Hello all,

I have been lurking on these lists since around the middle of this year and
have barely had time to keep up with reading all the posts, let alone
contributing anything myself. Now that life won't be quite so hectic for a
little while, I would like to remedy that.

I am posting this to both RAW-FOOD and PALEOFOOD, as I think that it has
some relevance to both lists. First of all, I would like to express my
appreciation to those regular posters who, through their sincerity,
openness and dedication, generate much thoughtful discussion on these
lists. I am probably not alone in feeling that this is of immense value to
those of us who, for whatever reasons, are not able to be actively involved
in these discussions at all times.

Now for my personal experiences:

Like everyone else here, I am on a quest to find the perfect diet. :-)

About 18 months ago, I came upon the book 'Fit for Life', and from it I
learned about Natural Hygiene. I found the idea that the body goes through
cyclic phases (appropriation, assimilation & elimination), and the
implications this has for the timing and combination of different foods,
very interesting.

I decided to try eating only fruit during the mornings, thinking that I
would find this completely impossible. I had sometimes experienced symptoms
of hypoglycaemia around lunchtime, so I didn't see how I could survive if I
was eating 'less' than I was used to. And my breakfast, consisting of
muesli, yoghurt, milk and fruit, was my favourite meal of the day, so I
wasn't keen to give that up. However, by making the changes gradually, I
soon found that fruit was completely satisfying for me during the morning,
and I also became aware that I was eliminating stored-up wastes, and that
my digestion was more comfortable. I came to understand the terrible things
that I had been doing to my insides over many years (such as overeating,
and eating meals that were difficult to digest), and I became much more
acutely aware of the painful consequences I had often suffered as a result
and had somehow accepted as being a normal part of life.

I have had a predilection for vegetarianism for a long time, and about a
year ago, I stopped eating meat and fish altogether. I had various ethical,
environmental and aesthetic reasons for adopting a vegetarian diet, but the
main reason was that I believed it was a healthy step to take. I don't
recall ever being told that meat was a late addition to the human diet, but
I firmly believed that it must have been, and that this provided the logic
behind vegetarianism. Of course, 'Fit for Life' also reinforced the idea
that animal flesh is an unnatural food for humans. Nevertheless, I had some
niggling doubts, because I was aware of the problems associated with some
of the vegetarian staple foods, at least for some people. This was a bit of
a puzzle to me.

Earlier this year, I learned that humans have probably been eating animals
for millions of years, but that agriculture (and with it grains, legumes
and dairy foods) only appeared about 10,000 years ago. I was quite stunned
by this information, but it was obviously the solution to the above puzzle.
Soon after this, I became aware of the existence of these lists and Ward's
'Health & Beyond' interviews, which clarified the whole situation further.

I now feel that there are probably good reasons for reintroducing flesh
foods into my diet, and that I may be missing out on important nutrients if
I don't. However, I have not found this a very appealing idea so far. When
I gave up eating meat and fish, I was very happy to do so, because I had
never really liked handling them. In recent times, I have eaten chicken and
fish occasionally, but not really enjoyed them much. I have also tried
minute quantities of each raw, but found the flavour rather strong.

With regard to animal foods, I have been wondering whether worms would be a
suitable source of food. (I mean earthworms or compost types of worms.)
Somehow I feel that if I can harvest my own animal foods, I may find them
easier to consume (possibly raw?). But this is only speculation at this
stage. I don't really know. Does anyone have any experience with eating worms?

My diet is now mostly raw and mostly paleo (especially during the early
part of the day), but it also still contains a proportion of cooked and/or
non-paleo foods (mostly later in the day). I feel that following this sort
of pattern allows me to do something beneficial for my body (by at least
cooperating with it during the elimination phase in the morning), but
without being too rigid about what I am eating. Apart from eating fruit
during the mornings, I usually have a green leafy salad at lunchtime, with
the addition of some vegetable fruits, sprouts, olive oil, and a little sea
salt. Soon after this, I generally eat about half a cup of nuts & seeds
that have been soaked in water overnight, and to which I add a little maple
syrup. After this, I usually return to more 'conventional' foods for the
rest of the day, although my hunger at this stage is often not all that great.

