>From: Robert W. Avery <[log in to unmask]> >Also, as you've probably read fromShelton and others, there are digestive >metabolic adjustments to be made when eating new foods. This has been fully borne out by more recent work. I've read animal & human studies using various sugars as the primary calorie source, and this is indeed what takes place: it takes the body a little while to catch up with new foods & manufacture the specific substances it needs to properly digest & metabolize them. >If I've gone for awhile not eating nuts, they aremore likely to raise my > pulse rate and/or temp than after I've been used >to eating them regularly. This is very interesting & would suggest to me that the temp. rise is not so much from increased metabolism as it is from an immune response to the high protein levels they contain. This is just a hunch. >Are you aware of Carrington's and Densmore's >arguments that the foods to which humans are best adapted are > fruits and nuts only? I can't buy into a totally fruitarian diet, but think that a largely fruitarian one may well be correct. You have to realize that I filter everything through a filter which relates to what specific foods might do to lifespan. I can't figure out precisely what such a diet should be, but I can tell you that there is no doubt that protein especially should be restricted, as should fat (as percentages of total calories). The relative alkalinity of foods is something which needs to be considered, & I think vegetables may have a lot to offer in this regard. The various sugars in foods also needs to be considered, but I would not want to flat out state which sugar should predominate. A common misconception is that fruits contain only fructose, but actually it is sometimes in the minority (or not even present), depending upon the fruit. Gorillas eat about 2/3rds vegetables, 1/3rd fruits, while in chimps the percentages are reversed (& chimps have a bad habit of eating meat). I'm skeptical of any claims that straight fruitarianism is the correct course, & I'm also skeptical about whether any one diet is best for every human. I think body temp. is about the best way to figure this out for yourself, and I like Robert's observations about how nuts raise his. > Dr. Edward Howell's theories too. Have you read any of him? No. Can you go into his ideas and/or suggest titles? --Doug Schwartz [log in to unmask]