Deborah,

thanks a lot for sharing with us your experience, doubts, sufferings,
intimate struggles. Your letters are so full of emotions, I can hardly
tell in a language that is foreign for me how much I was moved and
impressed by reading them, even though I do not know Zephyr.

Anyway, the details you supplied to us are more than enough to start
some reflections about instincto theory, allopathic medicine, meat
eating and such.

I was amazed at how many M.D., O.M.D., blood tests and so on it took
before the correct diagnosis was finally made. I guess that all of us
RAF-eaters should be aware of the risks, and test for various
parasites in case he were in trouble. It is very important not to shun
out allopathic medicine when life is threatened, and not to state
religiously that nature will always be more efficient than humans,
that we shouldn't break the laws of nature, etc... The medical
treatment of trichinosis is efficient for relieving pain and getting
rid of the parasite as long as it is not encysted, but if we wait
until the last minute because we stubbornly want to give a chance to
our immune system, the consequences will have to be paid.

I don't think Zephyr's unfortunate experience should deter any
instincto from eating meat or stir an excessive fear of
parasites. Meat is not the only food that is contaminated by
parasites, and instinctive quality animals do not harbor
trichinella. Should we stop drinking water because in some parts of
the world, water is contaminated by amoebas? Stop bathing in European
lakes because in some parts of Africa, water is contaminated with
Schistosoma? Never go to tropical areas out of fear of new strains of
malaria? I don't personally think so, as long as we are aware of the
potential dangers, do not eat wild mammals to often if any, and do not
refuse allopathic treatments.

Of course, the fact that many SADders are infested without serious
symptoms, and that a long-time instincto like Zephyr has a low
immunity (and cholesterol problems, and so on) may be a serious
argument against excessive meat eating. Anyway, frugality is perhaps
as important as eating raw, and counting flesh in pounds instead of
ounces sounds a bit like overeating to me. Our cousins chimps eat only
very little meat (1% of their diet+5% insects), and maybe our instinct
is not adapted to handling such heavy quantities. Maybe meat is very
valuable to chimps because it is scarce (like sugar?)

As for instincto theory (and Natural Hygiene and many other dogmas), I
have never believed that Nature was so harmonious, that all diseases
appeared because we had broken the Laws of Nature and that everything
that is artificial should be treated as poison. It doesn't mean that
such an extremist point of view is not interesting or doesn't have
some underlying truth. But just as the traditional medicine's point of
view, it may be excessively dogmatic and extreme.

Instincto "theory" has at least the merit to conciliate scientific
results with naturist philosophy by putting forward evolutionary
arguments, but I think it is a double-edged sword, since:

1)The very fact that natural *selection* occurs means that a
sufficient number of deaths have to eliminate the less adapted;

2)Of course, humans cannot be compared with fishes that lay thousands
of eggs, or even with rats or rabbits. Many wild animals get
infectious diseases, parasites and so on, but the question would be:
is the human species privileged? Could humans have no predators,
harmful parasites, deadly viruses? It seems to me that it is not the
case as proved (?) by the following simple argument: as a woman who
doesn't use contraception has -say- at least 6 children in her life
(humans are probably *more* fertile than chimpanzees, since female
chimps are sexually receptive only very occasionally), roughly two
thirds of humans under natural conditions would die before reaching
adulthood.

3)Burger seems to believe that the normal lifespan of humans is 969
years, but evidence shows that the average lifespan during the
Paleolithic was 35, that no tribe in the world has a high % of
centenarians (BTW, the age of Vilcabambans is often largely
overrated), and that trepanations were performed during prehistory
(which proves humans needed surgical operations).

Of course, a few arguments for instincto theory remain:
1) As we were intoxicated in our mother's wombs, and then during many
years of our life, only the third generation can be considered as
healthy.
2) The food we have is more or less denatured by artificial selection,
chemical treatments, pollution of the environment by various metals
and remanent pesticides.
3) Food is not the whole thing, our life is largely unnatural by many
other aspects.
4) Wild animals have an extreme variety of plants, medicinal herbs,
etc... at their disposal.

I have never believed the hygienist arguments and the anti-vaccine
advocates, but I do think that with a proper nutrition + better
sanitary conditions + exercising + favorable psychological
environment, 95% of all diseases, if not more, could be avoided. I
don't need promises of Perfect Health to keep faith in the efficiency
of instincto-nutrition. Nutritional practices are not religions; for
me, nutrition is one among other health practices, even if it is one
among the most important. I don't care about abstract arguments relying
upon success of Mr. X or Mrs. Y to prove or disprove the validity of
the general theory; most important is my inner feeling, how instincto
efects my own body, etc...

I guess that stubbornness, pooh-pooh-ing mainstream medicine only
reveals a fear of losing one's self-pride, many years of beliefs that
humans are perfect but all the diseases, wars and frustrations are due
to society, cooked food or whatever. Conversely, I know many people
who believe in Progress, Reason and so on.

When will we grow up, and realize that Nature is not perfect, that it
is a perpetual search of compromise, and that it doesn't care for good
or evil? That humans are not fallen angels, that agressivity,
diseases, death, laziness are natural?

Best regards, and warm (but not overheated) and raw greetings to
everyone,

Jean-Louis.