One interesting thing to note is that when I have an evening meal
containing a lot of wheat and dairy, I invariably wake up the next morning
with a sore throat, a runny nose and lots of sneezing. These symptoms
always disappear within a few hours, and I have not had a serious cold or
flu since I adopted the above way of eating. I haven't been able to
establish whether it is either wheat or dairy that is primarily responsible
for the symptoms, as they often tend to go together (as in pasta with
cheese sauce, for instance), and I haven't experimented with any other
grains so far. I am noticing, though, that my desire to eat starchy foods
has diminished greatly, and I often now leave them out of my meals when
this is convenient. In retrospect, I feel that my body was often telling me
to do this previously, but I always felt that starch was a necessary part
of a 'well-balanced' meal, and so I ate it despite my body's protests.

I have been intrigued by another experience I had recently. Over a period
of several weeks, I had recurring symptoms like those of a urinary tract
infection (you know, that very uncomfortable feeling of needing to urinate
when you know very well that your bladder is empty). The symptoms would
appear very suddenly at some stage of the day, remain for a few hours, and
then disappear again just as suddenly. Then, the following day or a few
days later, the same thing would happen again, and this was repeated a
number of times. I wondered whether there was any possibility that I was in
some way 'revisiting' a situation of about 5 years ago, when I had several
urinary tract infections in one year, and they were repeatedly treated with
antibiotics. Is it possible that there was some waste matter left behind in
my body from these infections, and that this was now being eliminated and
was briefly creating the symptoms during the process?

In a similar vein, I also wondered whether a recent bout of constipation
could have been in some way related to an episode of severe constipation
some years ago. Does anyone have any thoughts on either of these situations?

During the time that my diet has been changing, I have become aware of an
interesting transition. I have gradually been letting go of the idea that
it is important to have three 'balanced'  meals each day, and instead have
become used to letting my body decide when I need to eat, and what. When I
first changed to eating only fruit in the mornings, I was having quite
large quantities - about 1 - 1.5 kg altogether, spread over 2 meals,
whereas now it is less than half of that. I now find that I can get up in
the morning and, after a drink of water, simply get on with the day's
activities, without any need to focus on food. A few hours later, when
hunger sets in, I have something to eat. I find that I have lots of energy
during the morning, and yet I sometimes find that I do not need to eat at
all until about midday.

When I was telling a friend about this recently, he commented, "Ah, so
you've put yourself on demand feeding!" How true, and how logical. It seems
strange now that it should ever have been any different. We have finally
learned that this is the best thing for our babies, and yet somehow it
doesn't  seem to apply to the rest of us. Children are still told, when
they say that they are not hungry in the morning, that they must have
breakfast before going to school - that they will not be able to learn
properly otherwise. ... But having said all this, I do still sometimes eat
for reasons other than hunger, but these occasions are becoming rarer.

A note on fruit - I am amazed to read that there are people who have been
able to live on a fruitarian diet for a period of some years. On a few
occasions, I have tried to eat only fruit for several days in a row, in
order to allow my body to do some serious cleansing. However, I found that
I simply could not continue for more than 1 1/2 to 2 days at a time, as I
would start to feel quite strange. My head would begin to feel very odd (in
a way that is difficult to describe, but perhaps 'lightheaded' is somewhere
near the mark), and my heart (or something in that region) would feel as if
it was gradually turning into a tight ball. I had initially thought that
perhaps a fruitarian diet would be the ideal to aim for in the long run,
but that idea soon lost its appeal when I experienced the above symptoms,
which I have not noticed at other times. I assume that they have something
to do with the body's sodium/potassium balance being upset when only fruit
is consumed.

To finish off, just a little bit of philosophising on changing one's
dietary habits. In my experience, a very small amount of intellectual
decision-making can, over a period of time, lead to very large changes in
the body's responses. I think that it is sufficient to be aware of the
behavioural changes that are seen as desirable, but without feeling the
need to adhere to them rigidly (except, of course, in cases where there is
an urgent medical reason for a drastic change of diet). It seems to me that
gentle guidelines, applied with some degree of flexibility, are sufficient
to steer the body in the right direction. Simply giving it some opportunity
to make positive changes can lead to quite dramatic results overall, with
food preferences changing almost imperceptibly over time.


Regards and greetings from Australia,

Barbara Sheppard