Doug,
	I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about the
importance of eating foods not "grown on demineralized soils," in other
words truly organically grown foods.  I did not appreciate the importance
of high quality produce enough when I started the raw food program 4
years ago.  I reached a peak of detox after 6 months or so, then slowly
went into decline until I started eating primarily organic food in June,
1995.  Not only are commercial foods nutrient-poor, they are full of
toxic chemicals;  they're not fresh, either, being trucked 100's or
1000's of miles to your grocery store; and finally, they are usually
inferior hybrids (but so is some organic food too).  A quadruple whammy.
	The other biggest mistake I made and nearly everyone makes is to
assume that just because you are eating pure foods, you can eat as much
as you want of them without getting sick.  Or that your body cannot get
toxemic for any of a number of other reasons having nothing to do with
food.  I took a long fast during Feb/Mar of this year, and I intend to
make a 2-3 wk fast a yearly event in my life, no matter how good I think
my diet is.
	And since joining the crsociety list (thanks for introducing it
to me, Doug), I've been consciously trying to eat less, even though the
discussions there of late have had very little to do with CR (I've been
introducing them to the concept of raw foods, or rather adding my 2 cents
to what Doug has been trying to tell them for months now).  But just
thinking of all those cooked food eaters over there struggling to control
their appetites makes me realize I'm pretty wimpy if I can't do some of
that too on a much better diet.  So I go to bed "hungry" more often now,
and I have more energy than ever.  (And my weight has dropped from 110 to
105, but I'm not worried.)  Last night was probably quite anomalous, but
to give you some idea:  I went to bed at 3:30 am after dealing with all
the e-mail you and crsociety generate, plus a little personal e-mail, and
darned if I didn't wake up this morning at 5:45 am, no alarm clock,
raring to go.  I got up, bathed, got dressed, took out the garbage to the
curb for pickup, did 2 loads of laundry, read the newspaper, and it
wasn't even 9 am yet!  Here it is almost 10 pm, and I'm still chugging
along.  Now I know 2 hrs sleep is not going to be my norm, but this
incident never would have happened if I hadn't been CR'ing myself.  I ate
one meal today.  I didn't count the calories (too much bother), but I'm a
little "hungry" right now, so I guess I didn't overdo.  I'm off to
Chicago for a few days (spectating, not playing in, a major chess
tournament there), so I'll be up at about 5am, even if the alarm has to
awaken me.

The more food you eat, the sooner you die seems to be a pretty good
equation.

So long for awhile.

			Bob Avery ([log in to unmask])