and Disease Page
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/preynolds/had_1.htm