Raw vs. Cooked

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone. As most of you know, I'm a new member to this group

and my family and I are recent " converts " to healthful living. My

wife and I have a ton of questions and have been learning so much

lately. We both appreciate and have learned so much already from

the wealth of knowledge and experience shared here. We have several

questions, but will post them separately to allow for easier follow

up.

The first one is the biggest of all… raw vs. cooked. I hesitate to

bring this up here because I know this group heavily supports the

WAPF. I have read a number of pages on the site and it all makes

sense (haven't tried any raw meat, yet). There is so much there, so

I admittedly haven't read it all. I was impressed enough to join as

a member, so obviously I'm not against it.

We joined Lakewinds Coop and they have classes on various topics.

Out of curiosity, mainly, I attended a class about raw foods… not

cooked, fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains only… no meat or dairy.

This is obviously very much against the WAPF. He mentioned many

similarities to what I've seen and heard here… vitamins and minerals

are important – soak nuts and grains to remove the toxic barriers

and " activate " the enzymes – importance of essential fatty acids

from nuts, CO, avacados, etc. – big proponent of the oils and fats

too, he just gets them from different sources.

He told his personal story of asthma and allergies being completely

removed and that while he was in the process of transitioning, he

would try milk or cheese and would immediately feel the flem and

congestion build again. As he became more and more convinced that

raw was the way to go for him, he made the decision to go strict

vegan and seems to be doing great… no sickness in 8 years,

healthful, vibrant, and energetic.

Prior to learning about WAPF and this group, we were convinced that

dairy was a possible source of problem for my wife because she

suffers from pretty severe allergies… congestion, runny nose,

sneezing, lots of flem in the morning, etc. With the birth of Leah

6 months ago, we all started eating orgainic and she cut out all

dairy and has been doing much better with her allergies… not gone,

but better. When we got the raw milk last week, she started

drinking a glass a day and has only noticed more flem… other allergy

symptoms are about the same (good) so eating organic food in general

has probably contributed to the reduction in most of the symptoms,

not just the dairy as we thought.

I say all this not to promote that lifestyle, but to give you an

idea of what we've heard and experienced. I think we all hope for

the best quality of life for the short time we're here on earth.

Clearly there are many ways to eat all the good things God made, but

I believe there is a continuum from bad to good to better to best.

A new friend I met through WAPF shared a link about raw vs cooked

that seemed to answer some questions in favor of cooked, but there

seems to be some people, at least, that appear to be doing well with

just raw.

The big question I had after attending the class related to children

and pregnant and nursing mothers. Perhaps some adults can thrive on

just a raw diet, but can developing children also thrive? I don't

know.

I share all this not to cause dissension, but because I respect you

all and welcome an honest dialog to explore and support the truth.

Thank you, in advance, for your thoughts.

Still searching,

Luke

P.S. I'll post the other questions later today or tomorrow.