Dear Julia/David (whatever your name is), My feeling is that your body needs as much sleep as it wants (no alarm clock), if you are looking for optimal health and longevity. But if you have a lot to accomplish with limited time, then you can always rob Peter to pay Paul (shorten your life a little at the far end to accomplish some goal today) by sleeping 4-5 hrs., or whatever your body requires for normal functioning. It's your choice. There ain't no free lunch. That being said, there are ways to conserve energy: (a) eating less and lighter, so your body has less digestive work to do and can spend the freed-up energy on other things, (b) getting the toxins out of your external environment as much as possible so your body has less work to do defending itself, (c) exercising regularly to keep the organs and muscled toned, but not so much that the exercise itself wears you out, (d) cleansing your internal environment by proper eating and by fasting, which also makes the body a more efficient machine, (e) practicing relaxation techniques like yoga, meditation, Feldenkrais, all that kind of stuff. I frequently sleep only 4-5 hrs at night (but other days 7-8 hrs, averaging about 6), waking without alarm clock, but I also realize that a slower-paced life would perhaps be wiser for the long run. The basic idea is that the human body is an amazingly flexible piece of machinery that you can work hard and long at the risk of burnout in order to accomplish great things, coddle at the risk of not getting any of your life goals achieved, or use in some balance-of-opposing-forces way that you find acceptable. If you are narcoleptic, I would say that your body is trying to signal you very strongly that it wants you to take time out and slow down. Ever try to read a book when you are falling asleep? It takes up to 10x as long, and you absorb half as much as when you are awake and alert. So trying to function normally in that state is really counterproductive, isn't it? I would recommend sleeping as much as you possibly can until the narcolepsy resolves itself; better yet, put your life on hold for a few weeks and do a complete fast, staying in bed as much as possible sleeping, or eyes closed meditating when not sleeping. I did that in Feb/Mar, and after a couple weeks recovering from the fast, found my body working at much greater efficiency ever since. Fasting really pays for itself. You can accomplish in a few weeks what might take years on raw foods alone. I hope to find time for another one before spring is out next year. Too much sugar, whether fruit sugar or refined sugar, is like whipping a horse. It works for awhile, but eventually the horse breaks down. Modern fruits are higher in sugar than the fruits our ancestors ate, and they put a lot of stress on the pancreas and adrenals. I thought I was immune to this problem when I switched to a raw diet, but I was wrong. The process is slow and invidious, creeping up on you so gradually you don't realize what's happening. It took more than a year, but eventually I found my digestion of high protein foods getting poor (one of the symptoms of sugar overload), B-12 levels getting depleted (another), and sweet cravings increasing to the point where I would sometimes eat 2-3 bunches of bananas at a meal. The fast, followed by close watching of my fruit intake thereafter, has alleviated but not fully solved my digestive problems. Hopefully the next fast will do it. Dear Jeff, No personal experience, but from what I've read, the best foods to feed a raw baby is whatever it wants (so long as it's a natural raw food), whenever it wants it, no more and no less. What I mean is, babies still have their native instincts intact. We need to stop being the parent experts and let baby's instincts be the expert. How to do that? Whenever you feel like introducing baby to non-milk (even if it is still nursing), put a piece of fruit or veggie under its nose for a whiff. If it opens its mouth, it wants it. Puree it and put some in. When and if it starts dribbling the food out, as babies are wont to do, it's had enough, even if it's only had one mouthful. Don't force the food back in. If baby is still hungry (but not for that food), try other foods the same way, or offer it the breast. In other words, let baby tell you what it wants, not vice versa. Unfortunately, my favorite book on this subject is darn near impossible to get in English; it's "Instinctotherapie: Manger Vrai" by Guy-Claude Berger in French. I did find a Web site recently that has an underground translation of it posted. If your favorite search engine can't find it, let me know and I'll see what I can do to locate it for you. Burger has 6 kids, and the last 3 were raised this way --- very healthy kids without the usual runny noses and such and no foul-smelling diapers. Dear Ric, You mean bees that are not fed sugar syrup don't get sick? I thought they are also over stressed by all the pesticides and other environmental toxins we have out there these days. Were you able to raise your bees without those bee strips around their hives? I recently read that residues of that stuff gets into the honey too. Sounds like you know your coconuts! I've never had a "green" one, and eat them only seldom, but what you say sounds right. I know a raw fooder who eats lots of coconut, and her resting pulse rate is up in the 90's! Doesn't sound too healthy to me. How come we Northerners can't get the good coconuts? Do they ripen too fast as they are shipped north, or what? You sound like a neat guy, Ric! Where do you live? (All over the place, it sounds like!) I never had kids, but the home schooling routine is what I'd have in mind too, if I had any. How did you go about it, and how on earth did you get them into college at those ages (especially 9!)? Consider joining Ward Nicholson's bi-monthly snail-mail group "The Natural Hygiene Many-To-Many." You'd fit right in. It's just like this forum, only printed. Some are read-only participants, others like me jump right in there and spill ink all over the place (though we each have an 8-p limit per bimonthly issue). He also publishes interesting articles and clippings that we send in on health topics.There's a lot of interesting people in the group: some all raw, some not, some struggling neophytes, some seasoned veterans like yourself. I also like having the time to think about issues in depth instead of just spouting off the top of my head, as here. The turnover's not as great as here, either. You feel as though you really get to know the other people. A good support, friendship group. Anyone interested in a "natural" diet, however you define it, is welcome to join. If you send him $5 (payable to Ward, not the publication) at 232 S. Belmont, Wichita KS 67218 [I did this from memory, Ward], he'll send you off a sample copy. Expect about 160-180 pages per issue. Dear Shawn, I used to need 7-8 hours sleep a night before going all raw. Now after nearly 4 years, 5-6 hours is enough. So this may eventually happen to you too as your toxins get cleared out. Like you, I used to eat all kinds of fruit with no problem, but got into trouble after the first 1-2 years. Read what I said to Julia/Dave above. I know another guy who runs marathons, gets all sorts of exercise, and has been on a raw diet for 20 years. He thought he was immune to blood sugar problems too, but he crashed and burned after 10 (!) years of eating 2 meals/day, 1 fruit and one veggie/nuts/other! How now swears by the Glycemic Index scale and won't eat anything (even veggie) with a GI over 50. Don't say you weren't warned!