[MrsCogan]

Originally Posted by PrimaryErn

For my thinking, anytime someone suggests a new lifestyle and says there are NO negatives, and any perceived "bugs" are "features"...well, those of in the computer world get the analogy. It has that religious overtone, y'know?

not only is it religious, it's neo-puritanism. The more punishing and ascetic a diet is, the more virtuous it is.

Also: one of the prime arguments for raw foodism (I think) is the old chestnut that its closer to the way our ancestors ate, that its more like our genetically evolved primitive diet.

this is the direct result of a school system that's too timid to actually teach evolution. Our ancestors ate cooked food. Hominids were cooking food for at least a half-million years before our species evolved and probably closer to two million. By the time the first homo sapiens walked the earth primates had been eating cooked food for longer than modern humans can intellectually conceptualize. Eating raw food is not healthy or natural for our species.

Of course the counter to this argument of mine is that not-so-primitive man, even today, often exists on a limited diet. South americans in recent history (hundreds of years) lived on beans and corn almost exclusively - cooked , of course.

beans, corn and potatoes, actually, almost certainly supplemented with game. Deliberate vegetarianism is pretty rare. Beans and corn are inedible raw and potatoes are poisonous raw.

This is all my good natured, non-attacking opinion and open search for answers. I'm not even arguing with the health benefits or energy increase that is suggested by the diet at all - I admit those are spot on.

I don't admit that. I think any perceived health benefits are psychological and transitory. You will feel ok as long as the B12 stored in your body holds out. Then after that your hair will start falling out and your immune system will crash. Your body can make carbohydrate out of protein but can't manufacture protein. You must eat it. A raw food diet is dangerously low in protein which is what your heart and your brain are made out of. Do the math.