Hi Roberta, I can't see that there would be mineral or vitamin deficiencies as long as one is omnivorous as possible on raw diets. If you are concerned with minerals in your diet, just eat some sea vegetables every day. They are rich with minerals, and can assist the body in detoxifying. I have heard a lot about sea vegetables. Is this sea weed? Or are there other sea vege's? What about availability outside the U.S.? I know that I can easily get sea weed but often it is difficult to eat without preparation. And as stated in my last post, the EFAs which humans must have are available in fat fish, and in vegetarian sources from raw nuts and seeds. I will look into this. I certainly eat enough nuts, but have never heard of nuts being an omega 3 supply. That is not to say that they are not - just we did not get taught that as a supply in Nutrition. Udo Erasmus wrote a bookabout this that I read a couple of times, and as far as I know not much real research has been done about this stuff, on EFAs, what kind we need and how much. What is the title of Mr. Erasmus' book? Easily available? Based on research? Eating excessive proportions of carbs creates all kinds of health problems, and one must have nutritious fats and proteins to avoid becoming unwell. Yes this is what I have read a bit browsing the net. But the problem is that it is against basic physiology. Short term energy supply is in the form of glycogen, easily derived from starch and simple sugar. Glycogen can be synthesised from fat but it is not a simple task and involves a complex (and relatively slow) metabolic pathway. Some research states that fat is as good an energy supply as carbohydrate and that carbohydrate depleted individuals (as a result of a high fat diet) perform as well as high carbohydrate individuals (see Lambert et al (1994) European Journal of Applied Physiology; 69:287-93), but the research is far from convincing, and how does it relate to Raw food diet. (vegetarian) What I would like to see is a full vitamin and mineral profile, resting RER as well as submaximal exercise and maximal exercise RER (RER = respiratory exchange ratio - basically a measure of what the body is using for energy) after say, 3 months of a raw vegan diet. Eating lots of greens, some sweet fruit, avocados nuts and seeds. Also a blood profile and look at the health of red blood cells. Most important a test of cognitive abilities at day 1, 3 months, the follow ups at 6 months and 12 months to test for demyelination or other neural problems. Additionally the low carbohydrate diet could contribute to the excessive weight loss and appearance of "skinniness" of raw foodists. The above mentioned Lambert study found that muscle glycogen dropped more that 50%. This is significant because much of the muscle bulk that is visible is due to water retention and bloating caused by the storage of Glycogen in the muscles for energy. I have visited an area of the world where excessive fat intake is the norm. In the desert of Rajasthan - India, the dietary staple is Mustard Oil, wheat cakes and beans. Doctors there report that most villagers have severe liver hypertrophy problems related to the high saturated fat intake (from the mustard oil). This is just written off the top of my head, I am certain that I could find all sorts of problems with a high fat, or high carbohydrate or high protein diet if I spent some time. Again my problem is that nobody seems to know what is right and until somebody actually investigates the problem we will only be speculating. >without fish. Do you eat eggs? NO I avoid eggs but don't miss them, they are easier to replace than dairy. The problem with this (and I know of a woman who had this problem) is eating lots of eggs and cheeses can make you have high cholesterol and give you a heart condition. >My concern is that I intuitively feel that eating raw (100%) has many many benefits. >I do too - I have a strong inclination to eat raw foods also, and because >it is not always easy to get fresh raw beef and fresh raw fish, which are >my favorite raw foods, I often will have some cooked flesh food, while >otherwise trying to have all or mostly raw. But my non-flesh raw foods >includes vegetables, sea vegetables, fresh fruit, raw nuts/seeds, fresh >vegetable or fruit juices, honey. I know for a fact that it boosts my >immunity =96 I work in a cubicle type office and all my coworkers might be >ill with the seasonal cold or flu and I don=92t get ill like they do. Yes I also don't get sick, or don't get flues etc. But I want to be able to go completely raw so that I am not just "not sick" but WELL!! I would also like to bring up raw kids, but not until I know it is safe. What do you say - "oh sorry Johnny, you have weak bones, your mother and I thought we would experiment with your diet. You don't mind getting around in a wheelchair do you?" There is a university somewhere in the states called Cornell (???) that has people interested in Raw foods. Does anybody know about this or what they are doing? Regards matt >regards >Roberta