Hi there all! I don't know if it's customary to introduce oneself on this list or not, but on most of the other discussion lists I've involved myself with, I've never been flamed for doing so. So I thought I'd drop in my basic intro here and flop down my two cents. My name as you'll see from my email address, is John Leschinski. I live in the western United States and happened upon this list late one night recently, while looking for information on on living and raw foods. Years ago I got involved with T.C. Fry's "Life Science Institute" and took the course on Natural Hygiene they once offered. (Before the tax man came bashing in his doors. :-) ) Anyway, as extremist as a lot of the ideas were in that learning experience, I walked away with a greater understanding of human physiology and our basic nutritional needs. That was well over ten years ago. I'm a vegetarian but don't consider myself a "hygienist" per se. I'm just a dude in the world trying to maintain a high level of health, always seeking out better more sound ways of doing that, while NOT adhering to any political or extremist fronts. I'm a simple man. I thought it really cool to run into a list like this where there are a lot of similar minded people, or so it seems. I've only been checking out the list for a few days now, but it appears to have a diversity of ideas and issues that run through it from time to time. And once again, I hope to pick up some good life experiences from being involved here with all of you. I'm not an "ALL RAW FOODER" but believe a predominance of uncooked food in ones diet sure makes a tremendous amount of physiological and nutritional sense. A couple of my hopes in being involved in the discussions here are to perhaps make some new friends, and to regain some enthusiasm, inspiration and motivation to lean toward the inclusion of more RAW in my diet. I'm a bodybuilder/weight trainee (NO, not a *professional egocentrical narcissistic* one) and so one of the downsides I've always experienced in attempting the "all raw" thang is that it's almost impossible to keep my bodyweight up. So I always need to strive for balance. The feeling is now though, that more raw vegetarian fare in my diet is in order. So with this message, I express that I'm glad to find a "hangout" like this. I'm wondering something. How many people frequent this list? It seems like there's quite a following, but that there's not many people posting to it. Anyone have an idea of the number of subscribers? I also noticed there was a really good post on the digest I'm responding from, on dehydrating fruits and vegetables. Pulling this following quote from that, what can anyone relay about this "Hallelujah Health Tips" newsletter or list? (Perhaps Peter who posted it?) Is it a short newsletter or tip sheet, and is it worth subscribing to? Thanks in advance for any insight or feedback anyone can give. >>From Hallelujah Health Tip No. 17 I am posting with permission the >following by Rhonda Malkmus on dehydrating fruits and vegetables. To >subscribe to the Health Tip send an eamil to [log in to unmask] or go to >the Hallelujah Acre website at http://hacres.com/html/home.html > >Best, Peter Well, I hope I haven't BORED too many of you with my intro post here. I look forward to communicating with many of you on the list, in the way of sharing, expressing and exchanging -- ideas, thoughts and visions. Have a great day! In health and fitness, John Leschinski <[log in to unmask]>