Hi Roberta,

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.

I have heard a lot about sea vegetables. Is this sea weed? Or are
there
other sea vege's? What about availability outside the U.S.? I know
that I
can easily get sea weed but often it is difficult to eat without
preparation.

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.

I will look into this. I certainly eat enough nuts, but have never
heard of
nuts being an omega 3 supply. That is not to say that they are not -
just we
did not get taught that as a supply in Nutrition.

Udo Erasmus wrote a bookabout 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.

What is the title of Mr. Erasmus' book? Easily available? Based on
research?

Eating excessive proportions of carbs creates all kinds of health
problems,
and one must have nutritious fats and proteins to avoid becoming
unwell.

Yes this is what I have read a bit browsing the net. But the problem
is that
it is against basic physiology. Short term energy supply is in the
form of
glycogen, easily derived from starch and simple sugar. Glycogen can be
synthesised from fat but it is not a simple task and involves a
complex (and
relatively slow) metabolic pathway. Some research states that fat is
as good
an energy supply as carbohydrate and that carbohydrate depleted
individuals
(as a result of a high fat diet) perform as well as high carbohydrate
individuals (see Lambert et al (1994) European Journal of Applied
Physiology; 69:287-93), but the research is far from convincing, and
how
does it relate to Raw food diet. (vegetarian)

What I would like to see is a full vitamin and mineral profile,
resting RER
as well as submaximal exercise and maximal exercise RER (RER =
respiratory
exchange ratio - basically a measure of what the body is using for
energy)
after say, 3 months of a raw vegan diet. Eating lots of greens, some
sweet
fruit, avocados nuts and seeds. Also a blood profile and look at the
health
of red blood cells. Most important a test of cognitive abilities at
day 1, 3
months, the follow ups at 6 months and 12 months to test for
demyelination
or other neural problems.

Additionally the low carbohydrate diet could contribute to the
excessive
weight loss and appearance of "skinniness" of raw foodists. The above
mentioned Lambert study found that muscle glycogen dropped more that
50%.
This is significant because much of the muscle bulk that is visible is
due
to water retention and bloating caused by the storage of Glycogen in
the
muscles for energy.

I have visited an area of the world where excessive fat intake is the
norm.
In the desert of Rajasthan - India, the dietary staple is Mustard Oil,
wheat
cakes and beans. Doctors there report that most villagers have severe
liver
hypertrophy problems related to the high saturated fat intake (from
the
mustard oil).

This is just written off the top of my head, I am certain that I could
find
all sorts of problems with a high fat, or high carbohydrate or high
protein
diet if I spent some time. Again my problem is that nobody seems to
know
what is right and until somebody actually investigates the problem we
will
only be speculating.

>without fish.  Do you eat eggs?

NO I avoid eggs but don't miss them, they are easier to replace than
dairy.

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.

Yes I also don't get sick, or don't get flues etc. But I want to be
able to
go completely raw so that I am not just "not sick" but WELL!! I would
also
like to bring up raw kids, but not until I know it is safe. What do
you
say - "oh sorry Johnny, you have weak bones, your mother and I thought
we
would experiment with your diet. You don't mind getting around in a
wheelchair do you?"

There is a university somewhere in the states called Cornell (???)
that has
people interested in Raw foods. Does anybody know about this or what
they
are doing?

Regards

matt

>regards
>Roberta