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Questionaire
1. Why have you chosen to eat all/mostly raw foods?
An article long ago by a phycist/musician from Switzerland made sense along with 2 books out of South Africa in the 1980ies about raw eating and the diseases it cured. These all made sense. The Swiss article emphasized that if it tasted good and smelled good, the body needed it; the next day the same food could taste ??bad ?? and smell ??bad ?? which meant that the body did not need it.
2. How long have you been eating this way?
Since around 1990
3. Do you consider yourself to be part of the vegan culture, or something completely separate?
First I cut out red meats, then all meats and luckily I read the right book at the right time ?? the most important factor in vegetarianism is the fact that the body has a 10 year reserve of B vitamins. Usually vegetarians have no problems until around this point; so much success and then problems. They are puzzled. One must supplement the B vitamins when starting vegetarianism to avoid problems. That I did. I ??ve been vegetarian since around early 1980ies. I never did go complete vegan.
4. Do your friends and family eat raw with you? Do they support you, or nag you about your diet?
My wife wants nothing to do with raw eating. My sister caters to my needs when she hosts a family outing, etc. My mother was the one who ??cooked ?? me back to health, she has long since departed this earth. My wife is the one who feels nagged. I ??m immune to remarks because the results speak so loudly.
5. Do you feel that your raw-food lifestyle plays into your politics, religion, and social beliefs? How about your job?
Any major change plays into ??everything ?? although mostly when it comes time to ??eat. ?? I have always gotten along well with people, so it is no different with a diet change. I ??ve been at it long enough to merely point out the results (not seen a doctor in 35 years). At first I avoided problems by saying that my doctor placed me on a strict diet (I never mentioned that I was my own doctor), and no one questioned whom the doctor was.
6. What do you eat in a typical day? (I am not asking for a food journal here. Just tell me if you prefer to eat mostly fruits, mostly vegetables, if you take supplements, if you ??re into food combining, etc)
In desperation a couple of years I lived mostly on apples (freely available), thinking it wouldn ??t harm me if not too long. Later I took Dr. Shook ??s course in herbology. He went through the herbal families. The last chapter: ??I ??ve saved this herb for the last because it contains all the elements that we have studied: the apple. ?? Ever since then I ??ve included it heavily in my diet, partly because I live in apple country. About 80% apples + vegetables. Supplements: Brewer ??s Yeast, kelp granules/powder, cayenne pepper, Celtic Sea Salt, virgin olive oil/flax oil/cod liver oil (alternating).
7. Are you part of any other ??subculture? ?? This includes macrobiotics, punk, hippie, liberal, Jewish, etc.
If independent thinking, having a tough hide, and being hard headed/cantankerous is a subculture ?? yes.
8. Anything else you would like to add about what raw foods means to you?
The more I study and learn, the more convinced I am that all of life ??s problems are simple. Although we have been doing it wrong so long that the abnormal (wrong) is considered correct, and those who do it correct are in such an infinitesimally small percentage of mankind that we are automatically condemned as doing it wrong.
This might sound strange from a man, but the books I read out of Africa stated that if a woman ate a raw diet she would not have the monthly menses. I believe that to be true. Using that as a starting point, that means that mankind has been eating wrongly since somewhere around the 3rd or 4th book of the Old Testament. And Toby (the Canadian) stated that the story of Adam and Eve had been changed, the original was: Do not cook your food (not the thou shalt not eat of the tree . . .). So, we have been doing it wrong since the beginning of Genesis! Although, from experience, I ??d advise anyone promoting raw eating to not use this last ??gem. ??
BTW I ??m 75 years old. If you observe nature, the animals live to be 5 to 8 times their age of maturity. Age of maturity in man is considered to be 25; that means that except for accidents, childbirth problems, etc. we should live to be 125 to 200 years old. A little quick math will quickly add up to how much our lives have been shortened by not eating raw.
Philip N. Ledoux
oldmanfromnh @ yahoo . com
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