>Tom:
>I agree with your observation. Some of the "100% raw NOW" people seem
>to have very serious mental problems - hostile zealotry, full-blown eating
>disorders, lunacy, etc. (This list has seen examples of hostile zealotry.)
>Some other "100% raw" people display symptoms of less serious mental
>impairments: mental spaciness, emotional fragility (just challenge their
>diet you will see this very quickly), sugar addiction, eating disorder behavior
>(binge eating, cheating, lying about eating, obsession with food and its
>"purity"), adherence to crackpot conspiracy/environmental schemes, emotional
>immaturity, and so on.

Hi Tom,
Very interesting issue raised. I was raised with the SAD. In college I
developed anorexia, at 26 bulimia, and in my 30's bulimarexic the mixture
of the two, and constipation since abusive toilet training in year one. In
my late 20's I began to clean up my act dietarily to help myself and felt
most aligned with the vegan living food sans animal products. I'm now 53
yrs and I'm about 60-90% raw daily and 95% vegan. I have healed the eating
disorders physically, no more behaviours and now I'm working on healing the
emotional and mental planes, part of which is obsessive-compulsive,
paranoid (mildly), slight depression which eating disorders mask. I would
say I have healed through the diet however not 100% anything, nor
perfection, the downfall of the eating disordered.
I feel culturally it is running against the grain to be raw and vegan
however anyone who has adopted that diet is in the vanguard of cultural
change. I have had a big influence on individuals in our local hiking club
- diets of others have improved. My saving grace is that I am humorous and
fun-loving and strong so can hike and backpack with the best of them.
However, on the backpacks more of my food is cooked. Also bagged a BFA in
Dance in 1994 and that won a lot of points with people. When I socialize I
sometimes drink wine and am known to even have a magaritta on occasion
Cinco de Mayo! So you can see I mix a little.
I feel I get too uptight when I'm clean all the time and the divergences
take the edge off.
When I heal more mentally and emotionally I am curious if my diet will
become better...and of course, there are more of us out there all the time.
I also teach living food and vegan classes and the whole premise is
gourmet, getting the sauces and textures that are delicious because this is
not a deprivation trip. It's one of life and abundance and relation with
nature. It's gotta be great!
These diets probably bring out all our neuroses very quickly because they
are such a purification of the nervous and other systems. It flushes out
the madness, so to speak. I do research on intestinal health and so much of
the research indicates that unexpressed emotions become stagnant in the
tissues (read much more so in the abdominal area) and cleansing, dietary
improvement,  rigorous exercise, steam and sauna, releases the pegged
neurohormones that are locked in the tissue. Que Pasa? Yes, a lot can
happen emotionally/mentally with the diet.
So there you have it.
Kind Regards,
Sheila

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Always interested in Intestinal Health and Colon Hydrotherapy issues.
http://www.sheilas.com