Help, please!

It occured to me, re: "Our Stolen Future" by Theo Colborn etc: May I inquire
of this
list if all plant and manmade estrogenic compounds are heat stable? Are any
commonly found and eaten phytoestrogenic or chemical estrogen look-alike
compounds heat labile? In considering a raw food diet this information would
be very valuable, indeed! If it was included in the book, I can't find it,
so assume they are heat stabile.Too bad...
Another topic: Are any snails in the U.S. poisonous? I have found the mother
goddess of all my lettuce stealers, and she is tempting me to experiment,
and find out if my lettuce tastes as good in her as out! I haven't watched
one right up in its face since I was a child--they are truly, truly
beautiful, aren't they?

I have some serious questions if I am to totally commit to this regime. I
have always been healthy, and physically active, and an explorer!---but let
me tell you, even so, after eating fruit for breakfast, veg for lunch, raw
nuts, honey, or anything that stands still long enough for a
holdover,(sometimes p.butter on wholegrain bread, that or quit the diet, I
don't enjoy starvation!) and then a cooked protein and starch, and another
raw veg for supper--well, I feel incredibly bouyant and energetic, it is
utterly awesome!! So bear with me, as I still have some strong reservations
about several things and am now in need of yes's and no's, no maybe's, no
perhaps's, OK? with documentation at every possiblility, you understand the
difficulties, you have been there, done this. So, here we go--all help is
deeply appreciated:

I have had very rare stops for fruit--once, I believe the banana was simply
not ripe enough--another, pineapple finally stung my tongue.This seems
unsound, I could eat these "sweets" all day long, but that is nutritionally
unsound.In my educated opinion, frutarians are time bombs, and that saddens
me.Children love sweets, too. But even eating fruit until satiation will not
forestall hunger but three hours max for me (and that's a stretch!)so,I run
out of one and have to start another, not knowing how much to stock, and the
nearest so-so store is 30 min, the good ones are 45 min. Tough decisions, I
have been frugal all my life, and tho this is not a problem now, I am a
conservationist, after all, and have a pathology for waste.What problems do
you see with this, and what solutions have you found?

Not being able to shop for fresh daily for daily harvested,as the Europeans
and Asians do, concerns me. Too many vitamins and enzymes are lost ,
beginning immediately upon harvest, and then time elapses in transit, and
more in storage after purchase. Particularly do "fresh" veg at stores
catering to the "health" trade look, smell --and taste--plain cardboard.(at
least in this "cosmopolitan" city).Only in very modern times have "fresh"
lettuce, carrots, etc been available all year. How do root cellar stored
nutrients stack up--and with nose and taste tests? (I know my butternut
squash has lost it's vitality, but it is organic, and fertilized with my
salt and blood, I dare you to advise I compost it and go buy something from
the store! I still have frozen stuff--but much of it is cooked.I usually
have either fresh from the garden, canned, or frozen but need variety and
fill ins, as now--the spring crops are delayed this year, g the winters,
foods must have been frozen oh so long ago. I suspect cannibalism occured
with some frequency.I haven't seen input here as to the instinctive response
theory for evaluating frozen food by smell or taste, its merit vis-a-vis
unfresh "fresh" food. I tried frozen fish--ughhh! Forget ideal; let's
concern ourselves with the practicality of the thing, if you will,
please.Must it be ideal, or de rien?

Your mail has been very informative, but these questions still plague me. I
appreciate your time...

And oh Jean-Louis, (It was you?) please tell me sweet potato won't do me in,
I adore it, it really has often carried me thru the day, now you have
frightened me!

Bon apptit,
Pat