>It seems to me that many are entering the meat/veggie and/or
>cooked/raw debate with a view toward finding evidence to support
>their pre-conceived notions or proclivities.  I know I do.  Schmid
>did the same, & my sense of his ideas is close-but-no-cigar.  He
>knocks fasting, does not have a clue about the value of fruits (what
>we are best adapted to eat) & insists on a high-protein diet,
>something which will age you a lot quicker & give you much higher
>odds of contracting cancer than a low protein one.

The amount of protein that Schmid advocates is nowhere near that of the
original eskimo diet which by the way produced no cancer. Schmid's
regime is an almost all-raw, moderate protein & calorie diet and I
would like to see the evidence that would suggest that such a plan will
lead to a shortened life-span.

>On page 61: "While many claim
>Vilcabambans live so long because they consume little food of animal
>origin, I believe that the evidence indicates they live so long in
>spite of it.  What they do consume [of animal foods] is of the
>highest quality; they would simply be better off with more."  This
>is called deductive logic, first establishing a thesis and then
>going out looking for the data to support it.  This is the worst
>sort of science, which operates best when it uses inductive logic:
>first assembling the facts, & then forming a thesis which explains
>all the facts.  In the quote above Schmid ignores evidence which
>does not fit his pre-conceived thesis.

The facts are that the Vilcabambans have a lot of dental problems and
high rates of infant mortality & illness, whereas the Georgians who
have a higher percentage of animal foods in their diet do not run into
to these problems. This does seem to indicate that Scmid is on to
something or do you have an explaination that fits better?

>There are certain things which just can not be bred out of a
>species' metabolic needs, no matter how many generations we are
>talking about.

Interesting. Can you mention some that might have relevans to eating
food raw?  Does the fact that many people are able to maintain a very
high state of health on a mostly cooked diet not indicate that we have
adapted at least somewhat to a cooked foods diet?

>Let's not forget that all the supposedly magical stuff in meats
>originally came from plants which the animals we are eating ingested.

Tell that to a tiger. ;-) In theory it sounds compelling but what
really counts is what works. Do not forget that the raw vegan diet is
for most people just not cutting the mustard.

>it after the end of the month when the CR list's Nov. messages are
>archived to the WWW.  [this assumes that the CR members will not all
>try to kill each other prior to Dec. 1]

PLease do!

Best, Peter
nourish.IX.NETCOM.COM