>Kirk, Welcome to the list. I am Peter and live in Santa Monica, CA. A >vegetarian for many years, I have been on a raw, vegan diet since last >Summer. I will be helping to moderate this list, which is going through >some restructuring and soon will be back to normal. I found your post >very interesting and have a few questions for you. I wasn't around for the "normal" list so am quite curious to see what goes on.In answering your questions, I will be honest, but know full well that animal foods are anthema to most vegans. Please know that I have no intention of grossing anyone out or convincing anyone of the value of animal foods. Nevertheless, my experience is my experience...(subscribers, don't bother reading further if you are "against" animal foods) >Q: Do you feel any >improvement in your health, when you are eating instinctively rather >than just eating 'regular' raw foods? Everything one hears about eating a raw diet (feel lighter, more body integrity, more energy, etc.) versus a cooked diet, has been true for me when I eat foods singly (instinctively). Both my wife and I "go round in circles" where we mix and mix more, an pretty soon we're having salads every night and they get less and less atractive so we make them more complicated (culminating in the addition of onions, dulse, etc. to liven the salad up), until we go back to simple insticto meals and feel much purer. For me mixing is addicting to a degree. The puzzler is why/how I end up drifting from instincto to salads? Hope to get to the bottom of this after a time. But, in answer to your question, yes, very definately a noticable improvement in the way I feel when not mixing. I also think that besides muddying the metabolism to a degree, mixing prevents deeper detoxing. Thus while eating instincto I feel better, I am also more likely to detox (pretty minor after all these years but clearly detox). >Q: How soon after beginning to >eat instinctively, did you start eating meat? >Q: Are you, in your >opinion, any healthier from eating it? Q: Did you begin to crave it, or >did you start eating it, because you thought it might be good for you? Three weeks or so. I started with NO INTENTION of eating raw meat or seafood, but experienced such a calm after a few weeks raw vegan that I simply became curious as to the taste of animal foods. We went to a sushi bar and ordered sashimi, most of which was denatured, but my first taste of tuna, though very mildy flavored when fresh, was something. I felt metabolic dominoes falling down throughout my organism, VERY pleasantly so. Soon, as I did with fruits veggies honies and nuts, I experimented with any instincto-quality animal foods could find. It is very hard to find good meat in the states, but Coleman beef and lamb provided great pleasure. Oysters, many fillets of ocean fish, (esp. atlantic mackeral!!!), and walleye roe all provided VERY pleasurable meals over time. I know its almost impossible to beleive that it isn't totally repulsive to eat these things (and beleive me I was a tad nervous upon the venture) but when lamb or mackeral simply melts away in a fatty/sweet glory only hinted at by, say fried bacon in the cooked arena, you immedeately lose any inhibition. You could care es about all the fears you had only a moment before the mouthful. Only when the taste change comes are you reminded of how you thought it would taste. The taste changes are so clear and the pleasure so high (if you need the food) that you know at once as an organism-as-whole that there is nothing wrong with the food. You are in nature's hands, even with bone marrow and organ meat. I'm not sure one can crave raw meat/seafood until one's body has experienced it. I saw, and see, not reason for a philosophical distinction btwn animal and plant foods. Indeed, I'm not sure I have any philosophical concerns about anything anymore. Philosophy is like white noise static. I was curious. Thats how I got over the hump of animal foods. >Q: When you periodically eat more meat or fish like in Peru, is that >because there is nothing better available to you, or do you find that >need more of it under certain conditions and if so, what are they? Its basically a supply issue. Given a source of good meat/seafood we will eat quite a bit (40% of calories). Even in Thailand, we would've ate meat/seafood had it been available. "Nothing better available" means different things to different people. To me it it a matter of flavor. Better flavor is better (as long as its raw of course). So if sea urchin roe is collectable and tastes good, I eat my fill. Same with cherry tomatos, cherimoyas, etc. >Q: How much of your meat do you catch or kill yourself? Very little. We had a raw-fed pig raised for us in Peru by a friend and I learned how to slaughter by participating in it. I hope to one day raise, gather, fish and hunt for most all of my food, but it isn't in the cards right now. Hunting holds great attraction for me. Indeed, when I see wildebeast on a science documentary I have a two-fold reaction: I am awed by its absolute beauty and I want to kill/eat it. In a way, its the same as with a ripe melon: I want the beauty to be a part of me. Its really not a two-fold reaction but one reaction, deeply-seated. >Q: Do you ever >eat your meat fermented, and if so how advanced is it? Fermented? The word puzzles me in relation to meat. Good meat/fish will age pleasurably. In front of a fan the outside of a fish fillet or chunk (or jerky-like strip) of meat will dry to a crust; the inside will soften and increase in flavor as the result of enzymes in much the same way a banana ripens (diff enzymes of course). If meat/fish is tasting good, it tastes better aged. If it is not tasting good, it tastes worse aged. More pronounced taste change too. Usually, the meat'fish will be eaten with in a few days at room temperature. You can slow the process down by hanging in a fridge but we usually don't bother unless we have a big supply. >Q: Over a year >what percentage of your calories are from animal origin? A guess: 20% over all the years. Some years as high as 40%. Depends on SUPPLY. >Q: Do you have >any qualms about eating meat, ethically or ecologically? Ethically: none. Ecologically: heaps. Note that I am not about to eat commercial meat. You and me both don't eat factory farmed animals. Neither would I eat endangered wild animals. Seafoods are interesting. The tastiest fish IMO are mackeral, herring, etc. which are often used to make industrial products including fish meal fertilizers and chicken feed. Getting them fresh is TOUGH. Salmon, swordfish, yellowtail, are irresistable to us if available, but must be wild, not farmed. Copper river King salmon in June is among the finest foods on the planet. Salmon does give me qualms, yes. And so does using electricity to clean my clothes. >Q: If you do >not eat insects, is it because you do not crave them, or do you believe >that it is your psychological conditioning that is preventing you from >eating them? Many insects smell very unattractive. I am always curious to taste any insects found on fruits and veggies, though they usually have little flavor. We enjoy bee larvae IMMENSELY. Tastes like waffles(homeycomb) with butter(larvae) and syrup(honey). I have tasted some grasshoppers in France, where they mess with the diet and produce different flavors. Some people rave about them. But I only eat bee larvae on a regular basis (a dozen times a year). I assume you asked the question because you assumed I would be in a quandry about the inconsistancy of eating meat but not insects. I would pose this tongue-in-cheek reasoning to you: Early tree-dwelling primates evolved on a primarily insectivore diet. In theory, insects should taste better than fruit since our predecesors have been eating them longer. Let's say that the highest form of diet isn't fruitarian but insectarian. Fruit came into the picture too late for it to be a natural food for humans. Shame, and gross, on the people who eat fruit. Now this is nonsense, but if you substitute fruit for insects and animal foods for fruit, you get the natural hygiene argumaent for vegetarianism. Well, Peter, I answered you staight and only hope that you weren't simply goading me with your questions, but that you were sincerely cruious. Cheers, Kirt