I have come across the following article from the May issue of Health
Science, put out by ANHS - the American Natural Hygiene Society.  Their
website can be viewed at http://www2.anhs.org/anhs/

Though I do not agree with all of the conclusions reached in the article, I
do find some of the observations on raw food diets to be quite relevant.

Best, Peter
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                 "Tired of singing the cooked food blues."

Q. "I have been unsuccesful including cooked starches and steamed
vegetables into my diet.  If I eat these foods every day, within a few
weeks I get a cold, preceded by achy muscles, decreased energy, and a
feeling of toxicity. When I return to all raw food, my system cleans out
and I feel optimum again.
Is it possible that the raw-food diet is really the best diet for me?  Or
it my inability to eat cooked foods without experiencing symptoms of
intestinal problems something that could be relieved by a long fast?"

A.  "It is possible to be healthy on an all-raw diet.  However, because the
claorie density is fairly low, you have to eat a lot of food, which is
quite time consuming.  Not everyone has the capacity to digest enough raw
foods to get enough calories to maintain good energy, health and weight.
There is a tendency for a person on a diet of all raw foods to overeat on
fruits, causing a potentially harmful high-sugar diet, which tends to be
deficient in vitamins and minerals.  There also is a tendency to overeat on
avocados or nuts (which may be beyond the digestive capacity of the
person), causing a potentially harmful high-fat, high protein diet.
    Another problem with a tendency to overeat on fruits is that sugar is
fairly stimulating and gives a false sense of high energy.  I have seen
many patients try to subsist on a high-fruit diet, and many feel quite well
for about two years, despite some initial weight loss.  But after that,
they begin to experience low energy, immune problems, skin problems, and
fatigue.  Many of these patients are sleep-deprived.  Because of the
stimulating effect of a high-sugar diet, they mistakenly feel they can get
by on much less sleep.  Consequently, they experience the symptoms of sleep
deprivation, which include fatigue, poor immune function, allergies,
depression, and sluggish bowels.
    I believe that the problems encountered when patients like these
reintroduce cooked foods stem from the underlying fatigue accumulated.
Eating cooked foods in not stimulating.  When eating cooked foods, the
person is more likely to experience their true energy level, which has
become much lower than they realize.  Fatigue-related bowel sluggishness
may be masked by the high fiber content of a raw-food diet.  When the
person eats cooked foods, the underlying bowel sluggishness becomes
apparent.  Rather than blaming cooked foods, patients need to understand
that the symptoms of abdominal discomfort, bloating, headaches, achy
muscles, and a feeling of toxicity are most likely the symptoms of
constipation.
     A properly conducted fast can help rest sluggish bowels, increase
digestive capacity, and generally improve overall health.  However, a
single fast of a few weeks duration is not enough to recover from a few
years of sleep deficiency.  Thus, after eating resumes, some of the
symptoms ay reoccur when cooked foods are eaten again.  In my experience,
it takes about two years of eating a balanced vegan diet, accompanied by
nine to ten hours of quality sleep per night, and a low-stress environment,
to gradually restore health to normal."

Ronald Gridland, M.D.