I wrote the below this morning, and welcome feedback. It is not comprehensive,
as I wanted to stay under 1 page. I don't know if I will submit it to
the SF-LiFE newsletter or not. The material below contradicts a lot of
raw fooder dogma, though space limits prevent me from providing backup info.

Anyway, your thoughts/comments (positive and critical) are welcome.

Regards,
Tom Billings
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COMMON SENSE ON DIET AND HEALTH - OPINIONS
Tom Billings

1) No diet can guarantee perfect health because diet is only one factor;
health involves many other factors such as exercise, stress reduction, the
mind, and so on.

2) There is no such thing as a perfect diet. There is no single diet that
is "best" for all. Diet and health are not "one size fits all" approaches.
Diet should serve the individual; it should not be a tool of dogma. Your
health is more important than dogma!

3) There are no guarantees in life. Wild animals often die of disease, despite
eating a completely natural, raw diet in the wild. So too, even the most
conscientious raw fooder can get sick. A raw foods diet does not guarantee
good health (whether physical or mental)!

4) If one takes the word holistic to refer to the whole person: body, mind,
and spirit, then with one or two exceptions (the Essenes come to mind), no raw
food diet/system is a true holistic health system. Most raw food diets deal with
the body, but not the spirit. A few systems (e.g., natural hygiene) mention
mental health, but provide little practical advice on the subject.

5) Healing is where you find it. Because of our idealism, raw fooders often
are blind to the reality that other diets can assist healing. Most of these
other healing diets "violate" raw foods vegan dogma. Examples include instincto,
which is raw but non-veg, macrobiotic, which is nearly 100% cooked and usually
vegetarian, and ketogenic diet, which is cooked and non-veg.

6) The obsession with mucus and toxemia that afflicts many raw fooders can be
harmful. That obsession, coupled with the idealism of raw foods dogma, can
make a sick person ignore symptoms and/or refuse medical care, as the illness
is assumed to be due to detoxification. If you are sick, you should consult
qualified health professionals for advice and treatment as appropriate.

7) Most medical systems of the world say there is no such thing as an incurable
disease, but there are incurable patients. Your attitude is very important in
your health. You should have positive reasons for your diet, not negative
reasons. Examples of negative reasons include the fear of mucus, fear of raw
protein foods, and fear/hatred of cooked foods and those who consume them.  A
diet that is high in processed/over-cooked food might eventually harm your body,
but a raw foods diet motivated by negativity will poison your mind and soul.

8) Raw foodism is usually concerned only with the body. We often ignore the mind
and spirit, with the result that our attitude towards food is often very
unhealthy. Eating may become an exercise in perfectionism, with low self-
image because we backslide and eat "immoral" foods. This type of behavior and
attitude are what motivate eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia), and we should
avoid such attitudes/behavior.