Wes:

> > If I had to eat 6000 calories of raw food a day, I would feel somewhat
> > full and/or have a sugar overload.
>
> Not necessarily... The raw foods I mentioned are all high calorie. No
> need to over-fill yourself. Just one average size avocado contains about
> 300 calories. The sugars can be used in moderation or not used at all
> (fruit).

Why don't you do it yourself for a week and report to the list? I
would be interested on a typical day's menu. Would it be 20 avocados?
Or 10 avocados, 300 grams nuts, 7 sweet potatoes?? My intestines are
clogged, only by the thought of that!

> My thought is that gluten is only harmful when cooked...

Not true. I know (in person) raw fooders who have allergic reactions
to sprouted grains. Eating raw might help, because possibly you eat
less wheat and/or sprouting reduces the gluten content, but still some
people can't tolerate it.

> And you need to ask yourself whether or not it's worth it to eat cooked
> starches, which have been shown to be damaging to blood sugar,
> fattening, and colon-clogging, etc.. Cooked starch is just filler, is it
> not? What nutritional value does it have? The structure of starch is
> completely altered by cooking. It's destructured. It's broken down, and
> loses its stabilizing effect on blood sugar, as opposed to raw starch.
> And of course many nutrients are damaged by cooking it.

My opinion is:
 -If you can eat (digest) raw starch, do it.
 -If you can't eat raw starch, and have blood sugar problems, eat
meat. Preferably raw, or rare if you don't like the idea of eating raw
meat.
 -If you can't eat raw starch, and you don't want to eat meat, then
some lightly cooked starch might help to reduce your fruit intake.

Nutritional value of cooked starch:
 -USUALLY more digestible than raw starch (i.e. for MOST people).
 -starch: structure altered by cooking, of course, but that's also
what makes it more digestible ("gelatinization of starch").
 -good source of energy (calories)
 -minerals: not destroyed by cooking. Some dissolve in water, so use
preferably steaming instead of boiling.
 -vitamins: some are not heat-labile. Others are, so cook the less
possible (e.g. a few minutes): expect a loss of about 10% on average.

> Yes, but we don't have to have food in order to socialize...

Technically, we don't HAVE to, but in practice, that's what people do:
they socialize mostly at lunch (or dinner).

> Or you can eat raw foods at the restaurant.

Last week, I went to the Japanese restaurant, so indeed I had a raw
(or almost raw) meal. Otherwise, I prefer to order cooked meal, rather
than starve and only have a salad. Also, I think that *sharing* food
is a way to create social/emotional links.


--Jean-Louis Tu <[log in to unmask]>