the following is a copy of an article recently published in the SF-LiFE newsletter; it is a very positive review of the excellent newsletter "Health & Beyond", put out by Chet Day. It highlights some of the interesting and provocative things from "Health & Beyond". I hope you find the material interesting. A second article will from the SF-LiFE newsletter will be released to raw-food soon, as well. Tom Billings [log in to unmask] *****ATTACHMENT: SF-LiFE NEWSLETTER ARTICLE***** New in the SF-LiFE Library: Chet Day's "Health & Beyond" Newsletter SF-LiFE has subscribed to the newsletter "Health & Beyond" (H&B), which is put out by Chet Day. We also purchased a book that Chet publishes. Before saying what H&B is, it is appropriate to say what it is not. H&B is not a simple repackaging/remarketing of what is often referred to as the Natural Hygiene "party line", i.e. the writings of Shelton, Fry, or other noted hygienists. Instead, H&B is true to the original spirit of the famous Herbert Shelton quote, "Let us have the truth, though the heavens fall.". What H&B does is to provide in-depth examination and current research on the assumptions and beliefs of modern natural hygiene. The result is a newsletter that often directly challenges the established beliefs of natural hygiene; the newsletter is also informative, thought provoking, and sometimes controversial. In my opinion, H&B, along with M2M and the e-mail list veg-raw, are the best things to happen to natural hygiene in years, because the re-examination of old beliefs, in the light of new information, is precisely what is necessary to keep a movement alive. With that introduction, notes of interest on recent issues (plus some back issues purchased by/donated to SF-LiFE), are as follows. October 1996 and December 1996. Parts 1 & 2 of a 3-part interview with Ward Nicholson, the founder of the M2M publication, on the topic of primate diets and our prehistoric diet. Ward has done some superb, thoroughly documented research in this area. He addresses questions regarding a number of assumptions made by fruitarianism and natural hygiene. A paraphrased summary: Q: Is the diet of primates very similar to the diet of human fruitarians? A: No, most primates eat some raw animal flesh, with consumption of social insects (termites, ants, bee brood) being common, also bird eggs. Animal foods comprise 5-10% of modern chimp diets - wild primates are neither fruitarians nor vegans. Also, some primates, such as mountain gorillas, eat far more leaves than fruit - they are folivores, not frugivores. Q: Was the diet of our prehistoric ancestors fruitarian? A: No, the paleontological record is very clear on this. Our ancestors were omnivores who consumed both plant and animal foods. Q: Are there reasons to believe that humans have evolved genetically to adapt to a diet that includes some cooked food? A: Yes; for a lengthy, technical explanation, see the December newsletter. On other topics, Ward also discusses that chimps drink water, and practice a crude type of juicing. (Side remark: not mentioned in H&B, but chimps have been observed using herbs for purely medicinal purposes!) Here we see that H&B can be very controversial, as Ward's research has debunked a number of assumptions that some raw fooders believe in strongly. These issues are highly recommended - they will certainly stimulate your thinking! March 1995. Part 2 of an interview with the well-known hygienist, Dr. Ralph Cinque. If you think that only living fooders (like Brian Clement) notice the high sugar levels of modern fruits **, listen to Dr. Cinque: "Nobody knows for sure what ancient fruits consisted of, but there is reason to think they were lower in sugar and higher in fiber than modern cultivated fruits...There is no place in the world today where humans live exclusively on fruit, and there is no reason to think it was ever so in a previous time." Dr. Cinque answers questions on a wide range of topics, including fasting, juice diet, fat in the diet, etc. ** Side remark concerning modern fruit (not from H&B): the high sugar levels of modern fruit generally are the result of one or more of the following: years of varietal selection, artificial hybridization, vegetative (grafting, non-seed) propagation, and possibly even genetic engineering. Exposing seed to (nuclear) radiation is sometimes used to induce DNA mutations, and develop new varieties (a popular approach back in the 50's and 60's). This suggests that modern fruit is not as natural as some claim. January 1996. Kombucha: a fermented tea made by growing a fungus in a culture of sugar and (regular) black tea. Chet gives detailed information on growing the fungus, alternative cultures that use honey and/or ginger to reduce the sugar/tea required, and discusses the effect the kombucha tea has on his meditation practice. Kombucha tea is a grow-at-home, low-cost B-vitamin source that is an attractive alternative to high priced algae. Very interesting! November 1995. Algae. Speaking of high priced algae, Chet has also done an issue on Klamath Lake algae. SF-LiFE members will recognize the first section of this issue - it is the "Comments on Blue-Green Algae (Supplements) and Other Cyanobacteria" information sheet that I wrote and distributed first at SF-LiFE meetings, then later released to the Internet, using my previous work e-mail account: [log in to unmask] (I didn't choose the account name). The remainder of the issue is reports from users, including Chet, who use or have tried it. Some people found it had an effect, some did not. Chet provides cost and nutrient comparisons - algae versus dulse, collards, and oranges; the comparison shows that algae is not a cost effective source of nutrients. Books. Chet publishes a number of books, one of which is in the library. I have put discussion of it last, as the book reviews animal experimentation. Readers offended by such discussion should skip the rest of this article. The book in question is "Discovery of the Ultimate Diet: Testing Nutritional Theories on Mice", Volume 2, by Dr. Stanley S. Bass. As you can tell from the title, Dr. Bass tested a wide range of diets on mice, including many raw food diets. Some remarks on a few of the diets are as follows; numbers refer to the diet number assigned by Dr. Bass in the book. 3, 3a - Fruitarian. Fruit is the "highest" and best diet? If you are a mouse, the answer is a resounding no. The mice died rapidly when on this diet, and the dead mice were eaten by the survivors. Also, the surviving mice had long- lasting, negative physical aftereffects from the fruit diet, even after they were switched to different diets. 5 - 100% raw diet, including lots of sprouts (wheat, others). The mice were alert, active, but also possibly oversexed: the males were chasing the females, and many females were pregnant. Interesting! 19 - 100% raw diet, with legume/seed sprouts but no grain sprouts. The mice did very well on this diet, but later when babies were born, the babies were eaten. Dr. Bass says this suggests the presence of some deficiencies. 30, 31 - Fasting the mice. This was fatal, unlike the results obtained by other researchers. Dr. Bass attributes the deaths to his cages being kept in rooms that were too cold. 43 - raw soaked grains, lentils, veggies. The mice thrived on this diet, however, two mice managed to become obese on this diet! This is surprising as the diet is similar to human raw food diets, on which gaining weight can be difficult. 45 - 100% raw lentil/sunflower sprouts, plus greens and raw starch foods. The mice did very well on this, a nearly ideal diet for mice; similar to the living foods diets that are promoted as being anti-cancer. 48 - diet 45 plus cheese (diet 45 plus vitamins B-12, D). The babies born under this diet were very healthy and were not eaten. Based on this research, Dr. Bass developed what he considers to be the ultimate diet, for which sample menus are given as appendices. This book is interesting reading - highly recommended! Tom Billings