Hi all and welcome to the club, Sidney!

Stefan:
>>It is known, that enzymes are destroyed above 104F, not 190F.
>Sidney, Jean-Louis, Peter:
>What is your source for this statement?

You will find it in most books about chemistry and medicine. I
thought it to be common knowledge (excuse me). An indicator of the
correctness of this statement might be, that fever over 104F is
deadly: your body denaturates.

Stefan
>>Some months ago I accidentally overheated avocados in my riping box
>>and applied app. 120F to them. After the meal I noticed, that I was
>>not satisfied, which never happens to me with raw avocados. Later I
>>watched that digestion of these slightly heated avocados was bad
>>whereas raw avos always digest fine.

 Jean-Louis:
>Note that the chart from the article contains no information about
>avocados.

Peter:
>There could be many other explanations for why these avocados were not
>satisfactory to you, and until you begin to experiment with heated
>foods on

But the article also says:
>As you can see from the list, most of the temperatures range around 190
>deg. F.  We have found that if you eat foods that have been heated to
>boiling temperature (212 degrees F.) or less, your body will remain in
>a relatively nonreactive state.

So I expected the "critical temperature" of avocados to be near 190F and
n o t    near to 104F.

Peter, there might be lots of reasons, why my heated avos were bad. But
I ate them during a heavy "avocado-phase". I had good avos for weeks,
then the bad ones, then good ones for weeks again, nearly daily. And
only the overheated ones digested bad and were unsatisfying. I think=20
this is evidence enough, that the heat was the problem, not some other
factor.

On the other hand, Peter, I can see your motivation for the above
statement clearly... ;-) :-)
You would like me to undertake experiments with cooked things. :-\
I'm so sorry to disappoint you at the moment. :-) Try again in 1998!

Peter:
>What I understood from the article is that gentle, low heat cooking is
>many times less harmful than refining foods or heating them at higher
>temperatures. If this is just half-way true, I find it to be of great
>significance.

Hm. That reminds me of the alcoholic, who found a bottle with propyl-
alcohol (spelling?). It's known that you can become blind by drinking
it. So he drank only half of the contents and claimed that he would
risk "one eye only" :-)

Also please tell me, who of the SADers/GBKers applies "gentle, low
heat cooking"??? I see them consume bread, pizza, baked, rosted,
grilled things in masses. And all of them are highly heated.
Citing yourself I state, that gentle cooking won't let you off the
hook, Peter! :-)

Always raw wishes (below 104F),

Stefan
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]