Hi Matt,

May I ask what makes you feel bad for the animals, do you think it is
cruel
to kill animals for food?  How about fish, do you eat sashimi?

>Not religion or philosophy - I feel bad for the animals. Figure that
>something that makes me feel so bad cant be natural. It would be different
>if I were an Eskimo with nothing other than fish but where I live there are
>many options.

There are many carnivorous animals on this planet, and they eat meat.
Fish
eat other fish. So in nature, there are many instances of animals
being
eaten in a natural state.

>My concern is that I intuitively feel that eating raw (100%) has many many
>benefits. But food is so altered and we are so far away from our natural
>state that serious deficiencies could occur, especially with the levels of
>stress that city dwellers experience. I was hoping that somewhere real
>scientists were trying to get to the bottom of the raw food diet. What
>actually happens when someone goes raw. Are there mineral and vitamin
>deficiencies? Are the normal parameters of micronutrient stores negated with
>decreased secretion of micronutrients? What happens to protein levels with
>raw foodism? Is this bad or good? What are alternate sources of Omega 3's
>(I heard lettuce has them for example - very few foods have really been tested).
>What happens when a person subsists mostly on simple carbohydrates rather than starch?

I can't see that there would be mineral or vitamin deficiencies as
long as
one is omnivorous as possible on raw diets.  If you are concerned with
minerals in your diet, just eat some sea vegetables every day.  They
are
rich with minerals, and can assist the body in detoxifying.

And as stated in my last post, the EFAs which humans must have are
available in fat fish, and in vegetarian sources from raw nuts and
seeds.
The cold pressed oils of flax and hemp are especially rich in fats
that
humans needs. Roasted nuts, roasted seeds and oils which are not from
cold-
extraction are instead injurious because chemically the EFAs turn into
transfatty acids and can even be carcinogenic. Udo Erasmus wrote a
book
about this that I read a couple of times, and as far as I know not
much
real research has been done about this stuff, on EFAs, what kind we
need
and how much.

Eating excessive proportions of carbs creates all kinds of health
problems,
and one must have nutritious fats and proteins to avoid becoming
unwell.  I
guess if you include eggs and raw milk cheeses you would get some
protein,
but I don't know how someone like myself would get sufficient protein
without fish.  Do you eat eggs?  The problem with this (and I know of
a
woman who had this problem) is eating lots of eggs and cheeses can
make you
have high cholesterol and give you a heart condition.

>My concern is that I intuitively feel that eating raw (100%) has many many benefits.

I do too - I have a strong inclination to eat raw foods also, and
because
it is not always easy to get fresh raw beef and fresh raw fish, which
are
my favorite raw foods, I often will have some cooked flesh food, while
otherwise trying to have all or mostly raw.  But my non-flesh raw
foods
includes vegetables, sea vegetables, fresh fruit, raw nuts/seeds,
fresh
vegetable or fruit juices, honey.  I know for a fact that it boosts my
immunity =96 I work in a cubicle type office and all my coworkers
might be
ill with the seasonal cold or flu and I don=92t get ill like they do.

regards
Roberta