Hello:
Came back earlier than I had planned.
I've taken the liberty to change the subject line to raw versus cooked.
By the way, isn't this the hottest topic in the food arena these days? It
seems that everybody holds a position about it, but no universal
conclusion is to be found. So what I want to share with you is absolutely
personal and never am I aiming at teaching people what they have to do.
I know that some of you have very strong ideas about eating all raw, and
so when we debate this issue, we have to be extra careful not to hurt
susceptibilities.
Although you may not agree with me in every point and indeed my piece is
not an academic one, I want to make sure that I don't entertain any kind
of unjustified prejudice against or unjustified favour for raw foods.
I'm also aware that though this is on-topic, it may easily degenerate into
off-topic lines, but all in all I think it pays to run the risk.
William said: "This [that is, to get all micronutrients from raw foods]
might require enough healthy gut bacteria to create the necessary
vitamins etc."
His is not a new argument at all. I've heard it before, and even and
especially in raw vegan circles. They say that if your body [guts] is
healthy, then it's capable of sustaining itself on raw plant foods.
Common sense tells me not to dismiss this argument, but then I get
confused: what shall I believe in in the first place? Raw veganism or raw
foodism in general? They are both coming from the same place, aren't they?
In any case, all raw foods may require a period for adaptation. This
period may not be very short, indeed it may be too long and painful for
some people.
However, it's clear to me raw foods are essential. I for one can't have a
meal without raw foods. In this case, I'll tell myself that something is
missing. But I don't think everything must be raw.
It's not only a question of taste or health, it's also a question of
context, of having one's feet also grounded in one's immediate
environment.
Deny it as we may, whether we like it or not, we're "civilized" animals,
and civilization includes, among other things, cooking. I'm not saying
that cooking is faultless, but there are degrees to it. For example,
overcooking and eating only cooked items is very bad and this may really
lead to malnutrition. But using both cooked and raw foods with some wisdom
won't necessarily bring about bad health.
The problem with an all-raw-food diet is that it will isolate or insulate
you in most cases. Food is not only functional, it's also contextual (I
know I'm repeating this point). Rawfoodists may not always eat alone, they
may have found raw communities and even "ordinary" people, with whom they
can sit at the same table and share foods. But this doesn't usually
happen, as far as I know.
Unfortunately, it seems that some (not all) rawfoodists become sectarians,
not being able to think of cooked foods as a human specialty, let alone
look at cooked foods without feeling a certain disgust [hey, I hope I've
used my grammar correctly this time]. In this case, they'll automatically
choose to isolate themselves, creating so to say a voluntary ghetto.
Maybe old people, who are either too tired of social contact or too
sceptical about it, will find heavens with raw foods, provided they still
have good teeth. But I'm afraid that younger people on raw foods may later
on resent their lost or broken relationships, even if they at present
say: "I don't care".
I'm sure that raw foods in most cases are conducive to health, to super
health, maybe, but what you may gain in health, you may lose in mobility.
You ending up creating additional difficulties to your life, logistics
problems, you know, and what is worse, you may be thinking about food all
the time, as if the whole of your life was hinging on the raw foods. In
one word, you become a purist. You may look at the rest of humanity with
pity ("oh, they don't know what they are doing") or with aloofness ("it's
their problem") or with misplaced hope ("oh, maybe they will learn
someday, with my example").
The very idea of a home has to do with the hearth. When you deny yourself
cooked foods, you seem to be denying yourself a cozy human home. Well, if
you decide to go back to the woods, then raw foods may be the inevitable
way for you. But until you hang around here, think about it.
However, I can't deny that the interest in raw foods is ever growing.
Maybe we'll reach a time [in a decade, in a century, who knows?] when all
raw foods will be the norm, and cooked foods will have no prestige at all.
I'm looking forward to that time, but I know that many transformations in
society [clothing, housing, furniture, relationships, etc] will be
required to match this old-new, bitter-sweet, ascetic style of eating.
But, to my humble understanding, it may be all a question of cycles. After
a long period of raw foods, humans may discover again the "benefits" or
the convenience of some cooked foods.
To want modern man to eat all raw is like comparing him to wild animals. I
don't have anything against wild animals, mind you, and I know pretty well
that we, too, are animals.
But eating all raw for a modern man seems to dispatch most of his energy,
most of his blood, most of his efforts, indeed most of his obsessions and
thoughts, paradoxical as this may seem, into his viscera and brawn, rather
than into his brain. Isn't this a way of dimishing the human being rather
than putting him back into his appropriate place?
TYFYA (this stands for "thank you for your attention").
Regards,
José Carlos
On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 09:55:23 -0500, William <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 08:17:39 -0500, Debby Padilla-Hudson
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>> I also have found that low carb, moderate protein and
>> high fat make me feel best. But although I firmly
>> believe that this type of diet is more than healthy, I
>> worry about getting all my micronutrients, which is
>> why I was asking Tim his opinion.
>
>
>Get all micronutrients from paleo-quality raw flesh, fish and fowl + eggs.
>My source was mercola.com and others.
>
>This might require enough healthy gut bacteria to create the necessary
>vitamins etc., so avoid preservatives and such that kill bacteria. The
>essential enzymes that enable absorption are in raw food.
>
>Heating destroys enzymes and much vitamins, resulting in malnutrition.
>
>William
>=========================================================================
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