Ryan: << At the same time she thought that my raw food adventures were off the deep end and we did not reach common grounds in this matter. Most anyone you meet anywhere will probably think a raw diet is off the deep end. I wouldn't ever expect anything different. I don't think it works to try to convince people, through arguing or preaching or even having an attitude of trying to convince them of anything. With the nutritionist, since you were paying her for her professional expertise, after a brief conversation, I would have just switched nutritionists. It definately takes a little searching to find a nutritionist who has had enough experience and background knowledge about raw foods to be useful to you. << I found that I could not give much of my knowledge and experience, since she had formed a foundation that she was preaching from Well, after all, you had gone to her for her professional help, not to try to contradict her years of training and experience. She may have wondered why exactly you were there, if you were trying to teach HER about nutrition. Again., in normal social interactions, I don't believe that people are at all interested in hearing someone's "knowledge and experience," unless they have specifically asked for it, and even then one short sentence is all they want to hear. Anything else they perceive as preaching, which it usually is. What works best with people is to LISTEN to them. Ask for their opinions, and pay attention to the answer, then ask for more elaboration and listen some more. << There is actually a small raw foods community in Santa Monica who I used to interact with, we'll see if they are still around. Isn't Santa Monica near San Francisco? I think quite a few on this list are in California, so you will probably find loads of resource there, all kinds of support groups and potlucks and nutritionists and groups and meetings and activity. Love Liza [log in to unmask] (Liza May)