From: masonp@physun.physics.mcmaster.ca (Peter Mason)
Subject: Re: VEGETARIAN DIET
Organization: Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 21:46:26 GMT

In article <wefrXIe00WCXQBf0YN@andrew.cmu.edu> "David F. McWade" <dm3o+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>
>>>3. Eat fruit only on an empty stomach. That means after arising or 3 hours
>>>after any other meal.
>
>>Which is silly.
>
>No, it isn't.  If I eat fruit with other foods I usually get headaches
>and other body aches.  This seems to conform to Fit For Life reasoning. 
>Whomever wrote this does not understand Natural Hygeine sufficiently.
>

Gee.  _Fit for Life_ was the first book I ever read about vegetarianism,
and though I found much of it made sense,(eat less meat, eat vegetables etc)
I don't underestimate the fact that our bodies are a biochemical and biomechanical 
machine.  Natural Hygeine is important, as is, in my opinion, a healthy attitude
and regular exercise regime, but the reasoning that "I have problems with... thus
...." is not proof of anything in general. Along these same lines, I eat close to
world record amounts of fruit in a day, along with all rice, beans, pasta, tofu etc
and I have never experience any problems, but I don't offer this as proof for
anything.  It's the way my body works, but not the way others do.  
This idea of being careful when you eat fruit may be important for some
people, but obvioulsy not for others.  I tried it for a few months and
noticed no difference, except that I had a tendency to feel famished all the
time.  I find it hard to accept that our digestive system would be so fragile
as to need to be this careful with things.  Biochemists would know more...  

>>>5. Eat only fruits and fruit juices until noon.
>
>>???  Well, I hate breakfast too.
>
>I started to do this and feel much better for it.

Me too.  But then, I never used to eat any breakfast before :-)
>
>>>The food combining principles are based on extensive scientific research
>>>on the nature of the digestive process, and the incompatibility of the
>>>pH balance and enzyme mix in one's saliva and stomach to digest proteins
>>>vs. carbohydrates.
>
>>Not.  The Diamonds are considered crackpots among nutritionists and others
>>in the scientific community for their opinions about food combining.  These
>>are not educated people--they're people who are dangerous around a scientific
>
>Most progressives are usually considered "crackpots" by people immersed
>in mainstream thought, who do not question the things which our culture
>takes for granted.  
>
>Up until about 20 years ago, gays and lesbians were considered by the
>vast majority of "experts" to be abnormal and pathological.
>
>The analogy holds true.  

Well, not for me.  Homosexuality was not studied much by 'experts'.  Any
research into it was farely soft scientificly, and completely biased
by societal views.  I don't believe our biochemists are so slanted in
their thinking.
A lot of crackpots are called crackpots too.  I don't
believe the Diamonds are crackpots, but I'm not convinced that they are
experts either.  Their method will definitely help some individuals.


>Our medical culture and opinion, wholly
>Western, is affected by (and affects) the status quo.  The two
>perpetuate each other, which is why change is so slow.  Natural Hygiene
>has been around many times longer than our mostly backwards medical
>system.

A holistic approach and natural hygiene are things that I value as they
are part of my lifestyle.  The shortcomings of our medical system do
not mean that it is without merit.  I believe it has a long way to
go in terms of promoting healthy living, it relies too much on treatment and
not prevention, etc.   But there is an underlying physics to things that can't be
ignored.  When our science is less biased towards Western attitudes, I
suspect we will discover a lot more and see that we missed a lot due to
our shortsightedness.  I look forward to it.



peace,


Peter

-- 
Peter Mason
masonp@nukie.physics.mcmaster.ca
Hamilton, Ontario (ack! pfffthpt!), Canada
-displaced Nova Scotian