Hi Forest,

Sorry for the delay in replying but there is obviously a waiting
list here as one can only send 5 mails per day. Perhaps this ought
to be revised.

> > > >> I, like Kirt, have some trouble with the idea that seeds are not
> > > >> meant to be eaten.  If they are not, does that mean that animals for
> > > >> whom seeds are a major food source are not meant to exist?
>
> i think that seeds are meant to be eaten by animals and people in nature,

On must differentiate between seeds and pips which propagate through
being eaten (which contain an antienzyme to prevent them being digested
and which hence cause digestive problems for humans if the seeds are
chewed), seeds which form the food base of lower animals not related
to humans (i.e. animals such as mice and birds etc.) and seeds in
the form of nuts which must be eaten FRESH and RIPE (i.e. either
shortly before or shortly after falling off the tree, when the
antienzyme is less potent and there is no chance of them being rancid).

> the
> question is what level of energy and life extension do these nuts and seeds
> provide and could there be a different diet that would provide more energy and
> life extension.

Seeds other than fresh, ripe nuts provide no nutritional benefit
whatsoever to human beings (this also includes raw grains often used
in mueslis..as most also contain too much gluten in addition).

> some animals before humans came on the scene became extinct
> possibly due to their limited wisdom of how to optimumly evolve in nature.

There is no record of any animals..others than dinosaurs..becoming
extinct as far as I am aware. All others simply evolved further into
new animal forms (birds were formerly reptiles for example). The
theory on the dinos is that they perished from the results of a
natural catastrophe which blocked out the sunlight for a few months
(possibly a meteorite).

> same thing could happen to our species if we keep thinking a stone age diet is
> the ultimate diet approach for people, even tho it is obvious that it is
> better than the S.A.D. diet.
> > >
The stone age diet (i.e. before fire was discovered) must be our
ultimate diet because our digestive systems have been programmed for
multimillions of years to eat this type of food. Cooked food is
relatively recent in the history of man and there is no advantage
to eating a food with destroyed or damaged aminos, enzymes and
vitamins etc. at all. Cooked food requires more energy both in the
form of heat and in the form of additional expenditure with a
lower gain on the part of the human digestive system. The only
argument in favour of cooking some foods is that they would be
toxic if eaten raw (e.g. beans and seeds).

> > No...it merely means that certain creatures are meant to eat
> > certain foods (some of which, as you are no doubt aware, are toxic
> > to humans).
>
> maybe seeds are meant to be eaten by animals and humans until they gain the
> knowledge and wisdom of how to refine and extend their life by carefully
> examining scientifically and intuitively-instinctively the optimum ways of
> getting energy.

I think humans have been on this planet long enough to know what
is good for them. As to energy gain, there is less energy gain from
eating seeds and potatoes (and the often high starch levels they
contain) as a source of carbohydrates than in eating the simple
sugars found in fruits and berries.

> >
> > > Alan:
> > > >Which animal eats seeds rather than the "flesh" surrounding some of
> > > >them? Which animal gains nutrients from seeds alone and is this
> > > >animal supposedly one of our forefathers?
>
> i saw on public tv a nature show where a band of chimps were all under a nut
> tree eating nuts. the amazing part was that they used specialized
> sticks(tools) to open the hard shells and it required a long teaching process
> by the parents. i'm sure that's not the only food they ate but it shows they
> instinctively find them eatible.

I never said nuts were inedible to either chimps or humans. Merely that
we should eat them just as fresh and ripe as the chimps do.

Best regards,

Alan