Hi, I'm Trish, I've been subscribed to the list for about two months. I've read through about 20% or so of the archives. Reading more as time permits. I appreciate the spirit of this list - of the lists I have belonged to over the years, this one has been the most civil, informative and generally intelligent (she said affectionately - nothing against those OTHER lists.) Brief history about me: Inspired by Dick Gregory's book "Cookin' with Mother Nature", I started experimenting with raw and health back in 1978 while in college. For me, the health battle has been depression and compulsive eating. I still encounter both but to a much lesser degree - I pass for normal, as it were. I've learned that what I eat affects my propensity for severe depressions and that (for me) it, along with other healthy pursuits like exercise, meditation/prayer, human contact, is more effective than lithium, prozac or other drugs. I've settled on about 60-80% raw with occasional forays of 100% raw. I've been a vegetarian in spirit since birth, in practice since age 17. I have to be somewhat moderate...when I get too extreme, I pay the price later - food binges and other kinds of food insanity. It's not worth it. My most recent questions for myself have been regarding eating meat (sometimes I want to and occasionally have done it) , the whole protein/carb/fat discussion in general, whether I buy into ayurveda and the "Eat Right For Your Type" theories. I find Ward's, Stephan's and Tom's comments very interesting and they prompted me to finally jump in. I'm interested in hearing people's very honest accounts of their experiences. For example, Tom - you say you were a fruitarian for many years. What happened? In general, how did your journey get you to where you are now (which seems to be pretty balanced)? What health problems did you clear up and what new ones did you create? I'm sorry Ward is no longer on the list as I'd like to hear his comments as well. What about other long term "experimenters"? Or short term for that matter. For myself, I find that all fruit is just not possible for me. I end up floating a few hundred feet above my body. I like doing it for brief periods but not much longer than a week. I don't need a lot of grains like I once thought I did, but do need some protein and tend to eat nuts and some amount of tofu. Still struggling with the protein question as I'm not sure my body and my spirit are in alignment (ie animals or not.) Vegetables and I get along very well...best on the least starchy types. I give in to Manna bread in spurts and sometimes rice crust "pizza's". A few times a year I will just go eat some pizza or something - its a great reminder why I don't eat that way most of the time and it is fun for at least a few bites. I was on a few "low-carb" lists but found that while the low carb approach seems to work for many people, they (the people on the lists) are not that concerned with other aspects of health. I just cannot believe that eating lots of cream cheese and limiting your fruits and vegetables is good for you. However, the people who follow these diets tend to feel 100% better than they did previously. They make some of the same claims that raw fooders do - LOTS more energy being the #1. I think the thing that the two groups have in common is neither group eats refined sugars and flours and thus little to no traditional junk food. I suspect that if you do nothing else, eliminating these cause a vast improvement in the way most SAD'ers feel. After that, whether you are cooked, raw, vegan or not is just playing with the "focus" a little to sharpen things up. For me, giving up the caffeine, sugar, wheat and most dairy was when I saw the most dramatic improvement. Cutting down on lots of cooked grains was the next thing. I have come around to decide that the whole thing is just completely personal. It's up to you to figure out what works and makes you feel best. I believe that some people do better on some kind of animal flesh. My guess is that the human body is much, much more flexible, clever and adaptable than anybody believes. I find myself wondering whether we can ever really understand it through science. I guess I don't believe it is that black and white. There is something perhaps unknowable going on. As Tom has pointed out as well, nutrition is only ONE part of the picture. There are people who have lived incredibly long productive lives on all sorts of diets - I wonder what else these people might have in common. Which leads me to my last point - I've been experimenting on myself for years with this - does a healthy diet lead to a healthy spiritual life/"inner peace"? This is what I had hoped for many years. In the end, of course, I think a healthy diet gives you a better chance for a healthy spiritual life but it is not sufficient. You can be eating 100% incredibly healthy and still be a basket case (been there, done that.) I'm trying to focus these days on the spiritual aspect first, and do the best I can with the food. I still feel a passionate desire to help other people who struggle with depression or other problems to learn that what they eat may be causing a lot of it. I am a strong believer in what Ellie says about toxic emotions and think that a cleaner diet helps you better distinguish "what's what." All that said, this list has been inspiring and educational for me. I look forward to participating more frequently and hope some of you will respond with your story of your journey. Thanks for listening, Trish Pottersmith [log in to unmask]