>Help, please!

Oh, Pat, here you are asking those pesky questions which no one can answer
again ;)

>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...

Let's assume they aren't. Would you be tempted to cook all your veggies as
a result? I think in the end, raw vs cooked veggies is something of a
double edged sword either way. Perhaps we should be eating them both raw
and cooked. Reasonable cooking methods of course...

But who knows? I'm more worried about those 100,000,000,000 kilos of
synthetic organic chemicals we are producing per year for the last decade
(this kind of loveliness is what Pat snail-mails me :^). All the more
reason to grow your own, eh?

>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?

Creatures from another planet, ain't they? I very much doubt that the snail
itself is "poisonous", but I have heard that snails may carry some nasty
microbes. (Just what you wanted to hear I'm sure.) You could steam em, or
marinate them, but then you might overload without a "stop" signal--which
might be similar to "poisoning". But you'll never know till you try, eh?
Consider it the fancy French gourmet food. I know! A snail pate for the
bridge club!! Oo La La!!!

They have not yet tasted good enough to swallow for this fellow (the two
time I tried this year).

>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!!

This is all wonderful news. And though you don't seem to realize it yet,
you are now in position to answer most of the "raw questions". And ask
questions that do not have much of an answer--plenty of points of views,
but no answer per say...

>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.

No to hedging and must to documentation. Hmm, I shoulda left this one be
like everyone else :/ ;)

>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?

The biggest problem with fruit is overeating it. When it is overeaten as
part of a restricted diet (like fruitarian, or raw-vegan) the possibility
for danger is enhanced. I think for folks like yourself who are eating a
variety of foods there is less Danger. Nevertheless, most instinctos
probably _limit_ their health by eating too much fruit.

Possibly, comb honey might be a better source of satiation for a sweet
craving. One doesn't really expect that they will get "full" on honey and
the stop is clearer than with many fruits.

Personally, I do best when I wait until noon to eat fruit. If I eat fruit
at 9 am I, like you, seem to be a bottomless pit for the rest of the day.
It is almost as if too much fruit makes one hungrier (unbalanced) and
curing the hunger with more fruit just exasperates things. The Zone
arguments provide some support for this idea. An avo after some fruit is
satisfying for many and is more in line with Zone stuff...

I would venture that it is the cooked grains that are more of a time bomb
in most diets. And it appears that fruits may be important in detoxing
grains. So, perhaps, if one is cutting out grains they may have a hard time
limiting their fruit.

And, too, there is the idea that an empty stomach isn't really hunger. If
you "grin and bear" that sensation you may find that it passes, and further
that your next meal is all the more enjoyable: hunger is the best sauce.
All easier said than done, of course.

>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?

I think you have lots of human history on your side eating your own garden
veggies, fresh, frozen, jarred or otherwise. Relish them raw when you can
and put by as much as possible for the winter/spring. I think that 100% raw
is less important than choosing the non-raw portion of your diet with
loving care, so to speak. If someone is 95% raw but the other 5% is
Snicker's bars and chezitos, they may be less well off than a 70/30 raw
eater whose 30% non-raw is primarily quality veggies and animal foods with
minimal preparation. Or even a 50/50 who is eshewing all processed grains
and dairy. This, of course, is only a guess.

Ceviche may be an important possibility as well. A big batch could be made
after your infrequest shopping trips and it may last a while in the fridge.
I don't know, but it might just hit the spot sometimes. It may also be a
good place to put some blended fish bones and let the lemon juice (and/or a
bit of raw vinegar?) work on leeching some of that fine calcium. And a
teaspoon of cod liver oil fresh in each bowl? Continue to experiment with
intelligent non-instincto meals--that's how you will find what works for
you, no?

>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!

You must make peace with the lowly sweet potato, Pat. Cooked, raw, or
avoided--its ability to frighten you is worse than any preparation. If is
works for you: then it works for you! Life is too short to burn up fossil
fuels driving to the city every other day to eat shitty veggies and
oversweet fruit...

So there, Pat, I failed to document a single thing and gave you a hundred
maybes, but perhaps you don't need answers as much as you may need to give
yourself permission to cut yourself some slack in a way. You are having
good results with your "steady as she goes method" of transition. Don't
fall off the other side by trying to get to the end of the "transition".
There probably is no end. Your steady as she goes method is inspiring to me!

Cheers,
Kirt

Kirt Nieft / Melisa Secola
[log in to unmask]