Denis, good to hear from you again. How are things in France after the fall of G.C.Burger? I can imagine the spirits among instinctive eaters are not what they used to be. Tom: "poor mental health amongst rawist is widely accepted" Denis: (to Tom) >Sorry to be so rude, but people who think they are "more normal than the >average" really make me laugh...Like Duhamel who felt in the company of >fools a "sweet dizziness" , That never stopped you from speaking up when critical of what you considered the lack of integrity in the ranks of instinctive eaters. :-) > I guess I feel in the company of instinctos a feeling of sweet surrender and >abandonment. Granted, our acquaintances are not the same... These are very subjective sentiments and do not speak to the issue of diet idealism taken too far. I am sure that when the members of the IADZ (International Association of Diet Zealots) get together at their yearly convention, they have a great time and feel very close and intimate as well. :-) >Even if those "many people" were right in assuming " poorer" mental >health ( assuming the world as it is not itself alienated and alienating ) >amongst Rawists , it could never be an argument against Raw Diet for >epistemological reasons ( one would have to know the mental health before >the change in diet , problem of standard of mental health...) , and for >ontological reasons. And mental imbalance it is not an argument for a raw diet either. However, if two people are advocating each their own diet apart from listening to my own body, I will tend to listen to and trust the person who I judge to be the more mentally balanced of the two. I trust it is no different for you. >It is the industrial world which makes instinctive diet a strenuous path to >follow. Not the reverse. Society does not make it easy to follow any diet that deviates from the norm that is for sure. But I do not see any connection between the superior and intolerant attitudes that are so common among diet extremists and the state of the world. To insinuate there is a connection would IMO only be making a very poor excuse for their behavior. >About my claim that "your mental problem is your own fault". How can you >think that I'm not being simply facetious ? Do you really think I take all >this seriously ? You have been known to express yourself with a fair amount of ambiguity, and I can see how even the brightest among us could easily be fooled. ;-) >Sort of : "our ancestors ate this in the past in such >proportion , so we should eat it also ". Instincto is no better. If instincto were a truly instinctive diet, it would be a lot less prescriptive. >This problem is very peculiar to the US instincto movement because paleolithic >diet is something unheard of here (apart from a restricted circle) . The paleo influence on instincto I find very positive. I think that by challenging some of the basic tenets of instincto, paleo nutrition will help instincto evolve. Best, Peter [log in to unmask] PS. I enjoyed very much your musings on the history of allopathy & hygiene.